81 F100 flare side custom with 300 six & T18

You got a lot done, Dave!  

Maybe not all you hoped to do, but a lot nonetheless.

As for the wire colors, it is amazing to me how many variations there are for the same plug!  One time I wired the one on Big Blue using the color code on the connector.  Wrong!  The brakes on the trailer came on with the turn signal.  Like you, after Googling it I figured it out.

Gary Lewis wrote

You got a lot done, Dave!  

Maybe not all you hoped to do, but a lot nonetheless.

As for the wire colors, it is amazing to me how many variations there are for the same plug!  One time I wired the one on Big Blue using the color code on the connector.  Wrong!  The brakes on the trailer came on with the turn signal.  Like you, after Goggling it I figured it out.

Yes a lot done mostly the hard part, pulling the wire under the truck.

I still need to mount the controller but 2 screws and think 4 wires and done and the breaker for the power wire should be easy also.

Yea I first went but the female plug then looked at the paper that came with the adaptor and was  
I think the file I had in my box was when I wired a truck based on the trailer wiring that was wrong but at the time I only pulled my trailer nothing else and no one pulled my trailer so it was ok.
If it was not so hot I would have pinged out the Durango plug and may still do that, so I know the PU is wired right.
Think I have time as I have not towed anything since I moved down here.
I had to rent a U-Haul to pull my trailer to pick up the trucks, Durango was at dealer for heads and why the PU is a back up now.
Dave ----

Dave,

I just went through all of the pictures of when you built the metal floored bed, and I must say that was some impressive work. By the way...this project thread just isn't the same without you doing these massive sheet metal builds/rebuilds...haha, just kidding.

Are the bed floors the same height above the frame between the Stylesides and Flaresides? What did you do for bed floor crossmembers between the floor and the frame?

Rembrant wrote

Dave,

I just went through all of the pictures of when you built the metal floored bed, and I must say that was some impressive work. By the way...this project thread just isn't the same without you doing these massive sheet metal builds/rebuilds...haha, just kidding.

Are the bed floors the same height above the frame between the Stylesides and Flaresides? What did you do for bed floor crossmembers between the floor and the frame?

Thanks on the floor.
I enjoyed doing that kind of metal work like the firewall  for AC, the floors / rockers / cab corners, etc.

On the floor I tried to get measurements from members and I don't know if they did not know what I was asking or what as I did not get much replies. I had nothing to go by of the flare side bed so I just winged it and it turned out great.

I used the style side floor with its cross members left in place.
The cross members from the rear going forward all lined up with the frame of the short bed.
Now mine was a long bed so it had to be shorten and IIRC the vary front cross member that was left had to be moved back a few inches. Or I had to remove it from the part I cut off to shorten.
That was not hard as I drilled out the spot welds, that is why I think it came from the shorten part, and then used the holes to plug weld it back to the floor I used.

If you do some measuring of your flare and a metal floor you will see all the bed holes are in the same place it was just the shorting I had to deal with and that front cross member.

Now I had to use spacers for brackets for the steps to bolt to the front cross member. They are pretty solid but I would not go standing on them.

Out back I used the rear sill outer sheet metal, the only thing left of mine, and welded it to the rear of the metal floor & rear cross member of the style side floor. This took a little bit of work to make it look factory. Someone else did a metal floor and did the rear pan a little differently but can't remember how he did it?

It just turned out that the style side metal floor & cross members were the same height as the flare side cross members & wood to bolt the sides onto the floor. I used string down the door body line to make sure the fender body line were even.
My metal floor also had LineX bed liner that I kept in place to protect the floor.

Hope that answered some of the questions.
Dave ----

Dave,

Do you have any pics of the T18 shifter? Curious what it looks like in the cab. Did you remove that trans yet? I might try to mock up a t18 shifter but i can’t seem to find any pictures of what it looks like.

Lets see this is the NP435 I did bend this a little because of the over drive.

This is the T18 handle


If you need more I can get them for you.
Dave ----

Dave,

Came across this in VA, maybe you've seen it...steel floored Flareside.

https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/193526578902106/?ref=saved&referral_code=null




It's got me back to thinking about this again.

I wonder how shitty it would look if a fella had to use a Non-Ford steel floor? I mean ribs are ribs...but a non-Ford floor obviously would not have the bolt holes in the correct locations.

You used the floor from a long bed, right? How did the bolt holes line up? What did you do there?

Tabco sells half floors with no holes drilled but I can't imagine international shipping.
https://tabcoparts.com/pickup-trucks/ford/pickup-bronco-1980-1998/60174.html

I bought my bed floor from some mill in PA.

I use these manufacturers because their panels are just as thick as stock, and they come 'dead soft'.
Tabco is even galvanized.

Rembrant wrote

Dave,

Came across this in VA, maybe you've seen it...steel floored Flareside.

https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/193526578902106/?ref=saved&referral_code=null




It's got me back to thinking about this again.

