Gary Lewis

Yes, timing is everything. But we may be on the cusp of Bullnose inflation.

I thought you liked red, mobile chicken coops.

Good question about why it started well initially and then fought you later. And I'm going to guess that it has to do with a cold engine vs a warm engine. More compression and more friction warm, so it turns more slowly. But just a guess. And, did the choke come off when it warmed up? As for the sound, the headers and in a garage would explain the staccato sound. On the dizzy, if it went back off a tooth it'll probably mean that you are so far out of time that you can't rotate the dizzy far enough to bring it back in time. Usually there's a narrow window of rotation before something hits. But if you can get it in time it doesn't matter where the gear is. And, it is a bummer about the spacer. But the Air Gap must be tall. Anyway, IT LIVES! And that is always a wonderful feeling.

Morning. I don't have answers but do have questions in addition to Steve's. You said "I will have problems starting it after its warmed up", but can you describe what happens when trying to start it? And how does it run after it starts? Have you checked for codes?

John - Welcome to the forum! Glad you found us. I'm not, yet, checked out on EFI, but others are and will surely comment soon. And I'll check back in the morning.

It sounds like timing. Like maybe way too much advance. Maybe the dizzy turned? The exhaust sounds really sharp. Perhaps it is because it is in a garage, but it doesn't sound quite right.

You COULD do that, and it would work fine. But the '87-96 booster is thinner & interchangeable. There is no appreciable improvement in booster performance, though. It's just easier to find, more-modern, and smaller/lighter. Yes; any '80-96 F150 /Bronco MC will work with any '80-96 F150 /Bronco booster. Not with the later RPV, but you WOULD have to change the front 3 brake lines. At the LHF flex hose, for most '87-96 F150s. But for some years & applications, there's a T-block on the frame. Not "full" - you only need to change the front 3 sections (LHF, RHF, & forward section of the rear line) from the proportioning-valve configuration to the RPV (Aluminum MC) configuration. '87 would work, but so would any other year up to '96. Just pick ONE. I'd either shop around, and see what year is most-common, most-available, and most-affordable; or I'd browse the JYs for whatever configuration was used on '96 F150s (probably '94-96), and get a good used set (from any number of donor trucks, as long as the lines matched). Do not get any hard lines from a '93-96 Bronco. But you can get MC, booster, flexible hoses, calipers (IF they fit your steering knuckles), drums, & e-brake cables from any '80-96 1/2-ton Ford truck. Probably not, but I'm not sure what year they changed from the bolted spring key... https://supermotors.net/getfile/169281/thumbnail/brakekeysbolts.jpg ...to the rubber-filled stainless key: https://supermotors.net/getfile/72043/thumbnail/b20.jpg I'm also NOT sure if the rubber-keyed caliper will fit the bolted-key steering knuckle, so you need to check that before buying "wrong" calipers. Not necessarily, depending on year & options. Just pick one year, (or style) and make sure the 3 front lines you get match each other (fit together), and you get the LHF hose that matches those lines. It's easiest if you find a good JY donor, and get the front lines off 1 truck. The rear-rear line can be an '80-86 of your truck's wheelbase; you don't want to add RABS or that valve on the frame, so just use the older rear-rear line. You get no points for that - it just makes parts harder to find, less-reliable, and less-engineered. There are MANY reasons Ford improved these parts over the years, so keeping the old tech won't give you a good daily-driver or work truck. It only gives you a museum piece (something to be parked & showed, but no one gawks at an '80s F150). It won't necessarily save money RIGHT NOW, but it will pay off in the long run; in lower maintenance & more reliability. Steve - That's really good to know. So changing the three lines then lets the later master bolt right in w/o any magic of reversing the lines and using an adapter. Cool! But I got lost about the left front hose. Does it need to be changed?

It lives!!!! Congrat's!!!! (By the way, you can embed the Youtube video here. Just go to it, click Share then Embed, and then click Copy to put the code on the clipboard. On here, click Embed and then Embed Tags and it'll insert Nabble embed tags where your cursor was. Click between the ">" and the "

A friend of mine, Fred Nelson, has some valve covers for an FE that he's selling. He said he bought them from FE Specialties, Tom Lucas, for 329.00 originally but will let them go for $100. Contact me for his contact info.

