1979 F250 4X4 Project
 

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I bought another Truck and its home now. Its a 1979 F250 Longbed with a 351 and C6 and 205 Transfer Case I think. Its got a Dana 60 in the back and a open knuckle 44 In the Front. The truck belonged to a friend of mine that I have done a lot of Business with and he owns a Transmission Shop. He rebuilt the Transmission, The Transfer Case and the Rear Diff. He inspected and put new bearing in the front diff and serviced it. This is one clean truck with no rust at all, not anywhere and it has very minimal Dents (Luckily my Son works for a Body shop and can do the Bodywork and Paint at a great price. This Truck Has a 4 inch Suspension Lift and a 3 inch body Lift, it had 38 Super Swampers on it when I took the pictures of it. I had a Set of Decent Roller Tires that are 32's and the truck is still almost a foot taller than my 2018 Dodge Ram 2500. I have to put my Knee on the Sill Place and hoist my backside up into this thing unless there is a ladder close by. The bed is amazing and looks like its never been used. The Dual Tanks Work and the only thing I need to figure out on this truck is where the Temperature Sensor is on the 351 because that is the only Instrument that isn't working. The Heater or the Fan Motor is not working either so I need to figure out whats going on with it. The Truck is set up for Dual Batteries so you can run a Winch off the Front Bumper. I am going to Paint the Truck Black From top to bottom and Get the Seat Upholstered to an Appropriate color to match the Truck. I am going to take off the Lower Moldings because I don't want the Two Tone Paint Job anymore. I have a Set of Mickey Thompson 35 All Terrain Tires on a Set of Micky Thompson Fake Bead Lock Rims. I am going to get them Polished then Put them on the Truck.

That's a good looking truck you have there. Looking forward to seeing updates on this one. Are you also working on the 71 still at the same time?

Nice truck! It’s pretty much the same as mine , only lifted high. Mine is a 1979 F250 4x4 , 351m stroked to a 400, c6 automatic with a Np205 transfer case . Dana 60 rear and Dana 44 9f front. The water temperature sender is mounted in the block , on the left side , just in behind the alternator on mine.

That makes me sad I have a 78 super cab the same color, was glad to see another one with the same paint scheme! But thats what makes the world go round. Hope you enjoy it it's a nice looking truck!

Ditch the body lift and run some 35's. That is far and away my favorite color scheme on a dent, I'd vote for leave it.

Very sweet truck!

Taking a bit of a break on the 71/75 Highboy Project. I am going to Put a Cummins 4BT in it and I need to build a Little Capital you might say.

Thanks for the Info, I will see if I can find it. I bought a new sensor cause it was only 11 Dollars but it might just be unpluged. Need to check it. That is the only thing that isn't working in the truck. I really like this thing and I hate to say it but its already growing on me.

Thanks I like Black and Silver also but I like Black by itself even better. Its going to be a Sweet Ride when its all done.

Thanks and It isn't painted yet and as my Son Likes to remind me is that it takes me forever to make up my mind on color.

If I remember correctly you can ground the wire connected to sensor and guage should move, indicating bad sensor.

For those of you out there that know numbers could you tell me what the numbers on this tag means. Not the Timing or the Plug Gap but more about the Engine Number at the Bottom of the Tag.
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It's a '78 351M.

Thanks, That's what I thought... I need to Do a Tune Up on it and Get it to the local DEQ station. Luckily it still has the Catalytic Converter on it. I sure hope it passes.

Where is the engine number? No see um.

D8TE-9C485-ADA is the numbers at the bottom of the Tag.

This is the ID number for the label (tag) itself, it has nothing to do with the engine!

Engine related numbers are in the 6000 group, emission and fuel related numbers are in the 9000 group.

Since this number is 9C485, it's not related to the engine.

