1996 Ford F-150 XL 4x4

[DerekTheGreat]

Is that when it's cold? If so that makes sense but after it warms up it should be around 800..

The days of carb operation are gone, if everything else is working properly it'll run 650 rpm dead cold. I was testing the coolant temperature sending units one day and forgot to plug them back in.. The next morning I fire the thing up and it just goes straight to 650ish rpm, sounded very low. it was around 20 to 30 degrees outside. However, when it warmed up and I threw it in park at work it was revving at 1500-2000 rpm.. My CFI LTD would run low RPMS when cold too, don't know about the GM stuff we have. the 454 3500 truck we've got wants to idle at 900-950rpm out of gear, and that bothers me. Might just be that my tach is off since the needles were taken off at one point..

[His Royal Ghostliness]

Is that when it's cold? If so that makes sense but after it warms up it should be around 800..

The days of carb operation are gone, if everything else is working properly it'll run 650 rpm dead cold. I was testing the coolant temperature sending units one day and forgot to plug them back in.. The next morning I fire the thing up and it just goes straight to 650ish rpm, sounded very low. it was around 20 to 30 degrees outside. However, when it warmed up and I threw it in park at work it was revving at 1500-2000 rpm.. My CFI LTD would run low RPMS when cold too, don't know about the GM stuff we have. the 454 3500 truck we've got wants to idle at 900-950rpm out of gear, and that bothers me. Might just be that my tach is off since the needles were taken off at one point..

For the record a properly tuned carb will hold steady 400 in gear if it has to, well so long as the camshaft allows it (not something super lumpy that needs a dedicated vacuum pump to operate the brakes). But about 600 in gear is much better for drivability, whether it's carb of EFI. The 300 rpms drop from neutral/park to gear seems a bit much, but whatever, if it otherwise runs good and performace is satisfactory I'd be very tempted to just leave it alone.

Regarding the 454 idling at 950, this may sound kinda stupid but does it sound like it's actually doing that? With larger engines there's a noticeable difference in sound between their low idle and anything close to 1000 rpms, if you don't think it's really idling that high then it probably isn't and it's just the needle didn't get put back on in the right position. That's why I never got white-face gauges in my vehicles, i'd love to have them but the whole needle removal thing doesn't jive too well with me...

[DerekTheGreat]

Tell that to my 318. Without a choke carbs suck. I'm not against them, I just prefer EFI. Fewer moving parts anyway. Port efi all but eliminates the condensation effect gas/air mix does on the intake runners as it goes from the venturies to the combustion chamber.

I don't think it is either. Truck is an '88 so it has that stupid slice of pie cluster GM had without a tach. But there was this wonderful lapse in technology in '91 where GM switched to the traditional sweeping needle style gages but the cluster still retained the old harness and built-in DRAC module. We hit gold when we found a dead '91 at a yard that just so happened to have that cluster and 4.11 gears. I hooked it up and found the tach didn't work so I sent it to spec mo and they replaced the stepper motor thing and put fresh needles everywhere and a new lens on it. However, the speedo and tach do not have any sort of stop rest for their needles yet rest in the same spot, if that makes any sense. So part of me thinks the thing still idles high. I've rebuilt the TB, and used new gaskets but did not put a new gasket in for the adaptor doohickey. GM did this thing where they have a regular manifold that will accept a carb but then put this water cooled adaptor thing in place. Wondering if I've got a leak there. That or I have a leak around the MAP sensor. Thing acts goofy when cold. You step on it say half way and it will stumble up until 2k rpms or so. Maybe the timing is suspect too. Previous guy did a bunch of funny business to it, runs much better now than it did but still not perfect.

Edit:
Here's a link to a write up on the swap complete with pics:
http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...d.php?t=313815

[His Royal Ghostliness]

Oh choke-less carbs are the devil, you're not gonna hear me say otherwise, ever! Actually even auto-choke carbs are quite bad. One exception there, the Q-jet - them things are as close as you can get to EFI-like behavior without actually going EFI, but the key is they need to be in good shape - no worn shaft bushings, leaky bottom plugs, etc.

