I need to find my old chiltons manual. I do have the factory service manuals for a 77 ford. Anyone know how different the elctrical is on the 77 and 78's? I have a whole book just on 77 electical f series.

I figure I my as well do the brakes when I do axle seals. Anything else you guys would reccomend while I am there? Im assuming when I do the front Dana 44 to repack the hubs?

My prior expereince in the 73-79 has just been engine tune up and fluids. I did build a 96 firebird from the ground up without air 6 yrs ago lol. As long as I can do it in my garage I will try it

 

Interesting reading, Travis. Keep up the good work

 

Well I started making a To do list / would like to do. This list is practical and retains the stock 400 w/ np435 trans.

Things I can do until student loans are done (4k left! )
-Change engine oil/filter (examine used oil )
-Figure out my no gas gauge issue. ( Gas gauge worked before I went to the single tank rear mount setup)
-Wire tail lights
-Have someone redo the front/rear window install. Who ever dad had to the front windshield basically just set it back in the old seal. I can see daylight through the bottom corner by the dash.
-np435 and t-case fluid change (has this ever been done? idk lol)
-wheels/tires

After Student loans (mid summer)
-Rebuild steering compontents (lots of play over 35mph)
-Cab mounts
-fix soft brakes
-Dana 60 drums to disc using chevy calipers/pads
-rebuild front end/front brakes
-new fuel line (even after 15 gallons of fresh gas in my clean tank I am still getting dirty brown gas shown in the clear before carb fuel filter
-weld grab handle holes
-floor pans
-any other basic things to get the truck road reliable

LAST:
-Body work / paint (4 year goal maybe? will be costly Im sure)


well that is the plan so far. I have never gone through a front/rear end so that will be a great learning experience. Basically I will go through the truck with a very small budget until my student loans are finished.

Misc other things I know it needs. Valve cover gaskets, replace 3 front wheel studs.

 

As far as this one-Figure out my no gas gauge issue. ( Gas gauge worked before I went to the single tank rear mount setup)

When you dropped the front tank what wires did you un do down on the frame? And did you leave the dash switch in?

I did the same thing with ol red and had to swap a wire around down on the frame and leave the dash switch in a certain position to get it to register the rear tank.

We can get on the phone and talk it out and get that part working easy enough.

Tail lights-

Here's what the factory wiring diagram says: for rear lights
Blk/rd= backup lights
Black= side marker, tag lights (on styleside)
Brown=tail lights, tag light (on flareside)
green= RH stop and brake
Yellow/blk= LH stop and brake

And some different wording but ....Rear light wiring

BROWN: running light circuit
YELLOW with BLACK stripe: driver-side stop/turn
GREEN: passenger-side stop/turn
BLACK with RED stripe: backup lamps

 

The brown, black, yellow and green is pretty much an industry standard across the board. Even with trailer light harnesses. I wish everything could be like that, and honestly I don't know why it isn't.

As for the paint, well, just let me know. I'm not that "costly" in the grand scheme of things.

 

Thank for the help Rich and Alan. It really means a lot. Ill be working on it a little this sunday ( my only day off lol ). I was gonna start it today after cleaning the garage but the battery is toast after sitting 6 days. I either have a something killing it or the battery is just weak.

 

Put it on a slow deep trickle charge and then make sure you do not have a parasitic drain.

Hang in there, these projects do not happen over night, unless Alan is directly involved. lol

 

Very true about the Alan Statement, Alan works harder than most.

 

Ill toss a trickle on it tommorow. Ill be staying up for 36 hrs to get stuff done Sunday!

I think my father in law has a good battery charger so I will ask to borrow it for the day. I plan to see if it will fit in the garage (if I measured right ill have 1inch with of clearance with the worn 31's it has now. My driveway is a akward slope so it really is a bummer considering if I want to run a bigger tire later it will be stuck outside.

Sunday's goals:

-Inventory the remaining spare parts in the cab
-Start it and drive around the block
-Change oil/filter
-examine oil
-Pull valve cover to determine if I have any black death signs of sludge

We cut the exhaust for some reason when we took out the front tank, I forgot why but since it does need new exahsut or this one patched I have been debating redoing the whole system with fender exit headers.

I do have a 400 Elelbrock performer intake I got from my old 79' Bronco I bought as a roller.

