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New guy from MS...

2K views 33 replies 10 participants last post by  4eyedconekiller 
#1 ·
Hey guys, just wanted to start a thread introducing myself and my car. I'm looking at purchasing a F-250 in the near future, so I make it a point to do my homework before picking up something new. This will be my first heavy dudty pickup, and my first diesel powered anything, so I've got a rather steep learning curve.

I'm a student at MSU, with just a little more time to go. My '86 GT has been pretty much put together to be a great handling street car. I do a lot of autox and am looking to do more road-course events in the future. Should be building a new engine for it in the near future, since I FUBAR'd the block in it last week.

Mods on the GT:
-Stock engine
-Bassani EL CC Headers
-Pypes Catted X
-Magnaflow Catback (dumped for now)
-Maximum Motorsports CC plates
-Tokico Illuminas
-H&R Race Springs (front)
-Steeda 5-Link-2, with 350# rear springs
-Corbeau TRS II Wides
-MGW shifter with Orange handle
-FMS 3.73's

Pics:






I look forward to meeting and talking to some folks on here, and learning all I can.

Thanks!
 
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#3 ·
:welcome: very nice stang.
 
#7 ·
thanks for all the welcome wishes... Looks like I'll be waiting a little longer since business is slowing down. I will keep lurking/taking part/learning until I can!

Sleeper, I've been to poplarville a couple times... not a bad place. Nice to know someone else in MS on the site.
 
#8 ·
I love that year Mustang. Only thing that would make it better is if it was a notch back. :D

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#10 ·
do believe I have seen it... Not sure though. Looks like I might be in the hunt for an F250 soon - just sucks that I'm a cheap bastard that doesnt like a car payment, lol.

Would you mind if I hit you up when I start to seriously look?
 
#14 ·
Well, I finally picked up a truck last week... a '99 F350 SRW 4x2. I couldnt pass it up for the price, and it seems to be a solid truck. It's completely stock, save for a K&N filter, which will be going this week, since I broke the airbox checking it :mad: Other than that, it has a few small nagging issues (bad lock actuators, bad door light switches), with the only real mechanical problem I've noticed was a noisy P/S pump, that was low when I picked up the truck.

Here's the only pic I have:


anyway, look for mods to start as soon as I sell my other car. Mods will be moreso for MPG than big power/smoke

Plans:
DIY Tymar intake (wix filter)
4" exhaust
2/4 or 3/5 drop
Tune/chip
Cosmetic mods

Thanks again for the welcome wishes, and I look forward to learning the diesel curve! Would this also be the best section to show the truck off?
 
#15 ·
Depends. If you want, you could put it in general discussion, or here is fine.

I like it! Let me know if you ever come down this way. I know of a few cheap cosmetic mods you could start with if you're interested in hearing my input.

My little bro just bought a truck almost identical, but short bed and 4x4.
 
#17 ·
Welcome to PSN, you can find lots of good info here,truck looks good,is it an early 99?should be a good foundation to get you going,there is a good fix with aluminum foil for those door lock actuators,do a search on it and if you cant find it let me know. i will see if i can find a link to it, good luck
 
#18 ·
aluminum foil? I've gotta see this! Thanks again guys!

theSLEEEPER, look for a PM from me on the cosmetic stuff. I'm probably gonna try and do a few on the CHEAP: Tinting headlights/taillights/3rd brake light, and maybe a custom paintjob on the wheels. I've already picked up a worktruck grille that I plan to paint white, and will possibly be adding some painted bumpers at a later time. I'm not a big fan of chrome, but when I do use it, its in moderation and tasteful. IMO, there's too much on this truck, but I will definitely be looking to get more ideas.

Sometimes, I wish I could just leave something alone, lol.

It's an early 99, but I havent spent much time looking to see what might be 99.5+ on the truck. Date of MFG on door is 8/98, and it has a cat, and the older style intake, but has door AND fender badges.

I'm contemplating trying to get a group of HD trucks together, kinda like our little car scene here in Starkpatch... Would you guys be willing to get a MS group started? Something like Deep South Coalrollers - what do you guys think?
 
