Hi all,

well i am a very happy bunny, my '51 F3 became certified safe to use on UK roads ,,,, (passed the MOT test) !!

She's a V8, named "Tallulah"



Rewired with UK spec (ish) lighting, still 6V electrics, new brakes all round, '65 ford F100 rear axle, new fuel pump, new radiator and battery, dry air filter, new plugs and leads, 16" F250 wheels, ,,,

Have tested but Not sure the generator is charging, fuel gauge goes straight to full when ignition is switched on, temperature gauge stuck at midway but climbs to hot when motor is started and left on tickover, oil pressure gauge seems to work and shows 30psi on tickover with engine warm, charge gauge stuck

I thought fit a towing eye before venturing out on the road lol ,,, any other tips??

I can't wait but should have paperwork done to enable road use in about ten days and i can't wait!!

 

Congrats! Sounds like you've got some old wiring to work thru.

 

congrat's on your truck !! my truck has similer problems ..so I have put in after market guages for the oil pressure ,water temp and charge status ..a good set is less then 50 bucks/Euro's..and not electric so voltage is not a problem ..Oh yah ..wipers ...you know it's gonna rain when yo go out if you don't get new wipers on first !!and Auto towing package ..we callit Triple "A" ..so yo can bring her home IF anything goes wrong ..and itwon't if your prepared ..so .. you have the 6 or the 8 under the hood ??

 

Thanks!

All the wires are new,,, i reckon perhaps fuel and temp gauges or senders or both are kaput

Does anybody know of any common checks i can do to trace whats at fault? Is it normal for these gauges to mess around or are they normally accurate and fully functioning? its all standard unmodified.

 

Thanks , yeah auto tow is called RAC here! so i am covered for that,,

Its the V8 and i have added electric wipers and screen washers so got that covered

I kinda like the originality and the original gauges so i'd rather not change them but i see your point,, saying that i just remembered i have a spare cluster so i guess i should fit that and see if there are any improvements first... voltage is not a problem you say???? please could you explain that, cheers

 

mecanical guages .. temp is a solid tube that replaces a temp sender ..the oil guage is a mecanical pressure unit ..delivering pressure via a 1/4 inch oil line to the guage ..and a volt meter will show 7 or 8 volts when chargeing less when there is a problem ..and it connects across the battery ....your new at this arn't you ?? not to worry ..we all learn from somewhere ..I hope you have friends to help ..you seem to have gotten a heck of a lot accomplished already !!! Iwish I was good enough on th computer to do a link or show you what I 'm trying to say ..Pictures solve a lot of problems...

 

Ahh ok, mechanical gauges - nice! simple! sorry for the dumb questions,,, voltage across the battery = 6.2 v, but it never changed as the engine was revved hence i think the generator is not charging..

 

How did you add windshield washers? Drill the hood?

 

I'll just say congratulations on passing the MOT. From what some of the other guys on your side of the pond say about it, it doesn't sound easy, and they can be awful picky about the smallest of details.

Cheers!

 

Thanks!! yeah MOT testers can be a real pain.

I drilled the scuttle panel in the end, one jet each side about 2" from the edge of the "air conditioning vent" flap, as much as i never wanted to drill any holes i just couldnt make any other way work.

It looks good tho' i used Rover Mini jets which are quite discreet and work really well, i used a pump and reservoir from a VW Passat, although the pump is 12V it works fine with the 6V it gets. i plan to change out the plastic reservoir for a Jack Daniels bottle for coolness, strapped to the passenger side 'kick panel', i am just waiting for an empty bottle from my local Pub to become available lols

There is so much to do on the truck, as you probably know, the weather here is often very rainy and horrible after about September and the truck has very little paint on her, so long term she will need to be dis-assembled and painted, i just want to find out what the engine is like, whether it will need a rebuild, and i am considering a Jaguar front subframe swap for improved driveability, so yeah loads to do but i am so chuffed to reach this milestone it means i can get to drive her a bit and exercise my big grin!! lol

 

The gauges should work normally. There's a section in the Shop Manual, Part 3, Chapter 1, Section 5, page 277 - 281 that includes information on how to test the gauges.