ckuske

Yeah, the head of the screw has been completely covered. I suppose I can try to chip away a bit and see if I can expose the head of the screw. I'm not keeping this paint, so who cares, right? That'd be better than the Sawsall approach, I agree. My main goal is to not damage the fender apron

A small update... I got all the bolts and screws out for the two fender aprons haven't tried to remove them yet for the reason below: When I bought the truck back, I noticed the right front fender had a weird shape. Since it had been so many years, I wasn't sure if this was new damage of not (but I didn't remember this damage when I had it) When trying to remove the RH fender apron today, I tried to pull it forward (is this the right way?) and saw it was still hung up on a screw. Ran my hands under the wheel well - hmm, it feels like they're all out. I don't understand! Here's the picture of the suspect fender from a few different angles. I wasn't sure if the fender was misshapen, not reinstalled properly, or just plain dented: Now the kicker... the screw I couldn't find? I crawled underneath and peered underneath.. I can see the screw going from the fender into the apron. But the screw head isn't there, and the fender is all warped and I think was Bondo'd... This picture right above this text shows approximately where the screw is that is obscured. I guess I have to get a Sawsall between the fender and apron to get the screw out? Or try to scrape away the Bondo or whatever covered it up... When I eventually get it to paint/body, do you guys think I should get a replacement fender, or let the shop try to fix it? I see Dennis Carpenter has OEM ones, but the shipping is crazy. I may try local salvage yards to see if any are in good condition.

Thanks Gary, it feels good to step back and look it over, you don't notice the changes always as you're going! Yep, I got the windshield washer reservoir out, and the battery/tray. The driver side is clear now, just gotta liberate the some stuff on the passenger side. (Vacuum reservoir, the coffee can thing... the name of which escapes me and a few other miscellaneous). I might as well pull out the original bottle jack and tire iron out (never been used to my knowledge) and try to fix those up as well. I've been using this rust remover called Evaporust. It's knocked off a lot of rust and it doesn't have a bunch of harsh stuff in it... wasn't sure if I believed it at first but it did great on my water pump pulley for instance. I have some SEM Trim Black that I used for my radio bezel (I'll post pictures of that soon), so maybe I'll give that a go. I'm not sure how it will deal with heat, but at least it's on the periphery of the engine bay. Thanks for the tip on the socket, I'll order one from Amazon (~$3). And I'll check out the steering box area and make sure all is secure!

I got my bumper and miscellaneous trim off, so I'm getting ready to start prepping the frame before painting with Eastwood Chassis Primer/Paint. I was hoping you guys could help me with a few questions: Is there any inside knowledge I should know about removing the fender aprons? Do they come out pretty easily if you remove the screws in the wheel well and near the door? Also, has anyone painted these? Any suggestions on a recommended paint to spruce them up? And finally, my screws have been painted over so it's hard to tell if they are screws with a straight screwdriver slot or need a hex driver. What tools do I need to remove them? I also just thought I'd post a progress photo, still cleaning and dressing up the engine but it's looking better.

I couldn’t feel that bolt from the back side. On the hole that *did* bite, I couldnt feel it from the back either I don’t know. I just ordered a bolt 1/4” longer than the stainless one I had, should do the trick. On Sun, Feb 14, 2021 at 10:52 AM ArdWrknTrk [via Bullnose Enthusiasts Forum] <redacted_email_address> wrote:

John, Good question, I guess two things for me. A) The engine was rebuilt about 25,000 miles ago, so I figured it should be fine. B) I'm still a bit nervous in the service about taking things off that I don't have to. This is the first water pump I've ever done. First gasket ever, too. Gotta start somewhere, but I thought taking the timing cover off and trying to get it back on and sealed up tight was something else that could go wrong and I didn't want to take the chance. I'm getting more confident, but still being conservative for now. Thanks for the asking the question, it's totally valid. These are the things I'm learning as I get more proficient, and I know for next time.

