New To Me 1969 Ranger Long Bed - Advice needed!

[UKPR1]

So after a long ride from the State of Washington, my little project rolls off the car hauler. We have to jump it to get it started and the mile ride to my house was made. Very loud and lumpy sounding and only ran somewhat smoothly with plenty of choke. On crawling around a little bit before running back to work, I found:

1. No air filter in the air cleaner.
2. Pool of oil in one of the casting pockets on the intake manifold to the right of the carb.
3. Bailing wire attaching some of the linkages to the carb.
4. Some kind of bent tubular rod coming out from the tranny area and ending loose by the carb. (what is that?)
5. Oil pan and tranny bottom wet with oil
6. The interior has a lot of wiring exposed under the dash and a couple of switches hanging down underneath - for what I have no idea...
7. AC compressor missing it's belt - so that was taken out of service for some reason...
8. Lots of cut and coiled wiring under the hood - which is my worst nightmare.
9. Couldn't keep the steering wheel straight to save my life on the ride home - wandering all over the place.
10. Four wheel drums...didn't know if I was going to stop or not.
11. Drivers side exhaust manifold not bolted to the exhaust down pipe at all..just kinda resting there.

If you didn't guess it...it was bought remotely and sight-unseen. Ad said it "runs great"". That being said - she has great bones and looks like $500k from 15 feet away finished in the aqua and white color combo. I will be doing the crown vic swap to get it lower and solve the front end issues and get some modern brakes. Will see at that point if I have to do a hanger or axle flip in the back. While doing the vic swap, I'll pull the engine and tranny out and see what needs replacing with regards to gaskets - what's the recommended list I should be replacing? I'm not looking for any performance boosts here, but do you recommend an Edelbrock intake and carb for reliability or is there something else I should consider? Only after I get her back on the road is when I can think about anything driveability or tranny related. Wish I could post pictures!

Jeff

[390FE1972]

from Colorado! Looks like you have your work cut out for you. It sounds like you have an automatic transmission, and number 4 in your list may be the transmission kick down lever as seen in this schematic: http://www.fordification.com/tech/image ... e_8cyl.jpg

Here are the wiring diagrams to help you get started looking at the wiring issues: http://www.fordification.com/tech/schematics_h.htm

Here is the 1969 Vin decoding info: http://www.fordification.com/tech/VIN69.htm

My wife once bought a old chevy truck, that had bailing wire all over the place, holding it together. You might want to give us some more information on your truck, like auto or stick shift, engine size, etc. This will help with some of your questions.

Regards

[UKPR1]

my apologies!
It’s the 360 with automatic transmission. The seller had told me it was the FMX transmission. Didn’t shift very well on the mile trip home and only shifted hard, once at about 35mph...does that sound normal? Might just be something to get used to if it is considered normal operation.

[UKPR1]

Finally figured out how to compress a photo down to a size that can be posted...may have over compressed it though...

72EE3223-F09B-4430-9BD7-2FDE3BC54C48.jpeg

[sargentrs]

Beautiful truck! Do you intend to drive it some before diving in to the Crown Vic swap or jumping straight into it?

[bobslaven]

UKPR1,
Wow. That is a nice set of wheels. Enjoy the process of fixing it all up. Hopefully I can learn something from you along the way. The dudes here have been very helpful to me as I've been working on getting my 1970 up to daily driver condition.

Billy Bob

[UKPR1]

Thank you, Sarge!

I would love to drive it before modifying it in any way, but as the drum brakes are just scary as all heck, and the king pins more than likely need replacement, it may be somewhat cheaper and only slightly more difficult to throw in the CV swap now. I'm a demon with a grinder and air chisel and in an enclosed area - pretty good with the MIG welder. I like to go slow, so I figure one weekend for the removal, one to get the crossmember in, and one more to put everything back together again, and use the week days to stop the engine from leaking and replace as many of the gaskets that I can get to (perhaps have the exhaust manifold and manifold head surface milled?) Is there anything else I should be doing with the heads off? (valve job, guides, etc?)

Thanks,

Jeff

[390FE1972]

Yes, that is a very nice looking truck! Looks like your work will be mostly mechanical.

Here is some information on identifying your transmission: http://www.fordification.com/tech/trans ... trucks.htm

Regards

[UKPR1]

Thank you very much for the link - according to which, my tranny should be the C6 not the FMX (Cruise-o-Matic). Is that a good thing? Guess I need to crawl around underneath as soon as it stops raining in sunny South Florida...

