Project Big Red

Head light sockets changed.



Blower resistor changed. Blower works on all speeds now.



In the process, I figured out that my pass inner fender had fallen down and got on the exhaust manifold. Either I forgot to put the bolts in or they fell out. Not betting either way at this point.

That’s all well and good. What’s not well and good is I have a small oil leak that appears to be coming from the rear main seal. The rear main seal I made a point to tell promar to fix when I sent it back because there was a hint of a leak then. The oil seems to be behind the flywheel so I don’t think it’s the crank bolts. Clutch behaves fine. I am not happy. [emoji35][emoji35][emoji35][emoji35][emoji35]

Promar be like...send it back....u be like say what?

My major accomplishment for tonight was locating my block heater cord, plugging it into the block heater and fishing it out the bumper. It’s supposed to get chilly here. Think I’m going to take her for a little exercise this weekend. Supposed to be cold but dry so no road salt. Hopefully we make it. [emoji15]

Oh! And I found #8 glow plug disconnected. That likely explains my rough starts the last few times. Really need to adjust my harnesses a bit and tighten the connector on that one. I tightened most of them when I put it back on last time.

david85 said:

For a stock engine, absolutely. I usually advise 7-10 PSI for a stock 6.9 and 7-12 for a stock 7.3.

My engine is slightly de-compressed and has ARP head studs, which is why I mentioned 20 PSI max.

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Gotcha. Are you using a head gasket that runs thicker then stock? I am going to be in the market for some head gaskets and studs in the next few weeks, I have a wild hair up my ass and want my two fifty on the road, and my parts car (Lincoln Mark 8) and then my bird in the garage getting started. I have an ATS 093, and I was running around with the waste gate unhooked on stock fuel. I was seeing 8lbs or so normally, and towing it would flash up to at most 12, usually leveling out in the 10 range. A little less CR would be good for the girl.

laserjock said:

Ordered my glow plug kill switch last night from Ottrw (the rocker switch guys). Talked to Jim there. Really nice guy. The glow plug pattern was not up on the web site but they had it in the library so if you are looking for something they don’t have, shoot them an email. I’ll do a write up on my version of a manual glow plug system when I’m done and happy with it. The next things that have to be done is replacing the headlight connectors on my headlight harness. I broke the little clips pulling them off way back and now they won’t stay on. I’ve been without headlights twice now. This time of year that’s a real problem.

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I have a 93 turbo supplement, and an a few 84 books if you wanted to borrow them in person, or have me browse through them and see if I can dig you up a diagram.

I also have a ford log in through work, I think the manuals only go as old as 96 though, I have to see if Ford has changed since the mid 2000s, and added the older stuff in or not (doubt it)

I can get wiring diagrams as old as 1992. Nothing older though

I appreciate it. I’ve got a book that covers 80-96 and then a full 83 service manual. It covers most of what I have needed so far.

laserjock said:

I appreciate it. I’ve got a book that covers 80-96 and then a full 83 service manual. It covers most of what I have needed so far.

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I dont trust those 'aftermarket' manuals much. The 83 manaul will probably be identical to my 84 set.

Just let me know.

If you get a chance, can you take a picture of your overhead rack?

The console with the switches?

tbirdfiend281 said:

Gotcha. Are you using a head gasket that runs thicker then stock?

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I had the pistons crowns shaved off by 20 thou back when I rebuilt the engine. I don't have any experience with head gasket shims or extra thick gaskets.

My main reason for shaving the pistons was because the reconditioned heads I got had been resurfaced. These engines have very tight running clearance between the valves and pistons and I didn't want to take any chances of a collision.

laserjock said:

The console with the switches?

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maybe, whatever you said was from an F650

david85 said:

I had the pistons crowns shaved off by 20 thou back when I rebuilt the engine. I don't have any experience with head gasket shims or extra thick gaskets.

My main reason for shaving the pistons was because the reconditioned heads I got had been resurfaced. These engines have very tight running clearance between the valves and pistons and I didn't want to take any chances of a collision.

Click to expand...

yes that makes sense. Someone measured a head gasket brand and found it was a good bit thicker then oem, so you would lose some CR through that also, but yeah taking a few mills off when decking does make you wonder if you would end up with PTV. So I get you adding some extra dish to the pistons.

You could have reliefs machined in your pistons like them fancy high HP diesels to, but that may cost more

The pics are in here somewhere. Here’s a couple to help you figure out where to look. I would look somewhere in the April/May 2017 area.




Don’t seem to have a good daylight picture handy.

So after a summer of use, I’m slowly working on a list of changes that need to happen over the winter.

- Speedo situation needs resolved. I’m not sure what direction that’s taking.

- Obviously the back half needs to match the front half.

- Must have a bed cover.

- The mirror situation is awful. Suffering from CSS.

- Relocation of the GP controller is causing the GP’s to burn what seems like too long regardless of engine temp. On the plus side, it doesn’t short cycle when 1 is unhooked so it will start with at least 1 dead one. So a manual enable/kill is a must or I’m going to burn them up prematurely. Also nice to not have to wait to start at the drive through.

- Holy freaking wheel hop Batman. I don’t know if I’ll address that this year or not. It’s pretty low on the priority spectrum.

- Still a little more slop in the steering than I’d like but it’s totally manageable so again low priority.

- Small oil leak. Could be a rear main. It sometimes drips. Sometimes doesn’t. Fairly low priority.

- Door panels. Need to fix the inner door pulls. They are broke on both sides.

- drivers door I’m pretty sure is really warped. It may need traded out. That may play into my mirror situation.

Here’s a teaser for the direction I’m thinking on the mirrors.



We shall see where things go.