@maples01 all lights are functional except for the dash lights which I don't care too much about and should be easy to troubleshoot with the dash torn asunder.

I bought LEDS, I'm going to lift the gauges and use LEDS that are covered in plastic and dimmable (important, since your headlight switch is also a rheostat, if you don't get dimmable you'll be doing this over!). I'll be replacing the bulbs and soldering wires into the lightbulb housing to get it to connect to the circuit. I haven't started, but will share pics. I would've just gone with LED bulbs BUT there are only two bulbs in there.

HAH! DHL delivery. That's ****ing awesome. Weird that it was on an 81, but it makes sense.

I just bought a new license plate housing for the lights in the rear and confirmed they work - the bulbs were good but the housing was shot, I found a NOS license plate bulb holder and I may replace those with LEDs. The inside is getting LEDs for better lighting.

 

My license plate bulbs were glued in, housing was severely damaged, I was unable to find anything remotely close to fit, I had to improvise, I put LEDs in everything, so if they get left on the battery isn't killed so quick.
BTW the only screen radio that is remotely affordable is dual, it will fit in the double din hole in the dash, then after you put the trim on, you attach its screen, sicks out far enough it doesn't hit anything, if you upload any music to your computer insure its set to MP3, it wont accept anything else, don't matter what the manual says.

 

 

My cigarette lighter kept blowing the fuse, after the 5th replacement, I removed it and installed a power outlet instead, I don't smoke so I don't need the lighter, never figured out why it kept blowing fuses, but powers my dash can fine now. There is a vacuum gauge and a usb/voltmeter above it, I wanted an accurate power voltage reading from the alternator, vacuum gauge is to monitor the poor excuse for an engine in the doghouse.

 

I like the look of the grey paint, it looks pretty cool! The outlet itself could've been shorting but replacing it with something different, I don't blame you. I don't think I'm getting any power at all, I need to trace it down; I may add an additional fuse panel for my extra goodies I plan on installing.

I only have one speaker in the dash at the moment, that is removed and I'll wind up cutting holes in the doors for some quality speakers and probably installing an amplifier to deliver power. I used to do a TON of audio builds for cars, so I'm used to it.

I also have the wire to upgrade the "big 4" or "big 3" which is ground to chassis, chassis to engine, ground to alternator, and hot to alternator. The grounding points on the truck is just... pick a random spot on the body.

I may need to upgrade the alternator but having better wire connecting everything is definitely the way to go. I'm using 1/0 wire to do so; I'm also doing it because you can have some nasty feedback from the audio system if there is a bad ground - it's an annoying humming that I had to follow in another project I'm working on - isolating the ground and running the new wires for this was 100% a great idea; it will also solve the issue of dimming lights (or surging lights when you accelerate), as it's dependent on the amount of electricity the alternator is giving to the truck. Not a bad idea if you haven't done it.

My next task on the truck is to take out the heater core box and fan motor and compare it to the 88-91 model. I was thinking about it and my goal is to replace the heating/AC with all 88-91 parts because the 79-87 parts are tough to find. The lines are all different on the drier, condenser, evaporator on the 88-91 model so if I have a 1990 heater box (for a van that was equipped with AC) I may as well go that route. Worst case scenario I need to weld the holes where the former heater and evap core were to go through and drill new holes for it. The footprint of the truck (physical size) is the same across the 3rd gen I believe, so if I stick with one age group worth of products I should be fine.

I had some side work to do this weekend (who wants to pay for a house forever? not me!) so I've been slow on getting out there. I also have my other car project in a garage where I need to re-make all the brake lines, and I want to install new lighting in the garage as well as power for a mini-split unit (work in a stuffy garage that's humid? nah) so I have a bunch of projects going, plus some electrical work in my upstairs walk in closet that's been ongoing for a long time. Many projects, so little time. I definitely plan on taking apart the heater box and bringing it in and starting to compare things really soon so I can move forward and buy parts.

I was thinking about how you mentioned about the bigger radiator, I see a 3 row aluminum one on ebay for around $200 - thoughts? Seems to be what I'm looking for. When I drove the truck home, the temp gauge never got above approximately 1/3rd so I'm also going to change out the thermostat and the thermostat housing.

