Hey all, so i have this LEGO Truck (http://www.facebook.com/legotruck) art car iv been building out for the past 3 years. I have a couple things that need to get done before i take it to burning man for the 3rd year in a row.

1. Front brakes are shot. iv done a lot of brakes on other vehicles including my 89 f250, but these seem a bit intimidating. les scrawb said i should replace my rotors, calipers and bearings. iv never done that much before. iv only done pads and rotors before. and help or guides?

2. tranny fluid/ filter replacement. not sure what im getting into, but looks like i just have to drop the tranny pan and swap out the filter?

3. dash light it out. a fuse diagram would be awesome?!? or could it be the bulb? and suggestions?

4. how to adjust idle speed. the last guy turned the idle up real high thinkign it would keep the truck cooler. i wanna turn it back down. how do i do that?

5. how to replace fuel pump. never done it, seems simple enough right?

6. best way to wire up electrical system: i have 2 batteries, high output ambulance alternator, huge inverter, mini inverter, LEDs amps, and 2 car audio amps all on the same system. wondering if i should separate the truck from the accessories. also installing a battery kill switch or selector is a good idea.

7. broken tiny little yellow hose on top of the thermostat housing. dunno what its for but its split in half.





https://s3.amazonaws.com/ksr/assets/...jpg?1340398090

 

Looks like fun, wish I could go.
On Q#2 the trans fluid change, the filter on a C-6 is attached with 3/8 and 5/16 inch hex head screws, close enough to use 10 and 8 MM tools if need be. The only thing to watch for is one of the rear filter screws is longer than the others, make sure to put it back in the same location.

 

thats pretty cool!

for the brakes, they aren't too scary to work on. the calipers come off just like the ones on your f250, with the 2 little rubber/steel rails you have to drive out, then slide it off and hang it on a bungee cord or wire from something convenient, then to replace the rotor, you'll notice that the new one includes the hub - so you have to take apart the wheel bearings, and may as well install new bearings and seals since you have them out anyway. make sure to pack the bearings with grease properly - i use a handy-packer and love it. when taking them apart, lay everything out in order on a clean piece of cardboard so you can see how it goes back together.

for the tranny fluid change, it can be as simple as just dropping the pan, but that'll make a huge mess. my trick is to remove the cover over the bottom of the flex plate and torque converter, turn the engine over by hand until you find the torque converter drain plug (usually takes a 7/16 wrench), remove this drain plug and drain it neatly into a suitable container, reinstall the plug, start engine for 3-5 seconds, repeat the process, and then remove the tranny pan, now that it won't make a mess all over the place. its easy and straightforward from there - and you can do it the "normal" way by just dropping the pan, but its messy. i developed this trick to avoid the mess. if necessary, draining the torque converter can be greatly sped up by using a small straw to blow air up through the drain hole - i use the straw from a can of carb cleaner stuck into the blower nozzle from my air compressor, and that torque converter goes empty in like 15 seconds.

dash light - if any of them are lit, the problem is probably bad bulbs or bad connections in the bulb sockets. if none of them light, a fuse or switch problem is possible. IIRC it should be like a 5a fuse, and you should only have one or two at that rating, so it should be easy to find.

idle speed - i believe your rig should use an idle air control valve (IAC) to control idle speed. when these fail, they usually either get stuck wide open (high idle speed) or totally closed (stall at idle).
unless the PO said that he turned it up manually, i would look at this first.
if the PO did say he turned it up manually, he did wrong, but you can get it somewhere close at least. there should be a screw on the throttle body that sets how far the throttle plate can close, and he may have turned it up with the goal you mentioned. if you're sure thats the case, turn it back a bit. the proper setting is as far closed as you can have it without any sticking or binding when its at the idle position.
it may be that he had the IAC valve fail and turned it up here to make it run anyway - i don't know for sure.

fuel pump(s) - i believe 87 had a low pressure pump in each fuel tank (1 or 2) and a high pressure pump along the frame rail. in tank pumps generally require you to remove or at least lower the fuel tank. i like using a transmission jack for this purpose.
the pump on the frame rail is roughly under the drivers door, on the inboard side of the left frame rail, and replacement of it is very straightforward.

electrical - read my signature to get a quick look at what i have in my rig... i would suggest having one or more batteries run the inverter(s) separate from the starting battery. for the separate systems, they sell a "multi-battery isolater" which looks fancy and can be fairly expensive. just follow the included instructions and you'll be good to go. or you can spend less money and buy a high amperage relay which looks like a starter solenoid but is made for continuous duty, and have it installed so it connects the accessory batteries to the starting battery when the ignition is on, and disconnects when off. here's an old thread from when i was setting up all the stuff in my van https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1...le-advice.html i hope something in there is helpful for you as well.

now as for that little hose off your thermostat housing, i know some fords from this era had a couple of thermostatically controlled vacuum circuits, which were operated by a vacuum "tree" thingy coming off the thermostat housing. these usually had most of their plumbing in brightly colored plastic tubes, roughly 1/8" OD. if that sounds about right, you should inspect for any disconnected ends, and reconnect or plug them as required.

 

what about replacing the caliper too?

thank you so much for the extremely useful response! hope i can get it finished in time

 

in my opinion, the caliper should be replaced only if it has a problem. we've already looked at how to dismount it, so all thats left for replacement is to remove the bolt holding the line to it, and reassembling the new one in the same way you found the old one. once its installed, you need to bleed the air out of the system. to do so, pump the brake pedal several times, then go open the bleeder screw on the wheel, it'll probably burp out a bunch of air because the caliper was empty when installed. close it again and repeat. while doing so, you may have a hose on the bleeder screw so the fluid goes into a container instead of going everywhere. continue bleeding until all the air is gone. doing it in the way i described will speed up the "gravity bleeding" process, and once you're done, opening the bleeder valve will produce a slow ooze of brake fluid out of it. tighten the bleeder screw, use brake cleaner to rinse off any fluid that may have spilled on your brake parts.
note that there are other methods of bleeding the air out of them, but the method i described is the easiest for a man working alone, and does the job just fine.

 

The calipers are so old I'm worried they will seize up like the one on my 89 f250 did. Figured I would be smart to replace them while I'm in there

 

Agreeing with Josh on the gravity bleed method---it's easy AND effective!

If you're in doubt about the calipers definitely swap them both out---its somewhat cheap peace-of-mind and reliability "insurance" while enroute.

Now---where the hell does one find those big Lego blocks anyway?

 

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got the front brakes done. wasnt too bad. glad i replaced the calipers too. if the boots on them were any indication they were totally crumbling.

tranny went easy, but super messy.

fixed the dash light. it was the little metal clip behind the headlight housing. just bent it forward and bam the dash worked again.

i backed off the idle screw all the way and it still idles fast when its in P. it idles normally in drive (did before as well).

fuel pump was a beotch. the tension on the lever was killin me. finally got it in after way too long.

im just gonna replace the batteries with new rv deep cycle and put a kill switch on one of them as a backup. everything is already so wired up it would be a hell of a job to redo it.

i just cut the tip of that yellow hose off and jammed it into the rubber tree. lucky the break was close to the rubber tree

thank you so much for the advice!! add the LEGO truck on facebook.com/legotruck