Gary Lewis

You are on the map, but check to see that I got it right. Google Maps wasn't quite sure about Disco.

That someone was WillieJoe.62 on FTE, and here's the earliest of his posts I can find where he mentioned it: https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1377049-the-officially-unofficial-mod-edit-now-official-bullnose-forum-logo-poll-2.html#post15327740.

Ok, that HF tank is supposedly 10 gallons and the overall unit is 30" long. So the tank itself may be 24" long. But it sure looks longer than that 'cause my air tank is 21" long and 12" in diameter. So I'm guessing that the 30" doesn't include the handle. And, if it measures 8" in diameter I could put two of them side-by-side. Or, I could just go with one of them as it would do two tires from 120 psi. However, my calc's say that a 30" long tank of 10" in diameter would be have 10.2 gallons of capacity. 3433723.3433723

Actually, that 37" was going back, back to the rubber wheel well flap. The 8" diameter would allow it to go above the step bar and outboard of the spring mount. Yes, I'd like to have something around the 11 gallon range as that gets two of the tires up to 30 from 15. And toward that end I've done some calculating. (And I see that you've replied twice while I've been working on this response. So let me get this out and I'll try to respond to your latest posts.) I measured the existing tank and calculated the volume and came to 10.3 gallons. So, I'm fairly confident in my calculations, but just not my measurements. Anyway, using those calculations an 8" x 37" tank would have 8.1 gallons of capacity. So, we are on the right track.

It's ultra rare because it's not pink like all of the rest of them. Give it a couple years in a truck and it will be pink too. Good point! I would have said the faded color is purple, but I can agree with pink. YUK!

I missed this post earlier (I must have been posting at the time). Yes, compressors pump more volume at lower pressure, but unless you take the tank out of the system you now have to fill up both the tire and the tank at the same time. I think the algebra would work out that you pretty much only need to "air up" the tank once as you air up all 4 tires because what you gained while pumping up the first would be "lost" into the second, so not really lost at all. But unless the tank is big enough to fill all 4 tires pretty much without the compressor running you'll be refilling the tank. Not to say you don't want the biggest tank you can fit. The advantage of a higher flow rate as you deplete the air tank may well offset the disadvantage of the lower flow rate into the tires as you also refill the tank. And there's the downside of the time it takes to fill the tank to begin with. Not such a huge issue since you're just driving while it does that (it takes maybe ~10 minutes for my compressor to fill my 2.5 gallon tank). But if duty cycle is an issue, or if you need air soon after turning the compressor on it might be (with my air-actuated locker it's more of a risk than just for airing up). I'm not sure how all of that balances out. For me it's pretty much a moot point anyway. Unless I use my roll cage as an air tank (which I don't want to do for the rust issue), 2.5 gallons is about as big as I can tuck under an early Bronco. And I think I've posted this earlier, but with my 2.5 gallon tank and 33/10.50-15 tires I can only get one tire aired up from 15 - 30 psi before the tank isn't helping me anymore. Jim - It turns out my portable tank is this 11 gallon one from TSC. And it works really, really well. So I'd be happy to buy another if it'll fit. Bob - You have a good point, you do have to fill the tank and the tires. So, as you say, the benefit of pumping against lower pressure gets negated by having to fill the larger volume, and at some point it is a wash. But we don't know what that point is. As for what I did to Big Blue today, I got the winch, aux battery, and interconnecting cable off. (And I got the winch installed on the trailer for next week's trip.) And, I did a test of an air tank. I took the 11 gallon one to 118 psi on its gauge, which was as high as my shop air system wanted to take it. And I dropped one of Big Blue's LT285/75R16's to 15 psi and aired it back to 30 psi. That took 30 seconds and dropped the gauge to 78 psi. Then I dropped the tire back to 15 psi took it back up, this time overshooting to 32 psi. That dropped the tank to 45 psi and took 60 seconds. But, I can't get that particular tank in. In fact, it looks like the max height is 8" to keep it concealed as that would put it even with the bottom of the fender. And max width is 16", but most tanks are round so that distance may be irrelevant. If the tank is no more than 8" in diameter the length can be up to 37" long. But if it is 16" wide then it can only be 27" long. LOL! I saw that Jim posted almost the same dimensions. http://www.garysgaragemahal.com/uploads/6/5/8/7/65879365/ezgif-com-resize-1_orig.gif

Shaun - Welcome! I like the truck. And, I'm glad you joined. You don't have to be good with computers to be a family member here. In fact, you don't even have to be mechanically inclined, or even have a Bullnose truck. We have a member's map (Bullnose Forum/Member's Map on the menu) and I'd be happy to add you if you'd like. Old Subie's? We drive a 2001 Forester.

I had missed that there are six columns and six letters. It looks to me like you nailed it. I like it.

Rick - When you start a thread you can create a poll. I'm not sure you can when editing the first post or not. Anyway, I like the early grille with the faux early hood. It just seems too busy with the later grille and the lettering on the hood.

The second set would look good your truck, Jim. 👌

Big Blue is a fancy truck and he has door pockets, which house at least one if not two pair of those tanned-hides. But his driver isn't smart enough to know when to don them.

