What's new

1980 F350 Farm Truck Re-Build

man this is one of my favorite builds
cant wait to see if it runs....and runs properly

Thanks, hopefully nothing more than some minor stuff will get it going once I'm mostly done :beer:

Anything is possible, it's the other truck with all the stereo stuff :laughing:


Reminds me alot of this, im sure it will run just fine



That rich yuppy bought clean heads and a new cam, I'm super jealous :flipoff2: nevermind the whole 300 hp thing :eek:
 
Ya, ignoring getting it running and driving, what about the audio system in this truck?
just a pair of 4-1/2" guys for the dash of this one. The head unit in it is the one that I should be running in my other truck, it's got time alignment and decent EQ and jazz. I bought it after the other truck already had something installed and just can't be bothered to swap them over :laughing: ~$20 thift store jobber far outperforms the $25 amazon special.

20221008_102649-jpg.590282
 
Went outside to pile/shred/dispose of a whole gang of these dang leaves. Warmed up a little bit today so it wasn't bad being outside. This whole weather below 60* stuff in the morning is lame.

Since I was moving all the leaves out the way, seemed like a good time to cut off the rear driveshaft.

20231217_140206.jpg


seemed like it was going to be important that the caps are different sizes. Rock Auto claimed the rears were all the same and the front of the front was the only different one. I picked up 3 of 1 style and 1 of the other, per their advice.

20231217_145240.jpg


I think I like the external clips better than the internal, not sure just yet.

20231217_150302.jpg


fixed the 20t press, fill port cap is missing and it was very low on fluid. brake fluid topped it off and back in business. Steel wool, sandpaper and a paper towel to clean the bores up

20231217_153955.jpg


I'd put some thought into where I wanted the grease fitting to go.

20231217_154132.jpg


and set the caps in and apply C clamp to get them into place

20231217_154211.jpg


pliers are helpful

20231217_154349.jpg


and then in place it goes. I had a 50/50 shot on getting the grease fitting biased the correct direction, failed at this location :rasta:

20231217_163402.jpg
 
these darned things were being grumpy to remove, cut them again to get closer to flush and hammer and punch to drive them all the way out

20231217_164022.jpg


and then a conundrum befell me. The u-bolts were not lining up with the joints I'd just thrown in. Rock auto had led me astray, the joints at both axles are the larger size at the pinion and smaller size to the shaft. The joints at both ends of the transfer case are the same size smaller joint on shaft and case :homer:

20231217_164255.jpg


considered grinding down the strap, but then i'd need to grind the yoke as well. Briefly thought about buying another joint, but this one was from rockauto last year and unlikely to get a refund. Went forward with the betterest option and found 2 of the best looking caps off the old joints, added new grease and installed them instead.

20231217_164722.jpg


just need new straps for the ones that were cut now.
 
O'Reilly showed 3 options for saddle caps, Dorman 81004 for 1.125 & 1.188 was the correct spread

20231226_134846.jpg


Rear axle breather line has some failure, needed it off to replace the soft brake line

20231226_140625.jpg


Plugged full of debris

20231226_140830.jpg


Poke and hose it enough, eventually light can make it through

20231226_141222.jpg


Had the hammer handy for other reasons, went ahead and asked the fuel tank if it was solid. Mostly solid on the bottom, I don't think the top is in this good of shape

20231226_143528.jpg


Soft line had some growth in addition to the rubber itself being all cracked up

20231226_144553.jpg


The hard lines to back here had been replaced recently enough, just cut off the end and put on a new fitting. Would be pretty neat if I had a spring clip to hold the top, oh well. Probably fine

20231226_150254.jpg



edit: inbound unavoidables.

gates 21216 lower radiator hose
gates 20508 upper radiator hose
spectra fnh122 midship filler neck hose, apparently short according to amazon reviews
spectra fnh090 rear filler neck hose
10' of 5/8" radiator line, should be plenty
DeeZee DZ90711 one piece full width floor mat :rasta:

Need to find my brake master cylinder rebuild kit again :homer:
drop both tanks and see how much patching it's going to take
Redo the fuel lines
install cooling system
tighten down the loose stuff and add the goo
 
Last edited:
alright, just a note taking spot. Looking at pictures of the carb on this thing, the numbers appear smudged out. Went to go look at it in the driveway:

1) it's already dark
2) smashed my finger in the house door on the way out
3) hood still isn't hooked up so i had to hold it with my head
4) some idiot put way too long of a stud through the air cleaner and no wing nut

the holley picture from the 7448 tuning guide, attached, makes it appear that I have a 4412 based on the timed vac port locations. The 4412 is the 500cfm version, the 7448 is the 350cfm version.

holley choke side ports.png


the 4412 holley tuning guide doesn't really say much, but does say this: #75 mains, 4.5" power valve, #28 accel pump nozzle

4412 info.png


there was a post on binderplanet that I cannot find now which was talking about the #68 main jet being the "right size" for a 345IH.


