Gary Lewis

Lots of work, Ray, but it looks great! Well done! By the way, a guy on FB asked "You don't happen to be the Gary from a thread with ray1986f150 about a wooden flatbed and his truck painted red?" I said "That's me", and he said "That thread is extremely helpful. Especially his 3d drawings" and provided this pic:

Thanks, Bill. Good illustrations.

The only change I’m aware of is in the 1990ish timeframe the transmission hump was extended back farther, apparently to accommodate the long E4OD. But otherwise I think they stayed the same. Your cracking is exactly why I don’t recommend using any mounting points other than the factory ones for seats.

Yes, the PDBs can easily handle the current. They have large busses to each relay, and the larger relays have large gauge wire coming from the relays. I’ll take some pics of that later. Out and about now

Thanks, guys. I realized during the night (didn't sleep well) that the choke runs off of the fuel pump relay wiring, meaning that it comes on with oil pressure. So I only need 5 relays, not six. And, the headlights are 65 watts on high and 35 watts on low, which means that two of them on high will pull right at 10 amps (2 x 65 = 130 watts, and 130/13 volts = 10 amps). So the micro relays will work fine for them. That means I can use one Bosch for the starter and another for the blower, and still have a Bosch left over in either of the PDBs I have. And on the micro relays I'll use two for the headlights and one for the key-on function to control the volt meter. And, also during the night, I realized that there are plenty of the large fuses and I might as well replace the fuse links. That will clean things up a lot by not having them running to the Megafuse lug.

It is very tough. So sorry, Shaun.

Wow! That's a lot of work for one day! Looks great! The paint is Testors, and in my testing it comes very close to the original color. And it is what is on Big Blue's gauges. The silver on the bezel looks good, as do the letters. And the blower motor resistor is such an easy change and it can make a huge difference. Did you need to clean out leaves in there?

Looking great! Love the patina.

Nice looking truck for the price.

Good to know, Brandon. Thanks.

Angelo - A spacer would work, but that will raise the front and back of the cover, and I think you'd be hard pressed to get carpet to fit. As for what else I did today, I cleaned the kick panel vents. They had "stuff" caked on them, but they came clean. However, the gaskets are suspect, and I think I'll use foam tape to create new ones. Then I turned to the instrument panel where I added the cool white LED's and then installed the gauges and the bezel: After that I did some exploratory work on the plans for a power distribution box next to the battery. Brandon/Bruno2 was here yesterday and we talked about this. We plan to make a run to a salvage and see what we can find. I'd like to find one that uses the HD relay that Bill says is for electric fans, but I'd use it to pull in the starter's relay. (I know it isn't needed as Jim and Bill are using a standard Bosch relay, but that's what I'd like to do.) And, it needs to have a spot for a megafuse. I think I need a PDB with at least 5 relays (headlights, starter, key-on, and choke) and would like to have another one for the blower. The two that I have do have slots for 6, but 3 are the full-sized Bosch styles and 3 are the mini ones. I don't remember the amp ratings for the smaller relays, but I doubt they'd be good for the blower, although they'd do the key-on and choke duties I'm sure. Anyway, here's what the two look like in the spot I'm planning to use: And here's the inside of those two: Thoughts? Suggestions?

Yep. '85 was a transition year. Last of the carb'd 302's. Last of the idiot lights since in '86 you got gauges or gauges. First of the burled wood. First of the DIN radios. First of the D60's?

Well there you go then. That answers two questions. Yep

The 1985 F-Series brochure says the 5.0L EFI was "optional in F150 and F-250 models under 8500 GVWR."

Jake - You are now on the map, and I added your first name from your email address. Hope that's ok.

Welcome! Glad you joined. North Texas - as in Gainesville? We have a map (Bullnose Forum/Member's Map in the menu) and I'd be happy to add you if I had a town. And, you've found a problem with this, and many forums. They aren't smart enough to read the metadata in pics to figure out the orientation and then rotate it. So open your pics in editing software and save them. That should re-orient them.

My friend on FB, Trent Alexander, asked if I could put a low transmission cover over the ZF5 on Big Blue to see how much clearance he would need to get if he can't find a tall cover. So here are a some shots since placing them here will preserve them much better than on FB. In this pic the gap at the back is ~ 1 1/2", and if I level the cover out the gap all around is ~3/4", meaning that the hit is pretty much in the center. But denting the cover 3/4" would just make it hit and not clear, so I'm thinking 1" where it is hitting is what is the minimum. And, where it is hitting is at the red arrow. But, the difference in cover heights at the point where the low cover hits is actually 2", as shown here: And here's a profile shot of the two covers:

Like maybe it isn't sealed properly up there? That would be a bummer. Or maybe the trim isn't fully down?

Four turns out isn't bad, but it may mean there is still a vacuum leak. Try unplugging the brake booster and capping off the port to which it was connected. It is possible it has a leak and is the source of the extra air. But, does the engine idle down well? If so you may not have a problem. On the timing, do you have the timing light set to zero? A timing light that shows RPM is usually a roll-back unit. Not always, but usually. And if it isn't on zero it'll not show the correct timing. As for #1 cylinder, I'm sure you know but it is the front one on the passenger's side. So if your light's pickup is on it you are getting triggered by #1. However, it is possible that your harmonic balancer has slipped and isn't showing the correct timing. Have you tried bringing #1 up by hand to see what the pointer shows at TDC?

I dunno Gary, I'm probably going to go against the grain here a bit, but that trim doesn't seem to be all that rare to me. I'm certainly no expert, but I find it does stand out, and it seems like there's a couple trucks posted every day in the Facebook groups with this trim. I'm sure it was rare compared to how many trucks were built overall, but of the Bullnoses left on the road today, there seems to be quite a few with it. I do notice a lot more 85's and 86's being sold/purchased these days though...and maybe it's just because in the grand scheme of things, they're showing up in chronological order?...I dunno. I meant that you can't find it for love nor money to replace it. Rick thinks he got the last set in captivity.

On the other hand, if a Brick-to-Bull swap is that easy, then maybe go with Bullnose fenders, grille, and headlights but keep the Brick wiring and dash. Does that require a different radiator support? If so, forget it. But most people wouldn't notice that different dash since externally it looks like a Bull save for the wheel well openings.

So going Bricknose just requires two fenders, and you have everything else? That doesn't sound too bad. But going Bullnose? The whole front clip and wiring harness plus dash and gauges? Even if you have some of the stuff for the Bullnose swap it sure sounds easier to do the Bricknose swap. Kind of like your buy of the other truck was meant to be.

It is a really striking truck, and would easily be worth that in my book.

Not bad for the price. But it seems strange to have a 302 w/an AOD in an F250. Has the extremely rare to find side trim. And the A/C compressor is AWOL. Plus the right door panel appears to have been painted and is wearing off. But overall, it is in good shape.

Yes, glad you found that. As for the tach, sometimes they aren't smooth. I've had them do crazy things when they were cold.