1980 F350 Farm Truck Re-Build

[Provience]

alright, had some options for the bottom.

didn't want to grind it smooth on the significant risk of going to thin and making more leaks, again. Next best thing was to make some clearance channels in the support straps. Straps don't really do anything anyways

Don't have any of the factory whatever it is handy that insulates these two things. Did have a sheet of second skin sound deadener left over though, cut some strips out of it to use as an insulator instead. It'll work, or not, but that's a years from now problem

looks well good enough to live under the truck, spray paint can died. almost made it to the end

cut the straps and bolts for the mid tank

glued the straps back together and gave them some blue paint. need to swing by the weld store and get a new ground clamp. I've been using the magnetic one, last year or so the magnet cover thingy failed. These were small enough that I held the ground with one hand and the gun with the other. Stupid, but it was done sooner than I could've taken the clamp apart and used vice grips

This lock ring came out in better shape than the other one, still required much chiseling and broken taps

Pretty neat to be missing the float and the filter/screen/sock I eventually found parts of the screen in the tank, but no evidence of the float

Not sure how this picture looks, there was a whole bunch of junk in this tank. More than seemed reasonable or possible.

Huge amounts of this stuff came out of this thing. Significantly more than this. Seems like heavy rust flakes, the tank itself doesn't seem to be missing enough metal for this to have all come from the inside.

...

 

[Provience]

This tank only had the one pinhole on the bottom that I could find, it did have several holes in the top of it. I'm going to spend the $10 for an epoxy stick for this one. Not thrilled about the notion of welding it for hours again burning constant holes

let's clean up another sending unit. Took some doing with a wire brush and water hose to get the junk out from inside the tube.

Initial resistance 412 ohms, not good, but not as bad as the other one

good connections through the plug bulkhead for the plug, 4.5 ohm from wire to rivet at the resistance wire

inside had a bit of the in the tank gunk accumulated and the slider pad is missing from the float arm, that'll do some problems.

Closest thing I had to bits of copper is some THNN (or however it is spelt) 2 or 4 gauge wire. The stiff stuff, so cut off and split open to get at one of the roughly 12 gauge solid strands.

cut off a small bit and tinned the landing pad and the boop-bop

fought gravity and too few hands, managed to get it in a place that should work and have the long smooth cylinder side against the resistance wire

and it worked! mostly...13.6 ohms "full"

95.3 ohms empty. There's either still some corrosion/resistance being added to the circuit (likely) or mis-adjustment keeping the slider from reading the correct zone (very likely). However, i'll take it reading low instead of reading high, that's easier to live with

back to waiting on parts

 

[Provience]

Fuel lines was the goal for today, beings the tanks are now out and ready to go back in once the sending unit lock rings show up.

Did take apart the sending unit again and rebend the internal arm, now it reads ~7ohm full and ~65ohm empty.

started up at the carburetor and worked my way down, this 90* barb fitting was both stripped and bent. The main fitting with the float pre-filter and spring accepts a 1/2-20 thread flare, conveniently the same as the fuel pump outlet.

Guess this isn't the straightest, but doing just the first half of a double inverted flare on a 5/16" hard line gives plenty of bubble to go right to a 5/16" soft line with clamp

wanted to put the cheap replaceable filter somewhere that was both easy to see and easy to replace. Between the holley and the distributor seemed like the thing. Had to make a bit of a wonky bend to resolve the angles, you can see the crimp that went too tight when manipulating by hand near the filter

This truck is all set up to use 5/16" all the way back to the tanks I had picked up some 3/8" hard line as that's what the '78 was supposed to use. Went to return it and the auto parts store didn't have 5/16" rolls in stock Fortunately, most all of the hardlines were in pretty good shape. The soft lines were generally quite hard though.

reused clamps and replaced lines. The tank selector solenoid electric side wasn't in bad shape so I left it in place. Time will tell if it works or needs to be taken apart and de-oxidized.

The big long hard line for the rear tank was my biggest concern. I had wanted to replace the whole thing, instead hit it with the hose to see how solid it was after a light sanding to knock off some dirt and debris.

Mildly surprised it was only leaking at these two spots and they were reasonably close to each other.

