Hey guys, Ed here. Welcome back to Bullnose Garage. And you may have noticed I’m not posting as much lately as I have been in the recent past, and that’s just because of the time of year that it is. Spring and summer, man, there’s so much going on. I got a huge honeydew list, and, uh, you know, we got a bunch of stuff to go to: birthday parties, Easter stuff, man, it’s crazy. I haven’t had a free weekend in, well, pretty much since I put out my last video, and that’s not going to change anytime soon.

So, uh, I really do want to keep working on stuff. I do plan on it, I just haven’t had time. And you can see right here, the engine is pretty much still in one piece, and that’s like the biggest thing that I want to do, but I haven’t had a chance. So to make it up to you guys, um, I made you this quick little music video. Now I know what you’re going to say: Ed, if you have time to make a music video, you got time to, uh, make a regular video too. Well, no, because this music video was, uh, written and produced completely by AI. So enjoy, um, this completely tongue-in-cheek, over-the-top AI fever dream of a music video.

Just a guy in his truck being judged from afar by thousands of people on YouTube. I’m swapping out my inline six for a 408 stroke, but you’d think I kicked my dog or took a shot at the Pope. Purists crying mortal sin in social circles online, calling me a hacker, whack, and say I’m wasting my time. They say, ‘Boy, you flap your gums way more than you wrench.’ Well, I call that content, not just riding the bench. I film in the garage, do voiceovers in the hall. My kid walked in mid-take, now she’s famous, y’all.

Just so you know, I ain’t building it for you. I’m building it for the dude I was when I was 22, that young broke kid dreaming chrome and steel, watching Dukes of Hazard, saying someday I will. Making content ain’t a walk in the park, all right? I film my edit till well after dark. You hit play once I’ve sat through take 22, so before you judge, remember I ain’t doing it for you.

Got a comment last night said, ‘I ain’t got smarts, but my truck runs fine.’ And the channel buys parts. ‘You’ll ruin that truck,’ they cry from the couch, looking like a judgmental Oscar the Grouch. Half my comments say I’m doing it wrong, and the other half ask why I’m taking so long. But I like the challenge, making sure it’s done right, and I like free parts or cash on the side. I write the scripts, run the site, shoot the vids, fix the trucks, then some joker shows up griping about my AI crutch.

Yeah, I use some AI, so what’s the crime? It don’t wrench the bolts, just saves me time. Son, I’m using AI to help, why is that so wrong? Ain’t nobody got time, hell, I wrote this song. You gripe that I’m slow, then gripe when I get an assist. Maybe gripe less and check something off your own damn list. I torque when I can, but the kids come first. Long days, long nights, flu season’s the worst.

The truck’s been almost done since the 4th of July, but dreams don’t have deadlines, and neither do I. Got a Bronco in the yard, yes, she runs like trash. Truck in the garage, he runs, just not that fast. People say, ‘Man, you ever going to get it done?’ Right after dinner, bath time, and a Bluey rerun.

Just so you know, I ain’t building it for you. I’m building it for the dude I was when I was 22, that young broke kid dreaming chrome and steel, watching Dukes of Hazard, saying, ‘Someday I will.’ So call me slow, call me clueless, or maybe even insane, but I’m making smoking magic for the kid in my brain. And when she roars into life as the dream comes true, you’ll know without question I didn’t build it for you.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to torque a head bolt, find a juice box. Where’d I put that camera? Is this thing on?

anybody who works on engines knows that you need three basic things for an engine to run at least an internal combustion engine. You need air, you need spark, and you need fuel. Without any one of those three things, an engine is basically just a gigantic paper weight. Last time I was working on the Bronco on my channel, I uh took care of the spark problem because uh there was no battery in the truck and now there is and it works. And luckily for me, all the other spark stuff uh seems to be working okay. The distributor is fine, the spark plugs are fine, um at least fine enough to run the way that it is right now. I haven’t gone through and done a uh tuneup or anything, but it runs right. So uh air is also really easy ’cause I mean it just sort of sucks it from the atmosphere and as long there’s there’s uh no blockage anywhere, you’re pretty much good to go. But fuel, fuel is what I’m tackling today.

Howy folks, Ed here. Welcome back to Bullnose Garage and today I’m be looking at the fuel system of this Bronco, dropping the fuel tank and trying to figure out why it was disconnected. Hello! All right guys, so here’s what we’re looking at for this fuel system repair. Um for some reason, the fuel line right up here in the engine bay is uh was disconnected from the fuel line that runs back to the tank in the rear of the Bronco. And uh the guy that I bought it from just had it uh running with a bottle of gasoline, a water bottle full of gasoline that went right into the fuel pump. So I don’t know why that was disconnected. I don’t know if it’s um because the guy I bought it from just wanted to get it running really quick and so he just disconnected it and uh popped the bottle on there and he didn’t to deal with the entire fuel system or if it was disconnected for a different reason. Uh maybe that fuel line is blocked, there’s a problem with the filter, or there’s a problem in the gas tank. I really don’t know, so I got to go through the whole thing and I’m going to start with a gas tank.

Now, uh this was what was in the engine bay. This is just a a pre-arb oret fuel filter. I have no idea what the microns are, I have no idea what model it is. Um there’s not really any markings on it. I I’m I’m not going to use this. Um I’ve got uh a better idea. So depending on which model you have, whether or not it came from the factory with a fuel filter, a pre-pump fuel filter, um in the frame rail, my my 85 has one, this Bronco does not. There is a rubber hose connection down there between um the two metal hoses that a fuel filter could go on. I don’t know if it came from the factory like that, but that is what I’m going to do. Um I’m a fan of two-stage filtering, so I got a couple of 100 Micron metal filters on the way uh that I’m going to use to replace that. So for a pre-pump filter, I’m also going to do the one on my 85 while I’m working on it and uh then the post pump filter is going to be right uh in front of the carburetor and that’s just a little uh tiny Motorcraft filter. I’ll show you that when I get there. Um I’m going to replace both of them while I’m doing it uh on both vehicles, so uh there’s that. But first things first, I got to drop the tank.

Now dropping the tank in these isn’t real hard, but you do have to undo all the connections. There’s the fuel filler neck, there’s the uh um obviously the gas hose itself, the sending unit electrical, uh which is just uh power for the uh um the meter and ground, and then there’s the EVAP system which is just a line that runs from the gas tank for venting up to a charcoal canister uh in the front of the truck here. Now on both of these trucks, that charcoal canister is not hooked up to anything. It just runs from the gas tank up into the canister and then there’s nothing going to the uh the rest of the emissions system or the carburetor or anything like that. So um I think, I’m not sure yet, but I think I’m just going to cut out the canister in the Bronco and probably just put either an inline um evap valve on the tank itself or get a vented gas cap. I’m not sure which one I’m going to do yet, um but that’ll take care of that.

So uh yeah, once you got all those lines disconnected and everything’s kind of a free, then you put a jack underneath, uh start on doing the straps and the tank should just drop right down. So uh especially if it’s really old, a lot of those lines can be really hard to to get off. Um so you just want to be patient and uh jack the back of the vehicle up to give you some extra room to get up in there. Uh but yeah, we’re just going work on that and uh I’ll bring you guys along.

All right guys, so here’s our fuel tank for the 82 Bronco and uh outside it looks pretty good. The straps are a little rusty, but that’s not that big of a deal and uh I don’t see anything wrong with the tank. I think it’s empty, it feels empty, so uh that’s good. We’re going to see when I drop it if there’s any fluid in there, but I’ve already found a really kind of a big problem. Um whoever had this Bronco before me did some uh some questionable work in terms of uh the bumper hitch here and I kind of got like a rear-ended Pinto situation going on. So uh yeah, before I run this thing in any real capacity down the road, this is going to have to come off. I have said it before, say it again, inheriting someone else’s project is uh always an interesting endeavor.

So anyway, these are the straps. You can see that I’ve already got some PB Blaster um on the bolts there or the nuts to help me get that off there. And there up here we have the fuel line, so I’ve got to get that disconnected. Um somewhere there is a power cable I believe that goes to the sending unit that I’ve got to get taken care of and then also uh the uh fuel filler neck here, I got to get that um unclamped from there so I can drop this thing down.

All right guys, sorry I lost a little bit of footage, uh but it was just basically me unscrewing everything down here. So I am now ready to drop the tank. I got everything disconnected and I have the straps off. Well, the only thing I don’t have disconnected yet is the uh the sending unit electrical is not disconnected, but I can’t reach up there and get to that until I drop it a little bit. So all my hope is that I can drop this a little bit and then get up into there and I’ll plug it without this falling down and killing me. So let’s see what happens.

There we go. Ah, there we go. This is just about the exact right size to fit up into here. So oh yeah, all kinds of yeah spider eggs and all kinds of great stuff up there. See up here? Hey, there we go, it just pops right off the top. All right, now I should just be able to drop the whole thing down and should be good to go. Don’t kill yourself, Edwardo. This is pretty jank, right? That’s as low as that goes. Yeah, it feels like there’s a little bit of fuel in there. Oh, it’s the fuel filling neck. All right, all right, I’m just going to take that out. Yeah, there’s actually a bit more fuel in here than I thought there was, but it’s not too bad. There we go, all right, tank is down and the underneath of this actually looks really good.

All right, let’s get this puppy out of here and we can take a look at it. All right, so there it is. That’s the tank. Other than being pretty dirty, actually doesn’t look too bad on the outside. There’s not a lot of rust, I don’t see any corrosion, it does not feel weak at all. There’s a dent on the bottom, but that’s to be expected in a Bronco, I’m sure. Yep, get it open, take a look inside. Wow, that puppy’s not moving at all. You got your uh fuel sending unit lock ring here, which is a real pain of the keester. Um I’ve hit it with PB Blaster, I’ve probed to get it off a little bit. I’m going to try again here. Um really just got to keep at it. PB Blaster should soak in for a while using a brass punch so there’s no spark and so that the brass that the uh the punch doesn’t mar up my rings here. I don’t know if I’ll reuse this sending unit or not, but um we’re going to see what the condition is like and if it’s in good condition, there’s no reason to to replace it.

With something new, so yeah, let’s see if I can get this thing knocked loose. There we go. All right, looks a little rough but not horrible. There is some rust and gunk on there. Yeah, I will probably replace this just because of the rust on this arm and the way that that looks right there. Okay, there’s some gunk on the bottom, but man, the inside of that thing looks clean, and the gas actually doesn’t look that bad. It doesn’t smell that bad either for the age of the Bronco. Now, I don’t know how old this gas stank gets. It’s got dirt and debris on it, so it must have been there for a while. For the age of this, I am not disappointed in how clean this looks and that gas. I mean, you guys can, I don’t know if you see this or hear this. There you go. Yeah, see, now it looks like there’s a piece of Velcro or something in there. I don’t know what that is right there. There’s a little bit of sediment that you can see, but the gas itself looks pretty good, and the bottom of the tank looks actually really good. So here you go. Yeah, it actually looks pretty good in there. Happy with that.

