Gary Lewis

Nice looking, but could you push-start it? And a PMGR starter is much smaller.

Grumpin - I'll take more pics tomorrow, but those were taken around/over the front sway bar and I was laying in front of the tire. Cory - The perches are red. RED! So they've been off and some !@#$%^&* painted them, sorta bolted them back on, and butchered the crossmember to boot.

Today I was looking at Big Blue today and found three things I do not like: First, the front jounce bumper is less than an inch off the top of the spring. Is that correct? Second, as you'll see in the pictures below, there are only 3 bolts holding the left engine stand/perch to the crossmember and frame. In other words, there are two bolts missing. So, should I assume they should all be there? Last, and probably by far the worst, is the crossmember. I'm going to include a bunch of pics to show what I found, but I'm very sure that Ford did NOT leave cuts like these in the crossmember. Does someone have an F250 w/a 460 that could take pics of the crossmember?

Got the steering gear liner instruction "blueprint" scanned and on the web site today here: http://www.garysgaragemahal.com/steering-gear-frame-liner.html. And did some checking of the liner. It measures .165" thick and the one on Dad's truck measures .145" thick. But, in looking at the new liner I found that it either won't fit Dad's truck or they changed things later. In the pic below the red circled rivets and holes are those that match from Dad's to the new liner. But the yellow-circled ones are different. Note that the red arrow shows that Dad's frame liner ends before it gets to the crossmember. But the new liner is designed to go between the crossmember and the frame and get held in with those two rivets. So I went out to look at Big Blue. Turns out that his liner goes between the crossmember and the frame. So, are the F100's and F150's like Dad's through the Bullnose years, or was there a change to all the trucks between 1981 and '85?

Got the scanned "blueprint" for the frame repair and liner replacement, and added it to the Steering Gear Frame Liner page in TSB's/Brakes, Steering, Suspension, Wheels.

I've heard many a C2-equipped truck coming. Those are just awful sounding pumps when they whine, as they frequently do. So I'm converting both Dad's truck as well as Big Blue to Saginaw pumps during their transformations. Another benefit of the Sag is that it doesn't puke fluid out the neck if you turn the steering wheel with the engine off.

You will be okay; just don't take Janey!!! Yes, sugar melts. I did get the Ridgid right-angle grinder at Branson over the weekend as well as several cutoff disks, so I should be good to go when the weather clears a bit. And, I'll cut it bigger than needed so I can trim it here. And, to help y'all "see" what the pictures are showing, here's a side view.

I don't think it'll actually take any massaging. Or, let me say that I think I can do all the massaging that is needed. I'm on the back porch having another cup of French and discussing it with Janey. As I told her, I'm not sure that the "wings" of flat donor floor need to be on the piece as it should fit down perfectly as a cap on the raised piece. But, as she said, I can trim the donor piece once I have it if it looks like the wings aren't needed. Having said that, I have a call into John and want to go up and show him the pics and get his concurrence that I have it worked out. Then I'll be good to go to the salvage and get the piece from the donor. Had planned to do that tomorrow, but the forecast is for RAIN, and I might melt.

I've been doing some work on what to cut out of Dad's floor as well as what to cut out of donor truck. Below are the two side by side, with Dad's on the left and the donor on the right. The first two show what to cut out of the two trucks, and the second two show the before and after. Note that the plan is to leave 1" of "flat" on Dad's floor over which the donor floor will lay. Does this make any sense? I had to show Janey the truck in real life for her to understand.

Well done! You are making excellent progress.

Excellent price.

You are now on the map.

Yes, welcome! Where's home? We have a member's map (Bullnose Forum/Member's Map) and I'd be happy to add you if I had a city/town.

I should have also said that I believe you've found the problem. Your fuel gauge is reading much higher than it should and your temp gauge is reading much higher than it should. They are run by a common culprit that is known to cause that problem.

You can make a much better replacement, as described here: Electrical/ICVR.

