Another Setback

Today I was confident enough to take the truck to work.  That was a mistake.  I drove it around town yesterday (Sunday) without incident and I thought I had resolved the stalling problem.  Nope.  My office is about 15 minutes away.  About 3/4 of the way there it started missing.  I made there alright, but on the way home that evening the missing got worse and it finally stalled again.  I had to tow it back.

I thought that my problem was with fuel.  I noticed that air rushed into the tank whenever I opened the gas cap after it had been running.  A previous owner had replaced the gas tank recently and I assume that it was not properly vented.  Also, a section of the steel fuel line from the tank to the engine had been bypassed with hose.  I figured that because the tank was not venting, after running for a while pressure would build up and the pump could not pull any more gas.  Seems like a plausible explanation   To test my theory, I started driving it with the gas cap off over the weekend.  That worked for a while and I'm still convinced that it was at least part of the problem.

Now I am considering an electrical cause.  When it stalls, it turns over, but never fires.  Fuel is reaching the carb, because I can see the accelerator pumper squirting gas into the carb.  After it sits for a while (hours) it will start again.  There are some sketchy wire spices between the distributor and the coil (not the high voltage wire).  After doing some research, I think I am going to try to solder those together and put heatshrink over them.

I have also noticed a lot of carbon under the distributor cap.  I have heard of carbon tracking, but this is more of an all-over build up.  I will probably replace the cap and rotor, but I would like to know what is causing this.

Carbon under cap.  The dark spot on the left is where I wiped it with my finger.

Carbon on rotor and in distributor.

Parts Pull

Today, I visited the donor truck I found on Craigslist.  The gentleman was very nice.  He insisted on pulling any parts that came from under the truck because he didn't think it was safe.  I got:

Seat belts

The seat belts are a nice addition. Pretty faded, but definitely an upgrade.  I did discover one interesting thing.  I had shoulder belts rolled up under the cover where they attach, but they did not have any buckle on them.  Weird.  I think shoulder belts were an option in '76.

New belt installed

Rear brake line

On the rear of the truck, there is one brake line that comes from the front to the driver's side of the rear axle.  There it splits and one line goes a very short distance to the left wheel; the other line goes all the way across the axle to the right wheel.  My line that goes to the right side was crimped off.

Crimped brake line after removal

I replaced the line with the one from the donor truck, which was in good shape.  But now I'm wonder if I should have waited.  They may have crimped that line off because the wheel cylinder was leaking.  Now I just hooked it back up.  I probably need to rebuild that brake.

Headliner

I got the headliner and chrome trim as well.  Unfortunately, the headliner tore during removal.  I may try to repair it or use it as a pattern to make a new one.  I think I can use the 1/8" pressboard they have at Lowe's.  The chrome is rusted, but I am going to try the aluminum foil trick to clean it.

I passed on these items:

• Weather stripping.  It was in better shape than mine, but not great.  He wanted $20 and I can get a brand new set for $60.
• Door latch posts.  These are $10 brand new.
• Glove box liner.  Again, it was in better shape than mine, but not tempting enough.
• Chrome vent shades.  I actually kind of want these.  I may try to get them later.

Donor

I found a '76 Ranger nearby on Craigslist.  Owner has it listed for $800, but is willing to part out.  I hope to grab the seatbelts and some other items for my Punch List this weekend.  I bet I can get that one brake line I need off the rear.

Donor?

Air & Fuel

I decided to replace fuel lines leading into and out of the fuel filter as there was still some minor leakage there.  I also put an air filter on the truck as there had been none.  The filter housing was in the bed.  Thanks to my son Sam for locating the wingnut back there!

I still did not trust it to go very far, though.  I decided to leave it idling for a while that evening.  After about 15 minutes, it developed a pop (small backfire?) in the passenger side exhaust.  I decided to shut it down.  Pretty discouraged.  Lots of possibilities are running through my mind.  It could need a complete rebuild of the heads.  I hope it is something simple like a coil.

First Weekend

On Friday April 12 it was difficult to concentrate.  I wanted to go home and play with the new truck.  On the way home from work, I bought new plugs and wires and a shift knob (the first thing my wife noticed was that there was no knob).

I installed the knob that night and was able to work on a few things:

• I got the glove compartment open.  It had been stuck, but a little WD40 did the trick. Upon opening it, I discovered that it needs a new liner inside.  The original ones were cardboard, but they make polyurethane replacements that are pretty cheap.
• I got the interior light and cargo light working via the switch above and left of the driver's head. I had never seen that switch before.  The interior dome light still needs a lens cover (cheap).

