1969 F250 4x4 Highboy 7/9 rubicon

[TheEskimo]

Great work as always Ryan. That is looking good, did I miss when you would have the stuff to paint the hood? It doesn't look too bad with the white hood really, better then primer. I personally would leave it on for now, as I am pretty sure it is a legal requirement. I could be wrong though, happens a lot.

[no_treble]

Wow! Great work! I really like the tall stance of that truck, and the no-nonsense wheels/hubs really look good to me. I don't think the hood looks all that bad. I'd leave it until you're ready.

And congrats on meeting your DD goal! That's the coolest part of all.

[1971ford]

Thanks guys, I forgot to finish the sentence about the hood. What I meant was I might go hoodless for 1-2 days while I paint the hood. Not planning on driving around for a week with no hood

My brother is into filming and such so I borrowed his nice HD DSLR camera and shot a bit of video of me driving it. I'll try to get that up soon.

Right now the only real problem is that it is leaking brake fluid. I thought it was coming out of the MC but today I found that it was spewing out of my passenger side rear drum. Tomorrow it gets a new wheel cylinder and I'll be good to go again...

[FormerMarine1981]

Good work Ryan, the truck has come a long way. The hood doesn't look that bad white but it would bug me too if it was my truck. Keep up the good work.

[1971ford]

Thanks!


Guess what. I was really disapointed yesterday with how loud the drivetrain was, how short the shifts were, the shifter rattle and the engine winding up at only 45mph.

So today 70_f100 brought it to my attention that maybe I had my t-case in 4wd.

Today I shifted OUT of 4wd. HOLY SMOKES IT'S A WHOLE DIFFERENT TRUCK!

It is SO nice to drive now! I can't believe I am even stupider than i thought

[1971ford]

Now I my main mission is to fix the oil leaks. Right now I have my right rear hub apart, swapping the wheel cylinders so I don't lose my brakes again. That will be one leak down. The pinion seal fixed itself once oil got moved around after sitting for a while.

The t-case is leaking out of the access cover on the side and maybe one of the output shafts.

The tranny is spewing out of the top cover so i have to pull my carpet, trans hump, and shifter tower again. NOT fun.

The engine is leaking a little out of the vent and possibly valve covers. I'll get those fixed.
I hate oil leaks. Why do i love my manual steering? NO chance of it leaking!!!!

[67mann]

Why do i love my manual steering? NO chance of it leaking!!!!

and your young enough for the workout

[RTG_RACING]

I wouldn't fix the oil leaks. A good coat on the underside keeps the rust away. Nice looking truck.

[1971ford]

I do have to agree that oil/grease is the best rust preventer ever. You'll never find rust on a frame right by a power steering box
But that's what my POR-15 is for, and my nice clean chassis si getting coated in oil. Yesterday, Every part of the drivetrain leaked... Rear axle (brake fluid, swapped both wheel cylinders last night), transfer case (just need a new gasket), 4spd cover (resealing it today) and the engine at the rear of the intake manifold (going to leave it beacsue its not that bad and the 390 isn't going to be in for long.

[dcbullet]

What are you going to do with the 390?

[1971ford]

Put it on one of my engine stands, seal it with plastic wrap and it will be my back-up or If i don'y like the 300 it will go in place of it.

I've done a lot of little things since last update Weekend has yet to come too. Update on sunday night.

[1971ford]

-Installed the new Magnum shocks in the rear that I already had waiting to go on something and then bought another $100 worth of front shockage and now it rides pretty good!
-Painted the headlight doors black because it's a Ranger, and it looks good . Also re-painted the red stripe
-Drained the tranny and the front diff and swapped oil for new fresh stuff.
-Installed wiper squirters on cowl, wiper squirter bag, inner fender mounted motor, and hooked it all up. I've always wanted a bump with working wiper squirters (or should I say, anti tailgating device). It's pretty cool to have just in case your windshield gets dirty out in the desert
-Wired up the TSS so now I have all turn signals working and I got the reverse lights working as well so all my lights work! Except cargo light. Still working on that.
-Installed the '71's ignition into it. Theres a long story to this. NPD should be making it right tomorrow though. took several hours to do what should of took 5 minutes.
-Installed steering stabilizer on axle/steering
-Installed carpet/door sill plates
-Tranny was leaking fluid out the top cover so I pulled the trans hump and found the bolts were just loose. Tightened those up.
-Scored a in-bed spare tire mount for 10 bucks at the junkyard that was already pulled, laying the bed! It will look sweet, just need to find another original steel 16" rim to mount one of my 2 other tires on!





STarted mocking up carpet on the kick panels. I think it makes the interior look so much better



hehehe
The "Oh No You Didn't just cut me off" device ready to go on

[1971ford]

Long story short I had a 4 day weekend and I decided to pull the intake/valve covers/ heads to replace the gaskets and the manifold studs and it turned into an absolute nightmare.

Several bolts broke off into the head and an attempt at drilling them out at home only made things worse.
I now have about $150 into this top end gasket replace project and it was supposed to be done today.
I still have no idea how I am going to replace the manifold studs.

I guess tomorrow I am going to try to put the heads in the drill press at work and see if i can save them. I am going to have to drill out several broken bolts and re-tap the holes, and at least one hole is going to have to be drilled out larger and tapped a biggerb bolt size.

Needless to say everyone is stressed out and i'm not a happy camper right now.

[1971fordsdad]

Just to be fair, it was me that screwed up trying to drill out the broken bolts in the head. The drill bit kept wanting to drill into the head and not the bolt. It was late and I was pretty PO'd. Mom is not happy about having Ryan commandeer her car for a week. We should have spent Sunday working on it but we had to go to San Jose to buy another Bronco for Ryan's brother. (it was one of those once-in-a-lifetime deals) At least all the broken bolts are in the ears where you can drill them all the way through, not the ones that go straight into the head.
And Ryan, I appreciate you not throwing me under the bus for this but I don't want people to think you did it.

[no_treble]

You sound like a great dad. Working with your kids on these truck projects and letting them do all this stuff. And that was very respectful of you Ryan, not to throw your dad under the bus on an internet forum, even if he did mar up your heads.

Hope you guys get it sorted out. I enjoy reading about Ryan's projects.