All sorts of questions to ask/answer. First, do your fuel gauge and oil pressure gauge appear to be reading normally? I ask because they and the temp gauge are run by the Instrument Cluster Voltage Regulator, which is a real silly little circuit. If it goes bonkers, and they do, then all three gauges go wonky - together. As for measuring the temp manually, do that on the side of the thermostat housing, or the upper radiator hose after the thermostat opens. And this page from Mobil does a good job of describing a leak-down test. As for what tool to buy, I made my own so don't have experience with any one tool. However, whatever tool you get should have two gauges, one before and one after the orifice. And, it should have several spark plug adapters so it'll fit several engines. Plus, a pressure regulator as part of the kit is particularly helpful as you frequently have to adjust the pressure for each cylinder because of more or less leakage that changes in the high-side pressure due to flow. My procedure is to bring the cylinder up on TDC, screw the plug adapter in, adjust the regulator to 100 psi so that you have a constant reference, and then read the low-side gauge. An 80 psi reading means you have 20% leakage, which is bad. So now you go listen to the intake and exhaust to check for valve leaks and dip stick tube for ring leakage, and then check the radiator for head gasket leakage or cracked heads. Oh - also put a hose in the spark plug hole of adjacent cylinders and put the other end to your ear. Head gasket leaks can frequently go into the adjacent cylinder.

Some, but not all of the 80-81 trucks with threaded shift knobs received brushed aluminum trim rings around the shift boots. They were an option on both Automatic 4x4 and Manual trucks, although I have no earthly idea what the criteria was for their usage. I've seen them on Custom trucks, all the way to Ranger Lariats. I've also seen each trim level without. The 80-81 (maybe early 82 carryover) trucks used a smaller shift boot for the transmission, similar in size to the transfer case boot. These trim rings will not fit around the 83+ larger boot, so if one were to add them like I am, one would either need to modify a newer floor plate/inspection cover, or source the correct early style like I did. Ahhh! Now I understand. However, the trim ring I have appears to be stainless, not brushed aluminum. It is NOS, but I haven't checked to see if it fits any of the boots I'm going to run. But, on Dad's truck I'll be using the lower cover and could probably make the early boot fit the BW1356, and therefore use the trim ring I have. So, please document what you do.

Ha! Ain't that the truth Dave! I've been thinking this all along...I'm spending so much time and money on this bed and it's still just an old beater of a truck...haha. Oh well, I can't complain about being bored! The bed looks wonderful! But you will have to spend a bit of time on the cab and fenders to bring them into the same ballpark as the bed. And, you are really going to be proud of the truck!

I would always do a leakdown test before condemning the head gaskets. Gary is a big proponent of this as well. There are other possibilities that are better (corroded water pump backing plate) or worse (cracked head) At least you would know what's wrong and where the problem is before opening the engine up. Water is not a good lubricant and naturally it will sit in the bottom of the pan where the pickup is. It's also good to check accessories while you have the belts off. Try turning the power steering, water pump and alternator by hand. Do any of them feel rough or have any radial play? How about the fan clutch? Does it turn smoothly when cold? Not free, but smooth. Any one of these can squeal with the engine running. I agree with the others - do more testing before pulling the heads. But I'm not sure I understand all you've said. The temp gauge still pegs? How quickly after starting? When do you get the white smoke? And are you losing coolant?

While I understand the reluctance to "put your stuff away", I'm pretty sure you fixed the problem with the new cable. I must have had an intermittent connection. Anyway, thanks for the followup.

I wonder if you are losing fuel pressure at higher RPM and temps. If you have an iPhone and an Apple watch you could tape the phone where it can see the fuel pressure gauge, turn the camera on, and see it on the watch. Or just start a video and watch it later.

I don't know the answer to that question. And I think part of the answer depends on your rear suspension, meaning how much clearance you have. I've run 33's on 4wd trucks, but they have a lift block that might make a difference. However, I don't see why you couldn't add that lift block if you wanted to do so.

Ok, back from Branson. And Ray, you are making good progress.

My 460 drives easily, although it rides like tank as it is a 250HD. I really don’t think there’s enough difference between how the different engines drive to make that a deciding factor.

Shaun - Sorry, but I’m dense so you are going have to tell me. 😩 As for what I’ve done to or with my truck today, or for the last few days, nada. My wife and I’ve been in Branson since Thursday. Should be home this evening, but have now stopped in Eureka Springs, where I found the truck below. It is owned by Jon Mourghio, and it is an ‘81 with pin locks and amber turn signals. Jon said he will join.