Changed my radiator today. Very very easy. Took 25 minutes. You wouldnt believe the crap and crud that came out of that thing. Probably half a skoal can full of slime.

I actually went ahead and advanced the timing some (turned the distributor clockwise). It seems to run better, but now I have a hard start. It'll crank and run, but the starter seems to be ready for a replacement since it'll grind and drag. We'll see how it does in a minute though, it's sat up for a couple hours and had time to cool.

And about the exhaust....I have about 2-3ft of 2" pipe coming right off the manifolds and that's it. There's nothing to plug, lol.



As it sits right now, my truck is actually drivable. I'm about to go take it to go get some lunch actually, then it's back home to do a plug and wire change on the Dodge. Also gotta take the church van up to the Chevy dealership for a COMPLETE service (including trans filter and fluid change - glad my pastor gave me the green light on that), then come back home and get a shower, THEN go to GED class even though I've already taken and passed my GED. They want me to help teach now lol.

I replaced the 'Horse Shoe' DuraSpark coil connector.

Local CarQuest couldn't find it on the computer even after I showed them in their own back counter catalog.

I had the Pico, Dorman, Delco and BWD numbers on hand when I walked in the door.

5733C Pico
85848 Dorman
PT1921 Delco
PT5764 BWD
(for those who want to know)

I ordered it on my phone from Ebay while standing at the counter shaking my head.
I got shipping confirmation before I got home from work and it arrived in the mail today. :D

I installed the tach/trip meter on my '86 F150 I got last weekend for $5. It works but I forgot to check blinker bulbs on the new cluster so I got to pull it back apart and change them some time.

My truck has been running PERFECTLY. The timing was off a little bit and now it's pretty close to where it needs to be. It's a bit hard to start but I'm not too worried about it since it runs like a top. No stumbling, no loading up, just nice and smooth.

Also I got my tach hooked up finally, it had been unhooked since I installed the MSD box. Come to find out, you can connect the factory tach straight to the tach output on the MSD box, no adapter required. Needless to say, I was very pleased with that. lol

Which wires do you hook up Kirby?

Anyone know how to identify how many amps your alternator is? mine is the internal regulated one and am curious to see how many amps it is.

A 2G alternator is rated at 60-75A

'four hole' 3G at 95A
'two hole' 3G at 130A

Matthew, if it is the original alternator Ford usually stamped the rating on the front half near the mounting bolt hole (longer one). It will look like "12V 65 amps".

If it's the 2G it's a fire waiting to happen.

If it's an '86 it isn't a 3G unless someone already swapped it.

The alternator on my truck could possibly be the original, both the housing AND the voltage regulator have MOTORCRAFT stamped right on it, and it looks older than the hills. Charges perfectly though lol.

Yeah, I'd agree with Bruno.
At the very least swap in a new charging plug.
There are dozens of threads where I've posted the numbers from eight different manufacturers.

Someone please educate me on this fire hazard, I've never heard a thing about it with the 2G alternators.

Now with the 2G business, is the 1G the external regulated, the 2G the one like I have that's internally regulated. Then the 3G the big powerful diesel alternator?

Ford released a TSB on the matter, that ANY alternator work, warranted a new plug.

$10 or your truck up in smoke. Your choice.