'70 Crew Cab

[FormerMarine1981]

It could be, I was just told it was a 360. I never measured for myself though.

[dolinick]

Friday morning when I was driving the truck home from work the brake pedal started to go all the way to the floor and I had almost no brakes. Before that the brakes worked perfectly. I think I may need a master cylinder but I am not sure. I want to fix it soon because I really like driving the truck. Before this my main priority was the mufflers I think.

I also want to get at least a passenger front lap seat belt but was thinking about installing shoulder belts in all four corners.

I need to stop driving this truck and focus on other things right now though. I really need a daily driver. Something safe and reliable and probably good on fuel.

Anyways, tomorrow morning we will be signing a contract on our new house... I will actually have a two car garage!!!! And a little workshop area!

[dolinick]

No Pictures of the topless dash look yet???

Here are the photos from the other night. They aren't the best photos. It was kind of dark and I don't use a flash or anything.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/dolinick/s ... 633820207/

[Swegner99]

Oh man that poor windshield, what happened there?

[FormerMarine1981]

Looks a lot better, Especially without the AC in the floor. The windshield was like that when I bought it, not sure how it happened.

[dolinick]

I haven't been able to drive the truck lately because of the brake problem but I started it today. I think it has an exhaust leak on the passenger side manifold. The truck has pipes going back under the cab. They are new but no mufflers so the engine is loud but I think you can still hear the leak on the manifold. Here is a video...

http://vimeo.com/39145334[/video]

[dolinick]

I got two thrush mufflers and installed them. I had the muffler shop expand the openings a little bit. I slipped them over the exhaust pipes and clamped them in place. It has 2 1/4 inch pipes. I haven't installed the rear hangers yet though. I noticed the tailpipes aren't exactly the same length so I will probably have to remove the mufflers and cut off part of one of the pipes. I guess they don't have to be the same length but I am not sure. I also had the muffler shop bend a couple of short pieces of 2 1/4" pipes that I used as exhaust tips. They come to just in front of the rear axle under the bed. You can't see any of the exhaust system unless you lay down under the truck. I mean there is no pipes sticking out the side or rear of the truck.

I tried to make a little video of the mufflers and the truck when it is running. Maybe the camera was too close to the tailpipe or there is just too much bass for the poor little camera's micrphones. The sound isn't that good. I also recorded a video of the engine running. It has another exhaust leak at the manifold I think. Anyway, it is making noises it probably shouldn't be making.

I am a little concerned about the engine because at least one of the threaded part of the block(head?) is cracked.

So, I am going to see if I can install the master cylinder. I soaked the fittings and bolts for a couple of days with liquid wrench and bought a set of brake line wrenches but two of the nuts still wouldn't turn and had rounded corners. Finally I managed to use a pipe wrench on one of the nuts that hold the master cylinder to the booster and loosened it. It is pretty tore up and rounded over.

[dolinick]

here is the video of the exhaust and the manifold:

http://vimeo.com/39402369[/video]

[dolinick]

Tonight I reinstalled my brake booster and new master cylinder. Then I "bench bled" the new master cylinder with a homemade "bench bleeding kit" made from a piece of double flared brake line and about 2 feet of rubber hose. I now have brakes again but still need to bleed the brakes at each wheel. While working on the brakes I noticed a pretty large puddle of what looks like transmission fluid. Hopefully it's not serious but I haven't looked into where the leak is coming from yet. The pan would be good I suppose.


There doesn't seem to be any brake fluid leaking at any of the wheels. I had been driving the truck to work for a few weeks before parking it because of the brakes.


I test drove the truck around the neighborhood and the "dead spot" upon pressing the accelerator pedal seems to be gone. I was able to take of from a dead stop without the engine stalling or attempting to stall without feathering the gas pedal.

It really seemed to drive nice with the new exhaust system and mufflers. This was the first time I was able to drive it with the new mufflers installed.

[FormerMarine1981]

Nice Crown Vic!! When did you get that?? Not sure about the leak with the trans. I had to add fluid to it a couple days before you picked it up but that was the First time since I owned it so if it has a leak it developed it recently. I figured the dead spot in the carb would go away with regular driving so I'm glad for that.

[dolinick]

Nice Crown Vic!! When did you get that?? Not sure about the leak with the trans. I had to add fluid to it a couple days before you picked it up but that was the First time since I owned it so if it has a leak it developed it recently. I figured the dead spot in the carb would go away with regular driving so I'm glad for that.

I think it was thursday or friday. We were looking for possibly a crown victoria then I saw this 2002 with 34k miles on it! It was only $7500 ($8300 with taxes and all). We got it from Jordan Ford. Someone traded it in for an Escape. It is really really clean.

I noticed a puddle under the truck where it was parked. I drove the truck to work today. It is pretty good on the interstate. It vibrates a little around 70 mph.

[dolinick]

Did I mention I got two "new" used steer tires. They are not the same brand but both have 100% tread and are the same size.





I installed a set of mirrors I found at U-Pull-It from a Ford Van. They don't fit exactly right but I think are an improvement from the mirrors that were on the truck. They work very well though. The passenger mirror is convex and shows a pretty wide field of view. I have a lot of visibility now. The truck is missing the rear view mirror so the wide angle passenger side mirror helps a lot. I'll get some photos of them suckers soon.

I also found a passenger seat belt in a really nice '67 but need to go back with the proper tools to remove it. That '67 was a clean rust free truck but a lot of the trim and stuff has already been stripped. The two doors sheetmetal is beautiful and I would like to grab them even though most of the hardware is gone. I like the fact that there is no lock button thingy near the window. Anyone building a custom "show" truck could appreciate that I think.

[nastys toys]

Really liking the crew cab I'm building up a 71 crew cab 4x4 now seen yours is a short bed to could you take a measurement for me? I need to know the distance from the rear of the frame rail to where the center of the rear axle would be pretty much hang a plum bob from the frame to the center of the axle and measure from the rear of the frame rail to where the plum bob hangs at from the frame need this so I can mount my new springs and axle if you can I'd really appreciate it

[FormerMarine1981]

Rear of the frame to the center of the axle will be the same on any truck that has the same bed, short or long, as yours does. The difference would be in the total wheel base from a SWB, LWB, Crew cab LWB and Crew Cab SWB. If you are getting this measurement to find out how to locate your spring hangers you will probably need more info than just the axle location. Could be different depending on if you are using stock leaf springs, or anything aftermarket.

Welcome to the Forum.

Ben

[nastys toys]

I'm using 8" 99-04 super duty springs for my crew cab 4x4 short bed so I need to relocate the hangers wanted a second measurement to verify my measurement when you say it depends on what springs your using will determine the placement how do I go about finding out where to locate the axle?