Gary Lewis

As Big Blue goes through his transformation I'll have lots of things for sale. And while I don't expect to pay for the transformation by selling this stuff, it would be nice to recoup some of the costs. But I'm not au fait with pricing on these things, so thought I'd see what y'all think. Here are the things that come to mind off the top of my head: D44HD front axle & suspension, from lockout to lockout, and they are Milemarker lockouts. This includes brake calipers, springs, sway bar, and front driveshaft. The diff has the Detroit Truetrac in it and the gears are essentially new. Plus it'll come with the inner pivot brackets that bolt to the cross member. In other words, the complete front end in working order. 460 bolt pattern T-19 transmission: Again, in working order, and includes the shift lever. Edelbrock 460 Performer intake Edelbrock 750 CFM Performer electric choke carb. Runs perfectly. L&L 460 headers. Don't seem to leak at all. Dual snorkel air cleaner: This is one of my concoctions based on an HO unit, and has the vacuum motors in the inlets but doesn't have the temp sensor to control them, although that would be easy to do. I'll list this stuff in the For Sale section, but have already had a feeler on the front axle so thought I'd better ask around about pricing. Thoughts, questions, suggestions welcomed.

Glad you found us. We currently rank about fourth in a Google search for "Bullnose Ford", first in "DSO Codes", third in "Ford 1G to 3G conversion", etc. We turn up in about 4500 searches/day and almost 200 people come to the site daily via those searches.

Yes, I AM! They arrive about midnight tonight, and some sort of birthday celebration is scheduled for tomorrow, though I know not what. Oh wait! I have to get the pallet, chains, tie downs, and gloves out of the back of Blue today so there'll be room for their luggage. That's the only vehicle we have that is comfortable for 5 and luggage.

Yes, that header makes noise. It is difficult to shift gears w/o a clang that I think is due to that. And, there's a mechanical vibration at 55 - 60 MPH that I believe is due to that pipe touching. But what I can't figure out is why I only feel it at those speeds. As least Edward Sawzallhands didn't cut on the frame to fix that problem. Anyway, the trip over and back to Anderson, about 230 miles, was uneventful. The truck ran well, albeit loudly, and got 11.3 MPG. Plus, it crept down a wet, grassy hillside to pull out a truck on a trailer, and didn't spin a tire. The front hitch let me place the trailer with ease and precision. And the A/C was certainly welcome coming home after a warm day. But, I literally had to inspect the road ahead of me to determine when I could take a sip of coffee w/o wearing it. And by the end of the day the ride was becoming very annoying. So I think it is time for - TRANSFORMATION!

I waited until she'd done her grocery run for the day before taking over the garage. I'll probably catch some heat tomorrow, though, unless it stops raining before we leave for church. But only a little heat - she's a tolerant and understanding gal. She has friends whose husbands drink too much, or run around on them, or can't seem to hold a job. Me...I occasionally hog the garage for a couple days at a time. I try hard not to take too much advantage of her good nature, and we do just fine. Now...the test will come in a year or two - in a bid to keep the payments on her needed new car down, I made a deal with her a few years ago to trade in my '09 Infiniti that I didn't drive much, and keep driving her old (but still solid) Lexus...with the understanding that when her new car (the Highlander in the photo) was paid off I would then get to buy and fix up my dream project car. There's less than a year to go on the Highlander and she's caught me browsing cars on eBay, and has just started questioning me on how we're going to manage four vehicles. Dominic will eventually take the Lexus to college with him, but that's still four years away. It's going to look like a used car lot out there for a while, but I'm sure she'll eventually come to terms with it. I second the what's-the-problem-with-four-vehicles question: Technically the Subie is our daughter's, although she lives in Nicaragua and only uses it when she returns for a few weeks each year. Janey has her GLK 250. I have Blue for long-distance towing and taking lots of people and luggage to/from the airport, like we'll do tonight when the crew from Nicaragua comes in at midnight. Currently Big Blue is running, but his much-awaited transformation is about to start. Some year Dad's truck will be done The '69 Bee is patiently waiting The '50 Chevy is also waiting. So, what's your dream project?

I don't know if she is the most thoughtful and considerate spouse on the planet, or if she is just contributing to your addiction. Both.

I think Steve nailed it.

Man, that is a whole lot of truck for only $2700! I like it too.

You are now on the map. And please don't forget to create a signature that tells us about your truck. Plus, a lot of the guys are adding their first/given name to their signature. Helps us call each other by name and be more personal.

