Bought a 88 f150 custom reg cab long box 4x4 5 spd
looking for customization ideas
anybody got any?
preferably cheap but i want to hear it all

 

Add some tow hooks in front a Hitch in back and go off roading.

 

Wash it, especially the underbody, frame, & suspension. Pull the carpet & hose it off. Skin the seats & wash their upholstery. Change all the fluids & filters, using only Ford/MotorCraft parts. Clean the leaves & dirt out of the ventilation system. Replace any burned bulbs. Set the tire pressures. Clean the brakes; adjust & lube them. Pack the wheel bearings. Grease all the zerks. Get it aligned. Spray all the door & window seals with silicone lube. Adjust & lube the door hinges & latches. Lube the pedals. Get a Haynes manual & a digital multimeter, and test every sensor & actuator on the engine. Replace any cracked vacuum lines/hoses. Convert the oil gauge to actually work. Add a low fuel light. Put in an autodimming compass thermometer rear-view mirror. Install a factory resonance weight on the back wall of the cab. Swap to a factory tachometer cluster. Swap to a factory 130A 3G alternator. Remove & clean the battery terminals. Use a GPS to check the speedo calibration; the speedo should be ~2-5% higher than the GPS. Aim the headlights. Read the owner's manual, the maintenance manual, & the 4-wheeling manual. Read the Haynes manual cover-to-cover. Read the Army manual for wheeled vehicle operators, especially the chapters on off-road driving techniques & recovery. Read the Army pamphlet about field-expedient recovery. Buy a shovel, a big prybar, & a come-along.

 

I agree with Steve, however not ALL of that is customization, it is taking care of your truck. the 3G Alt is an AWESOME place to start, on top of that you can put in a saginaw power steering pump (makes steering easier\quieter\able to turn bigger tires if you have a lift), Explorer injectors (more efficient), and get an oil pressure sender from a pre-87 truck so your oil gauge actually works. I don't know what kind of motor you have, but if you have a 302 you can switch the brake boster hose with the PCV hose (on the intake manifold) to help it idle better and make your engine MUCH more reliable (especially cylinder 8). The only other thing I can think of off the top of my head is this: http://www.fullsizebronco.com/forum/...ad.php?t=63592

Also if you plan on getting fog lights\e-fans\anything that uses power you may want to get a relay box from a early 90s Thunderbird, it has 4 relays and 18 fused 12v lines.

 

How do you "Convert" the gauge to actually work?

Do you have a link for the Army manual?

 

You get an oil sender from a pre-87 f-series\bronco\van\etc. it's bigger and has to have a little plumbing extension to fit. I got the extension with my sender (got it at a JY) or you can use standard plumbing stuff from Lowes\Home Depot\etc. The stock oil sender is a switch, once the oil pressure hit 6 psi, the gauge goes to normal, thats it. The replacement oil sender is an actual sender, so the gauge will actually do something.

The only other thing you have to do other than take the old oil sender off and put the new one on is to solder some stuff on the back of the gauge cluster...on the stock gauge there is a resistor to make the oil gauge show "normal" instead of going all the way to the max the gauge will goto, it must be removed and replaced with only a wire. Steve has it all written up on his supermotors, lemme see if I can find it.

Edit: here, this shows it, but he does a lot of other stuff to the gauges at the same time. http://www.supermotors.net/registry/2742/34307

 

Wouldn't it be easier to just add a mechanical oil pressure gauge? My old 81 had the dash gauge AND a mechanical gauge I installed.

 

No, it's a direct swap under the hood with nothing to run into the cab, just a 5 min. solder job in the cab. May not be as accurate but it looks better IMO, and the local JY gave me the sender\plumbing so it was free.

 

I agree it looks better with one functioning, accurate gauge. But even with the mod you are talking about,would you be able to know what you oil pressure is? My OEM gauge has the N O R M A L letters, not the actual numbers the oil pressure is at.

 

I've hooked up a mechanical gauge to kinda see where it should be and such. The N is basically where it should be at idle, when it's cold, since the pressure is higher, its closer to the O.

 

Just don't install a big magnet and drive through a JC Whitney catalog...

Adrianspeeder

 

"but if you have a 302 you can switch the brake boster hose with the PCV hose (on the intake manifold) to help it idle better and make your engine MUCH more reliable (especially cylinder 8)."

Could you give me more info on this please?

 

Read this caption & the links in it:

http://www.archive.org/details/Fm20-...veryOperations
http://www.enlisted.info/field-manua...e-driver.shtml

 

Sure, the stock setup has the PCV valve dumping straight into the number 8 cylinder, causing quite a few engine failures (in that cylinder of course). There is a TSB on plugging the hole, pulling the upper plenum, and drilling\tapping a new hole for the pcv to dump into. This evenly disperses the oil\etc. across all cylinders. An alternative to doing all this is to cut a length of hose to run from the brake booster to the original PCV inlet on the back of the plenum, then run the PCV valve to the vacuum tree where the brake booster was previously run. Achieves the same result, without the drilling, and still provides plenty of vacuum to the brake booster. If you'd like, I can take some pics of mine tomorrow.

 

Follow the link in this caption: