Bringing an F100 Back from the Dead

Thanks Jerry!
That's a pretty nice show. Not only was it at no cost, but local country music talent John Pemberton was singing. His style is much like George Strait, Alan Jackson, and Garth brooks. Lunch was also provided. It was a fun day.
Next up after the Cayucos show is the Clovis Veterans day show at the Veterans Memorial.
Then I'm done till spring. We have a 2500 mile road trip planned up into the Pacific Northwest, taking backroads, including 395 on the eastern side of the Sierras.
I built this thing to drive, not be a show queen!

 

The Cayucos show was great. A bit expensive to enter, but the crew fed us dinner and drinks at check-in of Friday. Firestone 805 on tap, which is a local brewery. They also served us a big lunch. Considering all that, a pretty good value.
It was a little damp from a light rain in the early morning before sunrise. But 300 cars lined Ocean Ave, up and down both sides and in the middle.
Ol' Furd did pretty well in the fuel mileage department, logging right about 20mpg.
I gotta get busy and look for where the wind noise is coming from, because dang! That was the only thing that bugged me about Ol' Furd's performance. Big cross wind on the way home....it was uncomfortably loud.
The red highboy was owned by a gal who's husband was one of the founding members of the Visalia Vapor Trails car club....76 years ago. She is 93 and has been the all 33 of the Cayucos car show. I didnt know that when i took the photo. I just thought it was a very cool ride!
Then theres the obligatory shot in front of the Borradori Garage at the north end of town, perched on a bluff right on the beach. I have always coveted that place since the first time i saw it.

 

Good luck with the wind noise. I have that in my 48 with no air leaks. This was the 1st old truck in a long time that I didn't remove the drip rails on. I wonder if that has something to do with it????? Your truck is new enough that it might be easier.

 

I dunno. I can't feel any air leaks, and the doors shut with a bit more effort when the glass is up, so I think it's sealed pretty good. Maybe the window felt....I'll have to do the tape trick on the outside and see if there's anywhere that can use some help. I remember the drip rails being mentioned. Maybe that mention came from you.
I'd like to see if I can at least minimize it before we embark on a 2500 mile round trip up into the pacific northwest next spring. There'll be some highway driving, but we gonna stick to back roads wherever possible, just to see some places that time forgot.
On another note, since you have asked in the past about boobie bouncing videos, I'm afraid Ol' Furd isn't much of a boobie bouncer any more. Between some spring and shock changes, and taking out the bench seat in favor of buckets, not nearly as bouncy. Sorry man!

 

Logging an average of 20 mpg is excellent.

 

Holler if you pass through! Or if you need assistance, always here to help.

 

I'll keep that in mind! It'll be early May i think. I'd love to meet up and check out the black truck in person!

 

Wind noise or tire noise? Car got quiet when changed tires.

 

Definitely, DEFINITELY wind noise. On the way home there were some pretty strong winds, and the wind noise was much more severe.
I'm gonna tape the windows, then the door seams, and see what happens. Probably sometime this week. Then I'll know for certain......at least certain where it AIN'T coming from!

 

Well, a couple things today.
I taped the windows to see if the wind noise was coming from between the glass and the channel felt.
It ain't that. So, door seams next.
But while I was out driving, and close to home (thankfully) the brake pedal all of a sudden-like, was going nearly to the floor. I got 'er home OK, just being extremely cautious.
It was acting like a master cylinder failure, and the fluid was normal level. But before blindly ordering one, I raised up the rear and popped the back wheels and drums off.
Much to my surprise, the pilot side shoe adjuster just fell on the floor when I took the drum off. After I put it back on and adjusted the rear brake shoes, it was back to normal pedal.
In my 50+ years, I'd never had that happen.
With some additional sleuthing, I found that when the e-brake was applied, the adjuster kinda rattles freely. Apparently, it just plumb ran out of enough slot depth to hold it in place.
That's not what I would consider ideal.
The brake shoes are wearing pretty rapidly, it seems to me. Napa's house brand shoes, and drums from Rock Auto. 5500 miles. But the auto adjusters don't seem to be doing much. Maybe be better off with manual adjusters?
I dunno quite how to proceed. Tune the drums up with hopefully higher quality stuff? I don't if there's any drum brake stuff out there that's any better than what I have.
Or, maybe think about disc brakes in the back too.
Always something, ain't it?