[390FE1972]

The C6 is a very strong 3 speed transmission, so its a good thing to have. Your shifting issues may be related to your vacuum modulator, which is an inexpensive replacement. I bought my adjustable vacuum modulator from NAPA. I would make sure everything looks like it is hooked up correctly before replacing any parts. Here is some more information on Ford transmissions, there are a couple of pictures in here that you can click on, one shows the transmission pans, with the 17 bolt being the C6. There is a picture of the tops of the different transmissions, the picture of the C6 appears to be a later model C6.

Hope this helps: http://www.fordification.com/tech/transID-auto.htm

Regards

[sargentrs]

Properly adjusted and maintained drum brakes function very well, actually. Yes, you have to give yourself a little more room in front when stopping but they do an excellent job of getting stopped. Throw in a power booster and you'll get used to it real quick. To check your king pins, jack up a wheel off the ground a little and stick a pry bar under the tire. Watch the junction of the spindle to the I-beam while you raise and lower the wheel with the pry bar. If you don't see a lot of movement or space between the spindle and I-beam, or excessive rocking in and out, your king pins are probably ok. While you're at it, inspect your tie rods and drag link.

Like 390FE1972 said, the C6 is a very strong and reliable transmission. I also have one in my '87 F150 XLT and I love the way it shifts.

As for the wandering, check all your rubber bushings for cracking and other signs of excessive wear. The axle pivot bushings and radius arm bushings, especially the radius arm bushings, are what keep the lateral movement of the I-beams in check. The rag joint/steering coupler is what keeps excessive play in the steering wheel contained. Also make sure you have good shocks on the front to help reduce some of the bump steer.

If you want to pull the engine and transmission to reseal them both, go for it. Personally I wouldn't pull the heads unless you had a suspicion of a bad head gasket. A good set of Remflex head gaskets will help the old manifolds seal. I'd reattach the exhaust pipe and add new exhaust gaskets.

You probably have an Autolite 2100 carburetor? In my opinion, they're one of the best carbs ever made. I'd rebuild it and make sure the linkage is connected correctly and tune it with a vacuum gauge. If you want to replace it, contact these guys and tell them what you have and they'll supply you with a well tuned replacement Autolite 2100 carb. I've bought 3 different carbs from them (not for the same vehicles) and all have been bolt on and go. Unlimited lifetime warranty. https://guaranteedcarburetors.com/

[UKPR1]

Thank you, 390FE - yes, mine has the cut-away square as a pan configuration and with the tranny's one piece design, I am now confident that I have the C6. I wish I know what a vacuum modulator looked like! I have some manuals coming and should arrive this weekend, but yes - getting everything hooked up should be what I should be doing. There were so many of those little washer-looking keepers on the intake manifold when I took the air cleaner off, I shook my head and put the cleaner back on. It's difficult to know where to start!

[UKPR1]

Sarge,

Thanks for your brake and suspension breakdown. I think I still would like to go the route of calipers, but now I'm not entirely sure about the Crown Vic swap...which was meant to address: lowering, brakes and steering. Now you've given me what to look for in the steering department, spindles would be all I need to get to disc brakes and to tell you the truth, it has 15" wheels on it and it almost looks low enough already (or is that just me...?), so I'm questioning whether or not lowering is even necessary.
I too am kinda impressed with the carb, as something so gerry-rigged and neglected can still want to run. My only reason for talking about the Edelbrock intake and manifold was that I read somewhere that the stock intake manifolds were problematic and prone to leaking. If that is not true, then I have no problem in sticking with the originals.

Thanks for the tutelage!

Jeff

[390FE1972]

Here is an image of the vacuum modulator: https://media.napaonline.com/is/image/G ... ny/1023629

From what I have read the original part was C4AZ-7A377-B (Motorcraft Valve TM-2), if you do change out the vacuum modulator there is a throttle control rod inside it that you want to keep to use on your new modulator.

I would check the rubber vacuum lines coming off the transmission first to make sure they don't have any leaks, take a look at your transmission fluid to make sure it looks good, if not replace it and the filter.

Regards

[390FE1972]

If you decide to stay with the original Motorcraft 2100 carburetor, and you can't find any carburetor linkage clips, Dennis Carpenter has them, its alot cheaper from the junkyard, I collect them up from old bumpside trucks I find in our local upullandpay. You also mentioned that you are getting some books for repairs on your truck, one of the best things you can have is the original repair manuals or on CD, below is a couple links from E-Bay.

https://www.dennis-carpenter.com/en/tru ... h-for-carb
https://www.dennis-carpenter.com/en/tru ... h-for-carb
https://www.dennis-carpenter.com/
https://www.ebay.com/itm/1969-FORD-TRUC ... XQAF5RhJck
https://www.ebay.com/itm/1969-Ford-Truc ... SwyttZ1S6S

Hope this helps