81 F100 flare side custom with 300 six & T18

I started a thread on the Advance Adaptors Over Drive and transmission swap from a T18 to a NP435 in my truck http://forum.garysgaragemahal.com/Operation-NP435-amp-Over-Drive-td64090.html#none
Dave ----

The over drive is in and working, took it to work 1 day but it has been to hot to drive it unless I have to like the weekly trash runs.

Think it was last weekend I installed the used carpet and floor mats along with the shifter boots


The carpet made it like a different truck as it is so quite now.

Yesterday I used Car Parts.com to look up the AC compressor and 2 yards close list 1 each.
I will take tools with me to work and if I get out early will hit them to see what I can get.
I would like to get the compressor with motor brackets if I can for extras, hoses & dryer.
I want the hoses & dryer mostly to see how they fit as I think the dryer will not fit my evap so if I have used parts I might be able to come up with something that will work ....... I hope!

Today I worked on the sun visors. I bought a set from LMC a while back as both sets I have were hurting, they only come in black.
I used the set from my truck, the parts truck has a over head storage rack with visors so I left them together, they were also in little better shape.

Beside only coming in black they done come with the rod / mount so you have to reuse the old one.
Well what a job trying to pull them out! Once out I looked them over to see what it would take to tighten one of them up. That was the hardest part. I first tried to shim the spring by cutting flat washer and fitting either under or in the coils and could see this was not going to work.

I had to take it all apart then figure a way to hold it all back together. The factory has a peened over end holding a washer & spring, etc in place. At first I tapped the end for 5/16 threads but the end is just a little to small and the nut did not grab it to good. The center was somewhat hollow so I tried tapping it for 1/4-20 but not having a finishing tap I could not go to far in but got enough to help hold the nut in place.

With that tight I started putting the rod in the first visor and after fighting it about half way I saw I started it from the wrong side! Got that straighten out and the rods in both visors.
To bad I did not have black inside as they looked damn good so I prepped them for SEM paint to match the rest of the panels inside. I used almost a full can to cover both visors and think it could have used a little more but it was 96* in the garage and I was done for the day!

Well almost done as I looked over my broken A pillar parts, I am missing 1 some where? Will check my parts bins but I don't remember putting the 1 in there and the other 3 on my work table in the work shop side. I think I can glue them back together to get the shape needed for mounting then coat them in fiber glass rosin to make them stronger. I will then use spray can spray on bed liner for texture and them paint color to match.
I will also look when in the junk yard to see what shape that truck might be in.

I will mount the visors in a day or 2, want them to dry really good before I start putting my grubby hands on them. Then maybe I can look into mounting the mirror. I wanted to make sure the visors cleared it.
It was to hot for pictures but will before / after mounting.
Dave ----

Looks nice!

That sounds frustrating Dave.

But your truck DOES look nice!  

Have you considered the bricknose visors with the inboard clip to hold them?
It's my understanding that the dimple is there in the roof rib to locate them, but I can't speak with any authority.

I didn't find dimples, but it was very easy to find the right location and drill the holes.  I really like the later visors as I don't like the sag that the Bullnose visors eventually get.

Thanks guys
I don't remember any dimples either.
I knew of the later one but figured I give the old ones a try.

So what flops down?
Does the visor rotate on the rod like you would turn it down to block the sun when driving or something else? I cant see them turning on the rod as I had to fight to get them off and back on.
Now that spring deal is a POS and the drivers side was loose and why I did what I did to make it tighter.
Till I got it installed and use the truck I will not know if "the fix" worked or not.

If I ever get to a junk yard I will give a look for the later ones just in case.
Dave ----

The end of the rod sags down and looks tired. Some have shimmed the spring, and that helps. But the later ones solve the problem

Well here's hoping I shimmed it enough, if not I can shim it more because of the way I put it back together.
Dave ----

Picked up from the junk yard a AC compressor, one step closer to having AC in the truck

The yard did not have the hoses or the used dryer as I wanted them to see if they would work with the rest of my system.
My old York hoses don't fit the new compressor but do fit the truck.
So I am looking up hoses and other needed parts to make it whole again and hope the hoses will fit.
If not going to have to find someone to make up new hoses.

