Gary Lewis

The switch, switch plate and indicator light came with the Wrangler Power Products dual battery system I had on my '95 F-150 (I told you about their single tray that holds two batteries in the location of the stock single battery). I pulled that off that truck when I sold it. That was the source of the continuous duty relay I put on the motorhome last year as well. I think the switch plate is marked something like "Dual On" for the normal mode (when the relay gets power from the truck battery, but only when the engine is running), "Dual Off" (which should be pretty obvious ) and "Emergency" for the jump start mode (when it gets power from the camper battery). The indicator LED lights up green when it's in the "Dual On" mode and the engine is running, it's off when the switch is off (and when the switch is in "Dual On" and the engine is off) and it's red when the switch is on "Emergency." I have the switch located on the lower left part of the dash, pretty close to the e.brake release, so it's not very easy to see. I really can't read the labels at all from the driver's seat, but if I lean the right way I can see the light. So I'll really go more by the light than by the labels. I think those labels and the light work very well. It took a bit, but I finally found a link to the Wrangler Power Products site instead of people hawking their wares. And here's a link to their catalog. Guess I'll look it over.

You have a good point about the head rest. The rear window is dangerously close, and just getting rear-ended will put your head into it hard. So maybe set your stock bench to the side and try the buckets with head rests? Hopefully the head rests angle such that they aren't stopping the seat from sliding back fully, like the captain's chairs appear to do.

The wire should get tight and release the latch on the far side.

Wow! That's the worst screen I've seen. Oh, ok: airbox, inlet and a catback. Now I understand.

Yipes! There's "patina" and there's "rust", and that thing is headed into the latter. We've touted the PNW as "the" place from which to get a truck. So I'm at a loss as to why that one looks that way. But it won't look that way long if it gets wet a few more times.

So, your good phone went for a ride to you don't know where? And you are on an old phone running LineageOS? What browser? And how does the site look? Hope it works. Been missing you. That's a nice looking motorhome. What's different between the standard and commercial versions of the V10? What tranny does it run? And "Banks at both ends"? A supercharger and a turbo? Or did I misunderstand?

Yep, dry rotted tires are a problem waiting to happen, and it didn't take long. But that's a cool pic!

Hi-Yo, Silver! Away! I'm on board for the ride. How 'bout adding a signature to tell us about your trucks? I don't remember the details on the black truck, and will soon lose them on Silver. To figure out where the 300 came from, check the valve cover to see if there's a calibration label on it, as explained here: http://www.garysgaragemahal.com/calibration-codes.html.

Well done!

Glad the site is helping. Sure hope you didn't let too much smoke out of your wiring.

Congrat's!!! That's a very nice looking truck. And that first drive is such a wonderful feeling.

...I guess I can report on my 2015 as well. After driving my E-450 motorhome to the Grand Canyon and Utah, and with ice on the dog's water dish yesterday morning, it was time to winterize it (the motor home, not the dog dish). Mostly that's boring routine stuff, but while I was changing the oil I decided to finish a job I started about a year ago. The motorhome came to me with a momentary-duty relay to connect the camper battery to the truck battery so it can jump-start itself. Last year I replaced that with a continuous duty relay so I can also connect the batteries while I'm driving to keep the camper battery charged. The switch that came with my relay is on-off-on, with the idea that one "on" gets power from the camper battery (for jump starting) and the other gets power only when the engine is running so it shuts the relay off when you shut down the engine. But I didn't have a readily available source of engine-on power. So today I put a Tee on the oil pressure sensor and added an oil pressure switch (intended for either an idiot light or to provide power to an electric choke). Now any time the engine loses oil pressure (which hopefully will only be when it's not running!) the relay will open. And I still have the other "on" if I need to connect the batteries when the engine isn't running. Steve/FoxFord33 - You had the truck pointed out when I parked in front of it tonight, so I didn't see that. (Not sure I would have noticed, but I have noticed it before.) But you didn't tell me? You listened to my tomorrow's-project story and didn't tell me? Bob - I like that switch. But how will you label it? Something like "Parallel" and "Engine Parallel"?

On the post you want to change, click More and then Edit.

You are talking about the wire shown below (Documentation/Interior/Seats & Seat Tracks) - right? If so, I'm guessing that your left and right sides are out of sync. To fix that you pull the lever and move one side to line up with the other.