Did the not very correct thing and put soft line in that spot. It just doesn't hold up as well but it was what I had right then. Should make many years though.

and it started right at one of the clamps so it got zip tied to the brake line instead

...

 

[arse_sidewards]

I didn't realize the 80-81 F350s got the speed hole frames too. I thought that was just F100/F150.

 

[Provience]

I found the master cylinder rebuild kit again the other day, let's get that done before too long.

First impression: woof

Had to hammer it off the booster, the piston is stuck partially down the bore.

Even the side with liquid had a sweet amount of thick goo-gunk

the big rubber seal up top cleaned up nicely with a wire brush and screwdriver though That towel is fullsize and made of micro-fibre. it's the absolute worst thing ever for drying stuff, yet surprisingly difficult to destroy cleaning gunk and such.

Tried using force, air, lubrication, all kinds of stuff. Finally got the piston to move, couldn't get it past a lip of build up. Send a self-drilling screw into the back and pried it up and out

lots of scraping and sanding and various chemicals that were handy and eventually got the thing cleaned up fluid flowing in, around and out. They make bore hone's just for these, sandpaper, a finger, steel wool and time also work.

new piston installed, moves freely and rests where it is supposed to.

sun started going down and it started to get cold again, so plunked it back together without paint :sadpanda:

Thought I had bench bleed adapters, but don't. Going to crack open the calipers tomorrow and see if I can get anything to come out the bottom and get it somewhat bled before trying the old pedal push.

at this point, all 3 of the pedal in the cab are hooked up and safe to play with

 

[Provience]

I didn't realize the 80-81 F350s got the speed hole frames too. I thought that was just F100/F150.

light weight, go fast

I'm telling, ya, this is the least desirable model F350 ever created

 

[reptillikus]

I didn't realize the 80-81 F350s got the speed hole frames too. I thought that was just F100/F150.

I didn't know F350s did but I guess it makes sense since it's the same frame rail anyway. So I guess they all got it then, because I've seen the swiss cheese frames on the broncos too.

 

[arse_sidewards]

I didn't know F350s did but I guess it makes sense since it's the same frame rail anyway. So I guess they all got it then, because I've seen the swiss cheese frames on the broncos too.

It's not exactly same frame rail.

For all practical purposes all frames interchange with each other but there's slight differences in the particulars of the stamping F150 to F250/350 and depending on the years and GVWs in question a given F250 may have a thinner frame than a F350 (hard for me to tell based on rust but I think this is the case). The F150 has more complexity in the shape with dimples around stuff like the shock mounts and turned up edges on the flange in strategic locations whereas the F250 and 350 are just flat webbed channel made from slightly thicker stock.

That said, all my experience actually looking closely is confined to 93-96 4x4 trucks though I've never noticed any differences on the 2wd or older trucks. But I wasn't going over them with a fine tooth comb.

Also there's minor difference in bolt holes for shit throughout the years but all the important holes stay in the same places

 

[Provience]

If these holes were dimpled, it would increase stiffness. Without that, it's about as good as a solid piece there except for places that need the volume due to rust.

Seems odd ford took the time to save the weight at the factory.

 

[arse_sidewards]

If these holes were dimpled, it would increase stiffness. Without that, it's about as good as a solid piece there except for places that need the volume due to rust.

Except that you've got a bunch of hard corners from the die cut for rust to start at.

Seems odd ford took the time to save the weight at the factory.

"Hey Bill, do you think you can shave a pound out of the frame your team is working on? We're asking everyone to shave weight where they can because management only approved a weight increase of X for the chassis/steering and suspension and we'll blow the deadline if we have to go through all the bullshit to get re-approved if we go over"

 

[Provience]

Except that you've got a bunch of hard corners from the die cut for rust to start at.

