TN 72 F100 360 basic questions

[Ridingalonginmy72f100]

Hello Everyone, We (husband/wife team) have been using your site quite a bit as we learn about our inherited truck and change the parts as needed but this is my first time posting. I have a few basic questions. Do we need to be adding lead to the gas? Octane? Oil in cold months vs. hot. We are currently using non-ethonel gas and 10W30 oil.

Read a post recently about heaters for cold starts but the one that caught my attention the most was a guy who used a shop light to warm it up for a morning start. We are getting chilly lately and it's acting like a wuss until it gets warm so I think we are going to try it out this weekend. Any suggestions?

Also we have a very slow oil leak (1 quart a month) some were but the whole engine is covered in it. What is a safe way to clean the old grime off so we can find the leak?

[1970FordTK]

Welcome from North Carolina. My suggestion would be to ask the questions in the best match you can find for the "area" of the truck listed. A great deal of the wise ones only cruse in that area. Good luck with your truck.

[sargentrs]

Hello Everyone, We (husband/wife team) have been using your site quite a bit as we learn about our inherited truck and change the parts as needed but this is my first time posting. I have a few basic questions. Do we need to be adding lead to the gas? Octane? Oil in cold months vs. hot. We are currently using non-ethonel gas and 10W30 oil.

Read a post recently about heaters for cold starts but the one that caught my attention the most was a guy who used a shop light to warm it up for a morning start. We are getting chilly lately and it's acting like a wuss until it gets warm so I think we are going to try it out this weekend. Any suggestions?

Also we have a very slow oil leak (1 quart a month) some were but the whole engine is covered in it. What is a safe way to clean the old grime off so we can find the leak?

from Georgia! You'll get a larger variety of answers in the individual forum categories. However...

No ethanol?! Where are you, in paradise? Only 1 place in 50 miles of me to buy REAL gas. That engine wasn't designed for ethanol, doesn't need it. Use real gas if you can afford it.

Heaters? Not my area of expertise, I live in the warm south.

A good degreaser, like Gunk, Purple Power or Simple Green, and a pressure washer. Just try not to spray directly on the distributor or any place with a path directly into the engine, like the PCV valve, etc.

[basketcase0302]

from choo choo town. I use both lead additive and octane boost ever fourth tank. The price on the lead additive has gone through the roof lately. There's also an old "concoction" of sorts here on the site somewhere that uses I believe mineral spirits or some other form of thinner to arrive at a higher octane level. The ethanol eats at so many parts on our trucks. Here's the site again Randy:
http://pure-gas.org/
I usually cover the distributor and carb with plastic bags then pressure wash-don't reccommend doing this at a car wash though. Sounds like you might need to run a compression check, (engine lost oil rings-thus blow by spraying oil everywhere) or find that oil leak before it's too late. I lost an engine in Northeast Alabama back in the early 70's due to it freezing up, I think the shop light would be better than nothing.
What part of Tennessee?

[fireguywtc]

from Texas!

[sargentrs]

Thanks Jeff! Went there again and I see they've added a few a little closer to me. Now if only I had an engine to put some in

[Ridingalonginmy72f100]

We are very luck we have 2 stations that sell non-ethenol within 1/2 mile of our house. I guess if I get stuck in a pinch on the other side of town and have to buy ethenol gas, Sea Foam is my friend from what I've read.

Thanks for the info on Lead and additives.

We are in Nashville and neither one of us have ever done much on cars but I've always wanted to learn and Wow! are we learning fast. Changed more parts than I should list in the last 2 weeks. I can change a carb in less than an hour now and it looks like we will be doing it again on Friday cause the one we just put on leaks and the choke is sticking.

I have tons of stories already but it's probably way more gunk than most want to here.

After we get the carb straight we have a leak on the exhaust manifold seal right under the #1 plug. Every mechanic I've called is scaring me telling me the bolts could break & most won't touch it. Not sure we can find someone to help us so we might be doing that too. It's rusted very bad and I'm not sure how to go about it. I've heard you can torch the bolts to get them loose but we have never done this and we really have no clue.

I think the best part about all of this is we are learning new things and we have found that after 12 years of marriage we are still a good team and we work great together.

[Mancar1]

Welcome aboard from Gerber, Ca.