#20 ·
i could not find the fix here, but i am terrible with computers too. anyway, i am gonna try to paste it here for you. it works good,just takes a lil time and patience. after you do the first one, the rest should go real easy.here goFirst I started by testing the signal at the harness plug to the actuator. Perfect. No issues here. Next I completely removed the actuator/lock mechanism and bench tested them with 12V..Here lies the problem. The actuator acted the same as when in the truck. First I did a thorough cleaning of all of the mechanism so it works freely and still had the same results. Here's where it get's tricky. These things are built so that they are NOT serviceable. I had already decided that they were going to need to be replaced, so I decided to break them open for closer inspection. It comes apart relatively easily, but appears that It cannot be put back together once apart. I drilled out two small rivets and then pried the case apart. As you pry the case apart you'll notice these small little plastic rods protrude up through the case cover. These rods are then "mushroomed" with heat through the upper case and then sealed with some kind of silicone. When you pry apart the case the "mushroom" head breaks off and the rod remains. You can dig out the silicone and mushroom head with a pick. It comes out very easy. Inside you will find a very small motor and some gear mechanism. I believed the problem at first to be worn brushes or dirty commutator contacts in the motor itself. You'll have to bend two little metal tabs out and pull off the brush housing on the back of the motor. I cleanded the gunk off the brushes and took 1500 grit to the commutator contacts and reassembled the motor. The motor worked, but if you applied even a slight amount of resistance on the armature, it would stop the motor. It should have been WAY stronger than this. I was stumped until I looked a little closer at the inside of the plastic brush housing. Inside you'll find a small, thin rectangular (thermal resistor relay, dodad, thingamabob??) pardon my ingnorance, but I'm not sure what to call it. All I know is that this little part is what keeps you from burning up the motor, should you continue to press the switch once the lock has been actuated. It appears that this thing wears out over time and will not allow enough signal to get through to the motor to make it work. THE FIX. I am cheap. Since I had done so much work up to this point, I decided that I would go a little further and try to make it work without spending the $$. I have better things to spend my money on than actuators. I took a small piece of aluminum foil and wrapped the "thing" voila! Perfectly working motor! I sat there and operated the thing for 10 minutes including one or two times stopping the armature and holding down the switch to see what would happen. The motor builds heat, but not much. Not enough to worry about. Now that I had a good working motor I decided I would try and reassemble the unit. The problem is you cannot glue the unit together as there is a rubber gasket around the perimiter of the case and if you tried to glue the rods into the case, you would not have enough pressure on the two halves of the case to keep the gears in place (these things actually apply a great deal of torque on the case) What I decided to do is completely break off the plastic rods flush with the bottom side of the case and then drill out the bottom case and screw it together. This worked perfectly. You'll need screws that are the same diameter as the holes in the top of the case to keep it from "wandering". Also the screws should not protrude through the back of the unit as some of the mechanism has some pretty close tolerances and a screw sticking through the back would not allow some of the mechanism to work (this can be remedied with a decent set of wire dikes or a hacksaw). I know all of this is hard to picture, but if you do decide to try this fix, you'll see what I am describing here. The locks are back in and working flawlessly.
__________________es:
 
#21 ·
you will benefit alot from a high pressure crossover line that links the oil rails that drive your injectors,i know a few of the site sponsors here sell them for $50-60. it will smooth out rough idle and acceleration too:D
 
#23 ·
I'm gonna just bide my time (and funds) for now till I can invest in some solid starter stuff, and then maybe go from there, once I get enough back for a trans in the case that something happens with this one :D
 
#25 ·
Once and a while, we get quite a few guys together for one of the events down south, usually, Scrapin The Coast. Last year, I know we had 4 members there, and we really didn't even try.

If you see Neil, flag him down. I'll try to find some pics of his truck. It's leveled on 35's I believe, black, 05+ crew cab chort bed on black rockstars. He's a real cool guy. His truck is REALLY slow though, so don't be afraid...
 
#26 ·
$50 for a sonnax valve/tricumulator spring kit will make your trans very happy. I'd maybe start there.

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#27 ·
:whs:
That was my next suggestion. Even on a stock truck. I run one on my truck from DI. David has great deals on just about anything you want for your truck.

Also, if you're wanting your transmission to live a long and happy life, try either a V10 trans cooler or one from a 6.0.
 
#28 ·
I actually know right where a V10 truck is in the local JY... Is it an external, liek the one I already have?

WIll check out DI for that valve/tricumulator spring kit
 
#29 ·
I actually know right where a V10 truck is in the local JY... Is it an external, liek the one I already have?
Yup, it'll be just like a stock replacement. No fittings or anything to worry about like using a 6.0 cooler.

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