Gary Lewis

I was looking all over for that as I knew I had seen it some place. I will recheck my work just to make sure. Someone else also said something about the moisture. I did not have that (this time) on metal parts or the cement floor. As for the carbon monoxide reviews from others said they had meters and not once did they sound off and some were in tight buildings. My garage with no insulation, ridge & soffit vents has enough ventilation I was not worried. I hope to hear it run next weekend. That would be the first time since I backed it in the garage back in early Dec 2015. Should be fun to see if we got the wiring right and not to let out the magic smoke Dave ---- I hope you get it fired up this coming weekend. Two years - not bad at all for all the work you've done.

Looks great!

Good catch, Ron. Try the one below, although things shifted a couple of thou, I think they are close enough. Agree? Also, how long are the studs on yours? And, how thick is the rubber? My measurements say that the instrument bezel is .125" thick, and a 1/4-28 nut is .183, so that's .308". With the studs at .500" that leaves maybe .10" sticking out of the nut, but it appears there's plenty of room. What do you think? And, are we ready to convert this to .stl? That was the file format you submitted last time - right?

According to my text book The Internal Combustion Engine an engine has the best Brake Specific Fuel Consumption (BSFC) at the torque peak. But, that is just the engine and the vehicle has to be taken into account, which includes tire rolling resistance and wind drag - and it goes up by the square of the speed. I'm sure that you could put an equation to each of those things and figure out where the sweet spot is. But, the easier way is as you've done - drive it and record the results. Sure enough, Daniel's truck gets better MPG at 65 MPH than 55 MPH.

Thanks. At least I know why it was done, but wow it ran like garbage at 6*. Gary, even though I set it at 10* it was actually sounding better the higher I went (to a point). I might try giving it a little more. I can bring the timing light in case the altitude changes cause knocking but if it is safe to run it that high I will give it a try. For operation mouse I think I'm going to have to remove the AC condenser and heater cores, blow them out with compressed air and wash them under running water. Then vacuum and wipe out the housing boxes with bleach water. I already washed out the upper ducts but I might do it again just to be thorough. My suspicion is that there is still mouse pee and feces in the fins of the AC and heater cores and that is where most of the smell is coming from. Whatever it is I have to find it. It is disgusting and unsanitary. Hantavirus comes to mind... I will probably get another blower motor to replace the eaten one, but not before the trip. I just don't have time and it seems to be working okay. Well, I better get back to it, thanks guys for the info and advice! 🙂 Bill - I think it is a '68 carb. Jonathan - If it doesn't knock/detonate it'll be safe. And your ears are much younger than mine so you'll probably hear if it pings, which is earlier than true knocking/detonation. But, as you go down in elevation the actual cylinder pressure goes up since there are more air molecules in each intake stroke. And higher cylinder pressure brings in pinging and then detonation earlier. Here's an interesting read regarding detonation, engine timing, combustion chamber design, etc: http://www.contactmagazine.com/Issue54/EngineBasics.html As for Operation Mouse, that sounds like a good plan. Somewhere there's residue that is causing the smell, and your plan should solve that problem.

Rick - That actually looks like a good option. Especially if the bezel doesn't turn out good or we can't find a replacement switch. On the switch, I've looked the tank switch over closely (pics below) and don't see an easy way to make it work. It mounts with an arm off to the side, and I can't figure out how to make that work. However, you can see in the pics that the arm is spot-welded to the face of the switch. So it is possible we can un-bend the tabs that hold the face on, then drill the spot-welds out, tap the face to take something like a #10 screw, and put the face back on. Then open up the D-shaped hole to take the rocker on the back of the arm, drill two holes, and mount the switch. And, the recess on the back of the dash looks to be just the right size to take that switch. But, all of that is if my other efforts are in vain. I've contacted the following: Grainger Industrial Supply: Sent them an email with Jonathan's pics and explained what we need. Allied Electronics: ditto Digikey: ditto and they've already responded that they don't have what we need, which didn't surprise me as they are mostly electronics, meaning miniature switches.

Jonathan - I don't think I need to get my hands on it as your dimensions are probably adequate. It looks like the pivot is a ball right at the end of the barrel. Given that and your measurements I have a good idea what is needed. Thanks, I'll do some more Googling.

I'll bet the carb makes a big difference in MPG if it made that much difference in power and driveability. On the timing, if it can handle 12 or even 14 degrees without kicking back on starting or pinging I'd give it a try. As for the speedo, that is exactly the way Big Blue's is - I have to add 5 MPH to whatever it shows. I need to see what I can do about that, but it didn't work very well at all when I got it, and lubing the cable made it nice and steady - but wrong. The blower's squirrel cage doesn't look very good, and that may cause a balance problem. Anyway, if there was no nest are you going to have to clean the ducts out with a cleaner to get the smell out?

Page 82 here says you got it right: http://www.garysgaragemahal.com/heating-ventilation--air-conditioning.html. On the heater for the garage, be careful with the moisture that the heater produces. Lots of condensation on the cold parts. And, there's the carbon monoxide as well. Anyway, I'm jealous of your progress.