Well, it is a 35 year old truck with less than 40k original miles on it, so it really never did see much in the way of service, because it was rarely used. Interesting on the later master cylinder...hmmm. I'm replacing the booster as well. So I would just order a booster for an '84, and a master for an '87, and they'll bolt together just fine with no further adjustments required? And I wouldn't need to buy the external proportioning valve? Is there a tee somewhere for the front brakes? There is only one port on the master for both front calipers, right? I am also wanting to order a complete brake line kit. I wonder if I installed a 1987 master, could I also get away with ordering a 1987 full brake line kit? The calipers and drums would be the same between my 84 and an 87?...or at least the flex lines, etc would be the same... I must go do some reading... I was wanting to use original-ish stuff, but if this saved some money, then I'd be interested... I agree with Steve - go with the later stuff. And, there should be two ports on the master, although if I remember correctly the lines are reversed? Anyway, that's the way I'm going to go. But, on the lines, do not go to Inline Tube. I did, and will not do so again. The lines do not fit properly and every line had to be re-bent. And, the first line they sent for the left rear had the wrong fitting on it so it wouldn't even screw in. They made a new one and sent it out, and after re-bending it I got it to fit. I called them and asked why the lines don't fit. The guy said "We are basically a GM shop and don't do many Fords. And there are so many different variations on the Ford's we can't get them right." Variations? There's a 9" and an 8.8" in the F100's or F150's. That's variations? Anyway, I can't recommend them.

Kevin - You are testing correctly. And, you are right - Standard Motor Products is having a bad run of luck. My brother sold for them back in the 70's, so I'll have to give him a hard time about this. But I've heard of people collecting Motorcraft solenoids from the salvage 'cause there's a known problem of bad solenoids "NIB". Terrible. Anyway, glad you got it going!

You are now on the map.

Wow, Jonathan. That's a really, really good point. I guess I missed the intent of what has been said about them being "searchable". I was thinking that once you've found the index you can search it. But it would be far better to have people be able to find the index and/or the TSB's themselves via a Google search. And, that may change the plans as, for whatever reason, embedded documents don't appear to be found by Google, or other, crawls. I thought they were supposed t be, but they don't seem to be. So, that begs the question of just what needs to be found in a search, and I would like everyone's input. One option would be to just have the index searchable. The index has several key words in it, like "Shudder During Braking — Semi-Float Rear Axle". Would that be acceptable? That I could probably do fairly easily, although it would require me to put the text of the index directly on the webpage rather than in a document. But, if that's not enough then we are into a whole 'nother ball game. To go the next step would require that I turn each TSB into text and pictures so that can be pasted onto a webpage, rendering it searchable. See the discussion below regarding OCR'ing TSB's. I'm watching the Cowboys game and will see what I can do to turn the spreadsheet into words and a TSB into words & pictures. Steve - That would be great. But, a couple of things. First, I have the TSB booklets from mid-79 to mid-83, with a couple of misses. And, I have 91-6 & 7. So, if you have others and could scan them then those would be very helpful. However, let me tell you how I'm scanning - black & white at 600 dpi into a pdf. The reason for the b&w is that it makes the yellowed pages nice and white, and it makes the file smaller. As for the dpi, I've learned that my OCR program works far, FAR better at 600 than at 300. At 600 it pretty much nails it, but at 300 I have to review lots of questionable results - on each TSB. Depending on what I find, we may have to convert the TSB's from separate documents into words & pictures on a webpage in order to have then searchable. SUMMARY: Ok, it is good news and bad news. Which do you want first? The good news is that I think we can get there, with "there" being where both the index and the TSB's themselves are able to be found via a Google search. The bad news is that it requires some work, which may be somewhat tedious for me. But, better to find out now rather than later. DETAILS: (I'm explaining all of this mainly so I'll have a place where it is recorded so I can get back to it.) It appears, and I say that with caution as I've only found it one place on the internet, that files embedded on a webpage will be crawled by Google if, and only if, they are available to anyone on the internet. However, to this point all of the many files I've embedded on the site are only available to people who have the link to them. So, if what I read is true, that would explain why nothing I've embedded can be found w/a Google search. To prove that theory I've changed the security on the file for Section 2: Axles & Frames, Suspension & Steering in the 1983 Dealer Facts Book. And then I asked Google to index that page and its direct links, which includes that document. In a day or two it should have been indexed and then I ought to be able to find things in it via a Google search. However, that file resides on my Google drive where it is easy to unlock the security. But I prefer the Microsoft OneDrive, so while Google is indexing that page I'll be searching for a way to unlock the security on my OneDrive. If I can't figure out how to do that then I'll have to move all of the embedded files which are on my OneDrive to my Google drive. So, hope with me that Google does indeed index that file and we can find text from it via a Google search. The text for which I'm searching is "•Twin-I-Beam front suspension for Econoline andF-250/350". Yes, there should be a space between "and" and "F", but for whatever reason there isn't. Something my OCR engine messed up. But, there's no instance of that text on the internet at the moment, so if it turns up it should be us. Meanwhile, now that it looks like this is may work, I'm back to cleaning up the index. So far I've cleaned up 230 of what will probably be 800 entries in the spreadsheet. But, there are more to add 'cause y'all been asleep! You didn't even notice that while the Bullnose era began in 1980, there's no column for '80 in the index!