All right, guys, so the next step is going to be to clean this tank out. I got to get the gas out of there, dispose of it properly, get it all cleaned up, and clean out the inside. I’ll go through with you on how I’m going to do that, what I’m going to use to clean out the inside to get whatever sediment there is in there out. While I’ve got it out, may as well go ahead and clean it up. I don’t know yet if I’m going to put a finish on this, like paint it or anything. I really don’t think I will. There’s no rust on it, and it’s in pretty good shape. I guess I could just spray a real quick coat of rust inhibitor or something on there just to, you know, while I got it out, clean it up and make it a little bit better. But, um, yeah, and then, obviously, like I said, I’m going to replace the sending unit because I don’t like the look of this. The float here, the arm that it’s attached to, there’s a lot of corrosion on that. So these sending units are not super expensive, so I’ll just replace that. I got to replace the fuel line. I got some new fuel line coming in. This one here cracked on me. I don’t know if I did that, if it was like that. It’s entirely possible that this was already there, and that’s why it was disconnected, that there was a fuel leak there. I don’t know. It’s hard telling. Like I said, I don’t know what all happened to this thing before I got it.

Yeah, so, and then this is the vent that would go up to the charcoal canister in the front of the vehicle. I had to cut this off with a knife because I couldn’t get it off any other way. I think I’m just going to put an inline vent here and take the charcoal canister out because it hasn’t been hooked up in my other truck either for basically forever, so it doesn’t really do anything. So it doesn’t seem to hurt the way that it runs. It’s one less thing to worry about, and so I’m just going to go ahead and put an inline vent in here or pop a vent in the top of here. I got to do some research on which way I want to go there. But other than that, yeah, so the next thing is cleaning it up.

Why you do that? W, that’s a lot of gas. Yeah, it is. It’s so huge. I feel like Go Go Juice. W, it’s called the pressure washer. All right, guys, we are in the garage, going to finish cleaning this up on the outside. There’s still a little bit of stickiness and some stuff here from where the strap pads were on either side here. Just a little bit of rust. I’m going to clean that up with a wire brush in my drill, and there’s some stuff on the inside of the tank. I’m not sure exactly what it is, like little bits and pieces. There’s like a cap of some kind, like a plastic cap or something in there. I don’t know how that got in there, if that was something that fell in there when I was working on stuff or if that’s something that’s been in there for a while. But I got my shop vac here. I’m just going to stick the shop vac inside there, clean it out real good, and then I’m going to hit it with the wire reel and get it kind of cleaned up. So we’ll do that next.

Sorry I got to shoot at night, guys. It’s a little dark out here, but this is the time that I got. You know, I work full-time and got a couple kids, so do what you can. All right, so I’m ready to do my acetone rinse, and I went ahead and put the old sending unit cap back on. I cut the rust and sealed it off. I’m going to replace that anyway, so I just got the cap in there so that it seals it. I found a lid to like an old masonry jar, so that actually just pops right on here. It’s not going to make an airtight seal, but it’s going to keep most of the vapors on the inside so it won’t evaporate too quickly. Then I’m just going to cover this with some metal tape. That way it won’t eat through the flash, and it should come off without leaving any residue. We’re going to see how this works. I haven’t tried this yet, but we’re going to give it a go.

So now all I got to do is pour my acetone in there and give it a swish. This should probably be good. Use a whole container. Obviously, guys, I’m doing this outside. You don’t want to mess with this stuff inside a not ventilated room like my garage. Probably should be wearing gloves, but I’m not. So the nice thing about this setup, and I didn’t plan it this way, it sort of worked out this way, is that acetone will, of course, evaporate over time, which can build just a little bit of pressure inside the tank. Not that it’s going to get dangerous or anything, but if you want to release some of that pressure, you can have just a little opening, and this actually works for that because this cap isn’t perfectly on here. It’s just kind of sitting on it. It snaps on really well, but it’s not sealed, so that will give me a little bit of an escape path for some of the fumes and stuff.

So, all right, I’m going to go ahead and swish this around and get the tank a good coat on the inside, and then I will leave it overnight. And then tomorrow, even thing, I’ll come back out and we’ll rinse it, and I’m going to use isopropyl alcohol for that, and I will tell you why I do that. Let that sit, and I will come out in just a little bit, probably another hour or so, and do that again, and I’ll do that until bedtime. And then tomorrow morning, I’ll come out and check it to see how much acetone evaporation I’ve got, and hope there’s still some in there. If there is, I’ll shake it again, and we’ll just go from there.

So we’ve had our acetone in there for just about 24 hours. I’ve come out three or four times over the course of the last day and swished things around. Got the acetone moving around in there. It’s actually not evaporated that much, so that’s good. You can get it sloshing out of there. So now I got to get the acetone out of there, and to expedite that process, I’m going to rinse with 91% isopropyl alcohol. This is about a quart of it. Isopropyl alcohol mixes really well with acetone, and it helps increase the evaporation time. It also binds with any water that might be left over in there from when I did the rinse out earlier, although there shouldn’t be anything in there. But yeah, so we’re going to use isopropyl alcohol to rinse out the acetone, and then we’ll use my air compressor to blow it out, make sure it’s plenty dry, and then we’ll talk about painting it.

So one thing I do want to mention here is that you’ve got a lot of options when you’re cleaning out one of these things. I used acetone for a couple of reasons. One, it’s pretty powerful stuff. It does a really good job of cleaning things. It dries really fast, evaporates, and it’s readily available. You just go to the hardware store and pick up a gallon like this. It’s a little expensive; they’re around 20 bucks for that gallon. But it’s so cheaper than going out and buying a brand new tank. You’ve got a lot of options.

You could use, now one thing that I use, acetone. I use acetone because there’s not a lot of rust on the inside of this tank. Acetone isn’t going to help you with a rust problem. If you have a rust problem, then what you might want to do is use like muriatic acid. And you be careful with muriatic acid, it’s pretty potent stuff. Um, make sure you’re not like breathing in while you’re doing the muriatic acid thing, uh, because it will get into your nose and just kind of screw you up, right? Uh, but I use it for the pool all the time that we have, so you know, I know kind of how it works and everything. But it, uh, I didn’t really need to use muriatic acid because I don’t have a lot of rust in there. I just have the gunk and the varnish from all the old gas, so acetone works pretty well for that. Uh, you could also use something like, um, Simple Green or LA’s Totally Awesome, some kind of degreaser. Um, there’s one called Super Clean in a big purple container that you could use if you want something that’s a little bit less, um, powerful than acetone. Um, but I like acetone because it does, it evaporates really quick. It’s really easy just to dump out, get on the concrete here, it just evaporates into the air, doesn’t hurt anything. One thing I am going to do before I, uh, I dump the acetone out and rinse everything is, uh, I got one of these, uh, she’s called a bottle brush, and I’m just going to open her up and get inside and just kind of swish things around and do a little bit of scrubbing with these nylon bristles. You don’t want to do a whole lot of that with acetone ’cause the acetone will eat into the bristles, but if you’re only doing it for, you know, 10 minutes or so, it’s not going to have any significant impact, really. So, um, I’m going to do that real quick just to get the last little bits out, uh, right before I dump it out and then rinse it with my alcohol. Now, I said there’s a lot of stuff you can use to clean these tanks out, and you saw me use my, uh, my pressure washer and water and some detergent to do this as my first stage. Um, and that’s totally okay to do. Uh, it’s much better for me here because we’re in a super dry environment, so, uh, the fact that I’m using water isn’t really going to institute any kind of flash rust or anything, I don’t think, down here. Um, and I didn’t, I can see inside clearly, there’s no, there’s no rust or anything down there. Um, but you do want to make sure that you get that water out of there, which is one of the reasons why I’m using isopropyl alcohol. I don’t know if you guys know this, but isopropyl alcohol actually binds with water, um, and helps it, uh, to evaporate much quicker. And you can use, um, like a, uh, reverse flipped, uh, shop vac or a, uh, air compressor to blow it out and just get it that much drier, that much quicker. Um, so I’m using isopropyl alcohol again because it’ll help, uh, dry faster than the acetone by itself, and if there just happens to be any water left over from what I rinsed it earlier, this will take care of that. All right, guys, so after looking at this tank and actually reading the directions on this undercoat stuff that I got from Rust-Oleum, uh, it says do not apply, it says do not apply directly over rust. I thought this stuff could do that. It says stops rust right there on the can, but it doesn’t say that you can apply over top of it. So what I’m going to use is actually some Eastwood Rust Encapsulator, uh, that I’ve got for another project, and hopefully I don’t use the entire can on this ’cause I need to use this for some other parts of the Bronco, actually, that are like the body that’s rusting out. I want to put this on top of the body to keep it from rusting too bad. Um, but since there is a light coat of rust on top of this, and, uh, I don’t want the rust to spread underneath the coat that I’m going to put, uh, the undercoating, I’m going to go ahead and spray this on there. And if I got to buy another can, I got to buy another can. So, uh, there you go. Well, there’s everything painted up with the, uh, Eastwood Rust Encapsulator. Um, now I’m not super impressed with this stuff. Um, it came out of the can really splotchy and, uh, kind of thick, and it, you, I don’t know if you can see all the drips and stuff that are on the floor, uh, that all dripped out of the can while I was painting. And I actually got some drips on the floor of my garage, which you cannot get up if you let it sit for more than like 2 minutes. Uh, you can’t peel it up anymore, so those are now white spots on my garage floor that are pretty much permanent. I mean, luckily they blend in with the other white splotchy stuff that are down there, but yeah, so I mean, we’ll see how well it dries and how well the black undercoating goes over top of it. I mean, I know how well you can see the, uh, the tank. This is about one can worth, and man, I mean, look at, you can see the splotchiness and the spots and the drips and everything. Now, like I said, I’m going to cover this with a black undercoating, so I’m not too worried about it. It’s rubberized, so it should be thick enough to cover up these little bumps and everything else. It’s not that it matters, this is the top of the tank, nobody’s ever going to see it, so it doesn’t really matter. This is just to cover up so that it doesn’t continue to rust. But I was planning on using this on the outside of my, uh, my Bronco. Can’t really see it over there, dark, but I was planning on using this on the outside of my Bronco ’cause it matches the white paint on my Bronco. But after spraying this, man, I don’t know. I don’t know that I would want to use something like this, um, on the outside of a vehicle like that. Now, I mean, it could be my technique, um, it could be that, you know, um, I just did it poorly or whatever, but I mean, I, you know, I, after my initial opening of the can and using it, I couldn’t even continue to shake it ’cause if I shook it, I’d get white splotches just went everywhere when I shook the can. So, I mean, this is all just dripping from the can as I’m spraying. So anyway, maybe I just got a defective can. Uh, I don’t know. I mean, if you guys have used this kind of stuff, let me know in the comments what you think, if maybe I’m doing it wrong or if I just got a bad can or what’s going on. But anyway, I got everything covered, um, so I should be able to, uh, cover it with the rubberized coating tomorrow. Hopefully that sticks a little bit better, and, uh, yeah, we’ll let it dry overnight and see how it goes. Okay, this stuff is nice. I like it. It goes on real nice, real easy. It looks real good. That’s impressive. All right. All right, guys, next step is to replace the pre-carb fuel filter, which is that guy right there. And for those be curious, there’s the information, just a little guy. And I believe that is, um, does it say what it is? I’m not sure if it says what micron it is. I think it’s 10, but I’m not 100% sure. Um, yeah, anyway, that’s your fine filter that’s right before your carb. So I have no idea how long since it’s been since this one’s been changed, but since I’m doing the whole fuel system, hey, might as well go ahead and do that. Pretty easy, just unscrew it and replace it. All right, guys, well, there she is all painted up. Had to move things outside ’cause, uh, it’s actually a pretty nice day today, so I can paint outside. And, uh, I was getting some overspray inside the garage on my garage floor, so moved it all out here. But I’m pretty happy with it. Looks really nice for a gas tank. So I’ve been working on the fuel system in this Bronco, and, uh, yeah, they did something here. I don’t know if that was, if it got melted or if they tried to, to somehow, uh, seal that or something. I’m guessing it’s melting. I’m not sure what’s going on there. Is, uh, like with any used vehicle that you don’t know the history of, there’s always going to be some other stuff. I’m doing an oil change and stuff on my other F-150 while I’m doing all this. I may as well do the fuel and oil and everything else, so we’re doing that. But yeah, they actually had, um, some plumber’s pipe tape on there on both sides of this filter. Now, guys, you don’t want to use plumber’s pipe tape here because, uh

Fuel can degrade that stuff and then it’s going to go into your carb and mess things up. So yeah, we got that taken care of. Now, of course, I haven’t run any fuel through this thing yet, so I don’t know if there’s any leaks. When I did this, there was a leak over here, but I got that taken care of. I just didn’t have it on tight enough, so that’s all there is to it. But yeah, and I got my new oil filter on there and some other stuff. So yeah, we’re working through things.

