Purchased 66 F100 long bed - a few questions

[jfm]

I just bought a 66 F100 long bed with what I believe to be a 300 inline six and 3 on the column. It's going to need a lot of work, but the previous owner just put on 5 new wide tires and new painted rims plus a new gas tank. First thing I'm going to have to do is a tune up - plugs, wires, etc. - and a carb rebuild. A few of questions:

1. Chilton or Haynes manuals for this year seem to be hard to find. Where could I find a good one? Also, are there any sources for pdf's of manuals?

2. This vehicle obviously has a very high rear end ratio. May have been changed. When I was driving it home, the speedo stayed between 35 and 40, and the driver of the following vehicle said I was doing 55 to 65. At what turned out to be about 65, the engine was just loping along. So, I like that part. Trouble is, with this transmission, first gear requires a lot of revs and slipping to get going. That would make it useless for anything other than highway driving. The question is this: What kind of transmission could I get that would help this problem? I was thinking of a 4 speed with granny low, but my son suggested that a 5 speed would be easier to find and much cheaper.

3. How could I tell what the gear ratios of this transmission are?

Thanks.

[Gritsngumbo]

Probably be easier/cheaper to change the rear end (pumpkin) than the transmission. There should be a tag on the differential but if it's been modified might not be accurate.
There's a way to tell the ratio by turning the wheels and counting the revolutions of the drive shaft, but I don't know the specifics.
Oh yeah, where are the pictures? We must see pictures of your truck. And, last but not least, welcome from Louisiana.
Where are you located?

[Hunter's 64]

1. Chilton or Haynes manuals for this year seem to be hard to find. Where could I find a good one? Also, are there any sources for pdf's of manu

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/1966-For ... 5d2f756d64

Here's one

Danny

[jfm]

Probably be easier/cheaper to change the rear end (pumpkin) than the transmission. There should be a tag on the differential but if it's been modified might not be accurate.
There's a way to tell the ratio by turning the wheels and counting the revolutions of the drive shaft, but I don't know the specifics.
Oh yeah, where are the pictures? We must see pictures of your truck. And, last but not least, welcome from Louisiana.
Where are you located?

Yeah, but, based upon the apparent first gear ratio now, I would guess that this would not alone solve the problem and it would hurt the top gear cruising performance.

I'll put up some pics as soon as I can. Thanks.

[jfm]

Forgot to reply to this part:

And, last but not least, welcome from Louisiana.
Where are you located?

Thanks, and I'm located in Barnesville, Georgia.

[jfm]

1. Chilton or Haynes manuals for this year seem to be hard to find. Where could I find a good one? Also, are there any sources for pdf's of manu

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/1966-For ... 5d2f756d64

Here's one

Danny

Thanks. Grabbed one. If the scans are good, it should be well worth the money.

[sixty6]

If you like the gear ratio for cruising. Then the 4 speed is a good way to go. The new process 435 came in a lot of these trucks. Not sure how many came behind the 300 i6. If you can find on to match up to your 300, I say go for it.

[R Pope]

Too bad you're so far away. I just pulled the 6 and farmer four out of my '66. Cost more than its worth to ship it down there!
Road trip??!!

[Uncle Skip]

Here is a link for you to look at.

http://www.motivegear.com/tech_info/tra ... guide.html

Scroll down to the Mazda M5R2 5-speed. I had this transmission behind my EFI 300-6 and had over 217,000 miles with no problems.
You'll have to work out the hydraulic clutch but it bolts up to the standard 300 6-cylinder motors.
If I had it to do all over again, this is the way I would go. 90's EFI and this transmission.
U@ss

[rcb1020]

I have these books , a must have ! this is a GREAT price !

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayI ... 1351222347

[R Pope]

I agree, the M5R2 would be a good choice. I am putting one in my '66 with a 351. The driveshaft has to be shorter, but it all bolts up to the engine. The hydraulic clutch takes a little fabrication too. The rear X member has to move back a ways but I just drilled some new holes in the frame to fit.

[jfm]

Here're some photos --

General photos:















Carter YF carb (that I'll be asking questions about):





Or, here are links to the Facebook albums-

General:
http://tinyurl.com/4yqdpqe

Carb:
http://tinyurl.com/3uvc8xp

[jfm]

Too bad you're so far away. I just pulled the 6 and farmer four out of my '66. Cost more than its worth to ship it down there!
Road trip??!!

Yeah, I'd love to have the tranny. Road trip? Not until (1) I get the ol' gal runnin' good and (2) we get those gas prices down. Even so, that's a looonnng way.

[jfm]

Thanks Uncle Skip and R Pope for info on the Mazda tran. Going to table that, though, and come back to it later. Right now, I have to get the carb working right so she can be driven. Runs terribly (except at hwy speeds) and leaks like a son of a gun. Was lucky to get it the 40 miles home. Looking forward to driving the old girl around town.

