I just ordered a dual exhaust (bolt on) kit for my 77 highboy, and a set of wheels and tires.







2.25" dual exhaust from manifolds back.

A pair of USA made turbo mufflers to go with the pipes.



4 of these, 16x8.5" with -6mm offset



And 4 of these in a 35" tire 315/75R16 hankook dynapro M/T



I'll update once I get this stuff bolted on.

Then after I finish my roadrunner I'll come back to this truck this summer yet and post updates of the repaint and any other changes i do before the snow flies this fall.

I think you'll like the Hankooks.

I've heard good things about the Hankooks as well.

I like the wheels Dave.

Please let us know about the Hankooks. My brother has 35s on his pick-up and hates them.

I like where you are headed with this one. My uncle bought an early 80's Ford 4x4 for a hunting truck and it was ugly as a dog. Painted the bumpers, stuffed in some 33's on fresh steel wheels, and it was ugly and mean, which is a gnarly combo.

Were I you, I'd put that new gear on the truck, paint that nasty back bumper, pull the goofy grill guard and bug shield, and let it roll. Should look tough.....

If you dont mind me asking how much did those tires set you back?

Jeeze, that's half the truck. I like those bug deflectors. I had to look pretty hard to find a period correct one for my 78 F-150. It was hard to find one that wasn't broke.

Actually the bug deflector is long gone lol! It had a crack in it anyways.

I believe the hankooks were 261 each

I believe you might not want to tell Ma that.

Shhhhh....

Reviever hitch and trailer light plug was the chore for today.

Wheels, tires and dual exhaust will be here Wed.

Gonna get "Heartbeat my ass" pinstriped on the tailgate in baby blue?

Maybe just a big "GFY"

Gotta get something.

Did I miss the wrap-up of the RR?

dont be silly.

This is just a flare up of my ford truck sickness. A highboy? how could I let that get away??

You can't.

Gonna be a sweet ice rig!

Should have been aware of your ability to multi-task. sorry!

Who says I can multi task??

Raffin!!

I've been known to smile AND nod when the woman's a jabberin away...

Mad skilz yo....

You get parts yet Foo?

UPS tracking says Wed.

Did Ford produce a hi-boy with a Perkins diesel in the 70's?

Not that I've ever heard of but that would be awesome huh?

I kind of think most were 360 FE's with a mixed and debatable population of 390 FE's as well, 300 cubic inch straight 6, and then the oddball half year M block highboy like mine. The 77 model highboy was the first to get the 400/351M engines. And late year 77's were said to be "low boys"

Mine is a 77 model built in 76, so I have the odd duck M block Highboy. Which is kind of tricky to buy headers for. Highboys were narrow frame trucks, so early year 77's were the only 400/351M block and narrow frame combo.

So, header applications are... complicated

Any idea why the frames were narrower? How much? I didn't know that. Good to learn something today.

The "low boys" weren't much lower IIRC, as they're still 3/4 ton rigs right?

I can see where headers would be tricky becasue they don't fit that great to start with. Chassis exit would work, but a little radical for what I think you're looking to do.

The term "highboy" was a consumer nickname given to the trucks manufactured for a period of time that shared chassis, drivetrain, suspension combinations.

Divorced transfer case, arched front leafs (look like a smile instead of a frown), the narrower frame rail spacing and a crossmember at the very front of the frame behind the front bumper are all indicators of a "highboy"

mid year 77 model they married the T-case to the trans, went with the different frame, negative arch springs up front.. I've heard varying opinions as to the difference in height between highboy-lowboy, anywhere from 2" to 4".

Yeah, that's what I'm finding too. What I can't find, unless I'm reading it wrong is the frame being narrower. I did find the springs were narrower, probably to "arch" them better? I don't know... It's fun finding the info tho.

Now that I've seen a bunch of pics searching, I want a 67-72. My favorite body style of Ford trucks anyway.

33.5" frame width I believe.

wheels, tires and exhaust come today!

I'm not aware ford ever selling trucks with the Perkins diesel, but I've read that the diesel from the Massey Ferguson 750 combine is a feasible swap. There was a half ton with one on craigslist a while back.

35's

I'm silly with the happy.

Gotto go back outside and hang the dual exhaust now.

Hang that exhaust dave....rev it up, rev it up!

Looks aweseom - needs a scrubby buck rack wired to that front winch tho - boss hogg of MN....

the exhaust is a kit by hooker headers, said to fit this year truck in half ton and 3/4 ton.

Not!

I've had to cut and lengthen, shorten and rotate angles in a few spots. Lots of cutting, welding, test fitting etc.

I guess I don't mind turning it into my own custom exhaust but I wish I would have known it wasn't going to fit, I would have just purchased a munch of 2.25" pipe and elbows, sweeps etc.

Oh well, I have it from the manifolds to the new turbo mufflers and wow does the truck run better. That old single muffler was really plugged up. Must have came apart inside from rust and everything.

Overall, a really good night's work.

If you'd quit buying trucks, you wouldn't be "po" any more.......

very true.

these old trucks are like a "free puppy"

we all know there's no such thing as a "free" puppy.

And we all know you can't pass up either!

I need some Hi-Boy help on a barn find.
1976 F-250 4x4 Auto. 1 owner. 89,000 miles.
I took off the rear quarter panel chrome strip in the wheel well and it looks good, no rust.
Both rear corners, not so good.
All original except 390 instead of 360.
Normal dings of a farm pickup.
Box interior looks suprisingly good.
Tailgate top I could put on an aluminum strip.

man, that looks like a pretty sweet truck, what kind of questions or what is it i could help with?

