Forum lurker, finally becoming legit Figure I will start with a long post to make up for lost time

Been lurking here for a while. Just bought another ford truck that I'm going to be working on quit a bit so I figure I would be asking questions and sharing any info that might be helpful for you folks.

Currently I have 2 ford trucks (pics coming). A white lifted 2013 ecoboost that I bought brand new (now 40k miles), and 2 days ago bought a 69 Red longbed bump with a 360, auto and PS.

A little about me then a quick story on the new bumpsude. So I'm 43, married to a wonderful woman, one daught who is grown and out of the house. The wife and I are both prior service Army, and both served in Iraq. I currently serve as an IT domain administrator for Wa state.
I am a hobby "mechanic" and now that I have more time, I hope to become a very good mechanic.

So, I drove about 4 hours to get this 69 Bump (nearly to the Canadian border). I got up there and it started right up. No smoke, it ran really well. It had a hesitation (like not getting fuel) when taking off from a dead stop, but them would run really well once it caught. So I pick the truck up, get the title and tags done.
The wife is going to follow in the F150. We get about 70 miles south on I5, and it starts running a little rough, like it's getting hot. I pull over in to a casino parking lot, open the hood and it is defiantly at running temp but not too hot. I decide to give it a few minutes so we go in and get some desert.
We come out about 30 mins later, I crank it and it sounds like it jumped time, running like garbage. I notice the distributor is not tightened down, so I turn the distributor a hair and the truck is back in time and running great.

Get back on the highway, about 30 miles later it quits. It will run but very poorly. I try to set the timing by ear but I'm on the side of I5 five miles north of Seattle, needless to say with the cars whizzing past I can't hear anything.

Now its getting late, have to get the home to feed dogs, wife is tired, and I'm 60 miles from home with 2 major cities between me and where I need to be. I say to heck with it and call a flat bed.
$600 later it's in my drive way. Of course with all my tools on hand and a timing light I have it running like a top in about 5 minutes.

Next morning I go out and it cranks right up. I go to get a fuel filter. Come out of the part store, turn the key, and nothing! Not a click, nothing. I check and the cables, everything is nice and tight. Take the battery out, guy inside checks it, battery has a dead cell. Get a new battery, cranks right up. Go to pull out of the parking lot, having to really feather the gas to get past the hesitation.
So I go back to the parts store, get cap, rotor button, plugs, wires... to go with my fuel filter. I threw in some new wipers just for the heck of it.

Get home change out all those items. Truck is running good the hesitation is about 50% of what it was. At this point I figure the tank has some crud, so I get some seafoam to out in it... am I hearing groans?
Well I go to costco, put the additive in there, fill up with gas. It's real peppy... running great, we go in to Jamba juice, come out a few minutes later, and it will barely crank, but it starts to run and it is just putt,putt,putt, if you give it any gas, it dies.
I pull the fuel line and make sure the fuel pump is pumping, it is working well and I capture some fuel in a clear bottle... the fuel is AWFUL, it looks like it has slime and black soot in it.
Again... I call the flat bed and get it to the mechanic to drop the tank.

Waiting to hear back now. I have owned ford my entire driving life (30 years) I haven't had this many issues with all of them combine as I have with this one in 2 days.

I will let you folks know what happens.

 

Thanks for joining, it's great to have you here

Tony