Have about two thousand ideas for what all I'd like to do in regards to restoration, cosmetics, and performance, but just going one step at a time.
Aquired 2/17
Old headlights just not cutting it
New head light assembly 3/17
Ease on the brakes and they'd nearly bounce you out of the truck. New rotors, semi metallic pads, and front wheel bearings. Also hit every grease point while it was in the lift. 3/17
Ordered some new toys. Ordered plugs, wires, cap & rotor, and coil. Have no idea how old the stuff that was currently in the engine had been there, but it was Not performance, and it was definitely time to refresh things. Not everything came at the same time, so instead of waiting I decided to do some tests.
1st up, replace the original coil with an MSD Blaster coil.
With only the new coil I could tell a difference in throttle response, sitting in park. Took before and after videos.
Next up MSD Super Conductor low resistance wires. Sitting on the OEM style distributor cap. (The MSD cap & rotor I ordered is for a Ford. Dammit.)
It has 3.55 gears and anti spin rear dif. Before wires and coil this dog wouldn't powerbrake. Now with just wires and coil it'll light the tires up easy. Aside from those 2 things, performance wise the truck all stock.
Fuel mileage before tune up, oil change, and CAI was 13.9 (some city, mostly country roads, no real highway miles to speak of, on mid grade.) Whenever I figure out what the mileage is after the blaster coil, super conductor wires, double platinum plugs (if mileage isn't great I'm gonna try Champion single platinum), gold distributor, and cold air intake; I'll post it.
Got a chance to check fuel mileage. Did "play" a couple times (once was with some primered honda, other was on a nice back road all alone). 20.292 gallons of mid grade got 314.5 miles; 15.5 mpg with the good tune up, synthetic oil, and cold air intake. A lot better than the 13.9 I got on 2 tanks in a row before all that stuff.
Looks like a nice clean truck. Great job with covering the basics, by the way. Way to show how a simple tune-up can boost the mileage right back to where it should be!
Old shocks were absolutely horrible. This truck handles more like a sluggish boat than a truck. They were very slow to push back out, both front and rear. One of the rear shocks wouldn't push back out at all.
5/17 new Gabriel Maxx Control nitrogen shocks, front and rear.
Between the new tires and shocks it handles a lot better.
6/17 Got a used OEM intake manifold to tinker with. Dirty! Carbon and gunked up oil all through it. I'm not sure how these engines even stay running with 50k+ miles. But after I get this cleaned up and do some porting it'll be a nice addition.
6/17 Got a set of shorty headers, not sure if I'll install them any time soon or not.
6/17 the slow process of wet sanding has started. Not in a hurry to get it painted, just tired of looking at that flaking clear coat
Bought a used 5.9 magnum shortblock. Forged eagle crank, forged H beam rods, forged probe pistons, ARP studs for the mains & heads. Got it checked out by my engine builder, everything looks good in this 365. New bearings, cam bearings, file fit rings gapped for boost. Getting a new cam to go with the Indy heads I scored, with shaft mounted 1.5RR roller rockers. Leaning towards going with a 78/75 remote mount turbo.
I was toying with the idea of twin remote mount turbos. I want to mount them closer to the engine than most remote installs. I figure right next to trans at the back of the overdrive unit is would be ideal.
I was toying with the idea of twin remote mount turbos. I want to mount them closer to the engine than most remote installs. I figure right next to trans at the back of the overdrive unit is would be ideal.
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