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  1. Electrical Gremlin with an '83 2.8L duraspark conversion truck

    Thanks for your suggestions. I'll check those lines and rig up a test light if needed. I was trying to figure out how to test where on the circuit it might be; this is an elegant solution. Thanks again! I might just finally get this resolved without pulling all my hair out!
  2. Electrical Gremlin with an '83 2.8L duraspark conversion truck

    It's been a long time since I've posted. I did a Duraspark conversion on my truck about 8 years ago, and it ran well for many years after that. Then I started having an odd, sporadic electrical gremlin which I could never track down. I ended up parking the Ranger for a few years, figured I'd...
  3. Oil somehow leaking into the cab?

    Good afternoon all, Happy New Year, and we have a tentative explanation for what was leaking into the cab. And it's a relatively easy thing to fix. First, it wasn't the big baddie possibility: a crack or leak somewhere which was allowing the oil and coolant to mingle. Whew! The oil looked...
  4. Oil somehow leaking into the cab?

    Thanks for the ideas and the deep breath. Agreed it doesn't help to start thinking of the worst case scenario. There are just so few possible sources. One of the oddities of this situation is that I've barely driven it this year; with the covid lockdowns I just didn't have reason to go...
  5. Oil somehow leaking into the cab?

    Humor is OK at this stage of the game. We don't have a garage or even a roof over that truck; it sleeps outside and we have imminent rain tonight with temps just a bit above the snow threshold. Otherwise I'd be out there right now tearing the dashboard apart to find the source. Instead I'm...
  6. Oil somehow leaking into the cab?

    As far as we know it's the stock electrical gauge. I know that mechanical oil gauges have a small tube of oil coming off the engine and going to the gauge itself, such that the pressure can be measured directly. Our '74 Chevy truck was built that way. To the best of my knowledge, the Ranger's...
  7. Oil somehow leaking into the cab?

    It was thick and black, and felt/smelled like motor oil. But that does bring up the possibility that oil is getting into the coolant. I'll check the coolant again tomorrow and see if it's the normal lime green color in the radiator. I'll also check the oil and see if that looks milky, or off...
  8. Oil somehow leaking into the cab?

    I have a new issue with my '83 Ranger. We've had a moderate oil leak for awhile now, mostly around the intake manifold and valve cover gaskets. It is messy but hasn't affected performance very much, and we just haven't gotten around to fixing it yet. But when I went to get into the cab today...
  9. 84 2.8 duraspark wiring

    Good evening, and congratulations on starting your conversion. We converted our '83 to Duraspark a number of years ago and we'd never go back. But yea it was quite a bit of work. First things first: did you download and study all the documentation already available on TheRangerStation showing...
  10. Truck occasionally suddenly stalls when clutch goes in; electrical?

    Update: I have found at least one place with exposed wiring. The attached photo shows exposed copper on two adjacent wires coming off the ignition module, going to the distributor. The harness loom hid the exposed wires during previous inspections. When I pushed the loom back, the glint of...
  11. Truck occasionally suddenly stalls when clutch goes in; electrical?

    I do thank you for your suggestion; it made me go back and review what all we removed during the conversion, and review what symptoms we had before/during/after each stall. Something like this, most of the troubleshooting is a game of "process of elimination". I have to admit, more than once...
  12. Truck occasionally suddenly stalls when clutch goes in; electrical?

    I apologize; I thought you were concerned that the solenoid, if present, was malfunctioning and causing the stall. Instead, you're suggesting the engine is stalling because that solenoid is missing, correct? If that's the case, I should add that yes we had that solenoid on the original 2150...
  13. Truck occasionally suddenly stalls when clutch goes in; electrical?

    I should clarify that when we replaced the carburetor, we took out the old Motorcraft 2150 and replaced it with the Holley 0-7448, as recommended in the Duraspark conversion instructions. I didn't provide the carb model number in my previous post.
  14. Truck occasionally suddenly stalls when clutch goes in; electrical?

    I checked the carb and no I do not see anything like what you describe. Just in case I'm missing it, I took a picture of the carb on the throttle linkage side.
  15. Truck occasionally suddenly stalls when clutch goes in; electrical?

    That I don't know. I couldn't find a solenoid with that name listed in the Ranger Chilton's, and the replacement Holley is a much simpler carb than the original Motorcraft 2150. Can you tell me where it would normally plug into the carb? I can check once I know what to look for.
  16. Truck occasionally suddenly stalls when clutch goes in; electrical?

    I have an occasional but maddening problem with a manual transmission, Duraspark-converted '83. We did the conversion back in 2015, and for the most part it's been running well since then. We replaced the worn-out carb over the winter, and that fixed most of the rest of the problems. However...
  17. Recurring cold idle issues in '83 after Duraspark conversion

    And the award goes to............. sticky throttle cable. We finally punted and took it into the shop, and they found that the throttle cable wasn't hanging up per se, but it was sluggish when the foot came off the gas. The return spring wasn't strong enough to overcome that sluggishness, and...
  18. Recurring cold idle issues in '83 after Duraspark conversion

    Hey everyone. I've got a recurring issue with my '83 manual shift Ranger's cold idle, and it has continued despite a lot of attempts to fix it. Basic behavior is this: 1. cold start any given day, let it warm up for 2-5 minutes (the colder it is outside, the longer I let it warm up), drive away...
  19. Recurring issue with cold idle behavior

    Hey everyone. I've got a recurring issue with my Ranger's cold idle, and it has continued despite a lot of attempts to fix it. Basic behavior is this: 1. cold start any given day, let it warm up for 2-5 minutes (the colder it is outside, the longer I let it warm up), drive away. 2. first five...
  20. Time for a 2.8 rebuild

    Greetings everyone, it's been awhile. It was almost exactly three years ago when I started the Duraspark conversion on our '83 Ranger, and that project was successful thanks to the advice and encouragement I got from this forum. The old truck has been running reasonably well since then, but...

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