Either way it should be fun. I also need to detail my Dad's 92 Ford F350 Dually so I can put it on the selling block for him. The house looks like the Ford fest came to take over with the Red/white Dually parked in front of the house and the 78' in the driveway

My wife said she wouldnt ride in the truck with me around the block but I am sure my ole dog will lol

P.s.

If anyone is interested in any of those parts I posted in the Mo buy thread ill take 75% off for any FTE member

 

Now this is something that need's addressed! The rest of the truck problems are minor, but this situation has to be fixed ASAP.

Maybe an intervention of sorts? If you have to resort to begging, bribery, or an all out " you better" w/stern look, followed by puppy dog eyes, please".

Do what you gotta do! lo Yes in the attached pic there are.

2 folks that just got married
Miller Lite flip flops
A milk crate (was going to be the step for her to get in)
A guy in shorts, t shirt and a ball cap. (at a wedding and it was the brides father....)
A cowboy on his knees.
A Ford truck with NO bed and stacks.

And no this was not a try out for the "My big redneck wedding" show.

 

Hey I just went back and saw you bed gap shots. Your frame is fine. You lined up one side or the other to be dead even with the side of the cab. ....that's actually wrong. The bed is slightly narrower than the cab. You have to put the bed bolts in loose, then eye ball the alignment side to side. You'll notice the bed, when placed dead center over the frame, will sit about one inch inside both sides of the cab. Does that make sense? That is, the cab should stick out 1" further than the side of the bed. ...this is normal. The rest of the funny looking gap should go away when you straighten it out side to side.

 

Thanks for that Alan. That is it

Rich haha that post cracked me up. My wife is not a big fan of older trucks but she likes to give me crap since the truck currently looks rough . She actually really liked our old smurf blue 2wd 79' F100

 

Well its been a busy 4 months working 2 jobs. We decided that I will use the Truck as a winter DD when the snow gets bad so my wife can use our AWD CR-V. Her 2012 Focus is horrible in the snow.

Im leaning on 255/8516R all terrains.
I have a week off in October so ill be addressing issues that make it driveable for a 50 mile round trip commute in the snow.

 

Well it has been a long time gentlemen. Things kept coming up and the truck sat in my driveway.

Dad passed away Dec 2014. It was a hard time and left me with zero motivation at the time to work on the truck. I had a day off today and did everything I always wanted to drive it. After working on it for half the day it has really motivated me. The memories of my dad and I really started rolling in.

I changed the oil/filter. It had not been changed in 7 years! Dad didnt change much oil lol. I was not getting fuel to the the carb. Pulled the inlet hose to the fuel pump and connected to a 1 gallon gas tank and it fired and ran (roughly)

So, either the line needed primed or the sending unit was junk. I rewired the sending unit and cleaned the ground. Tested my volts at the sending unit, good to go. Went ahead and changed the plugs and wires. Plugs were dark black and sooty. Who knows how old they are, they were rusted, literally. Found out on my gas can start 2 wires were junk so it was on 6 cylinders then.

Now I needed to prime the line from the pump to the sending unit. I did the air compressor trick, then test started it. It ran gloriously but died. I went to add a tad of gas to the carb and holy crap a huge leak under the truck. The air compressor bump in the tank had made a small leak that i missed between the 2 hard lines blow out. I quickly grab a bucket and cut new line.

I let the gas dry on the frame and fire it up. It runs so smooth!!! So after 7 years of running like a dog with 3 legs it runs solid. So test drive time. front right brake feels half locked up. Rear driver brake was locked up but unlocked on the test drive around the cul-de-sac. It has sat on these junk tires for 7 years and they have flat spots. It drove rough and I have lots to do but I didnt let it stop me.

Engine runs awesome. Next Im looking to overhaul the brakes since the fuel system is basically overhauled now. Then change transmission, t-case and differentials fluids.
All in all, awesome day.

In other news, I also own a 1972 Nova and got into automotive photography back in 2013. You can check out my work if interested at Autofaze and www.facebook.com/autofaze


Good to be back!

 

Travis welcome back, again sorry to hear about you dads passing, hang in there. New motivation is a good thing, stay with it, sound like you are on a roll.

Lets see if we can get together some time and get you some tires and rims.
Start, stop and steer are always #1,2,3.

Actually start, idle on it owns, stay running, not overheat or clog the carb. Make sure it always can be stopped, to include e brake working AND releasing, before you try to test drive and ck the steering part. And the shifting of the trans...and ...and...

Pic a system and work it over, then go to the next. Anything you need parts wise just holler, I hear the mail man drives from my area to yours daily.