Gary Lewis

This is intended as a place where we can highlight the things that have been done to the forum. I think that's important as I'm making changes daily, if not hourly. And because there are several points on which I need opinions, but none seem to be coming. So, here goes: I need guidance on the FAQ's forum. I've said I think that should be a list of links, but no one has responded, and I don't want to put in a lot of work to then throw it away. And, if you agree with me we then need to agree on which of the two approaches I've created - the one right below the words FAQ's, Links, & How-To's, which I prefer, or the one in a post in that forum. I think the one right below the header is much cleaner than having a post/thread. I've also created a Projects forum and have created sub-forums for several of us. But, there's been very little, if any, discussion of whether that is the best approach or if we should use threads, like done on FTE. I like the project forum approach because I have trouble finding my own threads for Dad's truck and Big Blue, and this would solve that. But, please tell me what you think. And, tell me if you want a project forum for yourself. At Chris' suggestion I created the New Members Start Here - Read The Guidelines & Post A Blurb About Yourself forum. And I wrote something about us below those words. Please take a look and see if you agree with the approach and with the words. And, I'd like each of you to tell us about yourself. Oh, and these bullets are due to a nice guy on the Nabble support forum! Just highlight the words you want bulleted, click the H2 button, and then select H6. Or, if you want indentation select H5. He created some CSS code that I placed in our forum's application, and now it works. We need to decide what to do with the Garage/Shop & Tools forum. Should it be just Tools and the Garage/Shop part be folded into Projects - if we keep Projects? So, folks, help me. Please!

Well, I guess since I wrote the words "& Post A Blurb About Yourself" I'd better do so myself. I'm 70 as of this writing in Aug of 2017, and am retired from a career in Information Technology. But my background is really closer to engineering. I'm very involved at church, enjoy traveling (or doing anything for that matter) with my wife of 48 years, and also like Bullnose trucks. My father passed away about 3 years ago, but before he did he gave me his '81 F150 - "Dad's truck". However, I had known I was going to get the truck for some time, so decided to learn about them by buying a similar one. But I made the mistake of buying one that had been sitting for several years and proceeded to fix it up. Wow, was that costly! While doing that I bought a couple others that didn't run and parted them out - which is a much better idea. Then I found one I called Rusty and bought it as it was another '81 and was pretty cheap but just "needed a clutch". Nope, the rear end was blown up, the driveshafts were totally worn out, the engine ran well but leaked oil and coolant, and the transfer case needed rebuilt. Then, about the time I got those problems ironed out I fell into Big Blue, an '85 F250HD. You can read the stories on Dad's truck and Big Blue in their threads, but suffice to say that the Bullnose bug has bitten me very hard. To the point that I've created a website to house documentation on them - a web site that I like to say is the best in the world for Bullnose documentation, but it may also be the worst in the world as I think it is the only one in the world. And, I attribute it all to my father, who used to say that I'm "bull-headed".

Well, it really wasn't my truck, but it was an F150. A friend from church brought his '93 w/a 5.0L over and we changed out the oil pressure sending unit - again. The last time, a couple of years ago, he asked if I could help him figure out why oil was going everywhere. I said "Sure, bring it over" we put it on the lift and discovered the sending unit was leaking - badly. This time he said he loses oil pressure on the gauge, but it is still full of oil and makes no noise. So, I had him buy a new sender and we swapped it out. Problem fixed - for now. He's buying cheap senders and it is likely to come back to bite us again. Luckily it is an easy fix. And, I got the Prodigy P3 trailer brake controller in from Amazon today, so will probably install it tomorrow and/or Thursday. Just want to have brakes for the trailer when I take Dad's truck to the show and/or GTG. I'll write up the install in Big Blue's thread when I do it, but needed something to write about on my truck to kick off this thread.

