Gary Lewis

Cory - Pulleys are a difficult thing to sort out. There was supposed to be a page (Section 60 Pg 5) on them in the MPC, as shown in the snippet below, but none of the digitized MPC's have that page. I'll climb to the microfiche tower later and see if I can find one. But remember that the # on a part is not the part #. So the second pulley David found had D3AE 6512-AIA, and that's the # you'd be looking for in the Description column. However, there were lots of ID #'s that correlate to a single part #, so I'll try to cross-ref that part # after a bit as well.

I'm not seeing any restrictions on what truck they can go on. For instance, the instrumentation option doesn't mention which truck it can go on, which says to me it could go on any of them. What are you seeing?

Shane - You are not on the map.

Clay - You are now on the map. As for posting pics, go to Bullnose Forum/Forum FAQ's in the menu and see the Posting Pic's tab. Jim - Where did I miss that he has a 351M or 400? Good engines, but not in factory guise.

Jim - That makes sense. A collet-style crimp would put the proper bends in the pin to allow it to go into the connector and lock in. That's what the pins wouldn't do when I crimped them with a pair of pliers. Thanks!

Welcome, Clay! Glad you joined. Buda? Was in the hill country a couple of months ago, including Wimberly. Looks like we were close to you. We have a map (Bullnose Forum/Member's Map in the menu). Would you like me to add you? And, how about creating a signature with your name and a bit of info about your truck? That way we don't have to guess what you have.

By "round barrel type" do you mean the ones in the pic to the right, below? Mine don't have the flaired latches like those in your pic, to the left. So you are saying they need a special crimper?

Well, I proved today that I don't know how to install Deutsch connectors. My neighbor and I've been installing additional KC Highliters on his Jimmy. He ordered 5 KC's, but only the wiring harnesses for 4 of them. But they use a Deutsch 2-pin connector, so I had the brilliant idea of ordering in another connector from Amazon - the ones shown below. But I don't have the correct crimping tool for those pins, so I tinned the wire, did my best crimping with pliers, and then soldered them. And they didn't want to go into the shell. So, how are these supposed to be crimped?

I've done it with an Exacto knife. The plastic is hard, so it isn't easy, but it worked. But the best way was with a mill.

FINALLY. It better have the right parts in it or I'm calling TAW myself. Shaun - I think it was done correctly, this time. And it is now in the shop as my neighbor and I moved it in after I brought it home. Hopefully I can get it installed soon, and tick a bunch more boxes. TheScatch - Those clocks are cool. I've had one in both Big Blue and Dad's truck. But Big Blue is giving his up for switches on the radio bezel as well as a computer readout above. And Dad's truck will probably have a radio with a clock in it. So I guess I won't be seeing them on there any more. Frank - Glad you got that bushing replaced before damage happened. And hope you get the rest of the linkage sorted out.

The vacuum motors were available a couple of years ago when I looked. And the cables are. As for the throttle kicker, I don't think it is necessary. Nice, but I think your engine will idle fine w/o it. And I think you are right about the ducting. But we have a number of pictures of the ducting here: Documentation/HVAC/HVAC Systems then the Illustrations, Pics, etc tab, Integral A/C cab, and then the Pictures tab. Have you seen them?

Nice! And quick!

We have a good team going here. And thanks to Mark I have a unicorn - a ‘96 wiring harness from an EEC-V 7.5L with SEFI and MAF. 👍 Oh, and I have a D60 in the back of Blue. 🤪

Thanks, Jim. That’s what I realized last night. Made me feel better. And there should be several more soon as I’m to pick up the D60, again, today and the front driveline can then go together. I have all the parts, so it should go together quickly. 😉

Angelo - I'm pretty sure you could order a truck the way you wanted. Go to Documentation/Literature/1985 Literature/1985 Rapid Spec Price List and look at the F-Series Options tab. There you'll find that Instrumentation, Sports is Option 152 and is priced, both with and w/o the Trailer Towing/Camper Package. AM/FM Radio w/Cassette was #587. The map pockets were part of Convenience Group 94H and that was #772 for a Standard truck.

I was waiting to respond because I thought you said you'd check the transfer case and report back, but now that I look you didn't really say that. But, you should check it out. See if going into 4hi makes a difference. Check to see that it appears to be shifting correctly. So, on the grinding, did it seem to start right after you changed out the fluid in the transmission. I always like to go back to whatever was done immediately prior to the problem cropping up, so have you checked the level to make sure the transmission is full? Did anything odd come out with the old fluid, like pieces?

Folks - If you are into a long-term project and don't have a to-do list wherein you are tracking your progress then I think you are missing a very helpful step. I say that because Big Blue's transformation is quite involved and I've been getting a feeling of late that I'll never get it finished. But last night I worked on the to-do list and was very pleasantly surprised at what I've already gotten done. Man, there's been a ton of work done, and while there's a ton more, I now feel like I can do it. Some of you know that I document my progress in a Word document that I have embedded in the first post on the Big Blue's Transformation thread. That's obviously not required, but it gives me an easy place to go look at what I've done and to detail out what I think needs to be done. Obviously it isn't necessary to have it on line, but I think it is helpful. And in case you want to know what it looks like, here 'tis:

Shane - Welcome! Glad you joined. Where's home? I ask because we have a map (Bullnose Forum/Member's Map in the menu) and I'd like to add you if I had a city or town. And, you should consider creating a signature that tells a bit about your truck. That way we don't have to ask questions to help you. And, nice truck! I've added the pic, but you can do it as well. The instructions are on the Bullnose Forum/Forum FAQ's page and the Posting Pic's tab.

