Bringing an F100 Back from the Dead

I think if you do enough, you will have a 3 month trip.

 

Under the truck again today to install the clutch rod boot. That job is done. Almost.
While tightening all the bolts back up, I noticed quite a bit of lateral play in the bellcrank I made to actuate the clutch master. I put my pedal****embly and this bellcrank on ball bearings when I first built the truck.
So I thought to myself, "Self, let's take that off, pop a seal off and pack it with grease. Once i got the bearing out, chunks fell off it. It seems that a $5 bearing wasn't up to the task!
So, I did a materials inventory to find a way to get 'er put back together today without buying anything, and using what I had on hand.
I had a few oil-lite bronze input shaft pilot bushings, and some round stock. No spare bearing. So I machined the pilot bushings to press into the bore of the bellcrank, and made a sleeve for it to ride on, slightly wider that the bushing, so I could put some "thrust washers" on either side. This way I could tighten the pivot bolt without binding the bushings.
I was figuring on this being temporary. It may only last 20 years or so before its wore out.

 

Simple is often the best.

Will the bushing need lube from time to time? Or, can the bushing material withstand the stress without lube?

Probably have to disassemble it at 5k? miles to determine.

 

It might be a regular maintenance thing. I can say the clutch action is much improved. How long between services? Dunno.
In fact this entire exercise has me second guessing this hydraulic operation scenario. I've been thinking of going back to a Z-bar arrangement to further simplify things. But not using the split nylon bushings, rather using spherical bearings like what is used in high performance shock ends, at each end. Time will tell

 

I would think the oilite bushing will outlast you. I have machined those before and heat makes the oil extract but the friction of the bell crank shouldn't do that. The rod end would be a good choice also. There is a rod end bearing that is separate that might fit your bell crank that could be an option. Never forget that when we engineer something, real world use shows it's strenghts and weaknesses. Maybe a better bearing would have prevented the failure????

 

Ain't that the truth!
All the stuff we try to improve on what the factory did, more times than not, falls short.
A better bearing definitely would have been better. I do have a set of Harley wheel bearings on hand. Double row ball bearings. Pretty stout. The OD is way bigger. I'd have to build a whole 'nuther bellcrank to fit those. But i think the next go-around would be a Z bar without the hydraulics...if it comes to it.

 

For what its worth, the clutch on my coupe doesn't even have a bellcrank. It has a has a slave cylinder that is attached to the bell housing that operates the lever that goes inside of the bell. There is a clutch master on the firewall, and a hose that connects it to the to slave cylinder.
Mine is the hydraulic clutch set up from a 90 Dodge Dakota (I believe all the 90s Dakotas use the same set up), and it has functioned flawlessly for 200,000 miles.

 

A lot of guys do that. On Ol' Furd, I gave this more than considerable thought, as it seemed the simplest approach. Not so simple to implement. The way the pedal cluster is, would have put the master to the right of the brake master. Then there was getting around the booster. So, mounting the master to the side of the frame turned out to be the simplest, however requiring a bellcrank.
I could have either re-engineered the pedal cluster, or replaced it with something else, but that would have complicated things even further

 

In that case, I would think the oilite bushing would do the job would do a better job then the roller bearing, if you can get one the correct size. The oilite bushings need to be supported all the way around their outer diameter, and to their full length with tubing, then they are pretty tough and should wear a very long time, probably with less breakage then a roller bearing would. Oilite bushings are designed to operate with a 90 degree back and forth operating force, if the force they see is not at 90 degrees, or the force varies in an arch, they don't do very well. Bearings are built for rotation under load, not an isolated movement side load with the limited rotation your bearing appears to be seeing.
You may still have to redesign your clutch release set up in such a way things operate in straight forward and backwards, or at straight 90 degree angles.

 

After a few days of driving around with the reconfigured clutch bell-crank, I'm mostly happy with it. The action is smooth, and it seems the actual slave cylinder travel has increased due to less deflection. Now, the "friction zone" where the clutch begins to engage has changed. It used to be right off the floor...maybe a couple inches. Now it's near the middle of the travel. I can live with it. But I can also change the pivot point of the master cylinder pushrod closer to the pivot point of the bell-crank itself, which would make for a lighter pedal as well as putting the friction zone closer to the floor. It's only one bolt, and the holes are already drilled.
The NextBigThing is the cylinder head. Several months ago, I came into possession of another 300 head from a running motor. The one on my motor is from a 240, which has smaller combustion chambers. Static CR is right at 9-1. With the stock cam, the dynamic CR is up there. Ol' Furd can get by with running 87 octane regular around town, as long as I don't push 'er hard. Get 'er in the hills, and she needs 91 octane. I've got total timing at 30°, and it drops down into the mid 20s under load. The 300 head would drop the static CR down to 8.6. Maybe then it could run 87 octane all the time. Maybe.
I've had it rebuilt, with all new valves, guide liners, springs, and hard seats. Even the intake got new seats. It's been surfaced a few times, so the chamber volume is only a few CCs more than the 240 head. I've opened and smoothed the chambers a bit. But it has something the 240 head does not. Hard seats on the exhaust side, regular replacement seats on the intake side.
I could have "maybe" saved a bit of money by going with a new unported ProMaxx head, but the chambers are even smaller than the 240 head and are of a "fast burn" design. This might make the ignition timing thing even more sensitive. I've also read where they need to be surfaced, and potentially have to have the valves refaced right outta the box. Don't know how true that is.
The motor runs really nice right now. REALLY nice! Do I wanna tip over the apple cart, so to speak? Maybe just wait till after the BigRoadTrip to swap it out? Or even just keep it in stock until the 240 head starts showing signs of leaking valves, due to no exhaust valve hard seats.
I have a BAD habit of not leaving well enough alone!

