I've seen several posts about the slop issue, but I haven't had one that's identical to mine, so I hope you guys can help. This is my first vehicle, and the first standard vehicle I have experience with. i show the problem in this video

 

It's been a long time since I had a 3 on the tree, so I'm going off memory here. It looks to me like you have some wear on the shifter tube causing the fore and aft play in the arms. The linkages should be able to twist some, but replacing the grommets will probably help tighten things up a bit.

If it were mine, I'd try the grommets first. That's a lot easier job than removing the shifter tube.

Looks like a nice rig for your first ride. Take care of that 300. It will give you a long dependable life with decent gas mileage and low-end torque. Resist the urge to put a V-8 in it's place.

 

My 73 had a column shifter in it when i got it and it was a lot worse than yours is showing . I replaced the linkage bushings , i never found the original one, but the ones i got worked . It helped a lot but i don;t know how long they will last as i removed it and put in a automatic transmission. I would start with bushings first and see if that takes care of it. The shifter it self can get a lot of wear in the column and cause hard shifting too.

 

Oh man, its nothing like jumping out in front of an 18 wheeler and getting hung in 1st gear!!! I have had a 78 f100 and a 75 duster 3 on the tree and ill never forget those things lol.. but with a new bushing kit they are straight up!

 

Wow, I can imagine that would be quite the experience! It was bad enough that on my 4th day of driving it it locked up on a city street, but there weren't many cars.

Anyway, I now have another issue (seems like that's all this truck is, but I've dealt enough with older mechanical things that I should know this by now )
So, my issue is a misfiring engine. Sometimes, when under heavy load, the truck just gets to bucking, and it's like I'm stalling it, but I am well in gear, and well within the speed range of the gear. It's done it to me in first, second and third! I originally thought it might be a fuel issue, maybe a faulty pump or a clogged filter, but my tech teacher believes it might be bad plugs or wires. He says that's a more common symptom of bad plugs and or wires. I checked all my wire, and every one was less than 6.5K resistance, and the shorter ones were all around 3K-4K, so I think they are all good. I am gonna try new plugs, but I thought that before I spent the money on them, I'd ask you guys what you thought. is it possible that It is the distributor?

Thanks for your help, Jeremy

 

Well I have owned 4 of these trucks and they are notorious for rusty tanks.. I have pulled the tank in each truck to find the bottom 2 inches full of muck and rust.. i did a body swap recently to my 66, poured the gas out of the tank on a rag and there was a 4" pile of rust.. just keep an extra filter on the frame or in front of the Carb when you clean the tank and keep an eye on the fuel.. that may be you're only problem

 

Yes keep your fuel system properly maintained and also teach yourself about ignition timing including timing curves and vacuum advances. If you can dial in a distributor you will be able to find power and economy that no one else knows exists.
I think they sell bushings (Nylon if I'm not mistaken) for your shift column.

 

Under light throttle, cylinders don't fill completely. The spark jumps across the plug gap more readily under those conditions.

When the throttles are open, the cylinders fill more completely. Under those conditions the spark has a harder time jumping the plug gap, but it has to go somewhere. It will, however reluctantly, jump across the plug gap if the plug is in good shape and there is nowhere else for it to go. If there is somewhere else for it to go, it won't jump the plug gap and that cylinder won't fire under load.

End-to-end continuity is not all there is to a good plug wire. They also need to keep the spark impulse inside the wire, which is the job of the insulation. Insulation can leak, allowing the spark impulse to go somewhere else. To check this, pop the hood at night and look for glowing or frank arcs from the plug wires. With someone to help you, chock the wheels and load the engine. While you stand to the side of the vehicle, look for glowing or sparking from the plug wires. If you see either, replace the plug wires.

