Graham's '68 F-100 - Engine swap week

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motzingg
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Re: Graham's '68 F-100 "Buck" the truck

Post by motzingg »

worst case scenario i bugger the threads and either get a junkyard manifold for 10 bucks or drill it out larger and use a threaded insert.

since it is an exhaust manifold i don't really trust the epoxy thing.

been a crazy week, just havent had any time to get this fnished, hopefully friday after work.
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Re: Graham's '68 F-100 "Buck" the truck

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Eh... having some problems with the Fordification site, it wouldn't let me post this last week so i copy pasted and i'll try again:

Things have been moving at their usual slow-but-steady two steps forward, one step back kinda pace lately. I've been pretty busy at work and around the house so truck time is getting squeezed and I've been working on a lot of moped stuff lately, but I have been picking away at getting the truck sorted out slowly.

The intake manifold studs got torched out and drilled, heli-coiled, etc. 23.99 for a helicoil set to fix a $15 manifold, not sure that was worth it. Even worse i noticed yesterday that we had a 3/8" heli-coil set in a cabinet here at work, damn. Probably never use that stupid thing again.
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Painted the exhaust and intake with VHT flame proof, flat black of course.

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** I feel like if i don't mention it here i'll forget it for all of eternity, i realized that the exhaust diverter valve in the 'cold' position circulates exhaust up around and through the two compartments on either side (r/l) of the carb mounting nub, which is hollow and lets exhaust pass through. Well, by cutting those passages off and capping them with a big steel plate, i was a bit worried this wouldn't work right, maybe choking exhaust or something, So i bent the flapper valve so it wouldn't go all the way up to the bottom of the web in the intake, and also so it would make a better seal when flow was diverted down into the tail pipe. The rediculous amount of flow obstruction from all that and the stupid flow path is cringe-worthy from a performance standpoint, but for right now I don't need to open another can of worms messin' with it.

All the parts ready for assembly:
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More 'moped tech' here, not specifically moped, but a little bit of porting to match the two V's from the carb into the single big bore of the adapter
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Here is the loosely assembled intake+exhaust apparatus, missing some gaskets and sealant.
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I thought that using Pabst cans to fix things was a moped-only kinda thing, not so. Here is the check weight and the spreader dingus for the carb that i was missing. The check weight is a nail cut off.
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Here's the manifold in the truck, showing the final gaping maw that it will be breathing through. The exhaust is bolted on and the intermediate gasket (cut one not realizing it came in the gasket set with the int/exh gasket) and the gasket between the steel plate and manifold are all gooped together with copper hi-temp RTV. Including liberally applied to the bolt holes to seal them up.
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Here's the money shot, that big 2 barrel carb sitting in its new home. The air cleaner was 18 bucks at O'riley, its a Mr. Gasket cheapie. I'm not a big chrome guy (ya think?) but Something about seeing that big chrome cap on there triggered something in my brain. Weird. SHINY OOOOOHH! Like some kinda crazy animal response.

Either way, very satisfied to see this under the hood:
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But, its just for show, I still gotta hook up the throttle bracket. Nothing too tricky about that just another little part i gotta try to get made after work one of these days. Image

Hopefully i'll get that done tomorrow and I'll have a running and driving truck again this weekend, woo hooooo! http://www.fordification.com/forum/post ... 22&t=71650#
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Re: Graham's '68 F-100 "Buck" the truck

Post by motzingg »

AAAANNNNDDD In between watching my Packers loose a really frustrating game... I was able to get the throttle linkage sorted, the carb all buttoned up, and everything torqued down/mounted. Finshed up a bit after dark so no time for a good picture.

all i need now is some fresh 3/8" fuel line to replace 5/16 that was on there, and an exhaust donut. The big bolt (7/16?) on the exhaust outlet is pretty wallerd out in the hole too, so i gotta figure out something for that. I probably should have heli-coiled it while it was out, i'm thinking maybe jb-weld the stud in there or some kind of high temp epoxy... any ideas?
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Re: Graham's '68 F-100 "Buck" the truck

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grrr double post...
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Re: Graham's '68 F-100 "Buck" the truck

Post by motzingg »

success! runs great. need to put the exhaust back together before driving it and pissing off the whole neighborhood but it is running awesome so far.