This is 40 years of neglect and Texas rust. It's closer to what you would call "year 3" up there in new england

 

[posford]

This is 40 years of neglect and Texas rust. It's closer to what you would call "year 3" up there in new england

I've junked 30 year old shit in nicer condition up here my 74 Chevy might not have cab corners but the fuel tank looks nothing like that stuff you're posting

 

[Provience]

I've junked 30 year old shit in nicer condition up here my 74 Chevy might not have cab corners but the fuel tank looks nothing like that stuff you're posting

I'm still in disbelief at how much crap came out of the front tank it just continued. I'm pretty sure it's all out now after doing the old load with bolts and shake a bunch.


ordered in a jug of lucas 30 break in oil, sae50 oil for the transmission and transfer case, radiator coolant concentrate and a $70 walmart battery.

Supposed to be cold and rainy for the next couple days. Gives me an excuse to put off figuring out how to get the exhaust into 1 piece

 

[Provience]

short day, went to the park and played with push scooters with the kid for a bit.

jb weld steelstick is pretty nice to use. Prepped with a wire wheel and acetone and a rag

couldn't find my box of gloves, i'm pretty sure I still own some but maybe not started off using a trash bag to knead it together, wife took sympathy on my and brought out some of her inside gloves the gloves work significantly better, but the trash bag also worked

used about half of the small 2oz stick making all these plugs. Set them by hand and just sort of smooshed it all in place. Well worth the $10 instead of welding it all up, not as good as making big cuts and welding in large patch panels though. For the time and effort involved, well worth it for this sort of rust issues

bought the 2 pack of floats off amazon, cheapest option i could find. Missing one and noticed a cut/tear in the other one. generic labeled replacements fit well, they are a 2 piece pressed together. Couldn't justify spending $15 each for "good" ones

2 Pcs Fuel Sending Unit Float Replacement for Mercury Cougar C0AZ-9202B​

These strainers which amazon, rockauto and oreilly all agreed was the right one on the internet for the truck have ~3/4" inlet (wasn't advertised) can't figure out how to connect these, going to return them and get something that advertises a 7/16" inlet size.

hopefully tomorrow i'll get these installed in the truck and move on to the next thing

 

[Provience]

Alright, thus was the 7/16 opening the store had in stock. Still too loose

But hey, I've still got epoxy. Rolled some up, wrapped the pickup, plopped it on. Verified I was clear of the float arm and extended a nub into the return line hole to serve as anti rotation. It's soft enough that it should flex along thr bottom of the tank. Don't need the hole thing submerged, just a part of it

 

[M92PV4U]

I like ditching the sock and adding a big external fuel filter.

 

[arse_sidewards]

I've never seen a sock get clogged in anything that didn't have a steel tank that rusted from sitting.

 

[Provience]

I like ditching the sock and adding a big external fuel filter.

advantage of the sock is less to do with filtering and more to do with fuel pickup. the tube can only grab what is at the inlet and is prone to air, the screen on the sock fills with fluid and will draw it up and help keep out air without needing to be fully submerged.

plus this is a non-baffled tank, so the sock is the only sort of baffle there is. Worse case scenario, this doesn't work and it falls off and I just won't use that last bit of the tank, which is also acceptable.

 

[Provience]

I've never seen a sock get clogged in anything that didn't have a steel tank that rusted from sitting.

the rear tank, the sock was stuck to the bottom due to rust. The front tank, the sock degraded completely it was pretty neat.

I do expect this thing to sit, a lot. I probably should go put a drain valve into the bottom of the tanks while i've got them out/empty. Store them as dry as possible

 

[TRINDU]

I've junked 30 year old shit in nicer condition up here my 74 Chevy might not have cab corners but the fuel tank looks nothing like that stuff you're posting

That's just neglect from the seasons. Dust accumulates, 100% humidity, repeat. Most metal tanks rot from the inside out from hot/cold.

A new fuel tank is 1000% easier than new sheet metal and a frame entirely made of of patch panels.

You need to keep the tank topped off, ethanol free, and rich with stabil. Drive it every couple weeks around the block.

 

[Provience]

That's just neglect from the seasons. Dust accumulates, 100% humidity, repeat. Most metal tanks rot from the inside out from hot/cold.

A new fuel tank is 1000% easier than new sheet metal and a frame entirely made of of patch panels.

