1968 F100 2wd style side short bed.

[Craigerf100]

Updated my MC from a oem remand to a 91 explorer MC. Drastically improved my braking. I figured that oem MC was the culprit, I've come to realize remand products as old as ours are hit or miss.



One day 8 months ago my cluster lights just suddenly went out. it ended up being the whole fuse/curcuit just died. So i ran another and bam! I've got lights. But no dimmer though. Oh well I never dim them anyway.

[Ranchero50]

So what's the rest of the story? Hopefully the 351 is in better shape vs. that poor 302.

Still in limbo, buying it stalled out for now. It's just sitting in his shop at the moment. Yes I hope it's in better shape too.
I know ranchero you're the type that's... Well doesn't understand why I don't spend the money and "do it right" but the fact is this is a budget build and well if I can make a low mileage 302 work for what I need by refreshing it and popping a cam in it well I'll do my best . But yes this is why I'm looking at this 351w as the 302 wasn't in the exact condition I would of liked. But I still plan to finish it.

Oh man, you have no idea just how cheap I am. I bought my '93 stang with the blower etc. for $7k in '00 from a guy who only ran 87 octane in it. Daily commute was 60 miles to the DC area. Blowby would pump the oil out of the engine as vapor. I rigged a washer reservoir from a '69 stang as a receptacle and plumbed the fresh air intake hose to it to recapture the oil. I have to dump it back in the engine before coming home. Did this for a winter before getting transferred back local. Then I pulled the engine and had the block bored .030" over and had the rods resized. Pulled the valves and used a flap wheel to dress the erosion on the valve seats while they were turning in my drill press. Then used Tri Clover grit grease to grind the seats to match the valves (ugly but it worked). Back together for a year. Next round saw the AFR 185's off Craigslist go on along with the cam from Summit. Valves seized, shop reamed the guides. Then it smoked horribly. Motor completely back apart fighting with the shop to make it right. They ended up knurling the guides. Next year, Autozone crank, that was bent... Used a small block of wood between the mains to 'press' it back true. Finally sprung for the Crane electronics and some decent gauges. Put 100k on that motor and it even passed MD emissions once.

I guess my point is to do the best you can as you can afford to do it. My old pistons had the lands between the rings broken on several pistons from detonation. The heads were shot. It was my commuter car and had to function and I had less than $800 in TRW forged pistons and total seal rings making that part pretty bulletproof. I picked up the heads and roller rockers for @ $1300 and I think the crank was around $200. I guess the other option would be to get a loan for $3k and do it right the first time. I would have been money ahead to do that when I built mine but I was already paying on one note.

[Ranchero50]

Updated my MC from a oem remand to a 91 explorer MC. Drastically improved my braking. I figured that oem MC was the culprit, I've come to realize remand products as old as ours are hit or miss.

So that was a pretty direct swap other than the lines? My steel master cylinder seeps the fluid out over a couple weeks. I have no idea why but it's not leaking anywhere except over the top of the reservoir.

[Craigerf100]

Updated my MC from a oem remand to a 91 explorer MC. Drastically improved my braking. I figured that oem MC was the culprit, I've come to realize remand products as old as ours are hit or miss.

So that was a pretty direct swap other than the lines? My steel master cylinder seeps the fluid out over a couple weeks. I have no idea why but it's not leaking anywhere except over the top of the reservoir.

Yep, I only had to do 2 things to make it fit; 1 you may not have to do. First The push rod on the front of the booster needed extending cause the receiver on the MC was deeper then the oem MC. This one is only for certain universal boosters. I had to whore out the bolt holes on the new MC to fit the bolts on the booster. And it works waaaay better then my old MC.

[Jacksdad]

Perfect timing - my MC has started leaking again (the second remanufactured unit I've fitted in ten years). It looks like I'm off to O'Reillys this morning for something else, so I'll price up an Explorer replacement while I'm there.
Thanks for sharing that little tidbit


.

[Craigerf100]

Anytime, I chose the early 90s explorer cause of the side the lines run from.

[Jacksdad]

Same brake line fittings?

[Craigerf100]

Nope but there are adapters, I chose to re fit the new ones that come with it

[Craigerf100]

Look back on page 29 at the explorer spring swop I did

[Jacksdad]

Thank you, sir - much appreciated

[Craigerf100]

[biggene]

Any more updates on the roller motor build Craig?? And can you go into some detail about how you adapted the F600 dash? How was the wiring or did you even have to change anything?

[Craigerf100]

Any more updates on the roller motor build Craig?? And can you go into some detail about how you adapted the F600 dash? How was the wiring or did you even have to change anything?

Yeah man it's really plug and play. But there are some differences u gotta know. For starters youve gotta know what year truck u have. Cause like in the pic below, the wireing set up changed over the bump side years. Most f500-700 clusters that I've seen that fit our trucks Have the actual wire harness(bottom one). So what this means is when u buy your big f series cluster make sure the wire harness comes with I t. Worst case scenario you might have to splice all the wires into your dash wires if the connector from the cluster to your dash aren't the same. So in other words if you have a 67-69 f series these clusters plug right in.

Another tid-bit that you may not know. Is with wire harnesses, the wire colors are stamped on the back of the clusters. So no confusion on what wire goes where. (67-69)

It was the best swop I've ever done. I love the way it looks.

I do recommend finding one in good condition. Especially in regards to the gauges. As you can imagine the gauges are old and sometimes don't work. I have seen new ones forsake on eBay though.

[Craigerf100]

As for the Roller 302 nothing has been done to since. And 351w the per chasing and pick up part of the deal is still in limbo

[Craigerf100]

holy cow I recommend this conversion. 91 explorer MC with booster. after a bench bleed and bleeding the lines 3 timel. theyre the best brakes ive ever had. stops ona dime and in a straight line and doesn't lock up with a firm pedal that you can feather with your toe. love it