Hello All - 1986 F150, 2wd, base trim, 300 engine, 4 speed

[ArdWrknTrk]

When I encounter things that appear to be the same it suggests to me that they are. I believe that the Chinese buy an original, reverse engineer it, and then hand out the plans to a manufacturer who makes them and then markets them under several different brands. In other words, since many of the spec's are the same I'd bet they are the same.

I ran into this several years ago with a lathe/mill/drill I wanted to buy. Harbor Freight made one that was fairly well liked so I bought it. But one specialty tee-nut was bad on the one I got so I pulled out the drawings to find the part number. Lo and behold the drawings were wrong. It was a completely different part and the way that nut was drawn was wonky. Like the drawing we did in drafting where it was impossible to make.

So I called HF customer support and got no where. The young lady I drew had never seen one of those machines much less used one, and couldn't read a CAD drawing. So I did some research and learned that several others sold essentially the same machine, including Busy Bee and Grizzly. I downloaded the Busy Bee manual and it had the exact same error. I downloaded the Grizzly manual and it had the exact same error.

Given that I called Grizzly and when I told the gentleman that answered what part was bad he said "Let me pull the drawings and find the part number." I waited and then I heard "You can't even make that part!" And I laughed. So he said "I'm going to go take one of those apart and find out what the part number is and I'll call you back." In 30 minutes he did and said "They are $2, how many do you want? And, we are changing the drawings."

Now I'm a Grizzly customer.

Grizzly has great parts support and badge engineering means that I've bought parts from them for a couple of my Jet machines and a ShopFox as well.

Lots of tools today come from the same castings with different tolerances, colours, controls and some with different features depending on the price point.

It is no surprise that a better knob, switch or motor can transform a tool from almost passable to a pleasure to use.

Gary, I have to say my experience with getting parts from Harbor Freight was quite different than yours.

Obviously their QC was lacking if their Smithy clone's T-nut didn't function.

I guess Grizzly got ahold of good parts even if the drawings are wrong?

[Gary Lewis]

Grizzly has great parts support and badge engineering means that I've bought parts from them for a couple of my Jet machines and a ShopFox as well.

Lots of tools today come from the same castings with different tolerances, colours, controls and some with different features depending on the price point.

It is no surprise that a better knob, switch or motor can transform a tool from almost passable to a pleasure to use.

Gary, I have to say my experience with getting parts from Harbor Freight was quite different than yours.

Obviously their QC was lacking if their Smithy clone's T-nut didn't function.

I guess Grizzly got ahold of good parts even if the drawings are wrong?

I think my problem was the luck of the draw, and it was compounded by the drawing being wrong. I think HF would have had the part if we’d been able to find the part number. But their support people knew nothing of the machine while Grizzly’s did.

I still buy HF stuff, but were I to buy a lathe or mill I’d look at Grizzly as they provided excellent support.

[shosh86]

When I encounter things that appear to be the same it suggests to me that they are. I believe that the Chinese buy an original, reverse engineer it, and then hand out the plans to a manufacturer who makes them and then markets them under several different brands. In other words, since many of the spec's are the same I'd bet they are the same.

I ran into this several years ago with a lathe/mill/drill I wanted to buy. Harbor Freight made one that was fairly well liked so I bought it. But one specialty tee-nut was bad on the one I got so I pulled out the drawings to find the part number. Lo and behold the drawings were wrong. It was a completely different part and the way that nut was drawn was wonky. Like the drawing we did in drafting where it was impossible to make.

So I called HF customer support and got no where. The young lady I drew had never seen one of those machines much less used one, and couldn't read a CAD drawing. So I did some research and learned that several others sold essentially the same machine, including Busy Bee and Grizzly. I downloaded the Busy Bee manual and it had the exact same error. I downloaded the Grizzly manual and it had the exact same error.

Given that I called Grizzly and when I told the gentleman that answered what part was bad he said "Let me pull the drawings and find the part number." I waited and then I heard "You can't even make that part!" And I laughed. So he said "I'm going to go take one of those apart and find out what the part number is and I'll call you back." In 30 minutes he did and said "They are $2, how many do you want? And, we are changing the drawings."

Now I'm a Grizzly customer.

For the HEI install, any advice on how to connect a 12 gauge wire to that enormous yellow wire under the brake booster?