Out of the weather is easy as the tool box is tight, although I should replace the weatherstripping. But, those canisters are a good possibility for organization within. Right now I'm using a canvas bag for some of the things, but it doesn't like the weight that's in it. However, getting things out of the toolbox is easiest if you can do it one-handed. And, you don't want handles on the sides as they are both hard to get to and it is too easy to hit your hand on the lip of the toolbox as you pull something out. (And with the thin skin of age and the effects of the baby aspirin I'm on I bleed easily anymore.)

Jim - I've thought about the tool box issue quite a bit. In fact, when I was looking for a trailer the plan was to have a tool box on it. But the way this trailer is designed with the jack in the middle of the tongue the only place for a tool box would be on the bed. I've thought about placing one there, but I like having the chain, straps, etc in Big Blue's tool box as there are times I take him places w/o the trailer and need those things. After his "transformation" he'll be the go-to guy to pull the trailer in most situations as he'll have the on-board air, front hitch, bumper-mounted winch, aux battery, etc., so it makes sense to have everything in his tool box. David - Yes, road trip! Janey's cousin thinks I'm wonderful. But in reality I'm just having fun using the trailer, winch, etc. Besides, I'm doing what Ford's do best - tow Chevys.

Yes, that HF compressor would have lots of good parts, for far less than buying them one at a time. So if I do go with the York that's probably what I'll do. Or pick up a broken/used one. But this discussion got me to thinking about tank size, and I've come to the conclusion that there is no tank too big. Some say that with a big tank you have to wait until it is full, so that slows you down. But as I said previously, compressors pump more air at lower pressure so once the tank is depleted just use it as a pass-through. Clip the hose to the valve stem and let the compressor run. Given that, I want to find a tank that is a good fit but maximizes the space between the frame and the passenger's bedside. And, it would be nice to have some protection so I could have a ball valve for draining it w/o having to worry about knocking the valve off. So that means the tank should sit up a bit so the valve can go above the skid plate.

Reviving this thread briefly. My wife's cousin called again yesterday about the next phase of the project that prompted this thread. And that is to bring his '65 Malibu to Skiatook for John, the paint/body guru, to work his magic on. Looks like that may happen a week from today, July 9th. It looks like Blue will get the nod this time. Big Blue's engine is suspect, having bogged on me a couple of times pulling the trailer recently. I may have fixed that with the shield between the header and fuel supply line, but don't know. And I sure don't want to have any problems. So the plan this time is to pull the winch off BB and install it on the trailer, and take the aux battery out of BB to run the winch. But, I need to think through how to connect the battery to the winch, and I don't really want to take the time to make up special cables. Ahhh! Duh! If I take the aux battery out of BB then I can take the cable that runs from that battery down to the winch. And, removing the winch, battery, and cable contribute to the disassembling of Big Blue that needs to be done anyway. So, it is a win/win! So, for the next few days I'll be busy getting ready for the trip. Gotta remove & reinstall all of those things as well as get all of the straps, chains, and tools out of Big Blue and into Blue. Plus, I'm going to take the air tank fully charged as well as a small 110v compressor, just in case. (If Big Blue had the on-board air system already that might make the difference on which truck gets to go.)

Any concern putting kerosene + propane propellant in a rubber tire? Not really, because I'm putting maybe a tablespoon full in the tank and letting it sit there. Sure, the propane may outgas and end up in the tires, but there isn't a lot of it. And the kerosene will basically puddle in the tank, not really being blown into the tires since it's not in the air stream. Definitely! Not too concerned about that. the line from the compressor to the tank is pretty well protected. And I'm pretty much out of luck if I lose that anyway. There's no way my tank holds enough air to do anything significant without the compressor refilling it. A ball valve to blow the tank down every day it's used seems a lot easier than a procedure that reads like an oil change to me. But I don't have one, and I see how little it will actually be used. My air tank is under my Bronco, so anything at the bottom of the air tank is subject to rock strikes. I used to have a Schrader valve in that port. I never broke it off, but I did bend it once. That was enough for me, so I put the smallest, most robust thing I could in there, a plug. Yes, a ball valve would be a lot more convenient. Until it got broken off on the trail. Good point. But my compressor doesn't start up that often. When I'm using it to air up tires it's on all the time (why I made sure to get one that's rated for 100% duty cycle). When I'm on the trail I keep the tank full so I can operate my air-actuated locker, but there's very little air use then, so it mostly stays off. And I leave the compressor shut off the rest of the time. So I don't think it's costing me an awful lot. My Bronco is pretty short, so I think I have maybe 15' - 20' of rubber hose rolled up and I usually bring one of those coils of plastic line (10'?). But even if you can't get around the truck you can take a shortcut under it. So you can usually get by with less hose than you might think. (I bring the coiled line to go between my tire inflater and the air chuck. That way I can stand up while airing up the tires instead of having to squat down next to 4 tires.) Good idea on getting a complete compressor. (Like Steve's? ) Oddly enough, a year or two ago I was given an old compressor that didn't work. (Steve - Larry gave it to me.) He thought I could use the parts, and I eyed the tank, switch, and safety valve for Big Blue. But then I discovered that the only problem with it was the reed valves, and new ones were $12 delivered. So I rebuilt it and my son now has a decent compressor. But I'm not ready to spend the money on that right at the moment as I'm going to be ordering wheel bearings and seals, u-joints, etc pretty soon. So that expenditure will wait until next year. Or, perhaps my Christmas present will be a turn-key 12v on-board air system? Bob's mention of duty cycle got me to thinking. 4wd Parts has several systems, one of which has a 33% duty cycle, which doesn't sound like much. But it has something like a 20 minute max run time. So if I were to pump up the air tank before getting to the end of the trail and let the compressor cool while we drive then I could run it another 20 minutes. I wonder if that would be enough? Also Bob mentioned an air chuck, and that made me think of the chuck I had that clipped onto the valve stem. If I used one of those then the compressor would be working against a max of 30 psi, and compressors deliver more air when working against lower pressures. So, wouldn't the tire fill up more quickly if you attach the hose to the tire rather than pump only into a tank and then fill the tire?