Well, I guess when you just respond via email w/o actually going to the forum you can do more formatting of the text, but you give up seeing the pictures! I had not seen your picture of the lights. Anyway, I don't know what specific lights were originally used as the catalog doesn't really say. But what it does say is shown here: http://www.garysgaragemahal.com/fog-or-driving-lights.html. I'll be looking around for an LED light that looks like your Marchals.

I agree that the OEM lights look far better than the light bars. In fact, I've told my son that. So, what I'd like to find are LED lights that look like the originals but perform like the light bars. But, are you saying you don't think they'd jive with the bumper on BB? As for mounting, I was thinking of placing them on top of the bumper rather than below. That way they would be better protected. However, they would also be in the way as I frequently stand on the bumper to work in the engine bay. So, maybe after the engine gets "fixed" I can mount them and not be tripped by them? Gary On Tuesday, August 8, 2017, Ford F834 [via Bullnose Enthusiasts] <redacted_email_address> wrote:

As an admin I have the ability to move posts, threads, etc. However, that requires copying what is called a "permalink", which is the link to where you want to put whatever you are moving. And I can't get that to work on my iPad, although I've done it quite a bit on my computer. So, it seems like there is a problem administrating on mobile devices. Need to research this.

Ok, let's start actually using this forum. I just got an email from my son with a link to a review of Lazer driving lights. As you will see, it is on Expedition Portal's site, which is one of his favorite sites, although he's really not gotten to do much off-roading yet. But, secretly he must like Big Blue as that's the only place I could use such lighting. Anyway, this isn't going to happen overnight as I have too many other things going on. And, I want to have the fog light bezel/switch thing done before mounting the lights so it can be done "correctly". Given that, we have time to kick this around a bit. So, please chime in with thoughts about what kind of lights would look right on BB, and where they might be mounted. (Fortunately you have a pic of the truck above.)

I had a chat with a guy that's been using Nabble, the actual forum infrastructure which we are using, for a long time. Apparently Nabble is considering placing advertisements on the free forums. He said that the last time they did that it was either $4 or $5/mo to get premium service w/o the adverts. So, my intent is to pay for premium service if they do foist the adverts upon us.

1981 F150 Ranger 4x4 with a 351M & C6 Dad bought this truck from an acquaintance, who had purchased it new and used it to pull a travel trailer all over the US. But Dad drive it as his daily driver, including taking it to their cabin on trips, and never really used it to tow much more than an aluminum fishing boat or to do any "work". And other than the Lord or his family, he loved this truck more than any other thing. So, when his memory was failing he gave me the truck and drove it a bit as it was. However, I also had Rusty, which was another 1981 F150 4x4 with a 351M, and I learned that Dad's tired engine was no match for the rebuilt one in Rusty. Then I swapped in a ZF5 transmission in place of the C6, and the MPG was suddenly approaching 15 on the highway - a far cry from the 10 it was getting with the old engine and tranny. In fact, it drove so well that when our son and daughter-in-law asked us to bring a bunch of my parents' furniture to them my wife suggested we take Dad's truck - to Delaware from Oklahoma! It made the trip just fine. 👍 However, the bed side had been crushed in a parking lot accident and the cab corners were badly rusted, so I decided to fix it up. Initially it was going to be a mild refurbishment as I wanted to drive it and use it but, as things have a habit of doing with me, there was scope-creep. The first instance of that was with the engine, which got a few goodies and ended up cranking out 500 ft-lbs on Tim Meyer's dyno. Then John Keeline did such a stellar job on the body and frame that I just had to replace all the exterior trim with NOS pieces. And now I'm powder-coating or POR-15'ing every single thing on the truck. In addition the electrical system will be modernized to include a 3G alternator and an underhood fuse box to replace the fusible links. Plus the interior has been converted to Bronco bucket seats with a console. And the transmission will be a "built" E4OD. 🙈 So, come along for the ride.

