Poncho Loco build thread, yes here it is ...

[RenoHuskerDu]

I poked around on FTE and found a bunch of threads on this tank. It's not for a Bronco and never came on a F-series, as far as I can see. It's a Spectra Premium aftermarket tank. LMC sells it too. Nobody mentioned finding the correct pickup/sender for the deep tank.

Lots of guys stood on their heads doing fancy fab to get a stock rear tank 19gal pickup/sender working correctly in that 38gal tank. After due consideration, I'm taking the path of less resistance.

NAPA (whose prices often rival RockAuto these days) sells that pickup/sender for $70. I'll extend the pickup with fuel hose, just as we do when the pickup tube breaks off part way down (ask me how we know). Then I'll bend the sender float arm down a bit. That should make the gauge read full for about 10 gal from full, and hit empty with 8 gallons to spare. Give or take a country mile...my daughter can also monitor the trip odometer. And we'll drop in a 50gal bed tank in for gravity refill.

Should be an acceptable setup. FYI

Lots of news the last few days. The biggest is that our daughter herself will join this group and intro herself. She has questions .... Last night we got Poncho running and her face just about cracked from the smiles.

News: The fuel pickup from NAPA was the wrong size, because the 38 gal deep tank was for an 86, after Ford went to pump-in-tank hence a larger hole. We found that we had a working sender/pickup kicking around here anyway, extended its pickup tube and bent its sender arm downward a bit. That works! But empty and full are swapped on the gauge. We'll stick on neat little labels.

Got him running after running the 351 on squirts of gas long enough to pump gasoline thru from the freshly cleaned tank and lines, into a clear jar a few feet away, using a long fuel hose. The first 1/2 cup was brownish and after that it cleared up.

Today our daughter and her brother drove Poncho around the property a bit. He runs rich, loads up then cleans up, so carb tuning will be next.

I found a candidate for timing marks. Remember that this 351W has no pointer or marks on the damper pulley.

Tip from my buddy Steve of DUI distributors (whose DUI distributors I recommend, having installed a bunch in V8 Range Rovers in France - yes, you read that right).

[Gary Lewis]

Lots of news the last few days. The biggest is that our daughter herself will join this group and intro herself. She has questions .... Last night we got Poncho running and her face just about cracked from the smiles.

News: The fuel pickup from NAPA was the wrong size, because the 38 gal deep tank was for an 86, after Ford went to pump-in-tank hence a larger hole. We found that we had a working sender/pickup kicking around here anyway, extended its pickup tube and bent its sender arm downward a bit. That works! But empty and full are swapped on the gauge. We'll stick on neat little labels.

Got him running after running the 351 on squirts of gas long enough to pump gasoline thru from the freshly cleaned tank and lines, into a clear jar a few feet away, using a long fuel hose. The first 1/2 cup was brownish and after that it cleared up.

Today our daughter and her brother drove Poncho around the property a bit. He runs rich, loads up then cleans up, so carb tuning will be next.

I found a candidate for timing marks. Remember that this 351W has no pointer or marks on the damper pulley.

Tip from my buddy Steve of DUI distributors (whose DUI distributors I recommend, having installed a bunch in V8 Range Rovers in France - yes, you read that right).

That's good news, all 'round! Glad you got it running, and will look forward to meeting your daughter.

On the sending unit being backwards, it'll be not only backwards but way off. The Bullnose senders are 10 ohms Full to 72 ohms Empty. The later sending units give 145 ohms Full and 22.5 ohms Empty.

I am running a Meter Match to interface the later sending unit to the Bullnose gauge, and while it works it isn't ideal. It comes off of Full very quickly, hits 1/2 around 50 miles, and approaches empty by 100 miles. But it'll do another 90+ miles before running out.

As Jim reminded me, there are intermediate set points on the Meter Match that I probably should play with to get its curve closer to right, but I've not taken the time.

Some day I hope to put in an Arduino and already have the sketch written and tested for that.

[FuzzFace2]

That's good news, all 'round! Glad you got it running, and will look forward to meeting your daughter.

On the sending unit being backwards, it'll be not only backwards but way off. The Bullnose senders are 10 ohms Full to 72 ohms Empty. The later sending units give 145 ohms Full and 22.5 ohms Empty.

I am running a Meter Match to interface the later sending unit to the Bullnose gauge, and while it works it isn't ideal. It comes off of Full very quickly, hits 1/2 around 50 miles, and approaches empty by 100 miles. But it'll do another 90+ miles before running out.

As Jim reminded me, there are intermediate set points on the Meter Match that I probably should play with to get its curve closer to right, but I've not taken the time.

Some day I hope to put in an Arduino and already have the sketch written and tested for that.

There is a member here or that other forum that is installing a later 33 gallon Bronco tank in his 85 F150 and it has the larger opening for the sender & pump and was going to have the same issues with the gauge.

His fix, yet to be put into service but looks factory, was to replace the sender / float assy. with one from the early trucks. He had a spare 16 gallon small opening sender he used for the sender / float assy.

IIRC he was able to remove the sender part with the plate it is mounted to flip it and mount it to the new larger opening pump assy.

Once you look at both parts you will see how each is mounted and should be easy to make the swap.

The hardest part of the job I got from him was the power wire to the pump as he was going to use the electric pump as it had different ends that hook on the bottom side of the plate to the bulk head parts.

The hard part was removing the wire insulation as it was like part of the wire, did not pull off like normal wire. He had to sand it off before making the connection.

The other part was finding something to cover the area of the connection that todays gas would not hurt.