I am in no way a body guy, but I love the looks of this era Fords. I don't want a show truck, just a good looking driver/hunting rig.
Can I repair rear corners?
The old farmer was saying to buy a complete box, as a fair amount of them got taken off and made into flatbeds around here and a guy may find one.
No idea of what the cost of a box would be, if found.

I am thinking hubs up front. What do you think?

Was hoping it was a manuel, but what tranny is in a 250? Still a c6?

It has been sitting for 5 years, should I take the carb off and rebuild? or do you try just seeing how she does? It does run.

I wouldn't do a whole box, I'd just buy the lower rear corners from someplace like LMC truck.

cut the bad stuff out, cut matching pieces out of the stamped repair pieces and weld them in.

You mentioned hubs in front? Are you thinking the lockouts are bad or?/ wheel bearings? U-joints?

there are 2 diaphrams in the carb that dry out and leak. the one on the front of the carb (assuming it's a ford 2 barrel) is the accelerator pump (squirt gun for gas) it squirts a shot of gas down the carb throat on quick acceleration. second one and not as well known is the power valve which would be inside the square cap on the front bottom side of the carb. if this leaks, it just leaks gas into your engine, you won't see this leak, it will just make the truck run rich at idle and drain your float bowl when the truck sits for a day or 2.

those 2 things, the seat and needle, and the choke pull off vac diaphram are the most common things to go after with the carb.

A carb kit aint a bad idea, not all kits come with a power valve though, so make sure you ask for that in the kit.

Trans should be a C6

3 driveshafts in that thing so you have lots of u-joints

Thanks for the reply. I appreciate it.
I just got off the phone with him, as he was trying to round up the title.
Title says 1975 not 76. It was ordered from Wendle Ford in Spokane. He wanted factory air, enclosed front end and the auto tranny.

He also said he had put Warn hubs on it years ago and took them off. (he still has the hubs in the shop). (as you know farmers don't throw anything away).
I will leave the warn hubs off.

Thanks for the carb info, we have an old boy in town here who's dad owned the Ford garage way back when and he loves to work on Ford and only Ford carbs. I'll let him play with it.

The fun is just beginning so I'm sure I will be hounding you more and I'll check out LMC for some corners.

Thanks again.

Those pieces behind the wheels on the box will run you $35 or so from LMC truck. Cab corners will run you $19 (+ shipping for both). If I can put this stuff in, you can do it. I don't have 10% of the talent that ND does and made it look decent.

If you can find a box for $500-600, it's a decent price. Less than that is a good price. If all you have to do is the rockers behind the wheels, I'd skip the box.

Here are a few pics.

I sitll have to weld on the piece behind the wheel and the cab corners.

This one is pretty bad compatred to what you're looking at! That is a nice rig!

The trim pieces look to be in decent shape even.

I'd have a hard time passing up that truck if the price was in my range. Ok, I lied...I would NOT pass up that truck.

Wageslave,

another good place to look for vintage Ford 4x4 stuff is Jeffs Bronco Graveyard. He also has a website by the same name. If you can't find it there, there ain't one. at least that's been my expecience so far.

He will have better drivetrain and suspension parts than LMC and I believe all parts are made in USA, not positive though.

Dave probably has some other body places to look too, but realy I found everything I needed from those two places.

Thanks for the pics and encouragement. I may have to try that. I need the last lower 10% of the bottom corners of both rear fenders. Looks like the truck may have backed into something and that sped up the rust process. Just guessing. The wheel wells look good. I know that when I start tearing it apart I may find more rust.
Out here it's pretty dry and when this truck was on the road they had not started spraying calcium chloride in winter yet, so it should not have to much more rust I hope. They spray it alot here now, even in a frost.
It will be a slow, long learning process for me, but I'm looking forward to a after hunting season project. I can just use it till then.
Thanks again.

Thanks. I knew you guys would be the place to get help.
I'm indebted and we'll be talking.

Back to our regularly scheduled programming after the hijack.

Thanks fellas.

Those wheels really change the look of the truck. Deffently makes it look tough.

there's no hijack, don't be silly.

What the hell else are we gonna talk about lol!!

You found a GREAT truck there.

I hope we keep some project dialog going on here, it's way fun.

I got my dual exhaust finished up tonight but one of my new hooker headers turbo mufflers has a slappy baffle, piss me off.

And I welded the exhaust together, sonofa...


Oh well.

It's all good.

Did you get headers too?

No headers.. i aint a big fan.

Although it's not beyond me to use them...

Do you think they'd do much for the "M"? I was thinking about getting a set for the 78.

Really, the only thing holding me back is, I'm not sure I can get the mainfold bolts off. I don't want to bust any off.

Well, I could go either way on the headers for these engines. It is a great weight reduction, so if you think about that along with an aluminum intake you really shed some pounds.

The big gains are in the compression ratio and cam timing. TRW makes a forged piston for the 351M that will get you around 8.6:1 without cutting anything off the head. I know there are thinner head gaskets you can get and a little cleanup cut of the head surface will help land you closer to 9:1.

The cam shaft was timed after center with the crank on these from the factory. If you run a modern cam that targets the zero and up RPM range and time it straight up with the crank that's a big gain.

A dual plane aluminum intake like the weiand action plus will also compliment the RPM range that you want to make power with these engines. A 600 CFM square bore carb like a holley or edelbrock (carter AFB) will do nicely. Six of one, half a dozen of the other on the carbs. Although I lean towards the holley i'd take whichever I got the best deal on.

