Basketcase#16-once in a lifetime build-now gone. :-(

[TNIceWolf]

Hang in there with it BC! I know what you mean about the brakes. Mine have the habit of changing the way they act a lot. And like you I have to contend with the mountain roads. Not always fun in TN !! I can just imagine rolling down to chattanooga from say rock city. What a long slow third gear ride that would be.

[basketcase0302]

TNIceWolf on Sun Oct 31, 2010 8:10 am
Hang in there with it BC! I know what you mean about the brakes. Mine have the habit of changing the way they act a lot. And like you I have to contend with the mountain roads. Not always fun in TN !! I can just imagine rolling down to chattanooga from say rock city. What a long slow third gear ride that would be.

Well it took me a few weeks to get the brakes right, (only one MC in the whole city for my truck)!
But I still wound up going back to both of the brake pushrods and re-adjusting them, I won't touch this adjustment ever again I hope! I had tweaked with both pushrod adjustments from the beginning and could never seem to get the stroke just right.

Went down to "my other brother darells" in Atlanta yesterday. Really I do have a brother named that...
Score!



A near perfect bench, (one small one inch seam coming undone) brown bench from a 79' F series truck!
Best part...Free! I am blessed to have two brothers that are also Ford fanatics!
The white spots are on my camera lens. I have to run some speaker and shifter light wires when I pull my old seat out, so it might be a few days before I tackle the project as a whole. But I believe my back is gonna' love this much more than the wore out seat I've got now.

[BiggDogg]

Nice Score! like the colors especially.

[basketcase0302]

BiggDogg on Sat Nov 27, 2010 1:21 pm
Nice Score! like the colors especially.

I still haven't gotten the seat mounted... Ever time I think about it my back hurts!
Waiting for some help to come over...

An update on BC #16 though...
I lost my fuel pump yesterday in Cleveland TN, (I had put a NOS fuel pump on the truck when i built the engine last year that I'd had on the shelf for quite awhile). Driving down the road-stumbled-then the engine just died. This was not fun...I had to push the truck about 200 yards to get if off of the main highway! A young man saw me pushing it/pulled over past me/ran back to me and helped me push it the last 100 yards or so! I would have never been able to push BC #16 if she still had the old steel and wood flatbed on her!
It seemed to me like I had ran out of gas, (fuel gauge showing between 1/2 and 3/4 of a tank) and I had just gotten the fuel gauge working last week (installed a new float). The fuel pump had been giving me some signs it was on it's way out, guess I'd been ignoring them...(kind of stumbling when taking off from a stop-loss of power when heavily accelerating).
So I called a very good friend, (who's home I had just left 15 minutes prior to this). Got some gas in a can and could prime the engine to start-no fuel to the carb...Very fortunate to be 1 block from autozune!
Got a fuel pump for a 73 F-150/302, (which had a much larger diaphram) and had in changed it 15 minutes flat on the side of the road!
It was in the 20's here...I've learned to do things as quickly as possible to avoid frostbite!


Really feel like I had an angel with me yesterday, as 20 minutes later I would have been in the boondocks and miles from civilization on my way home in the truck!

[Caseys71]

Sorry to hear about the mishap with the fuel-pump, glad someone stopped and helped you push Basketcase off the highway. It really stinks that bc broke down on you but like you said you were pretty lucky to be that close to an Autozone. Good to hear you were able to get everything buttoned back up pretty quickly though, it definitely wouldn't have been much fun to be out there too long working in 20 degree weather!

I still haven't gotten the seat mounted... Ever time I think about it my back hurts!
Waiting for some help to come over...

I know how you feel Jeff! After removing the bench seat in the '71 at least 5-6 times, pulling the '90s seat out of the parts truck and putting it in the '71 only to re-install it again and then pulling the bench seat on the hunting truck 3 times between cleaning the carpet and running coax for my CB I'm just dog on tired of moving 80 pound awkard shaped bench seats around . I would offer to help but TN is a pretty long drive away, I'm sure you'll get the new seat mounted in due time though .

[basketcase0302]

I know how you feel Jeff! After removing the bench seat in the '71 at least 5-6 times, pulling the '90s seat out of the parts truck and putting it in the '71 only to re-install it again and then pulling the bench seat on the hunting truck 3 times between cleaning the carpet and running coax for my CB I'm just dog on tired of moving 80 pound awkard shaped bench seats around . I would offer to help but TN is a pretty long drive away, I'm sure you'll get the new seat mounted in due time though .

Thanks Casey! At my age we learn to try to only do thing once, and get it right then!

