Main #50 Project Thread: 1972 F250 4x2; 8,100lb GVW; FE+T18

[fbomb100]

nice!!!! your on your way of have a sweet ride!!

[FreakysFords]

[robroy]

Good evening FBomb100 and Frank, thanks for your great replies!

With the rainy weather and no free time to pick up #50 on the horizon, I used my AAA card to get it hauled all the way home on a flatbed last Thursday. Ryan and Howdy69, I'm sorry I wasn't able to make it up there to show it off while it was still in your neighborhood! It'll no doubt be back up there for something one of these days though.

The new carburetor and exhaust have made big improvements! The engine now behaves just as smoothly as a stock FE during cold starts, and the throttle response right off of idle's much smoother also. It feels much more refined and civilized to drive now--especially while starting out from a stop.

During the latest joy-ride I took it up near the intersection of Pesante and Wild Horse Road, and got it turned around. I put it in first (not granny), let the clutch fully engage, then decided to play with it--I gave it about 25% throttle. To my surprise, that instantly generated two black stripes on the road about ten feet long, which wasn't something I was trying to do at all! There's definitely much more power here than traction.

Here's a video showing two cold-starts. My goal was to capture the sound of the new exhaust, yet I think the new fan's so loud (as accurately predicted by Bobby) that the exhaust sound isn't too clear! When the weather improves I'll make a better video.

Medium Quality H.264 (20MB) Low Quality WMV (22MB)


FBomb100 and Frank, thanks again for replying!
Robroy

[fireguywtc]

Wow, that thing is an amazing sleeper. You should take it to the track just like that. The way that trucks looks, no one would think it would be fast until they see whats under the hood.

[FreakysFords]

I think you have officially built yourself a rat-trap!

[1972hiboy]

Robroy, Glad to see a bump living in your garage again THank you so much for posting the vids up here so we could all enjoy! It sounds great! We'll have to do a cruise sometime.

[Hemmi06]

[robroy]

Good day Bill, Frank, Rich, and Hemmi06, thanks for your great replies!

Wow, that thing is an amazing sleeper. You should take it to the track just like that.

This I might just do!

The way that trucks looks, no one would think it would be fast until they see whats under the hood.

Indeed, and it's the main ingredient in the truck's anti-theft system!

I think you have officially built yourself a rat-trap!

Yes it looks that way!

Robroy, Glad to see a bump living in your garage again

It's definitely nice to have #50 back home. It's the only physical hobby I have, so when it's not here I spend way too much time sitting at the computer!

THank you so much for posting the vids up here so we could all enjoy! It sounds great!

You're abundantly welcome Rich, and thanks!

We'll have to do a cruise sometime.

That would be memorable and classic! I think I need to do more work before it'll be ready for much of a cruise, mainly because with no floor mat or headliner, and with a number of open holes on the firewall, and with no heater box installed to block the wind, it's uncomfortably LOUD over about 35 MPH.

I took #50 on one of its longest joy-rides today, and got my best chance yet to evaluate its current status. I caught most of the trip on video:

Medium quality H.264 (111MB) Low quality WMV (156MB)


Observations:

1. Even with the new exhaust, the truck's uncomfortably loud over around 35 MPH. It doesn't sound like exhaust sound (in fact, I can't really hear the exhaust much over this noise); it sounds like an intense roar coming from the engine compartment and transmission. I figure having zero floor pan coverage, no head-liner, a number of open firewall holes, and no heater box installed might have something to do with this! Oh and the new fan's probably also a significant contributor.
2. Braking over 40 or 50 MPH makes the truck pull slightly to the right. I'll have to look closely at the right caliper area.
3. The fuel gauge reads about 3/4 when the tank's full and empty when there's still plenty of gas left (I forget exactly how much, but perhaps around 5 gallons). After thinking this one over, I remembered that the OEM gauge read in the exact same way! So maybe I need to bend the float arm slightly to correct for this.
4. This engine sure breaks the rear tires loose easily!!!

Bill, Frank, Rich, and Hemmi06, thanks again for your excellent replies!
Robroy

[robroy]

Good day,

Weeks ago I had #50 out in the yard and took some better photos of its new exhaust.

Y'all can see how Tom did the H-pipe. It looks easy to pull apart and get out of the way! Also shown are the O2 sensor ports for future dyno' carburetor tuning.





Thanks for all the super generous advice!
Robroy

[forrestbump]

Robroy, I ALWAYS enjoy your well written and photographed posts... VERY informative for all of us!

