Yup. You did. And the harnesses are different. And, and, and.

I don't know how you'd work on one of these trucks without an EVTM. Man, I'm using this thing several times an hour as it lays the circuits out neatly. However, you have to be on the right page, and there are several options. In fact, that's the same for the wiring schematics, although they usually have all the options on one page where the EVTM puts them on separate pages.

For instance, I was confused when looking at the trailer wiring. Brown is tail lights - right? In fact, the EVTM says so. But, if you have the trailer wiring option the tail light circuit is black and the EVTM says that - on another page.

Anyway, tomorrow I'll check out the trailer wiring to make sure it is working correctly and repair the hacks that are there. Then, Saturday I can install the new 7-pin connector that is supposed to come in tomorrow afternoon. But, I'm not sure if I'll wire in the 4-pin flat connector I have, or use an adaptor from the 7-pin. I'm inclined to go that way, but I'm still thinking about it.

And, if the trailer wiring doesn't take much time then I'll move on to the wiring in the cab and the stereo. Once that's done I can install the LED's that are due in tomorrow, and hopefully be ready to paint the gauge needles when the paint comes in. However, I was planning to use HiPo's Fluorescent Orange and they haven't even shipped it yet. But, Amazon has shipped the Testor's Fluorescent Orange so I may use that if the HiPo stuff isn't here when I'm ready.

 

At least Ford (and GM) use a pretty well standardized circuit numbering and color code system, Chrysler, god help you, not only do colors and circuit numbers change from one year to another, the colors frequently have an asterisk meaning "may be a different color" and they change from one body to another in the same year.

 

Wasn't aware of that on Mopars. Yipes! It really does help to know that the colors didn't change, although in '85 you had hash marks and dots, and those turned into stripes for '86. However, I think Big Blue is a transition truck as some of his wires that are supposed to have hash marks actually have stripes. But it makes sense that they would introduce the change toward the end of a model year, and he is a late '85.

Changing the subject, if I have to pull the heads for valve work would it make any sense to go with different heads? I'm not up on what different heads are available for the 460, nor their advantages.

 

It looks as though you are sorting out the afro hair do of a wiring job you drove 3000 miles to get.

I was going to ask if you have done a leak down test yet? The suction on that side of the motor in the exhaust flow is intriguing. Something has to be going on in the valve trane or it wouldnt suck. Burnt valve, bent valve or maybe a broken spring? Could it be that the lash just wasnt set correctly? Something is definitely causing a cylinder not to seal right on the down stroke.

I was digging up an electronic project for us to tinker with.
However, things werent coming together very easily as far as an electronic parts list goes/ I decided that neither one of us had time to mess with it.

The IDM in Whitey is bad (I think). New ones are $500, but if we knew exactly what parts to get it could be fixed for under $10.

It wasnt coming together quick enough and I know you are way more than strapped with projects and I am too. So I found one for $180.00 with the performance resistor in it.

 

Good plan, Stan! I'm knee deep in projects - much like you.

No, haven't done the leaks-down test. Will do once I get the wiring sorted. Went into this to drain the swap (actually, fix the fuel pump wiring) and keep fighting alligators (other wiring hacks). But, there is light at the end of the tunnel - unless it is an alligator that swallowed a driving light!

 

Gary, many of the earlier heads fit and will raise the compression. They are pretty forgiving engines on spark advance. If you can find a set of pre-1972 heads in decent shape it will give you around 9.5:1 as the 385 blocks originally had a 10.300" deck height, it was increased to 10.310" in 1971 and 10.320" in 1972. If you go to Re in"Car"nation High Performance - Home he is the 385 guru, like Tim Myers is the 335 guru. There are a couple of sites on just these engines, 429-460.com and 460ford.com and a FB group that I help mange 429-460 Big Block Fords.

 

Thanks, Bill, I'll read up on it. Vern didn't know what compression ratio the engine has, nor what pistons were used. I wonder if I'll be able to tell what the pistons are with the heads off. Obviously I don't want too much compression, but 9.5 would be good.

Again, thanks!

 

As far as factory style pistons, they all have dished heads, go to Sealed Power's website and look at them. If I remember correctly, 1968-1987 are deep dish (.240"), 1988-1992 are shallow dish and 1993-1997 are a somewhat deeper, but not as deep as the early ones.

 

Bill - Thanks.

