Gary Lewis

Ray - We are in sync. The round trip will be about 250 miles. It'll take a tank going and coming, and when bringing Huck home I learned that it needs 91 octane. Nothing but the best, and lots of it. As for the connectors, Grainger has 4 of them on hold for me as well as 25 10mmx1.50x35mm 10.9 fasteners that I need to secure the winch to Big Blue's bumper. Heretofore I've not quite had full thread engagement on the captive nuts, and don't like that. Plus, I can't use lock washers w/o longer bolts. But, I got the trailer's winch stand drilled for the winch today and the winch moved over. (Pics tomorrow.) However, I discovered that the winch hook won't go through the fairlead. So, with that hook on I'll have to run the line completely out and remove it from the winch, move the winch, and then re-install the line - with at least 2000 lbs of tension on the line. Not fun. So, I'm going to replace the hook with an aluminum shackle, which is the black bit in the pic below. (The fairlead is the aluminum-colored piece.) The shackle has a pin held in with snap rings and I can remove the shackle by removing the pins. And I can install the existing hook to the shackle with a D-ring. So, I think I have a plan.

Well, it is time for Plan A.5, which is Big Blue with the winch located on the trailer. As I was sitting on the porch drinking coffee this morning I noticed that there are a few things in the way of the winch line if it is mounted on Big Blue. Yep, the jack is positioned dead-center, right where the line would need to go. But, as it turns out, even if I'd asked for the jack to be mounted to the side it still wouldn't work. The deck height on the trailer when level is 28", but the winch line comes out of Big Blue's bumper at 24". No way it should go up 4", snake across the trailer, and then go down the dovetail to the vehicle - not good on a winch line or the trailer. So, the winch has to mount on the trailer. No problem, that's the way I planned it originally. And, that means there's little chance of drag of the line on the deck. But, I need to do some wiring as I want to connect the winch to Big Blue's wiring. As luck would have it, a guy came to get my mower for warranty service today, and his trailer had just the right kind of connectors. So I went on-line and found them, but they range from 50 amp capacity up. As it turns out, my winch can pull 330 amps at 12,000 lbs, so it looks like I need the connectors shown below, which are in stock at Grainger in Tulsa. They are good for 350 amps and they take the 2/0 wire I have for Big Blue's transformation. I'm thinking I'll pick 4 of them up when we go to into town on Friday. That way I can put a pair on the existing wiring on Big Blue and then make a jumper with the other pair. Move the winch to the trailer, plug in the jumper, and away we go. Thoughts? Better ideas?

I envision another how-to in the making. By the way, I think there's a lip on the top of the whole pocket where your break is. I'd glue a splint across the break or, as Jim suggested, use fiberglass cloth.

Any news on this?

I think we are on the same page. Blue would make it child's play, but Big Blue would be more fun. And, it gives me the impetus to get some things fixed, like the brake controller. And maybe even put the glass run in to cut the wind noise - although then I might hear the glass packs drone.

Good catch. But maybe he sealed the vacuum in with that cap?

Those may actually be PVC. In any event, I was able to glue mine with PVC glue. But I think Jim's suggestion is even better. Another thing that I did was to embed a piece of metal, maybe 3/8" x 1/8" x the length of the pocket, in the top lip of the pocket - right where the pocket will hit people's legs. That's where one of mine was broken and I could see that it wasn't going to survive without some reinforcement. So I laid that strip in on edge, meaning flat horizontally, so it would be less likely to bend and glued it in. Not sure what I used, but I do have some G-flex on Jim's recommendation, so may have used that. In any event it really stiffened up the top of the pocket but can't be see since it is below the lip.

Custom anythings are hard to sell. But, I don't want my trucks to ever sell. So I'm happy making little mod's here and there if it'll make it easier for the trucks to be maintained (like the EFI), or more fun to drive (think 400 HP and 500 ft-lbs), or just what I want (like the 3rd brake light on Dad's).

