Ok so the last few days I have spent most of the day working on my 83 F100 with a 302 V8. Back in May of last year decided I was going to turn it into a big project and make it a nice everyday truck. Well that ball quickly started rolling down hill and the parts list got bigger and bigger. After watching some of the stuff that has been done on here I knew my project would never be at that level but still wanted to attempt it and learned quite a bit along the way. So got a reman 302 and a rebuilt AOD, then went on to replace pretty much everything under the hood from the radiator all the way through the AC...while I was at it I went ahead and put in a 3G alternator. Well after working on it a day here a weekend there I finally got to hear the motor come to life yesterday, have got to say it was pretty cool after all the work I have put into it. Still have some things to finish up and some stuff to problem solve but just thought I would share....know how much you guys love hearing about these old things coming back to life.

With no pictures it didn't happen. No proof. As for the engine running, w/o a video that's suspect as well. }>

Honestly though, that is such a good feeling! Congrat's. But, show us the proof.

LOL thanks Gary....I have to fix a couple things first, you wouldn't happen to know what the best timing for a stock 302 is would you? I will post some pictures of it this weekend. I have quite a few before and afters.

Good for you sticking with it.
And learning something in the process.

Rep's to you! :)

I don't have the timing spec's, but they are on the label on the radiator support or filler panel. If you don't have that, and assuming you don't have the computer controlling timing, 6 degrees BTDC would be a good starting point. Then, if it likes that try 2 degrees more and keep feeding it more, testing in between, to see what it will take w/o pinging. But, I wouldn't go over ~16 degrees even if it won't ping at that.

Thanks guys....this forum has helped me a lot through the way with tons of info. There was a thread on here very recently about distributors and some one had posted a link to the one they bought from Skipwhite of eBay, just want to say I went ahead and got one through him as well after reading the thread and so far so good. Very easy to install and adjust, for the money thought it was a great buy. I have ran into a ignition issue after swapping in the 3G alternator, might be picking your brains shortly.

Why don't you tell us the trouble you're having?
... Or start your own thread and direct us to it?

Probably something to do with the ballast resistor. We'll be waiting. But, if you wanted to start your own thread and published a link here I would subscribe. That way you'd have all of your stuff together when you want to look back on what you've done. Doesn't have to be long - like some of us: Dad's Truck Build

I'd like to flatter myself and say "great minds think alike", but probably ought to say "sometimes even a blind squirrel finds a nut".

Will do guys....going to go work on it for a little while....will start a thread tonight

Just put in an inline fuel filter before the fuel pump. Now we'll see if I have any kind of trash in my gas tank. I also won't have to worry about running my gas tank down low again.

Going to finish hooking up the manual choke conversion kit tomorrow. I won't have a fast idle due to the choke rod being broken off and missing from the carburetor, but it'll at least be able to idle after I crank it and I won't have to pump the gas.

One of these days I'll eventually find another 80 to 83 Carter YFA to get the choke components and bowl etc. off the top of it so I can have a fully functioning carburetor.

Heres a little something to ponder over for ya'll: I have steam coming through the defroster vent in my truck. I'll post a thread and see what can be done to rectify this situation.

Replace the heater core.

I second that! If you have AC, it's about a 30 min. job.

Thanks Gary & 85lebaron, will do. Truck has no AC, didn't come with one. Does this affect the size of heater core I need? Any word of caution before I proceed?

From what I've read it is much harder to change out the heater core for a non-A/C truck. But, it is going to have to be done - unless you are so far south you don't need it and then you can just run the heater hose in a loop back to the engine and bypass the heater.