I wasn't going to do this, but a few people on here have asked about my project. The original idea was to convert my 86 F350 from carbureted with a C6 to EFI with an E4OD. Like many projects, it somewhat has taken on a mind of it's own.

I started with my 86 crew cab dually and purchased, first a disassembled EFI engine from All American Auto Parts in Ivor Virginia. I then discovered a friend had a 1990 F250 with the pertinent mechanical components he wanted to sell. $845 later, I owned "Big Ugly" as he called it.

After some careful examination of the way Ford attached the EFI system to the 85 and 86 models, I decided that that wasn't going to work real well with a 460. First problem is wiring harness setup, second was "where am I going to stick the air filter?". I picked up a set of air filter and battery mounts in Ivor, then discovered that the holes and actual locations don't exist on the 86 fenders. Back to "Big Ugly", most of the mounting locations are the same for the front clip, only real issue was the bottom rear of the front fenders.

By using the 90 front doghouse, all the mountings were there including the remote mount TFI location. Wiring was still going to be an issue as 86 has one continuous harness from left to right side through the dash, 87-91 use a large round plug on the left and only the AC harness comes through the right side. My original idea was to simply add the 87-91 style connector on the left side and use the front harness to match. It wasn't quite that simple, it worked but wasn't pretty.

The other issue I ran into was the ECM location, 85-86 it's inside the cab near the center, 87-91 it resides in the left kick panel area in a recess in the left airbox. This would entail major body cutting and welding, hmm, back to the drawing board.

I also like the look of the later dash, and mine had several cracked areas in the plastic, so, why not use a later dash? Since I was going to use the single large round connector, it should be easy, right? Wrong answer. I will post some pictures of the progression as it went on.

 

Bwahahahahaaha!!! There are stories in here people have submitted about such a conversion.
Yes, pictures, please.

 

Ok, here are some before pictures:

 

Here are a couple more:

 

The blue and white truck in the background is Big Ugly. The small black thing behind was obviously due to one of the others being unfaithful.

 

As I progressed, I decided I really don't like fusible links, never have, so I wanted to do away with them. First plan was to try and adapt a power center from a Lincoln Town Car. One weekend at our local Pick and Pull, I noticed that 92 up trucks use a power center on the left inner fender. I decided that was the way to go, good idea, but... the ignition switch system on these has more power sources than the earlier ones. After I was asked by a friend if I could help his friend with a show truck, a custom Dakota air suspension truck, I changed what I planned. His brother-in-law owns a body shop, repair shop and huge junkyard. He was able to get me a dash, steering column, harness and support from a 1992 F150. He also got me the shift cable and transmission bracket for an E4OD.

After taking my old dash out, and doing a fit up of the dash from the 90, I discovered that even though the windshield shape is the same, the dash mounts are different and the VIN plate is too far in for the 87 up dash location. I had saved, and photographed along with measured everything on the 90 before scrapping the rest of it. One other item, on the 90 the E4OD overdrive lockout is on the dash, I really like the later system with it on the shifter. Unfortunately, both the 90 dash and the 92 were blue and my interior is red. I had gotten a red 88 dash from All American so that wasn't going to be a problem.

Other issues with the truck, the left rear hub had spun a bearing in 2000, the rear brake lines needed to be replaced as they were a bit rusty and the front seal on the engine leaked along with a bad balancer. As I progressed, the power steering pump needed replacing, so I got one for a 1990 and new hose so it would clear the later brackets. The bed had a severe case of metal eating termites.

I had decided I really wanted to go to an MAF SEFI system and ran across a fellow in Florida who was able to get me a 1995 Bronco ECM for a 5.0 with E4OD and most of the front harness and engine harness, now I just needed to start the process of converting the truck! Since my original plan was to use the 1990 hardware and harnesses, I started by scoring a 1987 F250 5.8L harness at Pick and Pull. This allowed me to change the front wiring but retain the DSII and carburetor for now.

 

I used the stock 86 location for the EFI swap I did on my 300 I6. I just used the donor harness, cut it, spliced it into the ECU plug. It worked pretty well. Just a heads up.

 

Not to change topics but, if you do decide not to use the 85 instrument
panel let me know. Been looking for a good tach.
Ok, back to the topic now.

 

kedwinh, I gave it to my son, Archion, and he in turn gave it to ritruckguy. Sorry.

 

The next steps to take involved getting the parts off the front end to allow the 1990 sheet metal to be installed. I also needed to keep the truck at least operational so I could take it to Pete's Custom Auto and have the old rusted bed removed (I already had a 1996 dually bed to install). I started by removing the right fender both inner and outer. You can see Ford's lovely wiring along with my trailer light system. I prefer to use relays for all my trailer lighting and fuse the circuits separately.

 

Bill - You've bitten off quite a project. The result is going to be great, I'm sure, but the journey appears to have many side trips and dead ends. Please include all of them as that may help others of us when we take off on similar trips. And, as Lavatan said of one of my threads, we can "live vicariously" through you.

 

Thanks anyway.

 

You need just the tach? I didnt give hime the whole cluster, just the ammeter.

 

You keep changing your mind on what you are going to use, and I have lost track a little bit, so I might be wrong but;

1. Is there any real advantage to converting this truck to fuel injection that will be worth all this work? Like I said I have lost track, but I thought the fuel injected 460's used different heads and the intakes won't swap. So I think I am right in saying a carbed 460 can't be converted to a Ford fuel injection setup(and the other way also) without swapping the cylinder heads. I know the fuel injection system starts easier, burns cleaner, and it MIGHT give you 1 or 2 more mpg, but I do not know if all this work is worth those small gains. Don't get me wrong, I like working on old trucks myself, but sometimes you have to take a step back when you are knee-deep in wiring and ask yourself why am I doing all this?

2. Same with the fusible links. Yes, you struck a nerve, I do not know why people are so against fusible links. They sit there and do nothing unless you have a catastrophe in the wiring. They do not take up much space, and they are not like fuses that are for minor overloads. They are there for serious wiring problems, and that's all. Even the newer trucks with the underhood fuse boxes, still have some fusible links in the wiring also. Like I said before, if you want to convert the wiring over that's fine, but your reasoning about the fusible links is not a very good one in my opinion.

And I will end with saying, this is my opinion, and it doesn't count for much so I would not worry about it killing your thread and your project. Keep turning wrenches on your old Ford truck.

 

Yep, just the tach. Mine the needle broke but the movement wasn't very good anyway.
Sent you a PM.