ckuske

The dash is no fun. I am learning what I would do different. I like the suggestion about pulling the wiring through the firewall, as reconnecting everything has become a fun game of looking at pictures, using my memory, and the EVTM. Thankfully my baggie of dash screws is getting smaller but I’m stumped on a few. I’ll post more later, but does anybody recognize where these would go? Posting from my phone so the pic is rotated, sorry.

Thanks to you both! Yep, both have turned out to be very useful! I forgot about the EVTM as well. Silly me. I will hopefully have some time to get this finished off this weekend between family activities (of which there are many)

I've painted everything except the door panels so I've started to reinstall the dash. I'm in the middle of my second attempt. The first attempt I mounted the AC ducts to the dash before trying to mount the dash to the firewall. That didn't work well with getting all the wires back to where they were supposed to be. So, I took off the ducts and have gotten the wire bundles in their approximate locations. Near the glove box and above the radio, I have the main bundle attached via the trim screws that hold the loom to the back/top of the dash via a "wrapper" (not sure on the real nomenclature) that encapsulates the wiring bundle with clips on it that allow trim screws to hold the wrapped to the dash. Where I'm a little fuzzy is how/where the bundle is routed from the fuse box to the radio area - I see the same sort of mounting points on the bundle to screw it to the dash via two more "wrappers", but the pictures I took (2 years ago!) don't reveal where these two points should be. Does anyone recall where the bundle is attached to the dash from the drivers door to near the radio portion of the dash? Pictures would be a big help but only if you have one already - I don't expect people to tear their dash apart to send me one.

Thanks for the tip, I was actually looking at a Youtube video from SEM showing their Texture Coating product last week. I'd like to use "stock" panels, but I have a feeling my repair skills aren't up to my standards as far as staring at them for the next 30 years and not getting annoyed that they're not perfect.

Yeah, it's probably worth the call just to let them know there is interest. I have to imagine it is one of their more popular products, why wouldn't you want panels made with the original tooling? I'm on the West Coast, so its a bit of a drive haha. I do wonder if they have any lying around in the store though, if anyone goes by there, let me know! The Coverlay and LMC ones are ok, but you can tell they are knockoffs. I also read that the chrome trim on my panels doesn't really fit properly on the Coverlay ones, the radius of the curves isn't the same. I wish I had the "brains" at 16 that I have now (25 years later) . I never would have torn off the original panels back then, especially now that I know about SEM!

I'm almost done painting all the interior with SEM. I know there are SEM fans here, and I just gotta say.... I agree! Wow - Color Coat is great stuff. It lays down easy and is very tolerant to thick coats etc so even a newbie like me can't screw it up. All is painted except the dash and door panels. I had to fix some minor cracks in the dash with JB-Weld plastic putty - it seems to be working out well so far. It dries hard, but is doable to sand etc. I have a little more heartburn on the door panels. I bought used ones on eBay a few years ago, and never took them out of the box. They are not as good as I remember them being when I bought them. I was a little more naive at the beginning of this project regarding 40 year old plastic. The grain on the top of the panels is almost gone, they're almost completely smooth. And, there was a dime size hole on the drivers panel near the lock that I had to patch. I'm going to paint them to have something there for now, but I have my eye on the Dennis Carpenter door panels. Does anyone know how often they come in stock? They are the only aftermarket panels where the speaker grilles are correct for instance. (https://www.dennis-carpenter.com/trucks/interior/door-panels/e1tz-1023942-pr-door-panels-black-80-86-pu-)

Somehow I missed that, sorry! No other comments from me, looks good. Thanks for all your work on this.

Works for me, sir. I also noticed Cold Starting Procedures is not in the new layout as well? Just a nit-pick.

That makes sense to me, Gary. Two questions: Where does Diagnostics go in the new organization? Maybe make a Carbureted Diagnostics page vs EFI? I know my truck is a weird one - but I have a Motorcraft 2150 carb with EEC-IV thats under EFI in the new structure. Maybe just add a note on the 2150 page that CA trucks will have EEC-IV with TFI with a link to the EEC-IV page?

No problem. I've never followed it back from the battery to the tach, but on my battery there is a ground wire apart with a ring connector apart from the main connector that goes over the negative post on the battery. The screw that tightens down the negative battery cable onto the post has a through hole for a bolt to go through the connector, and a nut to tighten the connection. On my truck, this extra ground slips over the bolt after it passes through the main connector and before the nut that normally tightens the main connector down. In my case, I didn't tighten the nut down (it was loose) causing a intermittent connection of this additional ground to the main negative terminal connector. Once I tightened the nut, the ring terminal connector for this extra ground was nice and tight against the main cable connector that goes over the battery post, and all was well.

From personal experience, it will peg on a bad ground.

I just went to the junkyard to replace my passenger side hood spring. I was a dummy several years ago at the beginning of my project and the hood was raised past the stops and it messed up that hood spring. Anyway I wanted to comment that I couldn't find a Bullnose at my local junkyard but I found a Bricknose and the same hood spring was used on the Bricknose years as an FYI (I double checked in the MPC as well) and I test fit it last night and it looks like it'll work. Just in case you run into a similar problem...

