Looking for a 2.9L Mechanic in Atlanta Area

[Rick W]

The original pump wiring was just split from the the one wire coming out of the inertia switch.

No need to replicate the factory setup at this point.

Order a sending unit for 86. That pump looks just like the one for a 90. It should have a strainer on the bottom:

The only 1082BD pump I found is listed as for a Hyundai Sonata.

https://www.oreillyauto.com/detail/c/import-direct-fuel/import-direct-fuel-pump-and-strainer/idf0/e16205

Nevermind. Here is the exact pump:

Electric Fuel Pump Fits select: 1985-1997 FORD THUNDERBIRD, 1995-1997 FORD WINDSTAR - Walmart.com

Buy Electric Fuel Pump Fits select: 1985-1997 FORD THUNDERBIRD, 1995-1997 FORD WINDSTAR at Walmart.com

www.walmart.com

Haynes diagram for 86 shows power from fusible link "R" or "L" depending on date of manufacture to yellow wire at fuel pump relay. Then Orange/Light Blue out to inertia switch as in diagram above.

Muchas gracias to @SenorNoob for the diagram and detailed answer. I’m a decent shade tree, but I don’t have the knowledge a lot of you guys have on these trucks. I greatly appreciate that response.

However, for @Peter_'86_2.9L_Auto, we’re going to put it back to original. As mentioned earlier, the fuel lines between the tank and the fuel rail need to be removed and reinstalled properly. But the main reason for going back original is because everything on that truck is pretty cherry, and it’s all original. I’m not going to make a fool out of myself by saying to you guys I’m not inclined to ever modify the original, but this is Peter’s truck and it really is sweet. I think everything we need is on order now.

But I’m writing this with a smile for a different reason. When I looked for the fuel pump assembly, we found units from $50-$250, had to look through 20 sources, and then had to double check that it really was for the right truck configuration a dozen times. Ditto with the external pump. We ended up getting both for $80 on eBay, five or six day delivery. It would’ve been over $200 to buy them locally.

It only makes sense to change that fuel filter as well, even though it looks like it’s new. It inspired me to change the fuel filter on my 87, and also on my 97. I’ve got a half dozen that fit 87 and 88 town cars, but again the desire is to go original. Here’s a little bit of what makes me nuts when I look for parts like this. I searched “1986 Ranger 2.9 fuel filter.”

When I opened up each one of these, it was literally the identical part number even though the pictures look different, with a five dollar difference in price from the same company. The $16.99 was the cheapest price for local pick up.

I went to rockauto. The correct filter was a “Pro tech 510“. The correct filter for my 97 is a “pro tech 515,” which has a higher flow rate. Both of them were $1.39 each, I ordered three of each, got the two day shipping, and all six together were $0.13 less than the filter on the left above.

Anyway, we should have it up and running by about this time next week.

One last thought, I’m pretty sure the power steering pump, even though it looks new, is fried. The fluid looks dark and gritty, smells burnt, and there is a pronounced whine. I can’t flush it and check it until we get the engine going. On that one, it turned out that the local pick up pump was less than anything else available. I have a spare for the town car in the shed of miracles, and we may throw that on first to see if that works, but it’s a different part number. If not, again, it’s a local pick up item.

Thanks again to Nooby

 

[Rick W]

A little more info on the project. The first thing we had to do, and we did it together, was remove the bed. I pointed my fingers a couple times at Peter and at the bed, and the next thing I knew all the tail lights were out, and all the wires underneath the truck were all cleared to make sure they weren’t attached to the bed.

Then we tackled the star bolts that hold the bed down. That’s the 39 year-old star head bolts that bolt to the clip nuts down on the frame, that probably haven’t been moved in the 39 years that truck has been on earth out in the weather. We started soaking them from above and below with PB blaster.

I have a 24 inch 1/2” breaker bar, and of course the star socket. I used a little pick and cleaned all the crud out of the star holes so the socket would go as deep as possible. Then I put the socket in there, and took a ball peen hammer and just banged it firmly about 20 or 30 times from different angles in a staccato to try to break free/break up as much of the rust between the bolt and the holder as possible. Then I put the breaker bar on, and very firmly, but very slowly, I tried to tighten it the tiniest little bit, and then loosen it the tiniest little bit, and back-and-forth a dozen times, and when I was sure it was moving, I just increased the arc a little bit more and more to make sure the bolt was free of the clip nut. Then I used the 20 V 3/8 inch Dewalt impact wrench on high, and slowly backed the bolt all the way out.