 

If you change it now and you're not happy, it will give you plenty of time to change back to the 240 or maybe find something you like more. In our younger days, this would already be done.

 

Yeah, I wouldn't have thought twice about it. And it really ain't that big a deal. I could easily swap it out in a day, or worst case, a couple.
But here you are, reinforcing bad habits!
All things considered, self doubt is the killer of getting things done!

 

One of my older friends told me when I was about 40, "if you want to do something, get on with it because the day will come that you don't even care that you didn't". He wasn't a doer like you and I have been. He was my pitcrew for a weekend on the alky dragster and after a couple of qualifying passes asked "Do you have to do this after every run"? LOL. Our priorities change with age. Nothing wrong with that. If you never did anything, there is a problem. The engine in my 48 isn't very powerful. It bothers me but not enough to spend around 8 grand to replace it. Age has got me too.

 

I would not swap out the head just to do it, but considering the price difference between the 87 octane gas and the 91 octane gas (at least around here), especially with a long trip in the near future, the cost in gas savings alone could cover the cost of the swap on that one trip.

The only consideration would be IF the drop in compression after the cutting the head would still be enough to eliminate the needed higher octane fuel. If you can eliminate the fuel upgrade, and possibly gain slightly more power through the driving rpm range, that could also related to better mpg. It would certainly make the head change worth while, and I'm a lazy guy these days.

Or, was I suppose to talk you out of it?

On the other side of things, it is my experience that the non-hardened valve seats often do not cause a problem until after the fresh head has been in operation for more then 75,000 miles, and may not even show up at all. On top of all of that, if the hardened seats caused a problem, it was mostly with stop and go city driving, with high summer temps, and converters present in the restrictive flow exhaust systems. Probably not something your truck will experience too much.

 

These days, I gotta look for stuff to stay busy. The more active I stay, the better I feel overall, aside from muscle aches from over-doing it...which I often do. So while younger Mike would dive right in, old coot Mike is saying "slow down boy! If it ain't broke, don't fix it."
She definitely ain't broke. Far from it.
So if one were to look at the fuel cost over 4500 miles, and based on the 20mpg average she got on her last road trip, we're looking at 225 gallons of fuel. Once out of California, the cost of fuel drops dramatically. Even so, with about a 30-40¢/gallon difference in price between regular and premium grade fuel, it would represent 80-90 bucks difference in fuel cost for the entire trip.
So not really a consideration just on those merits alone

 

Don't confuse me with facts!

 

Yes, but then the question is, how much does the gasket set cost that you need to buy to replace the head and I****ume the intake and exhaust over to the new head? I have not purchased any gaskets for a few years. My****umption was the gas savings on the one trip would nearly cover the change over, but I guess I was also****uming you already have the head in your possession as well.

 

I have everything. Head is done, and i have all the gaskets, new rockers and screw in studs. Money is spent. Now its just the time it takes to do the job.
Its not a difficult job. Its just that its running really nice now.
So the question I must answer for myself is when. At this point, I'm inclined to wait.

 

I have noticed that "regular" unleaded around here is 87 octane. Midgrade is 89 and premium is 91. It used to be .10 between ranges- not anymore! Now it is .40 at least. I went to a gas station that was having a price war and found that mid grade was $1.10 more a gallon! at least around here they don't show the prices of other than regular on the big signs.

 

That amazes me how gas varies from one area to another both in octane AND in price. In this area regular gas is 87 octane and our hi-test is still 93 octane and it is about 45-50 cents a gallon more thn regular. Midgrade is a bit of a rarity around here. For non-ethanol gas, which is readily available, you pay about an extra 40-45 cents per gallon regardless of octane rating.

 

Here in central California, there's about 20c per grade increase. So 91 is 40c more that 87.
On our cross country road trip three years ago (not in Ol' Furd), I never really looked at other grade pricing, going with 87-88 all the way.
But last May, because Ol' Furd needed premium, it seemed 20-40c was the norm between 87 and 91. Everywhere except eastern oregon. In a little back country town called John Day, regular was 3.59, and non ethanol premium was 5.79. And those were the only choices. Kinda weird.
We all know that the base gasoline is more or less the same price everywhere, except for maybe California. The difference is the taxes applied. But in CA, the base price is more because the California Air Resources Board is doing all they can to shut down refineries without regard to what happens at the consumer level. As such, fuel needs to be shipped in, adding to the cost.
If more refineries shut down as predicted, and the price of gas hit 8 bucks per gallon, or more, future road trips will start with the shortest distance out of California!