I wonder how shitty it would look if a fella had to use a Non-Ford steel floor? I mean ribs are ribs...but a non-Ford floor obviously would not have the bolt holes in the correct locations.

You used the floor from a long bed, right? How did the bolt holes line up? What did you do there?

Cory, Sorry I did not get this sooner but no I did not see this.
I also cant look at it as a don't have a FB acct. to log in but that may be a good thing as I may be living in my garage with no heat and its getting cold out there

That floor looks like it was done pretty nicely.
I would like to know what was done for the rear sill / panel and the front sill with the running boards as that was the hardest part for mine.

As for used a non-Ford floor I think you are right on the bolts but also note where the bolts go there are spacers so when tighten the floor will not crush.
The other is how wide the floor is. When I cut the sides off I ended up right at the seam where the sides & floor met. So it gave me an edge on either side of the floor to "trim" up to.

Yes I used the long bed floor cutting the front off to make it a short bed.
My bed has 8 bolts (4 down each side) the 3 from the rear were the long bed bolts and lined up with holes in the frame.
The front bolts I think I had to drill the floor but I used the long bed front cross member that I cut to make the floor shorter that had the spacers in them and spot welded them to the floor to line up with the holes in the frame. The floor "pan" also had the indents where the bolts needed to go just no holes.
Dave ----

Well I have been using the truck to / from work and trash runs with the weekly trash.

Last week my son went with me. first time using the truck in a week it started right up ran great to the dump but as we waited our turn we could smell gas.
Pulled it out of the way pop the hood and see gas dripping pretty good on to the manifolds, not good unless you want to start a fire!
I only had a small screw driver but was able to take up on a clamp for 1 of the fuel filters and it stopped the leak so we could get home.

Today my son forced me to look into this but I also wanted to adjust the high speed rod / seat to see if that would help my MPG.
Pop the top on the carb and was shocked of the mess I saw in the bottom of the float bowl, RUST!
The tanks looked great inside when I installed them of what I could see but 1 or both got to be rusty where I could not see :(

I sucked all the gas out of the bowl then used a flat blade screw driver to get most of the rust out.
I cant believe how thick the rust was yet the motor ran great. A few sprays of carb clean and clean rags got it pretty clean.
I did a full turn CC as I think I was told to do and will see how it runs and adjust from there.
My son use cleaner and back flushed the 2 filters. The first one was full of junk.
He also found the short rubber hoses for the first filter to be bad so I replaced it, they were new when I was putting the truck together.

I check the operation of the choke and that is working as it should.
Back a few weeks I adjusted it a little richer to get the fast idle to work and it did the trick but my MPG went from mid 14's to mid 13's not happy.
I hope with the high speed rod / seat adjustment that will pick up a lot.

I found the oil low so topped that up then got the truck up on ramps and my son took up on all the pan bolts and had to replace one that fell out.
I also took up and the valve cover bolts as they were loose also.
I hope between the 2 I have slowed down the oil drops.

I also have a head light out. none on the shelf I pulled what I thought was a good one from the spare radiator support but once out I could see it was bad.
At that point I said I would buy 2 new ones someday and replace them both.
The truck started and run fine moving it from my garage to the house garage. I will take it for a ride when I do the trash next weekend and hope it is good.
Dave ----

Dave,

I was just thinking the other day that it's a little bit quieter around here now that your project isn't a project anymore!! What have you been doing with all of your extra time these days? haha.

I cant take all the lime light

Not a lot of time when you work 14 hour days and the cold just sucks the energy out of you. When I get home its dinner and then bed for 4 to 5 hours of sleep. I also worked the last 7 days in a row.
For some reason there was no work today and why I was able to do some work on the truck.

Also since my son moved in he has put more of his things in my garage so less room for me to get in and do things even after I move the Javelin project out and to do that I have to move sons stuff

Last week I was looking over local CL parts and came across 2 short bed frames one a roller and a CV motor & trans (can hear run). I was thinking of seeing if the CV was a full car for a CV suspension swap. But with no heat in my garage it will be hard sleeping in there when the wife kicked me out
Dave ----

How cold is it really, compared to Stamford?

Besides, you have dogs don't you?
You're never cold if it's a two (or three!) dog night.

I'd be interested is seeing what you've got going with your Javelin.
Longer days are not too far away.  😁

It was 41° at 1230 when I got up.
Its 36° where I am at now pumping off my first of 3 loads.

Yes I do have 2 dogs but then you get flees
I also like my soft bed over the concrete floor.

