It's been a busy fall/late fall (since it's December and it's in the 60/70's still) since I posted something about the truck here.

Since this summer I’ve replaced the following:

1. I don’t remember if I posted about adding the metal sun visors to the driver and passenger side doors. Love the old look and not the plastic look.


2. Replaced the broken lens on the cab light with the LMC replacement. Makes a big difference of what can be seen. Might look into the LED conversion for the whole truck in 2016 but I’m not sure. Ye old dome light


3. Swapped out the Starter, Solenoid and added a fuse after the solenoid got stuck and my starter kept trying to start my truck and burned out before I could attempt to unhook the battery. FYI, I was at Tractor Supply and in the parking lot when it did this. At least it started and I was able to drive it home before turning it off. Let me tell you though, the smell of a burned out starter is not pretty. LOL


4. Had to run a direct push button from the starter a month later because my wiring from the column to the starter is bad somewhere.

a. Now I have (what I think is) a cool push button to start the truck! I turn the key in the ignition and push the button to start.


5. I added more hose from the fuel pump to fuel filter to make it more accessible.

a. Put another ‘see through’ fuel filter with replaceable screens in it.


6. Swapped from my Holley to a Edelbrock

a. Symptoms were that it wouldn’t start without cranking the truck for 30-60 seconds all the time. Come to find out the Automatic choke wasn’t working and it was ‘literally’ hard wired full open on the Holley. Which explained my bad gas mileage, the strong smell of fuel all the time and the difficulty starting.

b. When I swapped the carburetor I noticed that two of the four chambers looked extra gummy and black. I didn’t take much mind to it because I’m not a pro at all of this and rely on y’all here. Well, let me tell you something, I should’ve inquired why it looked like that. When I got it all swapped out, hooked up and started it my truck made a loud noise when starting and shook then idled perfect. I got out of the truck and was admiring my work and noticed that there was black sludge all over the wife’s truck were my tail pipe was. I went around and looked closer and some type of black sludge came flying out of the tail pipe, all over the driveway and all over her truck. I quickly rinsed everything off and it’s been running great since.

c. Any ideas of what it could’ve been? I have NO CLUE what so ever but it hasn't given me one problem.


7. I realigned the headlights so they weren’t both pointing to the right side of the road. Now I’m driving and can see a lot better. Honestly never noticed it until the daughter pointed it out.


8. Got two new front tires for the beast. Saving up for some replacement AT tires for the rear in 2016. Why? Cause my daughter and I like the look. Hey, I’m keeping her happy so don’t judge me! LOL


9. Latest story, I was starting to have a lot of give with the brakes. I ordered rotors, pads and hardware. I was waiting for them to come in and (thankfully) one evening I was heading to the stable and went to slow down and pull into the stable and it was a no-go. I kept on rolling and was hitting the floor with the pedal. Since it was after 9 PM and on a back road I was able to just put it into neutral and let me coast about .25 mile down the road. Once I got slow enough I popped it into reverse and went back to the stable. I got about 100 yards away and put it in neutral again and coasted into the driveway and parked it.

After checking fluid levels, pads, smells and for anything leaking I had nothing. So I came here and did some research and found out that it could be the Master Cylinder or Brake Booster. I ordered those and had to wait two days for them to come in. Last Saturday I swapped both the Booster and Cylinder. I followed posts that showed how to manually prime a Master Cylinder with a screwdriver and it worked great. Got it all installed and after bleeding the cylinder connections with my sons help.... I HAVE BRAKES AGAIN!!!! I’ve attached a like to some pics that I took here and there.Pics of some of the work


10. Next chapter in the story is when I am going to bleed all the brake lines replace all brake fluid. When I did the swap out the brake fluid is brown and the old cylinder was brown with crud all in the bottom of it.


11. Hopefully in the next week I can replace the front rotors, bearings pads and hardware. Upgrading to the slotted/drilled rotors and heavy duty ceramic pads. Might just get new calipers as well to ensure that all of the “brakes” are new. Since it’s getting closer to giving it to my daughter, I want the best for the price that I can get to get everything working. I quote my Parts Guy, “She’ll be able to stop on a dime and give nine cents change.”


12. Then in 2016 I’m going to replace the circuit board on the instrument panel, checking all wiring and retest the Voltage Regulator because the water, engine temp and fuel gauges still aren’t working. Now I’m getting intermittent Tachometer. Time will tell.


13. Since it’s gotten in the high 30’s here a couple times I’ve seen all the exhaust leaks I have.. LMAO.. Looks like the whole truck is exhausted.. Pun intended. It’s coming out the wheel wells, up through the tie down holes in the bed, from a BIG hole in the muffler and a little bit out of the tail pipe. I have a contact of a welder that can just do straight pipes and that’ll hopefully fix this.


14. After that, I’m looking at putting in an amp and small sub in the truck. The amp will have the Aux input for plugging a phone into for audio straight from the amp and not having to swap out the original stereo.


Sorry for the long post. I’ve done a lot and no time to post it.

Merry Christmas to All!

 

That post is not too long. It takes that much to show your appreciation for your truck. If I had done my post, I would have to retire to write it. Started with Grampys 83 F100 Flareside and finished it five years later. Post to come with pics.

 

Hey sounds like most of the work I'll be doing to my "new" 86. Same stuff I had to do to my 73 Triumph already...so in other words, all the fun stuff (work) that comes in the territory of owning an older vehicle!

Pretty interested in what your tailpipe coughed up from your Holley carburetor. Sounds like some sort of oil deposit or dirt that got sucked up into the carb and survived your motor to make it out of the exhaust.

 

I'm still loving the work. Since the post I now have "in hand" the amp, speakers, rotors, pads, hardware, bearings, grease and I got an AMAZING deal on an instrument cluster (all gauges w/ tach, wiring, lights and enclosure for about $130) off of eBay.

It's all stacked up right now awaiting a free weekend to install it all. I can't wait.

Plus I've had the exhaust discussion too in the post below. It's all coming together. Slowly but surely.

86 351W F150 Exhaust Question

Best of luck to you on your rebuild too! If you need pics or have questions for me just ask.