Gary Lewis

Yes, and no. You got them posted but not properly oriented. The issue is with the antiquated software on the forum. In the olden days everyone knew which was was up on a camera so they took pics properly oriented. But with the advent of phones with cameras we take pictures any which way and the camera records the orientation in the metadata of the picture. Then when we look at the pic the software re-orients it so up is up. But our forum doesn't have that function in the software. So you either have to take your pics with the camera properly oriented or re-orient the pic in software before posting. That's what I do and use an old version of Photoshop. But just about any photo editing software will do it.

Bob - Thank you so much for the invitation! As we've discussed the timing is perfect as Janey and I will celebrate my 77th birthday on that trip. So I'm billing this as my birthday trip and I'll get to tick one more thing off my bucket list. And yes, I hope the seats are done by then, but I should have an answer to that question by the end of tomorrow. That's about the last thing I think I want to do to Big Blue before the trip, although I'll probably think of something else before then. As for the trails, I'll start watching/rewatching the videos, and get Janey involved - as appropriate. We discussed the trip with our son this evening and he said "You remember, she gets out and walks?" My answer was "Yep, both your mother and your sister did on Ophir Pass due to the shale causing the Jeep to slip a bit. But three years ago she didn't say a word as we went back up Ophir, so she's gotten a bit more brave over the years." To which she said "I was in the back seat with Leesa and she had her head between her knees scared to death, so I was afraid to say anything!" So I'm not sure how this is going to go. But I'm glad we are starting out easy. Both she and I will need to get comfortable with what the truck will do. Here's a list of things I am considering taking:

Welcome! Glad you joined. But you might want to read the page at Bullnose Forum/Forum FAQ's about how to post pics.

I can't wait, Shaun!

I'm not an authority either. But I have seen a cluster w/o a tach having the right printed circuit for a tach. So anything is possible. However, if I were to buy a tach I'd get one with the right printed circuit or buy a whole cluster.

Well, I'm set up to take the seats below to Lew's Auto Trim tomorrow. He's quoted me $1400 to completely rebuild them with new foam where needed as well as blue vinyl. That might seem like a lot but I paid $1000 for the seats for Dad's truck, and that was several years ago. (And yes, for those that remember I actually paid far more 'cause I had someone else do them the first round and they were horrible.) But he doesn't paint plastic, so I pulled off the backs and the little covers for the hinge arms and I'll paint them using the SEM I used on the other panels. As I think about it, I didn't ask him how long it'll take. I hope I have them for the trip in June.

Our new member, viven44, is the gentleman that I visited on Thursday regarding some seats he was selling. Turned out that they weren't quite what I was looking for so I didn't buy them, but that doesn't mean that we didn't have a good conversation about trucks, the forum, etc. Subsequently he sent me a link to a Youtube he's made showing how to repair the HVAC control on these trucks. So I thought I'd share it with y'all as a way of introducing him.

Well, you have me . Can't imagine what it is, but am looking forward to finding out.

We did take a vote and we opted for some weekend after the Labor Day weekend. I chose two weeks after last year and we had a good turnout. So this year it'll probably be then as well, but I've not nailed it down quite yet. It would be cool if there could be something for those of you on the east. Maybe I could fly in for it?

Welcome! Glad you joined! That is quite a stable. What are your plans longer term - to keep rescuing Bullnose trucks? That’s a noble cause. Where’s home? I ask because we have a map (Bullnose Forum/Member’s Map in the menu) and we can add you with a city/state or zip.

We have friends that camped out in their own backyard at 0F to test their new tent. At 76, if you get me that close to my bed you won’t be able to stop me.

Jim - Please be safe! Will - Here's how Ford did it. You can see that the relay is pulled in via the stator and the W/Bk wire, and gets its power from the starter relay and a fuse link.