I hit the hardware store for bolts for the compressor and test fitted the brackets I made, I lost one a while back, and they fit.
I also picked up screws for the sun visors and got them mounted. Also the strip across the top of the windshield in place. I hope when I get a good pair of pillar moldings I can install without needing to remove the top strip.

Not to the truck but in the garage.
A few weeks ago I broke the bench vice, it was kind of small but better than nothing. So I picked up a nice 5" that turns & swivels and can hold pipe from Northern Tool.
Because it was bigger the old bolts and holes would not work so had to dig thru my bolt & nut bins for hardware.
I also had to clean a 1/4 of the bench to mount it, now if I can just keep it clean LOL
Dave ----

Hope your new vice works out!
Sometimes a little bit more is just enough.  

I sure wish I had a place to mount my big Wilton, but it would likely tip my "bench" over.

Hard to believe you went through all that firewall work and don't get have functioning AC Dave!
Soon enough....

I also noticed that Bill's body shop on Noroton Ave. is looking ready to be bulldozed.
Lot of changes over that way. The supermarket plaza across from the train station is a pile of rubble.

I hope you find the hoses.  I was lucky that Huck's system, complete with hoses, fit Big Blue.  Huck, the truck that keeps on giving!

As for the vise, I couldn't get along w/o one.  I cut steel in mine for the throttle cable bracket and then put the whole assembly in there to tack weld it.  Oh yes, I put the sheet metal angle in there and tapped it until the angle was 90 degrees.

ArdWrknTrk wrote

Hope your new vice works out!
Sometimes a little bit more is just enough.  

I sure wish I had a place to mount my big Wilton, but it would likely tip my "bench" over.

Hard to believe you went through all that firewall work and don't get have functioning AC Dave!
Soon enough....

I also noticed that Bill's body shop on Noroton Ave. is looking ready to be bulldozed.
Lot of changes over that way. The supermarket plaza across from the train station is a pile of rubble.

The vice sure looks good on the bench and I think if it was to pull the bench over the wall would come with it as I am sure they are bolted together.

A truck was not built in a day  Besides what would I work on if the AC was working

Bills always looked closed when I went by it and I would get my gas at Getty next door on the corner.
From what I was told they bought that building so they could get on the towing list for the town.
I think it also gave them a second time on the state tow list, first shot was from the Stamford buildings.

Is that the Stop & Shop that is rubble or Palmer's?
When the wife worked in NY we would shop at S & S most of the time.
You know what they are going to build there?
Dave ----

The Stop&Shop plaza.
Palmer's is an institution in Darien!

I'll take pictures next time I'm at Ring's End.
And have a look to see what's coming.

I get it...
Joe Romanello does the same thing with Preferred and East Coast.
Two spots in the tow rotation.
Preferred so he can be a duty wrecker in Greenwich.

If the AC worked you could work on staying cool.... and of course, the AMC.
But you know this project is never finished.

I'm really glad you've driving it now!  

Yes, what would you work on?!  Oh yes, there's the AMC, and, and, and....  Vehicles are never "done".

Thanks guy, I have 3 AMC's 2 really as I think 1, factory v8 Gremlin, is a little to far gone with rust but would like to transplant the v8 drive train into another small body car like a Hornet or Sprit.

Move away for a few years and everything changes, yes would like to know what is going in there.
No pictures needed seen 1 building knocked down you seen them all LOL

Towing is big buss. down that way. You have the light duty (small trucks) has 1 list each for city & state then you have the heavy duty for the state IIRC.
Been a while since I talked to Billy jr (RIP) & Bobby parker from Bill's Service. My son talked to their kids more than I did.
They are family, when Bill sr. was in Glenbrook on Hope St. I would help dad paint the tow trucks when he got a new one. They were red & white with gold booms, now it is hard to read who they belong to as they have so much other stuff on them.
Dave ----

Well.... Condos, with mixed use retail on the ground floor.