I turned around to wipe my forehead, and Peter had the next bolt out. Unfortunately, when we tried the center bolts, the clips broke, and the bolts were just spinning.

Peter crawled up in the bed for the two bolts up by the cab. The one on the passenger side came out, and the bolt on the driver side snapped off. When we looked at the bolt, where it was snapped off was maybe half the diameter of the original bolt. All of them were pretty rusty.

I crawled underneath, and grabbed the clip nuts in the middle with a pair of vice grips, and Peter went on top and worked the breaker bar back-and-forth a little bit as before. I was absolutely astounded that both of those bolts came out of those clips with minimal effort. The Lord looks out for the feeble once in a while.

We took the tailgate off earlier. We disconnected the fill neck screws We picked the bed up and slid it back, and sat it upright on a moving blanket.

A little surface rust, but everything was very straight and clean, and we could see even more new parts and recent work.

Peter has a day job, and I wandered out to fiddle around to get a little sunshine and figured I’d tackle those clips and those bolts.

If you look close, you can see that four of them were virtually stripped where they encountered this clip nuts, and the remaining longer one had a rust buildup of about 1/16 of an inch. So the first step was to wire wheel brush the threads as clean as possible.

I figured out the right size metric dye, and clamped it in my vice between a couple pieces of 5/8 inch plywood so it would hold tight, but I wouldn’t snap the dye (like I did last time). I soaked the bolts with PB blaster and with white lube after they were wire brushed, and I carefully worked them in and out of the diye with the impact wrench on low.

I was kind of amazed that not only did the dye clean up the remaining threads, they kind of restored the threads where it was a little bit stripped and gaulded, and they also straightened out the threads where there was corrosion pitting into the threads. I wouldn’t trust these bolts in some mechanical operation, but considering they’re just holding the bed down, they’ll be fine.

I only had to look at three places in the shed of miracles to find a replacement long bolt, and three nut clips to replace the ones that broke when we removed the bolts.

The clip nut closest to the driver has been soaking in PB blaster for a couple days now. When I grabbed it with some vice grips, I was able to move it in the nut the tiniest little bit. I’m soaking it with some more right now. It is literally a couple inches away from where the fill neck goes into the tank, which I temporarily covered with a folded up Kroger bag covered with a piece of aluminum foil and put the hose clamp back on it. That’s also kind of how I covered the hole where the fuel pump assembly came out. So I’m not inclined to grind or cut that bad bolt and clip out considering the gas tank is filled to the brim with gas. I believe I can work the bolt out if it just soaks another day or two.

Back to the fill neck, the inner tube and the outer tube both looked like they were new, but the inner tube was about 8 inches short of reaching the bottom of the tank. I had a piece of the material, cut it a little bit too long, split it, slid it over the fill tube, and then drilled a hole all the way through both and connected them with a piece of solid copper wire that won’t corrode. It looks half assed, but it doesn’t have to be fluid tight, it just has to maintain continuity to the bottom of the tank as the fluid flows to make sure there is no static spark. Hmmm, I probably should have never taken a picture of this part.

Enough fun for today

 

[SenorNoob]

I understand wanting to keep it original. I haven't changed mine mostly because nothing has broken yet, but also because I've heard that going single pump can cause problems on long steep hill climbs.

 

[Rick W]

Some small progress in the last couple days on @Peter_'86_2.9L_Auto ’s 86 extended cab. The high pressure pump came in (@ 7:30 right at the start of the Georgia Alabama game, ROLL TIDE!!!) which is the last piece we needed to really start rocking and rolling. I have to go to a wedding today, so we’ll start in ernest tomorrow working around some real life stuff I have to do.