Oh, I also need to work on the gauges. I have my soldering iron and the parts I'll be using for the LED backlight, so I'll post pictures of what I have soon. I need to move that down to the basement and get a nice bench chair so I can do the soldering in peace - cats love to bother me when I'm working on really delicate stuff...

 

I know the heater and several other get power from the relay by the passenger headlight, look and you'll see 2 screws holding in a small relay that has 3 wires on it I believe, have to pull the battery to get it out, or do what I did when I removed my grill to paint it and replace the relay bolting it to the front, leaving the old one alone, you can pull off the plug and relocate it close by, previous idiot hacked my wiring and cause a lot of misery because that relay went bad and he was too stupid to look for the source.
If I was adding AC cheap, get a rear unit and just run it to the compressor and leave the dash alone, or you'll be looking to remove the front clip to get at the heater box to swap it all out.
Upgrade to a small case 3G alternator off a Taurus or Mustang, should fit, you put a 4 gauge wire on the post to the battery post, use a fuse if you like, internal relay has one to switch, think its green, yellow to post, the other is Stator I think, been a while since I did it, don't put that 2G fire bomb back on, they are responsible for many shorts.
Battery ground to engine, then to frame, all 4 gauge, don't skimp on that, grind to bare metal and bolt it, no self tap screws. I have a lot of 2 gauge wire, from wheelchair lift conversions, I always add a rear battery to my equipment, a friend burned to death in his van after a head on collision killed power to his lift, he couldn't get out, I've been trapped once, never again.
A 3 row aluminum is bigger than 4 row brass as the cores are larger, mine on my 99 were 1 inch cores, brass are about 1/4 inch, you get better flow, down side is aluminum can't be repaired, but the one I put in my 99 has been in there over 10 years and was good when I sold it.
I put a speaker in the center ceiling, the dash, and the wall behind the drivers seat, no need to cut the doors, but if you add a amp you have no choice put upgrade the alternator, without AC yours is 60 amp at best.

 

@maples01 Thanks for the information - I'm sorry to hear about your friend, but I'll be running 1/0 wire to all those spots as that's what I bought and used on my previous car. Replacing the alternator sounds like a good idea anyway, and going with a 3 row aluminum radiator sounds like a sure thing - just need to make sure to change the fluid and prevent nasties from getting in there; can't do much about road debris but as you said yours lasted 10 years so I'm hopeful it'll last awhile.

I'm not going to be using the rear section for anything but cargo, I think - I don't plan on having seats back there even, so doing a rear AC doesn't make much sense to me, maybe in the future. I do want the stock controls to actually work so I'm going to move forward with my franken-AC from a late model 3rd gen into an early model 3rd gen and see what happens - I figure the most difficult thing is going to be getting the 1990 Heater Box in the truck versus the 1981 - I'm going to take a ton of pictures. My vents are controlled by wires and no vacuum so I needed the vacuum actuator on the heater box and the actuator that goes between the heater core to let in hot water, which I have in my posession. If the heater core lines go through the same holes (or I can make that happen) I'd be happier than a pig in ... mud. I doubt it will be that easy but I plan to really take good notes and label everything so if I ever need to do anything on it (maintenance, troubleshooting) I know exactly what to do, and I sincerely hope it'll help someone else out.

I bet I wind up getting all the accessories for a 1990 econoline as the line run is quite different, need to see if the compressor has the same deal going on with it. The original one was a York and I believe it uses the power steering mounting bracket and then you can loop the compressor belt on... I think. I can't find a diagram of a 1981 econoline with a compressor and an i6 - crazy, right?

 

I'm having trouble following here. Are you running a serpentine belt with the I6 and AC or are you running V-belts?

 

I have the 4.9, AC is disconnected, doubt this junk could turn it on a hot day.

 

@Mike1 I don't have a compressor yet, but based on the pulley on the engine having two slots, the picture you posted here where the compressor is directly connected to the engine (I guess that would be a V belt? My belt terminology is garbage) but it's 100% not routed through anything, it looks like it would just fit in the compressor and match up to the engine.