the randomly chosen accel pump position and the 40 jets seem to be pretty good. we'll see how it goes once i get a load on her.

now, the butterfly's are hanging up when the throttle is fully closed, must not have got them installed perfecto. wants to idle high unless i push the lever down, then it hangs up in the low idle and takes a little force to pop open... couple little bugs to sort out but i'm pretty happy so far.
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Re: Graham's '68 F-100 "Buck" the truck

Post by motzingg »

this runs so damn good it shouldn't even be legal (well, technically it isn't, gotta take care of that today), starts on half a kick and settles down to a perfect loping idle.

exhaust is on, fixed, and sounding good. Drove it around the block a couple times, mega leak in the front drivers side brake... bummer.

Tonight i'm hoping to get the tags sorted out right after work, put a full tank of gas in her, and get some pictures/video of successful completion of this phase of the project.

Its funny to go back and read the first post on this thread saying i was hoping to go turbo for less than $500... seeing as i go to the auto parts store and home depot almost every weekend and spend at least $30 on sundry BS, i'm pretty sure that is going to get blown pretty soon here. Its funny how the 'expensive' parts aren't really even that expensive when compared to all the nickel and dime crap that you need to install them and get it all working.
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stephen44
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Re: Graham's '68 F-100 "Buck" the truck

Post by stephen44 »

entertaining thread - keep it up - subscribed
thanks


Stephen
(1967 F100, FE352, 2wd, 3 on the tree, flareside)
motzingg
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Re: Graham's '68 F-100 "Buck" the truck

Post by motzingg »

thanks for the props! didn't realize you were over in danville, thats pretty close by.

i promise i'll get some pictures this weekend. just ordered new front slave cylinders and hoses because my brakes are done-zo.

i used the truck to move one of my other in-op cars in the driveway last night and accidentally rolled the car into the back of my truck ruining a rare-as-hell escort GT bumper in the process... damn.. that was a $200 (and good luck finding one) mistake! the truck didn't even seem to notice.


on the plus side, pumping two reservoir's full of brake fluid out onto the ground has probably done a pretty good job of flushing out the lines! gotta find the up side when you can!
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Re: Graham's '68 F-100 "Buck" the truck

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brakes are in and working! got done last night around 8. Not bled as well as i would like, my wife's leg was getting tired and she was holding a crabby past-his-bedtime baby on her lap while helping me out, so i was pretty happy with the results.

drums turned and new pads came to $42... ouch.. probably should have just cleaned up the old ones, but i'm thinking as good as the drums seem to be working, i'll stick with them.

the slave cylinders were $4.50 each from rock auto and the hoses were $8 i think? Just cross checked LMC and their prices were crazy on those parts.

Slave cylinders i got from Rock were 'centric' brand... china but brand new china not reman. Not bad for the price.

Also realized that the auto adjuster mechanisim in the truck was completely removed and ditched, and the adjuster screw on one side is siezed.. maybe if i get time in the near future here i'll rebuild all the hubs, clean, sandblast, paint all the hardware and replace the auto adjust mechanism.
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Re: Graham's '68 F-100 "Buck" the truck

Post by motzingg »

mega update time... lots got done this week

i took some pictures but haven't had a chance to upload them yet. lots of progress in the last couple days taking care of the nitpicky 'on the road' type stuff like lights, brakes, throttle, etc.

first- got the brakes working good, i had a small leak where the hard line goes into the flex line. i think some crusties got in the fitting and it didn't seal right, tried tightening, didn't stop, took it apart and let it leak all over then put it back together and now it seems to be holding.

hard to say if it is the air still in the lines, the adjustment, or what but the brakes suck. The one time i drove it before the old slave cylinders blew out, the brakes were so good it was scary. Now it takes mega pedal effort to get it to stop. I know the air and adjustment isn't helping, but i'm afraid that the crummy job the auto parts store did turning my rotors is partly to blame. They left a bunch of chatter on the outer edge and i'm afraid its going to wear my pads funny because the inner is smooth and the outer is rough. I'm not sure how much that will wear itself in.

the funny thing is last week a huge new 6-jaw chuck showed up for the big lathe at work, so i could have done it myself if i hadn't been hasty.

i'm going to have to take it all apart again and re do it when the adjuster hardware shows up, so i might just turn the drums then. I kinda feel like i should be getting my money back, especially at 13 a drum... kinda high for shoddy work.


in other, better news, my wife noticed my tail lights were 'purple' when she followed me driving at night the other day. I pulled the lenses off and the whole reflector, bulb, and everything was painted blue. Someone took the lens off and painted the whole damn thing with the truck... argh!

