Fc-150 Resurrection

So I was always noticing the body lines were never quite right as far as level. The cab seemed to be twisted a bit looking from the front to rear the windshield wasnt level with the rear glass. Also the bodly line on the passenger side was low in the back in relation to the bed rail. And the driver side was always low because the spring is more sacked out. I ended up shimming up the passenger rear corner a half inch and for the spring luckily the u bolts were like 3/4" too long. So I had a spring pack from some old truck with a fat overload spring on the bottom. When I took out the center bolt of my spring the bottom short leaf broke. I made a new one and added the fat 5/8" spring and cut both to lenth. Made a new center pin greased up the springs and put it back together. So now the frame is level side to side and the cab is looking straight. Also the bumper on the driver side was a little low adding to the sagging look. So i jacked it up and jumped on the other side it seemed to straighten it a bit. The only place it looks off now is at the back window in relation to the front of the bed since i raised it on the passenger side. Its not bad. I could correct it I think by adding a little on the rear drivers side but I'll see how it looks outside first. My new head gasket is here now so ill deal with that next.

 

The new head gasket seems to be working . I got the blue felpro one and it fit better. Also got the back glass put in. We had to do it twice the first time it was quite tight and bulging so i trimmed 1/8" off the top and then it layed down nice. We put it in from the inside because it was easier to manipulatere the seal from the outside without the locking strip in place there is space for it to fold easier. Also put another coat of paint on the doors and dash so i can put that in now. But i noticed the wiper motor is weak. The line is quite small so i wonder if its just not getting enough flow. I have to check the pump if its putting out anything. I wonder if I can bypass that and just run straight manifold vacuum Ill have to investigate. Anyway its just about a year since I got this thing and its basicly done. I think its pretty cool my restorations always take a year. My cj5 and porshe 914 both took a year aswell and they were in the same shape but I had a full time job when I did those. The last 5 months or so I just been puttering along on this. The only major thing left is putting the windshield in.

 

I think im going to rig up an electric wiper motor. The pcv system seems to take away half the vacuum. Im not sure how much the fuel pump is supposed to produce but it seems to smoothen the flow to about 9psi. It has about ten before the pump but it varies more. and 14 or 15 at the manifold which would be enough but the pcv tees off the line. I would check out the pump innards but Id have to pull it off because the timing plate kinda goes around it. I dont want to do the work if its not going to get me anywhere.

 

I took the pump out and the diaphram was shot. I made a new one out of vinyl doubled up. Just to see if it did anything. I t seemed to be pumping by hand but there was no improvement at the motor. I tested the motor again on our tahoe which has 18 lbs of suction and it works great. The f head is just never going to make that kind of suction.
So I went ahead with the electric wiper. I used the motor and lincage from a 2008 buick lacross. And 3 way lamp switch. Somehow it works with 3 speeds! There is an extra smaller wire on the motor which i can only assume is for the park position. Im going to get the wiring diagram and see if I can make that work too. But I made the mount for it and got the lincage all figured out with the proper ratio. Very happy with it sofar. I'll get pics I swear

 

Heres what iv got. The motor has two wires and a ground im not sure what the smaller wire does yet. The two power wires they do low and high and both at once does a third speed. The lamp switch is weird. One wire goes on and off. The other one goes on on off off. Somehow that sequence makes 3 speeds and it all works. Anyway on the wiper lincage i marked on the dash where the up and down limits for the arms and motor and just mde them match and tack welded the arm to the jeep where i thought it would work best. I have yet to try it running but seems to be right. I'll look into making the park position work and then i can put the dash back in and hopefully be done with it.

 

I attempted installing the windshield today. The way ended up being to put the seal on the frame then set the bottom of the glass in the seal and work it around the top. Except doing it that way there is no way to put the rope in because it just falls out. I guess i can try a fat rope next time. But I had to take out to trim the frame a bit in a few spots it was way too tight at the driver top corner and along the top left a bit too. Also the whole top seems to be bent a bit over to one side so thats a problem but theres nothing i can do about it and its not so bad that it wont work.

