1968 F100 SWB Project (update 10/08/09 more stripes)

[03rangerxlt]

Double checked the firing order after the fire. Its right. The issue may be; I changed the distributer cap and rotor. I was careful to label the old distributer with the wire placement per cylinder before I took it off, and I used that as a guide. But something might not be right there. Plus the carb I used for the rebuild may have been unsalvagable, as it appears to be flowing a lot of fuelup through the venturies thingies (sorry, don't know the technical term). I am gonna pull the old carb off and core it for a rebuilt unit at the local Advanced Auto/Auto Zone.

This truck may literally be trying to kill me.

Rewind to a year ago...
My roommate was very nice and agreed to help me get the truck back to our apartment. We took his brand new Chevy Avalanche to the local U-Haul place and I rented a tandem axle trailer. We then drove the 25 minutes up to where I work to get my truck. As I am trying to ease my truck up the ramps to get it on the trailer, the trailer broke loose and speared the tailgate of my roomates new truck. I was "visibly upset", according to my roommate, as I proceeded to dial U-Haul and go nuts (they hooked up the trailer). As I am on the phone waiting for them to transfer me, I heard my truck (still running) start to stutter and choke. I turn around in time to see flames coming out from under the edges of the hood, and water splash out of the bottom...

Rewind to eight months ago...
My mechanic finally gets around to looking at the truck, thats been at his shop forever (told him NO RUSH). He tells me the motor wasn't mounted correctly, and the motor kicked into the radiator, cutting it roughly in half, and the driveshaft kinked and cracked my transmission...

Rewind to this past Sunday...
The mechanic had dropped my truck off at my precinct using his trialer, and said it was running and driving, but it still had the issues that I said I wanted to tackle myself. I show up for work this day early, with the plan I was going to drive the truck around the corner to the gas station, fill up, and park it again. As I am pulling out onto the busy road, it stalls, and wont start again! A Georgia State Patrol officer happens to be driving by, and after recognizing me, shuts down the road and helped me push my truck out of the way...

Rewind to last night...
Spectacular flaming fail! LOL

[dablack00]

Sounds like the kind of luck I have with my trucks. That is why I now know a bunch about them. HA!

Lots of guys have great luck with the rebuilds but I don't trust them. The first thing you need to do is find out why it is backfiring like that. It shouldn't do that even with a leaky carb.

Did you check static timing? If you didn't pull or twist the distributor, then it is most likely fine but you still need to check it.

Since you put on a new rotor and cap, you put the wires back on the cap wrong. Also, make sure you put a little dielectric grease on there as well.

So, fix the order on the cap and try again.

Motivation: When I rebuilt pulled the old iron intake on my 460 to put on a new aluminum one, I pulled the dizzy too. At the same time I also put on a new carb. I got the same fire. I too thought it was the carb. At first I had the dizzy 180 out. Fixed that, and then had it wired wrong. I swear I had checked that twice, but it was wrong. Then I finally got everything the way it should be and it ran like a top.

Austin

[03rangerxlt]

Managed to get the truck started today. It wouldn't stay running, and I had to keep my foot to the floor to keep it going for what I could. So I have come to the conclusion the carb is ridiculously out of tune as well as the timing. There is fuel coming out of the top of it. The plan now is to get a rebuilt carb from Advanced Auto (mine doesn't have a choke) and drop mine for the core charge. Then from there, I will screw with the timing. I checked the firing order, and it appears correct, but I haven't changed the plugs or wires, just the distributer. Another problem I came across is it appears the exhaust manifolds appear to be loose.

[dablack00]

Did you pull the distributor or just change the cap and rotor? If you pulled the distributor, then the timing is most likely way off.

About the firing order, are you sure you have the motor identified right? How many valve cover bolts does it have?

If there is fuel coming out of the top of the carb, you don't have the floats set right or they aren't sealing at all.

Are you using an electric pump or mechanical? If it is electric it might be too powerful.

Fuel is pouring into the motor and you are having to open up the throttle all the way to give it enough air to keep up with the fuel. Fix the fuel problem. Google "2100 rebuild" and I'm sure lots of articles will come up. Read, read, read. You did something wrong with the rebuild.

[03rangerxlt]

Yeah, I have a feeling I screwed up the float adjustment actually. I am thinking I will be just buying a rebuilt 2100 because the choke is missing off my carb.

As for the distributer, I just removed the cap and rotor, and didn't mess with the actual distributer. Its still nailed down solid. As for the firing order, its on the intake manifold. When I go back to work, I will check the number of valve cover bolts.

[dablack00]

Sounds like you have a good plan.

Just as a note: You really don't need a choke in atlanta. I live in Houston and never use a choke. I just hate that you are thowing a new carb on there. I understand it, but I still hate it.