Making good progress. On the speaker grille, scoring a pair of good ones from a salvage, or from someone on here would solve the problem. But I'll warn you that people have told me the re-pops from places like LMC aren't as good as the original ones. A friend put the ones from LMC on and they flex quite a bit, as if the plastic isn't as thick or some bracing wasn't included.

Pete - I just checked and a 1/4-28 nut is .492" in diameter and it just barely hangs over the slot ever so slightly when on the bottom stud, and maybe not at all if the nut is stopped at just the right spot. However, a press-on may be wider and hang out in the breeze. Assuming we have the rubber piece between the bezels that might not be a problem, but it would probably require the rubber piece. Ron - I don't know about the rear window switch. Let's wait to see what Jonathan's pics of the real thing look like since the tank selector switch is still available, is a two position, and has the narrow arm to take the knob. I have one and will see if I can figure out how to mount it once we have the bezel sorted. As for the bezel, I hope I understood your measurements correctly: And, here's a shot with 1/4-28 all-thread put in place of the studs: And another view: Lastly, I give you the finished (I hope) piece:

As I progress through my 50s, a tent at rooftop level appeals to me less and less. But I wonder about mounting one at the top of the bed rails? The truck would need something to access stuff in the bed. Either trap doors, or hinging the entire tent (probably the worst option) or a drawer slide so you could pull everything out to access it from the back. And if the door to the tent was at the back (rather than the side) you could get in and out off the tailgate, which seems better to me (as I age) than a ladder. Downside to that is it would mean leaving the tailgate open all night which might leave stuff more vulnerable. Just some thoughts. Bob - I'm 70.5 and will probably be 72 before the trip to the North Rim happens. So, I understand exactly what you are saying about the ladder. In my reading I found an Aussie that was reviewing roof-top tents and recalled two instances where people slipped while using the ladder. Both went to the hospital from the outback, with one having suffered a life-altering injury. His point was that the ladders and slick shoes, like Crocs, don't mix and that you should wear good shoes or boots to traverse them. Some roof-top tents have nets where you are supposed to put your shoes when you get up there. So, I suppose I could put shoes on in the middle of the night when taking my potty break. As for the height of the tent, if it were at the top of the bed rails then we could do what my son favors - a drawer system. In fact, we could probably build it to not only provide storage but also to provide a working surface for eating or whatever.

I agree that threaded studs would be much better. Speed nuts cut their own threads, and we don't know how robust the plastic that they use will be, so it would be possible for the speed nut to gall and then the stud break off. And since it shouldn't cost any more to make the stud with threads then why not. But, I might go 1/4-28 since that will give more threads that the nut captures and, therefore, make it less likely that anything will break. And, we will want to think about how long the studs are. Ron - can you measure yours? I'm pretty sure the .500" length that I have them will be fine, but we should check. But the original studs were designed to be melted, so may be shorter than what we need. After all, we will need both a nut and a washer.

I've driven from here to the South Rim (7000' for the others), towing, with a carb and didn't have a problem, although the engine was seriously down on power. But once when headed up Pike's Peak with my '72 F250 I lost enough power that we had to drop the motorcycle trailer we were towing in order to make the climb. The rule of thumb is to go 2% leaner per 1500' of elevation change. With us at 750' and the North Rim at 8000' or more a carb would be about 10% too rich. If the tune was lean to start with you might not have a problem, but if spot-on then the extra 10% probably would be very noticeable - both in power and in the exhaust.

Bob - Missed your post, sorry. I think we will try Big Blue just the way he is. Not sure if we will have a rack and roof-top tent by the time we do our first trip, and if we don't the weight won't be quite as high so the springs won't be flexing all that much. But, we will give it a try and see how it goes. Bill - You are right! I hope there's enough hose on the hydro-boost return to do that. Thanks!

You are going where, which is at what altitude? (282') And you work where, which is at what altitude? (7000') And you are going with me to the North Rim at 8000'. You expect your carb to automagically adjust for that? It is one thing for folks like David who lives at 548' and sometimes drives to Skiatook where it is a whole 646' above sea level. But, where you drive has got to change the air fuel ratio significantly. So, my suggestion would be to start acquiring the parts as you frequent the salvages. Then, when I get proficient at this...... Seriously though, we got lucky that Ford EFI'd the 302 during the Bullnose era. And then they continued to use the same high-pressure pump on all of the vehicles, from the 300 to the 460. So, we can use the 302's fuel system and sending units, and both the EFI and our gauges will work.