Headers would work well with the above mentioned too.

I like them too. Would love to have them, but they cost more than the barn truck.
Really look great on yours. Sounds like you are coming along great.

thanks.

Maybe you guys should have warned this newbie about the cost of reliving our old glory days, this is gonna cut into the gun money, I can see now.

P.S. that means I been shopping parts on your recommended sites.

My carb/intake set up is Edelbrock aluminum 4bbl. I'd be surprised if the cam isn't stock. Supposedly it was rebuilt 12 years ago, and it could be, it runs like a top now that the ignitions issue was sorted out. (distributer)

"some assembly required"



And I'm waiting for summit to send me a replacement for one of those turbo muffler that has a floppy slappy baffle in it.

Which I will have to cur out since I welded everything tight.

My oldest boy got his drivers training permit today. I picked him up from the farm he's working on this summer and this is a picture of him driving home in the highboy.

Mirrors what I did to my 'M', clear back in 1984 when my truck was only 6 years young. Weiand and Holly (replaced with an Edelbrock when they entered the carb market). Isky ground my cam to my specs- I've always had luck with Ed's stuff on my marine engines, and installed straight up makes all the difference. My heads were done locally by an old salt that ran a speed shop for 50 years doing mostly top fuel stuff, but he was heavily into Cleveland motors and did wonders on my M heads.

I too went Hooker, including the Comp headers. My second system has now run its course, and if I'm going to keep the truck I'll spend the money on fender-well exit headers and pipes that run outside the frame straight to the rear end. The problem with the Hooker setup, at least on an F150 4x4 dentside, is the pipes converge right under the trans pan, greatly elevating the fluid temp. My systems were header to tailpipe and no mods were necessary, the fit was flawless and bolt in, but I never liked the routing. There is a noticeable difference in power with their system, or any headers for that matter.

I really like that truck Dave. I have no doubt it will be a beauty when you're done. The wheels/tires have already made a huge difference! Great picture with the young man at the wheel!
If my back ever gets better from these spine surgeries I went through last month, I hope to get mine back to nice condition again. If not, I may have to pay someone to do it, and finding someone to do that kind of work correctly is a real crap shoot. Right now, that 34 year old truck sits next to the 43 year old GTO in the corner of the new shop, under cover, just waiting for some TLC.
Keep up the pics and descriptions of your work. I really enjoy your threads.
Jim

Thanks Jim, your old M sounds like a good power maker.

Lookin' good, Dave. That's a pretty sharp looking rig.

One question, you you guys know of a website where I might be able to find older trucks for sale? I have a hankerin' for a mid-to-late '70 Ford Crew Cab for a project like Higbeans...

Check this out.

http://www.oldfordcrewcabs.com/market/

Cool, just what I was looking for.

Jim as we've discussed, I like your set up a lot.

I have a few unplanned maintenance issuse to clean up on the truck now, so I'm scratching the headers I was going to get. The exhaust will be true duals into, probably turbos.

I have to drain all the fluids in the diff's,and might as well do the transfer case and tranny as well. Also going to change the wheel bearings, and since I'm going down that far I'm going to replace the factory hubs with an aftermarket set. I'm not sure on which set but have always liked the Warn manual locking hubs.

Why did you have to go and do that?

These pick-up are a disease I tell ya.

I really wish I had the scratch to go through my engine again- it has been about 25 years after all. It probably doesn't have 5000 miles on it total, but even though it was pickled, 12 years of inactivity certainly wasn't all that kind to it.

You guys are lucky enough to have the country's best 'M' guy right in your own state. I'm sure he's not cheap, and he couldn't get any farther from Dave if he tried, but if I had the funds, I sure would love to just send him my engine, let him go nuts, and see what happens after the bolt-in.

http://www.tmeyerinc.com/

The other option if I keep this thing is to look at converting to a later-model fuel injected pickup combo that would get better than 7 mpg I'm getting now. I would need to convert the trans and transfer case as well, as my present New Process case and C6 trans takes (I've been told anyway) at least 45-50 horsepower just to spin it. Maybe I should just find a 4-speed stick out of an old dentside and convert it; I'm the only one driving it (and should be) anyway. The wife with any manual trans is about as safe as handing a locked and loaded Thompson to an orangutan.

Man, I think the factory hubs are the ones to have. Yeah, the expensive Warns look cool, but the Spicer stuff can take just as much abuse and are cheap (and plentiful)at the pick and pull yards. I went to the junkyard and grabbed a set of slugs for a back up. I keep them with my back up U joints.

The guy I purchased the truck from mentioned there might be something wrong in the front axle "something with the 4 wheel drive"

Anyways, yeah, I pulled the front cover and the spider gears were busted.

I had a set laying around the shop that where really good so we tackled that chore this morning, pulling the wheels, brakes, lockouts, hubs, spindles, pulling axles out, yanking the front diff case out... pull the ring gear, drive the pin out, replace gears, stick it all back together in reverse order.

It all went well enough, I discovered I will need new brake pads very soon and my lockouts flat out rock, them sumbishes is heavy duty. Superwinch brand I think.

I was impressed anyways.

Now we're heading out to the cabin where we will probably find some mud so we might need that 4 wheel drive.

See if you can make it through the swamp.

Well, with my new dual exhaust on, the truck ran a little better, but it still didn't smooth out like it should have, and the RH tailpipe... sounds like chit.

So I tested compression, dry and wet.

Warmed the engine a bit then ran dry cylinder tests, then wet the pistons a bit with a little squirt of oil in each cylinder and ran "wet" compression test.

here's what I got.