Congrat's on the anniversary!!!! As for the truck, what a day it was! Wow! What could go wrong did. So, where did the vent windows come from? How could they be 5" longer? On the dash cover, I've installed them while the pad was installed to the dash. But I'm not going to do that next time as it is so hard to ensure you get the cover down against the pad to let the adhesive set. Instead I'm going to do it while the two parts are on the work table. Anyway, you did make some progress with the painting. so it wasn't all for naught. Hang in there!

Welcome! Glad to meet you. Where's home? We have a member's map (Bullnose Forum/Member's Map in the menu) and I'd be happy to add you if I knew a town/city and state. Who knows, maybe you are our neighbor? And, glad the forum and website are helping. It is amazing how many problems vehicles acquire when left to themselves for years. I liken them to onions - we have to peel them and cry, peel them and cry. But eventually we have so many onion rings we can have a bloomin' onion!

Gary, I was looking at that page. How do I identify the ACTS? Mine have some blue on the top...one has a red dot, and another one I have has a red circle on it. I don't know the answer to that question, although it is a good question. My thinking has been that what you'd like is to get a constant temp to the carb. And with the outside air temp exceeding 100 degrees frequently you aren't going to be able to get anything any cooler than 105 degrees to the carb. So I'd go with the 105 degree ACTS.

I guess it depends on what you want to accomplish with the truck. If you are going for the "period correct" look then the Bronco low-backed buckets would be my choice. But if you aren't concerned about it looking like it came in the truck then the more modern seats might be better.

Actually, I've been able to find the parts when I was looking. The part numbers are here: Documentation/Fuel Systems/Air Cleaners. Sometimes the Motorcraft part number is the one to look for. Other times the Ford service #.

Yes, those circuits are always hot. As you can see in the schematic below, which is from the '85 EVTM but should be the same as the '86 one, the red/orange connects to the always-hot side of the starter relay, which is also where the shunt connects. And the yellow/green connects to the other end of the shunt, and that's always hot as well. So the ammeter is watching the current flow across the shunt. If it flows from the battery to the right, meaning towards the truck, then it shows a discharge. But if is flows from the alternator toward the battery, meaning the the left, then it shows a charge. A test for the ammeter is to turn the headlights on w/o starting the truck. The ammeter should show a discharge.

I'm glad you said F350 4x4 and not F250 4x4. As I said recently somewhere, were I looking for a heavy-duty "work" 4x4 truck it would be an 85 or 86 F350. That would give you a solid front axle and reasonable suspension. As for an "alive" combination, one tranny we didn't mention is the AOD. As originally built they weren't stout and Ford never put them behind a 351W in these trucks. But, I'm told that you can have them built to stand up to lots of power. I've not done it so I can't say for sure, but if so then it might work for the Bronco. And that would give you the overdrive as well as straight-through power transmission w/o the loss of a torque converter.

I assume you've looked at the page in Documentation/Interior/Seat Interchangeability? As for your questions about cost, a few years ago I had two Bronco captain's chairs and a headliner done for just over $1000. So if it costs $700 for the parts I'd have it done. And if you are considering buckets, I wouldn't go with the captain's chairs as they are a bit too tall. I think the low-back buckets would be better. But if you might ever want to put three people in the cab I'd seriously consider the later split bench seat. Some have an armrest that could be really helpful. And with the seat pan they should bolt right in and use the reinforced mounting spots.

Yes, a plain Jane earlier one will work. He can add the holes and studs.

Check out the upper lip on them and see if you think they should be reinforced. Lots easier to do before they break. I considered lining the plastic ones with something soft to quieten them a bit, but never settled on what that would be, so didn't. But some of them had carpet glued to the inset on the outside, and that surely helped to tone them down some.

The hard plastic ones in your pic look very similar to the originals. But the carpet ones don't. I've included a pic from the 1985 brochure of what the originals looked like. And I like the look of the original better than the new carpet ones. I've had both. The plastic ones hold a lot more than the carpet ones. But, being plastic, they can be noisy as things in them bounce and rattle. However, they don't seem to get in the way or crowd things. The original plastic ones were a bit brittle, or maybe I should say they are by now. And if you don't get your foot out of the way when closing the door you can crack them. The least strong spot is right along the top inner edge, which is about where they hit your foot or leg. I've repaired and reinforced them by gluing a strip of metal laid on its side in that top edge, and it really helped. The original carpet ones will hold a pair of gloves or two, a few sheets of paper, or maybe a small book. And they have elastic in them so they go back flat when things are taken out. But they aren't nearly as useful as the plastic ones. I could see placing your lunch in a plastic one and pulling it out as you drive. Not sure that would work with the carpet ones.