Ford Says "Hold My Beer"

[divemaster5734]

Tearing out the dash on a 1989 F350 Lariat Centurion conversion today.
It's a short body crew cab base with one tank.
Found this tank switch with the selector electrical tapped to the 1 selection.
It was buried deep behind the dash, right next to the clutch interlock connector with the bypass jumper in it.
That switch has been hanging by it's wires since March, 1989, when it left the Canada Ford factory.
I honestly can't imagine how pissed I would have been had a bump moved the switch, or, if the switch just decided to fail, shutting off the dual tank solenoid mounted on the frame rail and causing a break down on the road.
It really puts the heinous Centurion wiring in perspective.
To anyone who has ever jury rigged something.. and haven't we all.. Ford just laughs.
btw, that connector in the picture is not the interlock one, that's still buried, for now.

 

[Nero]

Do you actually have a tank selector valve on your frame though?

 

[Clb]

Hacks
Previous owners
Self proclaimed " mechanical engineers"
All bad things when talking automobiles.
Thats just dumb.

 

[divemaster5734]

Do you actually have a tank selector valve on your frame though?

Yup.
I wonder how many of these trucks that went out like this had some random failure that cost unsuspecting owners a lot of grief.

 

[Cubey]

It's 35 years old and has how many people messing with it since Centurian touched it? Not sure you can blame Ford or Centurian for butchered "repairs" over a 35 year period.

 

[divemaster5734]

It is possible the truck rolled off the assembly line with the switch mounted on the dash, with everything in place to add an extra tank except a fill tube, sender wiring, and fuel lines to the selector solenoid.
The wiring for the Bronco part under the hood and dash is crazy low budget.
Open air cheap Stake-On crimps on inline post fuse in the engine bay.
They also used those crimp on splices everywhere.
If I hadn't seen those myself I would have never believed a big name manufacturer would use them.
They are only guaranteed to fail sooner or later. Mostly sooner.

 

[Nero]

Well that's just downright interesting there.