1993 F-150 Flare Side

[DerekTheGreat]

130-140 psi would still run okay in my experience. I had a worn 302 in the Rustang when I got it and it was between 110-120psi. It ran smooth, didn't smoke out the tailpipe, but did have a lot of blow by.

Were all cylinders within that range or did you have some anomalies like I've got? I'm wondering if the higher cylinders are the culprit.

wonder if the 170 cylinder had some oil in it for some reason


For me the container under water thing is partly about asplosion hazards but more because I'm cheap. My ultrasonic holds a gallon and a half, and I'm not paying for that much injector cleaner juice that will need to be thrown away afterward. Also I use it for record cleaning, and I'm not interested in having nasty solvents in it.

I'm not sure, but would like to assume there wasn't. The engine had previously been sitting for two weeks or so, then I pulled the plugs once I discovered water had gotten in there. I had Angie crank the engine over for about ten seconds before calling it good and then checked compression, in this order: 8, 7, 6, 5, 1, 2, 3, 4.

So you think a bloke could get away with running nothing but solvent? I'd say the unit I've got holds no more than 500mL's. How clean do your records get? I just use a Discwasher with the little bottles of cleaner you can get for 'em. Works ok, but I'll be damned if the stylus still doesn't end up with a mustache at times after playing a side..

Drove 'Lil Red to work today. Yesterday I investigated the no crank deal. Turned out to be one of those ultra rare situations where a hammer did indeed "fix" the problem. Angie was all, "What are you going to do with that?" "Anger management." I had her bridge the starter solenoid with a big ole screwdriver while I whapped the starter. She was both shocked an impressed when the engine lit off. "Whoa, I wasn't expecting that! Why'd it do that? I didn't know you can start a car without the key." "If they don't find 'ya handsome..." I'll tell 'ya, I never felt this useful or knowledgeable with cars until I met her. Never met anyone who was interested/fascinated with that stuff as much as her either.. So it'll need a starter. I changed the oil, dropped some Restore in there for whatever it might or might not be worth. If the engine lasts a year or more, I'll call it good. Gotta say, I sure feel like we got a good deal on the thing, ran damn good on the expressway this morning and it rips! I was up to 70 in no time and it wasn't even floored.

[Tiggie]

Were all cylinders within that range or did you have some anomalies like I've got? I'm wondering if the higher cylinders are the culprit

They were all in that range. In your case, I'm sure it wouldn't help the smoothness to have such a spread.

Also, if it rips, it ships! Run it. Might be just what it needs.

[DerekTheGreat]

That's what's got me second guessing. Looking back, I had a '79 G10 with a straight six in it. Got it going after ~20 years of sitting. Compression check on that revealed some double digit numbers. I don't remember exactly, but I don't think any of the cylinders were above 130. Come to think of it, it ran a bit rough in spots too. Don't think it ran AS rough, but you know..

Definitely! Fires right up and doesn't seem weak at all. It's pretty fun to drive, even with the slushbox. Might just be the fastest thing we own.

[gadget73]

Pretty darn clean, stuff thats got lots of grubby fingerprints and whatnot will actually ooze trash out of them that you can see. The 45's that came from my great uncle were really filthy, but they had been living in the basement for who knows how long in a shoe box with no covers. The LPs are all jacketed but lots of used dollar bin junk. 30 records and the water was very noticeably cloudy.

[DerekTheGreat]

Fingerprints are gross. With the discwasher + solution, I have to go over them multiple times before the witness marks go away entirely. I saw a video where a dude slathered a record in wood glue. Played the record before and then after. Made an incredible difference. Record sounded like trash before, something I'd have lifted the stylus off of just seconds into it. After? Damn quiet, as if it wasn't the same record. Surprisingly, the glue came off in one piece. It's the general maintenance after that concerns me, would the discwasher maintain that level of greatness?

[gadget73]

Get them clean and don't leave them on the table and there isn't much you need to do.

[DerekTheGreat]

My OCD would never allow me to leave a record on the table. Drunken me might have several ready to go, but that's about it.