 

It worked. Got the window in same technique as last time i didnt end up using the rope. Also put on the lower dash pannel and the wiper arms and the engine cover in. Took some pics for the insurance purposes. I drove it up the road about a mile this time it went good no problems. Im thinking I might put locking hubs on the front. I know it makes a difference in my 2a as far as picking up speed. And it would be nice to have a little bigger hub to step on for getting in. The only problem is I only have one set and they are nos lockomatics so ill just keep an eye out for a worse set no rush. Next challenge is to get insurance and plates.

 

Nice work! That looks great.
I enjoyed following along.

 

X 2

 

X 3! Amazing work. Nobody would have any idea how bad that thing was when you started.

 

Great work. I love it

 

Excellent!

 

Thanks guys! Still havnt got it on the road been busy doing other stuff but hopefully soon. I went to the swap meet again and got a pair of lock-o -matics from the same guy I got the nos ones from last year. But these ones I will use just need to clean them up on the outside and the pads are missing on one so I might have to make some or just run them without. I might even have some I havnt checked yet. I also got a chrome and black stick-on trim strip I might put around the bottom of the white part of the cab to dress it up. And I got 4 trim rings for the wheels they are thin and old tyle so they might look good on it. I dont want to doll it up too much but I'll see how it looks.

 

x4

 

Got it registered last tuesday! And iv been driving it a few miles at a time getting bugs worked out and stuff. Seems its not running at its best yet but its getting better all the time. Im also working on my cj5 at the same time and customers mowers and 4 wheelers so I havnt had much time for it. But its very fun to drive it rides quite good and sure gets the looks. I had the timing cranked advanced for more power but it wasnt having it once it got hot. So i turned it back down to about 10 or 12 degrees id say and its better. Still has a bit of a miss I changed the plugs and cleaned the points again its a little better. I might swap the condenser it looks like it has a burnt spot for some reason. Its quite loud and hot in there driving around without the engine cover lol. I want to get the locking hubs put on. They are lock-o-matics and one had the pucks missing so I made some for it with a doubled up hole saw and band saw to finish shaping them. Im not sure its the right plastic for the job but atleast its got something in there.

 

Congrats on a running, driving FC!

 

I love it. You have done such a great job putting the old girl back together.

 

Thanks guys! Today I swapped the condenser with the one that came on the original distributor and it wouldnt run at all. I found another one in my stash and got it going and no more missfire! I took it on a 12 mile loop and it did good. I stopped at a few curbside junk piles and filled the bed. Took it up to 50mph for a bit. That seemed about the limit where it comfortably cruises. On the way home I took it up a long hill and the temp did creep up to about 196. It didnt really want to come back down after that just a few degrees but I was home anyway. I call that a success

 

Well the condenser didnt fix it. Today my brother was looking things over and all checked out ok. But I noticed the coil was getting really hot. I thought it was just because it was bolted to the engine so I took it off to relocate it. I looked up the part number and it was a 6volt ! I didnt know they made a bosch blue in 6v we must have got it when we had vw's So I put a 12v on and made sure it was internally resisted and bolted it on to where the air filter bolts. Runs better now! One of the oil lines sprung a leak when my brother was monkeying with it so we fixed that too. Also I got the locking hubs bolted on. One of the bolt holes was drilled out for a larger size when it stripped. Well the bigger bolt wouldnt work with the hubs I didnt want to drill it out plus the bigger head wouldnt work. So I made a stud out of a big bolt that i turned down and threaded to the smaller bolt size. It worked out great.
Tonight we went down to the local cruise night without any problems. 4 adults in the cab and it wasnt even that bad. There wasnt too many people there but it got attention. I really liked the big *** crane. I think they might be using it to lift an old train station/ museum over power lines to move it back closer to its original location which is now a rail trail.

 

Im not sure how I feel about this. First time getting "ducked". Nobody ever ducked my cj5 iv been driving for 15 years. A one eyed one at that! I guess its kinda cute. Anyway I was kinda surprised to see I put 60 miles on the truck already. Seems like I only drove it 4 or 5 times. I guess they add up. The biggest problem left is the transmission. It still works its way out of first gear which is a problem on my hill. The only thing I can figure its the bearing in the center of the mainshaft because the races were quite trashed i had to do alot of sanding to smooth them out so im sure they are quite sloppy. I would order the new parts but id have to have it apart to make sure to order the right ones there is a bunch of different input shafts. Plus the side shift seals are leaking because i didnt do them. I dont want the down time so I think its going to have to wait till the fall. I just hope it doesnt eat itself alive before then.