Gary Lewis

Seals on a 9" are "fun". You have to drill or otherwise crack the retainer and use a press to put a new one on. As for the master cylinder, would you be interested in upgrading to a later model one? The ones with an aluminum base and plastic reservoir? You won't have the rusting hulk of the cast iron one, and it won't leak like the old ones do. Plus, it makes bleeding the system a lot easier if you get a replacement cap, put an air connection on it, and then use something like a garden pump-up sprayer to put a few psi on the reservoir. You need to buy one with a residual pressure valve on it, and Rock Auto sells one. If you are interested I'll find the part number.

Actually, the $28 one is on sale for $20. As said, I was planning a run to pick up paint, et al, but now maybe I'll go get one of those. I think it'll make getting into the corners far easier and more thorough than sanding. Thanks!

Yes, if the cabinet was larger. Or if I'd not given my outside blaster to my brother. But even though the wire cup for the right-angle grinder is out of balance and makes using it less than fun I'd still rather use it than the outside blaster. My hands still tingle from the grinder, but I won't be finding media in various orifices for days. I'm hoping the hardware store will have some sanding & wire wheels for the Dremel. And I need to stop at O'Reilly's and get more brake cleaner. Best make a list:

You should have plenty of pedal if the front brakes are properly bled and the master cylinder is good. And oil on the brake shoes won't hurt the pedal travel either, although it'll hurt the stopping ability. So something isn't right in the system. And it kind of points to the master if everything else is correct.

I don't know about electro-viscous clutches, or if you were talking specifically about that type of clutch or if you were talking more generally. But more generally, the power required to clutch in a load is usually much lower than the power to actually turn the load. It's still an adder to the whole system. As you say, turning a fan takes the power to turn the fan regardless of how (or whether) you clutch it. And if it's a clutch that requires power to operate you have to add that power requirement to the system (and the systemic losses to generate that electric power in the mechanical alternator). But that clutching power isn't necessarily that high. Take the clutch between an engine and a manual transmission. The spring in that clutch doesn't need to be all that strong to transmit the torque of the engine. It's still small enough that you can compress it with your leg, and there's no way your leg can do what the engine is doing. And the wrap-spring clutches that my company makes take a flat amount of power to energize no matter what load they are being asked to transmit. Again, I don't know electro-viscous clutches. I imagine that (unlike wrap-spring clutches) they do require more power to transmit more power. But they probably don't require as much power to operate as they are transmitting. It's an adder, but not a (more than) doubler of the required power. The electric part of the electro-viscous clutch is just a valve to allow the silicon fluid into the clutch. That's the difference to a mechanical-viscous clutch where the bi-metal spring opens and closes the valve. So I'm thinking it isn't much power at all if that spring can do it. But I really don't know.

No, Janey isn't a problem, but I may ride there. Or maybe my brother if we go on another trip. So I want it to go back as far as it can. And to do that I want to put something between the vinyl and any place it'll rub. At least that is the plan, but we'll see how that works out. As for what I did this afternoon, I took the seats, console, and platform out. Then I used a wire wheel on the platform and got it about 95% ready for paint. Hopefully tomorrow I can get it completely ready and start painting. In fact I plan to make a run to the hardware store for paint in the morning. But for Vivek's benefit here's a shot of the platform bolted in using the legs from the bench seat that came out of the truck: And here's a before and after shot of the platform. Still have to get back into the corners, but I got most of the paint and rust off.

Thanks, Paul. I don't seem to have an email from you, but the email system on this forum isn't working well - if at all. But that's exactly what she had. This is the 2nd one. The first one was 5 years ago. We'd gone in for a normal vision check and they sent us "upstairs" to the specialist as the vitreous had pulled the macula away and something needed to be done ASAP. That one went smoothly, but they've been watching the other eye to ensure the same thing doesn't happen. But about a month ago it started changing quickly so they scheduled the surgery for a week ago. However, the bubble they put in turned out to be smaller than desired although it was deemed "adequate". When the doctor figured that out on Tuesday he said he wanted her face-down until advised otherwise. Luckily we'd purchased a "massage chair" for $70 that is identical to the one they wanted to rent to us for $225/week, so she's spent a lot of time in it. We go back to the doctor on Wednesday for a checkup, so are hoping we'll get a nice Valentine's present of "you can now look up".

Congrat's!!!!

The bases I have for the passenger's bucket seat just tilt but don't swivel. In fact I've not seen one that swivels. But I'm not using that base because it bolts to the Supercab or Bronco floor pan, which is different than a regular cab or crewcab's floor. That's why I made the platform of angle iron that bolts to the legs from a bench seat, and those legs obviously bolt nicely to the floor of those cabs. Now for my findings and path forward. This morning I put the passenger's seat on the passenger's side and checked out how it hits things. With the back bolted down so it won't tilt the top of the back hits the bottom of the window just before the lower part of the back hits the inverter. And that is just past the next to rear-most stop of the slide. So you can't hurt anything by sliding it back as it hits the window and when you let up on the slider release you'll click into the next forward stop. The driver's seat is even better as it will go into the rear-most stop, but the seatback hits the window and lifts up against the release latch enough that you can't release it w/o sliding the seat forward one notch. So I put two washers under the latch, as you can see below, and now you can unlatch it when all the way back. And that is farther back than the captain's chairs would go. The only downside is that the new vinyl is either against the rear glass or the trim below the window, so will rub and both make noise and cause damage. So I'm trying to think of just the right thing to put on there to prevent that. Like maybe a piece of felt? Or maybe a piece of Velcro? Which leads me to the path forward. I'd really like to take the truck out to see how I like the seats, but I'd want Janey to go with me and she can't at the moment. So I think it is time to pull the seats, console, and platform out and paint things. And maybe it is also time to take a few more pics of the platform for posterity.

