"Rocky" - 1981 F250 Restoration

[taskswap]

That's interesting about the airtag. Hadn't read up on it, but it makes sense. However, I don't know if anyone has tried it or is using it.

As for the ignition, the coil has one side of its primary tied to the battery, albeit through a ballast resistor to reduce the current other than during starting. The ignition module mimics points, where the points close to charge the coil by building up an EMF field. Then the points open when the ignition is supposed to fire and the electromagnetic field falls through the secondary and creates the high voltage that fires the plug. But if the low side of the coil is held to ground then nothing the points or ignition module can do will cause the ignition to fire.

Another option for those of us with electric fuel pumps is to prevent them from running. Plus, you can kill the power feed to the ECU if you have EFI.

And with all or any of that in place it is very unlikely anyone is going to get the truck to run - at least not without someone hearing the blaring siren and, in my case, horn. About all they could do is to open the hood and cut the battery cable, hoping to silence the alarm. But a $20 backup battery will prevent that. Plus, a hood lock will slow them down even more.

As for tracking, your plan sounds good. With the value of these trucks going up dramatically it pays to do what you can to prevent them being stolen or get them back quickly.

And speaking of value, here's what Hagerty says a 1981 F250 regular cab long bed with a 351 is worth. (Yes, I know you have a 400, but Hagerty didn't list that as an option.)

Great food for thought, thanks.

But sharing numbers like that... You know that's dangerous right? All that does is give me more excuses to the wife for splurge items we HAVE to have.

[Gary Lewis]

Great food for thought, thanks.

But sharing numbers like that... You know that's dangerous right? All that does is give me more excuses to the wife for splurge items we HAVE to have.

You can’t make a wise decision without the facts.

[taskswap]

You can’t make a wise decision without the facts.

Hey all, hope you had a good holiday so far.

Just got back and naturally there were a few "care packages" waiting on the doorstep. Some good news, some not.

First, the stickers for the climate control panels came back. I'll cross-post this to the other climate control thread tomorrow when I do a better mount - I guess I was a little excited because I wasn't super careful about positioning.

I was really happy with how they came out, enough to believe this is a reasonable approach, but I might still run another batch of stickers. You may remember that I wasn't sure whether light would shine "through" the solid color boxes very well, so I only risked using colors on the climate slider. Since some light definitely does make it through the colors, I'll probably reprint this with the fan and fuel icons colored for a little extra pizzaz. It's cheap enough...

I also got my winch tray and I'm really happy with that as well. It fits between the frame rails with about 1/4" overhang, just enough to rest it on there for this photo:

Obviously I wouldn't mount it that way permanently. I'll make up some right-angle brackets that tie it into the bottom and side bolt holes on the frame rails. If I can, I want to use my original chrome front bumper in front of it and just put the fairlead behind a hinged license-plate cover. I think that will work if I don't go overboard on the winch size, although I may need to add 1-2" of "standoff". We'll see over the next few days.

Finally, one bad thing, all my lug nuts are toast - rusted, mismatched, and even a few missing. You may remember a few earlier messages about the lug nut sizes. Well, I only ever owned metric thread gauges and although I ordered SAE ones as well, I took a chance and ordered 9/16-18 front and 1/2-20 rear lug nut replacements off eBay just to try them out.

They don't fit. It turns out my FRONT studs are 1/2-20 and my rear ones are... something bigger, I'm not sure. I do still need to sort this out because each wheel is missing at least one nut. I'll have to keep trying. What's bigger than a 1/2-20?

[taskswap]

Hey all, hope you had a good holiday so far.

Just got back and naturally there were a few "care packages" waiting on the doorstep. Some good news, some not.

First, the stickers for the climate control panels came back. I'll cross-post this to the other climate control thread tomorrow when I do a better mount - I guess I was a little excited because I wasn't super careful about positioning.

I was really happy with how they came out, enough to believe this is a reasonable approach, but I might still run another batch of stickers. You may remember that I wasn't sure whether light would shine "through" the solid color boxes very well, so I only risked using colors on the climate slider. Since some light definitely does make it through the colors, I'll probably reprint this with the fan and fuel icons colored for a little extra pizzaz. It's cheap enough...

I also got my winch tray and I'm really happy with that as well. It fits between the frame rails with about 1/4" overhang, just enough to rest it on there for this photo:

Obviously I wouldn't mount it that way permanently. I'll make up some right-angle brackets that tie it into the bottom and side bolt holes on the frame rails. If I can, I want to use my original chrome front bumper in front of it and just put the fairlead behind a hinged license-plate cover. I think that will work if I don't go overboard on the winch size, although I may need to add 1-2" of "standoff". We'll see over the next few days.

Finally, one bad thing, all my lug nuts are toast - rusted, mismatched, and even a few missing. You may remember a few earlier messages about the lug nut sizes. Well, I only ever owned metric thread gauges and although I ordered SAE ones as well, I took a chance and ordered 9/16-18 front and 1/2-20 rear lug nut replacements off eBay just to try them out.

They don't fit. It turns out my FRONT studs are 1/2-20 and my rear ones are... something bigger, I'm not sure. I do still need to sort this out because each wheel is missing at least one nut. I'll have to keep trying. What's bigger than a 1/2-20?

