Was the AIR stuff easy to remove? been wanting to ditch all the emissions ****.

 

Kinda sorta.

It's best to just remove the upper intake (14-ish bolts) and use a cut off wheel, etc to cut the individual tubes and then use a boxed end wrench (9/16" IIRC).

 

ok cool. Ill probably wait till my 89 f150 is up and running again so I can knock this project out.

I like your project bro.

 

Thanks....

 

Only new "Updates" I have are:

-Tracked down the exhaust leak and have used some Permatex Exhaust sealant to try to solve the issue.

-Washed the truck, and got the interior spic and span again

-Bought some 3M double sided tape and redid my Bed Cargo Lamps that had fallen down a while back.

-Cleaned a couple random stickers off, on my starter while applying the exhaust leak sealant and it appears to be a remanufactured unit.

***********************************

Also:

-Found that the retaining pins for the Brake Calipers has tried to escape (Were backed out about 1/2") and tapped them back into position.

-Verified a slowly leaking Rear Main Seal

-Noticed a moderately loud "SMACK!" sound coming from the Brakes, and possibly the P/S, under HARD braking. Something isn't quite right..

-Noticed my steering is a bit firmer lately; But the pump is a bit more whiney than the normal C-II FoMoCo Whine Units. Possibly needing a replacement at 208,000 miles.

-Noticed my steering is getting more noticeably "Wandering" on the highway.



That's about it for me right now...

 

We need part 3....
Major build progress, Something!

Hopefully I'll get to work on my truck soon. I'm just sitting here angry I don't have time or money to. It's like watching a football game and yelling at tv, only I read the forum and make suggestions out loud that no one but the wife can hear.

 

I heard ya..

I'm trying to decide between buying a whole other truck (Blue Oval Saga Pt. III) or just finding a 7.3 truck and doing a body swap.

 

Body swap?
Swapping the cab on a diesel requires removing the dash and wiring completely. Lots of work but if your cab is mint then it will be worth it. Or do you mean rear body.
If you need a larger truck then id say go bigger. But a 7.3 is hard to find and costly. I've lucked out and got all mine in rougher shape but mechanically sound. My best work truck cost me 3200 and I put 1200 into it with exhaust chip gauges and front end parts.
Keep looking and purchase when you find a good truck.

 

Are the brake keepers the diamond shaped ones with rubber inside? If so, there's where the smacking noise and the keepers trying to escape due to that rubber falling apart. My 89 F250 was doing that and I replaced them, no more smacking while stopping. I lost one keeper and that made for a very loud BANG, that will get your attention fast!

The wandering is usually the drag link becoming sloppy at the pitman arm.

 

I'm just at a loss guys.

I really love my truck; But it's just getting to be "Too much". I have about $3,500-4,000 in the thing, including the $1,400 buy in price.

If I could find another truck and swap my "Goodies" over, I would.

At 208,000 miles, everything I haven't changed in the past 2 yrs, is finally letting go.

And my transmission has been getting progressively louder after I shift and go through the rpm's (Especially on hills/grades). I REALLY don't feel like sinking another $500-800 in it in 1 drop.

That'd damned near pay 1/3 of a F250/F350.

 

Start looking for a new truck.... And keep your shifter, those are hard to find now I think.
I like my trucks. They cost a fair bit of money to keep up now that they are 16-25 years old. But if you put the money into them with quality parts, you'll get many more years from them.
If you truly work with your truck, I'd look into a 2000+ superduty. The older trucks are getting old, and newer trucks have higher ratings, bigger brakes and better fuel mileage.
I doubt I'll give up my 90, but ill take my superduty over it any day. (Hopefully ill get all my engine parts and exhaust on and springs replaced this month)

 

A 1999-2004 Superduty is an EASY $8,000 here.

V10 versions are a lot cheaper, but not what I'm interested in.

As for my truck, I'm really torn with it. It's dead reliable on starting up and going; But it's an electrical demon from the inner most depths of Hell.

Literally has had a wiring issue from Day 1 I believe.

 

I have a v10 superduty reg cab long bed, with flatbed dump. It gets about 12mpg usually.
My buddy's 4door shortbed v10 gets 14 filled with crap usually. My psd gets 16 loaded unloaded or towing my car. They both have some minor mods to them that really help performance and mpg.
As far as being against a v10, I wouldn't be. I've had great luck with 3 of them and my buddy uses his for work and its got 200k worth of construction miles on it.

I do like my psd better though.

 

Well, my exhaust leak has shown through the sealant. Gonna try 1 more time, and clean the exhaust and reseal it.

2 fill ups have turned up the following mpg numbers:

190 miles yielded 18.61 mpg avg in the Eastern KY hills @ 60-75mph.

140 miles yielded 18.90 mpg avg driving around town/home/Interstate (Rural driving).

Not saying the truck is getting 18 mpg in town alone; But across the course of a week, I ain't complaining.

--------------------------------------------------------------------

So far, I don't seem to be losing oil anymore (Was using about 1.5 Qts between oil changes, due to leaks).

Still unable to pull codes, and an inop. temp gauge.

But I might be re-pulling the dash to redo some wiring. (Speaker wiring is finicky, and there's an issue with the Power Point/Cigar Lighter Circuits.

If I pull that, I'll be pulling everything and checking EVERYTHING before it all goes back in.

Still need to make a JY run for some clips/bolts for it.

 

Take your manifolds off and have the surfaces planed down at a machine shop. Have the intake planed also. They usually charge under twenty bucks to do this. Then use new gaskets and bolt it back up.

The manifolds go through a ton of hot/cold cycles and have a tendency to warp.