So I want to show you guys this too. This is the inline fuel filter that I’m using. This is the pre-pump filter. It’s Earl’s Vapor Guard, it’s 100 Micron, and that’s just to filter out any kind of big stuff before I get to the actual pre-carb filter. You don’t necessarily need one of these, but they’re fairly cheap, and I’m going to go ahead and use them anyway. I got one for both trucks. So the Bronco actually didn’t have a filter in that location, so I’m going to add this, and my ’85 F150 does have a filter in that location, so I’m going to replace it.

So here we are underneath the Bronco, and you can kind of see where we are. There’s the trans case, there’s the rear axle, and along the frame rail on the driver side is this little patch right here, and that is where the fuel filter is going to go. Hopefully, I’ve got enough room in here to put that filter. It’s going to be real close, but I think we can make it work.

All right, so here we are back under the truck. I got my filter assembly made up. I did this inside the garage; it’s way easier to do all that inside of there than out here. Got new pieces of hose, and the problem that I see is that this is going to be really tight. I don’t have a whole lot of room in here, so we’re going to see if I can get this all put together. I don’t know how I’m going to manage this. I think I have just enough room, but I don’t have enough room to like pop it on. I really don’t want to have to undo these brackets, but I may have to. I’m not sure what they’re going on with. Oh, it’s just like a plastic clip. Well, that’s bad news; that means I have to break them. It’s in brackets there too, and I don’t think I can move it back because it’s right against that cross beam back there. So how am I going to do this? Do I have enough room to do that? Oh, I can bend the rubber bits just enough. Hey, there we go.

All right, now unfortunately I don’t have my gas tank in yet, so it’ll be interesting to see. I have to monitor this real close for leaks once I get everything in. All right, so next task is pretty simple: hook this up to this completely new piece of hose. This one here actually looks pretty good, but I don’t know where it came from, so I’m just going to use the hose that I bought. But before I do that, I’m going to blow out this line and just make sure that it’s clear. I’m going to do that with just a little bit like compressed air. The can, this would be better if I could be two places at once because then I can feel the other end, make sure there’s air coming out, but I can’t be, so I just got to deal with what I got. Let’s see if this works. I’m going to put a little flat piece of, uh, bit like a white piece of, uh, it’s like concrete sludge stuff, kind of, but it’s real light. It’s like the stuff that sits on top, and I’m going to see if I can blow that off there from the end. Survey says, well, it’s gone. I guess I’ll have to review the footage and see if they actually blew off of it. All right, well, I guess we’ll see if that leaks when I start her up. Got to get the fuel tank in first though.

Well, for some reason I lost the audio to this part of the video, but that’s okay. Really, all I’m doing here is just going through, showing you some of the parts that I’m replacing and kind of giving you an overview. So you can see in the background there that the tank is done, it’s painted. I’ve got the straps also painted all the way around. You can see that right now I’m putting in the new gasket for the EVAP valve that goes on top there. The one that came with it, that I pulled out of the truck, was pretty well rotted away, so I just replaced that. Again, that’s not very expensive, just like the sending unit. And also, you can see on the tank there that I’ve got some neoprene strips. It’s just rubber neoprene that goes on the top there, like I think it’s like an inch and a half wide, just lays in there. I took some spray adhesive and put it down there so it doesn’t move around. I mean, once I get it mounted, it’s not going to move, but that’s just to keep it where I want it while I’m mounting it onto the actual Bronco when I get to that point. And you can see over there on the right-hand side where I’ve got the straps already with the same exact treatment. I put a piece of neoprene rubber on there with some spray adhesive just to kind of keep everything together.

Here I am putting the new gasket for the sending unit together and getting ready to put the sending unit in. The new sending unit wasn’t very expensive, so that’s worth replacing, especially considering how coated that old one was. So yeah, just kind of putting the finishing touches on the tank and getting ready to mount it up. Woo, just get out of the way. So now I got to get the fuel filler hooked up. Having kind of dread in this, to be honest. Probably got to get the hose clamps on before I do all this crap, huh? All right, well, here we are about to hit the moment of truth. Everything’s hooked back up, and we just got to get the gas.

All right, guys, here it is, proverbial moment of truth. A, that was cheap. That, and there’s clearly some other stuff going on here too, guys. It smokes pretty bad and doesn’t want to stay running very well.

All right, guys, real quick fuel line and brake line 101 here on Bullnose Garage. This is a flare wrench, or called a line wrench. You want to make sure that you use these on your fuel lines and your brake lines, another kind of flare nut lines, because if you don’t, what you get is this. Yeah, that is what’s left of the nut that goes from the fuel line or on the fuel line that goes into the carburetor on the Bronco. And yeah, that’s pretty well mangled because somebody at some point in the past did not use a flare nut wrench or a line wrench on that nut. As a consequence, trying to get that put back on, I kinked the hose badly enough that it actually has a couple of holes in it. So when I did my startup test, it was actually spraying fuel into the engine. Now, I don’t know if the little bit of fuel spray that this was doing is enough to cause the engine to not run at idle like mine didn’t very well. So, you know, we’re going to find that out because I’m going to put a new fuel line on it. I’m actually just going to use a rubber fuel line, so I’ve got a couple of these flare nut fittings that’ll go in there, and then you just clamp a hose, a fuel line onto there. And I’ve got one for the carburetor side and one for the fuel pump side, so I’m just going to use a regular rubber hose instead of the metal piece there. Now, if I was getting super fancy, I could use like, you know, braided steel hoses and stuff, but I’m not going to do that right now. So yeah, we’re going to get this on and see if that fixes the issue.

So I don’t know if you guys are anything like me or not, but if I got a problem that I think I might have the solution to or know how to solve, even if it’s the middle of the night, I’m going to be working on it because I can’t just let things go and sleep on them. So that’s what I’m doing right here. You can kind of see there’s my new fuel hose going down to the fuel pump, down to the fuel pump and then up to the carb. And we are going to see right now in the middle of the night if it actually makes a difference. We’ll mount you. It’ll be a little bit wobbly, and we’re going to mount you right to the truck here. Here we go. Okay, so there’s a couple things that I’m looking for here to make sure of. One is that this doesn’t leak right here.

This doesn’t leak right here, and then it actually will run at idle without me having to goose it. So, uh, we’re going to see if any of that stuff happens. Okay, it is running. I’m not in the truck. It’s a little rough, but I don’t see any leaks. I mean, I feel like I probably also have some vacuum issues going on, but this is definitely better than it was. Oh, start to get some smoke now, so we’ll have to troubleshoot that. Oh, almost lost it. Yep, so we got some work to do, guys.

All right, guys, here we are. It’s a couple weeks later. I haven’t had much of a chance to work on the Bronco, uh, but I’m going to wrap this episode up and just let you know that all the fuel stuff is in. The tank is back up. I got fuel in there. Um, unfortunately, the Bronco won’t stay running. Uh, it’ll run for just a little bit, uh, but then it dies. If I give it some gas, it’ll run choppy, um, until I take the gas off. And then I, I don’t have time to get around to the front of the truck to see what’s going on before it dies. So I’m going to mess with the carburetor a little bit, see if I can get the idle tuned up, uh, so I can at least have it run long enough for me to come over here and see what’s going on.

I got to check fuel delivery because I just worked on that system, so it could very well be something going on there. Um, I got, uh, the vacuum system. The vacuum in this truck has been, uh, just mangled. So I, I don’t know, um, what else is going on with the vacuum system in there. There may be a vacuum leak. Um, who knows? There’s a lot of stuff going on. So, uh, but that is another episode. So, uh, yeah, thanks for watching, guys. As always, if you have any questions, comments, concerns, gripes, or ramblings, stick them below, and we will see you next time’s. Edes but’s away getting things to shine. Oh, no, garage considered divine. Thanks again for watching. We will see you next time. Thanks again for watching. We will see you next time.

The goal today is simple: get this ’82 Bronco running. All I’ve got to do to make that happen is put a battery in here and, uh, fix these old worn-out posts hopefully. And to do that, I got some nice new toys that I’m going to show you guys. And, uh, I figure while I’m doing that with nice new toys, I may as well go ahead and update this one too, so the ’85 is also going to get new battery terminals. See how it goes. Let me, uh, show you what I got.

Hi folks, Ed here. Welcome back to Bullnose Garage. And on today’s episode of tools I absolutely do not need but absolutely have to have is, uh, some heavy-duty battery cable cutters and, uh, a battery cable crimp tool along with brand new battery posts and all the fun stuff to go along with all of that. This is the battery that I’m using. It’s a, uh, cheapest battery I can find. It’s a Walmart special, EverStart value brand, 650 cold cranking amps. Uh, it’s, uh, group size 65, which is what fits in the Bronco. Pretty simple. These are about as cheap as you can get. Uh, but really when it comes to car batteries, I mean, it depends on who you ask, but they’re all basically about the same. What you’re paying for is a warranty usually unless you go with something, um, like a higher tier of battery that you, you like, maybe Optima, though I’ve heard some bad things about Optima. Anyway, that’s off the topic. Um, so yeah, just a cheap Walmart battery’s got a one-year warranty. Um, and because I’m not going to be starting the Bronco very often, I also got this 20W, uh, solar panel, which is basically a trickle charge maintainer. Um, I actually have one in the ’85. It works a treat, so I’m going to put one in the Bronco to make sure that this thing doesn’t die on me next time I want to go start it. So, uh, yeah, go ahead and get started.

Hello. Now, first thing I want to do is get this battery mounted. We go like a glove, and we’re going to put on the first brand new nifty thingy that I got, which is this, uh, battery hold down. The old one was pretty well rotted away, so I actually had to cut it off. Uh, it’s not perfect. I’ll just go this way, that way, not to worry about the ridges. There we go. All right, guys, just had to, uh, cut the ends off of these real quick with a Dremel. That way they don’t stick up too far and, uh, bonk my hood when I’m doing this. So yeah, that’ll be about right. Uh, quick tip: if you’re ever cutting the ends off of these things with a Dremel, uh, screws like this, just make sure you got a nut on the inside of there when you do it. That way, when you’re done, you can thread the nut off the end, and that will help reshape the threads so that it’s easier to get your nut back on once you’ve, uh, done the trimming.

