Dave I don't think the truck will run as is because everything from distributor and ignition module are totally butchered. I have the wiring diagram for both and may be able to hot wire it though. I'm considering getting one of those cheap "ready to run" distributors like I have on the 289. Too bad the one you repaired for me won't work, but a 302 and 351 use different size oil pump shafts. 1/4 vs 5/16. Also I though the length is different because the 351w deck height is an inch taller. Also I have no faith that the transmission will work, before trying it I would really rather drop the pan and put fresh fluid in. I'll bet I find water in it like I did in the engine.

James that sounds like a fun weekend despite the sunburn poison ivy dehydration and everything else!

Well it looks like buying a new patch panel piece from tabco was a waste of time, it is short in the area as well. It wasn't the patch piece that I cut too short, the problem apparently is that I cut too far into the truck metal! Oh well, this area is covered by the rubber door seal so even my bad patching and welding should be hidden. Maybe someone in the Bullnose group on FB will want to buy this unused piece from me, I'm sure for a loss on my part

Well that was a waste of 50 bucks


So back to my redneck repairs. I'd rather do mechanical work than body work any day of the week, but I have been putting this off long enough. I want to put this piece down over the rusted cab step area. I have been trimming it to fit and got it "pretty good". I put JB weld all along the length of it and used clamps to hold it down. I left myself 5 places to weld it but not 100% sure if I should do that now, or wait 24 hours til the JB weld cures.

 

John, could you use a piece of the new part to fill that small gap? Or cut the new piece to fit a little better and use a piece from the already cut one? Maybe even use a strip to overlap it. Weld it and grind it down. Just thinking out loud.

Beside pulling a few dents, I've never had much experience with body work. I've done a little bondo, sanding, etc. But never the type of re-work that you are doing. I'm sure you'll get it to work.

I have some pretty major dents, dings and dents on my excursion. I just let it go. Ain't no way I'm pulling off the whole front end just to replaced a dented bumper. Because I'm just going to dent it again. I fear the next thing to go will be the transmission. It's got almost 300k miles on the stock unit. When it goes, I'll mostly likely re-gear, put in a dana 60 up front, a tru-trac in the rear and an LS in the front. I though about going full locker in the rear but I don't really need it. I have even thought about a manual transmission with a manual transfer case. But were into some serious money at that point.

 

I have not done much body work myself, just a little here and there, but I know it takes patience. Patience almost to the point of monotony sometimes.

300k on the stock transmission, Ford must have used good transmissions back then. What transmission is that, so I can jot it down in my memory?

Any thin piece cut into a triangle can probably fit in there. Hell the rubber thing will go over it so it might be completely hidden anyway.

 

I was thinking the same as James and find a piece to fill in that area but if the seal will cover it I dont think it is that big a deal.
As for the metal or the rust and JB Weld I dont know what to say as I replaced the rockers too.


I also did not try and butt weld the panels I overlapped and plugged welded them so it looks like spot welds.

About getting the truck running if the distributor is set up for DSII IGN and we are going to swap the dash & wiring from the other truck then I cant see buying a RTR one and need to splice in to a good harness.
Being you want to work on the trans before getting it running we would have some time for the dash wire swap but when you are ready let me know and I am there.

I was going to look at the tractor battery after the gym and breakfast and then remembered I had to take Mary to Raleigh for a shot as she cannot drive after it and when we got home it is too hot to mess around with it.
She also got a text that the 2 brother kittens get to go to pet smart. Think the sister gets fixed next week and shortly after she will got to pet smart.
That leaves the 7 weel old kitten we found by my car trailer. Also told we will be getting a few others about his age so he has someone to play with.
Our cats are too old and dont want anything to do with him He is a cute little thing and loves to lay in your lap.


Dave ----

 

Most 00-04 super duty's and excursions regardless of engine came with a 4R100 4-speed transmission.

I have just done basic service on mine. Filter, flush and new gasket. I do it about every three years since I've owned it.

Heck, I was on the stock fuel pump until last year. It crapped out on a trip. Luckily it was very close to home and the tow was reasonable. I dropped the tank myself. It's no easy feat. It's got a massive steel skid plate around it. Easily the hardest part of changing out the pump was dropping and re-attaching the tank and skid plate. Everything else took about 15 minutes.


Dave, that's one cute kitty. Hopefully he gets some company soon.

 

Dave that is a cute kitten, I love black cats. In the past few years I've had Bagheera, Spooky, and Pantera.

James I googled for putting 4R100 behind an old motor like a 460 and they make adapter plates for that. It's good thought to stick in the back of my head for future use.

Dave regarding the duraspark 2, mostly what I see is one connector coming from it which is then split out with 3 wires to distributor and 2 wires to coil. But mine has a second connector coming off it, with nothing connected. I know this truck had that huge wiring harness that was hacked up, I think maybe you called it a feedback system that was only in use a couple of year? I imagine it's probably part of that. So I would delete it, just get an ignition module to fit a similar year with only one connector. And from googling it, it seems regardless of V8, V6, or inline 6, they all use the same ignition module.

As far as your rockers go, mine will never look that good! You made it look factory original & brand new.

