1978 F-fun hundred 3/4 tons and 37s

Hows that ol 351 holding up?
WiscoF100 said:
Lowered the rig today and drove it.

Caster is 4.6* without changing wedge bushings.

Caster was the missing piece. Still a little wander but immediately noticed the difference before the end of the block. So much nicer at speed.

35x12.50r17 tires arrive Wednesday
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Curious, Would you go with the skyjacker coils again?

Debating myself between wildhorses, skyjacker dual rates, skyjacker variable rate, and deavers. Do not want more than 4"ish of lift.
 
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I am running the Deaver Superflex coils in my 88. Theyre pretty plush, i like how they ride but theyre a little soft so it had some body roll. I ended up going dual shock as i didnt think a single 255/70 7100 could control the 42" Trepadors (it couldnt - its way better with duals), and as a bonus that took care of the little bit of body roll it had. It actually rides pretty nice down the highway, altho those Treps sure make their presence known to everyone else around you :laughing:
 
The engine is making extra noises for added value. Great manners though. Start up, cold driving, vacuum, overall drive-ability is great. It behaves so well that it fuels my procrastination over the catastrophic chattering. I could ramble some more at another time. Getting these weld tables finished is the first priority before winter sets in.

Coils. Short answer yes. My experience is they ride better than the Deavers they replaced which are obviously higher rate because of the wire diameter. Nothing against Deavers but they weren’t right for my truck. If it weren’t for the skyjacker service, free shipping, and the dentside Dave discount, I would’ve gone wild horse’s.

Eventually I need some quality shocks to replace these no-name bronco graveyard units. They were simply place holders to verify what would fit my Frankenstein.
 
reptillikus said:
I am running the Deaver Superflex coils in my 88. Theyre pretty plush, i like how they ride but theyre a little soft so it had some body roll. I ended up going dual shock as i didnt think a single 255/70 7100 could control the 42" Trepadors (it couldnt - its way better with duals), and as a bonus that took care of the little bit of body roll it had. It actually rides pretty nice down the highway, altho those Treps sure make their presence known to everyone else around you :laughing:
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Thank you, From what i read they are around 300lb/inch if the newer ones?

WiscoF100 said:
The engine is making extra noises for added value. Great manners though. Start up, cold driving, vacuum, overall drive-ability is great. It behaves so well that it fuels my procrastination over the catastrophic chattering. I could ramble some more at another time. Getting these weld tables finished is the first priority before winter sets in.

Coils. Short answer yes. My experience is they ride better than the Deavers they replaced which are obviously higher rate because of the wire diameter. Nothing against Deavers but they weren’t right for my truck. If it weren’t for the skyjacker service, free shipping, and the dentside Dave discount, I would’ve gone wild horse’s.

Eventually I need some quality shocks to replace these no-name bronco graveyard units. They were simply place holders to verify what would fit my Frankenstein.
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I am glad its running good, M blocks are just weird to me sometimes.
I emailed with skyjacker few times, their customer service is smokin fast. Want to go with them just because of that alone. They offered 10% discount etc. They said the single rate and variable rate coils are no longer available, only the dual rate (312/407 lbs in). Any idea what the spring rate of the variable rates you have are?
The wild horses are tempting me at 236/375, but damn the shipping like you said.
I tried googling dentside dave but only came up with social media stuff. Is he a vendor?

Thank you for the replies
 
Levigarrett76 said:
Thank you, From what i read they are around 300lb/inch if the newer ones?
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Yeah, the old ones were 200, the 'new' ones are 300. Ive run both and the 200 was way too low but the 300 is pretty nice IMO. Probably depends on terrain; im either casually strolling down the hilly back roads, or im putting along the tight windy rocky trails of the NE. No bombing along in the desert for me.
 
reptillikus said:
Yeah, the old ones were 200, the 'new' ones are 300. Ive run both and the 200 was way too low but the 300 is pretty nice IMO. Probably depends on terrain; im either casually strolling down the hilly back roads, or im putting along the tight windy rocky trails of the NE. No bombing along in the desert for me.
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Whats the timeframe of old versus new? I have a set of superflexes I put in my V8 ranger, and it was too soft for my liking, went with their regular lift coils instead
 
Way back in 08-10 maybe? Pretty sure i switched to the 'new' ones around 2010 and they were out for a year or so at that point. The old ones were a real light gray kind of like primer, the new ones are dark gray. Thought maybe i had a pic of the two next to one another but i cant find one.
 