Holley has the above article regarding, also attached. First they suggest using small strands of wire in the idle circuit to reduce the orifice area

The wire is used to reduce the area of the restrictor and therefore the volume of fuel delivered to the idle circuit. This will also give the idle mixture screws greater authority over the final adjustments. You know you will have the idle feed restrictor close to the proper size when it requires about one full turn counterclockwise from fully seated of the idle mixture screws to have the idle mixture achieve the highest idle manifold vacuum.

It’s also a good idea to adjust the idle air bleed size as well. This is a general relationship where the size of the idle air bleed is proportional to the size of the idle feed restrictor. Our stock 750 Holley used a 0.032-inch idle feed restrictor combined with a 0.075-inch idle air bleed. We’re going to reduce the idle feed restrictor flow area roughly 20 percent, which would be the same as changing the restrictor to 0.029-inch. While the idle air bleed on the top could also be reduced, it might be a good idea to leave it for now and evaluate the change to the idle feed restrictor first. This will allow you to better judge changes to the idle air bleed separately.

then move to the main.

Switching now to the main metering circuit, Holley says that each main jet number references a flow number rather than an area. Each jet size represents a 3.5 percent change in flow, so changing from a 70 to 71 primary jet for example would increase fuel flow by 3.5 percent. Holley also suggests decreasing one jet size for every 2,000 foot increase in altitude. So if we were going to re-jet a carburetor for 7,000 feet, this would mean reducing both the primary and secondary jets by three numbers – or from the 73 down to 70.



If, for example, your carburetor was factory jetted at 72 on all four corners but through tuning your engine preferred a sea level jetting of slightly richer – say a 74 jet size, then moving to 7,000 feet would mean reducing the jet size from your preferred number of 74 rather than the factory 72.

which would suggest that a main jet of #65 would be about correct if I a #68 is right where I am at. Once I get the exhaust hacked together, i'll have to add in the O2 bung so that I can see where I am at. Pretty sure the 45 power valve will be reasonable enough, depending on what it looks like cruising around and sticking with no Overdrive, there is a decent change i'll bump that up closer to 8" and see what I can get that is under my reasonable cruise vacuum, with the potential of a 6 or 6.5" at elevation.


0.025" is the only smaller size of accel pump nozzle offered, below the 0.028" that should be on there. That'll give me a longer duration for same volume, if need be.

edit: didn't read all the way through the 7448 tuning guide. Difference between the 350cfm 7448 and the 500 cfm 4412, other than the timed vacuum port location, is thus:

7448 primary jet 61/pump nozzle 31/power valve 85
4412 primary jet 73/pump nozzle 28/power valve 50

holley 7448 vs 4412.png
 

Attachments

  • holley 07448 tune.pdf
    942.9 KB · Views: 2
  • holley 4412 tuning.pdf
    117.3 KB · Views: 1
  • holley tuning at altitude.pdf
    3.9 MB · Views: 3
Last edited:
Pretty neat that I can tear the soft fuel line apart when trying to move the spring clamp :rasta: That poor bed :laughing: One of these days it might get a flat bed, years and years from now

20231227_141750.jpg


This has got to be an anti-siphon vent tube thing? I dunno, not going back into the filler neck.

20231227_143121.jpg

And the top of the tank doesn't appear to be all that bad, impressive :smokin:

20231227_143337.jpg


The poor sending unit sealing ring is well failed and ended up getting chiseled out in chunks of oxide

20231227_144016.jpg


pickup and sending unit proper are in rough shape. Sending unit showed 1.5Mohms regardless of position and the pickup leaves a good portion of the tank to be desired. Going to look into replacement units before considering taking it apart and attempting to save this one.

20231227_144309.jpg

Scrubby brush, soap, water and some wire wheel. Managed to find a few thin spots and make a couple pin holes where the tank straps ride. Otherwise, no issues :smokin:

20231227_150423.jpg

Tossed the old valve cover bolts into it and going to leave it in the bed of the truck for a couple days to let them jostle around. I'll cut out a large enough patch hole in the bottom to fit my hand and attempt to knock off some of the growth on the inside

20231227_151050.jpg

The front tank is in pretty good shape overall. Used a screwdriver to scrape around a bunch where it was leaking and managed to rip off the scab. Small pinhole/puncture wound.

20231227_152726.jpg

Grabbed some butyl tape. Wiped away the fuel long enough to stick it from one side and smooshed it back behind a paper towel.

