Good Morning,, This is my first try at trying this.. We have a 1984 Ford F 150, 4x4 ,standard cab, 8 ft. box, inline 6, 4 speed, all manual.. NO RUST !! The EGR is blocked off , She has new exhaust system , no air pump , no cat. converter and probably other stuff that has been removed as not needed.. The carbon canister is still there and there is a connection on the carb for the fuel bowl vent.. Can these be connected with just the fuel bowl thermal vent valve in line or does it also need an electric or vacuum operated solenoid ( which aren`t there ) to operate ??
Or can I just cap these two off and be done with it.?? We don`t have the truck here at the moment but hope to in the next few months .. We get down to it ( Montana) about once a month and next time down ill get some pictures and numbers of the carb.. Any info on this is greatly appreciated
Norm

 

Being a 84, it may have been all computer controlled. With all that stuff disconnected, it may be low on power and fuel mileage if the computer distributor and carb are still hooked up. There may have been some Canada models that did not have this system, so you need to check when you get back to the truck. A sure way to tell what you have is to look at the distributor.

-If you have the round metal vacuum advance on the distributor with a vacuum line, then you do not have computer control.

-If you have no vacuum advance on the distributor, but instead have a rectangle plastic piece at the bottom of the distributor with a bunch of wires, you do have computer control and you should to the conversion to get rid of it.

 

Hello Dave,, Thank You for the Quick Reply.. I`m not exactly computer literate, so using one can be quite frustrating..
The truck is actuality a U. S. one that we found at a salvage yard / garage in Montana .. Shane must have a couple of thousand vehicles there ,, some dating back to the late 30 s , 40, etc.. this 84 seems to have only been licensed till 88 or so.. Hence the low mileage 65 thousand.. When we bought it back in March this year it was missing the intake and exhaust manifold , the carb and a lot of the vacuum lines .. Since this is a garage as well we thought it best to leave the truck there and get it mechanically sound so it will be no problem for it to pass the import inspection.. This has been a very good decision.. They have parts there or are readily able to get them.. Keith (there head mechanic) said they have put over 20 miles on it since the new exhaust testing the different systems,, and last time down said the carb needed a lot more tweaking ... Working on the truck is just a fill in when they have time and thats ok with us as it keeps the cost down.... We have the factory manuals which are a big help and it does have the TFI distributor and I believe a processer ( hiding somewhere ) .. Next time down there I check with them and see if it can be switched to the Dura Spark II setup.... I`ll also take some pictures of the carb as well and figure bout how to post them.. Sorry for the long message,, And thank you again for replying !!

Norm

 

It can be easily converted to a duraspark II system. If they look hard enough, all the plugs to use it should be over there on the driver's side inner fender. They will probably have to unplug some of the plugs and then plug them into the DSII box. Then you need the DSII distributor and the hard part to find is the short harness that goes from the DSII ignition box on the fender to the DSII distributor. But if they have a yard there, they should have one laying around. A short harness from any Ford/Mercury car or truck, and engine, that has the DSII box with the blue plastic on the module where the wires come out will work for the short harness. The distributors are all different for the different engines, but the short DSII harness is the same on all of them.

 

Hello Dave,, Thank you for the information on the Dura Spark II setup.. I talked to Shane this morning and he is going to look into it.. We hope to get down there around the 7-8 Oct. It does not have the original carb and most all of the electrical hook up`s are`nt there.. There is one electrical unit on the lower right side ,lower than the choke adjusting cover .. The one picture I have of it is from the right front and shows the front and right side,, I would post it , but I don`t know how to do that yet .. The plastic piece located on the left side at the rear ( EGR - TAB - TAD ) has 5 vacuum ports , nothing is hooked up to them when I took these pictures .. also there are 3 connectors on the top , these were still hooked up.. Would going to the Dura spark II help in getting rid most of this stuff ?/ It`s not that I`m new to engines or working on vehicles but from 66 to 70 when I went into the US armed service ( I`m dual cit) I worked on engines and also flew , and for 42 yrs flew in the bush up North.. In 65 just before I enlisted an older couple brought there car to the garage for us to sell .. This had been there only car.. Always garaged , ALL the paper work !! It was well kept NO damage.. It was a 1936 Plymouth Coupe !!!
They wanted $400 dollars for it .. OOH Well ,, Hind sight is a wonderful thing.... All this electronic stuff as well as some of the electrical stuff is quite a mystery and I REALLY DO appreciate all the help.. Thank You Very Much .. Norm