The low pressure assembly came in a few days ago, and it looks totally different than the one that was in the tank. The tank looks brand new on the truck. I installed the short new one. When I get the rest of it together before I put the bed on, I’m going to check the level gauge. Then I’ll use that pump with a piece of extra hose to pump out about 5 gallons and check the gauge again, and then do it a second time. Although all of the literature online says it is the correct pump, maybe even pump it dry to see what’s left in the tank. The short one is the correct pump, but I suspect that longer mechanism is the correct pump for that particular aftermarket tank. The good news is it’s fairly simple to take the actual pump off the short assembly and put it on the long assembly. Then I could start pouring the gas back in and see if the level gauge is working right, but either way we’ll get that part under control.

The bracket for the high-pressure pump is gone. My current thinking is to fabricate a bracket that will hold it securely out of my 1/8th inch diamond plate scraps. Is there any reason I shouldn’t use Aluminum? I still have the foam insulation from the old pump because they put it around the filter when they chopped up the system.

And I finally cut off Peter‘s last nut.

When we took the bed off, I showed Peter how to work the bolts to break them free of the rust, but the one behind the driver seat just snapped off.

I soaked it with blaster for a couple days, and I could get a vice grip on it and move it about 5° of the 360°. You had to reset the vice grips each time because there was no area to swing them. Well, each time I did it it took a little bit more of the metal off, and you could see you were going to run out of stud before you extracted the bolt and clip nut. I had the parts back in the gas tank, and I couldn’t smell the gas, but the thought of using power tools or a torch 2 1/2 inches away from the gas tank did not appeal to me. I soaked some old towels I use in the shop with water, laid them all around the tank, and used the reciprocating saw to cut the bolt off flush with the frame on top. It’s located right where the front frame and the back frame are joined, and there’s only about 3/4 of an inch between the two of them. I was maybe 1/8th inch or 1/4” short of flipping the piece out between them after I snapped off the spring part of the clip. I fussed around for a day, trying to use a screwdriver and a pretty heavy hammer to kind of bang it out, But it was just long enough it wouldn’t do squat.

Then I took granddad‘s 12 inch old school steel pipe wrench (because it had a small jaw that would fit around the corner of that front frame), and I used grandad’s 24 inch old school steel pipe wrench on the handle for leverage, pulled with all my might, and my many pounds, and I bent that corner of the frame up about an eighth of an inch. That took me a whopping 15 minutes. Then I was able to use the screwdriver through the hole and knock the piece of the bolt loose.

Then I used a short piece of 2 x 4 and a 2 pound hammer to flatten down the frame again. Man did that task suck, but that was the last thing that was in the way of progress. I had enough bolts and clip nuts in the shed of miracles to put the whole thing back together again when that time comes.

Last question. Since the bolts were rusty, and I wire brushed them, and then I ran a dye over them, my plan is to dip them in a thinned down mixture of rustoleum, and mineral spirits right at the moment we insert them, for future rust proofing. The rust oleum should seep into every part of the connection and cover the whole bolt, but shouldn’t act like a bunch of a thread locker for the next time the bolt has to come out. Thoughts?

 

[SenorNoob]

Antiseize. Any kind will do here. Use large amounts of it. If it doesn't drip you didn't use enough...

In my case the 2 front bolts were longer. Keep that in mind when you go to put it back together. I need to order one of the hardware kits myself just to get the clip nuts.

 

[Rick W]

Antiseize. Any kind will do here. Use large amounts of it. If it doesn't drip you didn't use enough...

In my case the 2 front bolts were longer. Keep that in mind when you go to put it back together. I need to order one of the hardware kits myself just to get the clip nuts.

Yes, the two forward bolts were longer here. Fortunately, I had an extra for the snapped one, and I had extra clips.

I plan it on using the thin rust oleum mix and slopping it around where the clips sit to make sure it’s all around and underneath them, and the purpose of dipping the bolts is to actually rust proof the bolt itself as much as possible.

I’m also a big believer in anti-seize, but I’m thinking rust proofing the bolt is a larger priority, and I don’t know if the two would work together. At the end of the day it will be Peter’s call.

 

[Jazzer]

Rustoleum will harden like paint and probably act like threadlocker. I don’t want to be the guy trying to loosen those bolts after it sets up. Antiseize is made specifically for the protection you’re going for.

Looking out for you bud.