20231227_153056.jpg


The front tank strap nuts/bolts have been previously stripped. Plan is to cut the straps in a spot easy to weld back together, then cut the bolts off and replace them. That's not a today thing though.

On the fence if I should put some weld in the small holes or just grab some jbweld/steel it and build them up with epoxy. Also waffling regarding the hole in the bottom of the rear tank. Patch it with some steel and weld in place or epoxy/rivet some aluminium cans across it. Depends on how I feel that day most likely.
 
Last edited:
If you think there is enough metal there still, you should try out using electrolysis to clean the tank. It was by far the best way i found to clean the tank on my CJ-5.
Here is a link:

I used 2 metal rods for the anode and a chunk of pool noodle for an insulator where they ran through the sending unit hole.
 
Butyl tape is not fuel stable, in case anybody was wondering. Really neat smelling puddle under the front tank, put a bucket there for now. Not too interested in getting under it with a cutoff wheel as long as it is leaking. Might have to just shove a pick into it and open it up a bit more.

20231228_134123.jpg


Took out the bolts from the tank, rubber gromet, spring and some other bits came out as well. Looking inside, the only real bad spot was the dip underneath, cut that out.

20231228_143116.jpg


I still haven't picked up some ~18 gauge steel. wandering around the yard and came across the old exhaust for this thing. Cut a few inches off the newer section of pipe, split it, pried it with some large pliers and hit it with a hammer until flat.

20231228_144528.jpg


did this box shaping with some 12" channel locks and a block of wood/hammer. Got it close enough to be satisfied.

20231228_152410.jpg


inside isn't as pretty as the outside, but it's certainly pretty enough for the girls I date!

20231228_152414.jpg


Lot s of real small spots and slow going eventually made it all the way around. Did tap the edges with the hammer once it was decently tacked at the spots it contacted the best.

20231228_170038.jpg



20231228_170044.jpg


Welder is excellent for turning tiny pin holes into holes of substance :lmao:

20231228_161208.jpg


I just about called it at this point and switched to epoxy. Talked myself into going at the long row of pin holes from the strap :shaking: ran out of daylight and have 1 more that I know of to get closed up.

20231228_170056.jpg


Once this is done it will be time for a leak test with water and see what I'm missing, then see how much spatter and weld wire I can get out from inside.
 
According to the internet, amazon & rock auto both want nearly $40 for the sending unit fuel pickup combo. Autozone advertises ~$80 :eek:

Hell no :shaking:

Let's see why the current one isn't reading like it should before we commit to such absurd costs.

The push on pickup screen has failed, attempting to remove what was left just tore the pickup tube apart :laughing: not a good sign


20231228_153641.jpg


using pliers and sand paper this cleaned up a little bit. Going to wire wheel it later on, the signal grounds through the body

20231228_154415.jpg


Prying open the tabs reveals the guts inside. Windings are all good.

20231228_154602.jpg


Poking things with the meter gives some insight. The twisted wire for determining resistance based on float position measure properly, depending on where I put the meter ends, it goes from ~70 to ~7 ohms (don't remember offhand). The wire is a solid wire which is kind of neat, cleaned up the ends and got low/no resistance along it's length.

Issue seems to be at two locations: The end of the wire to the end of the plug contact has massive resistance, 4M ohms or so. The slider from the float to the ground contact of the plug has 3M ohms.

looks like it uses riveted connections through isolators for the wire side and simply runs through the housing body for the ground side. Going to see what I can take-apart and re-do to get that back to going. I'll have to measure for the hard line, but that's an easy cut and splice jobber as well. Next thing will be to see what the auto-store sells for a cheap sock screen.

probably run a pre-pump filter and a pre-carb filter for a bit.
 
If it doesnt leak, its good :grinpimp:

Also, dont set the tank on fire. Been there, done that :laughing:
last tank I had out, couldn't get all the fuel dumped by hand. Had to get pretty close to the outlet with a lighter but it finally went "woof" and ran like a jet for what seemed like a full minute :laughing:

I think i'm going to set a stick on fire and dunk it from a safe distance into the front tank on this one, if nothing else it's a decent way to break up the goop in the bottom :rasta:
 
I think i'm going to set a stick on fire and dunk it from a safe distance into the front tank on this one, if nothing else it's a decent way to break up the goop in the bottom :rasta:
12ga flare :flipoff2:

That shit is god's gift to lighting dangerous shit on fire from a safe distance.
 
Thanks for the suggestion! I did read that link and a few others about electrolysis today, seems like a good way to go! I should try it out for the damned fuel sending unit, that's small enough to fit in a bucket. This tanked, generally, cleaned up pretty good on the inside with lots of jossling around.