Wow, Jonathan. That's a really, really good point. I guess I missed the intent of what has been said about them being "searchable". I was thinking that once you've found the index you can search it. But it would be far better to have people be able to find the index and/or the TSB's themselves via a Google search. And, that may change the plans as, for whatever reason, embedded documents don't appear to be found by Google, or other, crawls. I thought they were supposed t be, but they don't seem to be. So, that begs the question of just what needs to be found in a search, and I would like everyone's input. One option would be to just have the index searchable. The index has several key words in it, like "Shudder During Braking — Semi-Float Rear Axle". Would that be acceptable? That I could probably do fairly easily, although it would require me to put the text of the index directly on the webpage rather than in a document. But, if that's not enough then we are into a whole 'nother ball game. To go the next step would require that I turn each TSB into text and pictures so that can be pasted onto a webpage, rendering it searchable. See the discussion below regarding OCR'ing TSB's. I'm watching the Cowboys game and will see what I can do to turn the spreadsheet into words and a TSB into words & pictures. Steve - That would be great. But, a couple of things. First, I have the TSB booklets from mid-79 to mid-83, with a couple of misses. And, I have 91-6 & 7. So, if you have others and could scan them then those would be very helpful. However, let me tell you how I'm scanning - black & white at 600 dpi into a pdf. The reason for the b&w is that it makes the yellowed pages nice and white, and it makes the file smaller. As for the dpi, I've learned that my OCR program works far, FAR better at 600 than at 300. At 600 it pretty much nails it, but at 300 I have to review lots of questionable results - on each TSB. Depending on what I find, we may have to convert the TSB's from separate documents into words & pictures on a webpage in order to have then searchable.

I get confused with the terminology of "inlet" and "outlet". On the water pump you have two fittings, one for the bypass hose and one for the heater hose. I don't know which way the water is flowing at that point, but I agree that Cory/Remrant has his bypass hose connected the factory way. However, I'm not sure if it matters. As for the heater, it doesn't matter which way those hoses are connected as there's no flow direction given on the heater core.

Good plan! I wish I were in a position to snap one up. But, if the right one came up at the right price.....

But then the one-year-only rear fenders wouldn’t match... 🤪 True, but the front would be ...... prettier.