The Ecoboost makes towing child's play. We brought Big Blue back from Florida with Blue and got 9 MPG running 75 MPH. In Tow/Haul mode you get engine braking at the touch of the brake, making stopping easy. But, it doesn't have the rear spring capacity of Big Blue, and the Chevy will be heavy, although not as heavy as Big Blue was. However, the rear of Blue sat down a bunch with the F250 on the trailer. And, for that matter, it will be my new trailer and it weighs more than Brandon's, so tongue weight will be more. From that standpoint Big Blue would be the better choice. Yes, both are 4wd. At least Blue is supposed to be 4wd. But a year ago I took him to CO and got into some snow and his 4wd didn't work. Turned out the Integrated Wheel Ends were bad. They've been replaced, but I trust Big Blue's manual hubs more. Right now I'm leaning to taking Big Blue as it will be a fun outing. And, there's less to do to get ready. But, I do need to hook him up to the new trailer and make sure the winch line clears the front rail. And, fix my wiring error on the brake controller. Anyway, thanks for the input. I'm still thinking so keep those cards and letters coming in.

Nice truck! Not sure it is worth $12K, but it really is nice. And you probably couldn't build it for that. (Somehow this went into my Promotions folder and I missed it until now.

My wife's cousin just called and is taking me up on my offer to come get his 1960 C10 and take it to my paint/body man. And, along the way we'll move his '65 Malibu to a storage facility. But, that will mean a 250 mile day, with a lot of winching as neither vehicle runs. So, I'm thinking through what vehicle I want to tow with, and would like your thoughts. First, here are my thoughts regarding taking Big Blue: Good opportunity to use him But the brake controller needs to be rewired slightly so the brakes work on the trailer, although I really need to do that anyway Gas mileage will be poor - after all, its a 460/7.5L Winching a vehicle on/off the trailer will be easy - attach the trailer to the front hitch and do it, and there's two "ons" and two "offs" The dual batteries give gobs of reserve, but the 1G alternator won't charge them very fast Both vehicles are in a pasture, and the tires on Big Blue will handle the possibility of soft ground well And, here are thoughts about using Blue: I'll have to drill the winch stand on the trailer to take the winch I'll have to move the winch over to the trailer I'll have to remove the auxiliary battery from Big Blue, find a battery box, and then wire it up when I get there - each time I want to use it Easier to tow with the torque of the Ecoboost 3.5L Lots of comfort What are your thoughts?

I'll have to go to a salvage and see if I can find one. May not use it, but it looks interesting.

I caused more work on the hood because I removed the skin from the frame to hammer / dolly it and with the glue and prying it apart caused the more work. I also have the 2 rear fenders to do body work to. Thing is I hate doing it so when I get into doing it it is an all day thing to get it done. Last 2 days have been too cold, snow yesterday, to do Bondo work. After my post on the doors I thought I should of taken pictures of what I found. It has to come apart again and will get pictures for documentation. I am also waiting for another door my brother is sending me from a flare side so can get pictures from it to. Dave ---- Sounds like a lot of work. Hope things work out well.

HiPo has white, so it might be good to paint the tops of the letters and marks again w/their white.

X2 what he said. So did he say what brush to use? Would a testers model paint brush be good enough? If not then what one and where to get it? Dave ---- He said something like a camel's hair or other high quality brush would be best. And I'm sure I used a $.25 brush.

Here's what I am seeing. What I now need to do is go to the parts list, meaning 30.1A, B, D, E, or J and look at the components. But I need to know what you have, so can you tell me which row(s) you have. Then I can look.

Dave - Are these forged or stamped beams? I'm not sure I need to know that, but it looks like I will. Anyway, I'm researching it........

I like the radio bezel as it has places for switches. But, it isn't worth $99 to me.