You need to keep the tank topped off, ethanol free, and rich with stabil. Drive it every couple weeks around the block.

an occasional washing out of this thing would have made a massive difference. Sweep out the bed every now and then would have saved it, 100%. Might have had a couple pin holes, but nothing like what it's got.

the next time these tanks go bad, i'll hopefully convince myself to replace them. It'll be a bunch easier to justify if i'm not also doing the whole rest of the truck at the same time.

where it is going to sit is low humidity, should be massively cleaner, trying to keep it covered so it doesn't get dirt/water accumulated and it will be maybe a week or two out of the year, every year or two for a while.

 

[TRINDU]

where it is going to sit is low humidity, should be massively cleaner, trying to keep it covered so it doesn't get dirt/water accumulated and it will be maybe a week or two out of the year, every year or two for a while.

Concerning the tank, think about when we have days where it swings 50°, often. Condensation builds inside and rust builds up over time. You drain the tanks, and the fuel lines start rusting from the inside out as well. We have dew points in the sping/fall, it will get wet. This isn't Fort Stockton or Apple Valley.

Do what you want, but the best thing for that truck is to keep it full and run it every couple weeks. Sitting empty will cause more issues.

 

[Provience]

Concerning the tank, think about when we have days where it swings 50°, often. Condensation builds inside and rust builds up over time. You drain the tanks, and the fuel lines start rusting from the inside out as well. We have dew points in the sping/fall, it will get wet. This isn't Fort Stockton or Apple Valley.

Do what you want, but the best thing for that truck is to keep it full and run it every couple weeks. Sitting empty will cause more issues.

I agree that would be best, but it's going to sit at 7k feet elevation in a cold shed in Idaho, I'll probably get to visit once a year best case over the next 6 years or so. Driving it regularly is out of the cards. This truck means I won't have to tow a car up there and can just take the motorhome. In theory, I'll be able to visit the truck more that way. In practice, likely not to.

 

[arse_sidewards]

I agree that would be best, but it's going to sit at 7k feet elevation in a cold shed in Idaho, I'll probably get to visit once a year best case over the next 6 years or so. Driving it regularly is out of the cards. This truck means I won't have to tow a car up there and can just take the motorhome. In theory, I'll be able to visit the truck more that way. In practice, likely not to.

Fuel stabilizer is your friend.

 

[Provience]

alright, little more putzing around today

got the sending unit back in, cut up the rest of the second skin leftovers. Stuck the bottom pieces on while it was out, put the top pieces on once it was in. The top pieces are significantly wider. Also pretty well out of this paint can, need to shuffle through stuff in the garage and find some more at some point. Just about done painting stuff though.

1/4-20 all thread, cut it down to the length of a deep well socket, put a riv-nut into the cross member for the tank straps. Going to try out using red lock tite on the riv-nut side and anti-seize on the free side. It pretty much worked as I wanted it to, real test will be the next time this tank needs to get dropped

and the new filler neck was not close to being the correct length

well, we can't expect the cheapest possible things to work as advertised. Old exhaust pipe to the rescue again the ends of the old filler tube were the real bad spots, took a chunk out of the middle. Going to save the rest as i'll probably needs that for the next one as well

Pulled the upper neck off and managed to only snap 1 of the small screws, pretty happy about that. The old hose did not want to stretch. Used lube, an awl and even a hammer to get it on and mostly straight.

Threaded the internal vent in and plopped it back it to the new hose, the new stuff went on with ease. Did eventually find more clamps as just in case, although it is a snug fit

Valvoline VR1 straight 50 for the transfer case and transmission arrived. It's also high zinc which is neat, this was the cheapest 50 oil I could get and that seemed to be the stuff that Ford recommended. 2.5 quarts for the transfer case, this $6 wal mart special quart pump worked. Took about 3 pumps to get it through the hose. Not fast

the other 3.5 quarts got dumped down the neck of the transmission. Had the fill plug out underneath and it was running out by the time I was done. 6 quarts was just what was needed for both, that was nice.

...

 

[Provience]

got distracted since I was in the cab for oil, stuck some fresh butyl tape under the cover. Didn't really plan on doing this, didn't really clean or prep it for good sticktion, so that's fine.