So now it’s time to do the wires. Now, in this truck, for some reason, the positive is a black wire, and the, uh, the negative, wherever that went, yeah, is also a black wire. So I’m not entirely sure why they’re both black, but they are. And you can know that this one here is the positive because it goes to the, uh, starter solenoid. And then, of course, the negative goes down to, uh, the frame and underneath, uh, down there. So, uh, yeah, I’m not sure why the positive on this one is a black wire, but hey, you know, it is what it is. Give me a nice fresh connection here. Not too bad. Man, that’s pretty, uh, corroded even down inside there. That’s all right. And we’ll do the same here. Now this one’s got a couple of wires on it that I’m going to have to deal with here, but I think I can take care of that. That, okay, where’s that wire go? What is that wire for? That wire goes into the cab through the firewall, so who knows what that’s for? I may just leave that unhooked and see what happens. No, now I’ll hook it up, but I’m going to hook it up different. I’m not going to hook it up the way this is hooked up. Man, that’s a red wire too, isn’t it? Why would that be a red wire? That annoys me they would use a red wire for this. Is that a red wire or am I seeing things? I don’t know.

So that was the cheapest cutters. Uh, this is the nice expensive cutters. I didn’t use these ’cause I wanted to see how the other ones work. These actually, uh, you can use these to strip the wires, so that is actually really nice, and that’s what I will be using these for. There we go. Man, that’s corroded. I may have to replace that whole wire. That’s rough. Of course, want something, you know. Okay, guys, so as corroded as that cable is, I’ve decided to go ahead and just replace the whole thing. It shouldn’t take very long. I’ve got all the bits and pieces, and I’ve got the cable. So this isn’t exactly the same stuff. I mean, obviously, it’s not going to be stock. Uh, this is audio cable. Well, it’s not audio cable, it’s power cable for audio amplifiers, but it’s 4 gauge, which should be enough. Now, um, I will probably upgrade to a gauge in the not too distant future for this, but, um, for what we’re doing today, just to get this thing started, I’ll go ahead and go with 4 gauge ’cause that’s what I have.

All right, let’s try out my fancy dancy new, uh, crimper here. Ooh, look at that. Never enough hands for everything that I want to do here. It’s on there now. Put that wire in there. All right, and that didn’t do jack. All right, and it’s hard to do this on camera. Did it go? Yep, seems like it went. What the hell? Well, that thing’s kind of garbage, man. That sucks. Sharp knife is just as good, if not better for that. Son of a—what the hell? Never enough hands. What a load of—how is that? This shouldn’t be this hard. I’m sorry I did the, uh, the crimping and the, uh, heat shrinking off camera because that crimping with wire this large is a real pain in the butt, and the heat shrink just happened to be in my garage. The, uh, heat shrink gun is in my garage, so I’ll bring it out here for the other cable. But for now, it was just easy to do it this way. Look at that, guy. Yeah, fancy, right? TIY, Lefty Lucy guy. Remember years ago when I first got my ’85, I was looking for a good set of battery terminals like these, and I couldn’t find a good set. These seem like they’re pretty good. Pretty good. Extra points if you know who I’m, uh, pretending to be there.

Okay, now I got to cut this puppy and do him. Okay, so here’s the thing, guys. Uh, let me start with this. I do not recommend this tool. Um, it’s kind of expensive. I thought it was kind of neat, um, but, uh, it doesn’t really work very well. It’s not super sharp, and it doesn’t, uh, strip very well. I’ve actually found that it’s easier just to use a good sharp knife and to cut around carefully so you don’t, you know, slice your thumb open. I mean, it’s not super precise, and there’s always the option to cut your finger off, but even with those considerations, it seems to work better than, uh, than that tool. So there we go. All right, now this crimper that I have here is also not really super great. It’s hard to use, and, um, it seems to like you have to kind of preload it a little bit to get the shape, and then you turn it around so that it crimps both sides evenly, and that’s just kind of the way that it is. Not a big fan of that, but we’ll see how it works with this guy right here. This, these wires are a little bit easier ’cause they’re not fine strands, and the verdict is not great. All right, yeah, that did it. Nothing is ever as easy as it should be.

All right, guys, well, my other camera died, so now here I am with my phone doing this. So wh—That’s what I was afraid of. Now with the fun part, we’re going to see if I release any of the magic blue smoke. I don’t see anything. Now it’s time to see if this thing will start. Okay, here we go. Fuel system’s next on the list, but before I get there, I want to get this electrical stuff figured out. So it does seem though like it turned over so well. Obviously, more than it seems like it’s turning over. It actually is turning over, so that’s a good sign. Well, with a successful test, it does run. Now I got to be careful with this because, like I said in my last video, there’s no coolant, so I can’t run it very long. Um, as a matter of fact, if I run out of gas out of that bottle there, that’s probably even too long to run this without cooling in it. But, um, obviously, like you saw, it does run, and now that there’s a, uh, good battery in here, I can start it up and move it around if I need to, and I can get some cooling in here and, uh, you know, take care of that. And obviously, got to take a look at the fuel system, see what’s going on with that. Uh, I don’t know why the fuel line is disconnected from the, uh, the tank. Um, I have no idea, so we’ll, uh, take a look at that and see what’s going on there.

All right, guys, the last thing I’m going to do today is put in this solar battery charger just to keep this battery that I just put in here in good shape. Um, I’ve had good luck with this particular brand. It’s, uh, OM. It looks like O-M-S. It’s an Amazon brand. I’ll throw a link in the comments to where I got it, but it’s the same one that I have in my other truck, and it’s kept that battery in really good shape over the course of the last year and a half, two years. Um, even when I haven’t driven the truck in, man, up to a month. Uh, so yeah, if you’ve got a project vehicle that, uh, you need to keep a battery in but you don’t drive very often, I definitely recommend something like this. They aren’t too expensive, and, uh, they’re just a really good way to make sure that your battery stays charged up and, uh, in good shape. In the case of this one, I’m just going to stick it in the back window here, which kind of faces south, and, uh, plug this into the cigarette lighter, and, uh, it should just go right to the battery. In these old trucks, the cigarette lighter did actually just go right to the battery all the time, so as long as this works, which hopefully it does, I guess we’ll find out. Let’s see what the battery charger says. Oh, it says charge. Wait, it said charging. Why? What’s going on there? It showed charging for a second, and then it stopped.

All right, so I just spent like, uh, five minutes fiddling with the plug inside here. The, uh, the, uh, cigarette lighter plug and, uh, oh, it just went off again. Wow, this thing is rough. The, uh, lighter plug in this thing is not good. Um, it’s really finicky. So, but I do have a light. So guys, to be fair, one of the things that I really like about this particular panel is that it’s got a little indicator light in the back that tells me when it’s in the sun, when it’s charging, and when the battery is fully charged. And that’s super nice to have so that you know, uh, like for me, I know exactly when it’s plugged in. I don’t have to get out my multimeter and check up at the battery or doing other weird stuff back in here with this. I just, I just know exactly when it’s working, so, uh, that’s really nice. So yeah, now that I got that figured out, it does appear to be charging. Um, I’m going to go ahead and, uh, pop this thing in the back window. Oh, well, that’s a good sign. Ooh, a cigarette butt. Well, that’s interesting. A no smoking sign and a cigarette butt. Use vehicles, guys. Got to love them.

All right, yeah, there you go. Blue means it’s in the sun, red means it’s charging, and actually the sun is over there, right? Well, hold on, and actually it’s not really in the sun very much. The sun’s over on this side of here, but it doesn’t take very much, so that’s great. And you can see my other truck, um, right there in the back window. Now, by now, this one, uh, I’m actually hanging it with, uh, some magnetic hooks because the, uh, suction cups are dead on it after a couple of years, and that typically happens. But yeah, it works out great too. See? And it actually says in the sun, so there’s enough sunshine to trickle charge. Um, this one here, it doesn’t say it’s not charged, but, uh, it’s going to be charged enough to start the truck. So there we go. And then I will do this one, uh, upgrade the terminals off camera. You guys don’t need to see that. You’ve, uh, already seen that once today, so same exact procedure on this side, just changing out the terminals. So, and actually this one should go easier ’cause I don’t really have to, uh, change out or redo any of these wires. I just have to put the new terminals on, so should be easy to go, should be easy to do, should be good to go. Yeah, you know what I mean.

All right, guys, that’s it for today. Short one, real easy, just swapping out a battery. There’s probably a thousand videos on YouTube. I’ll change your batteries. This is mine. If you guys have any questions, comments, gripes, internet ramblings, stickle below. If I did something stupid besides cutting my thumb, tell me in the comments what the heck I can take it. And as always, thanks again so much for watching, guys. We will see you next time. Tinker away, getting things to shine. No garage, she’s considered divine. Thanks again for watching. We will see you next time. Thanks again for watching. We will see you next time.

Picture this: you’re sitting at a stoplight with your better half riding shotgun. A guy pulls up next to you, gives you a thumbs up, and shouts, “Hey, that is one hell of a smoke show!” At that moment, you might start wondering exactly which smoke show he’s talking about: the beautiful person sitting next to you or that classic 6.9 L IDI diesel under your hood, puffing out those proud city clouds. Heck, for some of you watching, you might even be the smoke show yourself. But either way, you’re smiling because let’s face it, classic beauty always turns heads.

Howdy folks, Ed here. Welcome back to Bullnose Garage. These days, the diesel scene is all polished chrome, turbo bigger than my head, and injectors with price tags that make grown men weep. It seems like every diesel clattering down Main Street’s a high-tech, high-dollar rig built more for Instagram likes than actual hard work. Now, don’t get me wrong, I love newfangled horsepower as much as anyone else, but today we’re leaving those shiny new toys parked at the curb. Instead, we’re stripping things down and getting back to diesel’s smoky roots by celebrating an engine that earned its legendary status through sheer stubbornness and ironclad reliability long before diesel trucks started wearing suits and ties, sipping DEF cocktails, or worrying about emissions tests. The 6.9 IDI was the engine that defined durability and simplicity. Sure, she might not top the dyno charts straight out of the gate, but with the 6.9’s lack of raw horsepower, it more than makes up for it with bulletproof reliability, easy wrenchability, and enough low-end torque to drag your neighbor’s Chevy out of a ditch. Again, hello!

Now, a lot of folks assume this was Ford’s first attempt at a diesel pickup, but that’s not quite true. Back in the ’60s and ’70s, Ford dabbled in diesel by offering the Detroit Diesel 453 two-stroke in some of their medium-duty trucks. But let’s be honest, unless you’re into screaming, high-revving, low-torque engines that sound like an old city bus, it wasn’t exactly a home run. That thing had all the refinement of a chainsaw in a metal trash can. And while it had its place in larger commercial rigs, it wasn’t what pickup owners were really looking for. It wasn’t until the early 1980s that Ford finally got serious about giving its light and medium-duty truck customers a real diesel engine that actually made sense. By the late ’70s and early ’80s, truck owners were demanding more torque, better fuel economy, and engines that could actually last under constant heavy loads, and that’s something that gas engines just really weren’t delivering.