Thought you might get a kick out of this. More examples of the kind of jackassery I keep encountering on this truck. This should be a 5/16 bolt that threads into the timing cover housing, but instead has a 1/4 inch bolt stuck through the hole with a collection of washers and a nut on the back side. I removed it but no bueno as far as getting a 5/16 bolt in there. What apparently happened was that a bolt broke so a PO drilled it out to 1/4. I opened it up to 17/64 so I could run a tap through it and that worked out, but the problem is the hole he drilled was not straight, it's a little bit off, so even though I got it threaded and ran a 5/16 bolt in there it's off a little. I can imagine that I will probably have to replace the timing cover when I pull the engine apart.

 

Actually, I said that wrong above when I was talking about the wiring. The ignition module will have 2 pigtails, one going to dist & coil, and the other going to the truck. That one with one red wire and one white wire is where I could tap in to hot wire it. What I have that is confusing is a second pigtail on lead between distributor and ignition module. It has one black wire and one green wire, but those same wires are also joined and go back towards the dist. So I was thinking maybe this is for the feedback thing which isn't in use anymore.

 

This is from the ‘81 EVTM, but the wiring for an ‘83 is going to be basically the same.

 

If making a custom harness to go to the cab, take note of the weird thing that ford did with the red and white wires.

red goes to white and white goes to red.

 

Yeah that is very weird.


I looked at my pic from yesterday, and sure enough it's bass-ackwards.. just like Ford designed!


Now I don't know which to hot wire. The red from the wiring harness or the red from the ignition box.

 

John, I would add a battery and see if you have power on the red - in run, and white - crank if the harness side goes into the truck.
IIRC the white should get power when cranking to retard the timing so it will crank without kick back. I dont know if anyone has ever tested it to see if that is true but that is what has been posted.

The green wire I believe is a tach wire and even if it has a tach is not a big deal it is not hooked up.
I also know someone that has a 81 F100 we can look at for the wiring that is not all hacked to check how the wires should be run.

Kurt, thanks for the info. How is the packing and house sale going still on your time frame?

The black kitty is a love but we already have a black cat we ended up with as a foster failure and a black dog also a foster failure LOL
Add 3 other cats and 1 other dog of ours is enough at this time.
Dont tell the wife I took this picture as it is not her good side The "black crew" Bing the cat on top of the crate, Keeper in the crate and the kitten Jeepers on the wife's lap.

Dave ----

 

I'm just going to assume that your wife does not participate in this forum. If she does, you're going to be sleeping with the dog in the pen.



Yall have a fun, safe fourth weekend.

 

Dave I know red should get power when running and white gets power only when starting, but WHICH red and WHICH white? I'm assuming wiring hardness red, not ignition module red. I've saved 3 different durapark wiring diagrams, none of them showed the color switch that Kurt's did, but I can see my truck has it that way. Sadly there is nothing I can do inside the cab that would help iron anything out, the only power wires going to the cab were the collection of red wires draped across the firewall and pushed in by the rubber seals and wired to an under dash switch. And apparently a horn button as well. I guess you need a wire with a switch for the engine to run, and another wire with a button to trigger the starter, so maybe he had one wire left and thought "aha - I'll wire it to the horn, to warn people I'ma coming through!"

 

James, the wife may look over my shoulder but I can see her coming and can close the laptop

John, It would be the harness side on the red & white wires and they should come from the ignition switch that is on the top of the steering column down at the bottom.
Again I would stick a battery in it and test the wires for power.
I think that switch was most likely for add on lights or something like that and not anything for the running of the motor.
him
My son got so bad news on the house. Monday was the last day anyone could put a bid in on the house. They told him he won the bid so he got insurance and paid the inspection and I know he was working on the loan as we had to give him a letter that he was living here rent free.
Well he was not staying here over the weekend so Tuesday I text if he was ok, he did not say he would not be home, and he texted back that they told him someone out bid and for some reason they did not tell him till later.

I have not had time to talk to him as he got home at about 4am from work as he was in the bathroom when I wanted to get in to get ready for the gym.
When he left for work today around 1pm I was cutting the grass. He has Friday's off but I dont know if he will work the holiday for the extra money or time off or just take it off so I can talk to him.
I know he was looking forward to the house and so was I so I could get my garage room back.

Oh the tractor battery was bad. It was on a maintainer charger for a week or more and when I checked this morning it had 8 volts, it was 4 years old and think that is what I got from the other one.
$65 later and a baking soda cleaning of the battery area and we are running again.
Dave ----

 

I am sorry to hear about the house, that sounds kinda dirty that they didn't tell him before. I know that probably took the wind out of his sails.

There is literally no way for power to enter the cab. The only wires from the power area were these collection of red and orange wires used to hot wire various things. So basically the truck would run by hotwire and starter button under dash, no lights, no gauges, nothing (other than I mentioned, a push button that was wired to the horn). This is what I started with:


I am looking forward to pulling the entire harness from the project truck and I am glad you are committed to helping me with that. I think my goal at this point is to tackle it more towards the Fall when the heat starts to break. I still have plenty to keep me busy in the mean time.