External oil line delete. Notfuckenworthit. Instant oil pressure now
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Retina burning ice blue gauge lights
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Since I needed a plug or remove Tee fitting from block I figured I’d toss in the oil temp probe. Not as quick since it’s a dead end but you can still watch it react on the fly. This was idling in gear for 10min waiting on construction. Intentional unnecessary heat
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And within a few miles
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Next up is 195* thermostat, block heater replacement and 210* on 190* off temp sensor. And most likely remove the heads once I consult with the machine shop next week.

I really don’t want to approach the BBF swap until I move. Collecting parts/building is fine but timeline doesn’t allow that project right now.
 
noises change any with oil line delete?

Looks like your truck must have a cummins, fuel gauge went up...
 
I wish!

Overall the noise is the same. It’s much quieter and smoother upon startup though. That and overall how the truck performs gives me hope that it’s not a cam or rotating assembly issue.

Jets, idle mixture screw adjustments and full carb clean didn’t change the plug colors. I’ve never had to offset jet a carb and don’t think thats my issue but it’s convincing since the colors coincide with the plenum pattern. It could be the divided spacer? Maybe I should try an open spacer? 4 hole?

Cold performance is great. Crisp throttle, exhaust barks and truck gets on the bars. Has some sort of tweety bird noise I can’t describe. Think as there’s something smacking around knocking on the oil pan in a revolving manner? Ticking is very subtle.

Hot - no performance , doggy throttle, exhaust has a terrible drone or misfire/poor fire and distinct trailer park note, ticking is insane and has cyclical under hood drone that’s linear with rpm. Tweety bird noise is gone.
 
Thats good, some improvement?

Maybe try notched septum/spacer, or open spacer just to see if it makes **** happy? Is most of your driving on the idle circuit or you lay into it pretty often?

I got nothing on the tweety bird noise, the doggy hot performance sounds like lazy timing with how you describe nut Im sure thats not the case. Maybe somehow cam timing/valve event related?
 
I thought of a new way to describe tweety bird. Think of a short rope swung by the crank slapping the oil pan.

Truck is driven like Vivian. No videos of the sweet jumps though. Truck will run 90+ and wants MOAR but square tires are a wild ride

Timing was a thought. Pertronix makes it such a pain in the ass to check timing. It’s dialed good enough so I leave it alone even if it’s way wrong. Duraspark planned with head replacement.

I’ve got a 1 and 2 inch open spacer but won’t fit under hood/throttle linkage. Needs to be 1/2”.

Initial was set at 12*, 24* mechanical all in with a quick curve at 2,000 and 16* more vacuum for 52*. At 14* it cranks like ****. The CVR starter I’m using isn’t that impressive either. Pertronix clearly states do not program start ****** with igniter modules. I did 2* recently anyways but didn’t notice much difference.

Cam is set straight up and verified per cam card. Are you suggesting adding initial timing?
 
I’m tempted on a set of stock rebuilt heads I found. Might materialize this week.
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No smoking guns under the valve covers. I did notice the exhaust springs are sitting crooked under the rotators.
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Reversed the valve covers preparing for the OEM thermostatic air filter retrofit. I’ll be working on that this week. Gotta fab up a heat riser on the headers.
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Deleted steering cooler because not a racecar and F this cold weather. Then I noticed the RF hub was loose. First reaction was balljoint deletes (because that was an issue on the stock knuckles which led to Reid knuckles. Now my steering is touchy again. Tightening the spherical bearings or removing all that cooler plumbing/volume/restriction changed the steering. Turns out the hub bearing preload needed some love. :homer: Now I’ve got steering hoodoos to chase again. Whooo!

