Drove it home overnite, and back into town today. Does rather well on the hiway, although at 45 on the speedo, no one is trying to pass me in a 65 zone.......
Rear tires are out of balance, but they were just something I put on there for a temporary measure. They really need to be replaced seeing as they are over 12 years old......
The round trip to the house and back is a bit over 20 miles, but the odometer only recorded 16. Yet, the fuel guage barely budged. I'm used to seeing a drop of ~1/4 tank on that same round trip in the 74............

 

Good to hear it is on the road and doing good.
Any pictures of it done and out side?
Dave ----

 

It is running and driveable, but there's still things that need to be addressed.

I don't have any pics of it yet, still needs more cleaning before it's photoshoot.......

I need to see about getting the speedo a bit more accurate, and get the tach working. My calculations indicate that the engine will be turning just over 1500 RPM @ 65MPH. Right where the engine makes it's most torque, ~400 lb/ft or so........

The throttle takes a bit of getting used to, since the throttle just tells the governor how high the RPM can go. Very different from computerized diesels and the typical gasser.

 

Can't wait to see it!

 

And hear it!!!

 

Let's hope by then he has a muffler on it.

 

Or, he can bring one and that could be an OK GTG project?

 

That would work.

 

Congrats on getting this project up and running! This is great news and I hope you will be bringing it to the GTG so I can check it out in person I'm a big fan of things that fill up at the green pump. It is also encouraging to see a project come to life after years of intermittent progress. Mine is going on 4 years down and is still in pieces. This thread is good inspiration to never give up. I just re-read from the beginning and it has been a journey.

What are your plans to get a working tachometer in this truck?

 

Thanks!
I will be bringing it to the GTG, unless something drastic happens in the meantime.
Time and money were the main delays, but I actually got discourged a couple times and almost gave up. Glad I didn't......

 

I know the dance all too well, time vs. money is an evil sea saw and no matter what you do you can never have both at the same time because one subtracts from the other. Good for you on sticking it out through all the challenges.

I have to say I am *very interested in what your mpg results will be. There was the guy on OBN that measured just a fraction shy of 30 with a NA 7.3 swapped into a F150, so I can't see why you wouldn't be in that ball park with those tall gears...

 

I too, am curious what the MPG will be. Until I can get the speedo reading a bit closer, all I can do is estimate. Currently, the odometer is reading a bit slow, it recorded about 15 miles, on a round trip that was 21-23 actual miles.

 

Paul,

It looks like your speedometer/odometer is ~32% slow. Many years ago, before learning of FTE, my son's 1984 F150 was changed from 2.47 rear gears to 3.55 = 43.7% fast [speedometer]. I took it to a speedometer shop which did the calibration for Police vehicles. They cut the speedometer cable and installed a device [see photo, below] which corrected the issue. It left their shop with a certificate stating that it was accurate @ 55 mph.

 

Yeah, the problem is caused by the fact that I adapted the original trans speed sensor assembly to accept the ford speedometer cable. The trans came from a 3500 with 3.55 gears.
I need to contact the dodge parts guy I use for a lot of stuff, and see if there is a driven gear for the speed sensor that has 25 or so tooth count. That should get it rather close.
There's a few minor issues that can pop up when using a dodge trans in a ford truck.......

 

I have been driving this truck daily for the last week or so.
Speedo quit, haven't looked into it yet.
Just estimating the miles driven, and going off the lower estimation, I seem to be getting somewhere north of 25 MPG.
Still have no cooling fan on it, yet the engine temp is staying quite low. Guage only creeps up toward the middle after a hot shutdown and short heat soak prior to restarting. It drops rather quickly once the circulation resumes though. I hope to get a fan on it this weekend, and replace the water with actual coolant. This engine runs a lot cooler than the old 300 gasser did, likely due to the gasser having had a 195 t-stat and the diesel a 180 t-stat.

Overall, I am rather pleased with the way it runs. A couple new tires and shocks should make it ride/drive as good as it always did in the past 20 years.......