Slick 60's

Hey all-

I haven't been on much recently, but I've been getting some work done on the '65 Shortbed. I just posted a couple of pics in the member pics section (before I learned how to create a personal album). The first pic is here:

http://www.fordtruk.com/forums/album_sh ... pic_id=997



Some of the things I've done (with my Father in law's help):

New Drivetrain

I was running a 302 and a C4 with 3.00's. out of a 76 grenada or something like that.

Now, it's got an EFI 5.0 and AOD from an '89 Lincoln Mark VII LSC (same engine as the Mustangs). I will shortly have 3.50's in the rear end.

Electric Fan

Pulled a 9 blade electric fan from a mid-90's Taurus- works like a charm. Controlled thermostatically with a manual kill switch.


Power Steering and Brakes

Used a Saginaw PS box- had to swap in a later(=shorter) column (and moved from a floor shifter to column shift). Power brakes are the '79 booster and dual master- still working out some kinks, but getting there.


Bucket Seats
I'm so sad that I sold the Ranger buckets I found. So in the meantime, I cleaned up the cab floor (de-rusted and painted) and installed a pair of seats from a Nissan Pathfinder (minus the headrests). The mounting was some work, but not impossible. We mounted steel plates to the outside of the raised portion of the floor- this accomadates the wider frame rails on the seats.


As soon as I get the brakes dialed in (sometimes it sticks/jams the pedal) and get the exhaust put on it, it's back on the road. Once the weather gets nice again next year, I'll work on the body and paint (which need some work).

I'm really excited to be back on the road..... it's been a long time!
Clay

I agree, that swap looks pretty good!

Thanks guys-

lots of speedbumps along the way, which leads to lots of cursing old Henry and his successors, but I feel like we're in the home stretch.

The new engine does look really nice in our trucks...hopefully it will continue to run as nice as it looks!

WQhat did you do for a gas tank on your truck? It sure looks great, hope my looks as good when I get my 302 installed. Thanks,Gene

The gas tank is still a work in progress- for now, I'm still using the in-cab tank. This is one reason I had to go with the buckets- because the fuel line comes out in the middle, which would have interfered with the bench. Eventually I want to put it under the bed, behind the axle, but the shortbeds don't have a whole lot of room back there. If you've got a longbed, it's better to go under the bed- for that, you have several options.

In my truck, the fuel line from the 5.0 runs on the passenger side- so we put a new fitting for the main gas line in the middle of the tank (side to side), on the front, near the bottom. We did this for two reasons: first, so that regardless of a pitch to one side or the other, the gas will still flow. And second, cause it was either gravity feed to the high pressure pump, or install a low pressure one to feed it.

From there, the line curves to the passenger side, and dives through the floorboard just inside the frame rail. The high pressure pump is inline there- under the passenger seat inside the frame rail. If you go under the bed with the tank, (and are doing the injection), you will need a low pressure pump to feed the high pressure one- the high pressure ones have very little pull, just lots of push.

Wired into the ciruit is the bump switch- which will kill the pump if there is an impact. We mounted that on the passenger side cab corner- tucked in behind the gas tank (where it is out of sight, but I can reach it if I need to reset it).

We then took the original fitting for the fuel line, and had the welding shop duplicate it on the passenger side (top corner- where the gas comes up and out then down the side of the tank). This became the return line for the fuel- when there's too much pressure, it flows back into the tank. It's not perfect, but it works. For the welding- they filled the tank with water so there were no explosion fears.

I can try to get you pics if that would be helpful- everything is painted black now, so it doesn't show up as well. I could draw you a diagram if my description isn't clear.


I certainly miss the simplicity of the old 302, but I'm willing to work with it if the fuel injection can save me some gas money. Haven't really road tested it yet, so I don't know for sure.

looks good!!!!!!!!!