Hey everyone,
I used to be somewhat active on here awhile ago...a LONG while ago. I have a 1989 F150 that my Grandparents bought new, put a pop up camper on it, and used it to take me traveling all over the US. I've been to 38 states in it. On my 21st birthday, he gave it to me with 55,000 miles on it...110% stock. He sold the camper, but here's a pic from 1991, somewhere in Oregon:

Once I got it, I went through and replaced everything that needed to be replaced from it setting roughly 7 years in AZ, along with a remote start, Saginaw PS, F350 brakes, Taurus E-fans, Exploder injectors, and a 3G alternator. My wife got pregnant, I got laid off from Bank of America, and we moved cross country in it...with everything we owned in the back of it. Once we moved here, I put some Dodge wheels on it, GT40Ps, converted it to MAF, Mustang headers\Y-pipe, dual batteries, Exploder OHC, 4+1 mod in the trak-lok, and a few other odds and ends. Here's a pic or 2 of that...probably the best shape the truck has been in:





After that, I installed a Transgo shift kit and to totally killed how the transmission shifted. I reinstalled the kit twice, showing Transgo pictures of the install the entire way, and they had no idea what happened. I adjusted the TV cable every way imaginable, no change. Then, in the midst of all that, my wife got pregnant again and the truck basically went on the back burner from a mixture of frustration and it's inability to (legally) carry 4 people around on a regular basis. I bought a Grand Prix GTP, and it got the focus of my gear wrenching for the next 4 years.

Last year, Grandpa passed, and I swore to myself it'd be on the road again. I bought a Silverfox VB earlier this year, but it didn't get installed until about 2 months ago...Grandma isn't doing good so we had to take a trip back to AZ so she could meet the kids before she goes. Anyways, over the last 2 months I'm going through fixing and replacing things. I can't say enough good things about Silverfox (Dan), he's been awesome to work with, and has re-calibrated the VB twice so it'll shift to my liking.

So far, I isolated (and replaced) the 2 batteries, replaced the F350 booster and MC (bad), flushed all the fluids twice, put the correct MAF in (I had a Truck's MAF instead of a Mustang's MAF), swapped in LEDs on everything exterior (minus the headlights), cleaned the TB while replacing the IAC (more on that soon), put in a smog pump bypass with a Gatorback belt (shorter belt caused a squeak even with a new tensioner\pulley), and put a better 2 channel amp in for the Alpine Type-R components in the doors. Here's some pics of all that jazz:
New batteries, isolated, and connected up the under hood lights again:

New Booster\MC:

Bypass pulley\new belt:


Today I installed new plugs and wires, check out what 4 years of setting did. Yes, I used grease:

4,3,2,1:

5,6,7,8:


I still have some finishing touches on the LED swap, which I hope to finish tonight, so I'll get some pics\video after all that. I don't have a build thread anywhere, so I figured I'd go ahead and start one!

 

It appears my OCD got the best of my today. What started out as me cleaning and greasing the tensioner pulley, ended with me sanding and painting the tensioner itself, then painting it and the 2 bolts. It cleaned up pretty nice, I made sure to keep everything nice, clean, and greased. Now I have 2 clean things on the engine, lol. Soon there will be more.

 

Check your PM's.

 

After 2 freakin weeks, I finally got the LEDs in the mail, and installed them in about a half hour. Took awhile because I didn't want to remove the console, so I was very careful not the break the indicator cable. Oh, and I have big hands. Anyways, they are WAY brighter as expected, but there is a slight dim spot on the passenger side of the speedometer. We'll see how it looks at night, I think it might be livable, or I might be able to modify the bulb to work better. We'll see. I was able to swap out almost every indicator light, too. Bright lights, brake, seat belt, the 2 check engine lights (I left the battery light incandescent for the alternator), and the turn signal indicators. I didn't have enough bulbs to do the RABS light, and I plan to order more, I'm just going to see how these look at night first, so if I need to order a different size I can. Anyways, here's a pic or 2. Style of bulb I used:

How it looks, keep in mind, it's still daytime. Previously you wouldn't be able to tell the lights were on at all:

 

I decided against roller rockers, at least until I find a pretty good deal on them. I'm currently at .444 lift, and with 1.7s I'd only be at .471, so it doesn't really seem worth the money to me. If anything, I'll eventually just get a different cam. For now, I went ahead and bought the valve springs I've been wanting for years. While I have everything apart I'll do some cleaning and try to get the rust off of the valve covers, we'll see how that goes. I really like the look of fabricated VCs, but I don't like the idea of an intake spacer. Anyways, these are the valve springs I ended up getting:

 

Yesterday was quite the day. I have been fighting a random startup problem for years, I though it was related to the MAF swap. I went through everything, but once it was up to temp, it would start and rev up and down...randomly. I had enough of it yesterday, so i went through everything troubleshooting. Checked ECT, TPS, MAF, IAT, EGR, Coil, TFI, full tune up, you get the idea. I went and rented a fuel pressure gauge and it didn't have a Ford adapter. I went ahead and began troublehsooting fuel. I pulled the FPR vacuum line and it was dry, but then I decided to pull it while the truck was having the issues, and it was wet. I had finally found the problem.
This is what it was doing:
This is is now:

Also, snapped a pic of the LED's at night:


Anyway, now that the truck is running good, I can resume other projects. I modified the Explorer Overhead console I put in. I deleted the girdles, added 921 LED bulbs, and used some diodes to tie it into the dome light circuit. It came out great, I can't wait to see how bright it is at night. Here's some pics:
You can see the original setup vs what I did:

Both sides done:

Installed:

All done!

 

Installed the valve springs over the last 2 days, install went pretty easy, with the exception that I had to replace my Permadry gaskets on the valve covers. These new springs should be good up to 6500+RPM and .540" lift. I'm up in the air if I want to change cams or install roller rockers. These will cover both avenues, so now I just need to make up my mind. Rockers are looking a bit more appealing, but who knows. Next up will be headers and exhaust, it should be long tubes, depending on a friend of mine...long story. Anyways, here's some pics of comparison and when the install was done.
Here's the old intake on the right, new spring on the left:

Exhaust on right, new on the left:

Installed, new springs on the right:

All done:


And all done and buttoned up:




I noticed a decent difference in midrange, but nothing to write home about. It certainly fish tails a lot easier now, lol.

 

The fun continues, I went and picked up some LEDs for door lights, I always wanted them on the truck. I isolated them from the alarm, but they still turn on with the dome lights. Yes, more diodes. Anyways, they are bright, and work EXACTLY like I wanted. Quick video:

 

Got a break from the storm and added the other 2 strips of LEDs to the floorboards. Came out pretty good! The camera doesn't really pick up the dome light and OHC, everything matches pretty well, IMO.


Stepped back so you can see the door lights:


It literally started pouring again less than 5 minutes after I was done, lol.