I think we're all on the same sheet of music.... changing the curve or gear to a more compatible material is OK, changing the actual gear ratio to the cam is, kinda like stealing Jobu's rum, "A bad thing. It's VERA bad thing!"

 

This is what I heard. They suggested using the gear that came with the EFI engine because the diameter was slightly different and it would be a more proper fit. I have no experience with it though, just from reading that one post with the advice. :-)

I have the engine ready to take the head and oil pan off now to check it over. I'm not going to build it up for performance, but I just want to make sure the bearings aren't showing any significant wear, and that the head looks good. The spark plugs all looked good so that's a good sign.

I should be able to order the intake in two weeks, and the carburetor after that (am planning on getting a 1978 or earlier). Would I want to get any particular type of distributor? Get one for a pre-1979 or something? Or is one of the mid-80s okay? Am I right in understanding that I'll have to get a Duraspark module and hook it up somehow? Is it self-contained? What would be required?

Thank you to everybody who is responding. :-)

Best regards,
Rick C. Hodgin

 

In the meantime I've sold a 1986 Honda Civic Wagovan 4WD. A 22 yr old young man wanted to buy it and restore it to original body-wise, and drop a higher performance engine in the car. Very interesting speaking with him.

I will be looking for parts after next week. Need intake manifold, carb, and distributor. If anyone has some from a 1978 or earlier 300-6 they'd like to sell, let me know.

Best regards,
Rick C. Hodgin

 

I am finally ready to continue with this. I tried to give the EFI additional time to work. I even switched out the head a few weeks ago, but the engine symptoms are exactly the same.

I have a 1976 300-6 with all wiring. There's also another thread regarding this, but I wanted to give an update on this one.

90 300 i6 EFI misfire - Ford Truck Enthusiasts Forums

Best regards,
Rick C. Hodgin

 

Okay, I've finally gotten around to doing this. Everything's been mostly smooth up until dropping in the distributor. I have the 90 EFI and a 76 300i6 with Duraspark II that I'm using for the switch-over.

I'm finding the distance from the tip of the hex rod on the oil pump side, to the top of where it sits flat on the block is 7-11/16" on the 90 EFI, and 7-7/8" on the 76, 3/16" shorter. When I insert the distributor it bottoms out on the hex rod just under 3/16" from sitting flat against the block.

I also had two small issues. There was a casting nub on the EFI exhaust manifold that had to be ground flush with a little hand grinder, and on the 76 intake manifold there is an extra bolt casting for the throttle bracket assembly mount that is in the way of the EFI exhaust manifold. It had to be ground flush to the natural contours of the intake.

Right now I'm stuck on the hex rod length issue. Both hex rods are the same length, an the distance from where it sits flat on the block to the gear teeth is the same. It just seems like in the 76 it seats 3/16" less than in the 90. I've got the hand grinder with a cutoff wheel. I've considered just shortening it by 3/16" but I wanted to get on here and get some advice first. :-)

BTW, I found the 76 300i6 on Craig's List for $125 with everything I needed. Now, I just hope it all works. :-)

Best regards,
Rick C. Hodgin

 

Have someone help you. Slowly roll the engine over and push on the distrutor at the same time. It will slip in.

 

The distributor not mounting completely is a common issue when installing it. It happens all the time. As rbtom said, just rock the engine a bit to get it to line up differently. The distributor will drop in. You can try a few different angles of the distributor too.

And yes, needing to grind some off the manifold is necessary or you'll break the intake when you torque it down. Usually doesn't take much, but needs to be done.

 

I'd like to know more about this. I have a couple of those distributors - 1 in my '85, and another spare.

I did a quick search w/no results, so still looking. I'm not sure the correct search terms to narrow it down.

If anyone has a link, post it please!

 

I've gotten the truck up and running. I had a hiccup because I didn't recognize that the coil needed to be switched on/off rapidly in order to generate a spark. I had always assumed once you put 12V into a coil, the full potential voltage came out without any additional requirements. I was confused why a condenser and points were needed, or their modern equivalents, for example, because of that thinking. As such, I read the wiring diagram and saw the "tachometer" wire, and assumed it was used for the dash display, and didn't hook it up. And, when I tried to start the vehicle ... no spark (of course).

I saw a video on YouTube which explains how the breaking of the circuit is required, and then I reasoned that the tachometer wire must do more than read the discharges, but actually controls them. So, I hooked it up and it worked.

