Saving a 73 F100
#1
02-22-2021, 12:00 PM
Saving a 73 F100
Hi everyone,
Let me begin by saying I'm pretty new to Ford trucks. Last fall I bought my 2004 F350 Super Duty Crew cab long bed 6.0 diesel. I loved the truck from the beginning. The dealer I bought it from sold it to me with the understanding that it would have to be put back to stock to pass emissions, on his dime. It had been EGR deleted and straight piped. I only had it about three weeks when I had to hand it back over to be made legal again and the dealer loaner was the most disgusting piece of crap Rav4 that ever rolled on four dry rotted tires... I had it for a weekend before I limped it back and dropped it off, got an uber out of there. Long story short the dealer had my diesel for three weeks before I could get it back. Well I had been shopping for trucks for a couple of months and I had been watching an ad for this 1973 F100. It was cheap, it was rough, it was all primer where it wasn't rust and I kept looking at the ad.... I contacted the owner and he met me to see the truck. His son had the truck and had let someone "rebuild" the carb and "rewire" the loom. The battery was dead, the tires were dry rotted and one was flat, the bed was full of crap including four more 15s with 33s on them. He boosted the battery and poured gas down the carb, it fired right up and ran.... for a few seconds. I checked the oil and the coolant, both were ok He said it needed brakes and he guaranteed the trans was good. I told him I would think about it and let him know. Well I didn't think about it long. I got an uber go buy it. So I met him, paid him, and took care of the paperwork. There was an autozone about a block away from where it was parked so I walked over and bought a battery and new terminals, a set of standard wrenches and one of those cigarette lighter compressors. I walked back and put in the battery with the new terminals and started looking at the carb. Yep, accelerator pump was weeping, the choke was all the way vertical and the fast idle screw was barely touching the stop... well back to the part store for a phillips and a flat screw driver. I adjusted the choke to close it some, adjusted the fast idle to crack the throttle plate and cranked it. She started up and ran but the idle speed was way too high. I started backing it off to something more reasonable and it died. Well the aftermarket temp, vac, oil pressure gauges worked but the vac was low so I went back to going over the carb, crank the idle back up to get it to run and start stuffing a rag in around the base of the carb. When I got it to the back I found a big open port in the base plate, when I covered it the idle smoothed out some. I plugged it by wrapping it with electrical tape and started backing off the idle again. Still wasn't right but it ran at a reasonable idle, I stuffed the rag back in at the back and the idle smoothed out. Ok time to see if the tire will pump up or if I'm calling a tow truck. I plugged in the compressor to the cigarette lighter and started airing up the tire.... briefly before the compressor stopped. I wiggled the plug and could get it to come back but not enough, back to parts store for a cigarette lighter. I wired it straight to the battery and started the engine, plugged it in and waited.... 33s on15 inch rims take time... while i was waiting I looked over the other tires and wheels. the one that was flat didnt match the other three and didnt have the lug nuts tight all the way or have the right lug nuts even.... back to the parts store. Its starting to get dark by this point... I put the right lug nuts on one by one and by this time had only had 24 psi in the tire. OK lets see if this thing will drive... 1st gear moves it forward, brakes almost tot he floor but it pumps up some, reverse moves it backward, again brakes are soft but work. I checked the headlights and turn signals, brake lights work. I set out on the 20 mile drive to the house and it was noisy but uneventful. The cherry bomb exhaust was incredibly loud, turns out it was completely rusted out.
That was day one with my 73 F100. I've learned alot about what not to buy when buying an old truck. Caveat emptor, I've had a new dual exhaust put on from the manifold. Its probably too quiet now. The 390 turned out to be a 360, the carb turned out to have the wrong spacer block under it so it wouldn't seal, the ford 9 inch rear diff still howls like a banshee under load even after I pumped almost enough gear oil into it to fill a completely empty diff, the dana 21 transfer case only had about a half pint of oil in it, the dana 44 front diff had about a pint, the new process 235 had so much metal flake in the oil it looked like metallic paint. Yes I have a todo list a mile and half long, but the truck starts and drives. I've had it about three months now, new 33s, brakes, carb spacer and kit, set the timing, added a small tach to the column. I drive it for any short runs that the diesel wouldn't likely warm up to temp for.
Well that was kind of like a novel... Guess I'll get some pics up soon.
