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The Truck of Doom: An Occasional Build Thread
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Re: The Truck of Doom: An Occasional Build Thread
 
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Re: The Truck of Doom: An Occasional Build Thread
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Re: The Truck of Doom: An Occasional Build Thread
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So today while my lunch was grilling, I went outside to poke at the truck a little more. I pulled one of the A/C ducts out and found this:
 Yep, a mud dauber nest. The truck was covered with these things when I got it (the wasps absolutely loved the shed where the truck was parked), but I thought I'd gotten them all by now - I found a nest in the core support last year, and that was the first one I'd found for quite some time. Who knows how many more there may yet be? In other news, work other than reassembly is going to slow down for a bit - I was reminded today that I promised a friend's son that my truck would be available to support his Eagle project for Boy Scouts next month; probably not a good time for me to start futzing with either U-joints or the transmission. |
Re: The Truck of Doom: An Occasional Build Thread
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Sorry I missed this yesterday. Anyway, that mud dobber's nest may be a holdover from the truck's time here in Okiehoma. They sure like to make nests down here.
 As for the project, that sounds like a cool thing to support.
Gary, AKA "Gary fellow": Profile
Dad's: '81 F150 Ranger XLT 4x4: Down for restomod: Full-roller "stroked 351M" w/Trick Flow heads & intake, EEC-V SEFI/E4OD/3.50 gears w/Kevlar clutches
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No worries, I’m just making idle chit-chat while waiting for my seat to come back. I’m a little miffed, it was supposed to have been ready last week sometime, but Friday came and went with no word. I’ll give him Monday as well, then I’ll start pestering him on Tuesday.
In the meantime, I’m waiting for NAPA to get my new air pump belt in; it’s a weird tiny little thing, I couldn’t find it locally when I replaced all the other belts when I got the truck. But the belt is now literally crumbling, so it has to go. Hopefully the one they ordered is the right one, but I have little confidence. I may also pull the drivers door panel and try to fix the lock; I had what may have been the last original working slider locks in the world, but mine finally gave up the ghost last year. That I can do without imperiling the truck’s availability next month. He’s a good kid with a good project (building outdoor facilities for a camp for kids with special needs), so I’m happy to be able to assist. |
Re: The Truck of Doom: An Occasional Build Thread
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Those projects teach the kids a lot and are very helpful for the recipients.
 As for the lock, at one point I drilled the broken plastic that was supposed to come through the metal plate and install small sheet metal screws and washers. That worked for that lock, but I'm not sure it would for all of them. I've also used JB Weld to glue the plastic to the metal. Anyway, hope you get the seat soon. And that the new belt does the job.
Gary, AKA "Gary fellow": Profile
Dad's: '81 F150 Ranger XLT 4x4: Down for restomod: Full-roller "stroked 351M" w/Trick Flow heads & intake, EEC-V SEFI/E4OD/3.50 gears w/Kevlar clutches
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Well, the lock problem is moot for the time being; when I replaced the door panels a couple years ago, I also replaced the cranks for the windows since the ones I had were discolored and badly pitted. Well, I thought the tired old Phillips screws holding them to the shaft looked ratty in comparison, so I replaced the screws with nice chrome screws from the hardware store. They looked pretty, but they were also Allen screws, and I apparently rounded out the driver's side when I reinstalled. So that panel isn't coming off any time soon.
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Huh...the JB weld is an interesting idea, maybe even interesting enough to try out.
Of course, fixing the lock is pretty much my lowest priority at the moment; I never keep anything of value in the truck, and if someone's going to break in looking for stuff I'd prefer they open the unlocked door instead of smashing a window. And if I do need to lock the door, I have a key. No seat yesterday, so today I start calling the guy. 
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In reply to this post by Dorsai
Matthew, I hope your seat looks as great as the fabric did.
 The truck is going to be a time capsule when you are done!
Jim,
Lil'Red is a '87 F250 HD, 4.10's, 1356 4x4, Zf-5, 3G, PMGR, Saginaw PS, desmogged with a Holley 80508 and Performer intake. Too much other stuff to mention. |
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Got my seat back, and I am pleased:
 It's going to look great once it's back in the truck. However, before that can happen, a couple other things need to be done. One, I want to repaint the exposed hinges and latch mechanism on the side of the seat; along with the mounting brackets, they've picked up a bit of rust over the years and there's no reason to put them back in looking that way. The other, more important item, is to fix the passenger side seat track latch. Right now, whenever I have a passenger and hit the brakes, the right end of the bench starts sliding forward which is both disconcerting and probably dangerous. From the looks of things there's supposed to be a spring down there that appears to be missing:  For comparison, here's the driver's side:  On the driver's side you can see the long thin spring that goes back (in these photos the rear edge of the seat is at the top) to the bolt attaching the rail to the seat frame. This is the spring that returns the adjustment handle to its starting position when you let go after adjusting the seat. I assume something similar happens on the passenger side, but as you can see the latch plates are different. Am I looking for a spring that runs from the same hole the cable is in to the frame bolt at the rear of the seat? I found a listing on eBay that looks like it could be the right part, but it's listed as being for a 1988 truck. Maybe the part number (E8TZ-1561883-A) is a clue for someone with a parts book? I checked the usual suspects (LMC, NPD, Jeff's) without luck. |
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E8TZ would make you think it is for a bricknose truck which has a slightly different bench (although I managed to fit a bullnose cover on mine)
Searching that number on eBay turns up one hit for the same item at $6something and $10 shipping from an outfit in Montevedio, Minnesota. Gary's said before that Ford often changed part numbers without showing that they'd been superseded . So, that may well be the correct part. I'll let someone with a bullnose seat laying around confirm that. Looks great BTW! I'm sure those wrinkles will stretch or steam out with time. I'd go on a tangent of Naugahyde's history from Naugatuck, CT but.... 
Jim,
Lil'Red is a '87 F250 HD, 4.10's, 1356 4x4, Zf-5, 3G, PMGR, Saginaw PS, desmogged with a Holley 80508 and Performer intake. Too much other stuff to mention. |
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And, to confirm that, here are shots of the springs on Dad's seat:
 
Gary, AKA "Gary fellow": Profile
Dad's: '81 F150 Ranger XLT 4x4: Down for restomod: Full-roller "stroked 351M" w/Trick Flow heads & intake, EEC-V SEFI/E4OD/3.50 gears w/Kevlar clutches
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