Ford knew they needed a diesel option to compete with GM’s 6.2 L Detroit Diesel, which launched in 1982, but they had one problem: they didn’t have a diesel engine ready to go. Instead of starting from scratch, Ford partnered with International Harvester, a company with decades of experience building diesels for farm equipment, heavy trucks, and industrial machinery. At the time, IH had already designed the 6.9 L IDI for medium-duty trucks and agricultural use, but they needed a manufacturer to bring it to the light-duty truck market, and Ford was the perfect fit. Together, the two companies adapted the engine for pickup use, reinforcing the block, redesigning the oil pan, and tweaking the fuel system for better cold weather starting. And while some folks assume that Ford owned International Harvester, that was never the case. It was a strategic partnership. Ford got a purpose-built diesel for their F-series trucks, and International Harvester expanded its footprint in the light truck market. It was a definite win-win for both companies.

And Ford and IH weren’t taking any chances when it came to durability either. Before the 6.9 IDI ever hit the market, it went through brutal real-world testing in some of the harshest environments imaginable. Engineers put prototypes through their paces in the Rocky Mountains, the extreme cold of Alaska, and the scorching heat of the Southwest to ensure that the engine could handle everything from frigid mornings to high-altitude towing. And these tests helped refine the cooling system, injection timing, and glow plug reliability before it ever landed in a production truck. What truly made the 6.9 special wasn’t massive horsepower or high-tech wizardry; it was that brute force simplicity and easy maintenance. It was built like a tank: cast iron block, cast iron heads, no complex electronics, and an injection system that could take a beating. It was naturally aspirated, meaning that there was no turbo to worry about failing, and it used indirect injection, or IDI, a decision that prioritized reliability over cutting-edge efficiency. It wasn’t the most powerful diesel out there, but it was one of the toughest.

IDI, or indirect injection, means fuel is injected into a pre-chamber before reaching the main combustion chamber. This setup made for smoother, quieter operation compared to direct injection diesels, but it did sacrifice some efficiency as heat was lost in this process. Still, for its time, IDI was a proven design that focused on durability over outright performance. Now, the 6.9 IDI for Ford ran from ’83 to ’87 before being replaced by the 7.3 IDI, which kept the same core design but with a larger bore and refinements to cooling and glow plug systems. Here’s the thing: even today, decades after production ended, the 6.9 is still a fan favorite. This engine laid the foundation for everything that came after it, including the 7.3 IDI and eventually the legendary 7.3 Power Stroke. And for a lot of guys, that makes it one of the most important engines that Ford ever put in a truck.

The 6.9 L IDI diesel packs 420 cubic inches, which is 6.9 L of displacement, and Ford didn’t get there by accident. With a 4-inch bore and a 4.18-inch stroke, this is an undersquare engine, meaning the stroke is longer than the bore, and that right there is the key to why this thing pulls like a freight train but doesn’t care much for high RPMs. It was built for grunt, not speed. The long stroke delivers tons of low-end torque, which is exactly what you want for towing, hauling, and crawling up a steep grade with a fully loaded trailer behind you. The engine is all cast iron all the time, from the block to the heads, which is a big part of why it’s known for being damn near indestructible. But all that iron doesn’t come without a cost. Fully dressed, the 6.9 IDI tips the scales at about 920 lbs, significantly heavier than a comparable gas engine. So if you’re thinking about swapping into a lighter truck, don’t forget you’ll need to beef up your front springs, crossmember, and suspension unless you enjoy bottoming out over speed bumps or pretty much all the time.

The early versions in ’83 and ’84 ran a 20.7 to 1 compression ratio, which produced 161 horsepower at 3300 RPM and 307 ft-lbs of torque at 1400 RPM. But starting in 1985, Ford and International Harvester bumped it up to 21.5 to 1 to improve cold start performance and efficiency. This change also slightly increased torque output to 315 ft-lbs at 1400 RPM. This kind of compression is why it builds torque so well, but it’s also why glow plugs are absolutely necessary for cold starts. There’s just no getting around it. Internally, it’s built tough with a strong cast iron crankshaft designed to handle long-term abuse. The firing order 1-2-7-3-4-5-6-8 matches classic Ford big blocks like the 429 and 460, as well as non-HO small blocks like the early 302 and 351 Cleveland. So if you’ve worked on those engines before, at least that part will feel familiar.

From the factory, Ford stuffed the 6.9 L IDI into F250s and F350s, and if you were hauling people instead of cargo, you could also find it in the Econoline vans from ’83 to ’87. These trucks were built for heavy-duty work, so Ford paired them with transmissions that could handle the abuse, like the T19 four-speed manual, which is basically a tank gearbox, or the C6 automatic, a bulletproof three-speed. Over its production run, Ford made a few minor tweaks, including upgraded glow plug reliability and slight cooling improvements, but for the most part, the 6.9 stuck to the script: simple, reliable, and just built to work.

So if you’re thinking about a swap, why would you rip out your trusty 351 Windsor or big block 460 to put in a 6.9 IDI diesel? Simple: torque and economy. Gas engines have their perks; they rev faster, they’re snappier, and they sound great at wide open throttle. But you hook up a heavy trailer and watch that gas needle drop like a rock. The 6.9 doesn’t flinch under load; it makes steady low-end torque all day long, and diesel fuel economy under tow conditions is miles ahead of a gas engine. Plus, there are just fewer electronics to deal with, so you’re not chasing sensors and computers every time something goes wrong. And then there’s the sound. If you’ve never heard an IDI at idle, it’s got a mechanical chug that’s completely different from anything else on the road. It doesn’t have the deep grunt of a Power Stroke or the sharp bark of a Cummins; it’s more of a rolling lope that just says, “I’m ready, boss. Let’s get her done!” And if you slap a turbo on it, that whistle mixed with the IDI’s classic diesel clatter is just one of the most satisfying truck sounds out there.

One of the coolest things about the 6.9 L IDI is that it’s not picky about fuel. This thing was built in an era before modern diesel emission systems and sensitive electronic controls, and that means it can burn just about anything that combusts. Thanks to its old-school mechanical injection system, you can run it on waste motor oil, used vegetable oil, biodiesel, and even filtered transmission fluid blends, as long as it’s filtered properly and the fuel system is maintained. The 6.9 will happily chug along like it doesn’t even know the difference. That’s why these engines have become a favorite among off-grid truck owners, preppers, and anyone looking to cut fuel costs while keeping an old diesel on the road.

It’s not just as simple as pulling up to the back door of a greasy spoon, you know. Running alternative fuels requires some setup. You need things like heated fuel systems for cold weather operation, extra filtration, and regular maintenance to prevent injector coking and carbon buildup. You know, it’s a great way to save money and keep an old IDI running for cheap, but it’s not completely set and forget. If you’re willing to do the work, though, the 6.9 will reward you by running on fuels that would make modern common rail diesels throw an absolute tantrum.

So if you’re thinking about swapping a 6.9 IDI into a truck that originally had a gas engine, know this: it’s not a weekend bolt-in. This engine is significantly heavier than a gas V8. It means you’ll need heavier-duty front suspension components, possibly beefier axles, and a diesel-specific fuel tank since gas tanks don’t have the correct return system for diesel fuel. The fuel lines need to be revised, the cooling system needs to be upgraded, and depending on your transmission, you might need a new clutch, bell housing, or an entirely different unit to handle the torque. If you’re starting with something that originally came with a small block, you’re looking at a decent amount of fabrication work. But here’s the flip side: when you’re done, you’ll have a truck that pulls like a beast, sips fuel compared to a gas engine, and will likely outlive you if you do it right. A properly swapped 6.9 IDI turns your truck into an unstoppable workforce. You get unmatched reliability, impressive fuel efficiency under load, and an engine that doesn’t rely on a single sensor to keep running. And you get the sound. Let’s be honest, that’s worth something on its own.

So if you don’t have one and you’ve made up your mind you’re going diesel, all right, that’s a solid choice. But now here’s the real question: why the 6.9? After all, it’s not the only game in town. There are other options, even in the same family, like the 7.3 IDI. Bigger, right? Maybe you’re eyeing a Cummins 5.9 or 4BT. GM fans will tell you the 6.2 or 6.5 is a solid pick, and if you really want to go off the deep end, you could even slap in a Perkins just to confuse everyone at the next truck meet. So why would the 6.9 IDI be at the top of your list? Well, let’s start with the 7.3 because it’s the natural evolution of the 6.9. It’s basically the same engine, just bumped up to 444 cubic inches, which is 7.3 L, with slightly more horsepower and torque to go with it. It’s got some refinements to cooling and glow plug reliability, but here’s the thing: it’s not some massive performance leap over the 6.9, and in all honesty, in most real-world applications, they feel pretty similar. The downside is that even though the 7.3 IDI tends to be easier to find, clean low-mileage ones are actually really hard to come by because so many of them were worked to death in fleet use. If simplicity, affordability, and ease of maintenance are your main priorities, then the 6.9 still holds its ground without giving up that much in performance.

Then there is the Cummins 5.9 L 12 valve, probably the most famous diesel swap of all time. And there’s no denying that the 5.9 is a beast. It’s got legendary reliability, insane torque potential, great fuel economy, and aftermarket support that makes Ford and GM guys green with envy. But here’s the catch: it’s big, it’s heavy, it is expensive. If you’re planning to stuff one of those into a Bullnose, be ready for some serious fabrication work. The oil pan, motor mounts, transmission adapter, front crossmember, suspension upgrades all need to be dialed in, and that’s before you even get into wiring and plumbing the turbo. If you want the ultimate performance diesel swap and don’t mind spending extra time and money, then a Cummins 5.9 is pretty hard to beat. But if you’re looking for something easier to install and maintain, the 6.9 IDI is a far simpler, more budget-friendly option.

Okay, so let’s talk about the GM diesels, 6.2 and 6.5 L. They’re not terrible; they do have decent fuel economy, but let’s just say they don’t exactly have the best reputation. They were light-duty diesels, so they weren’t built with the same kind of brute strength as a Cummins or even a 6.9 IDI. They’re known for being a little bit weaker and having weaker internals, lower torque output, and just generally not being built for serious long-haul abuse. The upside is that they’re cheap. If you find one in good shape, it might be worth considering. But if longevity, power, dependability are what you’re really after, then the 6.9 is just a tougher engine.

Right? And then just for fun, there’s the Perkins. If you’ve never heard of them, you’re not alone. Perkins makes some of the toughest industrial agricultural diesel engines out there, found in everything from tractors to generators. And yeah, some people have crammed them into pickup trucks, but should you? Probably not. First off, Perkins engines were built for tractors and industrial equipment, not for highway cruising. They’re slow-revving, underpowered, and parts can be a real nightmare to track down. Plus, swapping one in usually means custom mounts, custom adapters, and a lot of head-scratching when things don’t quite line up. If you’re going for something quirky and unique, well then, yeah, it’d be kind of fun. But if you just want a solid diesel swap that makes sense, the 6.9 just wins on practicality alone.

All of this is to say that if you’re thinking about swapping your gaser for a diesel, the 6.9 IDI absolutely deserves a spot on your short list. So here’s the part in the video where I say something like, “But let’s be real, no engine is completely bulletproof.” The 6.9 is damn tough, but it does have quirks, and knowing what to watch out for is key to keeping it running strong for a good long time. So we’ll start with glow plugs. If you ask any IDI owner what’ll leave you stranded first, the answer is a bad glow plug system. Unlike common rail diesels that rely on high-pressure fuel injection to atomize fuel, the 6.9 IDI needs a good set of glow plugs to fire up properly, especially in cold weather. When they fail, you’ll be cranking forever, praying to the diesel gods, and probably killing your batteries in the process. The fix is to stick with high-quality glow plugs like Motorcraft or Diesel RX. Avoid the cheap ones that swell up and snap off inside the heads because pulling a broken glow plug out of an IDI head is not how you want to spend your weekend.