I had the pleasure of talking with Bill O'Neil, the owner of HiPo Parts, for 95 minutes this morning. He originally wanted to talk about my "tutorial", as he called it, on Painting Gauge Needles, but the conversation quickly turned to many other things, as you'll see. He said he had been pointed to my "tutorial" by a customer, and I was initially apprehensive because his paints didn't fare all that well in my test. But, as it turned out, he significantly helped my understanding of gauge paints as well as lighting. On the paint, he pointed out that while the Testor paint may have the best color match, it isn't really fluorescent but is just a bright orange. And, it is a heavy enamel that can affect the accuracy of the gauge just due to its weight. (Take a look at the looooong coiled spring to which the needle attaches and you can easily understand the issue there.) Their paints are acrylic and were designed for gauges. They are very thin so you can build up the coating so that you don't have any more than needed and, therefore, keep the accuracy of the gauge intact. However, you really need to use a quality brush as cheap brushes will leave a rough finish - which is probably what I used and why I had finish problems on the larger needles. And then the conversation turned to gauge lighting. Bill said that the reason Ford used the blue filters was because blue light makes the paint on the needles fluoresce better than other colors. As for the drop off in lighting that we've all experienced on the gauges of these trucks, that is due to three things: the paint no longer fluoresces; the light bulbs lose their brilliance; and the filters turn opaque. Turns out that the best paints only fluoresce for about 10 years - and our trucks are 35ish years old? And bulbs lose about 1/2 of their light output over their lives. However, the filters really aren't but about 5% of the problem in their measurements. His recommendation is to use the new LED's they are just coming out with which give ~200 lumens of light, which is about twice what their other LED's produce. And, if you don't want to use blue LED's then use their warm white ones with the filters. (Clean the filters with a bit of plastic polish and the opacity will come back to where it should be.) I'm really interested in the new LED's as I don't really like my blue ones. Every time I get in the truck at night the blue just looks "wrong". So I'm going to try the new LED's, which are bi-directional, in warm white and re-install the filters after cleaning them. And, I'll see if I have another set of gauges to coat with their paint and see what the overall effect is. Oh yes, we also talked about the brown tinge that the back of the instrument mask gets due to the hot incandescent bulbs being so close to it. The mask keeps the light of the bulbs from hitting the driver's eyes, but is also supposed to reflect that light back onto the gauges. So, it is good to return the back of the mask to a white finish to reflect more light. But, instead of using an enamel white paint like I did, Bill recommended white header paint, which dries to a dull finish that will evenly scatter the light. Also, when cleaning the bulb sockets or printed circuit board, use white vinegar. Put the sockets in a cup of the vinegar for a few minutes and any corrosion goes away. And using just a bit of it on the PCB will clean the contacts w/o abrasion, which can damage the trace. Also, use dielectric grease when installing bulbs or LED's to ensure that they go in smoothly as well as continue to have good connections. And last, Bill volunteered to send me some samples of the new LED's, as well as information about them, so I can give them away to the participants of the show this fall. And, he had suggestions on hitting up other vendors for grab bags.

Thermal is the best. It doesn't run the fan much unless needed, and that helps MPG as well as reduces noise.

Dave - How much work do you have to do on the hood? Is that the last piece before paint? On the fuel doors, will you be documenting your findings in your thread? We need to capture what you find as that is a critical piece for the Flaresiders out there.

Dave - Good point. And we have a Grainger's, which is not far from Brandon. Jim - Yes, I think lubrication has been mentioned, but I was afraid it had gotten lost in the shuffle so wanted to highlight it to Brandon.

Haven't found 430's on the Bolt Depot, yet, but did find the following. Looks like lubrication is highly recommended with stainless.

Yes, he is the guru of 460's, and I may well learn something by following him on Facebook. Will consider that. Not sure about having him do the head work just due to the cost of shipping such heavy objects that far. We have a local guy, Eric Weingartner, who has also competed in the engine masters series, and he does heads. I've reached out to him and recently missed a call that may have been him, so will get back with him to see what the cost would be to have him do the heads. (He's the one Brandon/Bruno2 had do his heads recently, and he's also the one that did my flow testing several years ago on the Windsor D8OE heads.) I'll compare Eric's price vs Scott's, including shipping, and see what I want to do. But if it isn't too much more to go with Scott I'll do that since he's helped me.

Much better! I see now how close it is, and it does look "argent". Good find!