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Angelos 78 trail truck

33K views 171 replies 30 participants last post by  ANGELO 
#1 · (Edited by Moderator)
so back in September i sold my 95 and bought a 92 f250 with the idi diesel. now the 250 is a 4x4 but with its wheel base and weight not really the best for trails plus i didnt want to beat my daily and work truck off road. so i have been watching craigslist for a cheap 78-79 to use as a backup truck and a trail truck. since i want it for trails i wasnt to concerned about rust i just wanted the rest of the truck to be fairly solid and the floors solid enough to be fixable so i dont get water coming in. about a month ago i saw a really rusty beat 78 for sale on facebook i really liked the patina and the name on the door so i figured if its cheap enough it would be worth looking at. when i messaged him he said he had a drivable 78 also and he would sell both for 3,000. couple weeks later when i got back to florida i rented a u haul and drove to the other coast to look at them. i was going to drive the blue one back and trailer the parts truck, but the blue one wasnt ready for a 3 hour drive with like 50 miles between gas station and like 100 between parts stores. so i had to make 2 trips about 600 miles total.


my friends have named its grits because of the front license plate


and then the parts truck "old number 7"

so the blue truck hasnt been registered since 2006. the last owner was a old lady who probably never used it. the guy i bought it from has multiple 79-79 broncos and just used it around the yard and occasional mud run. it starts really fast, faster than my 95 did. the only leaks are the rear axle and rear break lines. the motor has 0 leaks and looks like it was rebuilt at somepoint since it was fresh paint. i have not been able to go faster than idle though because it starves for fuel. the guy told me the carb on it is junk and gave me a holley to replace it which i am doing now. but i think the fuel pump is bad to becuase it cant fill the clear filter before the carb. so im replacing that tomorrow. right now its running on a boat tank in the cab because the fuel lines for the original are rusted, thats how the po has ran it since he bought it. i dropped the tank today and it had about 5 gallons of atleast 10 year old brown gas. the tanks going to need a good cleaning but its savable i think.
right now i plan on getting it running and some what reliable. than im going to fix the rust in the important spots and stop the rest from getting worse. from there lift, sliders, cage and bumpers. im decent at welding but im going to have to get a bigger welder so i can do the thicker steel














only rust on the entire floor

and some of old number 7





there is signatures all over the dash and headliner

angelo190471's Library | Photobucket
heres all the pictures. these are more for me, i wanted to be able to see how much has changed
 
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#6 ·
Be lucky to buy just the blue one up here for 3k. Good find and should be a good project. You have less rust to deal with then I did. Should be fairly easy to fix what you do have.
 
#12 ·
Ita not that recent of a rebuild, it was the guy before the person i bought it from. He has pictures of it at a mud run so it was running couple months ago. Im going to try the rebuild holley but its rought and i kinda doubt its going to work but my neighbor says it will.
Whats a good carb for these? One that will do decent on steep hills
 
#13 ·
Ok so the holleys almost rebuilt, i just need one float spring.
Figured out the rough running. All the wires on the distributor were off by one. Runs good now, the carb doesnt feel right though. I can get it to backfire through the carb if i floor it fast.
It feels really low on power but it probably has stock gears ad 36x14.5s so that would probably cause it. It does do a burnout though lol.
My new steel break lines came in also so im going to have working breaks
 
#14 ·
Did you check the timing with a timing light?
 
#16 ·


Got the holley on it runs pretty good now except same as with the other carb when the secondarys open it pops from the carb. I checkes the timing with the light and its right on the marker line from the po. Idk what that is i cant read the marks on the distributor. So im going tp have to check where his line is.

I put the street tires from old #7 on my truck so i can drive it without worring about the old super swampers. Also with the smaller tires i can see how it feels with the right gears
 
#19 ·
wamp wamp waammmp. that sucks man.
 
#22 ·
Havnt really dont much. I bought a quadrajet it comes on Tuesday. I bought a trailer to pull the bronco though.
url=https://flic.kr/p/WFbUds]
[/url]20170714_170450 by Angelo Mehtala, on Flickr

Has anyone here converted the mobile home hubs to 6 lug? It sounds pretty easy todo i just have a couple questions
 
#23 ·
20170718_201058 by Angelo Mehtala, on Flickr

Quadra jet came. So are it seems to run alot smoother. I need to figure out the air filter though. Right now im thinking
K&N 55-1120 Covered Assembly, 3.5in Tall, Red, Round | eBay

Looks like i should be able to seal it and run it to a snorkel+ its not to expensive.

Ny sencind choice is to use one of these on the carb
https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B001OMM6R8/ref=ox_sc_saved_image_34?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER

And somthing like this for the filter
https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B0035GS6RU/ref=psdcmw_15712291_t2_B001OMM6R8

But thats alot more expensive. Has anyone used the k&n one?
 
#24 ·
Since trail truck Id opt for your second option. I like that enough to change what I currently have.
The can style ones seem to work the best from what I have seen.
I have not used the KNN one you listed. I would recommend an outerwares for what ever filter you end up with.
 
#26 ·
Snapchat-1326085726 by Angelo Mehtala, on Flickr

Took like like 15 miles yesterday. Did fine no overheating no noises or vibrations. But when i went to leave the nezt morning my tire had a hole in my sidewall. Decided to get the trailer its to big of a hole. When i got it off the trailer o made it like 20ft before the sidewall split and it came off the bead. Very glad that didnt happen on the highway

Good thing i i put it on the trailer, i might have to build drive over fenders sooner then i wanter to. The triaxles are the same wheel base as the truck. With the wide axles its going to sit on the tires
 
#28 ·
So found got a windshield wiper arm for the driver side but i don't have a wiper reservoir. So i think what im going todo is put a 5 gal bucket in the cab with a bilge pump in it, then run the hose to the top of the windshield through rust holes and tape it along the top of the driver side. Cap the end of the hose and drill like 5 small holes along the hose. I think that should be good enough where i can see. These tires are wide. You need like a foot extension to get to the lugs so im expecting alot of mud to be thrown
 
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