The next day we had people coming over so I was not able to focus on the truck too much. I spent most of the day getting the yard ready for the party.  I had promised the kids that I would take them around the block (no further because the truck doesn't have shoulder belts).  Unfortunately after several jaunts through the neighborhood, the truck broke down near the house. It was discouraging for sure, but with my neighbor's help (thanks Glenn!) I towed the truck home.  Not sure what the problem is, but it won't start at all.  I suspect the carburetor.

I also started my Punch List.

Sunday I installed the plugs and wires.  The number 4 plug was damaged, so it was likely that something was (bad) wrong in that cylinder.  My brother and his friend Will came over to help (thanks guys!).  I had an old, unreliable compression tester which showed around 70psi on number 4.  We decided to try to start it up anyway.  The plugs and wire helped tremendously.  The truck idles very smoothly.  Too smoothly to have something broken off in cylinder 4.

Damaged spark plug

The day ended on a positive note despite a few worrisome moments.

Purchase

From the Craigslist ad

On April 3, 2013 I emailed a gentleman about another truck.  This one appeared to be in much better condition, although a little farther away.  The owner originally wanted to trade the truck for a Mustang, which I have but did not want to get rid of.  After some emails back and forth I gathered some more information:

• 1976
• 4X4
• 360ci motor
• 4 speed manual transmission
• PTO winch included although PTO had been disassembled
• located MUCH farther away (about 2 hours north)
• the owner was willing to sell the truck rather than trade

After some more discussion we arranged for me to come up Thursday, April 11.  My friend Carey Hammett graciously agreed to come along.  It stormed violently that day, so there was some question as to whether we would go or not.  Fortunately, the line of storms passed through the area and continued east.  By the time we left, it was raining but not too hard.

We arrived around 5pm.  The owner had the truck running when we got there.  It idled nicely and appeared to be in excellent condition overall.  Very little rust.  Excellent interior.  Clean motor.  We took it for a drive and discovered a few problems.

• The truck did not run very smoothly at all above idle.  
• The starter would not catch the flywheel about half the time.
• The fuel filter was leaking significantly.

My only hang up was the fact that the truck did not run smoothly.  I questioned our ability to make it the two hours home.  The owner assured me that it would make it; he had driven it about the same distance not long ago.  After some negotiation, we agreed on a price slightly lower than his original.  

I immediately drove the truck to a gas station as the previous owner told me that the gauge did not work and it was almost completely empty.  We found that the gauge did apparently work and that the truck had plenty of gas. From the station we drove immediately to an Autozone a couple of minutes away and replaced the fuel filter.  After that we struck out for home.

In the first 15 minutes or so, I had trouble keeping the truck at highway speed.  It would start to stumble and, for a minute or so, would not rev up.  After idling for a minute, it would be okay.  After a two or three rounds of that situation, we had no problem the rest of the way.  The truck did not run great, but it would easily do 70mph on the interstate.

We arrived at home without any further incident.  New truck!

First Candidate

I had been watching Craigslist for a while, looking for a 6th generation Ford truck (between 1973 and 1979).  My dad had a 1978 F150 Explorer 4X4 and I always loved the look of those trucks.

My main requirements were:

• Ford
• between 1973 and 1979
• four wheel drive

Automatic transmission would be nice, but not a hard requirement, as my wife can't drive a manual.  I also looked at 4X4s from other generations, but I really wanted a 6th gen.

On April 1, 2013 I found a truck that fit the bill about 15 minutes from where I work.  I made arrangements to go see it the next afternoon.

From the Craiglist ad

The truck definitely fit the bill.  Although, the ad was fairly vague, the truck turned out to be a 1979 F250 Ranger XLT 4X4 with a 400ci motor and automatic transmission.  It cranked up, ran, and drove; but there were some issues...

The front hub on the passenger side was not working, although the owner assured me the four wheel drive was working.  No way to tell without fixing the hub.  Also, the truck was completely eaten up with rust.  The area around the frame of the door was especially bad.  It didn't seem to have any monumental mechanical  problems, but the rust was a bit of a deal breaker.  I really didn't want to put time and money into a truck that was rusting to pieces.

Rust at the cab corner

Rust at the front of the bed

Rust above the door

Around this time I found another candidate on Craigslist... Purchase