I would stay away from choke caps with a thermostat in them as I don't know how they work. But ones without thermostats were used by GM for decades with no problems. As for a 12v cap running off the stator, it will work but it isn't perfect. Takes a long time to come off and, therefore, you want to set them so they don't go on as far as they might otherwise. Meaning you need to set them leaner than you would. So I'd use a relay that is pulled in by the stator and then power the 12v choke with full battery power. The stator easily pulls in a standard Bosch relay, so you would have power to the choke only when the engine is running.

No, it won't let me use HTML in the titles. So that's about the best I can do.

Progress! Hope you get it started up soon!

Jim - see if this helps: https://forum.garysgaragemahal.com/Vendor-Reviews-amp-Ratings-f71561.html

Jeff - I've finally added the instructions on how to embed a Youtube video in fullscreen mode to the page at Bullnose Forum/Forum FAQ's. Go to the Embedding tab, then the Embedding tab, then the HTML Tags tab, and then the Embedng A Youtube tab. Would you please go there and see if my instructions make sense?

Wow! That's great. I'm amazed, but happy for you.

Here's what I think is a final schematic for what I've wired up. Changes include: Megafuse holder was moved so that the large Yellow wire, Ckt #37, goes directly to the starter relay A short link was added from the fuse holder to the starter relay. (This shows as Bk/O, but is actually red in the one I made since that's what I had available.) The alternator's output wire now has an orange tracer in it. The Y/W sense wire has been terminated on the fuse stud instead of on the alternator itself. That's the way Ford did it and it is the way I built the harness so now the schematic agrees.

If you want to measure the voltage going to the blower motor you might discover why it is blowing so little. But measuring the voltage isn't all that easy as the connector for the motor doesn't provide any easy access. I made little jumpers that plug into the female side and have alligator clips to go on the male terminals to give me access. Or you could just bite the bullet and put relays in. I'm certain you'll like the results as I brought the voltage up by 50% on mine, which made a huge difference.

If you mean the pinned Vender Review Suggestion Box thread, I don't think so. But I might be able to do some magic with the verbiage of "Only the admins can create the threads for the reviews, but if you think of one you'd like included you can suggest it in the Vendor Review Suggestion thread." I'm going to watch the Chiefs this afternoon and will give it a try then.

And your soldered battery cables haven't failed. Which proves the point that while there is a potential failure point, a soldered connection isn't the problem that some say it is. I bought my hydraulic crimper when making a whole slew of 2/0 battery cables for our boat, which had two batteries and a battery isolator so lots of cables. Then I made battery cables for Big Blue, which not only has two batteries and an isolator but also has an inverter - and lots of ground wires. Hopefully I'll be making cables for Dad's truck in the not too distant future, and have offered to either make cables or loan the crimper to local friends. So it has/will pay for itself.

I did note "ewissions" and got a good . And your ratings are great, no need to change. Pointing out the vendor review request function might be good.

Jim is right, it isn't necessary to have a hydraulic crimper. But I have this one from TEMco and it works very well so I use it to make battery cables and connections of this kind. I will say that I don't recommend that you buy just any cheap hydraulic crimper as most of those have metric-sized die and don't give good results on SAE-sized terminals. But that one from TEMco has both metric and SAE die and does a good job. As for soldering, it isn't the solder itself but the tool that provides the heat that is usually the problem. I just use normal over-the-counter rosin-core solder, but I also use a soldering gun or pen, not a propane torch. A gun or pen puts the heat to the joint where a torch puts it everywhere and other things get torched. Also there's a debate about soldered joints being stiff and ultimately failing from vibration. The issue is that the solder wicks up the wire and where it stops is the point where the wire goes from flexible to stiff. And if that point is left to dangle in the air all by itself it may ultimately break. But I use a heavy shrink tubing with an adhesive lining on all my joints and that provides a lot of support. Plus I bundle the wires together and cover them with convolute and then secure the bundle in the vehicle so it doesn't move. I've been soldering connections like this for over 50 years and haven't had one fail. But I do understand that a properly-crimped connection doesn't have the same problem so may be better. However, you don't get a "properly-crimped connection" from cheap crimpers.

Good job, Jim! You even tagged the vendor, which is something I'd not thought of. I should go back through and do that on all of them.