Also when they re-installed the lenses, they used drywall screws. Even though i had scavenged some original small head fillister stainless screws from the junkyard, they wouldn't bite because the holes got wallerd out by the big wood screws.

I sandblasted the reflectors and painted them with chrome paint. Cleaned out the bulb sockets and installed new bulbs, with ample di-electric grease.

Then i went to my local industrial supply store and they just so happened to have the next size up of the small-head fillster sheet metal screw. Super oddball screw, i cant believe they had it. They are zinc instead of stainless, but they should be good as long as i don't mangle the head. They are #10 with a #8 head (original are #8 with a #6 head). They installed perfecto, taking a good bit of force to get the threads to bite, nice and sturdy. I also bought enough to re-do the front signal lenses and headlight surrounds, but i'm going to have to replace the plastic dookers they screw into.

Also re-did the front marker lamps the same way. The fronts got painted white to go along with the grille, so i'm going to leave them alone for now. At least the white reflects light.




After the first couple drives, i noticed the throttle was hanging up real bad, causing the truck to rev like crazy when i shifted gears. Not only annoying, it was pretty dangerous when idling along in traffic and trying to stop.

If i popped the throttle it would snap shut, but when i gently let off, it wouldn't pull closed all the way. Since i'm mostly driving around with less than 1/4 throttle, it was really annoying and dangerous.

I realized the throttle blades were binding, so i took the carb off and re-adjusted them. When i took the carb off they weren't binding anymore, and when i put it back on again they were binding again. I was confused. Then i realized that my throttle shaft was mega sloppy. Probably .005-.010 over size on the diameter. Woof. The return spring was pulling the shaft to the side, and causing the blade to bite into the wall of the carb.... crazy. I pulled it again and re-adjusted the throttle blades with the shaft pushed all the way snug in the direction of the return spring. Now when it was sitting on the bench it was slightly hanging up, but when i put the spring on it, it was smooth as butter.

Come back to it after sitting for a day, now its not closing perfecto! I think fuel filled up the gap and added a slight bit of fluid drag. Crazy. Makes me almost want to grease that shaft somehow.

Either way, i took another tiny little spring out of my $5 'throttle return spring assortment' kit and put it inside the other customized big spring i had on there. The pedal feel is absolutely perfect and it settles down to a nice idle no matter what. Hopefully it stays the same today.


Almost drove into work today but i was running late and had to take the highway. Tomorrow i'll try to get an earlier start and get some of these pictures posted up.
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Re: Graham's '68 F-100 "Buck" the truck

Post by tdc »

pictures!
terry dean
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Re: Graham's '68 F-100 "Buck" the truck

Post by motzingg »

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While I wasn't looking my son found the castle nut from the tie rod I was installing and put it on the missing lug stud. This is the wheel that nearly fell off the next day from the lug nuts being loose... kinda creepy that he picked up on the nut missing and put it on the wheel that was loose.
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'Blackout' light bulbs evident of a sloppy paint job
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New screws vs old screws
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Finished tail lights
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Lyle helping me install the new light bulbs- note the 'chrome paint' reflectors turned out pretty darn good
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Di-electric grease in an auto-dispensing can... dangerous!
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This is the carb rig-up
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New heater valve installed
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This is the fitting I installed for vac to the PCV and eventually power brakes... might hook it up to a gauge too.
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This is the aftermath of driving to work with loose lugs. Tore the hell out of the wheel and did a number on the studs.
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Crappy picture of the crusty pushrod cover
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Whoops! I found this at the end of the night after replacing the pushrod cover gasket. I was planning on greasing the joints under the front end just as it was getting dark and this thing was just chillin' there... that would explain why it seemed to be easy to steer on my way home. I think i forgot to put the pin in the castle nut.
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Next day got the correct castle nut and straightened out some steering issues:

Filled this thing with gear oil... i think thats what goes in there? The stuff that was in there looked like silvery black grease but it smelled like cat piss so i'm guessing it was at one point gear oil. I also adjusted the gear lash but i think it could still get tighter.
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Fixed that, and in the process adjusted the toe-in a little bit better. Still pulling to the right a bit.
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Greased all the front end joints that i could find. I think i'm missing some but i got the kingpins and all that.

