Title says it all but here's a bit of back story. About six months ago, I got this truck (86 F-150, 4.9L L6) from my dad. At the time, I knew nothing about engines and vehicle maintenance and we both agreed that this would be a good starter engine for me to learn on. I still don't really know much but I'm beginning to pick it up and my questions are starting to outpace my dad's knowledge. Also, I live in a different state so not having him here to physically go over stuff with me is a bit of a hindrance. I have a bunch of questions for you guys and hopefully you don't mind helping out a noob =)

I've done some minor work on the truck. I replaced the factory radio (I need a new bezel as the shaft style (is that what it's called?) bezel won't fit over my DIN radio, doh) and speaker wiring and door speakers. I also Replaced a few blown fuses (oops!) and rebuilt the starter solenoid. Other than that, here is my list of things I'd like to do.

Firstly, my ultimate goal here is to have a very reliable, powerful work horse truck that is easy to maintain. From what I've read, this truck will never go fast and I'm perfectly fine with that; that's what my car is for. All I want the truck to do is to haul/tow anything I throw at it and to do so in a safe and reliable manner. This is not my daily driver so, while always a consideration, gas mileage isn't a priority. In no particular order, here is my TODO list:

1. Replace current EGR Carburetor with upgraded non-EGR variety. I have no idea what particular carb is currently on the truck. Picture in a sec (click it for larger size). I have been told that all of those tubes coming off of it make it an EGR (Exhaust Gas Recirculation?) carburetor which has something to do with emissions (or something, half of what I read says one thing, half says another, it's confusing). I live in Oklahoma and have been told that the emissions don't really matter here so much so I don't need it. It seems to me that all those tubes being cut and plugged that it's not working at full capacity anyway.

Second issue I have with the current carburetor is that sometimes when I'm driving (and this seems to happen more when I'm going uphill, especially if it down shifts, or when I get heavy on the gas) it will choke itself to death. I will literally be driving along happy as can be and then all of a sudden, no power, engine non responsive. About 50% of the time I can coax it back to life and about 50% of the time it will completely die and I will have to coast to a stop and restart the engine. Once, it failed to restart at all (I was hauling about a ton of rocks from Lowes and made it 50 yds out of the parking lot. Awesome.) and it just died in the middle of the road. We had to push it into a neighborhood and leave it overnight. My friend came and fiddled with the carburetor and said something had closed and he manually reopened it with his finger and then I was able to restart it and drive home without any issues. However, the problem still persists intermittently.

So, what I want to do is just replace that carb with a better one that is non EGR so I can just rip all the EGR stuff out. It was explained to me that I can also remove the smog pump (??) which does not even have a belt connected to it so it's just dead weight at the moment anyway.
Here is a picture of the current carburetor


The problem is that I have no idea how to choose a carburetor. I honestly am not even 100% sure what a carburetor does. I know that it mixes gas and air and sends it to the engine somehow; that's about all I got. I thought that it was a completely different thing from fuel injection but then I see people talking about EFI carburetors and I get confused. I bought a Chilton manual for my year range of truck but it wasn't very helpful beyond, "Yep, you've got a carburetor in there"... lol. That or I have no idea how to read the thing (distinct possibility). So,

How do I pick a new carburetor?
What is a barrel?
What are the important parts/pieces on a carburetor?
How do I know if any given one will fit my engine?
Is bigger better?
How hard is it to install one?
Will I need any other items/pieces beyond the carburetor itself like a seal or something?*
*I was told that if I change the number of barrels I will need a new intake manifold.
I know that I want a non EGR one but how do I know what stuff is the "EGR stuff" that I can safely take out?

I have seen a lot of people recommending <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Holley-0-90470-Secondary-Electric-Carburetor/dp/B000A8FQSI/ref=au_pf_pfg_s?ie=UTF8&Model=F-150|666&n=15684181&s=automotive&Make=Ford|54&Year= 1986|1986&newCar=1&carId=001">this</a> carburetor here.
Is this a good one for my truck?
Why or why not is it a good one?

2. I want to replace the intake manifold. The one one there now looks ready to give up the ghost. It's very rusty and flaky (I can knock pieces off of it by tapping it with a screw driver) and the seal or gasket between it and the engine is crumbling away at a touch. At least I think it's the intake manifold. It's the piece with all the tubes that connects on the left side (facing engine bay from front of truck) of the main engine.. piece/area (I don't know what to call the "main piece" of the engine). I pretty much have all the same questions about picking an intake manifold as I did picking a carburetor.

What do I look for?
How will I know if it will fit my engine?
It sounds like it interfaces in some way with the carburetor... how do I know that it will fit whatever carb I end up with?

3. I want to take out the air conditioner... stuff. It's not connected and I never would use it anyway. I'd rather have the windows down. How do I know what to disconnect and what to take out? Obviously there's that gigantic pump thing that the pulley belt hooks to. However, it has a bunch of hoses and lines coming off it. How much of that do I take off before I've "gotten it all"? I hope that makes sense. I don't want to take something off that is important. Ditto all of this with the smog pimp.