Thanks for Schooling me on this Numbers.. I did do a Tune up on the Engine and It runs like a Sewing Machine... It did start making a High Pitch Whining noise and I am afraid that might be the Bearings in the Water Pump, But I'm not sure it could be the Power Steering Pump as well. The Belt is maxed out as far as adjustment goes and seems a bit loose. I am going to replace it with a Shorter One and see if it works out, the same thing is happening with the Alternator Belt as well. I did get to drive it a bit yesterday and it drives really nice. Has a Few rattles that I need to fix but it seems to be a pretty tight driving Truck. I did find another Tag on the inside of the Drivers Side of the Hood and it says the Original Engine was a 400. The one in it now is a 351M. Has plenty of power and runs really nice.

So I have an issue with my Turn signal on the Back Left Tail light. The Brake Light and the Turn Signal are very Dim and I have already took the Ground off behind the Light assembly and Cleaned them and the surface they are bolted to with no change in the Brightness of the Lights. Can anyone help with what else could be the problem with just the Left Rear Light being Dim. Thanks in advance for any help.

JRB64

I found on my truck that I had very weak grounding happening throughout the entire vehicle.

What I did to solve the problem was make my own ground connections that I knew were better than factory. I believe in total, I've added 4 common grounding points throughout my truck.
1) Frame to front clip
2) Frame to cab
3) Frame to box
4) Negative battery terminal to frame.

These have helped me immensely over the last 2-ish years to resolve grounding issues when I couldn't find what the heck was going wrong. I still have gremlins in the wiring, but 95% of my issues disappeared into thin air once I did this.

6 thing's I used:
1) properly sized / clean / new ring terminals
2) an existing hole (cleaned) in the frame
3) bolts + nuts + lock washers
4) dielectric grease
5) 12 gauge wiring I had lying around (tested it for resistance before using)
6) shrink tubing

At first, I thought I had solved all my issues by cleaning and re-using what looked like good existing grounds around my truck. Once I had everything clean and lubbed with dielectric grease, I took a piece of wire and ran it between 2 pieces of clean metal (frame + box). I saw my tail lights go from bright to brighter immediately upon touching the new wire between the two clean points; this is how I found out that my existing grounds, although clean, weren't so great after all.

Arron,
Thanks for all the Information. I am going to go pickup some Grounding Straps and Attach them to all the Body Parts from the Frame and also Run a Ground to the frame from the Connecting point on the Engine Block to the Frame. I use dielectric Grease and its the best stuff for keeping good and Non Corroded connections in these old trucks. I hope this will help but the Previous owner liked to use those Crimp type Blade Connectors and most of the time they did nothing but cut the wire and make for horrible connections. Im going to take all of them out and replace them with Heat Shrinkable Crimps so I will know they are getting good connections. Thanks again for your help, and it makes perfect sense.

Interesting. What's the GVWR of the truck? Is it a swapped in engine, or maybe just the valve cover? Does your fuel gauge say "unleaded fuel only" on it?
Reason I'm asking all those questions is because, as you can see, that engine decal clearly states "non-catalyst" on it. Which means that it came from a vehicle with an 8500GVWR or higher that year.

Since you say your truck does have a cat, and it would be very unusual for someone to put one on where it wasn't required (although that's something I'd do, and did!) I'm just wondering about it.
Hopefully it doesn't send up any red flags during inspection if they look for that kind of discrepancy.

Paul

Been having Oil Pressure Issues with my 351M and I figured out what it was. The Oil Sending Unit on the Back of the Motor was dislodged from the base where it screws into the top of the Block. What I figured out is the Oil Pressure Sending Unit was the Wrong one and it was too tall and when the previous owner put it in they forced it and broke the top of the unit off the threaded part. I put the new one in and there was barely enough room to put it in with the Vacuum Port that sticks out for the Transmission and the Brakes. Now the Oil Pressure sits at half deflection on the guage when its hot and about 3/4 when its cold. I was getting pretty worried that maybe the Bearings were done but I think its okay. It Runs like a sewing machine and I really like it. Lots of torque but by no means a race truck.

Looks like she will be going in for paint within the next Month or so... I am going to do a little minor bodywork to it before I send it off. This truck is really finding a place in my heart and Im not sure I will be able to let this one go... Story of My Life...

Awesome to hear you're getting some fresh paint on the beast!

And we hear you about letting it go. Countless threads on this forum on "wish I hadn't sold it".... These old trucks are bulletproof if taken care of. New trucks aren't!

