Gary Lewis

End Of Day Report: After getting the proportioning valve off and discovering the the fitting on the brake tube that went into it was too big to go into the brake hose I have, I swapped out that brake tube with one that's probably off of Dad's truck. (I have new stainless ones for Dad's truck.) And it all went together fine. However, if I go to the taller F350 rear blocks I'll have to replace the hose as it just barely has slack - but it isn't as tight as it looks. Then I decided to get started on the hydroboost conversion, and these things fell off: Then, just for grins, I put the hydroboost unit in place and bolted the F450's master in. (The F250 master off of Huck won't go on the hydroboost as the bolts are just a bit too wide.) However, knowing that the front and rear lines are swapped on the later masters, I pulled Big Blue's lines off from the brake pressure differential valve and put Huck's (1990 F250) on, and they screwed in perfectly. But, do I just put a plug in where the red switch is?

Congratulations????? ()

It isn't directly in the center, but it isn't going anywhere. Apparently it has moved in the last several months as I worked on it. But I'm pretty close to getting the wheels on it so it'll be off the lift soon.

Mid-day update: The load-sensing valve came off w/o tearing anything up, so it could be put back on later. However, the fitting on the end of the brake tubing that screwed into the valve is slightly bigger (.396) than the fittings that would got straight into a hose (.346"). But, there's a coupling about 3 or 4' forward and I have one of the tubes with the right-sized fitting, so I'll change that out. And, along the way I found more signs that had been here. The bracket that holds the load-sensing valve's linkage is held on my 2 of the bolts holding the back cover on the 10.25" Sterling. So I got the instructions on the torque spec's for those bolts on the Trick Flow cover and found they are supposed to be torqued to 25 lb-ft. However, when I checked the torque on those two bolts I got 2 on one and 5 lb-ft on the other. So I checked all of them - somewhere between 2 & 5. That might 'splain the weeping you can see in the pic below. But they are all now torqued to 25.

Yes, let's see what others say.

You are now on the map. And, you aren't that far from me. Plan to attend the truck show in September in Skiatook, OK. As for the build, I'm sure we'll all be interested. Bring it on!

Ok, I THINK I see what you are saying. And I believe you have a form of a problem I've had several times lately - things disappear from the screen. I get around it by hitting Control + or Control - to increase or decrease the screen's zoom. That seems to bring everything back and then I can go back to 100% zoom. I usually have it when I'm replying and I loose the Post & Preview buttons. Does that sorta describe what you are seeing? Can you try the zoom "solution"?

Welcome! What part of The Natural State do you live in? I ask because we have a map (Bullnose Forum/Member's Map in the menu) and I'd be happy to add you if I had a city. Hope you'll start a thread in the main section about your truck, including pics, what you've done, what you are planning to do, etc. We'll follow.

Am I supposed to be doing something here? I'm just reading the mail rather than helping.

Yipes! I haven't noticed that. Do you have an example? Let me say what I think you said to see if I understand: You quote someone's post in your post and when you post you find that there are missing words in the quote. Right? Is it possible that they edited their post? It happens without quoting somebody too. Like if I reply, but don't quote, when I look at the post before mine it will be missing words. Look at my quote in this post and you should see what I'm referring to. You mean that this is missing in the quote? " that a sentence or two is missing from either your new post or the post you were replying to?" I think that's because in quoting quotes you don't get everything. But I'm not sure that's what you mean. So please help me understand, I'm old and slow.

Cheap, compared to this: https://www.ebay.com/itm/1976-Ford-Bronco/372902339706?hash=item56d2b6247a:g:sGoAAOSwQjheEWdP Yes, it is. But, you'd know how much it was going to cost from the outset. Having said that, you could build the $19K one into something you could use. But the other one is something to show.

Hmmm... maybe I helped another person spend their money? One of your many talents.

Those are good prices. 82/87 F100/350.U150 4 T-18,19,435 E2TZ 7N280-D

Excellent point! I know that my guy will work until you run out of money and then roll it back and wait until you get more. He has a guy's '72 F250 he's doing that with - I know 'cause I'm tracking it since I had one of those new.

Yipes! I haven't noticed that. Do you have an example? Let me say what I think you said to see if I understand: You quote someone's post in your post and when you post you find that there are missing words in the quote. Right? Is it possible that they edited their post?

Good question, so I looked again. And I see two different cores but only the one blower motor for "heater".

I didn't know they were either. But here's an example of getting into the middle of a project. Hard to say what you'd run into, but $19K for an EB isn't bad.

Post 'em up on here. Some of these guys just might.

Yep! That's why it is best to start with an original. But getting into the middle of a project can be brutal. Your goals won't be the same as the PO's, and he won't have made the same decisions you would. So you wind up with lots of compromises that may not work together. This truck would be such an ideal place to start, and if it were "local" I'd seriously tempted.

True, but decent original-ish Flaresides are getting very hard to find these days. These trucks rusted badly (and quickly) and I think the Flareside bed was probably the worst of them all, so finding one that is still relatively intact is a big thing (at least to me). You just do not find them in this condition anywhere in the north...or anywhere north of Georgia for that matter...lol. However, given the fact that most Styleside trucks with an 8 foot box were worked, and worked hard, finding one of them in decent condition is getting difficult too. Of course they turn up once in a while in pristine condition...from a dry state, stored indoors, and rarely driven...lol. I see guys online all the time looking for bed parts for the Flareside trucks, and knowing painfully well what one of these trucks costs to rebuild, I can say that this one above would be a very good starting point for somebody wanting a Flareside. As Mr. Lewis always says, you couldn't build that truck for that price...not even close. That IS a nice truck. And it would be an excellent starting point for a great little truck.

Good point! My main issue was that I had to install the engine by myself in my little attached garage, and doing a 20 minute break-in was not going to be a very good thing to do inside my house (Ask my wife...lol). Also, I had all the trust in the world in the engine shop, but having them beat on it for a day or a half a day would make sure there were no immediate bugs or bad seals, etc. The full day cost me $500 bucks, and by the time it was all installed and set-up, it basically turned into a little over a half a day of actual tuning. After it was broken in, we probably did a dozen or 15 pulls on it. At the end of the day it was very much worth it to me even for peace of mind, but I also got to learn quite a bit that day, and it was fun anyway. I agree that a dyno break-in is a good thing to do. Dad's engine was broken in on Tim's dyno and I got to witness it. WOW!!! I wish I could have done the same for Big Blue's engine, but I'd had the heads done locally since I expected the original engine to be solid, so it wasn't going to work to have a short block broken in.

Those look good, Cory. On the trim rings, you may be able to wipe the paint off with brake cleaner. May take a few passes though.

Yes. And the numbers I posted, above, are just for the base heaters. The Hi-Lo systems had air vents in the dash, just like the A/C trucks, but didn't have the compressor nor A/C controls in the dash. So if Alex's truck has vents in the dash those are the wrong #'s.

Do you know what the part numbers are for the items you ordered? The numbers from our page on Documentation/HVAC/HVAC Systems are here:

I may look into flares later, once the truck is back on the road. And, by the way, neither dealer has gotten back to me on the price of the ones they have.