Bought a new project.

[rubiranch]

My truck kicked my butt the other day.
New water pump, upper and lower radiator hoses, new thermostat,
heater hose, all new hose clamps and two new fan belts.
While putting the water pump on one of gaskets slipped out and I didn't
notice it until it was all put back together and filled up with some fresh
antifreeze.
Then I noticed a small drip. Everything had to come back off to get the
gasket back in there.

I know, the rest of the engine is looking pretty bad.
Two cans of degreaser and a pressure washer and it barely put a dent in
the grease. Its thick and 45 years old.
Its going to take a high pressure steam cleaner so that's not going to
happen for a long time.
Just too many other things need fixing.

I hurt this morning. I'm getting too old for this kind of work.

I ordered two new belts for it and they were the wrong belts.
I had two matched sets of Motorcraft belts that I had for my '72 F-250
and to my surprise they fit this truck.
The alternator and power steering take the same belt.




I got offered $6000 for my truck the other day.
Sorry, but its not for sale.

 

[rubiranch]

I finally got my new tail lights in.
I had to do a little "body work" to get them to fit.
The left one the body was all bent up from the previous owner
using a huge screwdriver or such to get the tailgate open.
I fixed that with a new $40 latch and clips and now the tailgate
works perfectly.
The right one was just some light body damage.




My new j-bolts arrived too so now the battery wont be going anywhere.
The battery, battery tray, hold down and bolts and the + cable are all new.



The new pintle hitch showed up too.
I will use this and my recovery strap to help out my friends
when they get in over their head.

I have some new Spicer u-joints waiting for the rear and
intermediate drive shafts.

I have doctor appointments in Salt Lake next week and snowcat
training so they'll have to wait until the following week.

The truck is coming along nicely.

 

[rubiranch]

Bought some oil while I was in Salt Lake yesterday.
I was hoping to find some blended oil with zinc but no luck this time.



New shocks, front brake pads and new u-joints for the two front drive axles arrived yesterday.

All I need now is some time to work on it.

 

[rubiranch]

Finally got my plates.

 

[rubiranch]

I just took it across the scales this afternoon.

Myself, a full tank of gas and two spare tires in the bed weigh roughly 400 pounds making the truck about 5000 lbs dry.
The truck also has an aftermarket auxiliary gas tank but it is empty so it might not even weigh 5000 lbs from the factory.

So with a 7700 lb GVW rating it is capable of carrying around 2300 lbs.

Its kind of a light weight for a 3/4 ton truck.

 

[rubiranch]

[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FuCIZomkliM[/ame]

My daughter named my truck Lurch.

 

[rubiranch]

I had some other things come up that put the old truck on the back
burner for a while.

Well yesterday I finally got a little time to work on it and I replaced the
valve cover gaskets that were leaking profusely.

I was quite pleased at how clean the inside of the engine is. I was
expecting to see a lot of sludge build up for some reason. Maybe
the Amsoil engine flush that I used did what it was supposed to.

 

[rubiranch]

I guess its time for an update. I've done a lot but too much to post.

Most recently, I bought this 1966 Mercury 410 for my truck, the
red and blue engine.
These 410s are just a stroked 390. The block, heads, connecting
rods are all 390.
The crankshaft is a from a 428. They were first offered in full
size Mercurys in Oct 1965 until the end of 1967.
Pistons are unique to the 410.

This one was rebuilt in 1972, taken from a totaled low
mileage Mercury and it has never been started.

It was in CO Springs, an 1145 mile round trip.






I bought these like new 1966 Mercury valve cover off eBay,
most likely NOS as I can't see any evidence that they have ever
been installed.




The red had to go.






Too bad that back in 1972 they didn't have hardened valves and seat.




I took the engine over to my friends shop yesterday where we'll do the swap.
This is like the doctor letting you carry your new heart into the operating room.




This is who and where I bought the truck from. Funny it comes back to Geof's place for the transplant.




Checked all the cylinders with a bore scope and found dead
critters in cylinder #2.




Very pleased to see that he used domed pistons like the factory
did rather than some flat top pistons.
It stil retains its factory 10.5:1 compression.

