My Grandfather's pick-up

I'd be OK if he didn't ever get old.

 

The EFI has been a headache. It would run flawlessly on one trip and then like absolute garbage the very next. Unfortunately there aren't many shops around here that do this kind of conversion, and figuring out how to tune it with the controller and talking with the service techs from FITech while working on it is a time consuming venture at best.

It's been a frustrating experience, but in the end I think it will be worth it. Just got to get the bugs worked out.

 

Jeremiah, I don't know how deep the redo went before the EFI was installed, but remember: ground integrity is just as important as power on EFI. And it's something you can do yourself. If you go to Paladin's thread on his wagon's voltmeter, I detailed how to check the base electricals to verify power and ground are good, or what to do to determine if one or the other is bad.

 

Thanks Andrew. We'll be double checking all of that in the coming days. I'll definitely let you know how it turns out.

 

Well, it's been a while since I have updated this thread. Mostly due to the ongoing issue with the EFI. We spent a great deal of time in contact with FiTech's tech line troubleshooting the problems. After exhausting every conceivable probabbility they finally gave in and asked to have the unit shipped back to them for bench testing. We pulled it off and sent it in.
Turns out it had a bad CPU.
So they warrantied it and shipped it back. It's been on the truck now for about a month and I feel like I can finally safely say that this thing is awesome. It's been a long time coming, but it was definitely worth it.

 

Recently we took it to the inaugural show of the season at the Ag Museum.



But other than that I have just been driving it and enjoying it.

 

I also came across something pretty neat that I don't believe I have shared on her yet.
I've been looking through a lot of old family albums and found a photo from many moons ago. This is My Grandfather and I mowing his lawn at their home in Kennewick.

 

Ah, very cool. I bet that day came flooding back.

It's very good that FiTech was able to find the problem and warranty it out. It's also good that your sticktoitiveness went over everything, and so I'm confident you'll be trouble-free for a looooong time.

 

Seems like I'm late to this thread, but awesome truck! What a beaut! Man, you've got some family automotive history in your collection! I'll have to read through your thread when I have the time.

Cheers

 

It makes one wistful for the cars in their childhood.

 

Sure does. While the cars of the era I grew up in weren't as "cool" as the vehicles in OrthmannJ's collection, now that those days are long gone, time has a way of causing me to be more sentimental about certain things from back then. It's a curious thing. In a perfect world and with enough space, as pedestrian as they are, I think it'd be neat to own a root beer brown 2-door 1977 Mercury Zephyr, a beige 1984 Nissan Sentra 2-door hatchback, a navy blue 1983 Toyota Cressida wagon, or a champagne 1988 Cressida sedan. Heck, even a wine red 1992 Chrysler LeBaron Landau sedan like my grandfather owned (his last car). All cars with fond memories made in them. But despite what they were, I guess that's the point.

 

Cars are much more than a means of transportation. It's always neat when your memory is connected with something that we would consider cool, like a 68 Dodge Charger or a 40 Ford. But often, it's the mundane. Like a root beer brown 2 door 1977 Mercury Zephyr.
I NEVER thought I would be nostalgic for the things of the late 70's -80's. That was just the stuff we were immersed in on a daily basis when I was a kid. As time went on it went out of style and was considered old, and yesterday's news.
Yet, somehow, inexplicably when it comes to all of these things I just mentioned from the late 70's -80's I now find myself being nostalgic.

 

Agree 100%. I took my driving test on our 1976 Colony Park. To this day I love driving my ‘77, and all the memories of looking down that hood which seemed a mile long as a 16 year old. I think we seem to cling to those memories even more when the world seems topsy turvy. Not that the ‘70’s were any great shakes, but hell as a teenager I never worried about what 2nd quarter GDP looked like.

 

I had Dad's '78 Fairmont in '81 to learn driving, and though it had Iacocca's 'long hood, short trunk,' it wasn't all that big. But I used to pretend the hood ornament was a gunsight reticle....

 

I know I have mentioned before that my Great Uncle had a truck that was the twin to my Grandpa's. I had heard that my cousin Dick (Cousin once removed? I don't know. My Great Aunt & Uncle's son. We just always called him "Cousin Dick") inherited the truck.
My folks were over there a few weeks ago with Nathaniel and sure enough it's still sitting in the yard where Uncle Bob always used to park it.





It's a little worse for wear, but it still looks pretty solid. I think I am going to call him and see what his plans are for it.