Ep.17 1979 Ford F250 Restoration - electrical issues, turn signals, brake lights, etc 

Thank you for making this series, I just bought a 1979 f250 and watching this is helping me figure things out 😁

My seat is from a 1991 Ford Crew Cab.. I got the back seat, you know the back seat doesn't get used much. I paid 50 bucks for it and just swapped out the slide rails on the bottom.... so easy !!

You can take the gauge cluster lens off then paint the needles on the gauges with the orange needle paint, it looks really nice when done !

Any time you see a "Scotch Lock" connector the blue plastic connector get rid of it !! and solder the wires and use heat shrink to insulate the connection.

You are doing a great job !!

Very helpful thanks!

Use long tube headers and an a cam upgrade, and a 4v intake with a 650 carb. When you had it running in the driveway, it was missing on a cylinder. New spark plugs, rotor and cap would be good. Spend a little extra on a cap that has copper terminals instead of aluminum.

The header length can make torque at different rev areas. From what I remember, the long tube headers make more high end torque and the shorties will make torque at the low end.

Thats awesome! Im glad it was helpful for you even on the day you got it. Keep up the great work. :)

Long tube is what I run on my 78 and all my trucks!

When it comes time for carpet, take a look at ACC (Auto Custom Carpets) and their mass loaded vinyl backed plush carpet. I used it on both my carpet jobs and love it. They also sell 80mil butyl sound deadener at a very nice price. All the stuff I featured in both my S10 Interior Vid and my Suburban Carpet Vid.

I believe American Autowire makes a complete wire harness for this truck. I am about to install one in my 67 mustang.

I love this channel!

The bulbs dont fit backwards … thats why does nubbins are there like that … to guaranty that it only fits the right way

The reverse light is from the neutral switch

Yeah the Stoplight switch (behind brake peddle) get very brittle, and usually fall apart in your hands.

I have to remember to "Lick the bulb" if my reverse lights ever take a shit on me lol another great vid!!

A bad or weak ground will cause the lights to be dim also. The part of the bulb you are calling the "barrel" is the grounded part of the bulb

Don't mess with that old seat... get a seat from a Ford up to 1996 and simply swap out the slide rails and the new seat will bolt right in. I paid 50 bucks for my new seat.

Happy to see what was in the box. I was guessing it was new upholstery for the bench seat. Truck cover looks nice. Is it waterproof?

Did you figure out why the parking lights turn off when the headlights are on?

What truck cover brand do you use. Trying to keep the snow off my f250

How has the truck been over the last two years

Hey I have a 78 and I am having trouble with the turn signals and brake lights, I've replaced bulbs, sockets, put a new turn signal switch in, new brake pedal switch and I still can't get my signals to flash or brake to light up. Headlights and tail lights and park and marker lights come on when I pull the knob though, any ideas?

I would buy a new radiator made by Champion, made out of aluminum, they are so cheap !

The main problem with the 351M & the 400M is that the compression ratio is very low. A rebuild with higher compression pistons will fix that or using a cylinder head with smaller combustion chamber instead of what's on there now. One realistic thing that can be done is to get a timing chain which can adjust the camshaft timing. Install that & advance the timing by 2 or 3 degrees. Upgrading the ignition system to eliminate the points and install a pertronix stage 2 will help & at least improve the mileage. 351 Cleveland pistons can be used in the rebuild if the connecting rods have bushings installed for the thinner diameter piston pins that the Cleveland uses. There are data sheets online which will help you determine the compression ratio that will result. The type of cylinder head is also very important to know when selecting pistons. If you rebuild the short block, you can also upgrade to a 400m crank shaft as well. A machine shop can help you with this as well as to choose the correct pistons for your application. You need to ensure that the deck height of the piston isn't to high or to low. Try to do something between 9:1 to about 10:1. A mild 351 Cleveland camshaft can be used. Of course, the engine needs to be pulled and rebuilt and assembled by a machine shop unless these rare cylinder heads can be found. These can be more expensive then a rebuild in some cases. Headers won't help a whole lot & they can be very annoying to install. Basically, short of a rebuild, tune up the engine and upgrade to an electronic ignition system. The water pump and timing cover need to be pulled to access the timing chain for replacement. Pulling the radiator helps make this easier. You don't need that many special tools or heavy lift equipment to do this. It's helpful to get a timing chain puller that works for both the camshaft gear and the gear on the crankshaft. The harmonic balancer also needs to be pulled and a you need to get another puller for that as well. These tools are still way cheaper then the labor that a mechanic will charge you. It's not such a bad idea to have these around so that you can possibly use them for another engine in the future. You can also sell them on eBay or buy them from there to recoup the money if you choose not to keep the tools. Some folks will also recommend upgrading to a 4bbl carb & this requires installing a new intake manifold. This won't hurt anything but with excessively low compression, these mods will only have a modest improvement. I'd just keep the 2bbl carb on there until you rebuild the engine. Advancing the camshaft timing will produce a noticable improvement because the power curve will be shifted downward to a much lower rpm engine speed. So will advancing the ignition timing. A low compression ratio will tend to prevent engine knocking but you need to make sure that doesn't occur just in case. You're looking for a closed chamber style head instead of the smog type open chamber head that is on there now. Doing a head swap and changing out the head gasket isn't fun but you can still do this at home. The main problem with this is the price of the parts. Of course, putting in a better camshaft is also a good idea once you have the entire top of the engine off. It's also a good time to change the intake manifold to one that can accept a 4bbl carb at this time. Another method is to add a supercharger, which may well cost less money then getting heads with a smaller combustion chamber. These engines are capable of high output but you need to use something drastic modifications to get that.

Shoulda put LEDs in it

are you guys going to paint it??

I would not mess with headers, just take the truck to a muffler shop and put stock exhaust on it. Headers are a waste of money.