1982 Bronco XLT

[Weberman]

It wasn't ever bad, it had some hesitation going into reverse sometimes but driving always was good. I'm sure it was low and that nasty fluid didn't help but I'm excited/interested to see how much firmer the shifts are.

[Weberman]

Another thing done.
Added the fuel pressure regulator. Turned it all the way just to see what the pump put out. If you all may recall, the Edelbrock tech said it was completely fine without a regulator, I found the instructions to the pump about a month ago and it said that a regulator was for sure needed. Well I now have my answer. I'll fill up fluids tomorrow and start it and adjust the pressure.

[Gary Lewis]

Man, that's going to make a big difference!  Eddy's don't like more that 6 psi or the fuel level may creep up at idle, making the AFR go rich.  In fact, it can go so high that fuel spills into the throttle bores.  So you want to keep the pressure down.  I set mine to 5 1/2 psi.

[Weberman]

I've been able to keep the choke open for awhile, give it a pump, and it'll idle on its own on this hotter weather. Cooler was still one pump and me having to keep my foot on the pedal for 30 seconds. I've suspected its been very high with the adjustments I get out of the fuel screws and not needing the choke at all..

[Gary Lewis]

You'll be adjusting everything now.  But at least it'll run much better at idle.  May not make much difference elsewhere, but surely will at idle.

[Weberman]

That's what I'm hoping. Hoping to get a bit more adjustability on idle, still sounds a bit too high.

[Weberman]

Well put some fluid in and started it up. Was a but different but seemed more peppy in park revving it up. Still low on fluid, probably a couple quarts, I'm sure from filling the valve body and where ever it leaked out of during that whole time.
Overall seems good, need to get more fluid in to be sure but I feel a slight difference, we'll see if full fluid makes a huge difference or not. Seems a bit more "free" too. Feels like it pulls a little bit more, not much but like I said doesn't seem to be "held back" if you will.

[Gary Lewis]

I would think being a couple of quarts low could mean the torque converter might be low, and that could make it slip more.  Dunno, just thinking.

[Weberman]

Yeah thats what I was thinking. Couple more quarts will give it the proper pressures and it may shift harder.

The regulator was at 3 psi when I first started it this morning and it was all good. The majority said that Edelbrocks like 4.5-5.5 so I split the difference and bumped it up to 5. I'll actually adjust everything later this week

[Gary Lewis]

Yes, 5 psi ought to be plenty.  And 3 should work just fine as well for most things.

[Weberman]

Another thing I have noticed is dash lights. I barely see mine at all. It wasn't totally dark out, but pretty dark out from raining in the evening and I couldn't see any light coming out while they were on full brightness. I guess I'll probably replace those too. Does anyone have a number for the bulbs?

[Gary Lewis]

You might want to read this thread: Instrument Lighting & Paint Testing.

Ford used some blue filters on the bulbs and the filters are, by now, almost opaque.  Bill of HiPo Parts says you can polish them and make them translucent again, but most people just take them out.

Then, while you are in there as it is a pain to get there, I'd put in LEDs instead of the bulbs.  HiPo's LED's that I used are far brighter and give a crisp white light.  But you might like a different color.

[Weberman]

I saw a few pics of cool white and thought that looked best too me. Will probably get some lights and some paint to get the needles done too.

[Weberman]

How does the rear panel come off of the tailgate? Is there anything you can do for the black stripe or once it's gone, it's gone? Didn't know if it was replaceable somehow.

[Weberman]

So my speedometer bounces pretty good after hooking it back up. I'm just going to replace cable and gear. I really think it's the gear but the cable is cheap anyways. The gear is pretty stiff when turning so.
You have less teeth when you go to a bigger tire correct? Probably isn't a huge difference but if I'm going to buy a gear anyways.

I tried using the calculator and it did work for me when I tried it first but now I can't get it to work.

[Gary Lewis]

On my tailgate there are Phillips headed screws that go into studs on the trim panel.  You'll find the screws on the front of the tailgate.

On the speedo, I got a lot of the bouncing out of mine by lubing the cable with synthetic wheel bearing grease.  I had used Teflon and graphite spray lube initially on the new cable, but the speedo had a lot of bounce to it.  However, the grease did help.

As for the calculator, I don't know why you can't change the tire size like you should be able to do.  But I'm working on it.  

And you are right, larger tires require a smaller driven gear.

[Gary Lewis]

Ok, try the "Comparative" calculator now.  Somehow the ability to type in the cells had been turned off.  

[Weberman]

Well that's interesting haha.

It only bounces under 20mph, after that it's steady. I just noticed it driving around the yard yesterday and took it on the highway a bit ago to see about the transmission.
If my app is right, the speedo says 60mph and I'm actually going 75mph sooo just a tiinyyy difference that will need to be adjusted haha.

Got back and checked on the transmission dipstick, still wasn't anything there.. I put 6 in it, got another 3 and put those 2 in. I just put the 3rd one in and shut it off for the day. I guess I'm just a little surprised it's taken this many quarts... or a lot more drained out during the shift kit than I thought.

[Gary Lewis]

Yeah, that might take a bit different gear.  

[Weberman]

Says I need a 13, can only find a 16 so.. maybe just be different for awhile since I don't wanna take the transfer case apart.