Slight correction. I guess I mis-read. It's "supposed to be" 9/16-18 REAR, 1/2-20 FRONT, which does seem to align with what I have. I just misread an eBay listing that sold Left-hand + Right-hand nuts in one package. Caveat empty-your-wallet...

[grumpin]

Slight correction. I guess I mis-read. It's "supposed to be" 9/16-18 REAR, 1/2-20 FRONT, which does seem to align with what I have. I just misread an eBay listing that sold Left-hand + Right-hand nuts in one package. Caveat empty-your-wallet...

Bummer on the lug nuts.

But, the other two look good!

 

[taskswap]

Bummer on the lug nuts.

But, the other two look good!

Thanks. :)

Got the radio working today. Senior moment. Every car I've ever owned, the radio is on with the key in ACC. This is wired to only be on in START/RUN. I did the wiring myself and didn't even think about the implication of the way I tapped the CB Radio circuit. But I think I'll leave it that way. I almost never hang out in the car with the engine off and the radio on. Having to have it in RUN to use the radio is fine with me.

Did NOT solve the wiper issue yet. The intermittent wiper control came with a switch. I've tried both the one it came with and the original from my truck and neither of them will shut the wipers off completely. I know there were folks who had trouble with the control module getting damaged, but I opened it and at least a casual visual inspection shows nothing obvious - no broken or cold solder joints, no obvious "magic smoke has been let out" component damage...

Since this is one of the easier mods to get to later, after the panel is re-installed, I'm going to skip it for now so I can get on with other tasks. I'll come back to it later.

[rcarlisle]

Thanks. :)

Got the radio working today. Senior moment. Every car I've ever owned, the radio is on with the key in ACC. This is wired to only be on in START/RUN. I did the wiring myself and didn't even think about the implication of the way I tapped the CB Radio circuit. But I think I'll leave it that way. I almost never hang out in the car with the engine off and the radio on. Having to have it in RUN to use the radio is fine with me.

Did NOT solve the wiper issue yet. The intermittent wiper control came with a switch. I've tried both the one it came with and the original from my truck and neither of them will shut the wipers off completely. I know there were folks who had trouble with the control module getting damaged, but I opened it and at least a casual visual inspection shows nothing obvious - no broken or cold solder joints, no obvious "magic smoke has been let out" component damage...

Since this is one of the easier mods to get to later, after the panel is re-installed, I'm going to skip it for now so I can get on with other tasks. I'll come back to it later.

If the wipers keep going, it is the MOTOR not the switch. Something in the motor will not let it identify the Park position and it keeps running. Mine do that till they build up enough friction to not want to work anymore. Or I turn the truck off. Motor access comes under cowl I think. I found a video on Youtube that explained it pretty well.

 

[Gary Lewis]

If the wipers keep going, it is the MOTOR not the switch. Something in the motor will not let it identify the Park position and it keeps running. Mine do that till they build up enough friction to not want to work anymore. Or I turn the truck off. Motor access comes under cowl I think. I found a video on Youtube that explained it pretty well.

The factory shop manual section at Documentation/Electrical/Windshield Wipers has this to say:

Park Operation Test:

Place ignition switch in On position and move wiper switch from operating mode to off position. Check for presence of voltage at circuit 58 pin. If voltage is present and motor does not park, ground the wiper motor case to the body. If motor parks, repair ground. If motor does not run replace motor. If voltage is present at circuit 63 and 28 pins but not at circuit 58 pin, replace governor. If there is voltage on circuit 63 pin but not on circuit 28 pin, and the motor is not parked, replace the wiper motor. If no voltage is present on circuit 63 pin, remove the wiper switch connector and check for voltage at pin 297 (black-green wire). If voltage is present, replace the wiper switch. If not, trace the circuit back.

[taskswap]

The factory shop manual section at Documentation/Electrical/Windshield Wipers has this to say:

Park Operation Test:

Place ignition switch in On position and move wiper switch from operating mode to off position. Check for presence of voltage at circuit 58 pin. If voltage is present and motor does not park, ground the wiper motor case to the body. If motor parks, repair ground. If motor does not run replace motor. If voltage is present at circuit 63 and 28 pins but not at circuit 58 pin, replace governor. If there is voltage on circuit 63 pin but not on circuit 28 pin, and the motor is not parked, replace the wiper motor. If no voltage is present on circuit 63 pin, remove the wiper switch connector and check for voltage at pin 297 (black-green wire). If voltage is present, replace the wiper switch. If not, trace the circuit back.

Thanks guys. I will do the test procedure but another senior moment... I may, ah, have failed to mention that I don't actually have my wiper blades INSTALLED at the moment. The windshield guy removed them and I asked him to leave them off because I thought one arm might have been a bit bent. ANYwho... I never did get around to reinstalling them, so maybe they're not "parking" because they're not "there"?

 

[Gary Lewis]

Thanks guys. I will do the test procedure but another senior moment... I may, ah, have failed to mention that I don't actually have my wiper blades INSTALLED at the moment. The windshield guy removed them and I asked him to leave them off because I thought one arm might have been a bit bent. ANYwho... I never did get around to reinstalling them, so maybe they're not "parking" because they're not "there"?

I don't think it matters that the arms aren't on.