The kingpin cap popped off the drivers side with grease pressure and i had a hell of a time getting it back on there. It was pretty chewed up so it looks like that has happened before. The pass. side took enough pressure that i could see it start coming out the joint in the kingpin, but the drivers side wouldn't push grease out those middle joints. This will probably all have to come apart and get cleaned at some point but the kingpins feel fairly tight at this point.

I got the brake component kit in earlier this week but spent all weekend doing halloween costume for my son, cleaning back yard, and chopping wood/burning wood/drinking beer.

Truck has been back and forth to work every day for a week now, just missed that one day when the tie rod fell off. She's running great and now that i'm not loosing a quart of oil every day, i'm feeling very confident about her abilities.


Talked to a guy who does sandblasting for my shop about doing the underside and inside of the bed, he said it would be about $100... not bad at all in my opinion. I think i'll go with that hopefully the next week or so here, maybe even shoot the cab next weekend.
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Re: Graham's '68 F-100 "Buck" the truck

Post by mcheath »

Nice fixes, that's what keeps it going eh? :)

I need to dig into a wheel cylinder as well, I know it's seeping and letting air in the system. I've been using my truck as a daily driver these past 3 months and it's amazed me how it has not let me down. Thought of that when I saw your tie rod loose and yet it still drove, it's amazing the amount of problems these trucks can have yet still be drivable.
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Re: Graham's '68 F-100 "Buck" the truck

Post by motzingg »

yep! sure is.

i've been daily driving mine as well and surprised at how reliable it has been. aside from the fuel filter plugging up once a week (easy enough to change on the side of the road, i've been carrying spares) and the brake issues, she has been solid as a rock.

The brakes started acting up again last night. I was screwing around on my way home and decided to lock them up at a stop light with nobody around, just to see how quickly i could get her to stop in a panic situation. She stopped much harder than i expected and when she rocked back from the front end dive, i heard a clunk. When i took off, i had no front brakes (thank god for the redundant braking system... this is the 3rd or 4th time it has saved my ass!). I'm pretty sure the screwed up adjuster mechanisim popped loose when it rocked back and there is probably some hardware clunking around in there grinding everything to pieces.

I want to take everything apart this time and 'do it right' stripping down the brake backing plates and maybe even taking them into work to sandblast and paint with VHT caliper paint. The new complete hardware kit from Rock has been sitting on my [censored] table all week begging me to install it.

I'm going to try to do that saturday along with finding a junkyard brake booster. I'm pretty sure the drums will work for the time being. There is a lot of stuff that will need to be upgraded before those become the weak point again. With the booster and new hardware all installed and adjusted perfecto, i'm thinking the brakes will be plenty good to stop anything i can haul with the 240 and 3 speed. Eventually I'm hoping my powertrain can exceed the braking capacity, but thats a ways off...
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Re: Graham's '68 F-100 "Buck" the truck

Post by sargentrs »

motzingg wrote:aside from the fuel filter plugging up once a week (easy enough to change on the side of the road, i've been carrying spares
I had a similar problem with my daughter's '79 mustang. Never did get all the trash out of the tank. Installed a glass see-through filter with replaceable elements. When it'd clog up, pop it out, remove the element, blow it out, put it back in. When the element got too used, just replace it. Good luck with the brakes!
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1970 F100 Sport Custom Limited LWB, 302cid, 3 on the tree. NO A/C, NO P/S, NO P/B. Currently in 1000 pcs while rebuilding. Project thread: http://www.fordification.com/forum/view ... 22&t=59995 Plan: 351w, C4, LSD, pwr front disc, p/s, a/c, bucket seats, new interior and paint.
1987 F-150 XLT Lariat, 5.0/C6 auto.
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