i gave mine a pat on the hood as i was going out this morning with a heartfelt "sleep well old girl, you deserve it".

 

Put the new float and pickup screen in the rear tank and drove her around the block and up some hills. Nice having the fuel gauge fixed. Hopefully she runs fine on the rear tank now. Cleaned out all the broken plastic very well. So long as the brake clean flushing, cleaned the selector valve too, I suppose that should do it.
ACP FM-EF005B Fuel Level Float was a direct replacement for the '93 F-super duty/F450 rear poly tank, should anyone find that helpful one day.

 

Yeah, I'll save that, good info that the super duty has a poly tank.

I finally got around to installing a block off plate and pulling off that mechanical fuel pump.

Treated Bonnie to a beautiful Spectre bbc block plate, # 42473.

It fit like a dream, I'm so glad to get that big ol mess of s* off the side o' my engine.

Not much to see of the block off plate, installed, itself, it's just clean, reliable, not drippy, and just makes for a lot more room for adding accessories in that spot.

Also, since I'm here, I did another upgrade not too long ago, I installed a heavy rubber conveyor material cover over top of the engine.

No matter what I done, it wouldn't stop dripping down the hood onto my back injectors and air cleaner assembly.

I feel much better knowing that water cant get down in on the motor and rust things up, or worse anymore.

I used the belt off a treadmill, it's super thick durable and nice, but not to stiff to get around and in there, the rubber fuel hose keeps it raised slightly in front, so the water drains back.

With the square footage of plastic covering them new motors, this kindof felt wrong.

adding instead of deleting, this atop my all metal mechanical iron horse, but, it cant fail, it stops the water - 100, and it's easy to pop off and on when I'm working on something.

I also added a permenant usb cable, underhood for plugging stuff in when I got the hood up.

 

Replacing the hood cowl seal, should be all it takes to stop the water from leaking.

 

I put in a nice foam rubber seal like 10 years ago, and some putty and stuff, it lasted waterproof a few years, now it drips again.

I had an 2 injectors in the back drivers hole both rust up, down into the body past the threads, so water was going into the cylinder a little.

I didn't want to chance it or tweak with the gaskets anymore, too many ford motors blow up from water leaking past the hood gaskets, mine ain't gonna be one of em'

 

Well, really I don't know if the water made it past the copper crush washer, so it might not have gotten all the way down into the cylinder itself, but it was wet past the threads and accumulating there, rusted up 2 injectors in the same spot, so I put this in there to solve the issue my own creative way.

 

That looks really good Leroy! I’m glad I’m not the only one who has a cowl seal leak. I put a heavy duty garbage bag over my air filter housing when I finish with the truck. It’s a major PIA, but peace of mind.

Cowl seals are long obsolete around here, aftermarket won’t even touch it sadly

 

Thanks 90Ford !!

Hey guys, check this out it is - a 12v device that runs off my truck batt3 to charge - so -

kindof a tangential - what did you do to your IDI today.

I completed this small auxiliary battery / charger..

It takes 12v in, to a variable buck/boost module, and charges the 18x 18650 cells.

Power is managed by a 3S-40A charge controller board, glued into the inside top.

It seems to like best pulling
2.5a at 12.5v.

I just finished polishing it up today.

I will add a low voltage disconnect at some time in the future, but for now, on output, I'll just tie the buck/boost input in alone, with no output, to monitor the discharge voltage on the digital display.

In the future, I'll also be adding a multiple way rotary switch to automate the total switch combinations for inputs and outputs.

But, for now I don't mind twisting the wires together to switch from between charging and discharging operation.

It's refined enough now to just a few wires, and takes just a minute to switch from charge mode to battery out, on the same plug.

I am charging to 12.5v, and it has a variable output of between
1 - 36v DC.

It's total power is almost 1/4 of my AGM lead acid truck battery, it is 4x larger than my little jump starter box.

So, it will come in handy for a whole lot of small tool powering purposes, it can run 12v, 20v, ect hand tools, drill ie..

I'll make a 'fanny pack' for it and just run the cord to the bare tool with spade connectors.

