Project Big Red

laserjock

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Took the truck for a good test drive tonight. Some freeway. Some back roads. Runs great. One minor issue popped up.

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I’m having an issue with my timing meter though. It’s telling me the timing is advancing with rpm. That’s not right (I think...) I suspect my line clamp is bad but I’ll have to figure that out after the trip. It runs good. I bumped the timing up a little so most of the idle haze is gone. It’s showing 9 degrees at idle for what that’s worth. If it’s right, that should be close to 7. I can see the cold advance drive the timing up and down so I really don’t think it’s anything pump related. I think I saw this with the other pump too at some point. Anyway, that’s for another day.
 

IDIBRONCO

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I have no idea what the timing is supposed to be at during an idle. Isn't the timing always checked at medium RPM like 2000 RPM?
 

Farmer Rock

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Took the truck for a good test drive tonight. Some freeway. Some back roads. Runs great. One minor issue popped up.

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I’m having an issue with my timing meter though. It’s telling me the timing is advancing with rpm. That’s not right (I think...) I suspect my line clamp is bad but I’ll have to figure that out after the trip. It runs good. I bumped the timing up a little so most of the idle haze is gone. It’s showing 9 degrees at idle for what that’s worth. If it’s right, that should be close to 7. I can see the cold advance drive the timing up and down so I really don’t think it’s anything pump related. I think I saw this with the other pump too at some point. Anyway, that’s for another day.
What's up with the mirrors? I wish my mirrors had a better view too, but I ain't looking to knock out pedestrians when driving along a sidewalk, lol.



Rock
 

laserjock

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Hey!! Don’t poke fun at my custom tow mirrors!!


LOL LOL LOL

They were a super hurry up temporary to get me to the KY rally. Well... temporary is relative right?
 
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pafixitman

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Hey!! Don’t poke fun at my custom toe mirrors!!


LOL LOL LOL

They were a super hurry up temporary to get me to the KY rally. Well... temporary is relative right?
I was actually driving home yesterday thinking how nice some super duty mirrors on those vent window mounts would be. Then I started thinking where would I mount the switch, how much the ordeal would cost and came back to reality! The driver side is what sucks the worst for me in regards to mount position. The passenger side works pretty good and I have discovered with a turned up pump and being na I can mash the go pedal and people get out of my blind spot real quick.
 

laserjock

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I have a set a the chebby tow mirrors. I was working on a mount solution that did not include the standard window plate ordeal but I ran out of steam. Maybe some day.
 

david85

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Then you have kooks like me that start wondering what it would take to put heaters and motors in the OEM style mirrors. There does seem to be enough room in there if we took something from a smaller car. Driving a 2005 made me appreciate heated mirrors.

I really need to dial back my list of projects though...:frustrate
 

catbird7

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I bought a set of slip-on tow mirrors for use when hauling the camper. They slip right over the factory mirror and obviously when the camper comes off they can be easily removed and you're right back to stock appearance. Should take a photo and post it, slick design.
 

catbird7

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Pics!
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laserjock

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Well, trip was great other than the truck still running hot. Discussion of that is here:

https://www.oilburners.net/threads/how-hot-is-too-hot.89648/

Before all that, I had fun with this.

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Yep. Trying to pack and hitch the camper. Truck wouldn’t start.

I was really close to wiring in a starter button but I actually found a way to do this without splitting the tilt mech.

I wish I could claim credit but Google and YouTube to the rescue. Here is the post I found on FTE.

https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1130372-ignition-actuator-the-easy-way.html

The long and short of it is the actuator won’t go back in in one piece. So if you cut the bottom nub off at the notch, you can just get the actuator in with the tilt mech together. The trade off is that you don’t need the key release anymore on manuals or you can shut the truck off and remove the key while still in gear with the auto. No brainer for me especially in the time crunch I was in.

I also have discovered my remote 12 volt source is not functioning for some reason. Have to dig into that.
 

IDIBRONCO

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The long and short of it is the actuator won’t go back in in one piece. So if you cut the bottom nub off at the notch, you can just get the actuator in with the tilt mech together.
If I read this right, that's exactly what I did with my Blue Truck last fall. I wasn't sure if it was "right" or not, but it still works. Of course it only needs to go in "on" and "accessory". I am using a push button.
 

laserjock

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Wow. Haven’t updated this thread since May. Time really flies. After spending a lot of time scratching my head over the cooling problem, I decided to try a couple things. First thing was to bypass part of the water flow around the thermostat. I pulled the heater hose line that goes into the water pump from my coolant manifold and bypassed it into the top radiator hose.
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net result was it would rarely get warm enough to open the thermostat until it was loaded. Then it behaved exactly like it had before. Well… I guess water flow through the Rad wasn’t the problem.
So that leaves air flow. The 6.4 fan on the iDI clutch was a cooling beast but it wasn’t coming on until 230 F. Way too hot. V belts screaming. I was pretty irritated.
So now what do I do. I finally decided to go to the nuclear option.
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So we have now gone to full on 6.4 clutch and fan. To help with the belt screaming issue, I made a change to the belts. I switched from running the short alt belt back to the stock configuration. Doing that does a couple things. It takes the Alt load off the WP and it adds a little belt surface from the extra belt. That did solve the noise issue. Belts are all quiet now.

Cont.
 

laserjock

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It runs good and true.
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As far as I know, this is the first 6.4 PSD fan on an IDI with 6.4 PSD fan clutch. The clutch has been done with a stock fan. I believe that was @ifrythings

if not I apologize.
I went with a basic on/off control just to try it out. When it comes on it sounds like a propeller plane!

So the real question… did it solve the problem. Well, so far I’ve put ~1300 miles on it all towing the camper. I have never been over 230. Only barely touched that once. Towed all the way to and from the Michigan rally and never had any issues. I feel like I was able to really use the truck for the first time. I still need to take it across I-68 to know for sure but I think it is substantially better. At least Big Red finally got to meet his cousin Big Ed.
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Thanks @Darrin Tosh for hosting a great event.

I know I need a better controller. I guess time will tell now. May need to rethink the cooling stack. Had a long talk with another OG member here about his experiences and they really jived with what I saw so maybe I’m running it down. Finally.
 
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