If you think there is enough metal there still, you should try out using electrolysis to clean the tank. It was by far the best way i found to clean the tank on my CJ-5.
Here is a link:

I used 2 metal rods for the anode and a chunk of pool noodle for an insulator where they ran through the sending unit hole.
12ga flare :flipoff2:

That shit is god's gift to lighting dangerous shit on fire from a safe distance.

that sounds more entertaining than a stick :laughing:
 
went to oreilly today, they didn't have the sending unit o-ring in stock and couldn't find the filter/screen in the computer. Going to get those off the internet. Spent some time further exploring the sending unit itself today, next will go significantly faster.

meter is kind of hard to read in the pictures. 8.62 mega Ohms starting point from the ground lug at the plug to the slider, which is far too many.

20231230_130229.jpg


Lots of sanding, wire brush and checking with the meter and I was able to get under 0.5 ohm from the slider all the way up to this point here. Not many options for re-doing this isolated rivet-stud but it was causing all my issues.

20231230_132018.jpg


used solid solder and flux paste and a garbage hand-held butane torch and finally was able to get these two dots to stick. By passed the lower connection which is mostly corrupted by rust. Only other thing I could think of would've been to just use another wire and run it from up here down the the lower body. This worked in getting my resistance all the way down to zero though :smokin:

20231230_134923.jpg


on the other side of the circuit, I was able to get good connection from the far end of the wire through the plug stud. Big issue was the rivet going through the isolators to the tiny resistance wire inside.

20231230_135953.jpg


lots of sanding with 60 and 220 grit later and it cleaned up alright. Could not get a low reading where the resistance wire went under the rivet, went ahead and skipped over that as well. This stuff was all thinner and I was able to use an electric solder iron and some small diameter rosin core.

20231230_140310.jpg


if you didn't notice in the above pictures, the external wire has snapped at some point. Folded those together and soldered them back as well :rasta:

20231230_140643.jpg


Now I had at or very near 0 ohms on both sides of the circuit, time to put it back together. After all this handling, I did need to bend back the little slider as it wasn't making connection. there is an audible difference as it skips across the resistance wires. If you get it all back together and you measure ~90 ohms across the plug studs (in any position), your problem is a lack of contact in that area from the slider. Took me a few assembly trials to figure that out :laughing:

Finally got my high 60/low 70 Ohm for the Empty fuel position, 66.5 ohms :smokin:

20231230_142247.jpg


and 8.6 ohms for Full position. great success

20231230_142258.jpg


cut off the worst part of the old pickup tube, grabbed a length of discard 5/16" tube and a nail set/punch to use as a flare tool

20231230_143143.jpg


and tapped it into place with a hammer and did a real, real bad job of soldering that joint together. Should've gone back into the garage and grabbed a bigger torch. Ended up making another lap with the rosin core to hook into the solid solder base. Ultimately, it makes a pretty decent seal. Surely good enough for what i'm doing. Plenty of length to trim it down once I get a cheap screen/sock/filter to put on there.

20231230_152350.jpg


going back to welding on the fuel tank tomorrow and see if I can get the other one pulled out.

exhaust, can't forget about exhaust
 
This is a great read.
I really enjoy the commentary, keep it up!
Thanks! I'm having a good time plucking away at this thing. having a spot to write stuff down helps significantly :laughing:


should also put these here instead of just the "whaddya do" thread and "7.3noob" thread. Got the floor mat partially installed. it's a pretty good fit and should be far more comfortable than bare floors would've been.

20231229_150106.jpg


20231229_150115.jpg
 
alright, bunch of pictures today and a decent bit of progress.

Pretty sure I finished gluing it up as good as I could, time for a test.

20231231_105726.jpg


Flipped it over and filled it up with water, had a few issues

20231231_110250.jpg

20231231_110254.jpg

20231231_110300.jpg


not entirely everywhere, but a bunch of places. Went exploring with the grinder after

20231231_111600.jpg

20231231_111603.jpg


Four attempts was the correct number to get all the way out decent connections :laughing: each tiny pinhole just grew, and grew

20231231_131416.jpg

20231231_131425.jpg


While waiting for it to dry and cool before paint, tried out an experiment for M92PV4U with heat and squishing it down it actually does remelt back together okay-ish. It's pretty sensitive to overheating. Some holes are better than the large gash, we'll let this ride and see how it does.

20231231_133850.jpg


and painted gray. wasn't real sure what I was going to do for the vent valve on top of the tank. Found this plug in the tool box. Plan is to just run vented fuel caps, the tank vent/now plug only let pressure escape and was rather broken.

20231231_135831.jpg



...
 
Top Back Refresh