Rembrant's new non-Bullnose project

[Gary Lewis]

The downside of having too much resistance is too little current to adequately charge the coil.  So you'd have a weak spark.

But I don't know why a coil that supposed to fit a vehicle with a ballast resistor would have such a high resistance.  That makes no sense.  Which is why I'd measure current rather than resistance and see how much it pulls.  It may be just fine w/o the ballast resistor.

[Rembrant]

Cool, thanks Gary!

[ArdWrknTrk]

I sent my spare Holley choke off to George, but I'll have a look at their website

[Rembrant]

I have some updates...one of which is a major milestone for me: I finally got my Painless full vehicle harness pulled through the cab and bolted in the fuse box last night. The wires are all still loose, but the fuse box is attached and I can start organizing things.

I made a bit of a mistake buying the harness that I did. I bought the generic "hotrod" key-in-dash harness, assuming it was the correct one for me. I didn't realize until I started reading the instructions last night that painless actually makes a Hotrod Pickup harness as well. They're basically the same thing, it's just that the car full harness has the tail section wires running in the interior, and the truck harness has the tail section wiring going through the firewall. I know it doesn't seem like much, but they have the harness pre-made in sections, so I'll have to redo some of my "car" harness to convert it into a truck harness. Not a big deal really.

I've finished installing the Painless Duraspark II harness (mostly). It's finished on the engine/coil/distributor/ignition module end, but needs to be finished up on the firewall end. I went and bought another coil that was confirmed to be for a ballast resistor system, and had the correct input/output numbers to help relax my brain LOL. I mounted the ballast resistor on the aluminum frame above the power steering pump.

Next up is the Derale fan controller. I read about this on here...I think Scott mentioned it a while ago, but it really appealed to me. I much prefer the PWM control over hard on/off control. One thing bugs me a bit about it though...and I've been emailing them about it this week. The temp sensor attaches to the upper radiator tank with a strong 3M adhesive pad. That in itself is fine, but I asked the question: What happens if I need to remove my radiator for any kind of service. Their recommendation is to buy a new temp sensor and splice it in. I think I'll just add a connector plug now during installation instead. It comes preset to 180F, and I'm running a 195F thermostat, so I asked about that also. They recommend I run the controller 10F above my t-stat temp, so 205F. I can only adjust the set point with the unit all installed and powered up, which is fine, but 205F seems high to me...maybe it just seems that way, I don't know, but I'll have to play around with it. I think I'll set it a little cooler to start.

Any thoughts from the electric fan crowd?

https://derale.com/product-footer/electric-fans/fan-controllers/pwm-controller/16797-detail

[ArdWrknTrk]

Progress is GOOD!  

I'm not the electric fan expert but it makes sense to me that you would set your fan above the thermostat temp.
Remember, the thermostat isn't an off-on switch either, and that you shouldn't really need a fan running on the highway.(although the header tank will be very close to that thermostat temp)
The radiator is going to shed heat even with very little airflow. The delta between a 100°F day and a 195° opening thermostat is just too great.

[Rembrant]

Thanks Jim! Good points. I’ll aim for the 205F as my set point. I’m running a big 3-row Champion rad which should cool my little 302 with relative ease.

[FuzzFace2]

Why do they want the prob on the upper tank and not the lower?
If the radiator can do its job with out the fan like driving down the road but the temp going into the radiator is at or above the set point would not the fan run when it dose not need to?

If the radiator cant cool the fluid then the fan would kick on and the temp would drop till it turned off.
Or am I missing something?
Dave ----

[ArdWrknTrk]

Dave I think they want you to do it that way so they assure the thermostat opens and stays open.
You need water to circulate or you're going to get hotspots.

The thermostat doesn't control the return temp, just just how hot that coolant leaves the engine.
I've noticed my gauge swing back and forth until the whole system is thoroughly warmed up.
If it's cold enough the heater core will do the job and that upper hose won't get hot for a long time.

Maybe some more direct inquiry is in order?

[Rembrant]

ArdWrknTrk wrote

Maybe some more direct inquiry is in order?

In my brief communication with them a couple days ago, it was mentioned that they used to monitor the temp at the "cold side" of the radiator, but they moved to the hot side, or radiator inlet.

After reading a bit more on the topic, I understand it better and see why it is better to read the temp at the hot side (inlet) of the radiator.

https://www.hemmings.com/stories/article/core-temperature

My 195F thermostat will only just crack open at 195F, and wouldn't be fully wide open until somewhere between 205F and 215F (according to the above article). So, Derale's recommendation of setting it at 10F above the thermostat opening temp should theoretically keep the thermostat at a steady state of 50% open.

[ArdWrknTrk]

I mentioned above that a thermostat isn't an on-off switch.
They modulate flow to keep the engine at operating temperature.
(which is why I figured the sensor is installed at the outlet)

[FuzzFace2]

I guess I was right at 1 time till they went and moved it
I will have to read that link to under stand it better.
Dave ----

[Rembrant]

I think I mentioned that I got the harness pulled through the firewall last week. Here's what it looks like...





