69 F100 10hr project
 

Hello all, my name is Luke, and I'm new to this site...


Long story short, (OK, its kinda long...)
a couple months ago, I received an assignment at school...
I had to spend 10+ hours doing something that I had never done before, and since I was almost 16, I decided that it would be sweet to get a truck that needs a little work, and fix it up to use for my own wheels...
So, i went on craigslist, and found a 69 F100 with a 360, and a 4-speed on the floor...

Ha ha all of a sudden my 10 hour project turns into a 1000hr project..:)
My dad and I were able to drive it home, and it drove pretty good...

Since then, with the help of this forum, and an uncle who loves old Fords, I have done a lot to the truck...
First off, I have found out that the engine is actually a 390, by measuring the stroke.
the engine was burning a little oil on deceleration, and the #8 cyl. was doing only about 25ish PSI on a compression test. (All the other cylinders were about 120-130.)
Next,we did a leak-down test on cylinder 8, to find out that it held air no problem...
This led us to believe that a valve could be sticking on the 8 cyl.
I also read on this website, that a probable cause for burning oil on deceleration is a leaky intake manifold gasket...

With the goal in mind to replace gaskets, (there were also a couple oil leaks...) and to fix the valve guides on cyl. 8, I pulled the engine, and tranny with the help of my dad, and a cherry picker from my uncle, three weeks ago...
we also decided that while it is out, we will re-paint it, and replace hoses...

the next week, I took off the carburetor, distributor, coil, and alternator, then used a can of GUNK and a pressure washer to remove a bunch of grease from the engine... after that, i removed my valve covers to find that the pushrod on #8's intake valve had snapped in half! (my uncle had never heard of them snapping.. just bending, and was pretty surprised...)

This morning, my uncle came over and we decided that since the valve isn't stuck,(i can compress it by pushing down on it with a hammer handle.) we could just replace the rod, paint it and the engine compartment, and then put it back together...
So this afternoon, I took off the intake manifold, fuel pump, oil pan, fan, water pump, oil filter, and exhaust manifolds, and cleaned as much grease off of them as i could with GUNK and a couple brushes.
I still plan to clean them once more in a parts washer before paint... probably Wednesday...

I have a question about the alternator though...
When I took off the alternator, the bottom bolt wouldn't budge when i put a wrench on it. I had to get a breaker bar, with about a foot and a half of pipe on the end before I could get it to move, and when it did start turning, it never really broke loose. It took about 80 pounds of torque the whole time (rough Guess...but i was grunting with a 3 foot breaker bar all the way out...) to get it out.
It is stuck in the alternator, not the engine block.
Is this common with that alternator?
I also saw on someone's previous thread that a alternator out of a 90s Taurus, (:-huh I think that's what it was, there were a couple other cars too from the same age range) will fit in this truck, and produce more electrical power, which the original alternator lacks...
Would it be a good idea to pull an alternator from a junkyard and put it in instead of messing with the stuck bolt on mine?
BTW: the top bolt on the alternator had been drilled out by someone before me too...

So that's where im at now...
and I will probably have a few more questions to ask as the project goes on...
Ill try to post some pictures too...

Here are some pictures... hopefully this works :)

<a href="http://s1146.photobucket.com/albums/o539/lukeydukey2/?action=view&amp;current=P1120184.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1146.photobucket.com/albums/o539/lukeydukey2/P1120184.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>

<a href="http://s1146.photobucket.com/albums/o539/lukeydukey2/?action=view&amp;current=P1120187.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1146.photobucket.com/albums/o539/lukeydukey2/P1120187.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>

<a href="http://s1146.photobucket.com/albums/o539/lukeydukey2/?action=view&amp;current=P1120188.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1146.photobucket.com/albums/o539/lukeydukey2/P1120188.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>

<a href="http://s1146.photobucket.com/albums/o539/lukeydukey2/?action=view&amp;current=P1120185.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1146.photobucket.com/albums/o539/lukeydukey2/P1120185.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>

Before I pulled the engine, I pulled the seat out and floor mat, to see what the floor looked like... and let it dry out. Leaky windshield:-arrgh

<a href="http://s1146.photobucket.com/albums/o539/lukeydukey2/?action=view&amp;current=IMG_0102.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1146.photobucket.com/albums/o539/lukeydukey2/IMG_0102.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>

Then the engine came out...

<a href="http://s1146.photobucket.com/albums/o539/lukeydukey2/?action=view&amp;current=Whenitfirstcameout.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1146.photobucket.com/albums/o539/lukeydukey2/Whenitfirstcameout.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>

and apart...

<a href="http://s1146.photobucket.com/albums/o539/lukeydukey2/?action=view&amp;current=myengine.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1146.photobucket.com/albums/o539/lukeydukey2/myengine.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>

and finally, this is what it looks like right now.

<a href="http://s1146.photobucket.com/albums/o539/lukeydukey2/?action=view&amp;current=everythingoff.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1146.photobucket.com/albums/o539/lukeydukey2/everythingoff.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>

Nice find...looks like you have a good co-pilot, too. No need to upgrade the alternator unless you have plans to add some power hungry sound accessories. But do replace it, they're pretty cheap. Check you're wiring, too...water in the cab can do funny things. What color are you going to paint it? This site has a lot of brochures that show stock colors: fordification.com

looks like a nice project , keep up the good work

Heck yea, great project.
I'd keep the alternator you know works.

Looks like a good project! Also looks like the exhaust manifold bolts were able to be removed, they sure like to get stuck and break when removing them.

I've had difficulty removing original alternators, it seems the dis-similar metals (steel bolts in the aluminum housing) corrode and seize.
When reinstalling the alternator, some anti-seize on the threads, some lithium grease inside the spacer (with the seam facing down) might really help future disassembly.

Thanks for the quick replys..
I'm not completely sure what color im gonna paint it, but leaning towards black, or a darkish grey... I've also thought about putting an oak flatbed on it, with a black headache rack, but its gonna be a while before that happens, if it even does. According to the VIN, the truck was originally Lunar Green & Wimbledon white.

Electrically, everything seems to work, water was only coming in on the drivers side, and going straight to the floor, as much as I could tell, but I will keep in mind that it should be checked out.

The exhaust manifolds came off pretty easily, the passenger's side one had a couple of sticky bolts, but they came out fine with some WD-40...
I think it's been off before though... probably pretty recently.

One other question,
When I went to the local O'Reillys, there were two colors of ford blue engine paint, one said "dark ford blue" and the other was "old ford blue."
does anyone know which one is the original?

Ford dark blue should have been the original color, since it's an FE engine. In my opinion, the dark blue just looks "right" on these engines.

Nice find. Treat it right, and it'll serve well, for a long time to come.