Gary Lewis

Brad is heavily into Jeeps and apparently was part of Easter Jeep Safari that year. The guy they met, the lead designer at Jeep, was there for that as well. So they were destined to run across each other, obviously again, but to do so in the middle of "no where" is cool. So, how does Seven Mile compare to Shafer & Potash?

Right. In fact the most effective way to use it is to have the part where it cannot move, like on a work table and you are aiming down. If you aim sideways the part will move with the blows and it isn't as effective.

I don't know how I've lived w/o one, especially since I used to do stick welding. It worked really nicely on the hard to reach places today, but on the slag from stick welding it would have been wonderful! Told my brother about it and sent him a link to the post with the pics since he was interested as well.

Looks right to me - if you have a 9". I dialed in Dad's truck, which has a 9", and it is right for it. Don't think there's a difference between a 2wd or 4wd 9".

I'm not sure you want to do that in your neighborhood. I wore my 3M Workmate headphones to block out the noise and every once in a while I touched the headphones to the platform while I was hitting it with the tool. The noise was amazingly LOUD! Those needles are hitting at 4800 times per minute, or 80 times per second. It was loud enough on that platform, but if you were to hit sheetmetal I think you'd wake up the dead!

You might be the best one to figure out what parts you need. Let me walk you through how to do that. Go to Documentation/Calibration Info & Part Numbers and then the Application To Parts List tab. Scroll down to Page 33, which is where the 1985 4.9L's show up. There you'll see the list of applications, meaning which trucks, transmissions, 2wd or 4wd, California or High Altitude, etc. Find the listing(s) that fit yours and note the Parts List Number. Then scroll back to the tabs and click on the Parts Lists tab and scroll down until you find your Parts List Number. There is everything known to man about the specific emissions parts for your truck. Lets assume yours is #430. Here's the parts list for it:

I think you have a reasonable plan. And if Janey and I are going to Arches we'll need to get a reservation so we'd need to nail down the day. But I'm leaning more to Canyonlands and a reservation isn't needed for that from what I've read. We just watched the with her and she is game. She just asked that I only do what I'm confident we can do and she will trust me. (And I'll trust you.) So let's say we have a plan, and we can tweak it as we go along - if needed.

Father Of The Year!

Clean job, looks good! Thanks, Jeff. I think it is going to work out well, and it'll be far less visible than before when there were several different colors peeking out at you from under the new seats.

Big Blue's exhaust system was done by a professional and has the proper hangers and clearance to the frame. So no vibrations like that come into the cab. As for what I did today, I made a trip to Harbor Freight and the local hardware store. And I found out why HF can offer that needle scaler for such a cheap price - there's not one in any store in the US. So I moved up to the $40 one, but along the way I discovered a that they are discontinuing a 3" cutter and have a nice die grinder for a decent price, so they followed me hoe=me. And in the hardware store I found the self-etching primer and satin black paint. (They had flat, satin, semi-gloss, and gloss. No matte.) So I came home and used the needle scaler. Yippee! As you can see in the before and after pics at the bottom it works. It isn't perfect, but FAR better than any other way I've found. Thanks, Jim. (But, unfortunately it didn't improve the welds nor the look thereof.) And then I put the platform in the paint booth, blew it off with compressed air, and then washed it down with brake cleaner. After letting it dry for a few minutes I made sure it was dry by using a heat gun on it, and then put on "about" three coats of primer, which was one full can. I say "about" because there are so many sides to this thing that it is hard to remember where you've been, but suffice to say that it is well and truly coated. Tomorrow I plan to give it several coats of the satin black and then let it dry for at least 24 hours.

The regulator should bring the battery up to ~14.4V after starting, and that takes current. So the ammeter should show it, as it is. If it didn't use to do that but does now with the new regulator then your regulator was bad. And it shouldn't bounce at idle.

As I think about it I don't believe I really want to introduce flex into the equation. That would mean that some point in the "legs", the part that bolts to the floor, might eventually work-harden and crack. That would probably be where the folded part of the leg flattens and is bent to attach to the floor at front, and I'd bet having that movement concentrated right there would cause it to break eventually. Instead I'd rather the foam of the seats be the part that gives. So I plan to make spacers of some kind. I'll have to see what I have in stock that can be used for that.

Thanks, Jeff. Once Janey gets where she can watch that I'll show it to her. And I think if I say we are going to do that or something equally easy one of the days that will help when I show her some of the other videos.

Larry - I don't know if anyone makes "good" hinges. I'd be tempted to go with original style hinges with new bushings in them.

If the target truck is non-A/C then it won't be easy as the firewall is different. You might want to read Dave/Fuzzface2's thread to see how he did it.

Right, the 4V heads had even larger passages than the 2V, and until the R's were way high you had nothing. But when you got it up there you'd better hang on! Anyway, that's a neat remembrance. I'll bet it was fun! I was playing with bow tie engines with W-shaped valve covers & a WCFB at the time. Didn't rev very high, but sure had torque. Rear gearing had to be about 3.08 given the tranny out of a Chevy 6 with a low 1st gear, but it would roll.

I agree that the wheel cylinder looks dry, and those shoes don't look like ones with brake fluid on them. Brake fluid soaks in and makes them grabby. That looks like 80/90W and they look slick. Has to be the wheel bearing seal.

Sounds intriguing. Does it require changing the booster? No, you don't have to change the booster. You might be interested in the thread Master Cylinder Upgrade Part Numbers.

We took the same picture, from probably the exact same point. Transferring our picture coordinates on a map, this pict was certainly took after the two first hairpin turns, pointing in that direction (blue arrow on the zoomed plan): Six hairpins turns that we (Christine, me and of course Big Bro) will remember for the rest of our lives! Not easy for a 20 feet manual transmission school bus... Cool! I don't think we'll have as much trouble on the hairpins given the shorter wheelbase, but it still might be fun.

A bushing in place of the washers? Maybe, but I really don't have vibrations.

I wonder if the intake and head passages had something to do with the idle issues. Those passages are huge even on the 2V heads, which are shared with the 351C, and surely caused fuel to drop out of suspension at low RPM. You may remember my story, but I had Windsor and Cleveland/M-Block 2V heads stacked side by side upstairs in the shop and Branden/Bruno2 came over to get the Windsor heads. He came down with the 2V heads and when I showed him the difference to the Windsors he was appalled at how small the passages are on the Windsors. Knowing how the EFI lower plenum doesn't work well with a carb on a 460, I can imagine that the larger passages on the 400 wouldn't be conducive to idling and low-end power either.

Right, I'm not using the "ejection seat". It won't bolt into my floor and that's a requirement for me 'cause the factory holes are where the floor is reinforced. On another topic, I forgot that I have .75" worth of large washers placed under the rear of each leg in order to tilt the platform forward and get the seat bottoms at the same angle there were from the factory. I think stacking washers looks kludgy so hope to make some spacers on the lathe as this goes back together.

From what you've said you want to do with the truck I'd say forget the headers. Good headers that don't leak and need retightened frequently are expensive. I have L&L's, which do have a nice thick flange, but had to notch the fame to make them fit.

Yep, I third that. But, I will say that taking it down to the frame is a lot of WORK! (credit to Maynard G. Krebs.) You are looking at a multi-year expensive project as every time you start to do something you'll say "Well, while here why don't I..." And while there's a lot of truth and satisfaction in that, when you are done you'll have a trailer queen that cost a fortune. I don't know where to stop and I've spent way too much on both Big Blue and Dad's truck. But if you know how and where to stop then it is a good idea. In any case, I'm onboard for the trip!

What are your plans for the truck?