Hey guys, I went out and got myself a "project truck" The good... The cab and bed are straight and only some minor spots of surface rust peeking thru. Good tires, good breaks, runs, & was pretty cheap.... Now for the bad.. The past owner had someone WELD the Dual Mass flywheel and as far as i know, never even replaced the throw out bearing. It sounds like 50 steelies rolling around the bell housing. Has anyone heard of that before?

Initially he wanted 2500.00 over craigs list and being 100 miles away I held onto his every conversation over the phone before hand. Lets just say he was almost ready to pay me to take it. He did assure me that it would make the journey home, which it did. The start of the return was a bit skippy, but she seemed to remember how to run mid trip and "bellowed" the rest of the way home. UGH this thing is loud.

I bought the truck thinking I want to turn this into a chicken grease fryer and been studying up on the conversion. The way I understand it, it's basically super filtered heated cooking oil. I like the thoughts of leaving an area with a hint of fried chicken in the air!

I've always been a Ford man and built a few from chassis up (2 with 70's f250 and a 350 wrecker frames), always a big block, and always ended up with a worthy truck. I think this truck is worthy of some time.

Saying that, I've always had gas trucks and this is my first diesel. Anyone have any standard tips and checks for a newbie diesel owner or links for some good reading and understanding? She has almost 300,000 ... but still seems to get up and go well.

 

Welcome

first off we like to see pics so post em up if you got em.

I would say open up the intake and slap a 4" exhaust system on there.

Are you turbo or N/A?

 

Non turbo and not sure how to add pictures. I will look into doing that tomorrow. I am waiting on a wiper motor ... (here we go with the money pit on wheels) and have it a tad tore up, but will get some pics tomorrow of her as she sits, as I got her. It does have what appears to be a new exhaust on her 2 1/2 " dual with welded on 4" chrome tips on each side. 4" will calm her mouth?

 

does it have mufflers? if not that is the problem.

 

I loaded a few pictures. Yeah, It seems to have these small welded in looking ones, but I they don't work worth a darn if they are mufflers.

 

welcome to the forum.....

a few things you may want to check into.....

Glow Plugs.... only use motorcraft ZD9 plugs in this truck. others will eventually swell in the head causing you to have to pull the head to get it out or. ruin your engine. there is a link to the GPS in my signature below

Fuel Filter..... the stock filter is the element which screws onto the filter head and has an opening on the bottom where you have to screw on a cap down below. this is a common leaking point and can be a PITA to fix. it can be replaced by a one piece filter. i have been running the 1 piece filters for a couple years now and have no problems with it. there is a link to said filter in my signature below.

Antifreeze/coolant...... these trucks require what is known as an SCA additive. it is a sacrificial layer built up around the cylinders to prevent cavitation. cavitiation is pin holes in the cylinder walls...... truck wont run if this happens.... certain antifreeze's come with said additive in them... John Deere Cool Gard II is one of these antifreeze's. i run it and have been for the past couple years as well. have no problems with it. there is also a link to the antifreeze in my signature below.

if your going to be changing the clutch and don't want to shell out the money for a new DMF and want to go with the SMF conversion i would also suggest south bend clutch. ive heard some pretty good things about them and if i convert thats what i'll be going with. here is a link to the clutch's from south bend. when i called they quoted me 600 dollars for the hole kit to do the conversion.

South Bend Clutch Catalog - Ford Clutch Kits

 

Thank you so much, that is definitely some things I will get on this week. Is there a way of telling if they are the correct glow plugs? Also, thanks for the clutch advice, as I am definitely going solid fly. Advance had a solid conversion kit for 6 and change lifetime on all its components, had the throw-out bearing and the pilot too, hope its that South Bend setup as I like that warrantee.

Tomorrow is putting my new wiper motor in and the next day will be the coolant flush and change.

 

to check the plugs you have to pull them out and visually inspect them its not hard to do on N/A motors

 

Something odd i did notice when i went to fill the rear tank, there was vapor coming out of the tank, smoke like looking..... I hope it's not something that will kill this project before it really starts.

 

that shouldn't be an issue... just some vapor more than likely