81 F100 flare side custom with 300 six & T18

FuzzFace2 wrote

I was looking to paint it like the factory did but too much work so the plan it to get reflective letters as I think the back nerds more to be seen in the dark.

Weren't the original letters decals? My '84 had old cracked and weathered decals for the tailgate letters. Again, maybe this is something that changed over the years?

I bought the ones on Ebay and they fit and went on nicely. My originals were white also.

The gate I have that my brother sent me from calif they were painted on.
On phon now so can't get a picture of when I got it.
Dave ----

Not Flareside, but the original tailgate letters on my son's 1984 and my 1986 Styleside were decals.

The inexpensive Horrid Fate suction cup handles seem to work well enough.

I have a pair I have used for a couple of storefronts so far.

Home early from work and mounted the grille & head light doors, put the first chip in the paint :
The grille is not sitting square in the opening and when I closed the hood it hit the grille and chipped it.
I also could not see it was not square till the hood was closed.

I have to pull it all apart and see if I can adjust the brackets the grille bolts to.
This nose is from the parts truck that rolled on its roof and wonder if it get tweaked?

I turned the truck around to get more room to work on the tail lights.

I had to un-tape the style side harness to see what I had to work with and cut the wires & plugs off the broken factory flare side lights and prepped all wires to soilder

I also see the ground wires on the style side tail light harness only goes between the light sockets and 2 eyelets that get screwed to the bed behind each light.

It has been posted later years the ground runs back up front and screws to the fire wall inside the cab behind the radio.
Dave ----

Bummer on the chip!  But it is a question of when not if.  

On the grounds, the Flaresides only grounded at the socket while Stylesides and others went back to the ground in the cab, as shown in this page from the '85 EVTM:

Oh, I missed that you are using a Styleside harness.  It looks like in '84 the ground started running all the way back.  

Gary Lewis wrote

Oh, I missed that you are using a Styleside harness.  It looks like in '84 the ground started running all the way back.  

I had to use all the harnesses from the style side parts truck because of duel tanks and I did not have a flare side tail light harness.

Someone cut off the frame rail harness plug and use other wire to wire in them cheap boat trailer lights that were not wired & broken.

Like Cory did I have to splice on the flare side light plugs to both the new lights and the style side harness so it should all look factory when done like the other things I have added.
Dave ----

It will look great!  

I'd say "professionally done", but we all know that  is lurking, and he's apparently paid, which makes him "professional".

Reflective vinyl for the letters is a great idea. I may be able to get my wife to cut out some decals for me but my truck is going to be white already, not sure how that would fly. I have considered painting or using a decal to make them black.

TheScatch wrote

Reflective vinyl for the letters is a great idea. ...but my truck is going to be white already, not sure how that would fly. I have considered painting or using a decal to make them black.

Why not use black reflective?
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07893925Y

TheScatch wrote

Reflective vinyl for the letters is a great idea. I may be able to get my wife to cut out some decals for me but my truck is going to be white already, not sure how that would fly. I have considered painting or using a decal to make them black.

What color is the inside? If it is red or blue I have seen them colors in reflective also.
Dave ----

Put a full day in on the truck.
Wanted to get the trail lights working so that meant making a tail light harness for a flare side from the style side one.
Here is the style un-taped and plugged into the truck to make sure it worked before cutting it up.

At first it did not so pulled out the test light and checked fuses, I replaced them all a while ago, it was good then checked where the main harness plugs into the frame rail harness and had power there.
When walking to the rear it hit me this early harness has a ground at each  (note each)light NOT in the harness. Used a jumper and got 1 side to work but not the other? Remember the EACH used jumper on that ground and we had tail & turn lights out back so could move forward.

I had to join the old light pig tails to the new lights and get them installed so I knew where I needed to cut the tail light harness to work. You can just make up the pig tails hanging and the trailer light Tee wires wrapped around the hitch in the above picture.
This is what was removed.

This is the harness made with the plugs that the plug into the tail lights on it but before putting split loom on it.

Here is the plate light harness. I used 1 of the style side plate light sockets.