Also, holy cow that GM gauges stuff is a pile... and here I thought Ford's PSOM having me push the calibration button over 500 times (no joke) was annoying! Yeah I'll stick to my '80-down GMs (I know '81-'87 are essentially the same also, just don't like their front clips), that next gen is such a mess, and feels so cheaply put together.

[DerekTheGreat]

Yeah, my old fuddy-duddy friends who lived through the carb generation said stuff with chokes never worked right. I've never driven a carb'd car with a choke so I know not what that's like although I imagine they want to idle better when cold! Growing up listening to the fuddies a Q-jet was always called a "Quadra-junk" so I've got that stigma. I hear they do start right up though, which is another thing I take for granted with EFI. My Fury is a hobby car and I expect to have to pump the pedal, listen to what's going on and all that but gotta admit I like the ability to bump the key in the Ford, get out and walk away with no worries.

The dash thing is ultra dumb. I thought GM had an optional cluster with a tach for that style but learned they didn't. At least that option was available. Ford offered tachs in their trucks going back to 1980 at least (Bricknose?) so I figured the other big two had similar offerings. Ford stuff is especially easy to swap. Rangers & F-150s that are tachless can easily be swapped for a cluster that has one, no wiring mods needed because Ford already had it wired that way. My favorite Ford swap is the Bronco cluster into the F-150, those got the red engine light, just a little added touch.
To GM's credit the engine bay is really tidy, I like that the HVAC controls are electronic and not vacuum operated, not to mention there aren't many vacuum lines to trace and none of them have very long runs. Despite that big block there is plenty of room in there. Everyone says the electrical systems are garbage but I'm not sure why. Maybe it's the bulkhead thing on the passenger side firewall. I kinda like that, it seems easy to add stuff. I do not like how there is maybe only a 6 gauge wire going from the battery to that bulkhead... No idea how many amps that is rated for or how many amps the whole electrical system is capable of pulling. Interior quality doesn't seem to be any less than our Ford was but ergonomically the bow tie stuff sucks. Arm rest really isn't in a comfy spot and if only the dash head was wider you wouldn't have to stick an aftermarket deck in the middle of the dash, that's f'n stupid.

[His Royal Ghostliness]

80-86 F-series is often referred to as "bullnose", the "bricks" are '87-'91. But yes, you could get a factory tach in all of those, tho the bullnose ones are kinda rare even on diesels. For '87-'97 if it's an oil burner the tach is always there, many (but not all) XLT Lariat gas jobs got them as well (those would be the same as those in some but again not all Broncos), so overall bit easier to source out... Or at least they used to be - for some reason in the last few years the '92-'97 tach clusters have become real popular among "professional" junkyard raiders, and to make things worse Ford changed the cluster functions and harness pinouts like every 2 years - so you're not only looking for a hard-to-find to begin with cluster, it also needs to be the correct model yesr for your truck...

IMHO the "Quadrajunk" stigma came from people dealing with old and worn out and leaky carbs. That, and they got so many adjustments that folks often just lose patience with them... I've had the pleasure of driving a warmed up small block with a Sean Murphy Q-jet, holy cow that thing pulled like a freight train, started instantly in stupid-cold weather as well - basically the only way you knew it's not EFI was that you had to tap the throttle twice before hitting the starter. A properly adjusted Holley is capable of the same thing, but just like the Q-jet those tend to have like a million things you can tweak and we're back to the patience thing.

Btw '87 and '88 F-series have mechanical controls on the HVAC stuff, their only vacuum circuit is the one for the recirculating door, and I bet that's only cause it's just easier to snake a thin vacuum line thru the firewall as opposed to a steel cable with sheathing. Must have been too expensive to produce tho, cause for '89 they went back to the vacuum mess and stayed with it till the end of the 9th gen.