Cylinder / Dry psi / Wet psi


one / 137 / 146

two / 137 / 145

three / 117 / 120

four / 147 / 152



five / 142 / 149

six / 148 / 149

seven / 150 / 150

eight / 140 / 140




1 through 4 is my right bank, 5 through 8 is my left bank.

Right side is definately my weak side and cylinder 3 looks like it has a valve issue.

I have a spare set of 351M heads on a "spare engine" from a 79 bronco.

I figured I'd go through one of those heads and strap it down on the RH side of my 77F250 engine.

So, last night's project:

cleaned and lapped valves/seats, measured my springs, cleaned all my gasket surfaces.

Look at this nasty intake valve! The stem seal was shot, drinking oil down the guide. Ick.



unlapped seats.



Lapped seats



Nasty valve on the left, cleaned/lapped on the right



Lapping tool on an intake valve.



They all look like this now, ready to rock.



I measured my free height on my springs, my exhaust springs look to be .037", .030", .024" and .045" short.

I'd shim them if new springs from rock auto weren't so damn cheap. $1.78 each

So, I'll order some gaskets, some springs and stem seals and I think I'm going to go through my other spare head and swap them both out as long as I'm doing this.

Looks good Dave, Just did that to my 72 blazer with a 67 high nickle block runs good now.. Hope that brings her up to snuff and don't have to get into the rings..

Compression wasn't too bad dry, and my psi increase with oiled rings averaged to 4psi in an actual range from zero to 9psi...

I had that one limp hole and i'm sure it is an exhaust valve...

With any luck I'll see that 117 psi hole come up into the mid 140's with the fresh heads on.

I think for what I'm gonna use the truck for I'll buy at least a year's worth of driving/play time before i feel I need/want to freshen the whole thing up.

(hoping anyways)

I don't really want to pull the slugs out of this thing until I can afford an aftermarket set of pistons that will help me get closer to 9:1.

baby steps...

I need traction devices (lim slip in front, locker in the back)

So if I can make it run nice and clean with a few pennies and some elbow grease i'm fine with stock horse power for now.

Lincoln locker

I hear you I am going to but the bronco together with the motor as is right now and freshen it up next spring. I am hoping to get some lockers before hunting season too.

I suppose you're going selectable lockers huh? Air or elect, cable..(ox)?

I'll likely go detroit locker or grizzly locker on my D60 rear and something like a detroit true trac up front.

The chit aint free though is it?

I tore into the second head tonight, it's going really good. Valves are old but they are still good. No bent or burnt ones so I'll be able to lap em all, new springs and seals and I'll be good to go.

Not for this one, I've seen it done before though.

Actually for a more enclosed carrier like on a ford 9" I like the "wheel weight locker"

Melt a bunch of wheel weights, stuff the axles into the spiders and pour the carrier full of lead. It locks it all up nice and tight withought the risk of busting those hardened spiders under stress where they are welded.

I am not sure what I will get. wont get an ARB unless I score a deal, to rich for my blood. I may just spool the front since I never put it in 4wheel untill I really need it. Maybe a mechanical locker for the rear or heavy duty posi Grizzly looks pretty good $485 for the 9inch 31 spline..

Never heard of the wheel weight locker. seems like soft lead would slowly work its way out?

You know how the stock (open diff) carriers where kind of cone shaped, they eclosed the spiders so you really couldn't see them?

The carrier had a hole in the side about the size of a quarter I think. Anyways, we'd plug the splined axles into the ends of the carrier, (plugged into the spiders) and rotate the carrier so that hole was to the top side. then we'd pour the lead inside the hole. the carrier was like a mold. The lead would flow in all around the spiders. I suppose they would work the lead loose eventually, it was more of a demo derby trick than anything.

Lasted better in derby cars than welded gears.

i could see with an enclosed carrier were it would last quite a while and the little bit off cushion the lead has would probably be nice

Yeah, I'll likely go with a combo of locker/limited slip or limited slip front and rear.

I have a trac-lok (spicer) in the front of my 70 F250 that I use for plowing snow. A lot of folks bad mouth the trac-lok but they have really improved them in recent years. So far, mine is working really well and it's made a hell of a difference in my snow plowing.

I finished lapping valves tonight on the spare heads that will go on the truck. I also cleaned all the gasket surfaces (head gasket, exhaust and intake)

I placed the order for all new valve springs, new stem seals, head gaskets, intake and exhaust gaskets. I suppose I will put the heads back together early next week when I get the parts.

Between now and then I'll clean these bare heads really good with solvent, degrease and blow all the ports out, paint the heads and the valve covers so I'm ready to go when the parts come.

have you tried the hammered finish paints? They got a nice silver and a black I used them on my 350 in the blazer they are a paint and primer all surface that sticks real well and holds up good really dressed up the 350 for cheap. Did the stock valve covers in the silver hammer and the heads in the black hammered looked sweet.

Well, I run a powdercoating system, so I suppose I could do all kinds of neeto things (I have some of those hammer textures in powder too) but old clappy just isn't ready to get that fancy just yet.

Dave,
I have the project white high boy started.
I am putting on a flatbed.
Yes, I said it. Farmer flatbed.
I will be looking for a nice rust free box, while I wait,
I found a cheap flatbed (Knapheide). Full wood hauling racks too, if I so desire.
This will allow me to load 2 atvs on the PU and pull my camp trailer. I'm gonna see what I think of that.
Carb is overhauled. Runs good when the gas tank rust is not an issue. Carpet is leaving and going rubber mat.

