Welcome to my channel. I am now retired and traveling more and more in my Truck Camper with my Lovely Fiancé Kelli, and our two crazy lovable cats, Archie and Poppie. I also love to work on my truck and camper, constantly making improvements or doing repairs to make Road Life better. Many of my videos are a great help to others trying to repair their RVs. We also seek out interesting places and things to share with our viewers. This channel was started June 21, 2009 and currently has 1126 videos! In my previous life, I worked as a Residential General Contractor having a wonderful time, and meeting some really wonderful people, building and remodeling residential homes for 40 years. I have several hundred construction videos posted showing DIY, Do It Yourselfers, how to work on their homes that will remain posted. Please feel welcome to look around and I hope you enjoy what you find in my catalogue of videos. You are invited to "SUBSCRIBE" for notification of new video content.
It takes years to make get the thread count finer, many washings, finally you need to get a bunch of welding splatter to burn little holes in it, then catch it on somsharp under the truck to tear it properly. Be patient, work hard, you'll eventually earn one for yourself!
@richsadventures1889 Yes, I have Firestone air bags. I need to fabricate a taller mount plate for the heavier rear springs. When the TC is On, I put in 10 to 15 pounds air
It took a considerable breaker bar to get that loosened. It was a bit easier than I expected the project to be. The Truck drives so nice now, like a sports car. Face it, a big truck can be like driving your living room couch down the road. We're going to load the camper and get out of town for a week or two after I get some house work done.
@susanniemann8525 I'll have to tell you my dead battery story on 15th, rescued by a pretty girl and 5 guys from Ballard Crossfit who pushed me off the main road.
@laurieberg2880 Turns out now, my alternator died, which left me stranded in the turn lane of a main arterial during rush hour. But wait, it only gets better. A very pretty fitness instructor from the crossfit training center at the intersection and offered to send out a bunch of her guys and girls to push me off the road. Then, the lovely miss Kelli ran and got me a new AGM Batterie. I'm going to order a large capacity alternator tonight. I can drive an hour on battery safely, no radio or anything. Daytime. All ended well.
Thanks Rick and Linda. I'm on the heavier front leaf springs now. Should be traveling soon. I want to explore the northeast and southeast corners of the state. Haven't had the chance to spend much time there. Hope you guys are doing well.
@alphamegaman8847 I will confess, I did get a P1151 code which when I read what it was, I remembered when I was rerouting the wire harness across the back of the engine, I had unplugged the left O2 sensor. Got that fixed and all was good.
@paulhunter546 I'm so glad to be done with it. It was a big undertaking. Cost a couple plus thousand bucks for parts and a couple months of dedication working on it. Larger front spri gs next, then the Y-Pipe exhaust conversion. You should swing by with doughnuts 🍩
@dznutzonfyre4432 depends on what the circuit is already serving. Code allows the gfci in one bathroom to control outlets in another bathroom. If that's the case, you might not be able to get away with it. If somebody uses a hair dryer, it will probably pop the breaker. If the towel warmer is 500 watts or less, and the circuit is 12 gauge wire and a 1500 watt hair dryer runs at the same time, that's 2000 watts. A 12 gauge, 20 amp 120 volt circuit can handle 2400 watts MAX. Code wants you to derate that to 80% for continuous use at 1920 watts. So at 2000 watts, technically, you would be a little over. Take note of how you use the existing outlet, what is plugged in and running at the same time, add up all the wattages, you can figure it out from there. Try not to exceed 1920 watts. I hope that helps, take care.
stop the presses......I was seeking a video on how to change out the fuel hose assembly that runs from back of engine, down to the fuel filter on the rails. It's a bitch to get it out from underneath. I see that removing the height obstacles such as removing the air intake manifold, the throttle body should reveal the hose assembly that is visible at 5:42 and thereabouts. There is no other research that I could find that shows what it looks like in place. Most likely the only was to install the fuel assembly is to remove the air intake manifold. I bought the assembly because mine is an original, got a lot of surface rust and why not change it out. I picked up a newer fuel rail, some used but newer working injectors . Your fittings on the fuel hose assembly look to be in good condition. I have a 2002 Ford F-250 5.4L 2V V-8 with 241,000 miles....
@patrickwhelan5703 I think my hoses are plastic throughout the length back to the fuel pump in the tank. I had to change that once deep in a national forest. Plastic quick connects at the filter. Good luck with your project.
Drop a nut from the locating pin area, that should lead you to it!! Mechanic of 42 years and I feel your pain, I hate when that shit happens. Recently I dropped a diff axle c-clip, my arm was in the way and I couldn't see where it fell to...40 minutes I find under my oil drain topper mat...How the hell did it get under there!!!!!