When I get my butt in gear again I will post up what I have done and doing.
Its mostly body work now and I hate body work so its hard to get going on it.
Dave ----

Well it was time for the weekly trash run but wanted to change out the head lights before I did the trash.
Well what a job! Started on the bad bulb side first and 1 of the ring screws did not to come out.
It would turn and came part way but not all the way. Little prying I was able to get it out and figured I would use a sheet metal screw to put it back together.
Well after trying 3 different ones and none going in all the way I broke out the tap & die set, the factory screws are machine thread.
I was able to get a screw from my other radiator support and after dicking with it for to long had that side back together.

And wouldn't you know the other side had a sheet metal screw in 1 hole and the head was rusted so could not use a screw driver :-arrgh
I had to use Vise Grips on the back side to get it turning. I also ran a tap through the holes and 1 more screw from the support and in half the time it took the first one I have 2 new head lights :-jammin

Loaded up the trash and took to the dump. This was the first time driving it since the carb rod adjustment and it ran pretty good.
The dump is not far so not a not of "testing" but I am happy, just wish I had a AFR meter so I know what it is at.
I did fill the tanks before the carb adjust so I will run a fill up or 2 and see when I et for MPG and may pull a plug or 2 and what they look like.

I forgot I have a leak on the rear tank filler but it was cold and raw so will have to look into it at a later date.
Dave ----

Used the truck to / from work this week and the new head lights need adjusting as they are not to my liking, will see what I can do over the weekend. May even try and adjust the fog / driving lights in the bumper as I had not done that yet.

Tithing the oil pan bolts did not stop the oil leaks, may have slowed it down but not sure?
I need to finish fixing my pressure washer and give the motor & under side a good cleaning and see just where the oil is coming from.

The truck dose seam to run better, not as ruff as it was, with the carb rod adjustment.
Don't know if the MPG has increased till I fill up again but the gauge still goes down pretty fast.
I still don't know what the AFR is but may know soon as I bought a AFR gauge just need to get it installed.

I also need to check into the "milk shake" things that was posted to make sure they are working as it should. I have not seen as much condensation out the tail pipe since the carb adjustment and maybe that was also why the milk shake?
Dave ----

Dave,
I think fuel can only dilute the oil.
If you've got milky froth it's definitely water.

Oil pan gaskets are just one of those things.
I find I have much better luck gluing them to the pan and being careful not to over tighten them, especially if the gasket doesn't have grommets to keep from distorting the lip.

How are the fog lights mounted?
To move mine I have to shim.

With all of the problems with the screws I'm not surprised the headlights aren't aimed correctly!  Hope you can dial them in easily.

On the AFR, what meter did you get?  Are you going to have to weld in a bung for the O2 sensor?

As for the "milk shake", I'd think the AFR would have to be very rich in order to cause that from just too much gas.  But, I'm anxious to learn.

ArdWrknTrk wrote

Dave,
I think fuel can only dilute the oil.
If you've got milky froth it's definitely water.

Oil pan gaskets are just one of those things.
I find I have much better luck gluing them to the pan and being careful not to over tighten them, especially if the gasket doesn't have grommets to keep from distorting the lip.

How are the fog lights mounted?
To move mine I have to shim.

With the new blend of fuel who knows what it does any more

I did replace the pan gasket along with the valve & lifter cover gaskets.
I think the timing gear cover is where the leak is from as I see dirt / oil up high but need to do some cleaning. I cant believe how much dirt can get on everything in a little over a year and I don't drive on dirt roads!

As for the lights

I do have shims between the lights and the bumper to get them tight.
IIRC I can adjust up / down but left / right I may need to oblong the bolt holes and why I have not gotten in to it before now.

Gary Lewis wrote

With all of the problems with the screws I'm not surprised the headlights aren't aimed correctly!  Hope you can dial them in easily.

On the AFR, what meter did you get?  Are you going to have to weld in a bung for the O2 sensor?

As for the "milk shake", I'd think the AFR would have to be very rich in order to cause that from just too much gas.  But, I'm anxious to learn.

The bulbs look to sit the same as the old ones I think it is a pattern difference between the bulbs.
This set points more to the left, on coming traffic and not as far down the road.

Old bulbs were Wagner's and looked to be a whiter light. The new ones Sylvania XtraVision - both Halogen bulbs.
Maybe if I went with the Sylvania SilverStar's with a whiter light I would be happier but they were $26 each where mine were $18 each, live and learn I guess.

I think the adjusters will "adjust" from what I remember, I know the others on the spare support and a no go! If I have to I will get new ones.

The AFR meter is a AEM 30-4110 got it off Ebay for $165 shipped from Winner's Circle.
It comes with everything to install (from the looks as I just opened it) even the bung.
I am pretty sure my Y pipe has a bung that the factory uses for EFI.
Remember I am running EFI manifolds with a replacement Y pipe on my 300.

I am sure the carb was rich even with out using the AFR meter as it feels to run smoother.
Also as noted less condensate smoke out the tail pipe.
Will update when I get to this.
Dave ----

Dave - That's supposed to be a good meter.  Enjoy!