 

I was just at the gas station a few hours ago. Here, at the Marathon station (lowest prices in town), standard unleaded regular is 87 octane, the mid grade is 89 octane and costs $.60 more per gallon, and the premium is 91 octane and costs $1.20 more per gallon then the regular. We have no option for non ethanol gas that I know of, here in our town. The price has also jumped up 10 cents a gallon since yesterday (second week in a row with a 10 cent per gallon jump in price)! Fortunately, I got in before the station jumped the price this morning.

 

Holy cow Gene! That's the biggest range I've ever heard of outside that little outback Oregon town.
As I recall on our cross country road trip three years ago, when we went through Illinois, gas prices were almost as high as California, ranging close to 5 bucks for regular at that time.
We get frequent fluctuations. It'll rise and fall as much as 50¢ every few weeks. There's even a massive difference in pricing between gas stations of a given brand. Valero stations are pretty common here, probably as common as Marathon stations where you are. There can be as much as 70¢ difference from one Valero station to another for regular grade. I don't know what that's about.
Anyway, back to the head swap idear, I'm gonna wait till after the road trip to do the swap. No sense in upsetting Ol' Furd needlessly beforehand.
But with a few more refineries slated to pull out of California next summer, I just might do it then. With the price of gas potentially hitting over $8/gal for regular, I'm kinda skeered about what 91 premium will be. If it's lie Illinois with over a buck per gallon difference, it just might good sense to do it.

 

When ever you come cruising past IL, buy your gas just before you get into IL or right after you leave. We have the 2nd highest gas tax in the country. You will easily save 20-50 cents a gallon before you cross over that Illinois border, doesn't matter which state you are coming through before you get here.
We live 20 miles from the WI boarder, gas is always 20-30 cents a gallon cheaper in WI. We are 60 miles from IA, same deal there. If we are leaving IL for any reason, we wait to but gas until we cross the border, and we fill up before we come back.

Sorry to side track your thread.

Might be a good plan to wait until you get back home to swap the head, you at least know what to expect with the current head. Changes always present the possibility of an unseen issue.

 

The first big rain of the season, and the weakness in my "HighWhizBang" clutch pivot reveals itself.
What good is a vehicle that can't tolerate getting wet? Yet I have many friends that refuse to drive their classics if there is even a threat of moisture.
I'm not that guy.
But in my quest to "Build Back Better" (forgive me Brandon!) than what the engineers at Ford designed....before I was born...I won't say I have failed. But instead have found yet another way to "NotGit'ErDone!"
The oilite bushing has developed quite a bit of "stiction" once it got drenched after driving around in the rain. The jerkiness at the pedal makes it hard to control in slow motion, such as parking lot maneuvers . Started out the drive normal. Clutch felt normal. But after driving around town for a while and splashing through a few puddles, it started misbehaving. A squirt of penetrating oil seems to bring 'er back around.
So, what to do....
I've tried to simply re-lube it with Molybdenum Disulphide grease. Still has a bit of stiction. I sprayed some penetrating oil on the spherical rod ends and at the clutch arm pivot. Still sticky.
Do I dive headlong into yet another "re-engineering" project that will most likely be a return to a Z-bar type deal and eliminate the hyraulics altogether? Is it a shortcoming of the mechanical part and not the hydraulics?
Questions. Lots of question for such a seemingly simple thing.
But maybe a return to the KISS principle the factory engineers used might just be what's needed.

 

After I said the oilite bushing would out last you, I think I better shut up. I think I stated that I had hydraulics on several projects but my last 3 have had the Mustang style cable. The cables will wear through a liner and start to drag but I don't think they break and leave you stranded. I may find out if I own something long enough. I know it would take some time but is putting a master on the firewall off limits?

 

Yeah, I'm just not gonna go there. Maybe the firewall is stout enough, maybe it ain't.
I took it all apart again, cleaned it all up. It looks good and feels good. Not any appreciable wear or sloppiness. I used anti-seize on it. Still sticky.
I'm gonna try some fresh brake fluid and flush it.
A very minor, although aggravating problem.
If that don't do it, then T'hell wit it! I'll begin the switch-over to a regular Z-bar and eliminate the hydraulics althogther. Can't use ball bearings on that, as it has to allow for some misalignment. I'm thinkin' spherical shock bearings like the picture. Repop nylon bushings seems iffy in todays market. All made from chineesium I'd reckon. Probably disintegrate fairly rapidly.
Maybe Ford had a better idear all along

 

Sorry to hear version 2.0 didn't work as well as hoped.
For grease, I suggest the green water resistant grease that boaters use to pack their trailer wheel bearings. Much better than molybdenum grease.
Did you put a zirk in the bushing?

I'm just trying to refine the current setup.

 

That's the nature of hot rods I reckon. Lots of trial and reconfigure.
I'll pick up some of that green grease tomorrow and give that a go....and put a grease zerk in while I have it out!

Thanks Phil!