@BIGTONY2132001 I found it by accident the next day while chasing something else. The pin bounced and landed hidden next to the swaybar mount. Funny thing is, I had lost it earlier when the wife was being helpful and boxed things to didy the area. It was in with throwaway things. Funny, you have to go to a wrecking yard or race shop to get a replacement. Nobody, not NAPA, O'Reilly's, Action, none of the parts stores has a replacement. Got the heads on in the next video and thi gs are progressing nicely. Latest was trying to install a new Dorman valley coolant return pipe that was bent wrong and would not fit. I'm using the original tube that drops right in place. I hope O'Reilly's will return my 60bucks... Thanks for checking in, take care...
Here's to getting 500 trouble free miles under its belt with no leaks, weird noises, trouble codes or anything else out of the ordinary, so you can Finally let out that sigh of relief you've been keeping bottled up for the last 2 months or so! 😁👍🎉 Mike in San Diego. 🌞🎸🚀🖖
@@alphamegaman8847 You got that right. Do a week or two on the road locally to evaluate things. I sure hope all the modifications help it to develop enough additional horse power that we will be able to go over the passes and hold speed on the freeway against small grades and headwind. I would consider upgrading to a f350 with a 6.2 liter
@@CITAP1 Me Too! 🥰 If, A) I could afford it. B) had a place to park it. C) actually Needed something that big to do what I wanted with it! Too bad I score a D) None of the above! 😕😁 Mike in San Diego. 🌞🎸🚀🖖
@paulhunter546 Got the HV oil pump done. That was a bugger with the tight reach. I stuck it out and just finished the timing chains, guides, tensioners. Front timing cover goes on tomorrow. Then compression check and make sure oil gets pumped into system.
My dog just chewed the copper wire and the fan inside the outdoor unit won’t spin no more how much will this cost round about cuz the indoor unit turn on and runs like a fan just no ac
@mortalityisclose1979 Sorry to hear, i hope your dog is ok, there's 240 volts in some of those wires. If the fan isn't actually damaged, and it's just damage to the wires, the repair person might be able to splice or replace the wires and get you back up and running. I'd call an HVAC repair service, they may have an electrician look at your unit. If the refrigerent copper lines aren't broken and still have refrigerant in them, fixing the electrical may get you back up and running. Coat your wires with something to discourage Fido in the future. Good luck with it. Cost is based.on the repair, I guess at least 300.00
@chuckh.2227 The 3 valve has issues with the crossover tube leaking. Not sure the intake manifold has the same issues. I understand the main problem with the 3 valve is because people don't change the oil often enough like 3000 mile intervals otherwise the phasers clog uo with particulates. The timing chain tensioners squirter for the chains clog in all modular engines without frequent oil changes. And then some engines are just bad luck.
@paulhunter546 It is! Wait till you see the red heavy-duty hoses I'm using. Fancy schmancy! You'll be jealous... I'm thinking this weekend to have it running again.
Good job Jeff! Watch out though for Ford Corporation's spec ops helicopter spying on you !😮 Your anti, planned- obsolescence improvments to Ford's most profitable for dealership repairs engine block might anger the engieers!😂
@BossMan-fw3wj I keep an eye for people in white lab coats, plastic pocket protectors, and black rimmed glasses, randomly appearing and walking the neighborhood 😳. All Frod had to do was make an aluminum intake manifold, or at least have a bolt hole between all four water jacket holes and the intake pert at the four corners. I am a Ford guy though, so I'll deal with it and create my own fixes. Thanks for the comment 👍
@TODDWESSMAN If you're using this NAPA kit, you don't drill, you simply take the self tapping seat, load the threads with high temp red thread lock, and tighten it down till it stops. It will have resistance while tapping it down, but when you hit bottom, it will stop and you're done. If you're doing a CalVan kit, it comes with guides and instructions. CalVan is the best way to fix a blown out sparkplug. The NAPA will get you out of a jam quick and easy. I always kept a couple kits in the truck just in case, and it did save me on the road a couple times. Good luck with your repair.
@@DonziGT230 I know people this has happened to. It's happened to me. The front right is the most common one to fail. Do a quick youtube search for intake manifold leak. There must be well over a hundred videos of people replacing their intake manifolds trying to fix the problem. If I find the welds fail over time, I can always draw the outline using the intake manifold gasket and reweld following the outline. It's all because Ford used a plastic intake manifold when it should have been aluminum.