Blocked off the radiator with a piece of corrugated plastic for the winter.

Waiting on cylinder head decision before I replace thermostat, fan controller and block heater.
 
Heads arrive Tuesday. Delivery guy is gonna blow a nut. Sorry. Not sorry.

Excited and nervous. It’s a parts cannon approach and I’m worried if I have a **** tune or ignition system that could’ve hurt the current heads. I’ll have a better idea once they’re off and can inspect pistons, cam/lifters. (I wouldn’t know detonation if it slapped me in the face. Never have and probably never will) Keep putting off getting in touch with madporter for a duraspark dizzy. Also pending his advice for which spark controller. My 6AL or DS box. Torn between which box to buy. Red is nearly impossible to find and pricey. Yellow/brown is next and blue are still pretty easy to get. My west coast junk yard pickers aren’t real motivated to help so far either.

Prelim fitment of the cold weather filter. As a kid the first hot rod instinct is throw away this inferior analog technology and spend money at summit. Now I greatly appreciate the analog engineering later replaced with compact computers.

The Pertronix distributor must be a mile high. Need 1” filter spacer or try 1” open plenum carb spacer. Either or. Chance to experiment.

Plug wires need routing adjustment. And so do heater hoses- a trim and new clamp position should do the trick.

PCV dirty line needs reroute. Brake booster will also be relocated to #4 runner with a new OEM inspired tree shared with the trans modulator.
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Good thing nobody ever bought the cold air snorkel when I tried selling them!
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First off the credit to this idea goes to Golddigger79f150 on Instagram. He shared a similar approach with me last winter when I had to reopen the exhaust crossovers. Before you ask, he doesn’t wheel in Texas. He snow wheels in Alaska.

Here’s my take on this. 2” el cheapo made in USA exhaust repair pieces. Flex pipe was cheaper than the foil paper repops. The intake tube will have 2 or 3 1-3/4 holes located over the 2-3-4 header primaries and will be secured with hose clamps. Plan is disconnect cold air intake in the winter and connect elbow in summer. I don’t want to overwork the unobtanium bi metallic vacuum switch.
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Reason #3 for the steering cooler delete. Blocking the air intake. Trans cooler is pending relocation as well. Think it’s the magazine dude who says don’t get it right just get it running. Working through some of the messy placement of stuff as better ideas or product upgrades come along
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rattle_snake said:
Maybe you could wire the radiator fan backwards to warm up quicker. Run exhaust into cab.
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**** I feel sleepy

Was in a tshirt in Minneapolis St Somalia yesterday. 70* and it felt like Mexico compared to this frozen wasteland.
 
Detonation looks like orange peel on the piston crown. It's pretty noticeable. The pitting leads to more detonation from the rough surface's hot spots.

For the DS box vs 6AL or whatever, depends on use. Over 5k RPM the DS is about done. Either would work in your application.
 
That makes sense but from a tuning perspective, I have no idea what it sounds like. Spark knock, pinging, detonation etc. Maybe I’ve never had an issue.

5k is fine and fun enough for a truck like this. DS would be simplest and compact. MSD just because it’s laying around.
 
This is what I have for spacers. 3/4” 1” and 2” (1/2” oval is under carb now)
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Discovering that the upper plenum running lean is common with dual plane manifolds. Seems to be common folks running an open spacer under a 4 hole or a power cone style or a modified 4 hole with the divider cutout (ovaled) over the lower plenum. Not sure which route I want to go yet. Air filter spacer is out of the question. An carb spacer may not even be necessary should I get a DS dist because it should be lower than this Pertronix mess?

Levigarrett76 kind of like the stereotypical sound when the car breaks down in the movies?
 
Yes sir
Kind of like that but softer and more of ping pong sound much less knock.
 
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Awesome, thanks. That would be very distinctive and don’t think I’ve ever experienced it.

Unless that’s the strange ass tweety bird noise I’m chasing……but it’s cyclical and intensifies with rpm when present. Hell idk:homer:
 
****ty sound, but you can hear it @ 1:30


starts around 0:25, hard to hear over the exhaust
 
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