Anyway, I have pulled the fuel tank and it's ugly.
I loaded it with rocks and got a cup o' rust.
Then 3/8" flat washers (2 lbs.) more rust.
Then I power washed it. It's alot better but.......
Have you done the tank coat route? or have a good idea?
Wrecking yard one?
Also, I am planning on 6" between the rear tire and bed bottom.
Is that enough for 1500 pounds of atv on the bed?
Thanks in advance.
Wageslave

How much you want for that box?

That's a keeper up in the rust belt lol!!

Check LMC truck for your tank, I don't think they are all that terrible, wanna say 150-ish for new???

That's a fantastic truck you've got there, very nice!

Well, continuing with my cheapo cylinder head refurb...

I cleaned the castings tonight after finishing with the last of the valve lapping. Used a toof brush and some gas to start and finished with a couple cans of engine degreaser and the garden hose to make sure I got the ports flushed out really good. Then I blew it all out with air and started reassembling the heads.

New high temp rubber umbrella style seals.



compressing the brand new springs...



Keepers in place.



Unload the springs, repeat 16 times



Mask off the gasket surfaces and blow on a little ford blue...



Fresh top end ready to go.



Pulled the truck into the shop and started tear down.

[img]http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e...ds/Resampled_2012-07-31_20-41-34_592.jpg[/img]

[img]http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e...ds/Resampled_2012-07-31_20-41-52_503.jpg[/img]

Whoever left this grocery cart dragster in my shop... please come get it, it's kind of in the way...

[img]http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e...ds/Resampled_2012-07-31_20-42-12_456.jpg[/img]

More tomorrow (I hope)

Yeah, I looked there and Dennis Carpenter. Rear tanks only, listed.
I may try a wrecking yard.

Trade the dragster for a primo white box?

Sweet truck wageslave. That thing is a beauty.

Wanna sell it?



I get the box too though, sorry ND.

What are you running for ET's with the cart?

Eastwood is big on rust treatment products, I'm sure they have tank kits. Is it a cab tank? or side mount frame tank?

God I hope it's not an in the cab tank, I just sent one to the scrapper this spring.

I'd trade the dragster cart but my buddy would be pizzed, it's his.

I have been asked that a few times.....
I'm holding strong.
If I don't find a nicer box, I will fix this one.
I have very mixed feelings about the flatbed install.
It's WAAYY cooler as a stock PU.
It may serve a purpose for now in local recreation use as a flatbed, but if/when I decide to go whole hog in a proper restore, it will be stock.

I've just come to accept the idea that all of my dentside erra fords will need new bedsides at $250 a side plus oversized shipping costs.

Yep, cab tank.
I found some tank coating at O' Reillys. Red stuff. $27 a quart.
Probably the best option for speedy repair.
Thanks for the help.
Bed should be semi-mounted tonight.
I take some pics after I see how it looks.
If I'm I may not.

Fix that one. 'snork'.

We'd pay good money up here for that sucker just the way she sits.

A decent Texas box I've found a guy can get for 6 bills, for a long box.

Good luck with that on a short box. Next one will be a long box unless it has a real good one on it already.

HHmmm......
always thought I needed to see more of MN. then liberalappolis and the Polaris plant................
Someday. Not today.

Actually, I'll probably channel my inner Northern Dave on this box sometime.
I need to learn something in life someday.

Looka here. Passenger side head is off the truck (yes it fought me all da way)

Anyways, I hope these phone pics show how bad the exhaust valves especially, are sucked up into the seats. Badness.







And a look at my cheapo refurb heads.



exhaust valve from cylinder number 3



and the pounded out seat.



A look at the top of the stem for that same valve, me thinks, it stopped spinning completely.

[img]http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e...ds/Resampled_2012-08-01_20-05-22_860.jpg[/img]

cylinders look decent, I'm... optimistic.

[img]http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e...ds/Resampled_2012-08-01_20-20-51_686.jpg[/img]

Enough for tonight, no hurry.

seriously, my valves are sucked up into the seats so bad... It's no wonder the valve springs were loose! lol!

I had one exhaust manifold bolt I couldn't get on the RH head, so I left it on the head until I got the head out of the truck.

I think I'll remove the LH head with the exhaust manifold attached too. They will be seperate going back on the engine.

Time for headers.

Well, I won't be running tonight.

Freaking distributor is broken.



But I got the heads on and torqued.

Yep, she's broke. They're $47 at Auto Zone. I bought one in May.

I feel your pain

$50 here.
$100 there.
It's only money, I guess.

Bed is on, hitch design complete and pick up more iron tomorrow to finish it and the bang board. D-rings for tiedown points in, need attached.
Old white is coming along.

P.S. His real name is Clint, in honor of his real dad.

I have no idea WTF you guys are talking about, but I'm still digging this whole rebuild thing

See, I grabbed the plastic rotor with the dist still in the engine. I gave a little twist on the rotor with my fingers to test the free movement of the springs in the mechanical advance. With a little twist of my fingers the weakened ... ramp arms for lack of technical name.. snapped free. Later I inspeced and saw that one side had been broken for quite some time. i'm actually lucky I found it now rather than have it break in Feb 10 miles out on a frozen lake in -20 temps.

My timing chain is nice and tight, I was able to turn the crank by hand and watch the cam through the dist hole. No detectable slack in that chain, I was pretty happy to see that.

I might try to pick up a power valve for the carb tonight on the way home and have a dist ordered in to my local parts store for tomorrow morning.

Are you getting a stock dist. or something a little hotter?

