Funny thing about driving it is, I need the truck in the morning. The alternator didn't come until 6:30 tonight, it was a different delivery guy than normal. I about had a heart attack, I thought it wasn't going to come. I'll let you all know tomorrow how it goes. I'll be putting about 10 miles on it.

 

Got the new timing set on and the timing cover remounted.

 

Not today, but this past weekend:


Drove 1210.7 miles filling up with fuel 5 times. Average fuel mileage was 21.93 mpg with a low of 19.59 and high of 23.37.


1984 F150 with 4.9L, 4 speed manual O.D., 3.08 rear gears and Duraspark conversion.


Had a great time at the OK GTG in Skiatook, OK!

 

I'm curious if anyone on here can come close to that MPG. My 2011 Murano doesn't get much better than that, although I do tend to drive faster than you do. And it has SEFI, a continuously-variable tranny, and 25 years of additional technology over your truck.

As for the GTG, it was indeed fun. And getting two projects done as well as talking about trucks was gravy.

 

Well that 3G alternator is one whiz bang setup. Works great, ammeter in the dash doesn't read quite right but who cares, that's what I have a volt meter down there for. Charges great, just need a shorter belt now.

 

If the ammeter isn't "broken", like seemingly most of them on these trucks, and you left the shunt in then it should be interesting what readings you get as they should still be accurate. That's because the shunt is sized to send the ammeter to full scale with about 1/2 of the output your new alternator can throw.

 

Worked like it should when I had the 2G, now when it's running it just reads in the middle, when I turn stuff on it read slightly discharged. I don't really care, I just look at the volt meter I have installed.

 

Powdercoated the intake! Yesterday I powdercoated the valve covers!

 

Did a bit of drilling and tapping on the block today, as explained in Dad's Engine. As a teaser, I just started drilling, taking this hole from 1/4" to 5/16". Should make the engine lighter and increase the cubic inches.

 

To put the reply in politically correct terms, El Toro Crappo.

 

Silar, I was having issues with oil burping out my filler/breather cap. I changed it to a chrome one that had the vacuum line running back to the carb.

 

When I first bought my truck, the driver's side door glass had been shot out by a BB gun. So my dad and I pulled a driver's side door glass from an 87-96, not knowing that there is a difference between 80-86 and 87-96.

The 80-86 vent window is slightly shorter in width at the "leg" than the 87-96, so the 87-96 door glass is smaller than the 80-86 door glass, and it fits loosely in the 80-86 vent window. Loose fitting windows = leaks, so I decided to finally fix it.

Today I went out to the junkyard to grab an 80-86 door glass. But just my luck, the only two 80-86 trucks in the yard were missing their driver's side window. But all of the 87-96 trucks still had theirs.

So, time for plan B. Since I have the 87-96 window, I figured the next best thing would be to grab a vent window from an 87-96. I grabbed one from an 88, and then headed off to NPD to buy new door beltline weather stripping since mine was 32 years old and barely there. But of course I forgot about the different sizes of the vent windows while at NPD, so I ended up ordering the belt line for an 80-86, which overlaps with the 87-96 window shown below. I decided for now to just put it all together, and see if I can find a driver's side window and vent windows from an 80-86 in another junkyard.

New vent window is on the bottom. You can see the difference in width of the "legs".




Original vent window rusting out:





New belt line weather stripping vs 32 year old belt line.





Overlap of the 80-86 belt line on the 87-96 vent window leg.

 

Also forgot to mention that my window regulator is toast. The window rolls down just fine, but when you try to roll it up it feels like the teeth are skipping. If I pull the window up with my hand, the teeth don't skip.

 

I need new window seals and a new runner for both of my windows, they're pretty much gone. As far as ordering a new alternator belt. I measured it this morning. Stock belt is 37.5" and I measured it with a piece of rope in the pulleys like the belt would be, with the alternator in the half way position (slightly less than half way) and I got 36". Looks like I can get a 36" Goodyear Gatorback belt for $5.12 off Ebay, through a wholesale place. Same width and all as the original, just 1.5" shorter.

 

You probably just need to replace the three plastic rollers in the gear head.
Some people use metal nuts instead.
I don't have power anything in my truck, but there are lots of threads on this.