Starter needed the hammer trick last week, but despite beating it the thing didn't want to go. New starter, Duralast Gold I think went in on Monday. Since aftermarket part quality is shit, I went with whatever has a life time guarantee. It'll never let me down, even if it does, the guarantee will make it alll better. Makes a man feel good... Anyway, truck now sounds like a modern car when starting. Reminds me of those late '90's early '00's Expeditions and stuff. While I was down there, I noticed the O2 sensor was half way threaded in. I noticed this before, but now I felt like doing something about it. Remedied that, but the exhaust tweaked while I was tightening it and so now it sounds like open headers on the passenger side. Greeat. Also "fixed" the non functional IAC motor. I was reading through the service manual and noticed a blurb where it mentioned "5.8 specific IAC motor." Hmm, I thought. Maybe that refers to the weird ones I have with the odd shaped motor. The one I put on it is of the same variety found on boxes. So I swapped a "weird" one on and sure enough, I've got a functional IAC again. Cool.

Went to drive it to work on Wednesday, damn thing died on the expressway no sooner than I got on it. Sputtered & died, I coasted off the next exit and stuck it on the shoulder. Wouldn't restart, gas gauge was at just over 1/4 of tank. The AAA service I pay for had me wait over an hour and a half while fielding two different tow companies. In the end, it was MDOT whom saved the day. My suspicions were correct, the fuel gauge is off. 1/4 tank is E for this thing. Fired right up and away I went. Gas tank filled with gas and two cans of BG44 fuel infector cleaner. Probably won't do squat, but I'm hopeful.

Angie drove it this morning. She loves it despite the exhaust smell and how incredibly loud it now is. Said she set off a car alarm. Ah, the white trash teen in me is feeling revitalized. Since she seems to get accosted everywhere she goes in our older stuff, I made her aware that it's a 351 "W." Goddamn ignorant, sexist boomers who assume women would never drive something like that on their own accord...

[gadget73]

hm, wonder whats different about the 5.8 IAC. Functionally I'd have figured they were all the same.

[GM_Guy]

Any major differences from 1992 to 1993? I have an old Tomco fuel & emmisions catalog, newest it goes to is 1992 model year.
Anyway, it lists the same IAC for EVERY ford car and truck, 4cyl, 6cyl, 8 cyl from 1988-1992. Including the boxes. So do what you can with that bit of info. Probably make junk yard scavenging a lot easier for box spares.

[Tiggie]

I can confirm I used an IAC off either an Escort, Tempo, or Taurus - can't remember. It worked on the 5.0 fine. The bores were a different size, so I swapped the motor over to the original 5.0 part just because I figured why not. But the small bore worked fine.

[DerekTheGreat]

hm, wonder whats different about the 5.8 IAC. Functionally I'd have figured they were all the same.

Any major differences from 1992 to 1993? I have an old Tomco fuel & emmisions catalog, newest it goes to is 1992 model year.
Anyway, it lists the same IAC for EVERY ford car and truck, 4cyl, 6cyl, 8 cyl from 1988-1992. Including the boxes. So do what you can with that bit of info. Probably make junk yard scavenging a lot easier for box spares.

I can confirm I used an IAC off either an Escort, Tempo, or Taurus - can't remember. It worked on the 5.0 fine. The bores were a different size, so I swapped the motor over to the original 5.0 part just because I figured why not. But the small bore worked fine.

Physically, they are the same where they mount to the throttle body and the electrical connectors are the same between the two. It's the stepper motor that looks different, being significantly smaller. I'm not sure what the functional differences are, I originally assumed there weren't any. When I saw the truck for the first time, it idled really high, something like 1,700 or 1,800 rpm as indicated by the tach. For grins, I unplugged the IAC and the idle came down to about 900 or 1,000 rpm. Drove it home that way and then swapped a known, good "box" style IAC motor on, well, one with the angled connector. That's when my IAC problems cropped up. Popped the supposed 5.8 specific IAC on, and it works. I'll get a picture of the two side by side when I'm out in the garage next.

EDIT: Here's that picture I said I was going to take:

5.8 specific IAC on left and mounted to the throttle body, box type IAC on right and loose. Actually, only the flange where they mount and the connector are the same, everything else is a bit different.