[nfldfordltd]

Passenger side outer axle U-joint is on the to-do list for today. That TTB life tho!

[His Royal Ghostliness]

Might as well do the driver side too, they tend to die in pairs. TTB ain't bad, handles much better than the leaf-sprung solid axle stuff and rides much nicer as well.

[nfldfordltd]

Might as well do the driver side too, they tend to die in pairs. TTB ain't bad, handles much better than the leaf-sprung solid axle stuff and rides much nicer as well.

I didn't bother as that one was done not too long ago; and I didn't have two U-joints, only one, and the passenger side one had fell apart. The cup came out, likely because the c-clip came out somewhere along the way. All three are tight now. I did change the brake pads while I was at it. I did notice the tie-rod adjusting sleeve was loose on the driver side (inner side, where the tie rod attaches) and tightened up the sleeve clamp as much as I could. There is still a slight amount of movement there, but I don't think it will come out or go anywhere now. I was considerably wobbly before I tightened up the clamp bolt.
I do like the TTB, don't get me wrong. I just find it's a bit high maintenance. Most times I put a wrench to the truck, it's to fix something TTB-related. Hard to get good parts now I find.

[His Royal Ghostliness]

Oh if the other U-joint has already been done fairly recently then all will be well.

As for parts, it's not hard at all actually to find good ones, just expensve. For example Jeff's Bronco Graveyard carries OEM Dana-Spicer universals and ball joints, also the seals and bearings for a full diff rebuild. Certainly not outrageously priced, bit not cheap either. I'm of the do it once and be done with it mindset, you don't wanna know what it cost me to first regear and then re-diff my Dana front... And it looks like i'll be doing both of those operations again to a rear Dana not that far into the future, FML there!

[nfldfordltd]

Oh if the other U-joint has already been done fairly recently then all will be well.

As for parts, it's not hard at all actually to find good ones, just expensve. For example Jeff's Bronco Graveyard carries OEM Dana-Spicer universals and ball joints, also the seals and bearings for a full diff rebuild. Certainly not outrageously priced, bit not cheap either. I'm of the do it once and be done with it mindset, you don't wanna know what it cost me to first regear and then re-diff my Dana front... And it looks like i'll be doing both of those operations again to a rear Dana not that far into the future, FML there!

I've bought stuff from the Bronco Graveyard before; I agree you can get good stuff there, and the service is good too. Shipping cost is the killer for me because of where I live. Now that the Canadian dollar is about 70 cents US makes it a bad time to try and get stuff from the US as well. She should be good to go now for a bit before it needs any more significant attention.

[DerekTheGreat]

80-86 F-series is often referred to as "bullnose", the "bricks" are '87-'91...

Btw '87 and '88 F-series have mechanical controls on the HVAC stuff, their only vacuum circuit is the one for the recirculating door, and I bet that's only cause it's just easier to snake a thin vacuum line thru the firewall as opposed to a steel cable with sheathing. Must have been too expensive to produce tho, cause for '89 they went back to the vacuum mess and stayed with it till the end of the 9th gen.

Ah, I always get that mixed up. Did not know that about '87 & 88, all I knew was they had a button for A/C compressor operation which I like, although I never had one so not sure if it's like my '94 Ranger was, where the compressor would kick on regardless of the button when put in defrost. Ashley's old F150 was a 1990, and the one I had was a 1991. Didn't have mine very long and we didn't really have any problems with Ashley's. There's just so much tubing & usually at least two coffee cans on Fords that it's refreshing to see stuff without that mess. Our truck looks almost as clean as my Fury does underhood. I really like that. GM doesn't run as good as the Ford did though, despite its load of lines and hoses.

As far as the carb stuff goes I hated carbs with a ignorant passion until I actually took the time to understand them. There was a time I almost sold the Fury because of it. So glad I changed my mind. I want to try a quadra-junk, and I say that with all due respect! LoL. When properly tuned or tuned the way the factory intended I bet they're just dandy.

