ND> Mind if I place my name first in line on the for sale notice?

 

dont mind at all, but I really do love this toy, so it might be a while lol!!

The exhaust is a nighmare, it's a kit by hooker headers said to fit this year truck in half and 3/4 ton.

I believe it will fit a half ton because I've put one in on a half ton before.

but they don't fit highboys.

Not without cutting and welding, rebending etc.

Oh well, when I'm done I'll have a welded exhaust rather than an all clamp fit exhaust.

I got the exhaust from the manifolds to the turbo mufflers tonight.

For anyone that looked at my "shakey 351M" post, well, the dual exhaust fixed that problem, she's a smooth runner now, really a happy little slug of an engine lol!!



A couple fine folks on my shakey thread suggested vacuum gauge analysis, I did, and the gauge told me I has an exhaust restriction.

And I guess I did, cause she runs nice and smooth now.

 

"And I guess I did, cause she runs nice and smooth now."


Yeah well, so I thought.

It did actually improve how the truck ran (the dual exhaust). But it also exposed an engine problem that I first misinterpreted as a "bad muffler".

Long story short, one replacement muffler later (egg on my face) followed by a compression test exposed an apparent valve issue.

So, I refurbished a spare set of 351 heads from a 79 bronco. No machine work, just an el cheapo cleaning job and hand lapped the valves. New set of springs and seals, new gaskets and I swapped out the old heads.

The valves in the old heads were sucked up really deep in the seats, especially the exhaust valves. They were sucked up so bad that the preload was off the springs, basically compression was closing those valves.

Anyways, A low buck refurb on some spare heads made this truck run correctly. The timing chain is nice and tight (i checked that out while I had the engine cracked open).

I do have a cracked exhaust manifold on the RH side so I'll be looking for one of them.

So far I've fixed the old winch with an upgrade to the controls, replaced the wheels and tires with aluminum wheels and 35" tires, dual exhaust, fixed a power steering leak, I replaced the spiders in the front axle. Fresh set of heads with all the related gaskets, accelerator pump, power valve in the carb, new master cylinder, new distributor (limited to 13 degrees mechanical), cap, rotor, wires, plugs, filters, PCV, oil change..... added a receiver mounted off the factory bumper... And I think that's about it.

I was happy when I got the truck, but it's a way better truck today than it was back in June when I purchased it.

 

Looks awesome.

I can't wait to get mine on the road. Hopefully this winter.

 

Thanks. I did my fist MPG calc since the engine work. 227 miles of mixed driving, probably 80% gravel/dirt roads. Some mud pit playing, a little towing of a small boat, just a good mix of the driving I intend for the truck.

12.4 MPG

I an pretty happy with that considering some of the stuff I was doing with that tank of gas.

 

The truck is looking great Dave! I would love to be able to score a highboy. One came up for sale here not too long ago (a 72 bumpside 360) but I couldn't afford it. Looks like you've got one sweet running truck! So what do you plan to do next to this bad boy? Body or paint work in the future?

 

Lookin good.

 

Thanks very much
Yes, body and paint is on the list. My shop is set up pretty good this way, I do all my own work

I have very little rust on this truck, just bedsides. I’ll be painting it black again

I’ll also be fabbing an actual winch bumper for up front.

Mechanically, I guess I have desires that run in stages. Like stage 1, stage 2 etc.

Stage 1, I’d like to replace all the seals for front and rear axle housings, differtial and transmission so I can change to synthetic oil without leaking all my oil past my old seals.

Stage 2, I’d like to put a Detroit locker in back and a true trac up front.

I guess I’m also considering a slight re-arch for my front leafs.

I’ll probably put a new rubber floor in the cab and a seat cover. Possibly an aluminum toolbox in the back…..

I guess that’s really about it. If I did stuff like intake, headers etc for the engine I think it would be just as much (or more) for weight reduction than it would be for performance. Right now I’m perfectly happy with the stock level of performance as long as it is running correctly.

 

Northerndave
Really happy for ya man! If I find one that nice I'll be driving it home!! I'm thinking of buying the dual exhaust setup from Summit and welding it, how was the quality? I want to do the install myself just wondering how you would rate it. Thanks

 

Well, this is the second hooker exhaust kit I've put in for a dentside with a 400/351M

The last one I did was on a half ton 4x4. that one basically was a bolt together kit, it fit pretty decent. The bulk of the work was in cutting lengths to fit correctly. The LH headpipe was slightly overbent in that case making it difficult to get a good seal at the manifold but otherwise it all went well.

This time around the install was on a 77 highboy, and it does not fit at all by any stretch of the imagination.

Ok, let be backpeddle now a step... tailpipes were ok I guess, They didn't fight me.

But nothing fits up front.

There is enough pipe in the kit and with a little creativity, a saw (I have a band saw in my shop) and a welder... some swearing.... some macgyver level fab ninja skills....

It's possible.



The bend in the LH headpipe is way too much, you could cut a section of the elbow out of the bend and reweld or do Like I did and use a jack to straighten the bend out some.

The RH headpipe needs magor surgery. Cut between manifold flange and first bend, add about 7-8" of straight pipe and rotate the elbo to correct angle then weld.

All the changes needed to make the kit fit a highboy is up front from the manifolds to the RH side where the pipes head to the mufflers.

It's good heavy aluminized pipe, most of my hardware was in the kit (some fell out in shipping) and it's a cut to fit bolt on kit for half ton trucks, not so much for highboys though.

 

Thank you

 

Should be a great truck for you. Be sure to keep updating us on the progress. I would love to see this truck all painted up since the body looks to be so straight. I'd hang onto that truck if I where you. Highboys are getting harder and harder to find, and it looks like you found a good one.

 

Thanks, I checked mileage again last week and came up with 12.5

So, it looks like that's where it's at. I had hoped for a solid 12 and dreamed for more... I guess I'm happy with what I've got.

 

Too bad your so far away. I have an Edlebrock S.P.2.P intake for sale. Apparently they are all about low end torque and fuel mileage. Tops out around 3500-4000rpm, depending on where your reading your info at

 

That is a cool *** high boy. I wish my low boy was black and in that good a shape. Nice buy.