So I used a longer bolt from the previous set, and it grabbed. Same thread pitch as the new bolt, just longer. It sticks out about 1/4" past the hole in the timing cover, but there's nothing there so that's OK. I did keep them in order (or at least I thought?!), so I'm not sure what the deal is. All I can figure is perhaps it was installed incorrectly last time??? I've ordered some longer stainless bolts, so I'll swap this out later before I install the fan, etc. Next step is painting the frame where the Rad support goes with some paint I have coming from Eastwood. I feel a lot better now than where I was last night.

So, I got some time and put the water pump on! I worked the bolts over the past few weeks (probably about 10 mins of real work really), and I got lots of gunk out and I'm happy with the fit now. Everything went well... almost. I did hit one snag though, and I'm not sure if it's a big deal or not. I mentioned awhile back that when I removed the water pump, I noticed some bolts were only hand tight... All the bolts went in nicely, I put the pump on (with gasket and a little insurance Permatex around the sides of the pump where the water circulates in and out) and let it sit hand tight for an hour then torqued the bolts to 15 ft/lb. All went well, except for one bolt (of course) Pics below. Thankfully it's an "upper bolt", I'd assume the lower bolts near the inlet/outlet are the most important. Essentially, I can get that one bolt past hand tight, but only about one revolution past, then the bolts "pops" for lack of a better word and it loses grip. If I back out the bolt and hand tighten again, I can feel it grip the threads and I cannot pull the bolt out, but if I go past that point where it "pops", I can't pull it out but it doesn't tighten anymore. If I put my finger on the back side of the timing cover, I can't feel anything odd, or metal filings etc. (No bolt either, but I wouldn't have expected that anyway) I have a feeling this damage was done in the past, but I'm not sure what could have caused it. I'm guessing the advice is to tap a new hole for this bolt or getting a new timing cover? Or since it was like this before (although I was unaware of this behavior of this bolt) is it worth seeing if it's ok?

I saw reviews about the sticker being less than ideal. There are some anode caps on Amazon as well that look almost identical - maybe they are all just rebrands of the same cap? https://www.amazon.com/Northern-Z17700-Sacrificial-Anode-Rad/dp/B005ASS0NQ/ref=sr_1_33?crid=10NMDG9MTLVS2&dchild=1&keywords=zinc+anode+radiator+cap&qid=1612563883&sprefix=zinc+anode+cap%2Caps%2C222&sr=8-33

Yep, there are brackets that need to go on (alternator, AC/idler puller, and PS), but the bolts started getting hard to turn before I got near. Good point. But you're right, there will be less travel needed for the bolts when I put the brackets on. It's been so long since I had stuff assembled, I spent a good chunk of time going through old pictures on my phone so I could refresh myself where stuff went. I always think I take enough pictures and then without fail I later wish I had take more!

I believe I do have an extra bolt, that is a good idea Scott had. I don’t have a grinder but perhaps a Dremel would work? I don’t know how a grinding disc would do against grade 5 steel - I’ll try to find a softer bolt lying around. On Sun, Jan 31, 2021 at 6:55 PM ArdWrknTrk [via Bullnose Enthusiasts Forum] <redacted_email_address> wrote:

Will do! PS - Dang autocorrect! I meant “real life” not “tea life” :) On Sun, Jan 31, 2021 at 6:42 PM Gary Lewis [via Bullnose Enthusiasts Forum] <redacted_email_address> wrote:

I started doing what you suggested - going a few more turns, backing the bolt out and cleaning it off, and repeating. It’s getting there, I had to go back to tea life later in the day but I think I’m ready to install again soon. Thanks for the advice - I try to not force things out of fear I’ll damage something that I’m not able to fix, but I’m learning they are sturdier than I give it credit for. And following Jim’s advice, I’ll use thread sealant on the ends.