I was able to use the harness loops on the frame to hold the harness in place. I still need to run 10 ga. wires for trailer brakes & power to charge a battery then add the 7 flat pin trailer light socket.

Then moved on to putting the doors together ..... OH JOY!
I must of had the latches in & out a 12 times or more.

When I took them out 4 years ago I tried to keep the rods on them and they were put in bags marked to the side they went to but it was 4 years ago and I remember they were a bear to get out.

I found 1 or 2 rods were on wrong and the slider lock rods needed to be bent a little to clear the door frames but latches are in.

I installed new door locks as I did not have a key for the ones I had and they were paint black. Had to reuse the old clips as I could not get the new ones to fit all the way in.

Next up were the door handles. The new gaskets needed work to fit right and I had to clean layers of paint off them too.

Only thing I could not find was a 2nd door latch pin. I should have 4 and can only find 1??? Going to have to dig thru my parts bins again.

I started to fit the door glass channels to the doors, pulled out the door glass, did a quick cleaning on them and pulled out the vent window assy.
I need to do the vent window seals before I can do more work on the doors.
Dave ----

Progress!!!

Good job on the harnesses.  As I was reading I was thinking "don't forget the grounds", but you didn't.  

Those door locks are a pain!  The rods are hard to tell apart, and the whole mechanism seems overly complicated.  Glad you got it figured out.  

Keep on truckin'!  

Gary Lewis wrote

Progress!!!

Good job on the harnesses.  As I was reading I was thinking "don't forget the grounds", but you didn't.  

Those door locks are a pain!  The rods are hard to tell apart, and the whole mechanism seems overly complicated.  Glad you got it figured out.  

Keep on truckin'!

Yes progress cant wait to get to drive this truck!
Thanks on the harness.
The ground was only an issue when I tested the style side harness. I wanted to make sure I had power out back before I went cutting up the harness.
I know Cory ran grounds to each of his new lights, I did not and they are grounded.
Then again I have a metal floor not wood so maybe that's it?
Dave ----

The metal floor should make a big difference as the bolts go through it to the frame, which is ground.  But you might want to make 100% sure your bed is grounded well.

Gary Lewis wrote

The metal floor should make a big difference as the bolts go through it to the frame, which is ground.  But you might want to make 100% sure your bed is grounded well.

The floor is bolted right to the frame, no rubber between the bed rails & top of frame as that is how it was on the style side.

Now a normal flare side has the rails on wood blocks on top of the frame.
Then you have the wood planks or ply wood on top of the rails. Some of this wood the bed bolts go thru then thru the rails & wood blocks so no way for it to ground.
Then the bed sides sit on the wood planks or ply wood, the light brackets bolt to the bed sides so I can see why the lights need a ground like Cory did.
I cant see how it could ever get a ground?

I don't think I will have any problems with grounding the bed IIRC I have 6 or 8 bed bolts and my battery ground hits the frame first then to a starter bolt and a 10ga. wire from motor to firewall for the body ground. And yes I have the hood grounded to the firewall.
Think I am covered
Dave ----

I was just wondering about the paint on the frame and the bed.  Will the bolts make good contact?

Gary Lewis wrote

I was just wondering about the paint on the frame and the bed.  Will the bolts make good contact?

I did think about that when posting before but ......

With the 6 to 8 (I forget now) bed bolts thru the bed floor, countless bolts down each side for the bed sides to the metal floor, 2 bolts per light bracket to the bed side and 3 bolts per light to bracket it is good.

I forgot what I was doing when testing the lights on the brackets the nuts & lock washers were only finger tight and I had grounding sparks so had to take up on them a little more to get a good ground lights to brackets.

The termite bed guys have to work to get a good ground
Dave ----

Everything will work better, longer, with fewer problems & less maintenance if you stop using "ground" and add (appropriately-sized) return wiring for every circuit all the way back to the battery.  That's how modern vehicles are wired.  They only use "ground" for RFI shielding, and as the ground plane for the radio antenna.  You can still hit each body panel & the frame with serrated ring terminals, but the current flows better in Copper than in steel.