I dont remember what he used now but he said he soaked it in gas for a few days and it was still good where other melted and turned to goo!

Will see if I can find his (Tarheel Blue) post and add a link.

Here it is https://forum.garysgaragemahal.com/95-FDM-for-your-85-gauge-td105086.html

Dave ----

[RenoHuskerDu]

Today is Poncho Loco day, among other projects. He's getting new tires, we're bleeding the brakes, checking the condition of the diff oil, then putting the bed back on. After that he visits the local muffler shop for a dual 2.5" exhaust.

Here's the proud owner pulling her own wheels off with a 3/4" impact wrench. I was the one to crawl under there and put him on blocks, leveled for safely. Her older brother now works at a local shop that also sells tires, so he'll cart the 4 off for some new Cooper ATs on Monday. Coopers are made in USA, as are certain Hercules.

We had a little mishap while dismantling the grill to inspect for missing screws or other issues. A simple misunderstanding over right tighty left loosey led to the cracked lens reflector you see below. We tried a test spot with model plastic glue, but it does not penetrate the plastic. The clean area is where we tried the model glue. Does anyone have experience on what glue works? The break is clean and only two pieces broke off. Seems a shame not to try, as the rest of the bezel is good.

[Gary Lewis]

Today is Poncho Loco day, among other projects. He's getting new tires, we're bleeding the brakes, checking the condition of the diff oil, then putting the bed back on. After that he visits the local muffler shop for a dual 2.5" exhaust.

Here's the proud owner pulling her own wheels off with a 3/4" impact wrench. I was the one to crawl under there and put him on blocks, leveled for safely. Her older brother now works at a local shop that also sells tires, so he'll cart the 4 off for some new Cooper ATs on Monday. Coopers are made in USA, as are certain Hercules.

We had a little mishap while dismantling the grill to inspect for missing screws or other issues. A simple misunderstanding over right tighty left loosey led to the cracked lens reflector you see below. We tried a test spot with model plastic glue, but it does not penetrate the plastic. The clean area is where we tried the model glue. Does anyone have experience on what glue works? The break is clean and only two pieces broke off. Seems a shame not to try, as the rest of the bezel is good.

She looks like she's having fun.

As for gluing those, I don't have experience with them, but had assumed that JB Weld would work. There's nothing close to them on the back side so you could put a splint or fishplate on them along with the epoxy.

[FuzzFace2]

She looks like she's having fun.

As for gluing those, I don't have experience with them, but had assumed that JB Weld would work. There's nothing close to them on the back side so you could put a splint or fishplate on them along with the epoxy.

If the model glue did not work I dont think I would wast my time on fixing them I would get new ones and be done with it.

I was looking to maybe replace mine and why I know you can get them.

I just dont know what colors they come in as there is yellow & clear.

What shape are the side markers in?

I bought new front ones for my truck think through LMC.

Dave ----

[RenoHuskerDu]

If the model glue did not work I dont think I would wast my time on fixing them I would get new ones and be done with it.

I was looking to maybe replace mine and why I know you can get them.

I just dont know what colors they come in as there is yellow & clear.

What shape are the side markers in?

I bought new front ones for my truck think through LMC.

Dave ----

I had assumed that they would be hard to find. But as you mentioned, here they are even on Fleabay.

Fleabay

Thanks for the tip! They are pretty brittle after life in Texas for decades, so gluing them might be a Sisyphean task.

[Hstrymkrs]

I had assumed that they would be hard to find. But as you mentioned, here they are even on Fleabay.

Fleabay

Thanks for the tip! They are pretty brittle after life in Texas for decades, so gluing them might be a Sisyphean task.

I bought my front marker/blinker lenses at https://www.dennis-carpenter.com/ as they also had the small white “bumpers/bushing?” That the headlights rest on. My guess is that they are all sourced from the same place or just down the street from one another.

[RenoHuskerDu]

I don't know why I thought it had a new carb. Musta been another parts truck we looked at.

It's no wonder the PO burnt up a starter and gave up on the truck. Just look at that Rube Goldberg. It's a hideous monstrosity with wires and solenoids on it. Fortunately Texas cares naught for smog stuff if the vehicle is over 25 years old. I'm putting it all in a storage box and building a typical V8 runner like I did as a teen.

I called a local shop that restomods pickups and when I asked which carb they recommend he replied Holley fuel injection. I know that it works great but it's gotta be expensive. Have any of y'all had good luck with aftermarket carbs or plugNplay EFI?

Poncho Loco is assembled and running well enough to go pass Texas Safety check. Here's the happy girl riding the bed down into place the other night.

I just remembered that we still need to connect vacuum advance to the distributor. Can anyone tell me which nipple on the carb is ported vacuum for the advance? I'd guess the one with the red cap, pointed towards the battery. (this pic is from before we rebuilt the carb!)

[mat in tn]

Poncho Loco is assembled and running well enough to go pass Texas Safety check. Here's the happy girl riding the bed down into place the other night.

I just remembered that we still need to connect vacuum advance to the distributor. Can anyone tell me which nipple on the carb is ported vacuum for the advance? I'd guess the one with the red cap, pointed towards the battery. (this pic is from before we rebuilt the carb!)

you must be living right if your daughter is right there hands on with you. teach them right. as to the red capped vacuum port, that looks to be a 1/4'' port. i believe you should find one no more than 3/16'', often its an 1/8'' and it will be directly off the venturi on most holleys . vacuum advance happens after the throttle is opened and a vacuum signal is present above the throttle.