Ok, so I had a few hours of spare time today. Thought I'd try my first ever water pump install. This is old hat to a lot of you fellas, but my first time. I thought I had done things right - lubed the bolts with anti-seize, put just a tiny bit of RTV so the gasket didn't slide, etc. Finger tightened a few of the bolts on the upper part, then started trying to put the rest in. Most went it fine, but the two bolts at the bottom of each side of the timing cover concerned me a bit, so I removed the pump (and cleaned up the gasket from the little bit of RTV on it). I found the bottom two bolts would only turn about 3 revolutions until they got pretty hard to turn by hand, and I got a few more turns with the ratchet until I got nervous I was stripping something. I took the bolts out - some rust and gunk on them, but no sign of thread wear/stripping. So I put more lube on them, and tried again. Same thing... a little bit less rust, but still harder to turn than I'd like. I'm guessing inside the holes (these are the ones that go into the water jackets maybe?), there is some corrosion that the bolts have to "push" through, but I'd hate to strip something. I tried the old bolts and they had the same issue so I don't think I bought the wrong bolts or anything... Has anyone else had this happen, and if so, do I just keep turning or what?

Thanks, I took my condenser out of the box and looked for a Spectra label - nothing to be found. Just "made in china" (no caps in China was intentional). So we shall see how it goes when I get to this!

Gotcha, I’ll take a closer look. I think it’s a ground based on zooming in, the conductor is exposed where the tab is. Good catch. While I’m in looking at this - my heat shroud is terrible. I recall someone offering ones for sale that they were building since NOS replacements are unobtanium. Did anyone buy one? Are they still available? Can they be installed without lifting/removing anything or does the engine or manifold need to be removed?

Gary, It’s a wire for sure. The hose to the canister is intact and attached. Maybe when the starter was replaced one time they routed the wire differently? Haven’t crawled underneath to look (yet), but wanted to get others opinions on what the original intent of this wire may have been.

Today I was looking around as how much I needed to clean the frame before trying to paint it. I came across this on the passenger side, near the exhaust manifold. A little concerning. Does anyone have an idea what this was attached to before?

Ahh I see, thanks for this. Seems pretty easy. (Famous last words)

Thanks Gary! (And Scott!) for this as well. After all the rust removal and sanding, I’d hate future flushed to drip onto the rad support. Seems like you could hook a hose up to it and drain into a bucket. I assume the size of the petcock you guys are referring to is 1/4”-18 NPT?

Thanks for this, I didn’t know about this! Sounds better than replacing the petcock, and it seems like cheap insurance. This is the radiator I bought, I’m painting the radiator support this week so hopefully I can test for it soon. https://www.championradiators.com/Ford-F-series-truck-radiator-1980-1984

Hi All, I'm getting closer to finally putting my cooling system back together. I bought a new 3 row aluminum radiator, and an aluminum water pump. Usually I'm a total purist on keeping things stock, but I thought these upgrades were worth it - I've read (hopefully the right material) that aluminum conducts heat better than brass, so the radiator will function better than the old style brass radiator. As far as the water pump, it just looked good! Now to my question - I stumbled across this Zinc anode to install into the radiator. It seems like it would be worthwhile to preserve the aluminum parts in the cooling system. Does anyone have any first hand experience with these? Are they worth the trouble?

Thanks Andre, you've given me something to think about! Unfortunately (and I think I'm in the minority here), I live in a city, and in a house with a two car garage. I don't have a workshop with room to take the cab off etc and lay everything out. I am a bit jealous of lots of you guys that have all this space to work in! I have about two feet on every side of the truck in which to work... taking the bed off is going to be difficult enough to find a spot for it. I suppose I could take the cab off and set it on the back part of the frame, but it's gonna be a challenge.

Well Por15 is great, I used their engine paint on my 292 on my '56 Fairlane, I didnt use the exhaust cross over restrictors to prevent the paint burning, I brushed the Por15 Ford Engine Red on and I am like 3 years later and the paint still looks fresh and not burning off. Im sure the frame paint would be just as good. I have used Eastwood Chassis black before its nice but even their 2K chassis black can still be chipped. Thanks Scott and Rusty for your feedback also - I have a few things to get through, but hopefully I'll get to this in the next few months!

Big reason why I dont paint my frame cause I am so picky I want to blast the whole frame and coat the whole frame. Yes, this whole thread is to help me decide if my OCD can be overriden, and to what degree haha.