Aaron-71
AMEN!!! Problem is I have way to many Projects and they are stacking up... There is a lot to be said for getting one and working it until its finished... I really want to Finish my Wifes 67 Mustang and I think that is going to be my main push with this 79 Going to Paint Soon.

The Truck went to paint and these are a few pictures of it as it sits now at the paint shop. Cant wait to get it back... they said 2 to 3 more weeks...
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Got some new pics of the Truck and its almost done at the Paint Shop...

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Paul, What I found out about the history of this truck is that the original engine was a 400M and it was pretty tired and worn out. The Previous owner has a Trans Shop and he rebuilt the entire drive line in this truck and right next to his shop is a Machine Shop and they had a 351M in there that had 20K Miles on it so he swapped it in rather than rebuilding the original 400M. It runs so nice, the only thing is it is very quiet and I like a little rumble from a truck, not real loud but a nice rumble. I was told that Its best to keep the Single exhaust but to go with a different muffler so it wont effect the torque. They are telling me if I go with a Dual Exhaust I will lose some of my Low End Torque and also I would need another Cat. I think a new Muffler and Pipe out the Back is the way Im going to go on this one. Sorry it took so long to answer your question, I have had some life things happen and It completely took me away from trucks completely since early this year. Just now getting back into them.

No problem. Thanks for getting back on that. Hope life is running smoothly and you can find time for some fun too. Well, "fun" with the truck anyway.

Makes sense on the swap. Glad you've got the history of the truck to work with. You don't necessarily lose low end from duals. It's just how they're done. Most might be tempted to go too big and that can effect a lot of things that need to be tuned out or just lived with.
But a good single is still the way to go in my opinion. Or I even like duals run down the same side and did that to one of my Broncos. Easier to interconnect with an H-pipe/crossover that way too, which is almost always beneficial in out cases. But mainly I like having the extra real estate under the truck for other things.

That black is sure lookin' smooooooth too!

Paul

Thanks Paul, I have to tell you I am really happy with my painter. I use to do all the Bodywork and Paint but it makes such a mess in the shop that I have just found it better to let a shop do it. This is my Second paint job with this guy and I just told him this morning that I have a 69 Ranger/Explorer that he is going to paint Its Original Signal Flare Red above the Bump and Below it Black. He asked for a little time between Projects and so I told him I could put it off till Next Fall. I am going to get the 390 Rebuilt and have the C6 gone through. Its a nice truck and I look forward to making it my Daily Driver.
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I am thinking about going with the Single Exhaust and go with a Cherry Bomb or an aggressive Flow Master. The thing I hate about the flowmaster is the Resinent Hum you get at cruising speeds. But Cherrys make a serious rap at the Shift Points. I need to do some thinking on this... Decisions, Decisions!!! Maybe I should go with a Nice Magna Flow and see how that works...

I was leaning that way too, but after hearing some sound bits I'm sticking with my older decision to go with a Walker Ultra-Flow stainless (not the "welded") for it's sound and being still a straight through design.
I like the Cherry Bombs too, and love how compact they are for making a dual system down one side of the truck. I think the newer ones are not as rappy, but I could be wrong. I love to experiement, but it's always turned out experimenting with exhaust was just too much work and expense. Makes it more of a paint to choose though!

Pretty sure the right larger case Flow masters do not have the same drone as the others. I'm surprised mine does not drone on the highway in the Bronco, but that might be due to the higher rpm I'm running with the 4.56 gears and 31" tires!

Good luck

Paul

Man, I tell ya. Finding a painter you like and trust and that has worked out more than once in a row is like gold! Does not happen very often in today's world it seems.
Keep that guy on speed dial!

Paul

Got the Truck home from the the Painter and I had to take the Tailgate back cause it had a few Bodywork issues in it but overall he did a great job on the Truck. I put the new Tires and Wheels on yesterday and its even taller so I really need some steps for this thing... I am going to pull the seat out and get it to the Upholsterer this week so he can go to work on it. I need to get the Tailgate back so I can shoot in the Bed Liner. Its really going to be a nice truck when its all done.
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