Drive It or Sell It!

[HOWDY69]

One of my new-year resolutions is to either drive my truck or sell it. Since having the engine rebuilt several years ago I have had a series of troubles that reduced my confidence in using my truck as a daily driver. Consequently it has sat collecting leaves a lot more than it has been driven. This thread is to chronicle my exploits as I attempt to make my truck fun to drive again.

Since traffic was light today I decided to get started on my resolution early and drive it to work which is ten miles one way. The last time I drove the truck was about a month ago and I charged the battery just enough to start the truck and then drove it to Home Depot and back (two miles round trip). This morning the truck turned over slowly but did start so off I went thinking the battery would get some charge on the way to work. When I got to work I shut the engine off and immediately tried to restart it. It turned over very slowly but wouldn't start. After sitting for a couple hours it started (maybe the battery was a little warmer). I disconnected the battery cable and it continued to run, in fact I believe the RPMs even went up a scosh when I disconnected the battery. I plan to charge the battery fully tonight and then get it tested tomorrow. It probably needs replacing since I let it go completely dead for months at a time over the last four years or so.

Anyway, I'll be hanging around Fordification and reporting on my progress this year.

[Manny]

I know what I would do! Well I will when mine is not in a gillion pieces. Drive it no doubt there is no other truck out there built like a bumpside. Sure mpg stinks especially with a 410 however a new truck starts about 30000 if you get bare bones. 30000/3.62 average of gas prices right now comes out to 8287.29282 gallons of fuel that could be purchased.. okay so times 8287.29282 times 10 mpg gallon comes out to lets see 8 over 7 by the 3 carry the 4 to the 8 decimal point over pie that 3.14 (stops and removes shoes...) DAHA its 82,872.9 miles that could be put on your truck you will enjoy more is easier to understand and work on has no payments and according to your signature that's 82,872.9 smiles lets see a new trucks get that! As for your charging issue sounds like you have a sulfated cell. That is where they are falling apart inside the battery shorting out dragging all the amps outta the charging system why she smoothed up a bit with the battery undone. Sounds like a great resolution and I remember back when I first came to Fordification I just saw your pic and just liked your trucks vibe. As a matter of fact you are the one that made me decide die hard on the 410 engine so you gotta drive it. What other issues are you having with the old girl that is making you shy away from her?

[HOWDY69]

As for your charging issue sounds like you have a sulfated cell. That is where they are falling apart inside the battery shorting out dragging all the amps outta the charging system why she smoothed up a bit with the battery undone.

Thanks for the tip. I read up on sulfation and it looks like I definitely toasted my battery.

I just saw your pic and just liked your trucks vibe. As a matter of fact you are the one that made me decide die hard on the 410 engine so you gotta drive it.

Don't worry, I am definitely going to give it my best shot.

What other issues are you having with the old girl that is making you shy away from her?

My main concern is the truck has had a history (after the rebuild) of dying in the most inconvenient places. I was starting to get a handle on most of the issues when the price of gas shot up. I know if I apply myself and drive the truck consistently I can work out the kinks but I have a sense of unease when I drive the truck and I am constantly looking for a place to pull over, and I have a sense of dread when driving over the bridge to work or if I am stuck in a left turn lane.

The main issues that I believe I have resolved are:

My carburetor came from a batch with bad metallurgy and the inner surface turned to a very fine gray powder. This caused me to suspect all kinds of things and I did things I didn't even need to do like pull the fuel tank out of the cab so I could clean it. The new carburetor works like a champ and the idle steps work for the first time since the rebuild.

Then there was the new but faulty coil that would kill the engine at random times. The new coil seems to be behaving itself. One of my planned projects is to remount the coil vertically in accordance with the manufacturers recommendation.

New rubber isn't what it use to be and I have had problems with fuel lines under the cab, a rubber cap on the old tee to the heater carburetor plate (which is not currently on the vehicle), and caps on vacuum ports on the carburetor. I think I just need to make a list of rubber parts to replace every spring and eliminate the ones that can be eliminated.

Anyway, thanks for the encouragement. I made it to work and back without an incident today and I will get a new battery tomorrow.

[19ford71]

I feel your pain. Its hard to enjoy a truck that you spend more time fixing than driving. I've got one of those and its been collecting a lot of dust.

[Manny]

Sounds like you have a good bit of it figured out. What Ignition is on the truck points duraspark??

[HOWDY69]

Sounds like you have a good bit of it figured out. What Ignition is on the truck points duraspark??

Pertronix Ignitor.

[dftuttle]

I had a '65 Falcon that had the same temperament. I had a hyperactive 289 with headers on it. Turns out it had cooked the starter. It would die at the most inopportune moment, like on a date with a HOT chick in the middle of Hollywood & refuse to restart for hours. Embarrassing.
But, then again, HOT chick, High Heels, Short Leather Mini Skirt pushing my broken down Ford? Priceless!
The starter was so bad the as soon as you tried to hit it when it was hot, it would pull all the current from the battery. Put another starter in it, after disassembling the exhaust on the passenger side, & it never did it again.

[HOWDY69]

Sunrise of Day 2. Picked up the new battery last night, just need to connect the cables. She looks happier already.