For today's progress, I got the tail light wiring sorted and protected. Somehow most of the convolute was missing and the wires were rubbing on sharp body edges, so I replaced it. But, first I removed the insulation displacement connectors and treated the cuts with liquid electrical tape. Then, what that dried, I covered the wires with electrical tape, and then covered that with convolute.

Here's what the left wiring looks like:





Then I turned to the trailer wiring. On the lighting side, everything but the tail lights worked. Turns out the tail lights are powered by the tail light relay. And, I discovered that it is the same as the nearby fuel pump relay (E3TB 9345 A2A), so I swapped and still didn't have lights. After a bit of sleuthing I found that there was a single-pin connector unplugged. However, even with it connected there was nada. The problem was a bad connection in another connector. But, it all works now and I have another relay on order to replace the trailer one. Plus, it is good to know that there's one that can be borrowed in case the fuel pump relay dies.

Then I moved on to the trailer power circuit. Man, that is hard to figure out from the EVTM as it is shown on several different pages, and if you don't find the right one you'll think it is wired incorrectly. Turns out with the auxiliary battery relay it is wired differently than all the other pages show. And, it is wired correctly. Unfortunately the aux battery relay is defunct. So, I need to replace that with some continuous-duty unit.

Last, having realized that the tail light lenses are toast and almost opaque I plan to install the new ones that Vernon sent. But, not wanting to have to go back in on anything, I ordered these:

• 1157 LED's
  1157 LED's
• 1156 LED's
  1156 LED's

As you can see, I ordered them from Amazon. I'd hoped to order them from HiPo as my red and orange needle paint hasn't yet shipped, even though it has been 48 hours since I ordered it, but when I called it rang several times and then the call failed. Twice. So, I'm not sure they'll get any more business from me.

 

What kind of trailer wire plug is on BB? Is it the 4 , 5 , or 7?

I was going to suggest that on my Dodge factory set up I have the 7 way plug. However, if you look up under the rear bumper there is a 4 way flat tucked up under there as well.

 

What is on BB but not connected anymore are two round 6-pin connectors. And laying on the floor is a flat 4-pin that I cut off. Today the 7-pin connector came in and it will be the only connector on there as I'll use a 7 to 4 adapter if I pull a smaller trailer.

As for the continuous-duty solenoid, I ordered this .

 

Gary, I have had good luck using a GM high blower relay, it is generally fused with a 30 amp glass fuse in a holder right off the alternator stud. If you need 200 amps, you better put one heck of an alternator on.

The tail lights are interesting, my tail lights on Darth and every other one I have seen are fed directly by the brown wire from the headlight switch, only the rear and dually fender lights are on the marker lamps/trailer relay.

 

The "relay" looks exactly like the starter solenoid, so there's no provision for mounting or connecting a normal relay. Given that, it is far easier to replace it with a similar unit. That's because with the auxiliary battery option there's no junction block, and all of the wires terminate on the relay with large ring-tongue connectors. So, to go with a smaller relay I'd have to re-terminate several wires, and for the price it wouldnt have been worth it.

As for the rating, Amazon had two - 85 and 200 amps. The smaller one isn't enough to handle the full output of a big 3G. And since I plan to have a winch running off the auxiliary battery it wouldn't be hard to imagine a situation where the full load is flowing to that battery. However, I'll have to rewire a bit when I install the 3G since the feed to the relay currently comes via the ammeter, which has to go. Plus, that feed couldn't handle the 3G's full output anyway.

And the tail lights are interesting. The EVTM shows the trailer wiring package having them wired exactly like one with DRW's. Apparently the normal wiring isn't up to handling the extra load. However, since I'm converting the truck to LED and both my boat trailer and Bruno's trailer are already LED, the bigger wire and 200A relay won't even know the lights are there.

 

Gary, in post 605 you mentioned the "light at the end of the tunnel" I have found, with my luck" sometimes the light is the headlight of the train. Best of luck to ya!

 

Yes, that might have been a bit premature. But, I do believe I'm closing in on repairing all of the wiring issues. I'm sure others will rear their ugly heads, but the big ones of fuel pump, trailer, and aftermarket gauges should be resolved.

However, I know I have to sort out the fuel lines since they run close to the exhaust. And, speaking of the exhaust, it is awful and rests on the frame to boot. Then there's the oil leaks. And the miss at idle, if not all the time.

So, maybe the light is another locomotive.