Awesome!!!!!....While you were riding around the block I could have sworn I saw your smile..... through the welding mask.....from here! Congrats

 

well I spent some time figuring out how to attach the wire hold down thingies that hold the spare tire hatch on to the truck box. In the process I discovered that the way I routed the exhaust interferes with the spare tire hatch.

Soooo I broke out the sawzall, grinder, and welder and made up some kool new raw metal hardkase exhaust tips. I think these things will improve gas mileage and increase horsepower by at least %10 hp .

Oh yeah, I also sent the rims off to the tire shop for some new rubber. I expect to get the tires back on it today.

 

Awesome glad I could help Take it a lil at a time. Its an awesome project you have. I had a 77 camper special in highschool it was orange tan interior 400 C6 had every piece of chrome they ever put on one of those trucks even the air and cruise still worked. Sold it to my machine shop teacher and his son totaled it ugh

 

The truck made it to and from the car show last weekend under its own power. It is ridiculously loud. All the old hot rodders at the show were giving my son and I the thumbs up when we pulled into the line of cars waiting to park at the show. I took it for a little run after the show. This truck hates to idle. It seems to even out at around 2500 rpm, and just keep pulling as I put the pedal down.

I'm a little afraid of tuning this beast. It seems to suffer from fuel starvation problems at low rpm. I would like to ask for a little help from the guys here who may know something about setting up and tuning a performance 460. I'll put my question up on the 460 thread and see what I find.

 

I've managed to tune the carb. I put a new, lower numbered power valve in the primary metering plate on the holley carb I am using. Now the truck overheats. Hmmm...

 

Man I'd check timing sounds like shes running lean.

 

Well I found the parasitic drain on my battery. It's been draining 2.0 amps from the alternator. I went through all the circuits, any extra circuits I added, and started working through all of the circuits with fuseable links. The link going from the starter relay to the alternator tested out as the circuit with the draw. At first I assumed the fuse wire (link) was done, but it passed the resistance test and the continuity test. Sooo I hooked the alternator back up, tested the amp draw and got 2 amps again.

I didn't know how to do a test for a parasitic draw until I saw this video on youtube.


Now that I'm looking at changing the alternator, I'm thinking a 3g alt swap may be in order. I saw this post on FTE and it looks pretty easy.

https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/9...ml#post8677010

 

Well I decided against going with the 3g alternator swap. Went out and got a reman alternator and put it it.

A Wierd thing happened. I hooked up the new alternator to the wiring harness and set it on the ps fender apron. Did the draw test on it and everything looked good. Soo I disconnected, and went about installing the alternator in the bracket on the engine and then hooked the three wires up again and the 2 amp draw came back when I tested it. It's dark outside where I have the truck. So back to the drawing board tomorrow.

 

I think i found the draw on the battery, and also the problem with my headlights. There is a relay on the circuit for the headlights just after the foot dimmer switch. The wiring diagrams I have for this truck do not show a relay in the headlight circuit.

I took a part number off of the relay (C8AB - 4677 - A) and did some searching on the internet and found that this part number seems to be listed as an electric window relay for 70's Gran Torinos.

I removed the relay and direct wired the lights and everything works.

Does anyone out there know if these were a Ford factory thing for a '74 truck?

 

Did your truck come from the factory with 2 battery boxes? it may have been something to do with that..?..?.

 

I put new lime green seatbelts in the truck, and I installed the lime green carpet. She's looking pretty good. Just gotta install the door panels now.



lime green carpet and seat belts!

 

I'm not 100% certain, but I think it did come with a dual battery setup. It is a super camper special. This trim/option package in the ford trucks was less common and a little more heavy duty. I am making an assumption here that the camper special, super camper special, and the trailer special option packages would have the dual battery done at the factory.

A guy like Numberdummy would know for certain with something like this.

 

Might be on to something there...I dont remember that relay anywhere in my stock harness.

 

Any new progress? I really like how the interior is looking nice clean and looks somewhat original

 

Well it's been a while, but I have been working on the truck. I swapped out the worn out cam that was in it for a 270 magnum 4x4 cam. It's 'llnot as nasty as the 292 that was in it, but it will have to do.



Here I am about to take the snout off the old 460.





Had to remove a whole bunch of stuff to get at the front of the engine for the cam replacement.