[motzingg]

so so so into that front mounted spare tire! that is awesome!!

good luck on the project. make sure when you are buying rubber parts that it is all fuel safe if it is going to contact gas or fuel vapor.

the rubber nowadays is a helluva lot better than what was on these trucks to begin with, but our gas has highly reactive ethanol in it which can corrode zinc parts (your carb) and eat inferior rubber like 'vacuum hose' which is usually buna or neoprene or some other cheap garbage.

since i'm a 'fix it once and fix it forever' kinda guy, i just replace all my lines with fuel line. I'm pretty partial to Gates brand, you spend a few cents more but its worth it to avoid a future failure.

good luck!

[robroy]

Good day Howdy69,

It's nice to see your posts; it's been a while now since we met at Tom's for #50's engine stand adventure. The photos from that classic day are still in an old thread.

I dig your truck and will enjoy watching your adventures with it this year.

Robroy

[HOWDY69]

Good day Howdy69,

It's nice to see your posts; it's been a while now since we met at Tom's for #50's engine stand adventure. The photos from that classic day are still in an old thread.

I dig your truck and will enjoy watching your adventures with it this year.

Robroy

Robroy

Thanks for the old thread. That was almost four years ago. How is #50 doing?

Rick

[HOWDY69]

I had a '65 Falcon that had the same temperament. I had a hyperactive 289 with headers on it. Turns out it had cooked the starter. It would die at the most inopportune moment, like on a date with a HOT chick in the middle of Hollywood & refuse to restart for hours. Embarrassing.
But, then again, HOT chick, High Heels, Short Leather Mini Skirt pushing my broken down Ford? Priceless!
The starter was so bad the as soon as you tried to hit it when it was hot, it would pull all the current from the battery. Put another starter in it, after disassembling the exhaust on the passenger side, & it never did it again.

At some point I am going to add headers and I will definitely have to deal with the starter at that time.

so so so into that front mounted spare tire! that is awesome!!

good luck on the project. make sure when you are buying rubber parts that it is all fuel safe if it is going to contact gas or fuel vapor.

the rubber nowadays is a helluva lot better than what was on these trucks to begin with, but our gas has highly reactive ethanol in it which can corrode zinc parts (your carb) and eat inferior rubber like 'vacuum hose' which is usually buna or neoprene or some other cheap garbage.

since i'm a 'fix it once and fix it forever' kinda guy, i just replace all my lines with fuel line. I'm pretty partial to Gates brand, you spend a few cents more but its worth it to avoid a future failure.

good luck!

I agree with the replace once (or at least once a decade not once a year) approach. Thanks for the heads-up on Gates.

Definitely takes some commitment to drive these trucks daily. Here is my son's wannabe daily driver.

[Manny]

I will second the gates company bump! have never had a issue out of gates worth the money for there stuff. Love your truck has just the perfect classic vibe to it. also a fan of the front spare tire mount. A word of caution on the petronix system. I have seen both sides of the issue here. I have had no issues myself with the one that was in the my 67 for a while. However out of the ones I have installed I have seen some issues with them at times. A 289 I went to put one on would not fire hit on 2 cylinders timing jumped all over and finally quit. Put the points back on and then it ran fine. This could also be from the issue you said with your faulty coil issue. However you may be on the road to good from where you are. However my personal favorite will always be duraspark ignition with a blue connector module. Something to keep in mind however hope your experience with the petronix is good! Cant wait to see how this goes. Check for PM.

[Manny]

By the way looks like the mustang daily driver might take just a tad more work than the 250....

[HOWDY69]

I will second the gates company bump! have never had a issue out of gates worth the money for there stuff. Love your truck has just the perfect classic vibe to it. also a fan of the front spare tire mount. A word of caution on the petronix system. I have seen both sides of the issue here. I have had no issues myself with the one that was in the my 67 for a while. However out of the ones I have installed I have seen some issues with them at times. A 289 I went to put one on would not fire hit on 2 cylinders timing jumped all over and finally quit. Put the points back on and then it ran fine. This could also be from the issue you said with your faulty coil issue. However you may be on the road to good from where you are. However my personal favorite will always be duraspark ignition with a blue connector module. Something to keep in mind however hope your experience with the petronix is good! Cant wait to see how this goes. Check for PM.

It has been a while and I forgot most of the facts but I read and re-read the instructions for the Ignitor several times and talked to the technical staff at least twice. I also remember measuring voltage under various conditions (starting vs running) and at various points. Having or not having a resistor wire is also a complication. They can be very application-specific just like any other part and where you grab the voltage from can make the difference. The main disadvantage with the way mine is wired is it could get damaged if the ignition switch is left on and the vehicle is not running.

By the way looks like the mustang daily driver might take just a tad more work than the 250....

We definitely got in a bit over our heads with the Mach 1. I pushed for a F100 or F150 but my son wanted a Mustang. A co-worker was going to sell us a coupe but my son really wanted a fastback. I figured if he wasn’t jazzed about the vehicle he wouldn’t want to work on it. At the time Gen I fastbacks were sky high. This one showed up on EBay and was about ten miles away so we went and looked at it. The rest is history and probably needs its own thread over at 7173. In the end it will make a good cruiser with the warmed up 302, 3-speed top-loader, and 3.0 ratio 8-inch rear end (maybe a Gear Vendors for the freeway).