Week 6 – Cable and Starter Finished!!

http://www.batterycablesusa.com

I’ve been solving problems with getting the engine running one bite at a time. The first step was to get the ignition system checked out.

It turns out new battery cables were needed. On the surface it would seem like a minor job, the challenge is all of the clamps and getting reassembled in a tight space.

The cables were from Battery USA. They do a great job and turn around with super fast. If you’re doing a rebuild, there’s no reason to go with the cheap cabling from a local auto parts store, go with the best insulation you can buy and 1/0 gauge cable.

Because the ground wire is on the starter, I needed to remove the starter to get the cable loose. Since I had the starter out of the car, I had it tested to confirm it works well.

The next step is exciting, get a battery and see if the engine will turn over. If it will, I’ll do compression checks to see if a rebuild his needed or the engine may be fine as is.

And….. on to the next step in troubleshooting. Today I installed the battery, the lights turned on, the front turn signals work, the horn works, but the engine would not turn over. The headlights would not dim when turning the ignition switch, I suspect the solenoid yet don’t know how to diagnose if it is bad.

Week 5 (Week 4 was out sick)

This week was dedicated to getting the starter removed in the battery cables so that I can try and turn over the engine.

I also needed to remove the starter to Identify the Engine based on the “block code” from the original casting. It turns out that I’m the proud owner of a 1968 Cleveland for an Fairlane/Torino (C8OE-6015-A) …..Revision code A. It also shares that 7H14 was the production date (August 14, 1967 = 7H11 in Ford speak)

I also needed to identify the cylinder heads the same way – looking for a number cast into the heads.

Who would have guessed getting the starter off required taking off the exhaust manifold, there’s just no way to get access to the bolt holding on the upper starter assembly without removing the manifold

The great news is once they starter is off it is relatively easy to see the block code on the engine to understand what year engine you’re working with. There are links here for engine decoding.

Here’s what I was able to read off of the engine, after getting the starter removed

Understanding the engine block is one thing, the next challenge is understanding more about the specific build of the engine. That means understanding what cylinder heads are attached to the block.

Like the engine code, there is a code for the cylinder head as well. It’s pretty difficult to find and interpret.

Here’s what I found after pulling the valve covers, it’s still difficult to determine exactly what type of heads these are. Here’s a link for information on head casting codes

Overall a pretty good amount of progress. The starter removed and tested to confirm that it’s in good shape before putting it back together.

I still need help identifying the heads but at least there are photos and the internet is an amazing source for information!

Next up getting a battery and cables connected to the starter and see if the engine will turn over. Wish me luck!

PS – here is a resource pointed out that may be helpful – http://www.fordsmallblock.com/ – I did not use this and no endorsement, simply sharing

Week 3

This week starts the electrical system with rewiring the truck. Folks on the H.A.M.B. suggested the EZWire kit and after research I ordered the EZ Wiring 21 Universal Harness. The 21 lead set is $15 more yet if ever wanting to add items like AC or interior lighting there will be spare leads to use

With the starting point for wiring looking like something a shade tree mechanic did after an all night bender…. I’m afraid I have my work cut out for me

Opening the box with the EZ wiring kit was overwhelmed finding the harness weight nearly 20 lbs, and seeing the magnitude of work.

rather than start on the wiring harness and redoing the entire system, I just decided to start at the battery as the cables there need the most attention. If I could power up the vehicle, I could find out what kind of shape the entire wiring system is in, this became my strategy for the weekend.

The starter relay looks to be in good shape, but the ground wires we’re losing the insulation. I was able to get a few wires free, but ran into real challenges trying to get the starter motor loose.

Like any good project, I wanted to keep making progress and switched gears and purchased a new tool chest. On the surface it doesn’t make much sense, but the challenge I was running into was having a workspace, and also where to store all the tools I’ve acquired. In a few short weeks I’ve had to purchase an impact wrench, impact sockets, screw extractors, all things that are needed but require storage space. So here you have the solution, a great unit from Lowe’s that give storage on multiple sides

Week 2

In week 1 the inventory was completed and bad news, one of the head bolts was broken I needed to be replaced.

Similar to Week 1, week 2 required getting new tools, to complete the repair. Lowe’s was able to provide a screw extractor kit, and it did the trick.

The screw extractor is reverse threaded and requires drilling out the existing bolt that remains until there is enough room to get one of the extractors threaded.

The extractor is phenomenal piece of engineering, very simple yet very helpful. You have to turn them counterclockwise which is not intuitive because you’re removing the bolt. The reason for counterclockwise rotation is because they are reverse threaded, each time you turn the extractor counterclockwise, it draws into the bolt out as small amount.

I was amazed as this is the first time I had attempted extracting a screw and it worked flawlessly

Check out the video https://youtu.be/0XXU9sq4gsU

Week 1

Accessing the project and setting a plan is the first order Taking a systems view and finding out what’s needed to get the truck running safely is the first order or business. The systems view meant looking into major components of a vehicle

Electrical
Braking
Engine
Suspension

The engine and electrical are top priority – until the truck runs there’s no reason to worry about stopping or suspension. Since the engine will not run without power, it’s an easy choice to start with electrical and rewiring from the ground up. I went with EZ Wire 21 for the update.