Got it running pretty good yesterday afternoon. When I rebuilt the carburetor, I reconnected the vacuum advance which I had disconnected previously. Once I disconnected it again, the popping went away. I now remember that I had given up on the vac advance and set the timing without it. I need to curve the distributor and get everything set up with the vacuum advance. but since I plan on upping the compression after the cosmetic facelift with pistons or heads, I will see to it then. On a scale of 1 to 10, I would say that the engine is running better than a 9, but I will make it a 10 after the paint job.

I drove it to the car wash and it was pinging on hard acceleration. I stopped at the station and topped off the tank with premium and the pinging went away. I had forgotten how good this truck goes down the road. It has the old Ford sensitive steering, but it drives really as good as it did when new. I have a dual exhaust system with pretty quiet turbo mufflers and it sounds really good. Nice and mellow.

The engine I have in this truck is a 400 with my own porting in the heads, Edelbrock performer, Holley 600 vac secondary and an RV cam along with the dual exhaust with stock exhaust manifolds.

With all the plastic fender liners and trim out of the way, I was able to pressure wash things pretty well. I had scraped alot of heavy surface rust from the bed surface, so I was able to pressure wash alot of that away and I also washed down "new" fender.

I brought it back and got it positioned in the shop and drained the oil and filter while it was hot.

I am now ready to start doing some surface rust removal and doing the metal work in the few small places necessary. As it turns out there are a few pinholes in the bed floor. I plan on sandblasting them and MIGGING them up. I will prime and paint the inside of the bed and will have a rhino liner put in after the paint job. I now feel like I am actually starting on the project.

I will do my best to start posting some pictures in spite of the fact that I'm in the boonies on a 24K baud dial up.

 

Not all engines get timed with the vacuum hose to the V/A disconnected and plugged.

Some call for everything to be hooked up.

ie: 8*BTDC at 650 rpm in drive

 

Mil1ion,

Yes, I plan on experimenting with timing while vac advance is connected to both the spark port and bottom vac port on the carb. I am just not going to bother with that for now since I will have to redo the whole thing anyway after I build some compression into it.

Thanks for the comments.

 

You mentioned having a 400.
what trans std is in it AT or MT.

Here are your engine tuneup and calibration specs from my 77/78 page.


http://mil1ion.clubfte.com/78Calibra...e-upSpecs.html

12*BTDC at 650 rpm

A/T - 7-74-R10
choke setting 3 rich

M/T - 7-73 - R10
choke setting 2 rich

 

Unfortunately it is an automatic transmission. It's been so long since I messed with the carb and distributor, I can't remember which mark I have painted on the balancer. I was thinking 6, but it's hard to remember something from 10 years ago, which is when I built the engine. The engine only has about 10,000 miles on it.

I have a Holley with a manual choke.

Thanks very much for the info.

 

[QUOTE=MBDiagMan]Got it running pretty good yesterday afternoon. When I rebuilt the carburetor, I reconnected the vacuum advance which I had disconnected previously. Once I disconnected it again, the popping went away. I now remember that I had given up on the vac advance and set the timing without it. I need to curve the distributor and get everything set up with the vacuum advance. but since I plan on upping the compression after the cosmetic facelift with pistons or heads, I will see to it then. On a scale of 1 to 10, I would say that the engine is running better than a 9, but I will make it a 10 after the paint job.

I drove it to the car wash and it was pinging on hard acceleration. I stopped at the station and topped off the tank with premium and the pinging went away. I had forgotten how good this truck goes down the road. It has the old Ford sensitive steering, but it drives really as good as it did when new. I have a dual exhaust system with pretty quiet turbo mufflers and it sounds really good. Nice and mellow.

You need a nice smooth advance curve to help your throttle response and to get rid of that engine damaging detonation.

If you decide to get a new distributor, consider our custom curved Duraspark Distributor built with our new Full Length Oil Impregnated Bronze Bushing. The full length bushing improves timing stability and spark scatter. If stock appearance is not an issue, take a look at our one piece D.U.I. Distributor. Whether you choose the Duraspark or the D.U.I., we curve each on a distributor machine based on your engine combination. Please see them at:

http://www.performancedistributors.c...istributor.htm</O



Also, there is now an excellent installation article on the D.U.I. Distributor on the Ford-Trucks.com site at:


https://www.ford-trucks.com/article/idx/0/358/article/DUI_Ignition_Installation_In_A_Ford_351W_V8.html

 

Project update:

I have not had as much time to work on this project as I had hoped, but I am moving a little. I just got back in from getting the rear window out. This is after I have spent LOTS and LOTS of time getting the surface rust off the top. The top is VERY thin so I can't get pressure to sand through the rust. I am now seeing the light at the end of the rust tunnel on the top, so I felt it time to get the glass out. My son was here so he played catcher while I managed to push out the back glass. I hope to get the windshield out tomorrow night.

With the glass out, I won't be too far away from getting the top in primer. I got a small sand blaster for getting the rust out of the drip rail and the areas that were under the glass seals.

I really feel that the rest of the truck will move along faster with thicker metal that allows me to get pressure with the DA. My experiments on the hood show that I can cut through the rust in no time.

I apologize for not yet having pictures, but maybe I will get that sorted out before too long.

I put some Sta Bil in the full gas tank and ran the engine some. I know it will be awhile before the engine sees any significant running so maybe this will keep me from having to rebuild the carb again.

 

I just removed the windshield on my 77 F150 project and I hope you are luckier than I and you do not find hidden rust holes under the windshield gasket ;-( It's not something that can't be repaired, but it sure slows down my restoration. I had 4 - 5 large holes hidden under that seal. I sandblasted the damaged areas and have begun to sandblast the entire cab, so I can hit the cab with some epoxy primer to seal the fresh metal. Here are some links to some photo's:

 

I got the windshield out today and everything is totally rust free. There was a little surface rust at the bottom in the rear, but absolutely none on the front. In fact, I found probably the best color sample on the whole truck underneath the windshield seal.

I have pretty much finished stripping the rust from the roof. It was a long, tough job. I fully expect the rest of the truck to strip much quicker.

I got the cab almost completely stripped of parts today. I still have to get out the seat and floormat and have a few screws on the door latch that I couldn't get loose. I will bring my impact driver home from work and finish that.

One question for you guys who might have been there. The inserts on the doors to which the rear view mirror bolts to are all intact except one. It is slipping in the door hole. I was able to hold it from inside the door with channel locks and get the mirror off. So, can I use a bolt and washer to tighten the crimp? Is the insert steel such that I could MIG it in place from the backside? Any experience or ideas? It might be that I can get a replacement, drill the old one out and just tighten it in place. Thanks for any help you can offer on this.

I have decided to upgrade my compressor. It will let me use my DA's with no trouble, use my glass bead box with plenty of air and no waiting, use a sand blaster in a few small spots on the truck AND let me use an HVLP paint gun. I am thinking that my old Binks conventional gun will use so much of the expensive paint, that the paint savings will easily pay for the gun. It is an investment that I need to make anyway, so now is probably a good time to do it.

Sorry about no pictures yet. My time is really pressed right now, but I will do my best to get some pictures posted, maybe when I get a little time for the holidays.

Thanks for your support.