 

Yes you can plug most of this stuff off. You can get rid of a lot of wiring also. Look under the dash in the center hump area, the computer lives there. Once you get the distributor changed out and get it running, you can get under the dash and take the computer out. You can unplug that large wiring plug, and fish that through the firewall. Anything connected to that plug can leave, that was all computer sensors and computer wires going to the carb and distributor.

A few wires will stay, they come from the driver's fender. That would be your new ignition wires, the oil pressure sensor wire, the temp sensor wire and a couple of others. You will probably need to add a wire from the "S" terminal on the back of the alternator, to your electric connection on the choke housing.

On the hoses you need to keep the one going to the brake booster, the one going to the HVAC which is on the pass side area, one going to the transmission if you have a automatic 3 speed, one going to the PCV valve in the air cleaner, one going to your new distributor.

 

the black rectangular thing to the right of the starter solenoid is the manifold absolute pressure sensor MAP

the MAP is the black thing

these 3 plugs are the EGR-TAB-TAD things. the unit they plug is not there also the vacuum hoses for them is gone also

this is the cad plated canister thing taped to the 2 vacuum hoses on the PCV valve.. The white stuff is snow !!

the right side of the carb. the black hose pointing down goes to the MAP.. the wire that goes up to the carb (held in place with a zip tie ) is also from the MAP and I don`t know if it is attached to the carb. or not

these are a couple more plugs dangling in space near the blocked off EGR

this is the left side of the engine.. The plugs, ignition harness , all the wiring , is what was on the truck when it was parked about 35 years ago.!!

here are a couple more connectors for something..

 

Hello Franklin2 ,, I REALLY appreciate the help and the instructions on how to post pictures .. With out that I would not have been able to do it !! " Flicker " whats that ?? Last I new it was a horse !! We do have the factory manuals for 1984 and the electrical one from Detroit Iron and have just gotten hold of a new , unopened , unused
, electrical book that was right from FORD .. We live about 12 mile North of the border so it is very good to have a U S post office box.. That book should be there tomorrow or early next week.. It will be easier to trace this stuff out.. This was a standard truck, no chrome , no fancy paint trim , some of the wiring may have been there and used if it was the XL or XLT model.. Again I do thank all of you for the help on this..!! I hope you do get the pictures or maybe Trump sent them to Mars ! !
Norm
..

 

Before (not IF) those battery terminals leave you stranded, make sure you keep a pair of comfortable walking shoes behind the seat so you can still get home. Or I suppose you could just replace the cables.

Instructions on what to do with the old terminal here, post #16:

https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1...l#post18917218

 

Lets see if I can add under the pictures what you have going on. It is not as bad as it looks
Hope that helps some.
Big thing is not to remove the computer & wiring till the truck is back up and running either with a DSII system or a aftermarket HEI drop in. Right now your timing is locked hurting power and MPG.
Dave ----
ps you done good on the pictures

 

Karl beat me to it, but your battery cables should look something like this,

Small wires are for my trailer brake controller

 

Many ,, Manny Thanks to you folks for the help on this ! ! ! .... The battery cable has already been changed out, it was put in down in Cut Bank for getting the engine running and for the test drives and get us home with it.. The cad platted canister is more like a capacitor or such..

