Guitars for Real Musicians

Craig · Posted: Thu Aug 19, 2010 6:14 pm Post subject: The Auto Thread

I was thinking, I don't know how many of you guys are gearheads (automotively speaking) but it would be nice to have a thread for that. It can be anything, just posting a picture of your car, asking repair questions, etc. I know a bit about cars - I've spent the majority of my working life in auto service - so if you guys need advice, ask. I may or may not know, but I might be able to direct you to the answer also if I don't know myself.

I got the idea for this thread because my truck stranded me today. It was only a mile from my house, but in 110 degree heat, that sucks. At least I was at the gas station, though, so it was better than on the side of the road.

The truck is a 1973 Ford F100 2WD with a 390 FE series V8 and C6 automatic trans. The problem was that I was backing out of a parking space and the motor stalled. I tried to restart it, but to no avail. The entire electrical system was dead - no lights, radio, and no starter - as if there were no battery in the truck. It's done this twice before, awhile ago, and after a few minutes, it would be fine and start normally, but not this time. My wife came and took me home, and then later my buddy came and towed me back with his truck - a CHEVY... Embarassed

Never thought I'd see the day, a Ford being towed by a Chevy... it's usually the other way around Laughing

Kidding aside, a tow is a tow, and when I got it home I started thinking about the problem. On Fords up through the mid-90s, the + battery cable runs into the starter solenoid which is bolted to the inner fender, instead of mounted to the starter like other brands. The solenoid functions like a junction box and has wires for the starter as well as the rest of the electrical system. I figured, if the starter were bad, I'd still have power to the light and such, but since it was all dead, the only thing it could be was the solenoid. Any other problem wouldn't likely be intermittent like this either, so I went to NAPA and got a solenoid, and 10 minutes later, it was alive again.

This was the culprit:

So, if you ever have this kind of thing happen on an older Ford where the entire system is dead, and you know the battery is fine, it could be your solenoid. Other companies route their wiring differently and don't use the solenoid as a junction box, so it may not apply on other makes. Maybe this can be of help someday for you guys; just thought I'd share my experience.
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Phantomotaku · Posted: Thu Aug 19, 2010 7:17 pm Post subject:

My friend keeps a spare solenoid in his truck just in case.
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When someone asks you if ya paid your dues, you just stare that big sucker right back in the eye, and you remember what ol' Jack Burton always says at a time like that: "Have ya paid your dues, Jack?" "Yessir, the check is in the mail."~ Jack Burton

Craig · Posted: Thu Aug 19, 2010 7:44 pm Post subject:

Craig · Posted: Fri Aug 20, 2010 6:01 pm Post subject:

Thought I'd show you guys my pride and joy project truck, so here are some pics of my trusty old warhorse:

The plate you see on it here is the original plate from 1973 with the original plate frame from Sanderson Ford, a dealer in Arizona. They are still in business, as a matter of fact. I still have the old plate, but not on the truck anymore since I have Historic Vehicle plates on it instead (still using the frame, though) :

They are actually made of copper rather than steel. Surprisingly nice touch, especially for Arizona.

Here is a view from underneath of the Hedman headers that my coworker helped me install:

They are a 4 into 1 design (helps high RPM power) and have 1 3/4" primary tubes dumping into 3" collectors. We bolted 2 1/2" reducers on to connect to the pipes, since the motor is internally stock, meaning not aggressively tuned, and would actually lose torque with pipes that are too large. Technically, 2 1/4" pipes would have been better suited to performance with a stock motor, but the larger the pipe diameter the deeper the rumble, which is part of the fun of having a big block V8 Cool

The pipes run into dual Flowmaster 40 series mufflers, and both pipes exit on the right side since the truck has an auxiliary gas tank under the left side of the bed, conveniently preventing the routing of a pipe there Mad

It doesn't affect performance at all though; rather, the factory single 2 1/4 exhaust and very poorly designed manifolds were so restrictive that these engines typically gain 20+ horsepower and 40 or so foot-pounds of torque with the mods I've done. This means that I now have somewhere around 220 hp and 415 foot-pounds. It makes a HUGE difference in the way it drives. Effortless acceleration and cruising, not to mention absolutely GNARLY sound Cool

My goal is to keep the truck as long as I can and make it a project that my son and I can work on together, and gradually restore and modify it into a Pro Street truck. I would like it to run sub-13 second quarter miles eventually, which will require some serious $$$. This means it's a long-termer for sure Wink

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Phantomotaku · Posted: Fri Aug 20, 2010 6:06 pm Post subject:

When I get around to it I'll see if I cant find a pic of my 79 F350
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When someone asks you if ya paid your dues, you just stare that big sucker right back in the eye, and you remember what ol' Jack Burton always says at a time like that: "Have ya paid your dues, Jack?" "Yessir, the check is in the mail."~ Jack Burton

HendrixFan85239 · Posted: Fri Aug 20, 2010 6:15 pm Post subject:

If you ever redo your exaust again, you should route them out the side, nascar style. Cool

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Gear:
MIM Fender HSS Strat
Squier Affinity Strat
Hondo II LP Jr. Copy
80's Fender Acoustic
Kramer Bass
Line 6 Spider III Amp
Peavey Bandit 65 Amp
Gallien-Krueger Bass Amp
DigiTech Grunge Pedal
85' Harmony LP Copy
Derring Banjo

Craig · Posted: Fri Aug 20, 2010 8:41 pm Post subject:

Craig · Posted: Mon Sep 27, 2010 9:18 pm Post subject:

I've been mulling cars again. I'm a Ford guy through and through and in the past, I thought about restoring a MKIII Thunderbird ('61-'63). Like this:

My mom, being a child of the '50s, has always like T-birds. It would be cool if I could pull this off... getting my mom a chance to cruise in her dream car. This generation is my favorite of all. Probably the sleekest one, they called these the "bullet birds" for a reason!
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broski · Garage Jammer Joined: 17 Oct 2010 Posts: 23

those t-birds are nice cars, one of my teachers in high school had a 50's model with a tuxedo paint job a carson top and white leather interior it was sharp, ill have to get some pics of my trucks up whenever i get the time, my driver is an 85 dodge d-150 longbed, and iam restoring an 83 gmc high sierra shortbed which is gonna be my hot rod its gotta 350 with double humped heads a mid size holley 4 barrel, and iam planning on a competition cam new exhaust and a decent set of headers to really open it up

hornet258 · Garage Jammer Joined: 03 Nov 2010 Posts: 3

Craig, the next time your starter solenoid won't work, try this. Take a screw driver and jump across the solenoid by touching the end to the battery + wire (the one on the left on the large copper stud) and lean the screw driver into the closest smaller terminal (S). When you make contact, the starter will engage.
If you want it to actually start, make sure the key is in the run position.
Mark (fng)