If the truck battery is low to start or cold in the winter, I can plug it in to soak, for instance 16v into the truck battery it to warm it up, and charge it, before starting.

It's not huge, but kindof big for a portable and versatile battery pack.

 

I washed my Bullnose truck after taking my daughters; in said truck, to get smackerel (Winnie the Pooh word for ice cream). I dropped ice cream while I was driving but thankfully it got on my shirt and not the seat!

 

I just had to replace the studs in my exhaust for my cross over pipe flanges on the F250, both in the drivers side mani and the pass side turbo pedestal. The nuts stripped out. The drivers side wasn't too bad because the replacement manifolds have a built in nut on the stud. So I got them glowing with the torch and turned 'em right out quick before they could cool down.

The turbo pedestal though, were just studs so I had to heat, clamp on the vise grips and get a 1/16 of a turn at best up in there between the trans and frame at a time, trying to hurry before they cooled down. I had to make the turbo pedestal glow out around the studs at least 8 or 9 times for each stud before I could get those buggers out.

Going back in, I got some extra long ones and put nuts up top so I can always glow things up and spin them right out quick with a socket, should I ever need to change 'em again.

Then I see the cross over pipe is rusted through, so I patched it for now and I'll call up Banks to order another pipe.

Tough job but I got it. Them suckers might fight but they can't win against the acetylene.

---------

Oh. I repainted the cowls and the hoods on both trucks the other day too. During my paint jobs, since they were hard to reach over, the hoods came out nasty. Just too much over spray so they looked dull and dry. So I took them right off and stood them upright so I could shoot them easy with base then clear. They came out fantastic. I still have to cut and buff but even orange peely right now as is, they're still a billion times better than what they were. They'll look perfect soon. A couple dents in the F450's but every time I go to work on that one, I'm always out of high build haha so I'll have to get it next paint job, which could be a while still but that's ok.

Far less interesting, the auto crane on the F450 needed a couple needle bearings replaced in the winch section, the backup cam failed so I backed into something and broke my tow plug and had to replace that. Ordered a little $10 backup cam for diagnostics. Plugged it in to test, and sure enough, the overhead unit still works fine, so I ordered a another good cam so I can see behind me again and stop backing into logs/brush piles while unloading........at least not hard enough to beak stuff again haha.

 

I broke down........ or more like was "temporarily delayed" with the F450. I was working the truck yesterday and I had a couple symptoms. First, she stumbled when I first started it but quickly smoothed right out. Then while working the truck yesterday, I felt the common "air boost" when the IDI's suck air going down the road.
Again, it was so quick I didn't think much of it, but I knew something was coming haha. So today, I went to unload the truck and she stalled right out going uphill, not far from the house.
I get out pop the hood and I see the electric duralift wasn't fulling the clear bowl. I was on the front tank, not the tank that recently gave issues, and I heard it kind gurgling on the return line back into the tank. I switched tanks and that's when I found the issue; the selector valve (still the original one I believe. I know I've never replaced it on this truck) went in the same manner the original one of the F250 went; I could hear it buzzing, trying to switch. So I flipped the switch again to see if it would stop buzzing. I got lucky and it did. I was able to switch it back to the front tank and drove it back home. Got to love these duralifts. Just crank until she re-primes and off you go, no mess.
I'm glad it failed right close to home while I wasn't too busy today. That's handy!

Oh yeah, well maybe those plastic pieces in that rear tank from the pickup strainer did mess it up after all. Maybe after I replace it, I'll smash it open with a hammer (220k+ miles and 30+ yrs old, I wont trust it anymore) and see if anythings in there.

 

Before you give up on your valve and smash it with a hammer, see my last posts in this thread:

https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1...d-86-6-9l.html

 

Yeah, that's ok. It's more than payed her dues for the previous owner and myself for over a decade. The truck has to stay reliable or at least as reliable as one can get with China parts haha.

 

I'm pretty sure my valve encountered debris, perhaps from aging showerheads? I'm hoping that actuating the valve back and forth like I said at highway speeds gave me a chance to smash and flush out anything that was causing sticking. China parts? Ah so...not so much.