 

[6518John]

Yep, another post.



I took the truck out for a short ride here in the canyon.
I can't go too far because I don't have license plates for it yet because
the state hasn't given me a title yet.





I was climbing a small hill in 4-hi 2nd gear and came around the corner and it got steeper with a little snow on it.

This is why I chose the tires that are on it.
They are not snow tires.
They are off-road and mud tire and the work excellent.



The hill was not death defying or anything like that but you still
need a decent tire to get up it.

That 390 with the 4.10 gears are a great combination in this old truck.

Nothing will stick one faster than that old red dirt in the west, and the black gumbo here in the south. The standard is a huge help along with the tires. If it ever breaks loose and you lose forward momentum—or the ability to get it rocking back and forth, you are on foot! And a good 4 x 4 makes for LONG WALKS!

 

[rubiranch]

Been there done that.

 

[rubiranch]

 

[Muddyboot]

Really like this post, keep them coming...

 

[rubiranch]

I got a "Marti Report" for my truck that listed the options that were ordered
for this truck. It also listed the date it rolled off the assembly line and
which plant is was assembled at.



So I got personalized plates with the truck's birthday.

Back on April while in for my doctor visit and treatment my doctor said, "your next appointment is may 10th".

I said great, that's my trucks birthday. LOL So I explained it to him.








At my next appointment, May 10 his nurse Casey said, "we have something for you" and handed me this card.

A birthday card for my truck!!! How awesome is that??

I can't believe that he remembered let alone bought a car for my truck.

My doctor is awesome. Cancer hates him.

 

[ameridaddy]

I figger it was already worth it just for the broken-in work gloves on the front seat.
keep on trucking!

 

[rubiranch]

I rebuilt the carburetor that I an going to use on the 410 today.
Its a Motorcraft 4300 that came off a 1974 Ford F-250 with a 460.
These are 610 CFM carbs and should work just fine.
Maybe an upgrade later on.
I ran it for a few years a long time ago on a 400 that I had in my '79 F250.




The phenolic carb spacer that I picked showed up the same day as the carb kit.




I got my new clutch today.
I bought the new flywheel the day I made the deal on the 410.
The crankshaft used in 410s and 428s (same crankshaft) are
externally balanced unlike all the other Ford FE engines that are
internally balanced so the flywheel on the current 390 wont work
on the 410. I bought new flywheel bolts too.




Its getting closer to getting dropped into the old truck.
Hopefully next week.

 

[AJ]

Ought to as good if not better than new when you are finished!

 

[rubiranch]

Ought to as good if not better than new when you are finished!

it will definitely run a lot better but it will never look any better than it does now.

I love the color, I just don't have the funds for the body work and paint.

 

[rubiranch]

I'm going to start the engine swap in the morning.
Hopefully have the old one out and the needed parts transferred over to the 410 tomorrow and then drop the 410 in Wednesday.

Kind of funny I'm replacing the 1966 Mercury 390 with a 1966 Mercury 410.

 

[Benchrest1]

^ bigger is better.

 

[rubiranch]

Time for another update.




I got the 410 installed about two weeks ago. Filled all the fluids
and went to crank it over to build up some oil pressure and get
some oil where it needed to be before actually starting it and it
would turn over, not even a tiny little bit.




So yesterday it came back out. I thought the new flywheel I had
bought was the problem so I had ordered a different brand to
have on hand just incase.

We couldn't see that there was any contact with the flywheel and block
so I pulled the pan thinking there was a problem inside.



I had to remove the flywheel so we could mount the engine on
the engine stand. The second bolt I removed I noticed that it
had bottomed out against the block.

I 'd bought new flywheel bolts and didn't compare them to the
old ones, they looked the same.




So I used the old ones off the 390, got it bolted back in and fired it up.


[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4QbZRO8_wEk[/ame]

It sounds great with a great throttle response.

This was the first time this 410 has been started since being
rebuilt 50 years ago. I am very pleased with how it sounds and runs.

I'm off to town to get some hardware to fix the clutch linkage.
Then bolt the hood back on and take it for a spin.