AxeHealey said:The slash cut needs a little refinement but I'm going to count this as goal achieved!
Just wanted to say that while I may not comment all the time I love your work. Keep on doing what you do.
AxeHealey said:The slash cut needs a little refinement but I'm going to count this as goal achieved!
Just wanted to say that while I may not comment all the time I love your work. Keep on doing what you do.
Had a similar setup on my service body dually. Worked great
In reply to Stampie :
Thanks, Stampie! Much appreciated.
In reply to Patrick :
Service body dually? I think I've only known you to have the Ram.
There wasn't much time for garage stuff yesterday but I did knock out a few jobs. The exhaust is now fully tightened down although I won't be surprised if the collectors need to be cinched down a bit more.
Next on the list was the little boot that goes over the clutch linkage. It's been missing since I bought the truck and I've since just covered it with aluminum tape. This is better.
The driver's front brake line I mentioned before is way, way too close to the header. Heat shield and stainless ties to the rescue again.
And here's a look at that starter wire from underneath.
Let's see. Yesterday afternoon I got out to the garage for a very short time, reinstalled the oil dipstick tube, plopped the carb on and some other minor things I can't remember.
My lunch break today had me starting to install the new rag joint and painting a few pieces since the temp is like 50 today.
I have cross-referenced the rag joint part number and it works for both the steering column ('71 Thunderbird) and steering box ('78-ish F250) but it really feels and looks like even with the bolt tightened down it can move a little on the splines. It may just be minimal movement that the shaft has before it engages the gears inside the box but I want to make 100% certain of that before reassembling completely.
A pic because things are boring without pics.
The rag joint was not slipping. All good and installed.
A shot of the parts that got painted. The firewall bracket got mounted this evening.
Next on the list for tonight was figuring out a length for the new PS line. The old one looped around and since I can't imagine why it would need to be that way, I came up with this.
I just cut each side to length, shoved a piece of rod in both ends and clamped it down. Should be good enough for the shop to recreate.
Last job for the night was fresh plugs. I did these last in April of 2020.
1-4 on the left, 5-8 on the right. Looking down on the engine, front toward the bottom of the pic.
It seems pretty clear Elmore has been running lean and burning a bit of oil. I noticed the lean issue actually once this summer when I stomped on it to get it front of traffic and got a pop through the carb.
Check out number 3.
Looking at pics from the last time around, 3 had the most deposits on it then as well. Once it's back up and running I'll give it some more fuel and maybe check/change the plugs more than once every 4-5 years...
In reply to AxeHealey :
Where #3 keeps getting deposits like that, have you considered the possibility of bad valve seals or valve guides?
Usually having one plug stand out like that means something is wrong.
In reply to Recon1342 :
Yes - I have to assume something along those lines is going on especially after two rounds of plug changes showing the same thing. At this point I'm not immediately concerned about it (hope I don't regret saying that). This thing was rebuilt 30+ years ago and while the PO clearly built a pretty stout engine, having bad valve seals/guide after tons of use and time isn't altogether surprising, I don't think.
New PS line made up and installed along with the little brake line support bracket thingy.
The big things left to do on Elmore this off-season are the rest of the steering components underneath and rust repair on the passenger A-pillar. I wanted to get to replacing all of the twin I-beam associated bushings and whatnot but I'm not sure I'll have time before the spring. My goal is to be "done" with all of the major work on Elmore by the end of this month so I can use March to focus on prepping Sven for the April 4th AER race at Pitt.
Well this is a bummer. The mixed together nature of this truck strikes again. Back in the fall I ordered a new drag link and both tie rods - all for a '65-'71 truck. When they showed up I crawled under the truck, held them up next to the parts they'd replace and all seemed good. Yesterday I even laid them out, still in packaging, to confirm.
Everything seemed good. I got the coupler broken free and into the ultrasonic cleaner to reuse. This morning I took the parts out gave them a final wipe down and was starting to assemble until...
Although all of the parts are otherwise the same, the thread size of the two ends that go into the sleeve are much, much smaller. I confirmed via pics on RockAuto that what came off the truck is from a range that seems to vary somewhere from '73-'79.
I think it's now totally clear that essentially all of the front end components on the truck came off a ~'78 truck - steering box, tie rods, drag link, knuckles, brakes, etc.
I needed to walk away so I'm not sure yet if the taper is correct going into the knuckles, I sort of assume that it is. If I can determine that it'll be fine, I just need to order a new coupler that works for the '65-'71 trucks. If not, I'm way past the return window for these parts and will just have to eat it and order new stuff in the '78 truck style.
EDIT: It really *seems* like the taper is the same but the local parts store could get me all of the parts for a '78 truck by this afternoon so I ordered them. Wasteful, maybe, but I just spent too much time calling around and trying to compare measurements in the RockAuto catalog to see if I could figure it out but I can't. The part numbers for a '65-'71 truck and a '73-'79 truck do not cross-reference so there must be some small difference in there somewhere. For the tie rods that could just be the thread size and the drag link seems like there may be a 7mm length difference (?).
In reply to AxeHealey :
I'm wondering if your wrong parts are the right parts for my 71 Econoline...
In reply to AxeHealey :
Parts bin shenanigans are the worst shenanigans. 
In reply to MrsNukem :
P/N for the '65-'71 trucks that I ordered are:
If they work for you and I don't end up using them, I'd love to figure out a way to sell them to you and get them out of my way!