Then there’s the lift pump. Unlike modern diesels with electronic lift pumps, the 6.9 L IDI relies on a mechanical lift pump to feed fuel from the tank into the injection pump. It is simple and reliable until it isn’t. When it fails, you’re not limping home; you are dead in the water. That’s why a lot of IDI owners swap in an electric pump for better reliability, easier cold starts, and less hassle when priming the system after a fuel change. If you plan on running alternative fuels, an electronic pump also helps keep things flowing more smoothly.

Speaking of fuel delivery, let’s talk about the heart of that system: the Sardine DB2 injection pump. This thing is a workhorse, but just like anything mechanical, it does wear out over time. If your IDI starts idling rough, losing power, or becoming hard to start, there’s a good chance your injection pump is getting a little bit tired. Another common issue is injector return line leaks. These little rubber hoses get brittle over time, and when they crack, they let air into the system, leading to hard starts, especially after sitting overnight. The good news is that return line kits are cheap, they’re pretty easy to install, and they will save you a ton of frustration. If you just picked up an old IDI and it’s a pain to start in the morning, check those first.

Now, when it comes to aftermarket upgrades, the 6.9 IDI diesel has a surprising amount of support, especially if you’re looking to wake it up with a turbocharger. If there’s one thing the IDI crowd can agree on, it’s that these engines love a turbo. If you do it right, the 6.9 was designed as a naturally aspirated diesel, so slapping a turbo on without supporting mods is a great way to cook your exhaust valves, spike your EGTs, which is exhaust gas temperature, and blow a head gasket. But if you take the right approach, a turbo transforms the 6.9 from a reliable workhorse into an entirely different animal. The Banks Sidewinder and ATS turbo kits were some of the most popular period-correct upgrades, and they remain excellent options today. A properly tuned turbocharged 6.9 can push well over 200 horsepower and north of 400 ft-lbs of torque pretty easily while maintaining the old-school IDI reliability that makes these engines so appealing.

But if you’re serious about adding boost, it’s highly recommended to upgrade your fuel system to provide additional fuel delivery, install a pyrometer gauge to monitor those EGTs, and swap in ARP head studs to keep the heads clamped down tight. Factory head bolts are known to stretch under boost, and keeping an eye on exhaust gas temperatures is critical to preventing melted pistons or valve damage. All that said, when it’s set up properly, a turbocharged IDI is an absolute blast to drive. And beyond turbocharging, there are plenty of other upgrades that you can do to improve the reliability and drivability of your IDI. Swapping in an aftermarket electronic fuel pump like a Carter P470 or Facet Dur Lift eliminates the need for the factory mechanical lift pump, makes the fuel system priming easier, and ensures consistent fuel pressure. Upgraded glow plug controllers can eliminate slow cold starts, and enhanced fuel filtration systems help keep contaminants out of the injectors, reducing wear and improving longevity. Cooling system upgrades like high-capacity radiators, heavy-duty water pumps, and improved fans are also pretty valuable additions, especially for anyone towing heavy loads or operating in hot climates. You know, stock 6.9 is a solid dependable engine right out of the gate, but a few well-chosen upgrades can make it even better and let the 6.9 IDI keep up with much newer diesel engines while still maintaining that old-school toughness, simplicity, and sound.

And one of the biggest improvements you can make for drivability isn’t part of the engine itself; it’s pairing the 6.9 with an overdrive transmission. The ZF5 5-speed manual is one of the best upgrades over the stock T19. It provides a better spread of gears and, most importantly, an overdrive for highway cruising. I mean, the T19 is a solid transmission with only four forward gears and no overdrive. It leaves the 6.9 kind of screaming at highway RPMs on long stretches of road. The ZF5 solves that issue, makes the truck far more comfortable at speed, and it improves fuel efficiency too. If you want to stick with an automatic, adding a Gear Vendor overdrive unit to the existing C6 transmission can be a game changer. The C6 is a nearly indestructible three-speed, but it lacks overdrive, meaning highway driving can get expensive. A Gear Vendor unit splits the gears and adds an overdrive function, reduces RPMs, improves fuel economy, and makes those long-haul trips way more manageable.

When you look at the legacy of the 6.9 L IDI diesel, it’s clear that this engine laid the foundation for Ford’s later diesel success. It directly led to the 7.3 IDI, which refined the platform with more displacement and cooling improvements, and eventually paved the way for the legendary 7.3 Power Stroke. While modern diesels have gotten more powerful and more high-tech, the 6.9 remains a favorite for those who value simplicity, durability, and practicality. I mean, whether you’re swapping it into a classic Bullnose or keeping your existing IDI on the road, this engine is a testament to Ford’s commitment to rugged, practical performance and their ability to work with other vendors. It may not be the fastest or most powerful diesel ever made, but when it comes to getting the job done with minimal fuss, the 6.9 really is pretty hard to beat.

So there you go, that’s everything that I know, or pretend to know, about the 6.9 L IDI diesel engine. Now look, I am not generally a diesel guy, so I did a lot of research for this video, and the great thing is that I learned a ton. I hope you guys did too, and if you did, just drop me a like and a subscribe. It really does help me out. And hey, if you’ve got an IDI or you’ve ever thought about swapping one in or done a swap, drop me a comment below and let’s talk about it. I read every single comment, even the mean ones. As always, if you guys have any questions, comments, concerns, gripes, internet ramblings, stick them below. And thanks again so much for watching, guys. We will see you next time.

Ed’s but she’s doing fine. Tinker away, getting things shine, that old NOS gauge, she’s considered divine. Thanks again for watching. We will see you next time. Thanks again for watching. We will see you next time.

So I’m at my ’85 Bullnose driving to the auto parts store to get some auto parts for my ’82 Bronco when suddenly the truck dies. Oh, well, that’s not good. So I pull out to the side of the road, right, and get out, pop the hood, and then I smell gas. Oh, that’s not good either.

Howdy folks, Ed here. Welcome back to Bullnose Garage. It’s an emergency episode of Bullnose Garage because, well, hello. For those of you not familiar, this is a carburetor. Yeah, it’s a carburetor out of my ’85. So I popped the hood, got under there, smelled gas, and there was gas pooling underneath the carburetor. Okay, well, there could be a few things going on there. You know, you have a stuck float, you got some stuff that could be overflowing, but generally when you got that kind of an issue, the biggest, most likely thing is going to be a gasket. And that’s exactly what happened to me. The gasket that’s in between the carburetor and my spacer plate here, actually you can see it here. Oh yeah, you can kind of see it here. It’s in pretty rough shape, and it’s cracked right there. Yep. So, and you see there’s some piece missing in there. Yeah, so I mean that’s a pretty easy fix, right? A gasket, not a big deal. The problem is that these gaskets, this particular one here, is not for a stock carburetor for an ’85 F-150. This carburetor is actually a model 62228. It’s a Carter Weber, which is a reman of the original Y’s. And so this gasket is not the standard kind of gaskets you get from Amazon or whatever. So you got to special order it, kind of, and it’s, you know, it’s like six, seven bucks plus shipping of five dollars. You know, then you’re looking at it and there’s $10. All right. And, well, you know, you can get a rebuild kit. It’s got all that stuff kind of built in, but those are 30, 40, maybe 50 bucks depending on where you go and what kind of a kit you get.

So, you know, I thought, hey, this is a pretty good opportunity. It’s actually kind of funny because in my last episode, or one of my last episodes, I was talking about the 361 Windsor, and I said I was going to carburete the stroker build that I’m going to do. And it’s because I wanted to get my hands dirty with carburetors, and I think I said internalize how bad carburetors actually are, and you sort of learn that process. Well, I think I jinxed myself because now I’ve got this to deal with. But so rather than go out and get a rebuild kit or just get a new gasket, I took this as an opportunity to do some learning and to do a video for you guys.

So what I got was this Thunder Minko. That’s the actual brand name, Thunder Minko YF replacement carb from Amazon. This is definitely a Chinese company that is making a super cheap carburetor replacement. This thing was like literally 60 bucks shipped to my door. So, you know, I’ve heard mixed things about these, but actually most of the stuff that I’ve seen has been fairly positive. Now you’re not going to get a lot of performance out of it, but I, you know, I’m not doing that right now. All I want to do is get this truck back on the road because it’s my backup truck, right? It’s also something that I enjoy driving on the weekends. It kind of de-stresses me to drive my old truck. So I want to get that thing back up and running as soon as possible. So I went out and had this shipped within one week for 60 bucks. We’re going to toss this puppy on there and see how it works.

Before I do that, though, I’m going to do a real quick side-by-side comparison of this thing in a little bit of an unboxing next to my stock carb, or after stock, but it’s closer to stock, I guess, to see what the differences are and kind of how they look. So let’s go over to the workbench.

All right, guys, so here we are side by side with the carb that came out of the truck and the spacer plate and the new Thunder Minko. And just so you guys know, this was like the cheapest one that I could find. It really is. That’s the only reason that I got this one because it was the cheapest one that I could find that had any reviews on it. So pull this out of here, and that’s all it is. It’s just a carburetor, which is pretty well packed. Just a carburetor packed in a box with a gasket set, and that’s basically it. There’s a little, um, like a quick reference guide, like if your carburetor is not working, some things to check. But really, I mean, if you’re buying one of these, you probably ought to at least have an idea what you’re doing.

So there it is. I mean, it looks super shiny, you know? I mean, and if you look side by side, they are definitely, um, get over here so you can see, definitely comparable. You know, obviously there’s a, and this actually comes with the spacer plate already installed with a gasket and everything. You know, so the only difference is that, um, for me, this has got a manual choke, and I think it’s actually a, uh, someone added the choke to this. I’m not 100% sure because it’s got an automatic choke here too. But there is a switch inside the truck. Now, I never use it, right? And I don’t have any problems starting the truck, so I think the automatic choke works on it. The manual is just a way to sort of have a little bit finer control, and the new one doesn’t have that, and I’m not going to miss it. So it’s got the automatic, um, heat-activated choke there.

So yeah, I mean, it’s very, very similar. You can tell by looking at them that they are almost identical. There’s a few differences, you know, but for the most part, they’re very, very similar. This is probably about half as heavy as this thing. You can really tell when you’re holding them that this is much, much lighter. By the way, guys, I’m not going to be throwing this away. I will be rebuilding this later on once I sort of get my head wrapped around how carburetors work a little bit better. I just wanted to get my truck back on the road, so I didn’t want to use this as a learning experience for me on how to rebuild a carb because I don’t want to take my time and do that. I just want to get something on there that’s going to make it run. But I do plan on rebuilding this at some point, probably for the Bronco because I think the Bronco is probably going to need a rebuilt carb at some point.

So yeah, but that’s basically it, man. This is pretty simple. You know, it’s just an automatic choke, simple YF replacement. So I’m going to go through this real quick just to check a couple of things before I get it on there, and then I will pop it on and hook it up, and we’re going to see how it runs out of the box.

