My 69 F100 Ranger

[TX69F100]

Sounds like you need some traction aids and stickier tires! There's no such thing as too much power.

[TX69F100]

Some new goodies:







Degreeing the cam:

[brandon.k]

There's no such thing as too much power. [/quote]


Thats exactly right!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[jp2005]

mmm new parts!!!

[TX69F100]

I got most of the reassembly completed over the weekend. Unfortunately I had forgotten that I had broken a rocker adjuster before tear down. I was able to source a new one from Summit, so it should be here later this week.

Putting some Motorcraft TA-31 around the ports on the intake:




Smearing it really thin:




Intake, water pump, passenger's side valve-train installed:


Accessories installed:

[TX69F100]

Here's what I was waiting on to finish the assembly:

[BobbyFord]

I cringe every time I see flip-flops in the garage

[TX69F100]

Re-assembly complete!

[TX69F100]

After test-driving the truck quite a bit yesterday, I am happy to report that I'm extremely pleased with the results. This combo makes way more power, while drastically improving drivability compared to the old cam. It still has a cool sounding lumpy idle, and came with a free perma-grin.

I still have some carb tuning to do, as my wide-band shows that I'm running extremely rich across the board. Then I'll be doing a rear gear change (with trac-lok) and stepping up to a 31-spline setup.

Bowties beware...

[mrollings53]

I cringe every time I see flip-flops in the garage

I know what you mean. I still wear my steel toes from when I was working on F-18's. It was always a good laugh when you could have a truck or something run your foot over and walk away.

[TX69F100]

New idle vid:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wQhlY3SPYLY[/video]

[TX69F100]

Here's a little 10 - 60mph run I made in the truck last night. Video quality sucks, but it sounds pretty cool. As you can tell, it'd time for lower gears and a shorter tire (still running 3.25s and 31s).

[TX69F100]

Update:

Shortly after doing the cam swap back in the summer of 2011, I discovered a "coolant-in-oil" issue. After ruling out any easy fixes, I figured I had a leaking intake gasket. Frustrated, I parked the truck and didn't touch it for a while. Starting in January of last year, we began the process of renovating our home (that resulted in my garage being used for storage for the duration), which lasted through Oct.

I finally got my garage cleaned out last month, pulled the truck inside, and began tearing into the motor. A couple of weeks later I had the truck running again with new intake gaskets installed. That appears to have corrected the coolant-in-oil issue.

Last weekend I took the truck down to get new tires (275/60-R15s):



It's great to be driving it again.

[ximy]

Nice, clean.., sleeper style.

[TX69F100]

It's only been 7+ years, two children, and a new home since my last post. I have no idea if any of the same folks from way back then are still active on the forum who would remember when this thread started. Regardless, maybe someone will enjoy a little update, so here goes!

Last week I was cleaning my garage when I discovered a truck underneath all the mess that was packed on and around it:


So I decided to give the old girl a bath:



Then I proceeded to:
1. drain the 3+ year old gas
2. pour in 5 gallons of fresh 93 octane
3. check the fluids
4. charge the battery (it had been disconnected)
5. prime the fuel system (electric fuel pump) and check for leaks
6. pull the air cleaner and pump the accelerator until I could see fuel squirting
7. crank her over a couple of times until I'm rewarded with the sound of THUNDER!
8. crack open a beer and enjoy the sound of a 390 FE with a lumpy idle

I'll have to record my own video of how it sounds, but this will suffice in the meantime. It sounds almost identical to this, with a slightly deeper note. I have a very similar cam and longer mufflers:
https://youtu.be/kC8IVd-9318

Now I'm looking forward to getting her back on the road so I can enjoy driving her again.