My $300 pickup ruined my weekend!
I love working on vehicles, as a HOBBY! I hate it when I am forced to do it, then it feels like a job. When I bought this thing it was just another spare vehicle, something to tinker with. Since I gave up trucking and have a semi normal job now it has turned into my daily transportation, out of 4 Ford pickups I have it is the one I drive every day since the other three all need work.
I?ve done a bunch of work to this thing since buying it, had to get it running since it was dead when I bought it. Needed a new distributor, the mechanic shop it was in could not figure that simple problem out which is why I got it so cheap. Then I had to replace the in tank fuel pump for the front tank, then no power windows, easy fix after finding broken wires in the door harness. The biggest issue it had was the suspension, it was shot, hit a pebble and it bounced like a Mexican Low Rider, I replaced the springs and shocks upgrading to 3/4 ton springs now it rides stiff as hell but the 4 wheeler doesn?t even make it squat when loaded.
So, a few weeks ago when adding oil (it has a blown front crank seal and leaks horribly) I noticed the oil cap was milky, uh oh. I added Barrs Leaks to the coolant and it seemed to help. But the last two weeks I haven?t had to add oil and it leaves oil spots everywhere, it even has oil spots on the side of the body now but the oil is always st the full mark. Yeah, this is bad.
So I finally ordered a complete engine gasket set, pulled the ?93 F150 out of the shop (waiting on the transmission to be rebuilt for it) and pulled the ?91 in last night. Today I get to play mechanic and strip that 302 down, hoping to not have to pull it out. I will lift it to get the oil pan off and timing cover off. Hoping the rear main isn?t bad as that will be the only seal not getting replaced unless I am forced to remove the engine.
So my weekend is shot, this thing needs to be done by tomorrow or I will have to drive the ?79 to work and the brakes are giving me fits on that one. My back cannot handle working under the hood so I will be in pain real soon.
So if any of you are in the ?hood swing by, I?ll put ya to work!
I?ve done a bunch of work to this thing since buying it, had to get it running since it was dead when I bought it. Needed a new distributor, the mechanic shop it was in could not figure that simple problem out which is why I got it so cheap. Then I had to replace the in tank fuel pump for the front tank, then no power windows, easy fix after finding broken wires in the door harness. The biggest issue it had was the suspension, it was shot, hit a pebble and it bounced like a Mexican Low Rider, I replaced the springs and shocks upgrading to 3/4 ton springs now it rides stiff as hell but the 4 wheeler doesn?t even make it squat when loaded.
So, a few weeks ago when adding oil (it has a blown front crank seal and leaks horribly) I noticed the oil cap was milky, uh oh. I added Barrs Leaks to the coolant and it seemed to help. But the last two weeks I haven?t had to add oil and it leaves oil spots everywhere, it even has oil spots on the side of the body now but the oil is always st the full mark. Yeah, this is bad.
So I finally ordered a complete engine gasket set, pulled the ?93 F150 out of the shop (waiting on the transmission to be rebuilt for it) and pulled the ?91 in last night. Today I get to play mechanic and strip that 302 down, hoping to not have to pull it out. I will lift it to get the oil pan off and timing cover off. Hoping the rear main isn?t bad as that will be the only seal not getting replaced unless I am forced to remove the engine.
So my weekend is shot, this thing needs to be done by tomorrow or I will have to drive the ?79 to work and the brakes are giving me fits on that one. My back cannot handle working under the hood so I will be in pain real soon.
So if any of you are in the ?hood swing by, I?ll put ya to work!
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find more damage .. sounds like my luck .
hope the rest of the repairs go well0 -
Mine tooDitch-Runner wrote:find more damage .. sounds like my luck .
hope the rest of the repairs go well0 -
What happened to the 302/5.0 you pulled out of the car?
Swap it in and away you go0 -
Sam06 wrote:What happened to the 302/5.0 you pulled out of the car?
Swap it in and away you go
That is out of a 1984 car and the HP rating on that in stock form is laughable, the 302 in this pickup is rated about 30HP higher, I?ll stick with it. Plus that other 302 is stripped down, one of these days it gets a new cam, heads and intake.
But the truck engine is going back together, got my $50 heads on. Been busy watching elk on the state land north of the house, hoping they settled down before shooting hours were over but they have been chased pretty hard the last two weeks and that herd is twitchy. So watching them while trying to work on the truck means not a lot got done today 😎😁0 -
I had a special order loaded 1983 mercury cougar XR7 with a dual snorkel air cleaner high output 302 with central electronic fuel injection - and while it would smoke the one tire through several gears in a hole shot it was not the horsepower or performance high point for the company
The system worked well - but a big old 4 barrel would have probably put out better numbers...
I think it was one of the earliest such set ups - you could still get a mustang with a carb in 1985
Mike0
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