No E30 Project '95 F-150 - Extra Credit

[roguetoaster]

Let's look underneath!



Hmm, what's that odd thing? ENHANCE!



Great...looks like someone bypassed the ABS pump. At least it has new brake lines, shocks and front springs...

OKAY, that's enough of that, the more we know, the more we'll have to fix. Lowers lift.



But at least it doesn't matter if I flat spot the tires, and maybe they already were since they drove like they were a rendered in a video game from the late 90s.

Let's tackle the easy thing first and reseal the differential cover! Anything safety related can wait!




That looks really good for 222k, and the fluid didn't really need to be changed either, suspicious...

Setting attention mode to ignore...complete.

[roguetoaster]

While this truck isn't exactly mint, I didn't think it was a clunker until it started making that exact sound.

And, survey says...rusted out leaf spring mount twisting under load. Didn't get any before pics since it just looked like a spring mount, but the cup at the bottom holds everything, and that rusting weakened the component over the years.



So that took something like three hours, three cutting discs, and all of my sawzall blades. It was so unexpectedly bad. At least the parts were something like $30. The fatal flaw is that the lower cup holds all sorts of crap and rusts out. Great design, 10/10, and now I know why most people with old trucks have a torch rig in the corner.



There, all better, and just ignore that massively suspect wiring in the frame.

Now let's slow down some of this rust. So I pressure washed the entire undercarriage, got horribly filthy, found all of the places dirt likes to hide, and sprayed most of the rusty bits down with Fluid Film/lanolin oil. After five months it looks something like this. Very nice, a real improvement, and just ignore that other spring mount, it's fine!



Now, just for fun, this truck was assembled at a Ford plant that opened in 1925 and closed in 2007. The statements on the sticker are debatable.



Coming up next, hunting for DINOSAURS!

[Reichart12]

Really thought that said "Quality you can rust" at first glance.

[mike.bmw]

Really thought that said "Quality you can rust" at first glance.

Hahaha. I saw the same.

[roguetoaster]

^
That is certainly not debatable!

[MrBurgundy]

FORD BRUUUTHER

I got the same trans in my ranger and just did a shifter bushing kit and resealed the three plugs that leak like a mfer too. what a difference.. doorman makes a kit for 20 bucks and takes like 15 mins to do.

[roguetoaster]

The leaks are small so far, but I noticed a new drip last week. As to the shifter, I can't even remove the knob that someone glued on, so I'd have to just scooch the gaiter out of the way assuming it's top side access.

Also ordered all of the steering linkages beyond the pitman arm, and new ball joints. So that will happen after the 20th some time. Maybe I'll replace the cracked windshield...probably not.

[MrBurgundy]

The leaks are small so far, but I noticed a new drip last week. As to the shifter, I can't even remove the knob that someone glued on, so I'd have to just scooch the gaiter out of the way assuming it's top side access.

Also ordered all of the steering linkages beyond the pitman arm, and new ball joints. So that will happen after the 20th some time. Maybe I'll replace the cracked windshield...probably not.

Yeah, it's all top side. Even the leak, if it's in fact the 3 infamous plugs. All accessible from inside the cab.

How is it w the 3.08 gear? I got the same but w a 2.3 and 31" tires HA

[roguetoaster]

Yeah, it's all top side. Even the leak, if it's in fact the 3 infamous plugs. All accessible from inside the cab.

How is it w the 3.08 gear? I got the same but w a 2.3 and 31" tires HA

One of the new leaks is the output seal, not sure if there is a top mid point leak, but I did see the kit on RA for ~$17.

It's neither especially slow or anything approaching fast, but isn't bad for an old truck with a base engine. The video attached is WOT, or nearly in 3rd on the highway.

[MrBurgundy]

That's not bad at all.. My 3rd gear is my cruising gear on the highway LOL

I got an 04 FX4 level ll rear axle I'm putting in to fix that tho. It has 4.10 gears, 31 spline axles and a torsen LSD

Yeah, if it still leaks, or you can't seem to pinpoint it, I'd look there. I thought my flange was leaking but when I did the shifter I saw the pooling up there.

That's a nice looking bull nose tho and I'm a little surprised to see that rangers are at that price point in comparison to their big bros

[roguetoaster]

That's not bad at all.. My 3rd gear is my cruising gear on the highway LOL

I got an 04 FX4 level ll rear axle I'm putting in to fix that tho. It has 4.10 gears, 31 spline axles and a torsen LSD

Yeah, if it still leaks, or you can't seem to pinpoint it, I'd look there. I thought my flange was leaking but when I did the shifter I saw the pooling up there.

That's a nice looking bull nose tho and I'm a little surprised to see that rangers are at that price point in comparison to their big bros

Having had an '89 Ranger 2.3 extended cab with a manual all through college I can easily say that this is a better truck in just about every way except MPG. As a base engine the Lima is a dog, whereas the EFI 300 seems perfectly adequate if somewhat antiquated, and as long as fuel costs remain fairly low the 4-6MPG hit is worth it for the F150.

[roguetoaster]

Dinosaurs, as promised, and as you know, they dwell within all poorly maintained engines.




Found the vacuum leak too!



Pulled the injectors to give them new filters/seals/spacers/caps. It was worth it. Plugs looked pretty good, which surprised me from the way it smells. Must be a toasted catalytic converted.



Nice and "completely rebuilt," if you're on CL at least.

At this point I was going to show a picture of the before in the valvetrain, but the after looked mostly the same in photos. Between a screw driver, a pick, a brush, and a small vacuum which is now pretty much a write off I was able to keep the larger carbonized crud out of the return passages.



So, at this point I'd like to thank Ford engineers for being completely inconsiderate jerks. Valve cover gaskets that cannot be retained, require the VC to tilt and then drop in to place while completely obscuring the gasket make it so fun to see if any of the long non-fastened sections aren't in place. Bleh, and at that point it seemed like oily dreck was everywhere.

At least the actual mechanical components seemed okay, but I am sure a lifter or two is fairly worn out.

As we'll sort of see in the next installment the pushrods and the cam are kind of okay too.

[MrBurgundy]

That liqui moly engine flush works pretty well, or just run a gallon of ATF at idle for 15 mins.. Should clean that up quite a bit.

[roguetoaster]

That liqui moly engine flush works pretty well, or just run a gallon of ATF at idle for 15 mins.. Should clean that up quite a bit.

Yep, have used the LM once before, but modern ATF is probably not as useful as it used to be considering modern oil detergent packages, yet that didn't stop me from using it as cleaner with a brush on the top end. I should note, before I even opened the VC the truck had already had at least one oil change (which it didn't appear to need based on a visual alone) and one extra filter change since it's SOP for me on new junk, especially when filters are $2.

In the next few updates we'll see the difference in condition between top end gunk, mid level gunk, and bottom end gunk. It really tells me about the oil flow in this 1964 vintage design that was merely an iteration of a design from just after the end of WWII.

[roguetoaster]

Tackled the pushrod cover and oil pan next.






No completed pics, it was messy, dark, and all I did was repaint the oil pan. I can say that the little temporary plastic thread in gasket/pan retainers are amazing. Overall, the bottom end looked okay for the f***s given per mile by some previous person.

Bonus pic of the quickie plasti dipped diff cover from before.



Ordered a few items to try and clean up the front end slop, had previously installed camber adjusters, allegedly 2-1/4 degree units, but I am not too sure. Don't love the massive positive camber that appears at some times. But we'll see that soon...



Installed the starter relay/solenoid, which fixed the issue that I previously threw a starter at, oh well.