On a different note, I read that the TPS can read anywhere from 0.6 to 1.0 volts without issue. I haven't found that part in my book, so I originally thought the range was 0.8 to 1.0 and set mine down to 0.84 V. The idle is still a bit high with the IAC reading 0% from my scan tool. So I'm going to tweak it some more, although I'm not sure what the base idle should be on these. Is it stupidly low like with 302 boxes?

[DerekTheGreat]

This weekend I worked on three of our vehicles, but I'll keep the update specific to the work done on the truck. I attempted to adjust the idle down more, but the lowest I could get the TPS to read was ~0.78V. The throttle body must be physically limited and clapped out. Bet if I plugged the air bleed holes with something I could get by. Anybody ever try JB Weld for that? Peculiar thing was it seemed like it's target for park/neutral was 700 rpm, as it was able to get there without going to 4% or lower. I forget what it wanted to do in gear, 6 or 650 or ???, which it was able to achieve with higher counts/percentage.. Yet on the drive in to work today it was idling at around 800, judging from the tach. The idle didn't settle back down when parked, so I'm leaning toward the bum TB as the culprit.

-Used some 2k adhesive to reattach the glove box door latch/light dealio some gorilla had busted off. Stupid design, as that was my only option short of replacing the dashboard. Hopefully that will hold for as long as we have it, which according to Angela is forever. Found a CD in the glovebox labeled "Jeff's Rock Mix." and jammed it in the aftermarket CD player. Could've been some name other than Jeff, but what came from the speakers sounded like it was Marilyn Manson, Nickleback and Black Sabbath. Black Sabbath was the only tolerable tune, and of course it wasn't even Children of the Grave, but Iron Man. Blech. "Jeff's" taste in rock needs an adjustment, yet the CD still has other tracks left, so who knows what other "treasures" I'll hear?

-Fixed the wipers such that they sit evenly as the factory intended. Can't stand when they're all goofy.

-Reinstalled all beauty covers and intake plumbing. Combined with all the other work done under hood, it's no longer obvious the engine was swapped.

-Scanned for fast & slow codes, got "111" which translates to "No codes present," which surprised me given the thermactor system or whatever you call that has been deleted. I then tried the KOER test and got "311" and "225." 311= "Therm air system not working" and 225= "No knock signal during self test." , 311 makes sense, but I thought 5.8's didn't have a knock sensor? Where would/should it be if it has one?

I meant to ask about this earlier, but what is this connector and what does it feed? It looks like I can remove the cap and plug it in to the other connector right next to it, but it might be of the forbidden fruit variety. It's just in front of and below the brake booster on the fender apron:

[gadget73]

wire gauges and and connector colors don't appear to match, not sure if thats whats meant to connect there or not.

[DerekTheGreat]

Ah, so probably best to leave them alone. The only electrical stuff which doesn't work are the mirrors, locks and cruise control.

Had the exhaust redone yesterday. Was able to reuse the Y-pipe, converter (non-factory) and chrome tips. Had an actual Slowmaster on it in addition to cob-job welds and pipe everywhere else. That's all gone now, although I had them put another Slowmaster-type muffler on it for the rumble Angela loves. Sounds great now, but the driver's side exhaust manifold leak is very noticeable as a result. That's on the docket to be fixed, along with the rear shackle, A/C, brake hoses and battery cables. Pics of exhaust:







Exhaust courtesy of Doug's Muffler in Mt. Clemens. I think Cade did a pretty good job on it. I'd recommend that place. Called a few shops and no one wanted to touch it beyond a stock set-up. Doug's Muffler had zero qualms about putting a knock-off Flowmaster with fake duals on it.

It sounds great. The engine sounds extremely healthy, doesn't bog, hesitate or fish-bite under any throttle or load condition. The idle is fabulous too, consistent tone out of the exhaust with no stumble, yet it's still a bit rough between 1,000 and 1,400 rpm. It sails on the expressway, schmooth. With that said, I can't understand the shakey-shake the engine has. Would a bum harmonic balancer or flywheel+ torque converter cause that?

[gadget73]

When I was in high school there was an annoying kid with an 80s "Bitchin Camaro" that had a giant Flowmaster sticker in the back window. the auto shop teacher took some white-out and made it say Blowmaster. He didn't notice for a week or so and then he was less than amused. He couldn't figure out who did it either.