Steve - I appreciate the input as it has caused me to think through this differently and compare my approach, as well as my TSB list, to that of BBB. Having said that, since this is such a long post and my conclusion is waaaay down there, let me state it here as well: But now, let me tell you how I got there. First, I've used the BBB site and it isn't laid out anywhere near the way Ford did it. As said earlier, Ford used these six categories, which are the ones I'm using. But BBB's breakdown is very different than this. Body/Windnoise/Water Leaks/Trim Electrical/Climate Control/Starting/Charging Brakes/Steering/Suspension Engine/Cooling System/Exhaust Transmission/Clutch/Driveshaft/Axle Driveability/Fuel/Ignition/Emissions Nor was Ford's listing searchable from what I can see as the TSB's were supplied to the dealerships in paper and microfiche format. But, mine will be - I think. I've told Microsoft that I want a link included for downloading, and it works for me. But I haven't heard that it works for others. Can you download it? However, I'm not sure that it will be necessary to download it. I'm using Ford's format from their frequently-sent TSB index that shows the TSB's within each of the above categories listed alphabetically, and to which of the years it applies. In fact, what I've done is to digitize one of Ford's own indices, which allows me to add TSB's to the list as we find them, and that is important as I've not found a snapshot that has each and every TSB issued on these trucks. Here's a grab of about half of the TSB's shown for Body/Windnoise/Water Leaks/Trim. Since that category is all that will be shown on that tab of the spreadsheet and since they are alphabetized, it is easy to scroll down and pick the one you want and then click on the link to be taken to it. As for the BBB site, they don't have what we will have here, although I'll want to add here what little they do have. For instance, here's all I can find that they have for 1984 F150's, which I chose at random. But the spreadsheet shows over 200 TSB's for 1984 trucks, and I quit counting at 200. Also, note the issue dates for BBB's 8 - all 1987 or later, with the exception of the recall at the bottom, which was issued in 1984. Bottom Line: I think the spreadsheet, which is simply a digitized version of Ford's TSB index, will be easily usable for us as it lays the TSB's out alphabetically by category the way Ford did it. And, it is easily added to when we find other TSB's. In fact, with BBB seemingly having so few TSB's for our trucks I can and will add theirs to the spreadsheet and to our database.

I know, right? I'm a Bullnose guy through and through, and I have been for 30 years, but the Bricknose trucks have grown on me a lot more recently. If this little Flareside wasn't 1000+ miles away, it would be in my driveway right now. You could always put a Bullnose front clip on it.

Wow! That's a LOT of work! Very well done! And I like the alternator bracket. It turned out well. Sure glad your wife is so accommodating about the spare. After a good night's sleep I'll bet you remember where you put the oil and additives, and you will get it fired today. Can't wait!!!!

Haha...god love them, I know they have a job to do, and they're usually busy enough they don't have time to be looking up obsolete parts for a guy like me, but sometimes the parts are still available. I just ordered a coolant temp sensor not long ago. As soon as I say "1984", they let out a sigh and a groan like I just ruined 30 minutes of their day, and then they'll reluctantly start searching for my part. There is one guy at one of the Ford dealers that I'm convinced he doesn't even really look for me...he just sits at the computer for 45 seconds and then says it's obsolete...lol. So, most of the time I try to find the part number online before I even go in there. Thanks again to those that DO help! It IS appreciated. Well done, Steve! I've searched and "N804729" doesn't seem to show up in the 1980 - 89 catalog, neither in the text part nor in the illustrations. I say "doesn't seem to" since I OCR'd the files and there's a chance that the OCR engine missed it or thought it said something else. But.....

Easy enough to find Gary, and quite a bit better than most write-ups out there... but I wouldn’t have expected anything less from Garagemahal 😉. I have some things to consider, including the fact that I already have three alternators that I believe are 130A that came with my serpentine systems. In case you hadn’t noticed, the path of least resistance have to play a healthy role in my crew cab project if I am to get it “finished”/running within any reasonable time frame. I added several things in and around TSB's today: Spreadsheet to TSB Index. See the thread about it for further details 81-1-10 FM Radio Interference 80-14-14-2 Steering 81-2-25 Rear Suspension Torque Specs 81-2-27 Engine Detonation 81-5-15 AOD Transmission 81-1-12-S Rear Spring Squeak

This forum, like most, doesn't have the smarts to read the metadata in the pic and properly orient the picture. I usually find that just opening the pic in and editing program and then saving it properly orients it for forum use. But, it didn't work for me earlier today, and I don't know what I did wrong. Anyway, glad you got the bearing out. I've used grease but not bread nor newspaper, but I've heard they work. As for the smog delete, the AIR pump doesn't take much power, but the components fail and aren't always easy to find. Especially some of the tubing that is prone to corrosion. But you can delete that system and leave the rest.

Thanks for the follow up.

And, there are two tiny screws that go in those holes. Do you want them powder coated? Since that's going to be well-lubed, there's no chance of rust.