Gary Lewis

I like it:

In my case "the guy" is named Steve, and you'd know him as FoxFord33. He works at a chain, albeit a small regional chain. But I'll bet he can get the job done, and done well. He's going to do Dad's truck when the time comes, but will get Big Blue first. However, since BB will have the solid front axle, alignment will be much easier. And, speaking of awnings, mine's been loaned out - to, of all people, Steve. But I wouldn't have used it today as the power washing would have ruined it. And, other than that, most of what I've done has been inside. Which is very fortunate as we have been under and Excessive Heat Warning, with "feels like" temps of over 110. But, with the water going everywhere today it wasn't too bad.

You are, indeed, a lucky man!

The short answer to your question is "yes". But, first you have to decide if you are going to stay with the '87 power wiring or go to the later '97 wiring. In other words, are you using the '87 fuse box or the '97 power distribution box? I ask because there may be some things in the PDB that you'll need. For instance, my implementation of a '96 EEC-V system requires several of the relays that are in the PDB. And if you are going with the full EEC-V system I think you'll have to have several of those functions as well. So, before we get further, please tell us more of your plans. You mentioned them in the introduction thread, but we need the details here. And, by the way, Bill/85lebaront2 has already done this on Darth and I'm in the midst of it on Big Blue. But we put/are putting EEC-V into a Bullnose rather than a Bricknose, so there will be some differences. Anyway, over to you. Please detail your plans: Engine; fuel system; electrical system; etc.

Aside from cops and the occasional overdose of bath salts or meth, nothing can stop Florida Man! I'm guessing some of the above was involved.

You might crank it down to 5 or lower to test.

That's good info, Bill. And thanks for the pdf's. I'll get them added to the site as soon as I can so all can use them. The second one doesn't say it replaces the first one, but it would appear to do so. Right?

Perhaps one float is sinking? Or, as Bill suggested, there's a crack or hole in the casting. In any event, a very rich condition can cause those symptoms. Let's hope that is it. But, you do have a fuel pressure regulator on, right? Too much pressure can overpower the floats and cause a rich condition. However, that usually only happens at idle unless you have a really strong fuel pump.

Everybody is good at something, I’m good at picking things up. I’m also apparently not half-bad at robot engineering; Dominic came in second place overall, only losing to the son of the guy he’s fighting in the video. He had a really good wedge bot that we just couldn’t do anything with. But Dominic did set one gal’s robot on fire, so it was a pretty good outing. In truck news...I got the rear diff oil changed today. Well, sorta changed...I was only able to get about a quart of the old stuff out, no matter how I worked the pump tube around in there. But the old oil looked pretty good, so I added a quart of new and called it a day. I also couldn’t take the mold, mildew, and general sludge on the underside of my hood any longer, so I broke out the pressure washer and blasted it clean. Finally, the new gasket arrived today for the transmission pan swap, so the rest of those parts (new pan with drain, new transmission filter) should arrive this week, hopefully to go on next weekend. A wedge would seem to be a good profile for that competition. But, setting one on fire? Did he use a flame thrower or stall the motor long enough to burn something up? Anyway, second is good, especially when I think you said it was his first time out. On the truck, you are making good progress! You are way past "ready" for the trip, and should have an easy time of it. Can't wait to meet you!

Bill - You have the patience of Job. Those problems would drive me bananas! (But I may be doing some of that with Sky's Off Road on the RSK, so...) Anyway, is it fair to say you are halfway there? I hope the view is worth the climb. On TSB 94-19-24, while I don't have it on the site I probably have it in hard copy form. However, The Diesel Stop has it via that link. But I'm not sure that Big Blue qualifies for it as BB is an '85 and the TSB says 1986 - 94. And while BB's Sterling has been changed to the long pinion, I doubt anything was done to the hubs. But I'll check it out when I have to go into the hubs. Thanks!

I don't know anything about the HF welders, but I'm sure you read the reviews on them. Their stuff seems to range from really good in some cases to poor in others, but their are lots of people reviewing the stuff to help us decide. I'd think if the HF units are good that one of them would simplify things for you. And, you might be able to get some of the cost back by selling the other two boxes.

Yipes! Ok, that was a BAD few days.

Congrat's! Maybe with that and all the other bits and pieces you can get the crew cab on the road?

That's the look I'm shooting for on Big Blue, meaning sitting pretty level. I have two 4" lift blocks and one 3" lift block in addition to what are probably the 2" blocks that are on it. So I hope to be able to achieve that look, albeit somewhat shorter in overall length.

Jim - I DID happen! Yippee! But, you broke all that in a week. Or, rather, all that broke in a week. That's a bad week. Meirda touch? How did you arrive at that? Or, do I not want to know?

Matthew - That was cool! Dominic certainly did well. (And you did a good job picking the robot up and placing it back on the platform.)

Good job, Vic. That certainly shows that it will fit Delco's 351M.

Well done, Cory. Those look good. I'm anxious to see how things fit.

Delco - Unfortunately the non-locking hood releases are made of plastic and don't have the same metal piece. And I have plans to use the one on the right below. But, I'm happy to send you the one on the left, that doesn't have a handle, if you can figure out how to use the plate on it to fix yours. Otherwise I think you'll have to get another locking handle or downgrade to a non-locking one.

And that's just what I've found so far.

You have to subtract $1k for every section of the vehicle that a Sawzall has touched. Does each door count separately?

So, a 4x4 with 6x9" speakers in the door panels might get into the low teens??????

Well heck that sounds easy enough. So follow the 3G wiring write up other than bypassing the gauge. If I was to put more load on the charging system then run it off the battery with its own fuse box. Brings up another question, what if you went with the converted AMP gauge to volt gauge from Rocket man and wired his way could you still wire it as you said, 3G output to the battery and the gauge would read ok? Thanks Gary Dave ---- Pardon the back-of-the-napkin drawing, but you could put a converted ammeter as a voltmeter in as shown below. The relay is needed to ensure the voltmeter only reads when the key is on or it'll be a parasitic draw on the battery. I haven't checked to see how much, but I'm going to put a relay in. And, the relay can easily be put in the ground leg for the voltmeter, either in the cab or under the hood. Further, you can do the ground change under the hood if you want. So if you were to make the ground change under the hood you'd just cut the yellow/light green wire off the shunt and put it to a relay that grounded it when the key was turned on. At this point you still have the shunt in place and are, therefore, limited on the amount of current you can draw via the stock fuse box. But if you only run stock accessories or if you wire the new ones back to the battery via a fuse then you are good. And Fuselink M is really only designed to carry the stock load anyway.

You are more than WELCOME! Glad you are here. We don't have very many exploring the upper limits on horsepower or lower limits on ET, so it is good to see a different approach. We'd love to see more pictures and details about the engine, suspension, and truck overall. It'll be cool to see one of our beloved Bullnose trucks going fast. Can't wait for videos!

Yes, it is a very pretty truck. But it isn't $25 grand. In my simple mind that's $26 grand! It has the wheel well trim I like, but it doesn't have the side trim, and I'm not sure what I think about that. In some ways I miss it, but in some ways it looks clean w/o it.