Jim - It think it would "only" take 20 ft with the heft of that 460. Bill - I agree that the longer-stroked 400 would probably have done the job if they'd put a bit of work into it. Like you said, a cam and a 4bbl would have made a huge difference, especially if they'd put a straight-up timing set in it. (I know you are going to tell us about their cheating and its consequences, so I set you up for that. ) As for the clearance on the radiator, I can't easily measure it the way you did but I do measure 2" between the front of the fan and the rear of the 4-core radiator on Big Blue. So if someone found an electro-viscous fan clutch that is less than 1" thicker than the mechanical-viscous clutches we are using then we could see if we could figure out how to adapt it. And have the EEC-V ECU's control it. You can sorta see that 2" clearance here:

Exactly why Big Blue has flaking clearcoat on the hood, badly faded dark blue on the sides, and Bondo showing in the cab corners. I don't want a trailer/garage queen, and if it was pristine then I'd have one 'cause I don't like to tear things up. Dad's truck will be too nice to tear up, so that can be my trailer queen.

Jeff/Big Brother showed us the video he took of their fun on Shafer Switchbacks, and it looked fun. I guess Potash Road is long but bumpy? He didn't have a way to air back up so didn't air down, but we would and that might make all the difference. So that might be a good one-day excursion. But the other day, assuming two "off-the-trail" days might be spent in Moab - assuming there's shopping to do. Tee shirts or trinkets for the grands. Or is it too small for allotting a day? I'm guessing that it and Ouray are about the same size and a morning is too long for Ouray.

Jochen - That looks wicked! As in FUN! However, I was never one to extra much of the fun out of bikes like that. Too cautious. But still, it looks like fun! I'll bet the dealer was impressed with what you were towing with.

I painted the kitchen cabinets in my old house this color. 😁 Gary knows I have an artistic eye. I pegged a typeface for his father's aircleaner (except for the "r"). 😉 https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1291332-dads-air-cleaner-6.html#post15045474 Yep, very true.

Smells like a Bull in your nose?

If you really want to torture somebody stuff a tuna fish sandwich way up into the springs under their seat, or put a raw shrimp into each of their hubcaps! 🤣🤣🤣🤣 I read recently about a "lady" that was in a divorce and lost the house. So as her last act she stuffed shrimp in the curtain rods. No one could figure out where the smell was and she bought the house back for a song. So yes, stuffing things like that in remote places, like a headliner or seat causes all sorts of problems.

Yes, I can well imagine the need for a heater. Spent a bit of time in Traverse City and Mackinac Island a couple of years ago and understand it gets COLD and WET up there. I guess you are a Yooper? Anyway, you are on the map.

Welcome! Glad you joined. That looks like quite the project, but it will be very rewarding when it is done. Nice shop. You really need a lot of room to take things like that apart. Been there, done that. So, where's home> We have a map (Bullnose Forum/Member's Map in the menu) and can add you with a city/state or zip.

Not sure I understand, Jim. I'm happy with the seats, just need to tweak the installation. So, what am I missing?

Exactly, Jim. If you can tilt the seatback you are there. But the passenger's seatback doesn't tilt if you put the bolt in it, as you should. So then you need to slide it forward to get access to the charger ports. And since it is on slides that works fairly well. Didn't go to the shop today but hope to tomorrow and will put the real driver's seat on the driver's side and vice versa and see how that works. Still have to figure out what the best approach is, how to limit the sliding, how to, or if, to tilt the back, etc.

Yes, the passenger's side is missing the "ejection seat" base.

Just found this on Facebook and thought I'd remember it if I put it here:

Bob - Sorry for the late response, but I've been noodling on this. As you know, we have 5 days of hotel rooms reserved at present. Not sure we'll keep all of them, but I think we will 'cause we'll have already spent the money for the gas to get there and back, so why not? That being the case we will also be looking for other things to do, assuming we stay with three trail days. And since the trails will be pushing Janey's limits I think we'll want to do something else on the other days. So maybe Arches National Park or Canyonlands? I see that Arches needs a reservation. This site says "Annual passes cover the payment of entrance fees, so annual or senior pass holders only need to pay the $2 reservation fee." But Canyonlands doesn't. So we do need to sort out if we are going to Arches and, if so, which day. But this pic kinda puts me off:

Right, Big Bro might want to think about his image!

They were from Chad/Little Beefy's 84 Bronco.