In reply to Recon1342 :
The positive in all of this is I am now fairly convinced that just about everything up front is from a ~'78 truck whereas before I hadn't a clue where the brakes were from or, clearly, that the steering had been changed at all.
What I still need to figure out is what the Dana 70 is out of. When I got a new wheel cylinder a couple years back I'm pretty sure I just told the parts counter some 80's Dodge.
Well nothing from the parts store matches what came off the truck.
Although the drag link I ordered has what seems to be the correct part number, RockAuto shows that part number corresponding to both a drag link that looks just like the one off the truck as well as the one that showed up at the store - which is totally wrong.
Both the inner and outer tie rod ends have the same smaller diameter threads (7/8") as the ones designated for the '65-'71 trucks. That is, too small.
I now think the drag link I need is Delphi TL492 which corresponds with Ford D3TZ3304B.
I've also been able to identify that Delphi TA2549 has the 1" diameter threaded section that I need. It corresponds with Ford #D7TZ3A131A.
What I have not been able to do is verify an outer tie rod that has the 1" diameter threaded section. The only ones that give a dimension indicate 0.875". I think the Ford # for the part I need is D2TZ3A131A but I haven't been able to find a source that provides the dimension so I can't be sure. There's a NOS eBay listing for one with that part number written on it that seems identical to what I've got. I'd rather not do NOS for this and by sight, it seems like an SKP part, number SDS794 could be right. I'm going to try to contact SKP tomorrow in an effort to get a measurement.
Assuming SKP either confirms it is 1" or does not say it is 7/8" I am intending to place the order for those three parts tomorrow and then see what shows up. If they're still wrong, I'm just going to assume the parts I purchased originally have the same taper and will just throw them in there.
The crazy thing is I found another eBay listing for a tie rod that is listed for a '67-'71 truck that seems to have a 1" diameter thread. I'm really starting to come to the assumption that as long as they physically fit/don't smash in to anything, it all mixes and matches.
In better news...
AxeHealey said:In reply to Recon1342 :
The positive in all of this is I am now fairly convinced that just about everything up front is from a ~'78 truck whereas before I hadn't a clue where the brakes were from or, clearly, that the steering had been changed at all.
What I still need to figure out is what the Dana 70 is out of. When I got a new wheel cylinder a couple years back I'm pretty sure I just told the parts counter some 80's Dodge.
The Dana 70 axle was used in numerous rear axle applications by GM, Ford, and Dodge. Early axles had a 10-spline pinion and 23-Spline axle shafts. Later axles have 29-spline pinions and either 32 or 35-spline axle shafts.
Since the Dana 70 is a full-floater, you can unbolt the axle shaft and pull it out through the hub to check the spline count without removing the wheels.
On the brake hardware, I would see if any of the original stuff has a casting mark or number to help narrow things down. I know Mopar put the Pentastar on just about everything; Ford was probably the same way with the Blue Oval.
In reply to Recon1342 :
Thanks!
I think I am more-or-less hosed on these steering components. Between today and yesterday I have spent at least 4 hours searching part numbers on various websites and calling places all over the country to cross-reference, etc. The only place I can find a 1" thread diameter is D7TZ3A131A which, in the Delphi catalog, fits a 78-79 Bronco, 78-79 F150, 77-79 F250 and 79 only F350. It also has a 4WD designation in the Delphi catalog and unfortunately lists it as an outer, not inner as it was positioned in my truck so the thread direction may be incorrect.
I ordered the three part numbers I listed off last night even though I have been unable to get a hold of tech support at SKP. I assume the parts are going to be wrong and, if that's the case, I'm just moving forward with the original ones I ordered. If they don't tighten down properly, I guess I can say I tried my best and will just go back to the old worn out stuff until I can figure out another solution.
In reply to AxeHealey :
Have you looked at 1978 E-350 parts?
They look like they have the correct diameter.
In reply to Recon1342 :
I did and the pics look very promising but the Delphi part (TA5808) specifies a 0.874" thread diameter and no other supplier specifies anything at all so I assume that's the measurement.
I had a moment of clarity after lunch and realized that there's almost zero chance that the SKP part shows up and is 1" so I canceled that order and ordered all 7/8" parts. If no one is remaking the 1" parts that tells me that 7/8" is plenty strong and buying the parts designated for the '71-'79 trucks should ensure the taper being right.
I did just realized I forgot to include the 7/8" adjuster sleeve in the order though. 
Pushing ever forward. Last night I attempted to take off the fender without removing the grille because it's sorta fiddly and I was being lazy. Turns out some dingleberry (me (actually the PO and I just didn't change it)) grounded the marker light to the fender and that screw isn't accessible with the grille in place.
It's actually a good thing that I needed to remove the grille because now I can replace the rest of the low-pressure PS lines.
With the fender off, I can now get a good look at what I'm dealing with.
I've decided to start with the area surrounding that hole which lands inside the wheel well. It's only soft down by the hole. What looks like rot up above is just cracking/flaking paint. My thinking is that I want to keep as much strength in the A-pillar as possible before I cut out a big chunk. I already cut that section out with some cleanup work left to do. I'm going to cut just a simple square patch (with a hole drilled in it) that fits over what I cut out to keep things simple in a place that can't be seen. There's going to be a lot of butt welding for this repair, no need to add more to my plate.
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