68' ford

[country_boy]

My friend is selling a 68' ford.

The engine is a ford 360 with a 2 barrel on it. Truck starts up fine drives fine. It has inspection,registration, and tags all to date. The three problems it has is the drain plug has a small drip and tranny dip stick is too short so it pops out and leaks tranny fluid, the master cylinder leaks from the top. He wants $800. Its got a brand new oil pump, new tune up new coil, new alternator,new fuel pump, new fuel lines. What would it cost to fix those three problems? Im strong considering the truck. Its the perfect farm truck.

 

[M. Sage]

And it's 68 feet long?!

The drain plug drips because you need to put a new washer on it. I swear, people think those washers last forever... they don't.

Trans dip stick is too short? Then it won't read right. That won't make it pop out and "leak" trans fluid, though. Sounds like the case vent on the trans is plugged and building pressure that blows the stick out along with fluid.

Master cylinder leaks fluid from the top? Or is it leaking from the back? If it's leaking from the top, the gasket that seals the lid is probably damaged. Maybe you can get a new one. If it's leaking from between the firewall or brake booster and the master, then you simply replace the master. Not terribly expensive and pretty easy to do.

 

[Charlie]

Do you have a picture available? I am interested but I'd like a little more info on general condition (body, tires, interior, etc.), style (fleetside or stepside), mileage on this engine, etc., etc. before I drive 200 miles (there and back). Thanks.

 

[country_boy]

Actually I was planning on buying it, but if I dont Ill let you know.

M.Sage how do I check for that build up in the tranny?

Why would they change out the oil pump?

 

[Charlie]

Actually I was planning on buying it, but if I dont Ill let you know.

M.Sage how do I check for that build up in the tranny?

Why would they change out the oil pump?

Thanks

oil pump? Didn't see it mentioned.

 

[country_boy]

The first thing im going to do is convert to power brakes and the drum front brakes to disc. Have to find me a 73' to 79' ford front end.

 

[Gutshot]

Some of the old Fords didn't have power steering. When you find a front end make shure it has power steering or get an aftermarket one.

Gutshot

 

[boycan]

The first thing im going to do is convert to power brakes and the drum front brakes to disc. Have to find me a 73' to 79' ford front end.

If you can do this the three problems you opened up with won't be giving you any problems!

 

[country_boy]

Its a 1968. I might just leave it all stock for now. Its a farm truck. I dont know much about transmissions to fix the dipstick that pops out. I dont know much about non power breaks and non power steering. Are those bad?

 

[M. Sage]

Actually I was planning on buying it, but if I dont Ill let you know.

M.Sage how do I check for that build up in the tranny?

Why would they change out the oil pump?

You'll have to find the transmission vent tube, it's usually up on top of the case about in the center... right where it's easy to get to. There might be a plastic cap or something on it you'll have to pull off. You get at the tube and blow compressed air through it, it should clear your problem up. For what it's worth, a short dipstick tube won't cause a leak. Some imports use no dipstick tube, they just stuff a real short stick into the case!

I have no idea why they would change the oil pump. Perhaps the pickup screen plugged at some point? If so,it could be a sign that the engine is or was full of sludge.

Its a 1968. I might just leave it all stock for now. Its a farm truck. I dont know much about transmissions to fix the dipstick that pops out. I dont know much about non power breaks and non power steering. Are those bad?

Lack of power steering isn't too bad. You'll get an upper body workout, and the steering ratio will be low. It'll take as much as 5 complete turns of the steering wheel (or more!) to go from lock to lock. Just make sure it's really not power steering. If there's a smallish hydraulic ram attached to the steering, you're going to have a huge dead spot in the steering without the power assist working properly.

The old manual brakes are pretty much identical to the assisted brakes of that time except for the lack of a booster. I find that old manual brakes don't really require that much force to stop as long as they've been maintained. One thing to note is that we've had trouble with the old four wheel drums not wanting to work properly without real asbestos linings, which are very hard to come by these days. Sometimes just noise, sometimes excessive pedal pressure. The very scary thing about the older brake systems like this is that there is only one line running from the cylinder to the brakes. There is only one piston. If you have a wheel cylinder go bad, or a hose break or a line blow, you are in deep shit because you will have absolutely no brakes. Converting to a tandem-piston setup isn't horribly hard IMO, but a bit of a chore because you have to add and change line routing a bit, and you might need to add a proportioning valve. Worth it IMO for the added safety, though. If you get the truck, make sure the brakes get thoroughly inspected for things like leaky cylinders, cracked hoses and rusted lines, and do this regularly.

Also, on a '68, parts can be hard to come by for things like brakes. So if (yeah, right - it's when) something goes wrong, it can add to the downtime of the truck.

In my opinion sitting here as a mechanic, an older "classic" car is actually more expensive to own because they always seem to have some mechanical issue. They nickel and dime their owners, simply because they're so damn old. Modern cars are honestly far more reliable and lower maintenance.

 

[Gutshot]

No power sterring or power brakes...you'll learn the term farm truck. Like M. Sage said before, standard brakes are not that much different than power assist brakes. The power steering will make a believer out of you. I learned to drive in a Willis CJ-3 jeep manual trans of course and a John Deere tractor. Standard brakes and steering and AM radio only were all one could get.
On the oil pump. one theory would be is that the oil pressure got too low and they chnged it out. Only that is the cheap way out. The main and rod bearings are too worn. My bet would be to get a rebuild. Now see this project is getting expensive really fast. Good Luck

Gutshot

 

[M. Sage]

On the oil pump. one theory would be is that the oil pressure got too low and they chnged it out. Only that is the cheap way out. The main and rod bearings are too worn. My bet would be to get a rebuild. Now see this project is getting expensive really fast. Good Luck

Gutshot

Yeah, I'm hoping that's not it. People assume that low oil pressure means bad pump. The thing is the oil pump is the best-lubricated part of the engine and should out-last everything else by a big margin. It's also not carrying the kinds of loads that main, rod, wrist pin and cam bearings are.

 

[country_boy]

Thx guys. Im not concerned about a engine rebuild, or gas mileage etc I'd rather have a classic old truck that can I bounce around in to the farm and back two days out of a month. Im going to look closer at it. Uncle Jim gave me the green light on it. Also been meaning to ask ya'll how does one jack up a 2wd truck? Would I just bolt on longer springs in the front and add more leaf springs in the rear?

 

[M. Sage]

It's a little more complicated than that, depending on how high you go. Usually you get rear leaves with more arch or add a lift block, as long as the springs go over the rear axle tube. If it goes under, one of the easiest ways is to have the spring perches moved to the top of the tube. If you simply add leaves, you might get more height (if the perches are on top of the axle), but you will get a much stiffer rear suspension, which isn't usually a good thing. To get any meaningful height increase the suspension would be ridiculously hard.

You may have to modify the steering linkage and track bar mounting point on the front end if you increase the ride height.

I wouldn't do it, personally. There's not much advantage to adding ride height to a 2wd truck.

 

[country_boy]

Well the simple reason is im a redneck and we like jacked up trucks

65-79 econo lift

 

[M. Sage]

Ah, I didn't realize they'd gone twin I-beam that soon. I thought it was still a live front axle...

Tons of fun lifting those, as you can see. Not worth the trouble IMO. I'm not a fan of heating and bending suspension parts - messes with the temper of the metal.

 

[country_boy]

Looks like the rims from my 89 dodge fits the ford. The rims are the same.15" X 8" Size 5 Bolt Holes. The item number is the same.

 

[country_boy]

passing on the ford. 4x4 is a must