As to the rear end ratio, the door plate indicates that it should be a 3.73, but it feels much higher than that. I tried the jacking up one wheel thing to check the driveshaft vs wheel rotation, but that didn't work for me. Guess I'll just pull the cover and take a look. I think I need to know that before I start thinking about a replacement transmission. If I do pull the cover, should I go ahead and replace the lube with synthetic, or is the truck too old?

Now, on that carb: Should I post questions here or make another thread?

[cdherman]

Thanks Uncle Skip and R Pope for info on the Mazda tran. Going to table that, though, and come back to it later. Right now, I have to get the carb working right so she can be driven. Runs terribly (except at hwy speeds) and leaks like a son of a gun. Was lucky to get it the 40 miles home. Looking forward to driving the old girl around town.

As to the rear end ratio, the door plate indicates that it should be a 3.73, but it feels much higher than that. I tried the jacking up one wheel thing to check the driveshaft vs wheel rotation, but that didn't work for me. Guess I'll just pull the cover and take a look. I think I need to know that before I start thinking about a replacement transmission. If I do pull the cover, should I go ahead and replace the lube with synthetic, or is the truck too old?

Now, on that carb: Should I post questions here or make another thread?

Good luck pulling the cover on your rear -- there isnt one....

Why did the one wheel up trick not work? Find flat spot. Chock up the front wheels. Lift one wheel. Put her in neutral. Put a piece of tape (some say tape a piece of string) to the drive shaft. Rotate the wheel once and see how many rotations the shaft makes. Divide by 2. You have your ratio, more or less. Its hard to count the rotations down to halves or thirds, but you'll get it close enough.

If the wheel will not turn, jack up both sides. If they both go forward, jackpot, you have a LS rearend......

[jfm]

Sorry, I guess notifications are not working. I didn't see your post. In answer to your question, for each rotation of the tire, the driveshaft rotated about 1.79 times, and I know that can't be right. So...

[jfm]

The emissions sticker on the engine valve cover indicates that it is for a 77 model year, but the block casting code, D5TE-6018-AA, indicates that the block, anyway, is a 75, so I'm thinking maybe 75 short block and 77 head(?). I think that the rear end is a 2.75, but I want to check using a tach and a friendly police officer's radar. More on that later.

So far, I have done the following:

* New battery

* Changed oil & filter and fuel filter; 60 psi oil pressure at idle


* New plugs, points, condenser, dist cap & rotor, & plug wires - oddly, not running as well as before

* Purchased YF carb via eBay and rebuilt. Not perfect, but runs pretty well.


* New brake hose and new rebuilt wheel cylinder for passenger front. Also, thanks to advice from smart folks here about things like double flares, replaced part of same brake line. Truck now stops in (relatively) straight line and folks in other lane are somewhat safer. Yay!



* New rebuilt alternator. This truck has an ammeter on the left side of the dash, and this shows the alternator is putting out, yet alt light remains on, so I'm still scratching my head on that.


* New starter relay

* Replaced temp sender. Now all gauges, except fuel (and alt light as mentioned above), work.

* Put new lamp socket in left tail light assy

Little things left to do:
Quiet noisy lifter/rocker(?)
Add choke butterfly - twisted off screws when rebuilding (instructions said remove, so I did) - & mount choke cable
Get dash lights working
Replace fuel sender
Add outside mirrors
Door locks with keys
Locking gas cap
Remove steering wheel and orient properly
Fix horn, new horn button
Replace passenger vent window lock and/or glass
Secure new gas tank - only 1 bolt + filler neck now holding it
New heater vent ducts
New heater & radiator hoses
Fuel pump has very small leak - needs replacing

Big things to do:
Rust repair!!! Need advice on this.
New back glass & rubber
Replace door and windshield rubber, new window channels
Replace all brake lines and flush
New clutch, pressure plate, etc. Chatters/shudders badly.
Replace rear main seal & perhaps front

Letter to Santa:
EFI exhaust manifolds
Offy manifold, Carter or Ford 4 barrel
M5R2, or 4 speed, transmission
Replace wiring harness


A few quesitons:
Here's a picture of the oil pressure sender. Wonder which is OP and what other is?


I badly need to put some outside mirrors on the truck. This is going to be a work truck, so used is fine if in decent shape. What should I look for?

Also, I need to add seat belts. None on it now. I'm thinking shoulder harness' for driver and passenger and lap belt for middle. What should I look for for these?

I found an EFI 300 complete engine with <100k miles that I can buy for $350. If I am going to buy EFI exhaust manifolds anyway, then the net cost of the engine is $300. Even though money is needed elsewhere, I'm thinking that's too good of a deal to pass up. I would buy it and put it aside for later use. What do you guys think? Come to think of it, I wonder if maybe I could use the clutch and pressure plate, etc., from this engine? I believe it has a manual transmission.

[Fanatic]

On that sending unit pic ----the small sender is for an idiot light and the big one is for a gauge

Tim

[Leeroy]

I like I like! Great starting point

[SoulsShadow]

moved to new topic