Also, thanks for posting the picture!

 

You may want to swap to serpentine, you'll find out if/when you upgrade the alternator.

 

that’s fair. I started a project of installing lights in my garage and it’s turning into a big project so the truck is on the back burner, or when I get bored of rolling around in fiberglass insulation.

My next step is pulling the heater box in the ford and comparing it to the heater box I got from a 1990. I’m sure they will be different.

from my understanding the fresh air vents weren’t used on a vacuum controlled system, so I need to figure out what my next step is, see how the 1990 heater box fits in and if I can proceed with it and from there if it works I’ll purchase materials for a 1988-1991 model instead of the 1981 parts as the lines / evaporator / drier are quite different. Not very concerned about the fitment of that in the engine bay, more concerned about the fitment of the heater box in the cabin though.

 

I know 97 and up uses an electric blender door motor, not sure about 1990, a guy I met swapped the entire front bulkhead and dash from a 90's model into his 70's Econoline when he swapped in an ambulance diesel driveline, said it was all a direct fit. If you have the 4.9 I don't think you'll like it when AC is added, they are pretty gutless, hope you live in a flat state.

 

Hey @maples01 ,

Sorry for the belated response! I'm waiting for the floorpans for the rear of the cabin to not be on back order before I continue with the truck, in the meantime I've been working on adding recessed lighting in my garage as well as making sure the garage is as insulated as possible.

I live in WI, it's up and down, I do plan on adding some upgrades to the engine and power eventually - going to FI is a thought, increasing the exhaust manifold size is 100% on the menu, and maybe forced induction at some point. I don't know. The 4.9 is gutless but it is made really well, so I have that going for me.

I can tell you for a fact that the 1990 is vacuum actuated and not electric actuated, based on my reading. I still need to rip out the heater box on the ford and see the differences between the two - with the garage turning into a very large project I've been trying to focus on that and get the garage sealed up and AC installed so I have a bright place to work in, especially during inclement weather... WI right now is very humid and miserable, but in the winter I'll need the mini-split to spit out hot air.

I do plan on taking pictures when I get to it, I'm hoping by August I can take out the heater core and heater box and all that stuff from the vehicle and compare it to the 1990 box and then order parts such as the compressor, drier, and all that fun crap.

100% going R134-A (not sure if I said that) - R12 is a fool's errand with how expensive it is, and how it is to obtain. The biggest difference between the two is the amount of pressure, R134-A operates under much higher pressures (so does R410 for houses) than R12 or R22; there is a new freon coming out called R32 and there are some new freon's being used in cars... not sure what it's called, but 134-A sounds like the best compromise.

I need to get out to the garage and fire up the welder and practice on some 16ga - I bought some pieces to try out but I'd like to fix up the body as well as the floor boards and work on insulating it; not sure about the doghouse, the gasket pulled away from the doghouse itself so it's 100% not sealing properly, maybe purchasing a new gasket or something will work. Also, the genius who took the dog house off ripped a chunk of the floor out as the bolt was seized and the rivets came out of the dog house so that's something to work on...

As well as the dash I bought - it was missing the vent holes since it only had defrost and floor, and it's cracked to hell. I found one on e-bay with the correct dash holes and there is some damage in the front where the screws go through - fiberglass and epoxy/bondo should make it strong enough, and then I'm going to paint it. Not sure what color I should paint it with the bright yellow exterior. Thoughts? I'm a fan of black and greys, so I'm not sure. Hm.

Hope you are doing well!

 

EFI may have been glorious when new, it sends these vehicles to the junk yard at an astounding rate, especially the 4.9, it is a constant money pit, it it don't run right day one, it never will I don't care what you throw at it, I have correspondence with many, all were junked because they were an abyss, if it has a carburetor, you can do a few tweaks but if it don't, run the hell away from it! I still have it and hate it, but need something to shuttle me to and from the hospital till my surgeries are all done, then I'll move to my Honda Odyssey.
Be on the look out for front turn signal housings, they crack, screw tabs break off, they are getting rare, if you find a set grab them asap, side markers are plentiful, the blackout ones look good too but no kidding on those front ones, be on the lookout.