Also, make sure you know which cylinder is supposed to be #1 and that the order goes counter clockwise the cap from above.

[03rangerxlt]

Good progress today! Took some time while at work and pulled the old carb off, and took it up to my mechanic's house. He looked at it and said the new float was not right and causing the valve to bind. We swapped the float out and I went back to the precinct hand slapped it back on the intake manifold. Without the throttle linkage hooked up, it started perfectly! Once the linkage was all hooked up, it took a little adjusting, but with my sarge's help, we got it to the point it was running smoothly enough at idle. Then my sarge gapped my new plugs (at 0.04) while I pulled the old ones. After all the plugs and wires had been replaced, we adjusted the timing a little and now she is running sooooooooo much better. Not exactly where I want her yet, but its gettin' there. She is runnin a little rough still, but servicable.

Next thing that's gonne get done is probably gonna be new gaskets for the exhaust manifolds. I can tell I have a bad exhaust leak on the driver side.

Feel like I won a small victory tonight with this truck. Thank God for a slow Sunday night at work!

[papabug71]

Thats great news. All it takes to work on these old trucks is time, money, & patience. The rest will come with practice!

I have been working on my truck since 1994, & every time I go to work on it, I learn something new.

[03rangerxlt]

Hey, now I am even more excited! About 0330 this morning, my Sargeant followed me up the road so I could put air in one of the tires. It was a roughly 2 mile round trip. The truck stalled once, and blew a lot of white smoke out once I restarted her, but otherwise ran great. I got it up to 45MPH. I am pretty damn happy right now

[craftsman]

http://www.hurtle.com/cars/mustang/fixes/carb/

This will help. It's not that bad, we all been there.

[03rangerxlt]

I actually got to work on my truck in the daylight today. Someone at work has been using the bed of my truck as a dumpster, and its been making it look worse. Today I had to go into work for a scheduled training day, and afterwards took advantage of ebing there in daylight and installed my new door lock cylinders, and bought an air cleaner kit for it. I had to tweak the air cleaner housing a bit with a hammer to get it to fit, 'cause it was too tall. But now the motor looks complete and is running a bit smoother, but still needs some adjusting.

I cleaned a bunch of garbage out of the truck and rippped up the old carpet too. I threw it in the bed of the truck, and drove it to a dumpster, and totally cleaned out the bed of the truck. So now its looking a little better and less junky.

One problem I am still having is with the brake lights. The bulbs look fine, and the tail lights are lighting, but the brake lights aren't (same bulb/dual element). So this leads me to believe I have a bad switch or wiring. I am gonna really have to sort this before I can drive her home.

Thanks for the encouraging words and helpful info/links guys!

[03rangerxlt]

Question for you guys...

I am starting to think about wheels and tires now. I am would like black vintage 60's style steel wheels with a 60's style half white tire. I would like to run a wider wheel and tire in the rear. I also plan on either using chrome lug nuts and chrome center bullet caps, or chrome spider caps.

But...
I have no clue about wheels and tires.
What size wheels and tires would you guys suggest? Bolt pattern? Back spacing? LIke I said, I have no clue about these things.

[hotrod ford]

Hey, now I am even more excited! About 0330 this morning, my Sargeant followed me up the road so I could put air in one of the tires. It was a roughly 2 mile round trip. The truck stalled once, and blew a lot of white smoke out once I restarted her, but otherwise ran great. I got it up to 45MPH. I am pretty damn happy right now

good job getting it going again. curious on why it had white smoke though?

[dablack00]

Question for you guys...

I am starting to think about wheels and tires now. I am would like black vintage 60's style steel wheels with a 60's style half white tire. I would like to run a wider wheel and tire in the rear. I also plan on either using chrome lug nuts and chrome center bullet caps, or chrome spider caps.

But...
I have no clue about wheels and tires.
What size wheels and tires would you guys suggest? Bolt pattern? Back spacing? LIke I said, I have no clue about these things.

Wheels and tires are fun to think about but I wouldn't mess with that right now. I would get the truck to the point where you can drive it everyday and it does down the roads at highways speeds without problems.

Now, once you have it running like a top, save up $1000 as an emergency truck fund. I've seen too many trucks be put away because something breaks and there are no funds to fix it.

Once you get those things done, then sure, spend some money on wheels and tires. The truck bolt pattern is 5.5 on 5. I think stockton wheel sells stock type steel wheels that have been widened. Then you can run the chrome hub caps or just chrome lug nuts.

Austin

[03rangerxlt]

That was the original plan, to leave wheels and tires for last. But the tires on the truck are shot. They have a little dry rot and don't wanna hold air to well. I don't want to invest in tires for the rims that are on it, then turn around and buy all new tires again when I get the wheels on it that I want.