Hell Bitch 1990 f350 CC; The Ultimate Wood Truck

Hello pbb! Last July I dragged home my dream truck. She may not look like much, but when I was a kid I must have drawn 200 two dimensional drawings of brick nose and obs f350's. I didn't know much about dana 60's, but I knew there was something special about a stock truck that was so big my parents had to pick me up to see the top of the hood.

I bought a 2wd 95 f250 that was a former copper mine truck before I owned the 350. I bought it to haul our stuff back from Idaho to New Mexico where we now live. It was rusty and had a Mazda tranny swapped in. The tranny took a shit on us just shy of Idaho falls. I towed the truck back with a Uhaul. I took a gamble on a used mazada tranny for $75 in unknown condition. When I stabbed it in I discovered 5th gear didn't work but I had a functioning truck again.

My wife felt like the truck was cursed since it left us stranded and really wanted me to sell it. But I used the truck to haul a lot of wood and realized I need to have a big truck in my life. She likes staying warm and I also used it a lot while remodeling the space where she has her yoga studio so it stayed around a while.

I felt like I could do better. The 250 couldn't drive in the snow or get me to the best firewood spots. Also, I know eventually we will have kids and the only thing we own that could haul kids is my wife's Subaru which is way too nice to go on the kind of adventures I like. So I cruised Craigslist and found an ad for a 4x4 460 auto f350 with no pictures and no cab description. The ad stated that it had a problem with one of the hubs and would need to be trailered. I called the owner and she said it was a crew cab and sent me a couple of pics and I was hooked. I was away from home when I found the truck on cl, so when I got home, I rented the longest equipment trailer I could find. I went to see the truck and it was definitely a diamond in the rough. It started right up, went into drive and reverse just fine, and upon closer inspection, I discovered it had 4.10's. It needed a lot of work but I decided to buy it and picked up the truck for $978 and some change. I figured worst case scenario I got a decent deal on some axles. It had a title loan on it and that was the pay off amount. It was definitely the weirdest vehicle purchase situation I've been in but I'm glad I did it. It took me and the po's boyfriend 3 hours to get the 3 wheeled truck loaded up.

The truck had been stuck in the mud for a few days by the previous owner, and that's what killed the bearings and locking hub on the front end, and subsequently the wheel bearings in the rear end while I owned it. From what the po said, the front wheel fell off in the driveway so no extra damage had been done. Also, the windows had been shot out while it was stuck in the mud. The po replaced most of them but she sold the truck with two front doors and I put the glass from those in the truck. It was kind of a pile but I had faith. I sold off the 250 to help fund the repairs and upgrades to the 350 before I even had it running right. Since I've owned it I have done:
Front wheel bearings and brakes and replaced the broken locking hub
Tie rod and drag link
Heater core
New u joints and carrier bearing for both driveshafts
Replaced MAP, ICM, cut intake horns, dialectic grease on all connections
New fuel pump
One side of the rear wheel bearings (the other side was good)
All new fluids
Manually switched t bird fan with a constant duty 80 amp solenoid (similar to mark 8 fan but you can buy them brand new)
35" treadwrights balanced with air soft bb's
Wood racks
Cleaned all the broken glass and dried mud out
Serape blanket seat covers because every truck with a bench seat needs them

I got her running pretty good with one exception. I was having problems with it dying on long climbs from the desert to where we live (almost 5000ft of elevation gain in about 15 miles) and some rv forums finally pointed me in the right direction. It turns out it was vapor lock. I live at about 9000 ft and these fuelie 460's like to vapor lock at high elevations due to lower boiling points this high up. I tried insulating the lines and putting a ghetto hood scoop on it since those options were free, and that helped. But ultimately a new fuel pump fixed it.

I still have a little problem though. I can't set base timing. If I unplug the spout, it dies. If I crank it with the key with the spout unplugged it doesnt start. If I put a jumper straight from the battery to the solenoid so I can crank the motor and rotate distributor at the same time, it never catches. When I got the truck with the spout connected and engine warm, the timing was around 20 degrees btdc, so I just put it back there and she runs pretty good. It just bothers me that I can't set it the right way, any suggestions?

When I was trying to figure out the vaporlock issue, I took it to the local mechanic and he tried to scan it and the computer wouldn't do a self test. There is a wire that's t'd in right at the fuel pump solenoid that runs back to the pump and t's in there as well. It was thin gauge so I ran a thicker one to help the hack job be a little better. For shits and giggles, I tried by passing the harness instead of having it t'd in and it wouldn't run. But with it t'd in it runs just fine. The rear tank isn't in the truck. The mechanic said either the computer doesn't like the hack job wiring or the computer is bad. I doubt the computer is bad if the truck runs. Could this stuff be affecting my inability to set base timing?

If I can't figure out this computer issue, I will eventually just put a fast tbi system on it with a carb adapter to the stock manifold. I would feel more comfortable putting a little newer electronics on it. But she runs for now.
Other future plans include:
Fixing an exhaust leak
Chopping the frame to get a shorter wheelbase
Making her ride a little smother
Some sort of flat bed with removable sides to carry the same, if not more wood with the shorter wheelbase
Some sliders so the rockers stay straight
Lockers
Possibly a t19. I miss shifting my own gears. This would happen at the same time as the fast tbi swap so I don't have to get a stand alone controller for the e4od
Bumpers. I made a temporary front bumper but I can do better.

Anyways, I'm glad I have a rust free old ford that runs pretty good. She feels like she can pull a house down. The inability to scan the computer doesn't bother me too much, but if I can't ever set base timing that would really suck.

Thanks for any advice you can spare about my base timing problem! Sorry about the sideways pics.