The carbon fuel vapor canister is still there but not hooked up.. This is just a thought,, there was a carb. fuel bowl vent valve , and there was a simllar type valve from the carbon canister.. Is it feasible to have 2 Y connections , one at the fuel bowl and one at the canister with 1 of these thermal vent valves in each line but faced in opposite directions so the carb. could burn the fuel vapor when it wanted to and send fuel vapor down to the canister when it did`nt ?? I AM NOT TRYING TO RE INVENT THE WHEEL HERE HONEST Just a question.. What else can be done with the vapor from the canister ? We won`t get up to Lethbridge till Feb 8th for the Swap-N-Shop the car club we joined back in Dec is putting on So between that and stopping a couple of auto salvage yards we hope to come with the things we need to make the swap.. The dist would be 6 cyl . is the coil specific to that also does the module have to be for a 6 cyl ? In the mean time I`ll keep tracing the wires and get rid of the ones that go from one unused plug to another unused plug or socket, as the weather lets me..
Norm

 

I am going to come back and re-read this to understand what you are asking as I got a call meeting in a few.
Also there should be a sticker on the radiator support of the vacuum line routing you can look at like this off my 81 F100 with a 300 six

Dave ----

 

The canister and all that stuff was to contain vapor from the gas tank and the fuel bowl in the carb. It's difficult to make this all work without setting it up like the factory had it. There is a small metal line running up the frame from the fuel tank. This led into the canister. There was a pipe leading from the carb bowel to the canister. Both of these lines would occasionally have gas fumes in them (the vapor) and the charcoal in the canister would store these vapors. When the engine was started, AND CONDITIONS WERE CORRECT, they would open a purge valve and suck the gas fumes from the canister into the engine to be burned. I capitalized "when conditions were correct", because the engine cannot take these extra vapors unless it's fully warmed up and running at speed down the road. This is where the complexity sets in and where all those hoses and control valves come into play. I have tried to purge the canister continuously, but it can give you a rough idle and you have to restrict the purging, which is basically a vacuum leak to the canister.

It's simpler to do nothing and let the gas tank breath through the canister into the atmosphere. I see someone has plugged the vapor connection on your carb. You will get a gas smell once in awhile under the hood. I talked to someone I work with that was working on this problem, and what he did was simply take the rubber gasket off the fuel filler cap. I have not tried this, but this is how the older cars worked. All newer fuel caps will let air in, but not let it out. Taking the gasket off may let air in and out, and eliminate the need for the line to the canister.

The module does not have to be a six cylinder. All blue plastic modules are the same. The ignition coil is DSII specific, and you need a horsehoe connector for it. The coil and the connector can be bought at the store. And don't forget the harness to the distributor. You can see now while the DSII is a good enough system and what Ford used on their vehicles, why people are just buying a new HEI distributor for your particular situation. It's the path of least resistance and can be cheaper depending on where you get your parts. You buy the HEI, stab it in place and hook one wire up, done. You can see the DSII system is more complex and takes more work to get installed.

I WOULD NOT willey-nilley cut unused connectors off. The best way to do this is to wait till you get the engine running. Once that happens, take the computer out under the dash. Unplug the large connector going to it. Fish the large connector through the hole in the firewall, you will have to punch out the rubber grommet. You may have a single wire or two going different places, you can cut them from the computer harness under the dash and carefully tape them. Push all the wires and connector through the firewall. Then gently tug on the wiring, Anything hooked to this large bundle of wires can leave, you do not need it. Keep tugging and unwinding things till the harness comes free with all that stuff hanging off of it. That is the safest way to remove it without cutting something that you might need later.

 

I am back and what Dave said is what I was going to say on the purge just way better
Because a lot of my smog stuff was removed before I got the truck, the purge system was one of them, I did what DaveF did and had vacuum pulling the fumes / vapor all the time.
Thing was it made a vacuum leak and the idle would not come down. I took the smallest carb jet I had and installed it in the vacuum hose to limit vacuum.
It helped a little but could have been a lot smaller, kind of like a pin hole size.

When I swapped out the factory carb for a Ebay knock off the carb did not have a bowl vent, yours has that yellow cap on it.
I removed the vacuum from the canisters, I have dual tanks, and left the hose open. Only time I get any vapor smell is if really hot out and I just filled the tanks.
I also park the truck in the house garage so we walk past it all the time otherwise I dont know if you would small it if parked outside?
Dave ----