Excuse my ignorance...what is a power valve?

I googled it..

power valve.

Stock, but I'll tweak it for exactly the way I want my advance to come in. I'll recurve for what RPM I want my mechanical adv to come in and I'll set a limit as to how much mechanical advance I want to come in. Same with the vac advance, I'll tune that as well.

You have "static" timing, which is your ignition timing at idle engine speed with no vacuum advance. (probably at around 12 BTDC for me)

Then you mechanical advance will bring in another 10 to 15 degrees of advance, you can tune that amount to be whatever you like overall. As well you can change springs and weights so the mechanical advance comes in at higher or lower RPMs.

Finally a vac advance, this is likely to ad an additional 15 degrees of advance to your ignition timing. these ford vac advances of this era where adjustable with a small allen wrench inserted in the vac port, you could turn a screw inside there. You can also modify the linkage arm, create a stop that limits the pull length if you like.

The real bang for your buck in ignition timing isn't always a $300 distributor.

It's old school know how.

The engine is going to have sweet spots for ignition timing throughout the RPM range. identifying those sweet spots and tuning your distributor to accommodate those needs is the key.

It really is a dying art form.

Old school mechanics didn�t think so, it was just second nature for them, but they are few and far between these days.

Dave,

It's fun watching you do all this stuff to your truck. It's coming along very nice. Good job!

Are you going to rebuild the carb? It looks nasty.

+ 1 on distributor tuning.

I had my 1970 340 Cuda dyno-tuned and it was amazing how much low end torque it picked up. They recurved the dist, leaned out the carb and dialed it in purrfect.

I still own a dwell meter for those occasions the allen wrench is needed to go through the window of the GTO's distributor. I'm not sure they even bother teaching that stuff in trade schools these days.

I asked this question on the thread you have going on the HC; - how do you work comfortably on things in the engine compartment in your hiboy?

Comfortably??

Are you [bleep] kidding??

LMAO!!

Maybe 15 years ago it wouldn't have bothered me so much, but I'm really wishing I had taken the hood off the truck before I started this crap.



My 327 in my 66 still has points distributor and I set the dwell with an allen wrench through the side window, with a dwell meter.

Awe, I figure I'll spin a new power valve in there for now, I already replaced the accelerator pump.

Needle and seat are working fine... I'll clean it up and look for any problems.

Dave- I had two endoscopic surgeries lumbar and neck three months ago- even looking under the hood of my F150 and Excursion is painful. They tell me to be patient; it will get better. So far I'm a skeptic.
I just wondered if you crawled in there, did the short ladder, worked through the wheel wells etc.
I remember a discussion long ago on dieselstop where guys were talking up those topside creepers that allow you to work on taller vehicles and saw the northerntool had the collapsible model on sale. Expensive, but maybe less painful.
Jim

http://www.northerntool.com/shop/tools/product_200360239_200360239

Honestly, it's been horrible work. I have that extended bumper and somebody's version of a cow catcher on the front, plus the big elect winch. I climb up on that bumper and use that cow catcher like a ladder to access most stuff from the front. But I've spent plenty of my time up inside the engine compartment hovering over the engine with my feet where ever I can fit them.

All this stuff is plenty heavy, none of this stuff can be held out in front of you with arms extended. Not by me anyways.

I SHOULD have taken the hood off the truck, it would have really saved on my back. Now I'm nearly done so I don't think I'll bother taking the hood off.

To get this engine out I'd have to take the wheels off the truck and drop the front on it's axle to get the radiator support low enough to clear with the cherry picker.

Or take it outside and use a chain hoist off an oak tree branch.

I remember it not being a whole lot of fun, even before my spine needed work. Now it's just looking like a royal PITA. I surely can understand if you're sore after an evening of working on it. It looks like you are getting close; a good thing.

I feel your pain.


Last summer I replaced the intake manifold gaskets, plus a bunch of other stuff, on my chevy P/U and I was sore for days.

Bending, reaching, up, over, down, standing on the frame under the hood and crawling on your back takes a toll.

knees too, boy my knees catch hell. Mostly from being in the straight locked possition and a little added load on them, leverage.

It's times like this that headers, aluminum heads and aluminum intakes sound really, really good.

Well I got it all buttoned back up, my distributor will be here in the morning.

don't forget to put some kind of anti-seize (C5-A) or quality grease like triple guard on the flange. I learned that lesson the hard way about how moisture sits in that distributor cavity and welds it in place with corrosion over time.
Engine looks great Dave!

Wow! Looking nice Dave.

Oh jeezus dont I know it. I love my fords but my god the distributors can really get stuck in these things. I'm using this copper antiseize on my bolts, a locktite brand. Maybe I'll use the same on the dist.

Well, going to hook up the heater hoses, re-attach the exhaust pipes, then head to town for my distributor and some antifreeze, posibly an oil change too. It would be good to drop the oil shortly after a test run beings I had this thing cracked open.

Moment of truth is soon.

Well everything is hooked up, still havent gone to town to get the distributor though, mama wants to go with and swing by the farmers market... So a report on the engine will have a slight delay.

You guys can buy farmers up there?

And you can pay the farmers to swing? or .......never mind.

P.S. Very nice work there. Looks great.

Dave,

The Ford blue looks good but for a hunting rig wouldn't camo have been more appropriate?



It's not too late. Camo the air cleaner. I dare ya!

Well where the hell do you think we got our oldest boy? Farmer Nathan.

it's alive!!!



Damn I'm happy.

Runs so smooth and nice, just what I was hoping for.

