Adam again guys and I have a few questions i really didnt see an answer to so I wanted to pick you guys brains. I have a 1986 f150 with the big 300.
1. My truck has an ac compressor on it, but when i acquired the truck someone took the belt of off it and disconnected the connectors and such. I am assuming that the truck is r-12 refrigerate. But to be honest am a little sceptical about just throwing a belt on it. I know i would probably have to convert it to r-134a , but should I add oil and due to the system? I was told that running a compressor without oil will ruin it. And i believe the compressor is good because it isn't locked up. Any advice on that will help.
2. I am preparing myself to convert the truck back to Duraspark 2. And i was wondering when I add the offenhauser intake manifold with the 600 cfm carb can i do that then go back and do the exhaust later? An exhaust system from headers on back would run me about 450-500 bucks and I don't have that now. I wasn't shore if the two manifolds was joined together or not.
3. Another question I can think of now has to do with the ignition switch. Sometimes me truck will start with it and other times I have to jump the solenoid over to start it. And that aint cool in the rain. It has been happening quite a bit too. I mean I will go out to the truck and try to crank her and the accessories will come on but the truck engine dies nothing. Can the ignition switch be adjusted or is something internally wrong with a piece broken maybe? Where should I begin looking?
4. Finally I want to convert the water pump driven fan to electric an I wanted to know if a Chevy 90 amp 1 wire alternator can do the job? I know everyone does the 130 amps but i Luke the 1 wire hookup. Just a question . I know of one rebuilt for about 50 bucks.
Thanks in advance for all you guys help and I love this site. It is packed full of information andkjnowledgeable and helpful people .

 

1. If the system hasn't been opened(all the lines are still hooked up) then it should have oil already in it. But, if you change it to r134a, you will be putting a different oil in it anyway, and the original oil with the r12 will just lay there and do nothing. The oil for the r134a comes in the retro-fit r134a cans of freon.
2. Don't know about the intake/exhaust, but most sixes use common bolts for both, so you need to research this some more.
3. Are you sure this isn't a neutral safety switch problem?
4. That will depend on the size fan you run, you can get them in all different sizes and amp draws.

 

Never thought about neutral safety switch. How would I go about testing there switch? Also would the needle that shows your gear selector have anything to do with that? Just asking bc it isn't where it should be. Anyway to adjust that?

 

I'll add to what Franklin has said:

1. When you have it evacuated and charged, they will add the correct oil. If the pump is bad, they will pull out all the refrigerant.

2. Not positive about the two manifolds being joined, but you should be able to do the intake, then exhaust later. Or get everything for the intake, save for exhaust and do the both at once.

3. The ignition switch is adjustable, but check the trans switch too as noted above.

4. How about the alternator you currently have? Should be 55-65 amp and stock wiring. Even a 65 amp alternator is plenty big for electric fans. I had dual fans on my truck with a 65 and had zero problems.

Your gear selector indicator has nothing to do with it not starting. If you want to adjust that, pull off the column cover and move the adjuster to get it reading correct, all it takes is to loosen the screw, adjust, tighten.

 

Thanks 81ChopTop for your reply an I will probably save an do everything together . I figured that everyone that did the electric fan conversion had to change there alternator too. 500 bucks seem a bit high for exhuast work but maybe I am wrong. How much have you guys paid for exhaust work in your areas? As regarding the electric fans can I get one that has a relay set to come on at 190*f and cut off at 170*f? Or should I go with an adjustable controller? What is optimal engine temperature for the inline 6 300 engine?

 

The intake and exhaust can be done seperately. If I'm not mistaken (trying to remember here) the Intake and Exhaust manifolds are bolted together right under were the carb sits. I remember pulling them both off together. If you don't want to do both mods together you can do them seperately. Also, you can swap on a set of EFI manifolds and a Y-pipe out of a Junkyard 4.9L truck for the time being; that's supposed to flow a lot better.

If your in NJ, I have a complete header-back exhaust (yes, header back) for a 300 I6 (cheap) and a bunch of other parts. Listed up in the classifieds... or you can PM me for details.

Hope this helps.

 

Yeah, $500 for exhaust is high. I've gotten true duals done for $200 cash. But, I know people in shops and can get those deals. Ask around and see if anybody knows of a shop that will do it for cash, you'll get it done much cheaper.

If you run a 195 thermostat, I wouldn't go with the pre-programmed one. If it comes on at 190, it's going to be running all the time. An adjustable one would be better. Then you can tune to your needs.

 

Didn't want to start another thread for one question. I went to the junkyard an got a wiring harness an I saw these is a connector for the distributor . I got the harness from v8 so I was not sure if theh all had that connector. How can I clean up these dirty wires properly? Just another question. An on the ignition coil these are two little posts on each side. What exactly are those connect to?

 

There should be a horseshoe-type of connector on the DS2 harness that connects to the coil.

To clean the harness, I've used orange hand cleaner and warm water in the sink.

 

Thanks man an I appreciate your help soo much I was frustrated at the junkyard an thought who could I ask an I said I think u could. So thank u very much. I was also thinking this harness would be long it was actually short dj only two wires to repair. I got two ignition modules. They all seem to have a blue grommet so I think am good there. Random question a buddy of mine says that u can u a square box ignition coil where a cylinder ignition coil goes for added performance. Is that true ?

 

A rag with a little gas cleans the wires really good too. Just don't use lacquer thinner, it'll take off the colored stripes.

You can use the square coil with the DSII box, but I would not recommend it. I know of four of us that had problems with that. It'll burn up the box when you go over 6000 rpms, sometimes lower rpms will do it too. Yeah, we like to rev...

 

I don't know if that's true or not... those coils were designed for use in the TFI-IV and EEC-IV ignition systems, of which there were two types....

• TFI-IV - Featured a "push start" mode which allowed the engine (with manual transmission) to be push-started.
  First used in 1984.
• TFI-IV with EEC-IV computer - Featured a computer-controlled ignition coil charge time and computer-controlled dwell.
  First used in 1990.

I don't know how interchangeable they are, nor for how long they (and your DS2 module) might last when used with a DS2 system.

BTW, I would really appreciate it if you wouldn't type in Text-ese shorthand.

 

I got a carburetor from the junkyard an I believe I have a rebuild kit for it. It cam off of an 86 f150 i6 and it was a standard. It's a one barrel but doesn't look like my feedback carb in my truck now . I will try to is it tomorrow. I didn't have a single wire goin to it. So I am guessing it wasn't computer controlled. Anyway how had is it to rebuild thus carburetor? Or should I get a buddy of mine to do it?

 

When I first converted my truck over to Duraspark II ignition, I tried to use the square TFI coil. It lasted about two days before it burned the Duraspark II ignition module up. And that was driving it easy. I replaced the coil with the proper Duraspark oil filled coil (and the ignition module that burned up) and I couldn't even tell the difference.

 

I bought a pair of used stainless steel magna flows for $75 and had a shop run true duals with no cats. The shop charged me $200 to run the pipe.

Go grab a MSD blaster coil. They are $20-$30.