Just marking it down here for an update - I replaced the Accelerator pump diaphragm (AP372) and no more gas leak. And(!) the oil leak from the valve cover seems to be fixed as well. I got a reprinted hinge for the Vent/Defrost door and the airflow leak is improved. Not 100%, but one more thin layer of foam on the right hand side of the door seems to be working. I run the truck in defrost almost never, so it wouldn't have really been an issue to begin with but I don't want to take everything apart to fool around with that. So, I think the next order of business is to finish putting the front clip back together, start painting the interior with the SEM I bought awhile back, then work on laying down Dynamat on the cab floor, put in new audio, and carpet.

2150 (feedback version), tag on the carb is E4TE-AHA

Thanks! There are four bolts on the front of the carb where the accel pump is, I'm assuming those are it. The bottom two may be tricky to get to but I'll do my best there. I'll let you know how it goes, the part comes in on Thursday

Rubber, this is what I bought: https://realgaskets.com/product/valve-cover-gaskets-33/

Yessir, I did wait a full day. The directions also said to put nothing on the gaskets which I didn't the first time but that the oil smoke was coming out, so I put some RTV on the non-mating side of the gasket so they'd stick better to the valve cover when installing. Anyway, I torqued the bolts down again after the first run while the engine was still hot, and let the motor run, and it seems to not smoke now. I’m not convinced but there is hope, as I was fooled before too.. In other news during that same run after I turned the motor off I was snooping around and noticed liquid on the intake. Yep… gasoline from my carb that I had rebuilt a couple years ago (and haven’t driven for real yet!!!). Looks like gas is leaking from the accelerator pump gasket/diaphragm. I ordered one, hopefully that’ll fix that whack a mole. It seems I can replace that without removing the carb off the intake, correct? I like onion layers but this is getting ridiculous! Haha EDIT: I forgot the email reply didn't work, so I pasted my reply here above...

OK, back from the dead. I think I have the vent/defrost door figured out after reducing the height on the hinge, so less air gets by. My main issue now is there is still oil smoke coming from beneath the #4 cylinder. I took off/replaced the valve cover gaskets again, adding a little RTV to the top of the gasket (where it touches the cover, not the head) to make sure it stayed in place during assembly. No dice, same amount of smoke as before. The amount of smoke seems to increase with engine RPM. I've seen some mention that it could be part of the intake gasket, or even the head gasket... It hard to diagnose all the way back there but I crawled underneath the truck behind the passenger tire and looked up in there with a light while it was running. I don't see any oil dripping but the oil is nice and clean so it may be harder to see. The exhaust header bolt right underneath that cylinder looks like it has come into contact with a fluid of one sort or another. I am still learning but that doesn't seem like a plausible explanation... so what else in that area could emit oil? It definitely is oil, not coolant (well, pretty sure at least. It smells like oil and the smoke is grey, not white. Here is a video, I apologize for the lighting, I'll try to get a better one soon. Also, I don't see any coolant leakage, or oil in the coolant. It seems to be just oil burning in the location show in the video. I was hoping maybe it was just residual from before but I let it run about 10 minute and the smoke was still coming out.

Thanks everyone for the answers! I'll measure the width of what I have now and see where it lines up to what's on the market. Besides that, seems like it'll bolt up if I understand your answers properly. I hope everyone is enjoying their Super Bowl Sunday

Mine may not be identical to yours, but all the 80-87 rear bumpers I've seen so far were attached with six bolts. There's a pair of brackets forming a "Y" that comes off the rear frame rail. The other forks of each "Y" got a bolt apiece through the back of the bumper. The inner forks had two bolts sideways into a support bracket inside the bumper itself. This inner attachment is where I've found the differences in the bumpers I looked at. You can see the issue in mine - the outer bolts mated perfectly but the inner bolts have a 1.25" gap between the mounting bracket and the bumper itself. In my case I plan to fill this with a stout bushing but YMMV. Hope the pics help a little, anyway... Sorry they're so dark, I took them quickly. Thanks much for the pictures, these will be a help to compare things! Not too dark at all.

Hi Guys, Forgive my ignorance here - my 84 Flareside has always had what appears to be a "normal" bumper. Meaning it has steps, a hitch, etc. It didn't come with the traditional Flareside bumper with the license plate bracket, etc. My question is, when looking on Google for bumpers, they say "Styleside only" or "Flareside Only" sometimes. It seems the holes for mounting the bumper are different along with the brackets, but if my truck never came with the "skinny" bumper, can I assume a Styleside bumper will work? Or do I have something even more unique?

I installed it, and it turns out there is too big a gap between the face of the door and the plenum allowing too much wind to sneak by. So, another revision will be coming out. Trying to get it just right...

I did a very scientific test of holding the foam to my mouth and forcing air through it. So far, it checks out.

Good question Gary - I hadn't really thought about it because the open cell looked like what was on my original door. In a bit of a panic (haha) I Googled it, and it seems both types are acceptable for creating an air seal: http://retrofoamofmichigan.com/blog/open-vs-closed-cell-foam-insulation More will be revealed after I test it out installed. Shaun’s suggestion is a good one, I have that foam and can try that next. I just have to figure out how to source it if needed. Of course I could just use one inch wide weatherstripping around the perimeter and “call it good” but I’m trying for something a little more professional. We will see if that is attainable.

I found some material that looks to work well! I test fit it and it does the trick. I still need to do my "leak" test but I'm pretty confident that will work. This is open cell 1/4" foam that's actually for an A/C filter...