Heirlooms '68 F250 - 2500 miles later.....

[Heirloom]

PS conversion is done! Quiet, tight and smooth! My truck just became a pleasure to drive, rather than a chore.

[youngone]

Very good thread keep up the good work and pictures coming.

[Heirloom]

Thank you youngone! Not a whole lot to look at right now. I mainly used JY parts for the PS conversion. With a quick engine cleaning after the job was done it looked like it had been there forever. LOL. I am getting back to the engine build now. I've been cleaning the piston and rod assemblies as well as the main caps. I will be starting the actual build of the engine tomorrow with installing crank and piston assemblies Will get some pics soon.

Slowly but surely my working project gets closer to my goal.

[pincheweddo]

PS conversion is done! Quiet, tight and smooth! My truck just became a pleasure to drive, rather than a chore.

Yea, it's pretty nice when you can reach in the window with one hand and turn the wheel!

[Heirloom]

Over the last several day I have been putting little bits of time in on the engine. I've built the bottom end, timing cover and water pump are on and one head is on. It's not a bunch of pretty new parts but I think it will work quite well.

Because I am a cheap skate I had to fix the one and only oil pan I had. It came from the JY on the 400 I bought. I didn't look it over real well and mistook a punched hole for the threaded oil drain. Instead of buying a new pan I cut out a small section of the pan and TIG'ed a new patch in. It's not body work perfect, but it's not ugly. I finished it up and painted it today.

[67_F100]

Looking nice! But why a red engine and not blue?

[Heirloom]

Looking nice! But why a red engine and not blue?

There will be blue. It's in the theme for the truck. Look back a few pages. Red, white & blue.

[67_F100]

Looking nice! But why a red engine and not blue?

There will be blue. It's in the theme for the truck. Look back a few pages. Red, white & blue.

oh ok, Cool idea!

[Heirloom]

Oh yeah, I forgot to report a break down. A few days ago my alternator apparently died. A day or two later so did my battery (well, just discharged). I was out delivering firewood in the city when it happened. I made my deliveries (and needed 2 jumps) then made it to within 15 miles of home when it finally died....I stepped on the brake and that drew the last bit of charge out. Dead.

Soooooo, it's time for a 3G alternator swap! An Alt cost's about $33 out the door at our local junkyards. Add $8 for a warranty. Soon I'll be rocking 130amps!

[Heirloom]

oh ok, Cool idea!

Thank you. I have always wanted to do a R,W,B theme but have had trouble incorporating all three colors and making it look good. I think this idea will work out.

[Heirloom]

Here are a few more pics from today. Cleaned and painted a few things and started to work out the valve train geometry.

Oh, yes I know my 'pin stripes' on the timing marks suck. But they are good enough to easily see and close enough to set timing.

[sargentrs]

Great looking engine!

[Heirloom]

Thank you Sir!

[Heirloom]

I acquired a 3G alt as well as the wiring harness (about 5ft worth) today at the junkyard. $29 for 130amps....with a warranty!! If the weather permits I will do the swap tomorrow and have pics up in the evening. This will clean up and simplify the under hood wiring a lot!

[Heirloom]

3G swap is done. Easy peasy. Anyone running a 1G (external regulated) or 2G alt (1st Gen internal regulated) should do this swap. It's Fords best alternator, hands down. A little easy wiring, drill and tap a hole and swap the pully and all there is between the alt and inner fender is the heavy charge cable and one other small wire (green/red). That's 130 internally regulated amps for $29. With cleaned up and simplified wiring to go with it.


Here is a before shot. I started removing the alt and then remembered I should get before pics.





Below is how the wiring was. Untouched by me except for the solenoid.








Next up is the 'new' alternator. Before throwing it in there are a few important mods. You must swap the v-belt pully, clock the back case to the 4 o'clock position, drill out the threaded metric mount hole and tap for a 3/8 bolt, and make a few wiring adjustments. There are plenty of how to's on this swap, but if you have any question feel free to ask.













ASAP I will be adding a 175 amp fuse inline from the alt to the solenoid. For now I have the excess wire hidden and the factory wiring coiled and tucked away. It will get cleaned up a lot more when the truck comes apart for the 400 and paint.