What's up guys, I recently bought a 1986 Ford F250 HD. It's a 4x4 with a T-19 and a 3.55 Posi out back. I am the third owner of the truck and the first owner owned it until 2007. I even have the original build sheet which I thought was pretty amazing with it being such an old truck. I always loved old Ford trucks and I finally thought it was time to own one. It was running great up until a few months ago when one day I was parking on my apt. complex when I smelled something burning. I popped the hood and sure enough the carb was on fire due to what I think was old seals on the carb leaking fuel and a vacuum leak, but I don't know for sure. So, in the next couple of weeks, I plan to get everything running again and due a full tune up. There are a few pics at the bottom of the truck and the damage I'm dealing with.


Here's what I have planned in the next couple weeks:
- new carb and intake
- plugs/wires
- oil and filter change
- air filter
- fuel filter
- dist. cap and rotor
- replace burnt hoses

Can you guys think of anything I might be missing? Also, I think I'm gunna go with an Edelbrock 1406 coupled with and Edelbrock performer intake (Non-EGR) to prevent vacuum leaks in the future. It seams that many of you on this site recommend this setup and I've had success with Edelbrock products in the past. Besides gaskets, will I need anything else to bolt this system right up? Any other spacers or anything? Also, the gas that is currently in the tanks is old from sitting the past couple of months, is there an easy way to drain the tanks w/out pulling the bed off?? I'm sure I'll have plenty of more questions as I go, but I think that's enough for my first post.

 

It's an 86? It's got an 87 front clip and lights.

That's a nice old truck you've got though, that's for sure.

If I had to hazard a guess at looking at anything from the photos, it looks like your fuel leak came from a loose sight plug on the float bowl of your carburetor. It looks wet. Check the rear bowl.

To get the gas out, siphon it out with a hand pump and pour new fresh gas in from a gas can. If you don't want to go through all that trouble, get you a fuel stabilizer like Sta-Bil and add to the gas tank, and maybe an octane booster while your at it. These are usually sold at hardware stores and some gas stations and work pretty decently.

What motor do you have in it? It's an 86 with an 87 front end, and it's got a 4 bbl carburetor, and it's an F250 so that tells me it's probably a 351 HO or a 460?

 

Welcome to FTE, Black!

I had a 1977 LTD II with a 302 that did this to me once, I think my problem was a rotted rubber fuel line (between the carb & steel line) that leaked gas onto the manifold.

Yes, your site plugs look wet, I would investigate that.

New carb + manifold... what are your plans for the emissions-related connections (fume & vapor collection, etc.)?

BTW that's not an 80-86 unless the body has been changed, look at the rounded wheel openings (in addition to the front end). What is the VIN?

That's OK, though....

 

It appears to have the 1980-1986 cowel panel.

 

Yeah, you're right.

I don't remember exactly when Ford switched to the pinhole-type (of which there were at least two they used 87-96) or the details about their implementation, hopefully somebody else will chime in.

 

Yea sorry I should have clarified that it is an 86', but the front and rear clip are from an 89'. The previous owner happened to have an 89' layin around and the bed and front clip were rusted pretty bad so he swapped them out and repainted the body. And yes it is a 460.

 

With that melted mess on top of the engine, it will be a good idea to put a new carb on it. Looks like someone had been plugging off ports before the fire anyway. One thing you are going to have to decide on(maybe). This truck most likely had electric fuel pumps in the tanks, unless someone has ditched those too. If they did, fine. If it still uses the in tank electric pumps, you are going to need to keep the fuel return system it came with. I don't see it in the pictures, so either it burned up or it has been taken off earlier and some other type of pump is being used.

 

That's a good point, I hadn't really thought of that yet. I'm pretty sure it still has the original in-tank electric pumps according to the previous owner. However the front tank's pump either isn't working or the fuel selector valve is broken, but that's another problem for another day. Right now I just want to get it running again. Any ideas on where I can find parts on the return system and what parts I will actually need??

 

That's what I figured. See, the bullnose front end is from 80 to 86, your front end is from 87 to 91, and the rounded front end before the body style change in 97 was from 92 to 97. My favorites are the 80 to 86, and the 92 to 97, as I've never really liked the 87 to 91 front end. Your truck is an exception. I will admit, yours is the first that I've really liked! The nice thing about your truck though is that you can make any front end from 80 up to 97 work. The same goes for truck beds, and with a little modifications, the cabs too.

I thought it was a 460, being that it was an F250. The two motors that were still non-computerized in 86 were the 351 HO and the 460. The 351 and the 460 got a 4 bbl. The 351 HO was also carbureted in 1987, and if I recall correctly, was the last year for a carbureted 351.

I'd go through and check all the wiring in the engine bay to see if any of it went bad. I'd also check the distributor, as it looks to have been licked by the flames too.

EDIT:

Looking at the damage some more, it looks like gas ran out and caught fire and burned up the carburetor, fell onto the intake next to the valve cover and burned, and then the flames managed to hit the fuel bowl vent and caused a woosh of fire that licked the distributor. Those two are kind of right next to each other.

I'll be willing to bet that the sight plug wiggled loose on the carb for whatever reason, the fuel dripped out and hit that hot intake, and then caught fire. It could've hit the EGR too, as the EGR gets pretty hot.

 

They had a special gizmo on the fuel line before it enters the carb, and it had a orifice inside it and a filter, and it let some of the fuel return back to the tank via a small return line. This supposedly let the fuel continually re-circulate and keep it cool.

The more I think about it, the more I would recommend not using this system if it were my truck. It gives a lot of trouble, and uses a relay and a oil pressure switch, which more than likely was burnt up in the fire also. I think I would convert it to a external aftermarket electric fuel pump, they are designed to "dead head" and do not need a return system. You could then plumb in a simpler tank switching valve to switch the tanks. I am not sure if it would pull through the old fuel pumps though, so you might have to drop the tanks and modify that part.

 

I wouldn't expect it to reliably be able to suck fuel through the pump...

This is because of what I learned several years ago, when I first got my 81 F350 and was just beginning on it....

The rear tank sending unit was shot, and I got one from a JY from a (actually, several, but a different story) later model tank.

The one I ended up trying had an electric, banana-sized device on it that I couldn't figure out... the concept of sticking an electric motor in a tank of liquid was foreign to me but I wasn't sure it was even a motor, could have been something else for all I knew.

The in-tank filter had disintegrated to pieces so I installed an old sweat sock held on with nylon zip ties. Redneck engineering at its finest, I guess

The mechanical fuel pump on the engine worked with this setup and could suck enough fuel through it, up to about 3,000 RPM after which point the engine acted like it was running out of gas (imagine that!).

I wouldn't recommend doing it that way.

I've learned a lot about these things over the past 7 years, much of it from the experts here on FTE.

 

Fume and vapor collection are all new terms for me because the only carburetor experience I have is from nitro RC racing, which a lot less complex. Unfortunately, I wasn't really able to examine how everything worked before it burnt up, so I'm not really sure what was there before. I was kind of hoping that the edelbrock carb setup would have everything I need to bolt it up and go, but that's just me being naive, haha. So any information on the subject would be great!!

 

Yes, Grasshopper, you are naive.

Do you have emissions testing where you live?

 

I'm not really sure if I want to dive into a whole new fuel system just yet, but thanks for the info. I'm thinking about going down to my local pick and pull and see if I can find some of the things that have burnt up off the top of my engine. I know the junkyards pull the fuel lines from under their vehicles and drain the tanks, but do they mess with the lines coming from the carb too??

 

Haha no I don't in Va. if the vehicle is 25 years or older it is considered an antique and they stop emissions testing.