[basketcase0302]

Wow no update since January! Well I know I've done quite a bit of work on her since then, (she's still my daily driver) but here's the latest...
Been having some acceleration issues for awhile now. Trying to ignore them until I "limped" BC # 16 home on the shoulder of the interstate about 30 miles a few weeks ago! That was enough to really piss me off-or motivate me whichever you prefer LOL!
Only problem is has been so intermittent, ever time I open the hood everything's normal (fuel/spark wise).
Until two weeks ago coming back from the disaster stricken Alabama (about 180 mile round trip). Truck started falling on it's butt again, (only this time I was prepared-had mounted my auxillary fuel tank in the truck and had piped it into the dual tank valve). I had a feeling it was fuel related...
As soon as it started to stumble I reached down and switched to the auxillary tank and BC # 16 once again started purring like a kitten! So I pulled the in cab tank sending unit for further inspection / could see quite a bit of debris in the bottom of the tank (greenish in color/texture of sand). So I took the tank to my local radiator shop to have it flushed out. It'll take sealing the inside now as there was some surface rust on the bottom that gave way to the flush. Should have the tank back by Friday, (running on a 11 gallon marine fuel cell in the meantime).

And changed the "snow" tires out in favor of my Goodyear street tread tires today.
And I know it's time to put "tunes" on my "ta-do" list for BC # 16 soon...

[BiggDogg]

WooHoo an update! Glad you got the fuel kinks worked out. Man, yours was 5 months between updates... I'm scared to see how long its been since I've updated mine

[67mann]

Man jeff---wish ya was closer---I'd give ya a clean one...somehow ended up with 3 of them and I'm using the in frame tank

[basketcase0302]

BiggDogg, I hear ya' on the time thing.
Jerry, sure appreciate the offer man!
I had far too much going on in between my rear frame rails to put the tank back in there.
The tank the PO had put in between the frame rails back there was right above the axle, and had clearly been hitting the D-70 a few times during suspension travel.
Got intentions of adding a saddle tank someday hopefully...

[basketcase0302]

Time to update this thread as it's been awhile...
A "Gilligan's Island" story about BC#16 / myself / and Diamon' my dog...(the 3 hour tour thing).
Left the house Friday after work to go put an alternator belt on my step-father's motorhome with an impossible to work on 454 chebby engine in it. Got the belt on / had a very nice dinner and left there around 7 P.M. for the about 10 mile drive home in the bump. Winding and hilly roads the whole way and I'm slapping the B & M "ghetto shifter" (as some members here call our floor shifters) listening to the flowmasters howl
Well it took me until 11 P.M. to get home, (remember a 10 mile drive)!

The issue with my trucks engine has "reared it's ugly head" once again...BC # 16 stranded me less than one mile from home / sat through a bad storm with thunder & lightning (that I'm sure has permanently traumatized my dog) / I wound up calling a tow truck / getting home soaked like a river rat!
Towing with another vehicle, (rope /strap/chain) here in the city just aint' gonna happen. I really felt confident that after my fuel tank trash, (as I kept clogging the filter) as well as a recent fuel pump failure and repairs on those issues had given BC#16 new life...NOT! The sad part is this is still an intermittent issue, (I drove the truck off the tow truck once it got home) that only seems to happen after the engine has gotten up to operating temperature, and every time it happens I am not in a position to break out tools to troubleshoot. So I'll start "throwing parts at it" which I never do-due to the economics of it! I've got a Pertronix ignitor and a flame-thrower coil on the way for it-and I'll replace the rubber line, (fuel pump to carb) with a hard metal line, (possibly vapor locking). Although the fuel filter was full and it didn't seem like a fuel issue, (dark with a dim flashlight-and no glasses).

Moral of the story here...our Ford trucks get jealous when we drive them to work on a chebby!

[FreakysFords]

Purely curiosity, but are you still using the factory ign resistor wire?

[basketcase0302]

FreakysFords on Sun Sep 04, 2011 8:34 pm
Purely curiosity, but are you still using the factory ign resistor wire?

Frank, as far as I know it's still there. Maybe not enough voltage to the ignitor?

[FreakysFords]

Just wondering, I had one that had a minor break. It worked right most of the time, but would fail here and there. Eventually, it got to the point that every time it got warm it failed. Been many moons ago, but I can think of 2 others that have had the same issue. On the 68, I just used a firewall mount resistor from the tractor dealership (some stock the wire as well).

Might be worth hooking a hillbilly test light to the business end of the resistor wire and laying it on the dash. Next time it fails, if the lights out with the key on, likely the resistor wire, or the IGN sw.

[basketcase0302]

Might be worth hooking a hillbilly test light to the business end of the resistor wire and laying it on the dash. Next time it fails, if the lights out with the key on, likely the resistor wire, or the IGN sw.

Man that falls right in line with the gas pressure gauge "tee'd" in and strapped onto the windshield wiper LOL!
But I'm thinkin' it's a real good "homegrown howto" that I just might try!