Wow, that intermediate-duty truck one is beautiful. And the "ultra rare" one is anything but rare and only belongs on an '85 or '86. However, it is nice. But the first one, the black mesh one, is correct only for a 1980 truck. That part number was not used later, and there were differences that would make it not match any radio bezel but one for a 1980 truck.

That is wonderful! They'll really remember that.

Those are beautiful! Especially the Rosewood one.

This is an interesting case. The prefix of the part # is E2TZ, which means it came out in 1982. But the 1994 version of the catalog shows E2TZ 1130-C used in 1980 and '81 as follows: And for those years D7TZ 1130-K was shown as: But as of 1982, and for the rest of the Bullnose era, E2TZ 1130-C shows: Was there really a change in what wheels the black/red vs chrome/red center caps were used on?

I find 'em; you grind 'em! Yep! I try to check each of the ones you post, but typically don't reply if it is as stated in the advert.

Any concern putting kerosene + propane propellant in a rubber tire? Maybe a stainless tank would be a better (if more costly) alternative? Having an inline check valve at the tank inlet would keep you from losing everything in the event you damaged the line from the pump. If there was an unloader it would keep it from draining the whole tank too. A ball valve to blow the tank down every day it's used seems a lot easier than a procedure that reads like an oil change to me. But I don't have one, and I see how little it will actually be used. I do know how hard a compressor starts. I just think giving it a hand getting up to speed will make its life easier. Being in the building trades I see a lot of guys that have air and electricity built in to their vans. (Some of these things rival Apollo control! Definitely a command center for the jobsite) Hose reels always seem to accompany that, but bulk and complexity in adverse conditions are not a good combo. 25-30' of hose seems like it would reach anywhere on the truck. Onboard air would be nice on the trail of you wanted to take a tractor tube on a stream/lake/pond. Wow! Janey and I took most of yesterday off to go shopping and watch a movie, and LOTS happened here. So let me try to address or ask questions of what was said: Bob - Yes, one should enjoy the discussion. (Aka "micro-analysis" by those who are jealous. ) Steve - Thanks for the offer, but you are going to need that at some point. And cannibalizing a compressor for the tank wouldn't be right since fixing the switch would make it useful. Plus I want to either go with the engine-driven York or a 12v purpose-built system. All - A stainless tank would be nice, but I suspect that a steel tank will be much less expensive - see below for the portable one I have that cost $30. And I do want a safety valve as my nephew told me his pressure switch failed and when he caught it the pressure gauge was pegged well past 200 psi - on a tank that is rated at 120. But I'm not sure I see the need for a regulator. The intent is to use the air system to inflate the tires after airing down for the trail. And, maybe a tube for swimming! So a regulator would just be another point of failure as well as more connections to leak. And, speaking of airing up, perhaps I should air up my portable air tank to 120 psi and use it to fill one of Big Blue's tires from 15 psi to 30. That would give me some sense of how much air is going to be needed for these tires. The air tank I have is this 5 gallon unit, and I'd be surprised if it can do more than one tire. If so I'd probably better find a way to get a 5 gallon tank in rather than a 2 gallon. As for connections, I'm thinking one on the rear bumper might be the way to go since I'll carry enough hose to go all the way around the truck. That way it'll be easy to air up the air bags since their connections will be there as well. What did I miss?

Jim - My plan is to have a 2 to 2.5 gallon air tank. Probably steel. And you are right, a high CFM electric system is pricey. Which is why I was planning to go with the York compressor, which puts out 6 - 8 CFM. And a 100% duty cycle electric one of that capacity is very expensive. So perhaps I don't need that much capacity? Maybe I can fill the tank as I'm coming to the end of the trail, air up a couple of tires, and then wait a few min's to fill up the other two? The issue with the Yorks is mainly to due with the oil. Rock Crawler has a page on how to fix that. This page from The Ranger Station explains how they would do it. What are your thoughts? Shaun -

That is NOT E0TZ 9929038-A. That part number is the Moulding (quarter panel), as shown below.

Yep, just not the XLS.