Everything went smoothly with the transition, and I'm to the point of doing final things.

My truck is a 1990 F150, and has the two high pressure fuel-pumps in the tank. I'm told the 1989 and earlier had low-pressure pumps in the tank, and a single high-pressure pump outside of the tank.

-----
My question now is: Are the fuel pumps interchangeable with the 1990 and later vehicles? Can I buy two 1989 F150 low pressure fuel pumps and have them mount right up to the fuel tanks on my 1990 F150?

TYIA!

Best regards,
Rick C. Hodgin

 

What about a Holley Bypass Regulator 12-803BP (from Summitracing)??

I used this with some 96' fuel tanks and high pressure pump when I swapped out the carb. I had the fuel tanks and not the EFI so I ran this with the stock carb just to keep the truck movable.

Edit: About the coil, is it a stock oem ford type that uses a ballast resistor to drop the voltage to around 8 volts with the key in the run position? Not sure if the newer truck wiring has this ballast resistor still... If you run full 12 volts to the coil, it'll overheat and eventually fail.

 

When I first got it running last Saturday (7/16/16), it was a little rough. I had to hold the choke open with a bolt and washer, which made it run a little rich. The carb was out of adjustment, so I had it idling high. I had only set the timing by ear. I wasn't sure what to do with the air pump circuit, so I had it hooked up. This caused the exhaust manifold and "header" pipe to heat up significantly.

That first day it got 8.5 mpg. :-)

I took off the air pump circuit and adjusted the carb. That got me up to 11 mpg.

I fixed the choke issue, re-adjusted the carb, and adjusted the timing (was advanced 3 degrees too far), and that's brought me up to 15 mpg, which is where I am as of today (7/22).

I bought a ballast resistor for a 1950s model Ford from O'Reilly and installed it. It didn't seem to make any difference performance wise, but the voltage on the coil is lower.

I wound up using a low-pressure inline fuel pump delivering about 4.5 lbs fuel pressure. Was about $30 and seems to work nicely.

All in all, the truck's running better than it has since I bought it in 2011. No miss on the engine at all, so I know it was an issue with the EFI somewhere and not a mechanical engine issue, which was a relief.

I now have a spare 300-6 and two complete EFI systems in my garage. I am contemplating getting the 300-6 setup on a bench and creating my own custom EFI-replacement. The EFI fires in gang / batch mode with 3-injectors per wire (tan/orange, tan/red). I am going to make it a sequential EFI, but will use my own FPGA design as I'm a hardware / software guy by trade.

I'm hoping to get it working on the bench and put it back in the truck under my own design. I'm going to weld an intake manifold and pony a carburetor atop the intake tubes coming from the plenum so that if there's ever a breakdown on the road, I can at least get home. :-)

The blue Duraspark II module I'm using is working perfectly, along with the vacuum advance ignition circuit on the distributor. I'm very happy with the conversion. And, I already have 15 mpg without any new cap or rotor, or really with doing any fine tuning on the Carter YFA single-barrel carb. It's a stock manifold, and it's all doing fine so far. I'll spend a little time tweaking it to see if I can't get the fuel economy up to at least 18 mpg, and preferably closer to 20.

I'll keep you posted on the sequential EFI replacement system. I've dubbed it SuperJet for short. :-) If anyone wants to follow along, I'll be using a Lattice FPGA available for about $49 + tax + shipping. I'll be creating a custom board, but will be using all stock EFI components for the live engine input.

Best regards,
Rick C. Hodgin

 

If you go with sequential pay attention to injector timing as it can affect fuel economy and create bore wash problems if phased incorrectly.

 

EFI huh? Check out VEMS! or other diy efi's... instead of re-inventing the wheel.

VEMS is what I used on my 300 using a '96 distributor and chrysler minivan coil pack, Cylinder 1 on the distributor cap is a JB welded hall sensor with a magnet JB welded to the rotor to tell VEMS what phase the engine is in.

 

It's a project. I had planned to build a wooden boat. See the Devlin Godzilla 25 on YouTube:
My wife injured her knee a few weeks ago. We'll be unable to begin working on the hull this year. I'll be working on this project instead.

Best regards,
Rick C. Hodgin

 

With conservative driving habits, you should certainly be able to obtain your desired target MPG!