Does anyone sell the male connector that mates with the female connector on the end of the yellow wire? If not, and I have to clip the connector off (hate to do that), how would y’all deal with the large change in wire gauge (huge yellow wire to 12 AWG).

[ArdWrknTrk]

For the HEI install, any advice on how to connect a 12 gauge wire to that enormous yellow wire under the brake booster?

Does anyone sell the male connector that mates with the female connector on the end of the yellow wire? If not, and I have to clip the connector off (hate to do that), how would y’all deal with the large change in wire gauge (huge yellow wire to 12 AWG).

I'd suggest a yellow (10-12Ga) marine butt splice to pin 30 of your relay socket.

Don't forget where Gary suggests adding a fuse in line.

While others might have differing opinions, I would probably use a fuse holder that takes the same ATC style fuses as the truck's main panel.

At least that's what I've done with auxiliary circuits like my fog lamps in an effort to KIS.

[shosh86]

I'd suggest a yellow (10-12Ga) marine butt splice to pin 30 of your relay socket.

Don't forget where Gary suggests adding a fuse in line.

While others might have differing opinions, I would probably use a fuse holder that takes the same ATC style fuses as the truck's main panel.

At least that's what I've done with auxiliary circuits like my fog lamps in an effort to KIS.

Ah yes, I’m going to fuse it 20A. I got a nice waterproof ATC fuse holder with 12 gauge wires.

So the yellow wire is 10 or 12 gauge?

[ArdWrknTrk]

Ah yes, I’m going to fuse it 20A. I got a nice waterproof ATC fuse holder with 12 gauge wires.

So the yellow wire is 10 or 12 gauge?

The EVTM shows fuselinks H & M as being 14ga and Ford's convention is to size the link two smaller than the wire it is protecting. This would suggest to me that the yellow always hot cab feed is a 10 Ga wire.

I don't have a harness to look at right now but I would say it is a safe bet.

[shosh86]

The EVTM shows fuselinks H & M as being 14ga and Ford's convention is to size the link two smaller than the wire it is protecting. This would suggest to me that the yellow always hot cab feed is a 10 Ga wire.

I don't have a harness to look at right now but I would say it is a safe bet.

Thanks Jim. I got the HEI in and everything went pretty smooth but in the end I could not get the truck to start.

I got the engine to top dead center on compression stroke. I believe I found the correct line on the harmonic balancer. It’s faint but definitely an engraved line.

Put HEI in, seated all the way. Rotor pointing to where old rotor was pointing at TDC. Rotated distributor housing so 1st plug terminal is in line with rotor. Snugged it up. Wired plugs 1-5-3-6-2-4 clockwise.

Ran a 12 gauge wire from distributor directly to battery, just for now to test.

But it just wouldn’t turn over. I put a timing light on the first plug wire and it is getting spark. Didn’t have time to check the other wires. But any ideas at this point?

[ArdWrknTrk]

Thanks Jim. I got the HEI in and everything went pretty smooth but in the end I could not get the truck to start.

I got the engine to top dead center on compression stroke. I believe I found the correct line on the harmonic balancer. It’s faint but definitely an engraved line.

Put HEI in, seated all the way. Rotor pointing to where old rotor was pointing at TDC. Rotated distributor housing so 1st plug terminal is in line with rotor. Snugged it up. Wired plugs 1-5-3-6-2-4 clockwise.

Ran a 12 gauge wire from distributor directly to battery, just for now to test.

But it just wouldn’t turn over. I put a timing light on the first plug wire and it is getting spark. Didn’t have time to check the other wires. But any ideas at this point?

I think clockwise is correct on the 300 engine.

If you have spark and compression the only thing that could be missing is fuel...

Is the float bowl full?

Have you tried I splash of gas or shot of ether down the carb throat?

[shosh86]

I think clockwise is correct on the 300 engine.

If you have spark and compression the only thing that could be missing is fuel...

Is the float bowl full?

Have you tried I splash of gas or shot of ether down the carb throat?

I haven’t tried that but it was running just before I replaced the distributor.

I think I’ll find TDC on compression stroke again and reseat all the plug wires.

[shosh86]

I haven’t tried that but it was running just before I replaced the distributor.

I think I’ll find TDC on compression stroke again and reseat all the plug wires.

Ok no luck on the foregoing. I can get it to run very poorly and very fast if I hold my foot on the gas while starting. But then it immediately dies if I let foot off or starter off. Also, pretty strong smell of gas under the hood.