2X on the heat Hillbuddy, like 97 in the shade here today.. Had the old '68 out twice last week, and am sure glad that I finally put the A/C in. Well worth the time, $$ and struggle last spring. I let it sit and idle, with the A/C on, so the wife did not overheat, while I was in the hardware store.. came out, and it was way high temp... ran a block, and it cooled down.. maybe I need an electric fan, to keep it cool..?? I thought that the 4 core radiator would do the job, but Noooooope guess it wasn't moving enough air. Might be better all the way around, with no 7 blade fan to pull...?

Baja

 

Electric fan better for that 4 row core IMHO. The trouble with 4 rows is they are so wide the engine mounted fan has a hard time drawing enough air through them at idle. An electric fan mounted right on that pup will draw enough.

 

Under the hood again... da da de da.. Come on *****, sing it... under the hood again.. vacation first, then when I get back... off to order coconut shrimp for dinner...

Baja

 

I guessing that you don't have a shroud on it either? But any way the electric setup should be better. If that's a big rad, you may need dual fans. You did the 3G alternator already didn't you?

 

Long ways from putting a/c in either of my two bumps - thanks to acquiring the Ranger. Even without a/c the 69 can run a little warmer than I like when running up and down the hills at highway speeds. Thinking a shroud and get the fan closer to the radiator would help a bunch.
I did that with the 71 by going to a water pump from a 75, 3-row upper pulley (needed for the p/s) and different fan spacer.
The 69 might be history for me. Not really in a position financially and space-wise to keep the number of vehicles I have - 69 f100, 71 f100, 2010 Harley, 2011 Ranger, 2016 Explorer. But the wife is reluctant to give up the 69 - says she likes riding in it, putting her arm up on the bench seat while cruising our little burg.

 

Contributing to the "money squandered," not necessarily lessons learned aspect of this thread I finally ran across some dash defroster vents on ebay. At $45 they were not a steal, but were something I have been looking for for a while.

 

I'm not 'jacking', but yes I do have a shroud, and a big no clutch fan, but the 4 core aluminum radiator cools fine when I am moving around town, or on the highway... in fact on the highway, it takes about 10 miles to come off cold... I do have an electric fan, a 16" one, and may fab up some sheet metal and install it soon... now, back to your regularly scheduled forum..

Baja

 

Sloooooow progress. Got the seat belts and seats in Saturday. Truck is back to starting easier as well. Ran more fresh gasoline through it. I will be replacing the seat belts with three-point ones soon. But these will get it past inspection when the time comes (about 2018 at my current rate).
Of course that had to have challenges - went down to fill up a gas can. Thought I would run my blue 69 through the car wash while I was there. Ends up, I left the gas cap off. So off to Oreilley's to get some Heet. Topped off the tank and drove it for a while.

 

Did it "buck" for a while?

 

Oh, I forgot some "minor" items checked off the list. Have installed new rubber cab mounts all the way around. None were easy. Probably did it incorrectly, particularly up front where I used a jack (had a wide piece of wood on it to spread out the weight) to hold the cab off the frame while replacing the rubber mounts.
The cab mounts themselves looked pretty good, thankfully.

 

Life, work and others kind of keeping me away from working on the truck.
However, I am revisiting the idea of manual transmission for the truck. Probably a bad idea.
Don't think floor shift would be a good approach, but it does provide some simplicity in certain aspects of the project. But finding the correct steering column to support that and power steering could be challenging.
Also, would be back to installing the clutch and clutch pedal and would I be using the same tranny that came out of the truck (the 3 speed)?
In other words, I would be tearing up a lot of work already done, so I had better get that idea out of my head.

 

I don't know if there is something better but I still use gorilla snot. Sometimes on gaskets too, like those pesky leak-o-matic sbc valve covers. Glue the gasket to the cover and silicon on the head side. Gasket always comes off with the valve cover the next time. Old race car trick from when we run solid lifters and set the valves before every race night.

 

Are there any floor-shift manual transmissions that would pair up with my 300-six and use the existing low hump?

 

Let's hear form the guys that have 300's or maybe the parts experts too!

 

How many trany options that also used a re-moveable cover in your trucks?
I would think T18, if column shift did the cover come off? I am sure autos did not as they do not on the 80-86 trucks.

I will try and get out to the garage today and check the 2 I have for my 81 F trucks to see if 1 is lower than the other.

Both my trucks had the 300 six in them but should not make a difference if L6 or V8, it is the trany that does.
I can tell you the shifter holes are in different places because of 2 different tranys used.
If I had to guess the one for the T18 is more centered and taller. The other for an SROD trany is farther back and may be lower?

I just don't know if they would fit your truck being mine are for 80-86 but would give you a start where to look maybe.
I believe the covers in the newer (than 80-86 trucks) for the ZF tranys are even taller than the T18 one.
Dave ----