A buddy of mine had an Opel Kadet in the late 60's. One day he brought it over 'cause it ran horribly. Dad asked him what the last thing that was done to it and he said he and his brother had put points and plugs in it. Dad put a timing light on it and it was spot-on, but idling very poorly. Dad turned the timing up and it ran much better. So he checked TDC and the balancer was off several degrees. Then he asked when the aftermarket A/C had been added. Recently. Turned out that when the A/C came of with the engine wound up it was slowing the engine so much it was slipping the balancer. Later my buddy and I were sharing an apartment as we both were getting married in August of '69 and needed to conserve finances. One day he came to the apartment and got out of the Kadet w/o leaving it in gear or setting the park brake. It rolled forward gently and hit a corrugated trash can that was up against the building. I left a little crease in the trash can and bent the bumper on the Kadet.

Well done, all!

Yep. And then a few years later the same thing happened with the EPA putting 3/4 ton trucks into the "needs a cat" category and the big three coming out with a 7/8 ton... er, heavy duty 3/4 ton. Lots of people consider them that way. But Ford didn't. Ford had an F-250 and an F-250HD. No light duty officially. And all 3/4 ton trucks had semi-floating axles at one time. After there were heavy duty 3/4 tons there were "3/4 tons" that had full floaters. Then people forgot that 3/4 tons were supposed to have semi-floaters and started thinking that the F-250s were "nothing more than a glorified 1/2 ton". But no, they were truly 3/4 ton trucks, just not heavy duty versions of 3/4 ton trucks. The '97 and '98 F-250s may have been nicknamed F-150 7700. But Ford called the '99 version F-150 7700. So I'm guessing that the "nickname" for the '97 and '98s came later, from the actual name of the truck previously known as F-250. And yes, 7 lug wheels. I didn't know about the Twin I-Beam front end (I didn't pay much attention to the 2WDs). But the 4WDs had an IFS similar to the F-150s of the same years. Did a bunch of prep work on Big Blue's wiring. Y'all may have forgotten, but I have a thread in Projects called Upgrades For Big Blue, which is locked by the way, wherein I'm doing my thinking and documenting of my plans. And the last post in that thread has an embedded spreadsheet that is becoming my bible for this effort. Heretofore that s/s has had but one tab, EEC Pinouts, which shows all of the circuits a 1996 CA-spec 7.5L's EEC would have connected to it. And it shows which of those I intend to use. But today I added a tab called Bulkhead - C202, which shows all of the pins in the bulkhead connector, aka C202. And, like on the EEC tab, this one shows what circuit goes to each of the pins and what I plan to do with it. There will be at least one other tab - one for all of the connectors on the wiring harness. And on this tab I'll figure out what I'll do with each connector, meaning whether I remove it or use it. Hopefully with all of this effort it will be easy to see what needs to be done. But one thing is starting to become clear - for the most part it won't be hard to integrate the '96 harness into a Bullnose truck. And I think it breaks down this way: Engine: The engine controls will all be from the '96. But starting circuitry will be from the '85 and a signal fed to the '96 ECU to tell it that the engine is cranking. And, the speed control (cruise) will be the '85 version, not the '96 one. Body: All of the body functions, such as HVAC, lighting, wipers, and radio will be from the '85 - except that the headlight relays may be in the '96 power distribution box. And, the brake on/off signal will be fed to the ECU. Fuel: This area will be a bit more complex. The ECU appears to control the fuel pump relay, and from there the circuit goes to the inertia switch. I'm hoping to do the integration there, meaning connect the '96 fuel pump relay's output to the '85 inertia switch and from there go through the rest of the 85's wiring to the fuel delivery modules. And then the fuel senders will feed back through the '85 wiring to the Arduino, which will drive the Bullnose gauges. Charging: There will be another interface here. The '85 fuselinks will attach to the starter relay, just like in Bullnose trucks. But the '96 harness will also connect to the starter relay and feed across the radiator support to the '96 power distribution box. And this will then power the ECU. But the aux battery will be charged from the PDB, so there's another interface there. So, what am I missing? What should change?

You're right, I wasn't doing the math. Like I said, I heard the story a long time ago. I'm confident in the overall story (at least as I heard it...) but I'm thinking I'm not remembering the speed he said correctly. I really doubt I just missed the units (200 mph would be unbelievably fast for even a Mercedes prior to the mid 80s (and after really)). Or maybe I am remembering (mostly) correctly and Arnold said the speedo went up to 200 kph and they were well over that. Anyway, I gotta believe that with the shape of an Opel Kadet they were probably generating significant lift, and it couldn't have been fun at all! The Kadet was LIGHT, and I have a story about one, so that speed in one would have been nerve wracking. The MX5, as it was known there, was also light but much lower and it didn't seem to be suffering from the speed. Or, that's so it seemed from my not-too-close vantage point.

Cool story! But 200 kph/125 mph isn't all that over there. Probably 20 years ago I was tooling down the autobahn in my rent car at about 100 mph, and got passed by the same Mercedes. But a bit later I was passed by an MX5/Miata. Since I had a new one of those I was a bit surprised that it was going that fast and tailed it. Turned out that it was running in excess of 125 mph - 'cause that's as fast as I wanted to go and he was pulling away.

Welcome, Rob!!! Love the truck, but hope you don't plan to take that trip in it any time soon? Boy, people with trucks they bought new amaze me! I love it, and wish I had one. So, where in NJ are you? We have a map (Bullnose Forum/Member's Map on the menu) and I'd be happy to add you to it if I had a town.

Cool story, Bill! I like it.