'85 Problem Child

[DirtBronco]

After a 5 year hiatus of mental and fiscal stability, I made the decision to harm myself with another project

Carb'd 6cyl, RWD, Manual.
This and a 300SL - Practically identical

Mostly unmodified aside from the brown paint but I love the way it looks.
The junkyard gods were also kind enough to bless me with a Duraspark system that will be going on shortly.

There's a laundry list of small issues that need fixing:
First carbureted vehicle I've owned and what a way to start... idle is high and full of misfires.
Fuel tank wont accept more than a shot glass of 87 at a time so I'm guessing that's a kinked or collapsed filler neck.
All the window rubber is rotted. Door cards are trashed. Pretty sure it needs a clutch and throwout bearing.
and all the instrument gauges are dead.

It's good to be back. Bring it on.

 

[franklin2]

On the fuel filling problem, look out for a small pipe inside the large pipe. That small pipe inside the filler pipe directs the air away from the fuel when you are filling. It can become dislodged or even someone may have unknowingly taken it out. When you are pouring all that fuel in the tank at a high rate, a lot of air is coming out to give it room. If this air gets into the fuel stream, it can cause splashing and the splashing fuel will make the station nozzle cut off early.

 

[DirtBronco]

On the fuel filling problem, look out for a small pipe inside the large pipe. That small pipe inside the filler pipe directs the air away from the fuel when you are filling. It can become dislodged or even someone may have unknowingly taken it out. When you are pouring all that fuel in the tank at a high rate, a lot of air is coming out to give it room. If this air gets into the fuel stream, it can cause splashing and the splashing fuel will make the station nozzle cut off early.

the seller mentioned "the filler neck collapsed". Looking at hose from under the bed, I didn't see any cracks so it sounds like the smaller tube detaching may be the problem.
Is it possible to reattach/reuse the old tube? I can't find any complete parts, just the outer tube on fillernecksupply.com

 

[franklin2]

Yes. It changed sometimes through the years, but most of them have a clip on the tank nipple that the small pipe fits into, and another clip on the metal part of the filler neck near the top that holds it high up out of the stream of fuel as you are filling.

The earlier larger trucks have this problem also. So much so, that Ford changed it around sometime around 87 or so. Instead of the fuel going down the large hose and air coming out the small hose, they fastened a small hose directly to the center of the neck where the station filler goes, and fuel goes down the small hose and air comes up the large hose. It does work better. Not sure if they made this change on the rangers.

 

[DirtBronco]

I was lucky enough to find an 85 2.0 in the junkyard for $8. Its filler neck had a few small cracks on the interior hose but definitely better than what's currently in the truck.

The bed was off so I rebuilt my fuel sender at the same time.
Carbureted Fuel Sender Fix
Technical write up is in work.
I'll also have a few more '83-'85 single-tube senders rebuilt in the coming weeks which I'll throw on marketplace.

Slowly working through the other foibles of the car:
- Currently battling a erratic idle after cranking, and a high idle while on the road. My best bet is vacuum leak(s) paired with some dead 1980's sensors. Hopefully will go away with Duraspark.
- There's fusible link on the drivers side fender that mocks me when I stall by smoking out my engine bay(happens more often than I care to admit, motor's got no low end). Stands to reason for a bad ground.

My Holley 2300 is getting worked over by a rebuilder so I should have my conversion wrapped up soon. Should be a great opportunity to reseal the top end and adjust the lash as well.

 

[franklin2]

The conversion will stop the random high idle. That's the same symptom I had before I converted to a duraspark and got rid of the computer stuff.

I have a main wire over near the battery that is melted also. It is the main power wire that feeds the electrical of the truck. It runs from the battery, across behind the radiator, and ends up on the driver's side where it feeds 12v to everything. I have been meaning to replace it.

What took some of the load off that wire on mine though, I got rid of the original alternator. The original alternator is near the battery, but I guess they had so much emissions junk on the pass side, they ran all the alternator wiring over to the driver's side and mounted the regulator over there. So the battery gets charged through that wire that goes behind the radiator.