 

Spitballing here: Is it possible you have a reversed threaded adapter that is loosening itself with use rather than tightening the shoes?

Re: Reliable self adjusters. I have found that grinding a bevel on the ratcheting lever that engages the star wheel tooth will make for a reliable adjusting action. I have sometimes seen them skip over the teeth due to poor stamping quality.

 

Yeah, I checked that orientation. They are correct. But those adjuster thing-a-ma-bobs sure ain't quality stamped pieces. The pilot side barely touches the adjuster wheel.
I've done dozens of drum brakes in my time. What baffles me is how did the adjuster just drop off? The adjuster does have about a quarter inch of free-play when the e-brake is applied. But it shouldn't just drop off. Clearly, sump'm ain't right. Just gotta figure it out.

 

Once the adjusters are on the correct side, they can still be inadvertently installed, front to rear incorrectly.
The manual adjuster wheel needs to be near the center of the windows in the backing plate.

Anyway, 9 inch rear brake photo in next post for reference for all parts location. I hope this helps.

 

You probably know you can apply enough thumb pressure to the adjusting cable to make the adjuster click a tooth. Doing that several times will show you the adjuster is moving apart. Or not.

 

The photos above is the way my rear brakes are configured, everything in its proper place. With an eye toward function, it seems that the shoe expansion from e-brake engagement should act at the top of the shoes, where my setup seems to spread the shoes at the bottom. It shouldn't make a difference, but for some reason that I have yet to figure out, it opened enough at the bottom to let the adjuster spindle fall out of place.
I think I need to re-do the rear brake hardware and springs if I can find top quality replacements.
That's all I got.

I certainly don't want a repeat of this happening, particularly if I'm on a road trip. So perhaps what I could do is eliminate the adjusting mechanism, and put a strong spring from shoe to shoe over the adjuster spindle, and simply adjust the brakes manually....which is what I've been doing anyway.
Thoughts on that?
Thanks fellers

 

I'd go to Napa and see if you can get better quality hardware.

 

It is not unheard of for the brake shoes to wear a groove in the backing plates at the points of contact. In highly worn backing plates this can cause the shoes to hang up and not fully retract when brake pressure - either hydraulic or cable actuated - is released.
I've refurbished some by brazing up the backing plate wear spots and filing them smooth.

 

Thanks G. I will definitely look at that.

 

Clovis Veterans Car Show, in front of the Veterans Memorial.

 

Here's something you don't see everyday. A '56 Chevy with a nailhead Buick motor.
I'll be dipped!

 

Sooooo, the moderators moved this thread to "off-topic" because of my wheel choice. I get it. Rules are rules.

Does that mean I get to talk about my OT induction set-up now?

 

I'm ok with it but I maybe a minority.

 

I don't get it...why would painted steel wheels be considered off-topic?

 

The stated reason was 17" wheels, a size that seems to be taboo for vehicles that din't come with 17s. Maybe if I had early wire spoke 17s it would be ok, as several people have those.
The hosts and moderators make the rules, and I reckon the line has to be drawn somewhere. If we wanna play here, just gotta follow the rules. No worries.

 

Mike,

I get it, and totally agree. However, I didn't realize they were 17" wheels. They look like standard 16" Ford truck wheels to me, so that's why I was questioning the decision.

Steve

 

Probably if I had not proudly announced at the beginning of the thread that they were 17s, no one woulda said a thing. Ain't the first time I said something I shouldn'ta!

 

We should be glad we have the off topic area now.