Thanks. I do have a YF and that is a good tip. The carb is a fresh Napa rebuild that came with my parts truck but that means nothing to me. I've been round and round with rebuilds and usually the core got turned because it was worn out too badly for a rebuild kit to do any good. I owned a '72 Comet for about two years and went through 21 (yes, twenty-one) parts house warranty carburetors. Some sprayed gas all over the engine right out of the box in the parts house parking lot. Had to go back in for my old one just to not be stranded. So my faith in rebuilds is not there. I'm going to try the one from my 1968, and if I'm not happy then I will try to get one from a company in Canada that David suggested. They actually bush the shafts and rebuild them to last. If that does not work then it's aftermarket intake time and bye bye one barrel (but I hope not). I vote for this. (Dad used to say "Misery loves company". )

Thanks. I'm excited to see it as well. I've saved this one in several states of the build so that it will be fairly easy to make changes. For instance, I'm not sure that I picked the right radius for the fillet on the top of the bead. The flat looks a bit wide to me, so we may need to tweak that. And the stud length is one I picked. I put my instrument bezel on a dash and measured from the front of the bezel to the instrument panel: .550". So I picked .500 and made the studs that. But, that's probably too long and we may want to trim them. Also, I have the ability to put threads on things, so was wondering about threading the studs 1/4-20. Might make securing the thing easier as we won't have to find 1/4" speed nuts. By the way, if you get a chance to post a pic or two of the switch before you get away I'd probably spend some time looking for a replacement.

Jonathan - You have a plan and I'll bet it'll work. When you get the diesel going you won't need to start in low range, so don't gear for towing. Pete - The old leather skirts on the accelerator pump pistons do tend to crack. Even the synthetic one on Big Blue's Eddy was bad when I got it. So, that is a good place to look.

Ok, I think I have it done. I hope. See what you think, and then read the how-I-got-there part down below. But, I will say that this version fits the measurements I've gotten pretty well. So, what do you think? Speaking of measurements, I spent a long time today reconciling the measurements I've gotten. I used the spreadsheet shown below. Ron's measurements were in decimal but Jonathan's were in fractions, so I converted to decimal. And then I had to translate Ron's words and Jonathan's words into my way of thinking - like border and bead. In addition, Ron took several measurements from the outside of the bezel and Jonathan took most of his from the inside of the bead, so I added the width of the bead to many of his measurements. Plus, Ron appears to have measured to the outside of the studs and I needed the centers, so I did a bit more math. So, what does it look like in 3D? How's this? Or this? (The green thing is a "light" I added in TurboCAD so we could actually see things.) Here's the stud placement, and I made them yellow just for visibility. And here are the locations of the studs, although you are looking at the backside with the top down. Last, here are the locations of everything on the front.

Dave - Here's a snap of the holes in the dash. Left to right they are headlight, wiper, and fog lamp. Note the D-shape for both the wiper and fog lamp switches, with the flat orienting the switch properly as well as not allowing it to turn. I think the fog lamp switch mounts from behind with a nut on the front to hold, but then I've never seen one. And here's an instrument bezel w/o the fog lamp bezel. You can see the holes where the studs go through for mounting the fog lamp bezel. Note that the top stud is dead-center in the top, but the bottom one is offset. You'll see more about that in the next post.

Glad you got the window fixed. Bummer! But, 12.5 MPG on gas that may have been sitting around and in start/stop driving isn't terrible. And the other carb may help it. As for the gearing, glad it is working. However, do you think you'll need to change the diff's? Or will starting in 4lo with the trailer do it for you?

The holes for the fog lamp bezel are in the instrument bezel, not the dash. This is a sandwich, with the dash on the front side, the instrument bezel in the middle, and the fog lamp bezel on the back. The fog lamp bezel attaches to the instrument bezel, and the instrument bezel to the dash. Pics after I finish my second cup and finish trying to reconcile the more than 50 measurements I've gotten to this point. Some measurements were taken to the outside of the bezel and similar ones taken to the inside of the bead. Some use different words to mean the same thing, and some similar words to mean different things.

So this "D" shape hole where is this, on the dash I take it or ? I just can not picture it Now I can see this "D" shape hole as a bracket type thing the switch screws to then it fits up to the back side of the dash. The bezel fits on from the front side, this switch bracket then fits over the 2 studs and all of it gets held to the dash with the 2 speed nuts. Dave ---- I'll take another stab at 'splaining, but will be out in the shop after a bit and will take some pics to help your understanding and my 'splaining - and it is the latter that is probably the problem here. The D-shaped hole is just that - a hole in the dash itself. The switch is inserted from the rear and a nut captures it on the front of the dash. Very similar to the wiper switch, which is just to the left. The fog lamp bezel's studs are inserted through two holes in the instrument bezel and it is secured to the instrument bezel with speed nuts on the back side. However, the factory melted the studs over to secure the bezel - see the previous pic. Once the bezels are attached to each other and the switch is attached to the dash itself the bezels are installed on the dash exactly as any instrument bezel would. The switch lever protrudes through the instrument bezel and the fog lamp bezel and a knob is affixed to it.

That is a beautiful truck. Not sure about $15K, but then you couldn't re-create it for that. That would be an excellent truck to buy and drive. Even the dash cover is uncracked, so it must have been stored inside.