Well, I finally got all the wiring done for the 56 F-100. Bought all the hoses for the engine and built a coil wire for the ignition. I slapped a battery in her and tried to start it. No fuel! I figured maybe its blocked, so I hit the line with air. Sounds like something gave way, but still knowthing. I guess the pump took a dump. I was going to pick up a new one as I look over and see my floor is wet. Looks like my radiator has a small hole in it. So I thought I was close, but the radiator is a real set back. On the up side, I did get the wifes Mustang running again. Its nowhere near as cool as the 56, but cooler that that daily driver.
The last few weeks I have been trying to get the truck running. I got the radiator re-cored, new fuel tank, and a bunch of small parts. This weekend I fixed a radiator mount and installed the fresh radiator. The new fuel tank was not a perfect fit, but with some grinding I got it in. bent up a new fuel line. I bolted down the seat, but I moved it too far back. I will have to move it forward 1". Last week I got a Ford horn button from Farmer and cut it down to fit in the Buick 3 spoke steering wheel I got. Only a few things to go. Oil change, find a hydraulic shop to make me a fuel line, change out the rear brake cylinders, install a new(er) rear upper shock mount, fix the seat, and fire it up. I was hoping to hear it run this weekend, but the flex hose that MAC's sent me was way wrong.
Hey, i am just starting back to work on my 55 f-100 and am going to rewire it. I was wondering if you used a kit like painless wiring or not. I don't know if its worth the money, or if there are cheaper kits out there. Do you have any pics of your truck? Richie
My dad wired the truck. No kits on this one. There are a few pics here. http://www.geocities.com/hell_fish_65/other.html Nothing really current tho. As soon as its running and can move outside I will get some new ones.
Take a break and come over to Billy's Thursday night. NAPA makes hydraulic hoses. Had them make me one up with a fuel line fitting, & gas fuel hose used it on the roadster for a while, until I got the right fitting for the crap poly tank I have in it now.
Man dont give up !! It seams like all the Dirtys projects lately have been 2 steps foward and 6 steps back !!!
Thanks guys. I got the seat now in a better spot and firmly bolted down. It amazes me that the seat never had any rear anchers and used pieces of wood to get it level. Not any more though. I used 1/8" plate as an oversized washer so it wont rip through the floor, if something bad happened. Eddie, I will try to make it to billys tomorrow.
I hit NAPA this past weekend and got a hose made. It the right thread, but when I test fit it, the hard line wasn't snug and moved inside the fitting. So, I decide to trim it down. It still wouldn't work. I then noticed that it wasn't bottom tapped. I tapped it all the way down and cleaned it good. Its snug now. I changed the oil and while the filter was off I cleaned the block a little and shot some fresh paint on the block and oil pan. All thats left up front is about $2 worth on vacuum hose, some gas and turn the key. After that, I will need to redo the rear brakes and replace a upper shock mount and add a shock.
Got everything buttoned up, some gas in the tank and went to fire it up. It seems I have no spark. Any Austin guys good with electrical?
Im olny getting spark when I release the key, not when its cranking. It a duraspark II ignition(ford OEM). I could use some help. Thanks.
I found this while doing a search on the duraspark ignition Probably the first thing to check is your Dura spark connections for a good uncorroded connection. Careful with the black plugs as it is easy to break the locking arms. There is supposed to be a dielectric goo between the connectors. Over time this tends to dry out, crack and let water through to corrode the connector pins. If it has been a long time since your dielectric goo has been replaced it would not hurt to wipe off the old stuff and liberally smear on some new goo. There is a wire that goes from the coil connector (bat side) to the ignition. It bypasses the ballast while the starter motor is turning. Make sure this wire is connected & in good shape. If it is not you will get the symptoms you described. When in doubt temporarly run a wire from the battery to the batt side of the coil & try to start the engine. If the problem goes away you know it has to do with the ballast bypass circuit. May I assume your plugs haven't died of old age, the gap is correct and carbon core wires are no more than a couple years old? Pop your distributor cap and look for dirt build up or carbon lines. The Duraspark is a high voltage system and there could be surface arching on the cap surface between the posts. Next step is swaping out components. I've leaned to keep a spare electronic module & a spare coil in the on-board trip spares box. I lost a coil once on a mountain ridge high above Moab. Symption was similar to a clogged fuel filter. Barely ran and had no power. I limped into Moab and found the problem to be a leaky coil that was generating low voltage. The coil was aftermarket & about a year old. The second failure is one that may be your problem. Late Sunday afternoon cold, windy, snow blowing near horizontally, over 500 miles from home. Engine would not start or even pretend to catch. I had a spare module in the spares box. Swapped it out and the engine fired right up. What makes this failure interesting is that the engine was hard to start for about 2 months before the module went out. It had the exact same symptions you described. So if the problem is not in your primary wiring system try swapping out the electroic control module. You should keep one in your spares kit anyway. Lastly don't forget most fuel and ignition problems have symptoms that mimic each other. I can not count the times in past years where I replaced fuel filters, fuel pumps, rebuilt carbs and belw out fuel lines because of slipped points or a bad condensor.
The best deal that i've been able to find on a wiring kit is from EZ Wiring. The 21 Circuit Kit in color or or all black wiring, marked with the corresponding circuit every few inches on the wire. $165
Thanks. I found the problem. The red wire from the ignition module needs 12v in run. Well, the GM column has 3 12v leads when in run. Once I disconnected the red wire, I got spark back in start. I got to hear in fire and run for a few seconds. I still have a fuel issue. I seems that the system is sucking air somewhere. I pulled a vacuum on the fuel line, at the carb. As soon as I released the vacuum, the gas drained out. I gave up hunting for it after I drained the battery. In charging now. Once back up, I will continue trying to find it.
It runs! and runs well. It smoked a ton at first and idled high. The idle was a rear vacuum port that I didn't have plugged off. The smoke went away after a few minutes, but I think that was from the engine sitting for about 2+ years. What a feeling!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
After some running around this week, I found brakes for the old girl. I have the left side done, but have to finish the right side. Drum springs suck.
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