1998

quick liNks

maintenance

General Maintenance

Wiring Diagrams

Lubrication Charts

Specifications

May 28, 1998
Feeling that the truck is pretty much done mechanically and ready to hit the road, today I
paid my registration fees and insured it.

May 30, 1998 - MAIDEN VOYAGE
First legal trip on normal city streets in 3 years--very interesting ride. The plan for today
was to a.) go to the gas station 1 mile away, and b.) go to Winston (another 5 miles away)
for a front end alignment and to get my old tires mounted on my new front wheels. Lots
of stuff to note: The brakes work fine--the new front disks and the Mustang master cylin-
der do a wonderful job of stopping the truck, I'm happy to say. I think I made the right
choice in dumping the power brakes--these are plenty powerful. The power steering works
as it's supposed to--though all the slop in that gearbox combined with power steering makes
life really interesting. The front end feels a bit rough and sloppy, but that should go away
after a visit to the alignment shop. Oh yeah, the alignment shop--I was supposed to go
there today, wasn't I? Well...I was the unfortunate victim of vapor lock. After leaving the
gas station the engine started dying on me and it was really hard to get it started again--no
fuel getting to the carb. As it happens, the temporary fuel line I put in when I installed the
engine (neoprene from tank to engine) sagged and got too close to one of the exhaust pipes.
Bingo, vapor lock. It took me 15 minutes to figure that out, then I let the engine cool for
another 15 minutes, then I hightailed it home. I guess next week's project is to put in a steel
fuel line like I should have done in the first place.

June 6, 1998
After replacing the fuel line I have no more vapor lock. Gave the truck a few good turns
around the block. It rattles like crazy--hard to tell where it's coming from because the doors
rattle so much. I think there's more rattling that I can't pinpoint because of the doors.
Almost feels like driveline but the U joints are new...I don't remember it doing this before
on the few trips I took with the new engine. Maybe it's the hideously misaligned front
end--maybe my driveshaft isn't balanced.

June 20, 1998
I replaced all the weatherstripping on my doors to reduce the annoying rattle. Much much
better! The ride is a lot quieter and I can more accurately trace rattles. The good news is
that it appears that the driveline is not causing a rattle. There are a few inside the cab, but I
think they're all caused by missing anti-squeak pads. The front end is still hideous though.
Unfortunately I think I'm going to have to buy a new gearbox. I tried adjusting it but it's too
far out of whack. Rats, that's $400 I could have used on something else. And I definitely
need to insulate that cab! Much too noisy.

July 2, 1998
Installed a new steering box yesterday. Why didn't I do this years ago? It feels like a totally
different truck. Money well spent. I went to Winston today to get the front end aligned.
Well...to get the toe adjusted (they're not too keen on bending axles for camber/caster align-
ment for obvious reasons). The truck handles much better and shakes much less--here's
why. Minimum toe allowable on this truck is 0 and maximum is +1/16. I had +1 7/32!
So my right front tire was pretty much being dragged sideways--explains all that shaking
doesn't it? I'm a pretty happy camper right now.

July 3, 1998
Feeling very confident since my work yesterday I decided to take the truck to the car show
at Bob's Big Boy in Burbank--20 miles away. I drove there on surface streets and it went
pretty well. On the way home I got overly confident and jumped on the freeway. After
about a mile and a half of cruising at 50 (gotta love those 3.91 gears) I started getting a really
bad shake and thick white smoke out the back of the truck. I got off the freeway and inves-
tigated and found that the slip yoke was very loose. I'm guessing that the output shaft on
the tranny either bent or got real loose (or both). The smoke was caused by leaking tranny
fluid cooking on the mufflers. I nursed the truck a few miles on city streets at like 10 miles
an hour, but eventually had to call for a tow truck (basically when the transmission started
slipping). I think I can fix it though--that's the good news.

December 28, 1998
The truck still sits in my parents' garage after my little 'tranny mishap' a few months ago.
Work on my truck has been slowed lately due to various things--I developed pneumonia
over the summer and had to take things real easy, then I moved (I'm now 15 miles away
from the truck so I can't just go work on it spontaneously). I plan to have the truck driveable
again within the next 2-3 months and will resume regular updates to this page.

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1998

quick liNks

maintenance

modifications

F-Series history

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My 1950 f1