Might as well do the driver side too, they tend to die in pairs. TTB ain't bad, handles much better than the leaf-sprung solid axle stuff and rides much nicer as well.

I'm a fan of TTB stuff.

[His Royal Ghostliness]

I've bought stuff from the Bronco Graveyard before; I agree you can get good stuff there, and the service is good too. Shipping cost is the killer for me because of where I live.

Bronco Graveyard shipping can be a bit steep yes, even if you're in the US. But they're in MI somewhere IIRC, thus close enough from some Canadians to cross the border and buy the parts they need directly from the warehouse. But I see you're in No-Man's-Land, so you unfortunateky cannot pull that trick...

There's just so much tubing & usually at least two coffee cans on Fords that it's refreshing to see stuff without that mess. Our truck looks almost as clean as my Fury does underhood. I really like that. GM doesn't run as good as the Ford did though, despite its load of lines and hoses.

One of those is actually for the cruise control IIRC, the other is for the emissions junk. And you still get a charcoal canister and all that jazz. Oh and the HVAC has its own vacuum reservoir too, but that one is so covertly installed that most folks don't even know it's there

The cleanest engine bays I've seen have to be the older Dodge ones - you can pretty much put an engine on each side of the factory engine and still be abcle to close the hood. They do have their share of issues tho, like whoever thought to build the alternator voltage regulator into the ECM must have really hated their job, and whoever approved that design should have had their sanity checked... LOL

For Q-jet carbs, Sean Murphy Induction used to be one of the best, probably still is. Drove one (Stage 2 IIRC), loved it, but sold truck before I could install one of my own. Take a lookie here, prices are still very reasonable IMHO:

https://www.smicarburetor.com/products/sfID1/28/sfID2/9/sfID3/32

[DerekTheGreat]

Oh god, didn't know that either. Probably why the cruise in my '91 didn't work. Ashley's was completely rotten away underneath, didn't even notice until shortly before we sold it, although we did replace it beforehand with one that was good.

What year Dodges? ECM makes me think EFI.. We almost bought an '88 or whatever year was the first for their EFI 318'd five speed D250 but the guy sold it to someone else. This would've been a month or so after we bought the GMC. Would've really liked to have that Dodge, was a top o the line LE too, their ugliness grows on you. OH well. They still used like 10 accessory belts and have more vacuum lines than Fords, yet you can still make out valve covers, spark plugs & exhaust manifolds. Leave it to Dodge to do something retarded like put the voltage regulator in the ECM. Didn't know that. Is it still replaceable on its own or is it easier/better to replace the whole thing?

I'll keep that in mind should I ever replace one. On our Florida trip I might just have to include G-body GM's and such. Always liked those cars, never liked the carb or belts. Big fan of simplicity here. Prices are reasonable, a new Holley would cost at least that and you'd still have to tune it and change the linkage around.

[P72Ford]

First time I have seen this thread; I have a recently acquired '97 F-250 HD (XL, although it just says Heavy Duty on the =fender badges). I really like the 9th gen trucks, and primarily settled on the 8th/9th gen after getting rid of my 6th gen. A/C and OD are nice things to have, balanced with the affordability, simplicity, and reliability of a somewhat older truck.

I am not a fan of the TTB, and before my current truck needs any sort of attention in the front, it will get the 60 'Monobeam'. Possibly with a RSK, and SD springs, as I've heard the difference in ride quality is night and day. My truck is a 60K mile truck, and the front is nice and tight at this point. However, I am already on the hunt for a solid replacement; just tough finding one that isn't rusted to hell.

I've bought a few things from JBG, but never universals. I find Rock Auto is the cheapest for Dana Spicer joints; much cheaper than the local driveline shops. No0t sure how they are with Canadian shipping, though.

LMC Truck is pretty much garbage in my experience; can't go wrong with Dennis Carpenter if they have what you need. Even their re-pop stuff is very good quality. Best thing about a 9th gen is that dealerships still have a lot of parts, and you can find stuff on eBay relatively easily, for cheaper.