1969 F250 4x4 Highboy 7/9 rubicon

[1971ford]

Cheek I sure did!

Robroy, it was great up there! The amount of stars visible is insane

[1971ford]

Just ordered 3 more 37" Goodyear Military OZ tires, they will be at the shop next week and i will be using a buddies tire machine and mounting them that day, on a set of 16.5" rims my boss has out back. They just happen to be the exact same rims i have on now

Fab'd some rock sliders up!!

2x3 .250 Rect. main tubes
2x2 .250 supports from main slider tube to plated frame
1.5 .120 Round tube helping keep the rocks away






Oh and i found a use for a chevy at last!


Doubles as a perfect step. Tested it out and it indeed makes it way easier for me to hop in. Success!

Going on a trail called Strawberry pass this weekend. It's a 14 mile long trail and goes up to 8,600 feet... it was not even passable 2 weekends ago from heavy snow but there should be the perfect amount of snow making the trail a little harder.
Oh, and i built these sliders specifically for one obstace on this trail, called the squeeze... i'll be sure to get pics..

[FormerMarine1981]

Snow???? In July / August??? It's been 107 here for weeks. Right now it's 90 out. They have been asking people to cut back on electricity here from 3-7 pm, the hottest part of the day, or else they will have rolling brown outs to keep up with energy demands. But it is a dry heat, hasn't really rained here since April or so. Sorry, rant over.

I like the sliders, especially how they mount to the bottom of the body. Looks better than all of those mass produced once you see dented up all the time. Have you thought about coating them with bedliner? Give better traction when you step on it and keep rust away. Look forward to your pics from the trail. Ben

[1971ford]

Thanks! yep, snow... about an hour and a half away from me. I'm at sea level but this trail gets up to 8,600 feet and there is tons of snow up there apparently
The sliders aren't done yet, but they're close enough. Still have plans to shear a strip of expanded steel at work tomorrow to tack onto the top of the tube to give lots of grip for the foot.
Still have 1 or two welds to be done as well, and i also have some gussets that i may or may not put on.
Finally, i am going to cut the support tubes under the body. slice them right in half. Then i will sleeve them with a section of 1.5" .250 and i'll weld that into one end, then I can slide the slider on and off after pulling a bolt.
When I do this (have them off) I am going to coat them in brush-on rustoleum hammered paint.

[1971ford]

Trail head off 50

me





Super glad i made these sliders. If i hadn't of made them lets just say i wouldnt be a happy camper right now. But now i am STOKED on my sliders!


Buddy


Painted rock was.. interesting.
This was the best line after a while of checking out the cluster of body destroyers.




Ahh, the squeeze. The obstacle i didnt even know if i could possibly fit through.
Still not sure if i technically fit through it. It was epic.

After a while of perfecting my approach angle. If i was a half inch wider I'd be screwed.





All the pictures
http://s283.photobucket.com/albums/kk29 ... st%202011/

Damage:
Dented headlight door, inch of paint missing from fender
The new transfer case bushings are covered in cracks and had to drive home with the transfer case moving an inch back and forth, not cool. Now i have to pull the thing to replace those bushings up in there. I wouldn't think 1 year old bushings would crack so badly, so fast.
Truck won't idle any more.
Idle fluctuations when throttle held steady.

And now the worst of all.
Tons of blowby coming out of the valve cover vent and the distributor hole where it goes into the intake.
This might get bad real quick.

But the trip couldn't of been amazing-er

[JWW]

That looked like a cool trip. Would love to do something like that again. Good luck on doing the repairs.

[CrypticRacer13]

Looks like a good trip down man, Your buddies sami is nasty looking does he have a build thread on pirate? Check your cap an rotor an your plugs sounds like what my old chevy did a few years ago.That an it was born a chevy haha

[1971ford]

For those that don't cruise the engine section of the forum often....


I pulled the pan to replace the rear main seal on the 390. I found a snap ring in the pan... come to find out, it's a wrist pin snap ring. Sure enough i look up in the cylinder and find that the number 1 cylinder is ready to make the whole engine go BOOOOOM.

So I bought a $100 "390" off craigslist. Figured i'd swap my parts over and drop it right in, no big deal.
I knew it was indeed a 390 not a 360 because of the square notch on the crank so i bought it.

Crank had a weird stamping though. So i looked it up after getting the engine home, along with looking up every other number on the engine.

It wasn't a 390. It was a 428!!! I have absolutely no idea how this guy had a 428 in his truck without knowing it. Blows my mind. It's funny because when i asked how he knows its a 390 and not a 360 when i was on the phone with him he said because it was way faster than any 360 he ever had. Yeah i bet

Not only a 428 but a 428 bored .060 over, double roller timing chain, aftermarket cam, been rebuilt not long ago, turned crank and still good main bearings, had all new felpro gaskets top to bottom that seemed like they were just put on months ago from the builder.

I tore it down to bare block and found one cylinder had a deep scratch so i dropped it off at the machine shop. It's almost done now. It's getting hot tanked, mag'd, cylinder sleeved and bored to match, all cylinders honed.
But, i don't have the few grand needed to properly build the engine so it is now for sale, hoping to get $1,000+
I am also selling every FE part i have... which is A LOT of stuff. Also selling many other things laying around.

After selling the 428, all FE parts, and the other things, plus a couple paychecks, I am picking up a Dodge pickup for somewhere around $3k and pulling the good stuff

6bt CUMMINS SWAP TIME!

Plans:
93-98 6BT cummins turbodiesel, NV4500 5 speed manual transmission with overdrive, Powerstroke intercooler stuffed behind the grill, straight pipe 4" exhaust.
There is a lot put into these swaps so i'm really excited to get into it!
Just a few things needed to be done.... front crossmember chopped/lowered onto itself/plated, going to need power steering, fab motor mounts, fab nv4500 trans mount, shorten intermediate driveshaft, swap in dodge gas pedal with throttle cable, somehow make room for the powerstroke intercooler (going to have to clearance grill and core support), route CAC pipes, fab downpipe/exhaust ....



R.I.P.


428 before machine shop


Can't wait to get 20's for MPG's in the highboy and tow whatever i want

[robroy]

Good evening Ryan,

I've been following your other thread too but your post here's a great summary. I think you're doing the right thing by going this way instead of spending thousands on the 428 FE. This is still an exotic engine to have in a Bumpside, and this way you'll actually be getting some fuel mileage, not to mention probably a much longer service life.

Robroy

[CrypticRacer13]

This thread now has WIN all over the place now!

[1971ford]

Getting ready for the 6bt

[1971fordsdad]

Comment from the dad; Ryan had to put smaller tires/wheels on the front of the truck to be able to pull it into the garage, otherwise it would not clear the garage door. You will notice those wheels aren't on the front of the truck. That is because Ryan sold them. Since none of the tires and wheels he has will allow it to clear the garage door, how the heck is he ever going to get it out of my garage? I think my wife has given up on parking her car in the garage again. Ever.

[1971ford]

yeah, it's never coming out of the garage... never ever!

In my head i am picturing picking it up with a cherry picker so the axle is just off the ground and pull it out. Might have to pull on the cherry picker with another vehicle though
I'll worry about that when it's ready to come out

I can also put my 16.5" set of bare rims on and roll it out on the rims if needed. I've got the situation under control!

Edit: New idea. We will cut the house apart around the truck and i will crawl over the rubble.

[Ranchero50]

1200lb's of 6BT will make it squat a bit...

Jamie

[1971ford]

About that....

I'm swapping the current lift springs out for another set of much beefier lift springs during the time i'm putting the 6bt in. So it will have the same amount of lift as it does now but with the 6bt.