Let me begin by saying I'm pretty new to Ford trucks. Last fall I bought my 2004 F350 Super Duty Crew cab long bed 6.0 diesel. I loved the truck from the beginning. The dealer I bought it from sold it to me with the understanding that it would have to be put back to stock to pass emissions, on his dime. It had been EGR deleted and straight piped. I only had it about three weeks when I had to hand it back over to be made legal again and the dealer loaner was the most disgusting piece of crap Rav4 that ever rolled on four dry rotted tires... I had it for a weekend before I limped it back and dropped it off, got an uber out of there. Long story short the dealer had my diesel for three weeks before I could get it back. Well I had been shopping for trucks for a couple of months and I had been watching an ad for this 1973 F100. It was cheap, it was rough, it was all primer where it wasn't rust and I kept looking at the ad.... I contacted the owner and he met me to see the truck. His son had the truck and had let someone "rebuild" the carb and "rewire" the loom. The battery was dead, the tires were dry rotted and one was flat, the bed was full of crap including four more 15s with 33s on them. He boosted the battery and poured gas down the carb, it fired right up and ran.... for a few seconds. I checked the oil and the coolant, both were ok He said it needed brakes and he guaranteed the trans was good. I told him I would think about it and let him know. Well I didn't think about it long. I got an uber go buy it. So I met him, paid him, and took care of the paperwork. There was an autozone about a block away from where it was parked so I walked over and bought a battery and new terminals, a set of standard wrenches and one of those cigarette lighter compressors. I walked back and put in the battery with the new terminals and started looking at the carb. Yep, accelerator pump was weeping, the choke was all the way vertical and the fast idle screw was barely touching the stop... well back to the part store for a phillips and a flat screw driver. I adjusted the choke to close it some, adjusted the fast idle to crack the throttle plate and cranked it. She started up and ran but the idle speed was way too high. I started backing it off to something more reasonable and it died. Well the aftermarket temp, vac, oil pressure gauges worked but the vac was low so I went back to going over the carb, crank the idle back up to get it to run and start stuffing a rag in around the base of the carb. When I got it to the back I found a big open port in the base plate, when I covered it the idle smoothed out some. I plugged it by wrapping it with electrical tape and started backing off the idle again. Still wasn't right but it ran at a reasonable idle, I stuffed the rag back in at the back and the idle smoothed out. Ok time to see if the tire will pump up or if I'm calling a tow truck. I plugged in the compressor to the cigarette lighter and started airing up the tire.... briefly before the compressor stopped. I wiggled the plug and could get it to come back but not enough, back to parts store for a cigarette lighter. I wired it straight to the battery and started the engine, plugged it in and waited.... 33s on15 inch rims take time... while i was waiting I looked over the other tires and wheels. the one that was flat didnt match the other three and didnt have the lug nuts tight all the way or have the right lug nuts even.... back to the parts store. Its starting to get dark by this point... I put the right lug nuts on one by one and by this time had only had 24 psi in the tire. OK lets see if this thing will drive... 1st gear moves it forward, brakes almost tot he floor but it pumps up some, reverse moves it backward, again brakes are soft but work. I checked the headlights and turn signals, brake lights work. I set out on the 20 mile drive to the house and it was noisy but uneventful. The cherry bomb exhaust was incredibly loud, turns out it was completely rusted out.
That was day one with my 73 F100. I've learned alot about what not to buy when buying an old truck. Caveat emptor, I've had a new dual exhaust put on from the manifold. Its probably too quiet now. The 390 turned out to be a 360, the carb turned out to have the wrong spacer block under it so it wouldn't seal, the ford 9 inch rear diff still howls like a banshee under load even after I pumped almost enough gear oil into it to fill a completely empty diff, the dana 21 transfer case only had about a half pint of oil in it, the dana 44 front diff had about a pint, the new process 235 had so much metal flake in the oil it looked like metallic paint. Yes I have a todo list a mile and half long, but the truck starts and drives. I've had it about three months now, new 33s, brakes, carb spacer and kit, set the timing, added a small tach to the column. I drive it for any short runs that the diesel wouldn't likely warm up to temp for.
Well that was kind of like a novel... Guess I'll get some pics up soon.
#2
02-22-2021, 03:59 PM
Saving a 73 F100
I tried this earlier, but hi everyone!
I'm kinda new to Ford trucks but in the last 5ish months I've picked up 2. I have 2004 F350 super duty 6.0 crew cab long bed and a 73 F100. I've been lurking around here for the last few months learning about both trucks so a big thankyou to all of you who post here.
I'm kinda new to Ford trucks but in the last 5ish months I've picked up 2. I have 2004 F350 super duty 6.0 crew cab long bed and a 73 F100. I've been lurking around here for the last few months learning about both trucks so a big thankyou to all of you who post here.
#6
02-24-2021, 12:32 AM
Lead Driver
#7
02-25-2021, 05:11 AM
Cargo Master
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