So I’ve already given this thing a quick once-over, checked all the screws, made sure that they’re tight. They are. Checked the gaskets, made sure they look like they’re well sealed, and they do. I haven’t taken things apart because I don’t want to cause any problems with the gaskets that are already in there. This was put together just like this when I got it. So I’ll get it on there and just run it. I mean, I, like I said, I checked all the screws and made sure everything’s tightened down well, and it is. There’s nothing loose. Checked the throttle operation and the choke operation, and everything seems to be fine. I mean, the, you know, was working fine, and the, uh, see where we at here? Yeah, the choke’s working good.

So, yeah, I mean, I think I’m just going to go ahead and toss this thing on and see how it does. Okay, so I got three gaskets in the kit. The only one that’s going to fit is this one here. It’s got the elongated holes there. That’s the only one that’s going to fit around what I’ve got, so that’s what I got to use. There we go. Took me a while to get this one here threaded. You got to be careful with these flare fittings. It felt like it was going in two or three times, but I couldn’t get it fingertight past about one and a half turns, and that usually means you got it cross-threaded. And if you cross-thread one of these, you’re in trouble. So always take your time with these when you’re putting them in and make sure that you can turn them two or three times barehanded before you start cranking on them because if you get one crossed, I mean, you got to replace the metal line, and that’s, uh, that’s no bueno.

All right, you’ll see if I can cut this down to where, and that’s a long way down before you start flying. Think I can? Oh yeah, I have it. We find out the hard way. Oh, yep, that’s close. At least now I can get on. Yeah, there we go. A little tighter than it was. The old carburetor had this vacuum inlet here capped off, as you can see right there. I’m going to go ahead and hook that back up. It goes to the charcoal canister for the EVAP system. And a lot of guys don’t bother hooking that up because it’s part of emissions, and oh my God, emissions. And I’m not going to have the emissions on my 351 when I put that in here because I’m not going to deal with all those extra systems. But for this one, all it is is a hose that goes from here to the charcoal canister, so I’m going to go ahead and hook it back up. It’s not going to hurt anything.

All right, guys, so just as a reminder, this is straight out of the box. I have made no modifications with this carburetor whatsoever. I bought it from Amazon, opened it up, showed it to you guys, and installed it. So, yeah, it’s like a $60 carburetor, so we’re going to see if it runs. That’s pretty impressive, guys. I may have to make some adjustments to the idle and a couple other things, but you see how it does once it warms up, but it’s not doing too bad.

All right, guys, I want to give you a quick look at it installed, close up, and show you a little issue that I had. So there it is, all hooked up, ready to go. And the issue that I had is actually right there. So that’s the cap for the automatic choke, and it uses hot air from the engine through that line right there to slowly open the choke as the engine warms up. So the issue with this hole, like that, now that happened when I tried to adjust the choke a little bit. You undo these three screws just a little bit. There’s still one here you can’t see, and then I turned this, and just that piece just popped right off of there. So now the problem with this is that some cold air can get inside of here on a cold day and cause the choke to stay closed longer than you want it to. But around here, that’s not really that much of an issue. I don’t really have that many cold starts, so I’m not too worried about it. What I’m actually worried more about is grime and stuff getting in here. I’m not too worried too much about the heat transfer, so what I probably will do is just put a dab of epoxy or something on here just to kind of fill that in. I don’t anticipate turning this a whole lot. I mean, this is a $60 carburetor, so it’s not like, you know, if I have a real big issue with it that, you know, it’s a lot of money out. So I won’t be turning this a whole lot. Again, down here in the southwest, this doesn’t make a whole lot of difference. So I will just put a little piece of JB Weld or a little piece of epoxy or something on there, let it dry, and then that’ll cover that up. And as long as I’m not super crazy with it, it shouldn’t drip down in there and give me any real problems, and it should be good to go.

So yeah, and that is the only real issue I had with it. Considering I’m not a carburetor guy and don’t really know what the heck I’m doing with these, I had to do a little bit of adjustment, which caused me some grief because I’ve never done that before, and it got me down to the point where I couldn’t even start the engine at one point. But I worked through it and got it set up correctly, and now it kind of purrs like a kitten. So let me put the air and stuff back on there, button her up, and we will do one final start and show you guys how it runs.

All right, there we go, all buttoned up, ready to go. Let’s just do a final test, make sure that she fires right up, and I’ll pull away and see how she runs.

All right, guys, long as I go, take two. So what happened there was that I had my choke spring was wound way too tight, so the choke was snapping closed way too aggressively. So when I would hit the throttle, the throttle linkage would move, and the choke linkage would snap closed, and yeah, that would just kill the engine. So I’ve got that taken care of, so let’s see if it starts right up this time. That’s better.

All right, guys, that’s it for today. Thunder Minko carburetor, $60 carburetor from China on Amazon, worked out of the box. A couple things to consider: one, it’s definitely not as robust as a higher-level unit, but for that kind of money, you don’t expect it to be. And it really didn’t need much adjusting out of the box. It would have run fine. I just took it upon myself to do some adjustments and mess with things until it broke so that I can learn how to fix it. I mean, that’s not why I did it, but that’s how I ended up. So, yeah, and then that minor plastic piece breaking, I mean, guys, it’s cheap. It’s going to be, but the fact that it runs probably runs better now than it did before, and I mean, it gets me on down the road, so I can’t complain. For $60, it’s about the same price as a rebuild kit, maybe a little bit more. But now I got a spare carburetor, and I’m going to rebuild that one for, you know, to get myself the experience how to do that.

Yeah, so if you’re looking for a really quick way to get you guys back on the road if you have carburetor trouble, right, just sort of in general, like regularly, you know, you may want to look into one of these, even just to have as a spare. For 60 bucks, it’s kind of not a bad idea, you know? And hey, you know, I’ll tell you what, I’m really kind of glad this happened to me because it gives me some insight, man. I know way more about carburetors now than I did even a few hours ago, messing with things and getting things working. You know, all the different screws and adjustments and tuning and stuff. And, you know, it’s nice. One of these YF carburetors or YF clone carburetors, they’re really very simple. It’s a single barrel, nothing too fancy, right? So, yeah, you know, it’s a great way to get your feet wet, get my feet wet.

So yeah, anyway, there you go, guys. I put a link in the description to where to get this thing right here if you want to go ahead and check it out, maybe, you know, do your own carburetor swap if you need to do that. So, if you have any questions, comments, concerns, or just internet ramblings, stick them below. Thanks again so much for watching, guys, and we will see you next time. She’s rough around the edges, but she’s doing fine, tinkering away, things to shine. She’s considered divine. Thanks again for watching. We will see you next time. Thanks again for watching. We will see you next time.

Some Ford V8s get all the glory: 351 Windsor, the Boss 302, the almighty 460. But what if I told you that the Windsor family, yes, including the legendary Boss 302 and 351, wouldn’t exist at all if it weren’t for one scrappy little small block that paved the way?

Howdy folks, Ed here, and that’s right, today we’re talking about the classic Ford 289 Windsor V8. Nothing says timeless Ford muscle like the rumble of a 289 tucked into a 60s Pony car. But this compact small block didn’t just power the first Mustangs; it set the stage for an entire era of Ford V8 performance. It proved that big performance doesn’t always need big cubes, and it laid the groundwork for every iconic Ford small block that followed, even powered legends like the Shelby GT350 and AC Cobra. If you’re aiming for mid-60s authenticity, the 289 is pure gold.

Now, I know what some of you are thinking: ‘Ed, the 289 never found its way into a Bullnose truck, so why are you even talking about it on your channel?’ And that’s a fair point. But here’s the twist: the 289 is a direct ancestor of the 302 and 351 Windsor, both of which did call the Bullnose F-Series and Broncos home, and it set the foundation for Ford’s entire small block legacy. Plus, if you’re hunting for a fun, lightweight, high-revving swap for an F100 or F-150 project to beef up, the 289 might just be the perfect vintage Ford guy choice. Sure, it’s not Bullnose stock, but its roots run deep in Ford’s V8 family tree, and that’s worth talking about.

Hello, the Ford 289, often called the 4.7 liter, rolled onto the scene in the 1963 Fairlane as part of Ford’s new small block family. The 289 wasn’t Ford’s first small block V8, but it was the first one that really mattered. Back in ’62, Ford introduced the 221, tiny, low on power, and barely enough to get a Fairlane moving. Then came the 260, which gained some respect for being the first V8 in the Mustang and early Shelby Cobras, but neither of those really set the world on fire. Then came the 289, the first small block to get Ford’s now legendary 4-inch bore. That change gave it room to breathe, rev, and perform, turning it into the foundation for Ford’s small block dominance for the next three decades.

By the time the Mustang launched in mid-1964, the 289 was positioned to power Ford’s soon-to-be iconic Pony car, catapulting it to fame almost overnight. Back then, folks were used to the idea that more displacement automatically meant more power. The 289 helped to flip that script by proving that a smaller, higher-revving V8 could compete with and even sometimes outperform bigger, heavier engines from Ford and its rivals. At the time, larger V8s like the Chevy 327, Pontiac 326, even Ford’s own 352 and 390 big blocks were the go-to options for muscle cars and performance builds. But the 289’s lighter weight and high-revving nature allowed it to hold its own against these bigger engines. It wasn’t just a great engine on its own; it laid the groundwork for the 302 and the 351 Windsor, proving that Ford’s small block design was viable for decades.

Without the success of the 289, we may have never seen legendary engines like the Boss 302 or high-performance 351 Windsor variants. Now, Ford did make another so-called small block later, the 255, but that one was a smog-choked, low-power economy engine from the 80s that doesn’t even really belong in the same conversation. As a matter of fact, it’s one of Ford’s forgotten engines, and I covered that whole mess in another video if you want to see how things got before Ford got their act together.

If there’s one car that cemented the 289’s legend, it is the original Ford Mustang. Sure, the earliest Mustang variants also offered the 260, but it didn’t take long for the 289 to steal the spotlight. By 1965, the Mustang 289 was on its way to becoming a household name, especially with options like the high-performance 289, often called the hypo or K code, rated around 271 horsepower from the factory, but criminally underrated if you ask a lot of folks. This version featured solid lifters, a hotter cam, and beefier internals that allowed it to rev higher and deliver more punch.

The 289 did more than just move the Mustang off dealer lots; it turned it into an American phenomenon. Carol Shelby took the 289, worked his magic, and birthed the Shelby GT350, which took the racing world by storm. But here’s where things get a little interesting: while Shelby’s 289-powered Ponies were dominating, many believe that those 289s weren’t exactly off-the-shelf Ford engines. The race-prepped 289 in Cobras and GT350s were rumored to have significantly more power than advertised, with some estimates putting them well over 350 horsepower, far beyond the 271 horsepower rating of the factory HPO 289. Some even suggest that certain Shelby race engines were secretly bored or stroked beyond 289 cubic inches, meaning they weren’t really 289s at all. Now, whether that’s true or not, what we do know is that Shelby’s modifications made the 289 a true giant killer. Once people saw a 289-powered Mustang outpacing bigger, heavier cars, occasionally even including Mopar’s 426 Hemi on the smaller, curvier tracks, they realized displacement wasn’t everything.

That’s why for many Mustang fans, the 289 remains the purest expression of that first-gen Pony car excitement: high-revving, light on its feet, and brimming with potential. And speaking of the GT350, you might be wondering, what does the 350 actually stand for? I mean, surely it means something, right? More displacement? It’s that higher horsepower number? Something else kind of cool? No, according to legend, when Shelby was trying to name the car, someone asked him what to call it. He supposedly looked around, noticed that his shop is about 350 feet from another building, and said, ‘Call it the GT350. It’s good enough.’ And just like that, the name was born.