Here's Bill's



NOT just that shopping center, but the whole corner of Heights & Hollow Tree as well!  






Here's Stop & Shop and along West Ave.

WOW
Looks like everything on that side of the road is being replaced!
Sometimes I thing the wife and I got out just in time.

Even were we are, between us and the high way (2 miles at most) there was a farm with cows that they built a sub division in and across the street they built low cost apartments.
Across the street from us they built 4 houses, cant be seen from the street, and think there are 4 more lots for sale.

Between us and Raleigh there are making the high way (I40) wider to handle the traffic and depending on the time of day it is not coming soon enough!

Times are changing all over
Thanks for the pictures going to show the wife soon.
Dave ----

Dave,

I took a picture of this for you last night;). There are a few AMC's that show up on our Thusday night gatherings. This particular one is my favorite.

Rembrant wrote

Dave,

I took a picture of this for you last night;). There are a few AMC's that show up on our Thusday night gatherings. This particular one is my favorite.

Nice looking Javelin.

It a 71 - 74 Javelin and looks to have AMX badge on the rear pillar.
They had a base model and a SST model.
Do you know what size motor it had? they came with 258 straight six, 304, 360 & 401 v8's and for transmissions they had auto's and 4 sp sticks.

The 68 - 70 Javelins were base model or SST, most were SST.
Then you have the 68 - 70 AMX, it was 12 inch shorter than the Javelin and 2 seat model.
2 different cars for 68 - 70 when in 71 - 74 they no longer made the 12 inch shorter AMX but made it a upgrade to the Javelin model.
Dave ----

Started on the AC install yesterday.
Got the compressor mounted, my hand made mounts worked great.
Once the pump was in place I worked on hose fitment as I did not know if they would work.
2 of the 3 new ones fit and they were from the pump to condenser & pump to dryer, the dryer to condenser I had to reuse the old hose as the new one had a wrong end on it.
I think the newer evap coil has a different fitting that the new hose would have fit?

The pump to dryer sits up a little high so I needed to bend the tube on the dryer and should have enough room to close the hood.
I did get a newer dryer but it would not fit the evap coil so I ordered a new one for my year truck and will need to bend that tube. The newer dryer has a different tube so the hose sits lower to clear the hood but what I have will work just looks a little off.

Then I moved on to the compressor belt and run into a problem.
I have a mix of AC and non AC parts on the motor and did not know this till the compressor was bolted in place. I am also running a GM style PS pump and this was also causing a problem, it sits in the AC belt groove on the crank so I quit for the night to think this out.

Today after checking with members on how the belts run on a factory AC 300 six motor I found the 3 belts, ALT / AC / PS all go over the water pump pulley and crank. Well the PS is sitting where the AC belt needs to go and there is no groove in the WP pulley for this to happen. Non AC motors for PS just goes from crank to PS pump.

So first order was to see about finding a 3 groove water pump pulley for a 300 with factory AC, this could be BIG ISSUE as I am not finding one.
Plowing forward I had to move the PS pump back about 3/4" so it could use the center cranks groove, the ALT uses the one closest to the motor.

For now I was able to stack 2 nuts and longer bolts for the main mount and some washers and longer bolt for the rear adjusting bracket. I had to get a new belt as it now has to go over the water pump pulley but it works as I had the motor running and the belt did not fly off.

The new AC belt I got will not work, to short even now going over a small groove water pump pulley.
So when I get the right water pump pulley with 3 large grooves I can drive the truck to AZ and try belts till I get one to fit.

I tried to return the newer dryer, the AC belt that is to short and the hose that fits nothing I have but did not have the receipt for them, phone was home charging. So when I pick up the new dryer I will return them then.

So if any one knows where to get a 3 groove water pump pulley for a 300 motor that has factory AC please let me know I need 1 badly.
Dave ----