Bone stock but fresh and clean, it pulls the truck down the road so nice.

It's exactly what I was shooting for as I plan to drive this truck plenty.

MPG report pending


Oh, I changed the oil & filter too, she deserves it.

Congratulations on job well done!


It sounds good.

It really does sound nice.

What's she sound like at 3k on the tach with a dead critter in the bed?

What's she sound like at 5k on the tach runnin' down a critter in the road?

a stone's throw from home...





dropping into the atv playpen..









[img]http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e364/northerndave/album%202/highboy5.jpg[/img]

[img]http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e364/northerndave/album%202/highboy6.jpg[/img]

[img]http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e364/northerndave/album%202/highboy7.jpg[/img]

[img]http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e364/northerndave/album%202/highboy8.jpg[/img]

Looks goods, sounds good, I am jealous. Going to Kansas slowed me down. looks like you made good progress. Congrats love it when it comes out like you hoped and wanted!!

Thanks, it's a lot funner when they run decent.

WOO BOY! That looks like fun!

got that new ford blue engine paint a little muddy.

12.4 MPG on this first tank since the engine work. mixed driving, probably 80% gravel with some mud pit playing, sand hill climbing, towing a small boat, and some forest road meandering.

I'm pretty happy with that. 35 year old 3/4 ton truck with 4.10 gears, 35" tires and a gas engine. I'm sure I'd see better with a tank of all paved running or on a trip, as if I'd purposely take off on a long trip with it....

(damn right I would)

12.4 - not to bad I barely get that with the 2011 dodge when I pull the boat and play a little. A long trip --- Colorado Elk Hunting?? LOL I miss Minnesota fishing....

Well, if my kidneys could take the ride, I was thinking maybe Wyoming for some speed goat hunting.

I know a feller, nice guy that's extended the invite several times now and it never works out for me.

Maybe that's too far...

12.4mpg isn't too shabby Dave. You coudln't really expect more than that out of a 3/4 ton truck.

I'd take 12.4 with my '78 F150. The best I've ever seen on non-ethanol fuel is 9mpg, steady highway @ 55mph. Most of the time it gets 7 or worse. It's a pig.
I think I need to pull the engine out this winter and make that 351 into a 400. That should help.

yes, more cubes should help....



My theory all along was direct drive (manual trans) + lower displacement would be MY ideal dentside F-series truck. (73-79)

The inline 300 would have been my first choice, 351 my second.

I've had so many people tell me I need to toss that 351 crank and get a 400 buckled in there.

I'm happy with the 351, I'd probably be happier yet with the 300.

If I knew you liked these trucks I'd try to find the 1978 F-150 4x4 that was nicely done resto, with a 300/4-speed.

Pam might fire bomb my house but I'll try to find it for you.

please dont......

Ok guys- find me a 4-speed setup; pedals, brackets and all. I've been told my C6 can swallow at least 40 hp. I'm guessing I can still use the rest of the running gear including the NP xfr case?
Wifey doesn't drive this truck anyway, and for the time being, it's retired to farm and lumberjack duty only- not licensed since I bought this place. It's time for some resto and modification. Maybe I ought to put a FI 5.0 or 5.8 in it with a 5 speed?

would be easier if you had divorced T-case.

but yes the c6 eats power plus it eats RPM's too.

Even at cruise speed, your net RPM after the C6 aint all that you would like it to be.

play around with this calculator, notice the data fields for Auto, AOD, manual and 5 speed.

Fill in your gear ratio, tire height and speed, hit solve and look at the variation in RPM based on trans.

http://www.ringpinion.com/Calculators/Calc_RPM.aspx

Nice work, Dave!

Thanks.

Mileage report:

12.5 mpg with my daily driving on this last tank.

I'm afraid it aint going to get much better than that. I'm going to try 2 more degrees advance in the timing but my gains would be so minimal I don't think I'll make 13 on my daily driving.

Choke starts out closed on each cold engine start up... I suppose I could pull off 13 on a long run without the start and stop.

It is what it is.

Just think of it in terms of operating cost vs. fuel efficiency. You could buy a more fuel efficient vehicle, but the cost of the new vehicle would never pay for the savings in fuel.

And you wouldn't feel like a badass cruising around town.

Do ya want good MPG's or a BAMF of a truck that is superior to all other trucks.

I dont feel too bad about it. 3/4 ton truck with 4.10 gears, 35" tires...

When I first bought the truck it was getting 8MPG.

4.5 mpg gain is pretty spiffy.

Yea i wouldn't sweat it. Last week the old man and i did some figuring. We have 05 dodge that we put more than $50,000 worth of fuel through.

I liked the torque and feel of my 300's but would choose the 351M or 400 any day never got much better mileage out of the 300 and was lacking mud slinging zip when needed.

What speeds and terrain are you running? my commute is all 60mph with rolling hills and seem to get the best mileage possible out of everthing I drive on it.

If I had a single mechanical bone in my body I would have done that with a 85 cj7 but hell its all I can do to change the oil in my cars/trucks!

Good for you on having this talent/skill!

Thanks, Since last posting on this truck I've pulled the seat out of the cab for some "de-mousing" efforts. The truck had a faint mouse pizz smell, and it was coming from under the seat. So, with the seat completely out I was able to remove some factory insulation from the floor that was not covered by the factory rubber floor mat. I used the shop vac and some straight bleach in a spray bottle to sanitize the area. I also sprayed the underside of the seat bottom. The truck smelled like a swimming pool for a few days inside but now the bleach smell is gone and so is the mouse smell.