4. Those first three are probably the main big things I want to do first. In addition to that, several people have recommended that I replace/upgrade the headers (what even is a header?) and the exhaust. Why is this important? Isn't exhaust just fine to go out a pipe? Also, something about a camp shaft or something but I didn't really understand what they were saying and my googling for camp shaft upgrade didn't help much. Another thing I'd like to do is replace the current air filter housing unit (no idea what to call that) with one of those deals where the air filter just kind of sits open on top of the carburetor. What do you call that conversion kit? The reason I want to do this is because A) I think it looks better and B) a colony of hornets decided to built an enormous nest inside the opening spout area of the current air filter housing unit. The thing has gotten incredibly dirty and it looks like there are some pieces missing anyway.

I realize I've written a novel here at this point but hopefully someone will be willing to tackle it. I'm going to go ahead and thank that brave, adventurous soul ahead of time as I realize that this will probably be quite an undertaking. I trust I've posted this in the correct forum here, if not, feel free to move it. Again, thanks in advance for any help anyone is willing to give.

P.S. I can take more pictures if you guys want to see something.

 

sorry i didnt read the whole post yet..but did you replace the fuel filter? that could help with your choking out factor on the hills..mine was acting the same way..changed it out and it was fine..i will continue reading now lol..just wanted to mention that lol

 

No worries, I realize it's a bit much =)

Before I drove it here, to Oklahoma from Georgia, my dad had some work done on it to make sure it would survive the trip. Among other things, he had the following work done:

Carb rebuild, fuel and oil pumps replaced and a new radiator installed.

Since that work, I'd say the truck has had about 1200 miles on it, including the drive back from Georgia. I will read up on troubleshooting the fuel filter though, just in case. Thanks for the idea.

 

well these are pretty tiny fuel filters and cheep too..i replaced mine every month..they are $3 i think..always good to keep a couple on hand....i would give it a try..its conected to the carb..you can have it swapped out in 2 min flat

 

the carb i have no idea lol i always left mine alone cause it did work well lol..i still regret seeling mine... lol

 

Where does one buy something like this? I think there is an auto parts store called O'Reilly something or another near me... would that work?

 

yes they have them there...i always go to autozone but oreillys will be just fine

 

sorry i dont know how to photoshop but in your pic you posted the bronze cylinder connected to your carb is the fuel filter..and yes a little gas will come out when you remove it dont worry its fine lol..

oh and sorry i didnt say this sooner .....welcome to fte!!!!

 

This guy right here?


And thank you kindly

 

What you've got there, is the famous "Feedback" system. The carb and distributor are computer controlled. When it's working, it's a great system. Problem is, with all those hoses you described as "Cut and plugged", it likely isn't working correctly. This will hurt power and MPG drastically.
The good news is, it's a fairly simple swap to convert to a non computerized carb and ignition system. This is a rather common cure for the hacked up non-functional feedback setup.

What part of Oklahoma are you in? I also happen to live in Ok, near Tulsa. Welcome to FTE!

 

It looks like you have the feed back type carb. The mixture and timing was controlled by the computer. You can replace it with a non feed back type but you will also have to replace the distributer with a DS2. This subject has been covered before in this and other forums so the info is out there. The A/C can be removed but I would only take out the compressor, condenser and the lines connecting the compressor tp the evap and condensor. Make sure the system is empty.
Buy a Haynes manual and a cheap digital Multimeter to help in trouble shooting.
regards
rikard

 

Excellent. Fairly simple is definitely my skill level. What's this you mention about the ignition system though? Where would I find more information on doing this conversion?

I live in Choctaw at the moment. I'm starting grad school at TU in August however. Unfortunately, it looks like I'm going to have to drive the truck back to Georgia some time this summer because I can only park one car on campus and I don't have any family here.

 

that is correct!

 

Thanks for the reply!

Here's kind of my problem. I don't think you guys fully appreciate my knowledge level here. I can point to the distributor and I know it has something to do with the spark plugs but I don't know much beyond that. For instance... What is a DS2? What do I have now? Why does it need to be replaced? How do I identify the compressor and the condenser? What is an evap? When you say make sure the system is empty, what does that mean?

I realize most of what I've been asking has probably been answered 37 trillion times here and other places. One of the areas that I've really been struggling is terminology and lingo. I realize it's much easier to communicate an idea quickly when you know the terminology... but when you don't, it makes it that much more confusing to get anything done when people keep referencing the timing of the mafipulating flux capacitor or some such =P. What I'm saying is, I don't even really know the right questions to ask, much less how to search for what I need to do. And when I do, it can be extremely difficult to translate the instructions into something that I understand.

 

ds2..in sort mean a duraspark 2 distributor..i have not done the swap myself but i will try and find some links for you

here is a tech thread that could be useful https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1...nd-tricks.html

https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1...rk-2-swap.html

here is a good one
https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/9...-86-i-6-a.html

https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/9...onversion.html

hope this helps