Though the Mustang gets the lion’s share of the credit, the 289 found its way into plenty of other Fords and even a few Mercurys. I’ve got a chart here that goes into far more detail if you want to nerd about this stuff. During the mid to late 1960s, the 289 was available in the Falcon, the Fairlane, the Comet, the Cougar, and even some full-size sedans like certain LTD variants or station wagons. In each of these vehicles, the 289 proved to be a flexible platform: just enough torque to make day-to-day driving a breeze, but happy enough to keep gearheads smiling on track days. Ford used it in so many platforms because it hit the sweet spot: decent power, manageable size, and reliability for folks who wanted a family car on the weekdays and a surprise hero at the stoplight on weekends. The 289 was just about perfect.

Even now, when you come across a vintage Falcon or Cougar, a 289 under the hood is a big plus, both for nostalgia and for performance. Like any engine produced over several years, the 289 went through a few noteworthy evolutions. Early 289s used a five-bolt bell housing pattern from 1963 through part of 1965, and then Ford switched to a sturdier six-bolt pattern for the remainder of its production life. This little detail is especially important if you’re hunting for a period-correct 289 V8 restoration project. Knowing which bell housing pattern your car needs can spare you a ton of headaches. Compression ratios have also changed over time, ranging from about 9.0 to 1 up to 10.0 to 1 or higher in the HPO variant. Emission standards started nibbling away at compression in the later 60s, just like all the engines of that era. Though the 289 never got hammered quite as hard as some of Ford’s bigger engines did in the 70s.

Most 289s used a cast iron block and heads with a bore of 4 inches and a stroke of 2.87 inches, giving that 289 tube total. Thanks to that relatively short stroke, the 289 was a rev-loving engine that could wind out higher than many of its larger displacement counterparts. The firing order is the classic Ford small block sequence: 1-5-4-2-6-3-7-8, and it typically holds around 5 quarts of oil, though it’s wise to double-check the pan size if you’re building one up for performance. In terms of dimensions, the 289 measured roughly 29 inches long, 24 inches wide, and 27 inches high, making it a compact yet powerful V8 that fit easily into a variety of Ford platforms. Weight-wise, the 289 tipped the scales at around 460 lbs with iron heads. It’s relatively lightweight compared to Ford’s big block engines, which would often come in well over 600 lbs.

Horsepower and torque varied across different 289 variants. The standard two-barrel models made around 195 horsepower and 258 pound-feet of torque, while the four-barrel versions bumped that up to 225 horsepower and 305 lb-ft. The high-performance K code 289 came in at a factory-rated 271 and 312 lb-ft of torque, though real-world numbers often suggested it was making closer to 300 horsepower or more, especially in Shelby applications. Although the standard 289 crank and rods were cast, they were robust enough for almost all street builds. If you’re aiming to push the power envelope, upgrades like forged pistons, rods, or even a stroker kit can transform the 289 into an absolute screamer.

The 289 can be stroked to 331 cubic inches, making it a favorite for builders who want extra displacement while keeping the high-revving characteristics. Swapping to aluminum heads can also shave weight and unlock better flow, pushing the power output well beyond factory numbers. One thing to note is that the 289 always used a two-piece rear main seal, which was standard for small block Fords of that era. While pretty durable, these seals are prone to leaks over time, which is something to watch out for when rebuilding one. Also, because of the era in which it was built, the 289 never came with roller lifters. All factory 289s used flat tappet camshafts, unlike the later 5.0 or 302 roller blocks that Ford introduced in the 1980s. That means if you’re planning to run a modern high-lift cam, you’ll need to retrofit roller lifters or an aftermarket roller block to handle the added stress.

When people talk about Ford small blocks, the 302 and 351 Windsor often dominate the conversation. A lot of folks ask, ‘Why not just swap in a 302 or 331 Windsor if I want more displacement?’ And if you’re after raw power, by all means, bigger is typically better. But remember, those engines exist largely because the 289 laid the groundwork. Starting in 1968, Ford began phasing in the 302, which shares the same 4-inch bore but stretches the stroke to 3 inches for a bit more displacement. That small difference gave the 302 some extra torque, but many purists argue that the 289’s shorter stroke makes it more rev-happy and ideal for period-correct lightweight builds that thrive on higher RPMs.

Then, of course, there’s the 351 Windsor, which took the basic small block architecture and bulked it up. Great for folks who want more displacement in the same general block design. But if you’re restoring a ’65 Mustang or a mid-60s Falcon, dropping a 351 means you’re straying a bit from authentic. And you can’t talk about the 289 without mentioning the holy grail of match numbers in the restoration world. If your Mustang or Falcon left the factory with a 289, swapping a 302 or 331 might not feel right if you’re trying to preserve that historical value. Many collectors see the 289 as a stamp of authenticity, especially if it’s the high-performance variant. Even standard 289-powered Mustangs fetch strong prices because the 289 is so integral to what the Mustang stood for in the 60s.

Now, that being said, if you do stumble across a car that’s missing its original engine, popping in a clean, rebuilt 289 from the correct era is still a fantastic choice. It’ll keep the spirit of the build intact, and you won’t have to worry about engine bay fitment or hooking up transmissions and drivetrains that might need heavy modification. It plays nicely with a different engine. Swapping a 289 into an older project that originally had a straight six or even an earlier Ford small block is also straightforward. Mounts, transmissions, and exhaust paths are often very similar. And while the 289 might not post 460-level torque numbers, it’s a nimble, rev-happy engine that gives you an entirely different driving experience.

There’s a reason that Shelby used the 289 in the original GT350 and Cobra: less weight, balanced handling, and plenty of power to get you in trouble if you’re not careful. And if you want even more of that power, you’re in luck because, like the other Ford small blocks, the 289 has massive aftermarket support. You want to squeeze more power out of it? Sure, you start with the heads. The factory cast iron heads flow reasonably well for their era, but an upgrade to modern aluminum heads from companies like Edelbrock, AFR, or Trick Flow can unlock a serious performance bump. If you’re aiming for period-correct restoration, you want to stick with the factory cast iron heads, but you can do some mild porting and polishing, and that can help improve your flow without straying too far from originality.

Swapping the stock cam for something with a bit more lift and duration is another surefire way to wake up a 289. The factory flat tappet cam can be replaced with a performance flat tappet grind if you want to stay true to the original design. But if you’re not worried about authenticity, a retrofit roller cam will reduce friction, improve efficiency, and allow for more aggressive tuning. As in every case like this, just be mindful of your valve springs, push rods, and rocker arms to keep everything in harmony.

If more displacement is what you’re after, stroker kits can push the 289 well past its factory limits. The most common stroker setup increases displacement to 331 cubic inches, which is achieved by swapping in a 3.25-inch stroke crankshaft, which is compared to the stock 2.87-inch stroke, along with custom pistons and rods. A 347 stroker kit is another option, but if you’re going that deep, most folks prefer to start with a 302 instead. They have the same deck height but more internal wall thickness. They’re also easier to come by, and the later blocks have roller cam-ready lifter valleys. So if you’re not trying to stay period-correct and you want those extra cubes, probably starting with a bigger platform to begin with is a better choice. But if you want to stick with a 289, a mild overbore of 30 over gets you 292 cubic inches. Anything beyond 40 or 60 over is risky, as the 289’s cylinder walls are thinner than later 302 blocks.

Most 289s come from the factory with carburetors, and a properly tuned four-barrel Holley, Edelbrock, or Autolite 4100 can still deliver great performance. But if you’re looking for modern drivability, EFI conversion kits are hard to beat, like FiTech or Edelbrock Pro-Flo. They make the swap simple. These systems offer better cold starts, fuel efficiency, and throttle response, and they all kind of keep that classic small block look. Converting to electronic ignition, like a Pertronix igniter or MSD ready-to-run distributor, eliminates the headaches of points ignitions and provides a hotter, more reliable spark. If you want smoother acceleration and better combustion at high RPM, that is a must-do.

And for exhaust, the factory cast manifolds are fine for restorations, but long tube headers offer the best gains if originality isn’t really your concern. A properly tuned dual exhaust with an X-pipe or H-pipe can make a noticeable difference in both power and sound. So, as Carol Shelby was well aware, with the right upgrades, a warmed-up 289 can easily push past 350 horsepower, and you’d be surprised how many folks with bigger engines start sweating a little bit when a high-revving 289 lines up next to them.

Strip most period 289s are paired with three-speed or four-speed manual transmissions like the top loader, which is legendary in its own right. Automatics such as the C4 were also popular in the day. If you’re building a cruiser or daily driver, a C4 behind a mount 289 can be a wonderful setup: simple, robust, and easier on your left leg on a stick shift in traffic. And if you’re after a more modern driving experience, swapping in a five-speed manual like a T5 or even a modern overdrive automatic can give you lower cruising RPMs and better fuel economy without sacrificing the engine’s character.

Talking about transmissions, keep in mind if your 289 dates back to the five-bolt bell housing days, you’re going to have to have an adapter or a different bell housing altogether to mate it to certain transmissions. This isn’t a big hurdle for most builders, just something to note before you pull the trigger on a bunch of parts.

Why does the 289 still hold a special place in Ford enthusiasts’ hearts? Because it changed the game. It gave rise to the Mustang, helped Ford dominate racing in the mid-60s, and established a blueprint for small block performance that would evolve into the 302, 351 Windsor, and beyond. It proved you didn’t need 400-plus cubic inches to shake up the muscle car world, and it wasn’t just about raw horsepower; it was about balance, handling, and that unmistakable high-rev scream. Even with all the technology we have today, there is a timeless joy in building or driving a 289-powered car. The sound, the feel, and the history all come together to remind you that sometimes the original formula just works.

In a world full of LS swaps and modern Coyotes, the 289 stands its ground as a piece of American automotive DNA that still turns heads. From the earliest hypo versions to the everyday runners that powered families across the country, the 289 delivered a perfect blend of efficiency, power, and old-school thrill. And if you’re building a ’60s Ford, be it a Mustang, Falcon, or anything in between, there’s no question that the 289 is a rock-solid choice for a period-correct, grin-inducing driving experience. If you want an engine that’s as iconic as the cars that it came in, that’s easy to work on, and that still has parts galore floating around out there, it’s hard to beat the 289.

So there it is, that’s the story of how one seemingly modest small block paved the way for the big dogs, proving size isn’t everything and leaving its mark on automotive history in the process. Hey, you got a vintage Ford in your garage? Chances are it owes a debt of gratitude to this little V8 that could. And that’s why Ed from Bullnose Garage is talking about it today. That’s also why, even decades later, the 289 is still out there making waves and sometimes even leaving bigger engine competitors scratching their heads at the next stoplight.

And there you go, that’s everything that I know or pretend to know about the Ford 289. As always, if you learned something new today or found this video interesting, drop me a like or subscribe. That really does help me out. And you know I’ve got a lot of these Ford engine videos planned, so make sure you stick around to see what’s coming up next. If you have any questions, comments, concerns, gripes, internet ramblings, stick them below. If you think I got something wrong, let me know that too. And as always, guys, thanks again so much for watching, and we will see you next time.

But she’s doing fine, tinkering away, things to shine, garage. She’s considered divine. Thanks again for watching. We will see you next time. Thanks again for watching. We will see you next time.