Gary Lewis

'Tis easy for me - I put it there.

I think you are saying once you have a pattern figured out to fit one bezel it is jut the choice of material is all that is left for doing the XLS "brushed aluminum". That is wonderful! Just FYI, there were only 4 "colors" or "finishes" for the Bullnose bezels, as shown on the Interior/Instrument & Radio Bezels page: Weave: Doubt you'll be able to do this one as there is a significant texture to it. And it changed from black to gray to medium gray during the 7-year era. Rosewood: Used from 1980 through '84 this was the high end trim. Burlwood: Used for 1985 & 6, this was the high end trim. And most of it has turned purpleish by now and is ugly. Brushed Aluminum: Used in '82 and '83 for the XLS trimmed vehicles. Very rare, and many of us want to replicate it.

Thanks for checking. Looks like my fears were groundless. Well done!

From Electrical/Sending Units and the Coolant tab:

Paint stripper won’t hurt chrome. Nor will brake cleaner, which will melt paint.

Bill - Let me know what you think of them. Big Blue needs them as well.

And pretty much what I said in that thread was that a good crimp is best, but a good crimp can only be made with either a ratcheting or hydraulic crimper. Not the garden-variety non-ratcheting crimpers that are so prevalent and which do not provide an acceptable crimp in my opinion. I have a ratcheting crimper, but it only does something like #18 and 20 gauge wire. And I have a 16-ton hydraulic crimper which does from #6 to 2-0 wire. So for any wire size in between I use a cheap non-ratcheting crimper to get the terminal snug, which is all it can do, and then solder it. However, it has been pointed out that you won't find soldered wires in aircraft, and that's because solder wicks up the wire and where it ends is a potential failure point as all movement is focused there. In other words, any vibration tends to cause the wire to bend at the end of the wicked solder, and eventually the wire will fail there. While that is true, I've never had a soldered joint fail, and I've been doing this for decades. However, I always use a piece of heat-shrink tubing on the joint. Always. And I highly prefer the type that has a layer of adhesive inside. That way the joint is sealed and extra support is given to the wire such that not all of the movement will be at the end of the solder.

Cool story! That school appears to be in the Kansas City area.

Me too and if I break it down to doing just the bed like you and look at the truck as half painted then the cab should not be that hard right? As I told the wife tonight once painted I can start to put things back on like door locks, latches & handles, wiper assy., etc to make it look even more like a truck. cant wait Dave ---- That is a MAJOR turning point! And it feels sooooooo good! Hope you get there soon.

Nice!

Yeah, I'm with you on that. I was just curious of the dentside Bronco on the front of Carpenter catalog looked as out of place to anybody else as it does to me?...It is after all, a 1980-1996 parts catalog. I assume that is a 1979 Bronco...didn't they have round lights in 1978? Any dentside experts on here? Not an expert by any stretch, but most 78's had round headlights. The exceptions were high-end trucks.

Amen, brother!

These are in Parts List #4, only, which is for the 1984 and later B-Series trucks. IOW, not for Bullnose.

Dunno. Haven't seen them. Send me a pair and I'll check.

Oooooh! That's pretty! Wonder if I can get that for mine?

Ding! Ding! Ding! We have a winner, an eBay seller that got it right. "F150" (1982/86) E2TZ 16720-C

For my own edification, I had to look up Gen Y and Gen Z. Here's what I found here: My daughter, SiL, wife, and I just had a conversation about these groups. Our daughter and SiL were both born in 1980. But his parents are 10 years younger than Janey and I. Apparently some studies have shown that our daughter is more likely to be a Gen X than a Gen Y, but our SiL is firmly a Gen Y. Now, to Shaun's question. I think not telling you they aren't going to make it is a serious lack of understanding of common courtesies. And somewhere our collective training of children has failed to impress courtesy upon them. Personally, I view electronic communication, such as this, email, and text as interpersonal communication. And when you provide information to people there is a response required - at least a "thank you". But it isn't unusual at all for such exchanges to lack that final response. I don't understand. You wouldn't do that face-to-face, so why would you fail to do so electronically?

As we all know, if it has a Ford emblem in the middle it is not correct for 1980 or '81. But it will fit. However, this is a nice grille for an '82 through '86, albeit expensive.

Not 1980-83. 1984 to 89, and maybe later. Catalog entry: 84/89 F-U150/350 E4TZ 19988-A

1980 & 81 only.

Type 5 right-hand for 1982 and later.

For $152 this seems like a steal. Anyone near Tioga, PA?

Seems expensive for what it is, but what do I know? I would have expected stainless, but maybe that's too much to expect?

That was my feeling as well. Hard to scan something like that as well.