I've been driving the truck more lately as the mornings have been cooler, too cold for motorcycle riding.

It runs very good, cold starts in the mornings are one press of the peddle to the floor to allow the choke plate to snap shut, hit the key and it's running. The engine runs smooth and clean, the driveline is amazingly tight, if the springs werent so stiff it would be an absolute joy to drive anywhere all day long.

I'm thinking about a set of skyjacker soft ride lift springs for up front, like a 2" lift, wondering if that might level the stance of the truck and maybe improve the ride?

I think you'll like the ride difference Dave. Lots of good words written on the SJ lift's.

I got me a wood haulin sumbich here.



Got some heavy tamarack in the back, man this truck handles it like it isn't even back there lol!!

I've hauled a lot of wood in my 77 half ton (brown one on the right) but the half ton gets pretty squishy with a good load on.



Good day yesterday, I'm sore as hell today though, that jonsered saw aint exactly a light weight.

Did you do a compression test on the bad cylinders after installing the freshened up heads?

No fish, I aint yet, runs so damn good lol!

But, I'm home today and I don't quite have enough (fun) projects at home to fill the day so I think maybe after I get this wood stacked in the wood shed I might just spin the plugs out and test the cylinders.

Don't test that compression Dave!

That is like borescoping a rifle that shoots half-inch groups! You may find out something that bothers you... perhaps enough to waste money on fixing!

John

From my oriiginal test:

Test from this morning, dry test only, no "wet" test.

One 152
two 149
three 150
four 150
five 149
six 151
seven 147
Eight 145

You went and done it know. Yow went and looked a gift horse in the mouth.

It's ok, I'm pretty damn happy with what I've got here.

Great looking "fleet" you got going there.

Back in the late 60s I usta autocross a SAAB 3 cylinder/two stroke that'd wind right off the 10K tach and keep right on goin'. Someone asked me why mine howled like that, but his didn't?

Told him dunno, guess I'd just hit the right combo of venturi size (Solex carbs ya could swap 'em), jetting, velocity stack and tailpipe length (from muffler back).

Some things ya just don't really wanta know the answers to. ;O)

Some years later went to the Reading road races and a guy had a similar SAAB 850 motor in a Lotus Super 7 kit car, wound even higher than mine did and sounded like a half ton McCullogh every time it went past. He'd decreased his crankcase capacity a bit and got 'er to about 12,000 RPMs.

WOW!

That sure cured the problem and I'm impressed with how even they came out. You got a engine that should last a looong time.

Plugs were a nice tan color too. It's about as good as I could hope for considering I haven't really put any money into the engine.

Low buck lol!!

Very nice mighty fine job want to come do mine lol.

I still haven't figured out how I am going to get firewood with the bronco and snowmobile trailer??? might just have to get me a high boy when I sell the 70 bronco

Trailer would be good.

Even with an 8' bed I'd be doing much better to throw a set of stake sides on the black pickup so I can heap it a little higher. It handles what I loaded in there on Sat like it's not even back there.

Looks like a ways to lift the wood up there the way it is.

That's the good part about being the saw man, I dunno much about loading that truck, I wa busy felling, limbing and chunkin them trees.

The kid could tell you about it, it does look like it's a ways up.

The fact that he hasn't is a credit to his upbringing.

Nate's pretty tall, so it probably isn't too bad. Plus, Dave would tell him to be happy to have a truck to take it home with. When Dave was a boy, you had to skid your logs home behind an ox team. They didn't even have wheels back then.

And chainsaws are a luxury. Dave had to raise a pair of beaver kits and hand train 'em to cut logs for him. For the first two winters he burned nothing but chips.

That's right, and when the beaver got short on tooth, I just said [bleep] it and burned rocks to keep warm.

Shoulda burned the beaver.

Land sakes, burn the beaver?

NEVER!

Here's my 57 F100
The original "High Boy".

GREAT TRUCK!

I love it!

Is that a 292?

Wow!

That's so cool.

The tires even look the part, they look like the old co-op spur grips.

Good eye,,, they are. Believe it or not, the backs are actually re-caps. Fortunatly,,,, she don't go fast enough to throw the caps. It's really closer to being farm equipment than transportation. LOL

The engin's actually the original 223 six banger complete with one barrel holly. The guy I got it from thought it needed a "chrome" grill (dumb ass), so he replaced the original painted one, and as you probably know, those single head light grills are virtually impossible to find so unless my luck changes I'm stuck with the chrome V-8 grill.
Here's what she looked like when I got it as well as a couple of pix of the journey.





It's by no means a Barret Jackson quality restoration, but it's still fun to drive to town on the week ends. Specially during the Lumber Jack days in Orifino. Those crazy loggers love her.

Nice truck. Very good job.

That's way cool...

wow that's nice.

hunt'n truck

dave, you got me scourin craigslist for one now you SOB! that truck is awesome.

I like it even better now. What a beautiful truck.

Great picture!

Looks like we had a short fall.



Having a little winter storm here.

Truck looks good out in it, though.

I'd love to have a Crew Cab...

Thanks, and yes I'd love a crew cab in one of these as well.

That would be awesome.

How often do you get to Mille Lacs? I know where one is sitting behind a machine shed.

no, no...

mustn't tempt my childish urges...

Haha. Balmy 86F here today and the skeeters will carry you off. Fall is set to arrive this weekend with some lows around 50F and highs in the 60's. Can't wait....

I'll take the white slop over the skeeters.

(until feb, then the skeeters start sounding good again)

No free lunch anywheres..... (grin)