Couldn't find all the correct screws, did find a bag of leftover 1/4-20 screws and speed nuts, swapped those out after the fact. One of the nuts was the wrong pitch, got to swap it out again for the original style and one of those screws

Did find the trim rings while looking for stuff, used those to template out the floor mat. They are certainly not intended for this specific use, but hey, it's way better than good enough

did get the crossmember tightened down
got the exhaust/muffler set into place. Conveniently, the mounts are near where they need to be.
made a box with all the stuff for the rear tank, strainer should arrive tomorrow.
once the radiator is plugged into place, the bed will be freed up enough to cut holes for the ball and rings into the drop in liner and the bed floor will be good to go

tailgate mural should show up middle of the week, so that will need to be cleaned up and prepped before too long.

 

[Provience]

went out today to see about getting the exhaust done, got annoyed that the fenders were under the truck and a bunch of stuff had accumulated inside

this stuff has high zinc and doesn't need the ZDDP addative. going to use it for my fake break-in on account of my lifters and such are all mixed up. Planning on using half-bottles of ZDDP add in with each oil change going forward, mixed with cheap semi-syn oil.

New 5/8" heater hoses, not running the pump/compressor whatever was mounted above the alternator long ago, allowed me to get away with shorter runs.

Wanted something to keep them from flopping around too independently. couple square knots should be less of a mess in 10 years compared to tape or zip ties. Dunno, going to find out.

Needed clamps, grabbed them off the old hoses. pretty neat that they are stamped Ford, didn't know they did that.

The mounting tabs for the top of the fan shroud were broken before. Fortunately the last farmer left enough wire there. Broke off the old twists and made new twists to hold it tight

Upper hose was nearly correct. Better too long than too short as the fuel neck was. It's a bit tight in the bend still, but it's probably good enough.

Really thought I had had a factory expansion tank for this thing. Couldn't find it, but the anti-freeze bottle fits pretty snugly here. Did spin it around later and it lines up better.

I'm going to head to the store later to grab a couple gallons of distilled water, just running the coolant right now. Once it's full, i'll pressure test it and see what all is leaking. Not sure the picture will turn out, but did catch a drip coming out of the freeze plug behind the passenger side motor mount At least it is just coolant and not oil

had the kid come on out and help me bleed the brakes. There is a very good chance I'll need a new fitting for the rear outlet on the master (to front brakes). The fitting is bottomed out against it's shoulder/head and it appears to be still damp. Need to confirm it's an active leak before changing out the fitting

and a couple more photos...

 

[Provience]

Cleaned this off as best I could with the towel that I had with me. Not sure that it matters much but did get a bunch of this acrylic conformal coating brushed on.

This is the replacement inner fender I grabbed from the junkyard the other day. Really torn on if I had overpaid at $10 or not. Eventually, i'm going to need to span across and rivet in some new stuff along the back. Moved the ignition box further forward on the fender to where it exists and has more support. One bolt isn't enough to keep it from flopping around, zip tied it to the wire mount....going to stumble through the garage and see if I have another one. If not, I might have to see if I can get one of them broken bolts out. 2 really is the minimum

The old battery holddown j hooks were reduced about in half. Well, one was anyways. I did have a strap handy that I don't like and had some damage to the web further down, going to use that as the battery hold down until it fails. Nice thing about the plastic inner fender mount is that it doesn't rust.

Battery cables and alternator charging lug are all pretty awesomely corroded. Beings I just redid all the lines on my 78 a couple months ago, i'm likely to do the same and replace all the old stuff.

and some updated underhood shots. be pretty sweet if I had a hood prop

almost out of things to do:

set up a 3/8" port for the PCV into one of them manifold plugs
verify that all remaining vacuum ports are capped/plugged
trace them 2 wires that don't go anywhere heading out of the firewall where I ran my manual choke through
Add water and pressure test (silicone for the freeze plug? not sure)
drill adapter for oil pump and check for leaks
ignition timing
verify brake fluid leak at master cylinder
EXHAUST
check differential fluid level

that's about all I can think of.

 

[Levigarrett76]

You gonna video the first fire for us?

 

[Provience]

You gonna video the first fire for us?

That's a good thought. make the kid hold the camera and see how he does

I'm most concerned about the distributor. If it won't start, i'm blaming that