Spark plugs live in a very inhospitable environment. They do wear out over time. Other conditions -- oil in the cylinders, worn piston rings allowing heavy blowby and lots of crankcase fumes, or megadoses of certain gasoline additives -- can cause them to fail as well. Clean the area around one when the engine is cool then remove it and look at the firing end. There are many charts showing normal, worn, oiled, caked, glazed, and otherwise healthy and unhealthy spark plugs both in service manuals and on-line. Compare this plug to these images. Examine the insulator where the boot fits over the plug as well. If it's stained or dirty, that can give the spark somewhere else to go besides across the spark gap.

If this one plug and the plug wires are good, it's time to look inside the distributor.

Remove the cap and look for a burnt trace from any of the towers or from the center pin to another tower or to ground. Also, remove the rotor and look for burnt traces on it. Check the inside of the rotor for burnt spots too -- one of the more "interrresting" events I had was an import pickup that burnt a hole through the rotor to the distributor shaft. It idled fine, but when I tried to accelerate it died. (I was in in uniform in rush hour traffic at 110 degrees carving the carbon out of the rotor so I could get to the auto parts store and replace it.)

I don't remember if that vintage truck has points or if it has an electronic ignition. If it has points, check the dwell and make sure it is in spec. If dwell is insufficient you won't get enough time for the coil to saturate; conversely, if dwell is excessive the coil will heat up and won't pass enough current to allow saturation. Either condition will reduce sparking voltage. Remember, the demand for sparking voltage goes up when the load increases. (If the ignition is electronic and doesn't use points to switch anything, there is no dwell to be concerned with.)

If you do wind up replacing plugs, coil wires, or distributor cap, put a dab of dielectric grease inside the plug wire boot before you reattach the plug wire. This will help keep the spark in the right place. Dielectric grease is the clear stuff you get at the auto parts store, not the white stuff you get at the computer shop.

Hope this helps.

 

A friend of mine years ago had a '65 240-6 that did that. After two days in the local Ford shop, and several hundred dollars in parts and labor they changed the PCV valve. That fixed it.

 

So, I opened up my distributor, and what I found was that it looked very clean apart from some white build up on where the rotor contacts the different posts. I can't figure out how to upload a pic on here, but i'm gonna clean off the build up, and I'm just wondering as to whether this could be the cause of my timing/misfiring issues (I already replaced the plugs)

Edit: still as crappy as ever, it's getting worse, so I'm gonna check my fuel lines and filters

 

Just keep crack in at it.. you'll get her goin

 

Yeah, eventually... Do you know of any step by step instructions for removing the distributor? What I've got so far is that I need to get it to TDC for cylinder 1. Then, mark the position of the distributor, and then remove the hold down clip, and then I'm a bit foggy after that, cause In a video, the guy said that all of them you can just remove, except the ford ones because they have something related to the oil pump in there, and if you're not careful, it can fall out. So, I was hoping someone who's done it before would have some input for me. I'm basically soaking up everything you guys say, because I don't have much experience.

 

Update:

First, after a long time trying to figure out where my points were, I found out I don't have any :P It is electronic ignition, so I was barking up the wrong tree for a while. Anyway, I removed and tested the coil, and it was good, and I tested the pickup in the distributor and it was good. I took the truck for a drive, let her get warmed up, did a lot of heavy acceleration, and apart from the horid exhaust noise, there wasn't anything wrong. The only things I changed were cleaning the coil tabs a bit, and unplugged a vacuum port in the air intake. I may have possibly advanced the timing a tiny bit, when I was trying to remove the distributor, but I don't think so. The next thing I'm gonna do is check my timing, but I'm unsure where the marks are. I do have access to a timing light, but I need to know where the marks are. On my crankshaft pulley, there is a notch, which can align with a line that goes up to a rubberish cover that has the markings something like 15-10-5-3-TDC, but that's it.

 

I'm hoping someone will come along that can explain it better than I.. I honestly don't have enough experience with the 300 to give you a good explination of the timing.

 

Hey, no worries. This is free help, so I can't complain! Also, I love that conversion you are doing with the '66 and '78! That is so awesome! I love the 66 body style!