I'm looking forward to it but I'm not looking forward to it if that makes any sense lol. I hurt my back again earlier this week so I'm hobbling around like an old goblin and will be pretty much useless without being able to bend over under the hood and under the dash, but anyway. I'll try to find some easy tasks to do.

My new NVU gauges showed up also. I got the Woodward Black vintage series, and I bought a new fuel tank float/sender from them as well. Neat that they have the speedometer option in KM/hr, although this old truck will never get to 140 km/hr, let alone 240 km/hr lol. Still, it will be nice to have accurate gauges.



So much wiring...only thing worse would be installing EFI on top of all this. I have an electronic trans, electric radiator fans and electric fuel pump, DSII ignition, etc. I'm now seeing why people love those 1-wire GM distributors so much!

[ArdWrknTrk]

What a huge amount of progress Cory!

Those gauges look great.  

[Rembrant]

ArdWrknTrk wrote

What a huge amount of progress Cory!

Those gauges look great.  

Thanks Jim! I get a bit overwhelmed with it sometimes, but I just make it a point to try to do at least one thing. If that means connecting only ONE wire, then that's what it is lol. I honestly never intended to get into this much work, but here I am. There were times when I wanted to abandon the whole thing, but couldn't do that either.

I worry about it not working properly...I have done so many things to it I start to wonder what parts or sections are not going to work lol. I don't think I have it in me to pull the engine or transmission again lol.
As I said, I really didn't mean to get into it this far.

The things I get myself into.

[FuzzFace2]

Looking good Cory

Yea looking at all that wire I would like to run away but you are in too deep to do that
You do tend to go over board on your projects but in the end they look great.
Just hope you hold on to this one and enjoy it for a bit before letting it go.

Now finish your coffee and get out there and do 1 or 2 things so you can get it on the road soon.
Dave ----

[ArdWrknTrk]

Never a dull moment, eh?

This project has kept you busy and thinking through the winter precisely because it's more than just a Flareside refresh.  😉
You will get it sussed. Then it's time to enjoy cruising and car shows when the weather gets better.

What's that idler to the left (right in pic) of your alternator?

[Rembrant]

FuzzFace2 wrote

Looking good Cory

Yea looking at all that wire I would like to run away but you are in too deep to do that
You do tend to go over board on your projects but in the end they look great.
Just hope you hold on to this one and enjoy it for a bit before letting it go.

Now finish your coffee and get out there and do 1 or 2 things so you can get it on the road soon.
Dave ----

Haha, thanks Dave! Good to see all the east coasters up and at 'em so early! I am just finishing my 2nd large cup of coffee while I organize my work bench lol. With my back issues today, I can't do much...maybe run some errands and do some "bench top" work if I can.

[Rembrant]

ArdWrknTrk wrote

Never a dull moment, eh?

What's that idler to the left (right in pic) of your alternator?

Jim, good question on the idler. That was a lesson I learned the hard way, I guess lol. It is the factory idler wheel when the belt was in the stock location. See below from when I hauled this old 302 home. It's a belt routing that I believe is specific to the 1994-1996 pickups with SBF.



Problem was...I deleted the smog pump below the alternator with no provisions for ever being able to reinstall it...in other words, I cut the mounting tabs off and smoothed them out on the big aluminum bracket. Lots of people have eliminated factory smog pumps, I didn't think a thing of it at the time. Unfortunately, it rendered the belt tensioner useless...it just rotated to the full stop.



After buying several belts to try and make it work (it still didn't work), I scrounged a new aluminum mounting bracket from a junked F150 out in the woods here, and I was just about ready to order an idler pulley to replace the smog pump when I found a thread on FTE with the same issue I had. A guy posted up a picture of how he had been running his 351w for the past decade, and I gave it a try with my little 302, picture below:



It seems like it will work just fine, but I haven't run the engine yet so the jury is still out. If it works on a 351w, it should surely work on a 302, but we will see.

I'm now stuck with the factory idler wheel just sitting out in the open. If everything works OK, I will probably remove it and just stick a stainless button head bolt in it's place.

[Gary Lewis]

I like that belt routing. It should work well.

And the overall plan is really taking shape. I like it.

As for walking away, I understand the feeling. I had more wires than you do, and it was quite a slog to get them all hooked up. But I got there and it was well worth it. You will too and will love it.

[salans7]

Rembrant wrote

Thanks Jim! I get a bit overwhelmed with it sometimes, but I just make it a point to try to do at least one thing. If that means connecting only ONE wire, then that's what it is lol. I honestly never intended to get into this much work, but here I am. There were times when I wanted to abandon the whole thing, but couldn't do that either.

The things I get myself into.

I struggle with this as well. I never intended to be tearing apart my F350 and building it from the ground up, but here I am. With my work schedule and just overall project fatigue, I find it hard to do anything on the truck because of how much things like finances, time, weather, and random setbacks have tried to knock me down over the years.

The one thing that saves me is my old F150, which I was in a similar situation with. I think back to how much I miss that truck, and how much I wish I would have just kept chugging along on it. That always puts the F350 in perspective for me and I get right back to it until the next setback.