Hello from the new guy,
I have been a ford truck guy for a long time. My old friend is a 78 F250 4WD that I repowered with a lincoln 460. I also have a 79 F250 2wd trailer special with a 460 that I have fitted with a power tailgate.

I recently came across a 85 F350 2wd bucket truck(ex utility company truck) with a 460 and a stick that I saved from going to the scrapper. The owner stopped running the truck some time ago as the oil pan was leaking through.

I have a bunch of spare 460's along with parts I've hoarded to keep my 78 & 79 going so I figure I will pull the engine and swap pans since it doesn't look like I can raise the engine in the truck and do the swap. Am I wrong?

My question is what are the problems that occur with the 85's with the 460's?

I notice that there is no fuel pump at the corner but it is still carbed. Electric pump in the tank...I hope not! There is a black box with a red reset button inside the cab similar to the one on my SHO...is it a pump reset?
There is also some kind of funky 3 tube valve that looks like a supply and return and feed to the carb?
Then all of the smog pumps(2) and injection tubes into the manifolds?

What happened to the simple 460 with a supply line from the tank?

I had a couple of 89 460 trucks that I got rid of because all of the electronics and the crazy way Ford fed them with the 2 pumps and all the switching gear. I thought that the 85 was before ford went to electric pumps and fuel injection?

Anyway, thanks for the space...hope you guys can educate me.

John

 

Welcome to FTE.

This is what I would suggest doing.

You may have what Ford called the Hot Fuel Handling System which can cause problems, you might search through the 80-86 archives here, or maybe go googling.

IIRC the electric pump & return line (but with a carb) were an effort to eliminate vapor locks.

The electric pump gets its power from a relay hooked to an oil pressure sending unit; if it thinks the engine isn't running, it cuts power to the fuel pump. This is to not feed a fire resulting from an accident.

Electrically-powered fuel delivery systems have an inertia switch that cuts power to the fuel pump(s) if it detects a sudden (physical) shock. I believe these are located on the pass side firewall in the cab, near the heater box.

If your dash has an EMISSIONS light in the top-left corner, it is programmed by Ford to come on once every ~60,000 miles as a reminder to check & service the emissions control systems.

This is not a CEL, such a light connected to a computer didn't come about until 1988.

There is a reset button in a module located behind the dash, near the wiper ****:





Welcome to the 1980s.

Before true EFI there was this interim technology known as the feedback carburetor; this is a carb with various sensors & solenoids that feed a computer, the computer controls the ignition timing (via the EEC IV ignition system) & fuel/air mixture based on sensor input. This was standard on the 6-banger & 302 engines on the half-ton trucks, heavier vehicles with larger engines still had the DS II ignition.

True EFI first started becoming optionally available in 85 or 86 or somewhere thereabouts before it finally became standard equipment.

The 4V 351W HOs & the 460s were the last to move over to EFI, I don't believe there were any feedback carb setups installed on those engines. I believe this happened somewhere around 87 or 88 but could have been around 92, I really don't remember for certain.

 

IIRC, if your truck has 2 tanks you'll have a valve that has both supply and return from both tanks awa the engine. The valve determines which tank to draw from by the pressure from the in-tank pump and switches both supply and return to that tank. At least, that's the plan, but I have seen it draw from one tank and return to the other, which does weird things to your calculated fuel mileage - awa does a number on using only one tank.

Two smog pumps?! Wow. Must have miles of under-hood plumbing.

 

Guys,
Thanks for the education.
So the Duraspark that is on my 78/79 with the module box changed as well?

I wonder how big of a hassle it would be to pull the current engine with all of the sensors and pumps and replace it with one of my simple 460's from my stash.

Use the mech.fuel pump and the old duraspark ign. system.

I like the 350 chassis, the bucket truck setup just don't want all the junk they piled on the engine.

All the tech. is OK when they are new but after some years and some rust...I can see this stuff being a real headknocker. I am willing to bet that Ford also obsoleted a bunch if the valves and sensors that are needed to make this system function. Again, just a guess based on the other Ford products I own.

Any other information, please keep it coming.

John