@DonziGT230 Those rear ports can also leak. The right rear was leaking on my engine and is part of the reason I have the heads and everything apart now and part of why I decided to weld them closed. The rear leaks aren't as common, but obviously, they do happen. The rear coolant passages serve no purpose. They will never be used. So I decided to weld them closed and eliminate two potential leak points. Ford designed the intake manifold poorly. The reason they leak, other than the O-Ring in the crossover tube breaking out, is the placement of bolts holding the manifold to the head. There is a bolt on each side of the intake runners holding them flat to the head. Ford blew it in the four corners where the coolant passages are located. In their great wisdumb, Ford put two bolts at these locations when there should be three bolts. There is a bolt at the front for the coolant passage, no bolt between the coolant passage and the intake runner, and a bolt on the other side of the intake runner, nothing between. That is why these engines develop leaks so often. There is no direct pressure down to the manifold between the two ports, intake and coolant. The left side isn't as bad as the right side because there are two bolts holding the manifold crossover tube down to the coolant passage on the left head. BTW, they could have done the two bolts on the right rear but chose not to. The intake manifold system should have been fixed long ago. Ford did in 1999 for a short time, making an aluminum PI intake manifold, which is highly desirable and doesn't suffer these leak issues, but it'll cost you. Sorry for the long read, but now you know where I'm coming from.
A few things, if you are able you need to turn down the wire feed rate as it's feeding too much wire thus backing up on the spool. Also, I really hate to burst your bubble as all that will surely crack as you are not getting any penetration. Once you start running that engine and it goes thru some hot and cool cycles that's going to surely crack those welds. You need to turn up the amps to get some good penetration. I don't think mig is the correct process for this, you should be having them tig welded closed with a good powerful machine. But koddos for your efforts. We all have to start somewhere!
@davedave2525 I have thought about weld quality. The spool gun kept jamming on me. I could see no reason other than I used a .030 wire from General Welding Supply, which seemed stiffer than the wire from Harbor Freight. I suspect it may have been the stiff wire in a cheaper quality spool gun. I did use a flexible scope to get into the inside of the heads to inspect the backside of the welds. I can see some decent penetration coming through to the inside. I hope the welds will hold. It's a couple of small pieces of eighth inch fill so not a lot of expansion and contraction but over time, well see. If there is a failure, flow will be restricted by the crack size and the intake gasket should be able to contain what little manages to get through. I thenk I will make a couple fill pieces with the eigth inch aluminum and embed them in Right Stuff gasket maker in he intake gasket, and that will provide additional seal. I think it will work as intended, even if not perfect. I'm hoping to get everything back together this week. We'll do a couple weeks travel around the region, make sure things are holding up ok. Still need to install the new 3950# front springs, install the Y-Pipe exhaust conversion, High volume oil pump, and just for fun, an Economy Gauge by SW. Thanks for the comment, take care.
@davedave2525 About the spool, I think Binding Up, is a better descriptive term. The spool can spin freely, and the wire is very springy, so it doesn't stay nicely coiled on the spool. About 10 loops of wireexpand off the spool and randomly wrap in varying crossovers and the spool motor hasn't the Umph! to pull the birdnest of wire through. So we shall see what happens. If worse comes to worse, I'll pull the intake, unplug the electronics, draw a line using the intake gasket as a template, and reweld it, preheated with my heat gun.
All the tedious stuff is done. It's all about reassembling now. There are a couple of side projects like the Y-Pipe exhaust and the heavier front springs. I already rebuilt the AC system.
Excellent, your idea is beautiful and seems practical, and it did not occur to me, and I saw the clip when it was too late, because I had already done that on my brother’s 2010 Mercury Grand Marquis before I saw your clip, and it has been working well since then, but I did not put that aluminum. I was satisfied with putting new gaskets and a little RTV, and at that intersection, heavy-duty Abro glue was put, and the rubber was restored again, and I was satisfied with cleaning the rubber channel without removing it, hoping that it will live a long time.
@crVic_r Hopefully your brothers fix will last. It is such a common problem, yet there is no fix available, and Ford doesn't sell a replacement intake manifold. Highly annoying. Take care.
Hello! Did you overlap the existing exterior under the aluminum sheeting to secure it? About to cut into my new truck camper that had the corner so rotted I was able to just pull the jack off and I’m going to follow a similar execution plan as you. Just wondering about how you secured and sealed the original exterior under the aluminum sheeting.
@bradymccarthy3 The 2x4 bottom does Bolt into the 2x3 above. There is plywood overlap inside. The aluminum side plates are structural, and the construction strap greatly helps support the truck camper.
@@bradymccarthy3 Around the fridge area, I cut away the bad siding and fitted plywood to be flush with the remaining siding, then fitted the aluminum plate to be able to screw into the framing. Did the same for the smaller front piece of aluminum.