Michael - Welcome! Your truck looks quite capable. What engine does it have? I hope you'll start a thread in the main section to tell us more about your truck and to keep track of what you do to it. By the way, we have a member's map (Bullnose Forum/Member's Map in the menu). Would you like to be on it?

Cory - Those are beautiful!!!

Let's see if this works:No, that did NOT work. I'm still looking to see how to show that MP4...... Let's try this:

Happy birthday in advance then! But, are you saying you'll be 77 tomorrow?

You are on the map.

Dane - It was a beautiful day. Shaun - You are right, and I'm wrong. The young man that owns that truck, Mario, hopes to have it on the road by Sept and drive it to our show. They worked 'til 4:00 this morning just to get it where they could bring it today, but think they'll be driving it soon. And, Big Blue won the Best 4x4 award again! Don't have the trophy yet, but I'll post a pic when I get it. As for the pics I promised, they will have to wait for tomorrow. Janey has an apple pie and ice cream with which to celebrate my birthday. And, I got to open my present - an Innovate wide-band AFR meter and serial cable. So I'm ready to start the Big Blue re-do! But, we are going to watch a movie now, so I'll post some pics tomorrow.

Welcome to the forum! Cool truck. Where is home in Wyoming? We have a member's map (Bullnose Forum/Member's Map on the menu) and I'd be happy to put you on it if I had a town/city.

Had intended to post a bunch of pics, but couldn’t resist this one to start. A guy came in with his really nice Dent on a trailer, pulled by a 2wd Toyota Tundra. 😳 So Big Blue was pressed into service - and didn’t spin a tire. 😎

If you have no power to the truck but the starter will engage then the positive cable is probably good. So that suggests you either have the fuse links on the wrong side of the starter relay or Fuse Link L or M are bad. You can see them below:

Nice looking truck! But I'm glad you ditched the boards. You can go to 4wd pretty easily, but with the manual brakes you probably have the 4 1/2" bolt circle wheels, and all the 4wd front axles will be 5 1/2" bolt circle. So you'd either have to carry two spares, or change out the rear axle at the same time. So, I suggest you find a rusted-out F150 with 4wd and use those parts, meaning the front axle/suspension and rear axle, plus transmission and transfer case, to convert yours to 4wd. That will bring the power brakes as well, and when you are done you can then tow more.

Jim - The headers are tight. And, w/in .030" of the frame. I had plans to stuff a 1/4" plate between the engine and mount or the perch, which would get the needed clearance and level the engine. But since those headers won't work with EFI heads..... And thanks for not making the comment. Shaun - That's only part of the story. Vernon was an FTE member, but has faded into the sunset. Gave up on Bullnose trucks completely. The only response I've gotten from my several emails and calls was to the one where I asked if he was ok after the hurricane hit Panama City where they live. They were fine. But otherwise he's done.

I like it! But man, that is a LOT of welding. Beautiful welding, but a lot thereof. Wow! And are there coil springs above it? Please tell me no leaf springs.

Charlie - If the starter spins then the neutral safety switch is working. And while it could be the distributor, give us some more symptoms to explain what happens. Where does the clang come from? And when you say "the motor on the starter goes wild" do you mean that after the clang it spins?

My only room to complain is what the shysters did to Vernon. He was planning on using this truck to pull an RV all over the US when he retired. But the work he paid handsomely to have done was so poorly done most things had to be re-done. The engine that took four years to build didn't have valve cover gaskets and the shop he took it to to repair things said it was obvious the "builder" didn't own a torque wrench. In fact, things were going so poorly that he and his wife came to the conclusion that they couldn't keep pouring good money after bad. But the last straw was when the engine wouldn't crank. At all. As it turned out, they'd bypassed the fuel pump safety wiring and put full battery voltage to the fuel pump any time the key was on. Not knowing that, and not realizing what that might portend, Vernon left the key on. With full battery voltage instead of going through the resistance wire, the fuel pump pushed the fuel past the needles, flooded the carb and then flooded the crankcase. So much so that I got 7 quarts of fuel and 6 quarts of oil out of the sump. So pardon me if I don't think there's an honest mechanic in Florida. I realize that Vernon's experience doesn't speak for everyone, but he sure couldn't find one to save his truck.

For what it's worth, when I painted my dash and every other interior panel in the truck, I painted both the inner and outer sections. Same with the frame, and the wheels. I was born and raised here, and proudly belong to the maybe 5% of people here who do things the right way. I'm sure there are plenty of you that will do things correctly. It is just so disappointing as I get farther and farther into Big Blue and keep finding the shyster tricks that were done to him.

Thanks, Dave. I will!