The O2 bungs in your exhaust system will allow you to install a wide band gauge in your dash so that at a glance you'll always know the condition of your carbs air/fuel mixture adjustment. Great idea and one that I'm "going to do someday".

Thank YOU so VERY much for sharing your build with all of us!

[robroy]

Good morning Larry, thanks for replying!!!

Robroy, I ALWAYS enjoy your well written and photographed posts... VERY informative for all of us!

Thanks for appreciating it!

The O2 bungs in your exhaust system will allow you to install a wide band gauge in your dash so that at a glance you'll always know the condition of your carbs air/fuel mixture adjustment. Great idea and one that I'm "going to do someday".

OH!!! You know, the idea of installing sensors and wiring them to permanent gauges NEVER crossed my mind, but of course this seems like an outstanding concept! Thanks so much for mentioning this--I'll have to look in to sensors and gauges!

Thank YOU so VERY much for sharing your build with all of us!

You're more than welcome Larry! Through FORDification you guys have been a marvelous source of motivation and guidance, and #50 wouldn't be even 10% as outrageous today if it weren't for that!

Robroy

[forrestbump]

Robroy, for more information on the value of a wide band sensor, try this:

http://www.autometer.com/tech_faq_answe ... d=1&qid=48

No experience myself with this product, but article will give you insight as to the value of adding this gauge to your Bump to maximize it's performance. Kinda like adding new, wizbang technology, to our old, outdated, Trucks... mixing the best of both worlds if you will.

As always, Hope this helps.

[robroy]

Good day Larry, thanks for your great reply!

That's an interesting page you linked to--thanks! I'll definitely investigate making use of these O2 sensor ports with a setup like that. I can imagine it taking a lot of the guesswork out of carburetor tuning.

Today's Update:

With the leaky water pump resolved (Edelbrock 8805 FE water pump: advice on a coolant leak?), I took #50 out for a good test-drive. I covered nearly 100 miles!

Here's #50 warming up in the yard.



I decided to try mounting the video camera on the cowl, for the best possible picture, and recording the audio using an MP3 recording gadget inside the cab (for audio free of wind noise). Then I spliced them together afterwards using Avidemux. It worked out OK! I'll include the video at the end of this post.



I stopped for about ten gallons of fresh gas. While filling up, not one, but TWO guys stopped to ask me about truck, separately. One had a '65, and the other had a '67, but they were both driving their modern transportation cars. I was pretty amused by this, since there weren't a lot of people around the station!

Note the "free spirit," automatic radiator overflow solution.



North Davis Road (left), and Reservation Road (right).



These gauge values are typical while I'm cruising along in top gear. The oil pressure increases to its max reading when the RPMs get slightly higher, and the temperature reading seems to be locked in to that exact reading, regardless of the conditions I've subjected the truck to (so far).



These photos were taken in the Fort Ord Public Lands park's parking lot, right here. This is also where the video ends.





After leaving the park I continued on past Highway 68, where Reservation Road turns in to River Road. This photo was taken a few miles down there.



And this might be my favorite all-time photo of #50, so far! Also on River Road.



And a couple more taken in that same spot.




This video begins on North Davis Road, then goes back and forth on Reservation Road. I've named it River Road since that's where I wound up doing most of the day's driving, although the video doesn't actually include River Road (just the photos)!

Medium Quality H.264 (120MB) Low Quality WMV (200MB)


Larry, thanks again for your quality reply!!!
Robroy

[terry1167]

As always Robroy.....love your threads. Always very informative and detailed. I always learn something after reading your updates. Love the fact that you include a lot of pics as that is always very helpful but interesting too.

By the way, I noticed that #50 sits very "even", meaning that the front is very level with the rear. Since it's not a 4x4, did you lift the front? My 72 CS sits up a few inches higher than the front and since it is a CS, it does have the overloads. I like the stance of #50. Please let me know if you did any front suspension modification and if so, point me to the thread.

Thanks and have a great evening!
Terry

[BobbyFord]

Robroy, I'm glad you're finally getting out and enjoying some mileage in #50. I drove mine over the weekend, also. Like you, I've spent more time under my truck and under the hood than I have inside the cab
Incidentally, I spotted these GoPro cameras. Not sure if you've heard of them. They have a motorsports version camcorder that has some anti-windnoise features built-in. Pretty reasonably priced. There are actual videos shot with the cameras on the website so that you can get an idea of how they silence the wind noise.
http://gopro.com/products/