Hey, did you get permission to leave that joke? This is about as far as I would take one of the modular engines. I've had nothing but headaches with this engine as you of all people well know. Three head gasket changes on the first engine, then a new engine, now another head gasket job on the new engine. I'm using every trick I've ever learned to beat this engine and it's love for failure. The Cometic gaskets with ARP head studs should keep it bolted down tight and sealed. The improved oil pump should keep everything lubricated, The new timing chains, tensioners, guides should keep timing accurate. SS headers, Y-Pipe exhaust conversion, and head porting should open up breathing a bit, Larger cold air intake for better breathing, With all that, I think I can pass on the supercharger... Stay tuned, it's about to get real. Either it works, or I enter it in the vehicle driving over the cliff competition in Alaska.
@CITAP1 Well after reading your long response, it doesn't look like a supercharger is in the cards.🥹 As to all else, my fingers are crossed that you solve the issues. 🤞🙏😁
As I stand up here in Campbell River, BC, fishing for the thousands of Pinks ,Cohos, even Sockeys... I wish you Godspeed with the engine upgrades Jeff👍😁.( I just might find the time between fish cleaning and eating to service my calipers and pads..at the campsite along the river,....then maybe not!😅 Hope your your first trip in the upgraded souped up truck is a fishing trip!😂
@@SydddyP158 Sorry about the dirtbag hit and run of your rig. I'm glad the video helped. This repair has worked great. The best part of the repair is installing the construction strapping to help support the weight much better than the jack bracket bolts alone. I hope you get back on the road soon. Take care.
@derheeheehee6941 True but not much from our Japanese friends willhaul a 4000 pound truck camper for months and several thousand miles at a time. My travel preference, of course would be a restored Catalina PBY however that ain't going to happen in this lifetime 😁
is it me or did something happen your camera. From 28:25 onward, no video but you said you were good to go until next time. Even though the video time said 47:54....
Something goofy did happen. Video ends at 28:30. But for some reason RU-vid uploaded 47 minutes. It's in edit mode being corrected now and that will take a few hours to show through. The video is 28:30 long so you did see it all. Next video will show head exhaust porting and port matching to the header using a flexible scope. I'll also install the heads, Cometic MLX gaskets, and ARP head studs. Video after that is the new oil pump, new timing chains and setting to timing marks, chain guides, tensioners, other parts and timing cover. Working on permanent fixes for the Ford plastic intake manifold so it will never leak coolant again... Take care...
Periodically, I do give points to whomever notices or answers something. Since you took initiative placing yourself well ahead of the curve, I will give you 1500 points, the most ever given for going above and beyond the call of duty. Of course the points are given in the spirit of Drew Carey of Whose Line Comedy Show. Strickly for recognition and personal accomplishment. Sorry, it's all there is in this low, low, low budget operation....
@amyturnbull8335 It is an odd thing. I was the only one effected out of several and they still eat duck eggs. The strange thing is, I have eaten duck and turkey eggs in the past without issue. I studied about duck eggs for a while and found some people can't eat eggs from birds with webbed feet, ducks, geese, seagulls, etcetera. I havent tried it yet but I should be fine with turkey, quail, and non webbed footed birds. Take care...
@@tongtongwang The front right coolant passage is the main one to fail. When it fails, it causes coolant to leak into the sparkplug holes and short them out. That can cause your ignition coils to fail and need replacement. There are two layers of gasket in this location. The bottom against the head, and the middle, sandwich gasket. If you have a.leak from the middle layer, you might have a broken o-ring area. That is a problem I am currently dealing with. I went on a several thousand mile, couple month trip and the day we left, we had an over heat event and had to replace the water pump. If you're interested, follow my latest few videos fixing this, and other issues, plus installing several performance items. Lots of good things to know about your modular engine. 4.6, 5.4, 6.8. Take care.
@tongtongwang I'm working on a fix for that now. I really don't want a Dorman replacement manifold. It's cheaply made, smaller, shorter runners, louder, costs about 30 horse power and torque. Better option is to find an intact used intake and follow torque specifications closely, hoping for the best. I'm working on a repair either plastic welding new material in place of the break. The other fix is a piece of metal to replace the whole inner ring that won't break. Im not working on that part just yet. I want to finish port matching the heads and headers, and get the engine all back together first. The intake will be the last thing I deal with. I'm pretty sure I can create a good fix. I'm also going to work on a fix for the two unused water passages at the back of the heads. Two more but less ofter leak points. When I get this engine back together, I never want to have to mess with it again.
