yep got the ol' girl on the road yesterday, put alot of work into her today, and going to get an inspection sticker monday lol. the truck is a 69 ford f350 with a 390 and 4 speed. switched to power steerin and power brakes.
i went yesterday and pulled the old 2 peice rims with the 9.50 16s off and put some one peice rims with 285 65(i think) 16's. this truck rides sooo nice! and the 390 sounds really good through the smoke stacks! so onto some pictures!




im planing on getting some rustolium and painting it black again, and she will be like new! more pictures tommorrow as i get some more done with her.

btw, is there any way someone with the same combo, 390, 4speed, 410 (or close)rear, could tell me how these things do on the interstate? im taking a 400 mile trip in her in mid july!

 

That looks like a him truck to me not some sissy her truck.

For the trip take plenty of gas money, expect 5 mpg, if you do better great for you.



John

 

thats what i was figuring lol, because its runnin pretty hard at 55 let alone 65 lol. dad and papaw swares that they got up to 12 on the highway doin 55 so idk. hopefully i guess, im expecting like 6 to 10. and more pics in a little bit going to get the new tail lights on it, and clean it up a bit.

 

well i have spent all day crawling underneith this thing, someone has cut the factory wiring harness at the back of the frame, hooked up the pass side as the lead light, and then i cant figure out whats up with the drivers side, i cant get power to any of the factory wires, i have managed to get rev, park, and brake lights, but cant find a turn signal wire so idk whats up with that. lets hope we can figure it out between the rain showers, only have an hour of light left!

 

C. Don't want to be dissin your folks, so repair for 5-6mpg and if you do better come back and tell about it.

I have gotten about 13.5 with my F100 & 3.00 rear gears, that 350 aint gonna do that. It is heavier and is geared lower. Driving 40-45mph will make it go higher. IMHO



John

 

i agree with you 100%, the truck was never run over like 50, and hasnt been on the highway sence ledded gas!! lol. im leaving at night and driving through the nite so i can drive slower on the interstate.

update!!! got all the lights working. someone rigged this thing up bad! the lead light is now the pass side rear, then it goes to the drivers side. but for some ungodly reason they hooked the cab lights up to the park light wire on the dam back of the frame!!! im going to get a wiring harness from another truck like this one. also got my side bordes, and made a tailgate for it. plenty of pictures tommorrow since it rained today, and it got dark befor i got the lights fixed lol.

 

Well, I don't have an exact match from which to compare, but here's what I just got through doing over this last weekend. I made a trip of about 1,000 miles which involved flat land, hills and way ups and way downs as well as some fairly wide altitude changes. I was driving a 4x4 F-250 Highboy but it was a 4 door Crew Cab. It is powered by a 215 hp 360 V-8, has a NP-435 4 speed, and 4.10 to 1 gearing. That should be a fairly good "almost match" with vehicle weight, etc. You will have about 40 more hp, but you probably won't be using it for just highway travel. I drove at a steady speed of 55 mph, but sometimes it would creep up to about 57 mph. I even kept the speed constant both up and downhill. The tire size made for 662 revs per mile, making engine rpms of 2714 at 60 mph. Given this size tire, rpms were about 2442 at 55 mph. My average miles per gallon was 13.6 and I even got 14.1 on one tank of fuel. That occurred where it was a long, long, slow downgrade over many miles, (150 or so), as we dropped altitude in general. I was careful to use a light touch with the throttle and I believe that helped also. Truck was in good tune and running very well. I think the figures speak for themselves. Let us know what your fuel economy is on your 400 mile trip. Curious to know. I was pleased with mine.

 

i am going from the mountins of va to the coast of nc (wilson actualy, so almost to the coast) so it will be up and down the first 100, then all downhill the rest. around here we dont get over 55 so if i leave leat im hoping even interstates where its 65 and 75 i can just do 55.

im planing on doing the valve cover gaskets, and even thinking of possibly doing the rear main seal just for good mesure. would hate to do it on the side of the road!
i added it up, papaw bought this truck with 29k on it, done a complet rebuild (rings were stuck, sat for 2 years on the side of a hill) and the truck only has 52,7xx now. so it only has 24k give or take a cople hundred. so the truck really isnt broken in... but anyway ill post up pics in a bit.

 

alright guys im going to pic *****. hope you dont mind, if you do im sorry!!! and yes im getting ready to repaint it.

the tires i put on the front, to replace the pizza cutters


actuall milage


and, of course, my attitude adjuster

 

I need you to come to Creedmoor and set up my truck. With 3.00 gears my engine is turning 2050 @55 mph, much slower than yours. When mine is up in the 2700 range it is rolling along above 70 mph. I just need some of what you got. I should be able to get 18-20 turning the lower rpms if you could let us know what your setup is.


John

 

Hopefully, your truck is a 67 to 71, which was the higher compression years. These make the most power and get the best fuel economy. Don't have to hold your foot on the floor to make them go! The only thing I have done is add a Petronix solid state module and no longer have points. Also, have set the timing precisely. Other than that, just gentle easy throttle massaging.......(she likes that), and don't give her more gas than she can use. I found that if you push down a little and the engine begins to pull, don't push down further because it won't pull much harder and you will only be running more gas through it for little or no gain. Just give her enough to pull and hold it right there. Its sort of difficult to grasp doing this at first, but it will become second nature after a while and remember, you are paying yourself to do it!!