I'll bet you are using a corded one. My son got me a Ridgid battery operated one, but it didn't work too well as the batteries weren't up to the task. Turns out there are Ridgid batteries and then there are Ridgid BATTERIES. I had 1.5 amp/hour batteries but bought a set of tools with 4 a/hr batteries. All the difference in the world!

I didn't sense that anyone was concerned. Not at all. So I don't understand. And I'm certainly am glad that you are "back". We need your input! And especially on the FAQ/how-to issue. On the moderators issue, my concern is in getting in over our head. But if you think it won't be an issue then I'll rest easier. Welcome back, Kotter! On Monday, August 7, 2017, ctubutis [via Bullnose Enthusiasts] <redacted_email_address> wrote:

So, there is progress. And, as Jim says, progress is good! More importantly, I'm glad you went to church.

Yes, you can subscribe at any level you want. Just go into the level you want and click on Options/Subscribe via Email. So you can subscribe to a topic/thread, or the forum it is in, or the forum above that or,,,, all the way up to the main Bullnose Forum.

When there is no topic the scope is infinity.

And, here's what your inbox can look like after having created those project forums I suggested.

Oh, and I forgot to respond on the "I might miss things if I had to open up several sub forums to check for new activity rather than just one central list." I have a box checked somewhere such that I get an email for every single thing that happens on the forum. So, I don't have to look for anything - it comes knocking on my inbox. That will surely become too much if/when we go live with other users, but it sure helps now. My guess is you don't have that box checked. I'm thinking I checked it at the Bullnose Forum level so I'll get everything regardless. But, it looks like you can check it on a by-forum basis, so you could pick and chose which ones you want emailed on. And, you can chose to get an email for every individual thing, or a roll-up at the end of the day.

Jonathan - Thanks for the clear thinking. I believe you've stated the conclusion I've been coming to regarding sub-forums - that we don't want to have too many of them. And what I've created already is probably too much. Let me propose this: Bullnose Forum: This is the main part of the forum itself, and instead of having a General Discussion sub-forum the general threads would be in this forum, right below the following sub-forums - which are pinned to the top so they don't get lost.FAQ's & How-To's sub-forum: Chris has some ideas on this sub-forum having tried to re-organize the FTE ones. (One of his frustration points with FTE.) But, while we do need the sub-forum I'm not sure what will be in the sub-forum. I say that because one of my realizations is that the interactive nature of threads is not a good way to document, but a web page is. So, I have some how-to's in the other part of the web site and would suggest that is where they belong. It is much easier to lay out a web page with pictures alongside the text, tables, etc on a web page. So, maybe the FAQ/How-To sub-forum would be a list of links to the true FAQ's and how-to's elsewhere?Garage/Shop & Tools sub-forum: Do we even need this? Guys could start a thread about their own shop, as Bill/Lebaront2 has done and that thread could be in the general forum. Or, maybe better, it could go in a Projects sub-forum?Shows sub-forum: Would it be helpful to have one place where people list the upcoming shows? Or, might we not do that initially and add it as/if needed? How many shows are there going to be?Projects sub-forum: Fordification has a sub-thread on projects. But FTE doesn't so I have had to keep my own external index on my many threads on Dad's truck or I have to search the general section to find my thread that I want to update. However, if we had a Projects sub-forum where each guy could have a sub-forum within it we wouldn't have to keep track of where are threads are. For instance, within the Projects sub-forum we could do it by user, such as:Jonathan's Projects:1981 Manual Straight Six 4x4Short Bed 4-Door DieselDavid's Projects:Gas Mileage Recipe - 4.9L/300Chris' Projects:Garage Redo Takes Over House! 😁Gary's Projects:Dad's Truck:EngineInteriorTransmissionBig Blue Thoughts, y'all? On Sun, Aug 6, 2017 at 10:26 AM, Ford F834 [via Bullnose Enthusiasts] <redacted_email_address> wrote:

Good point on the link, Jonathan. I'll do some research and see if there's a way to do that. And, it took a bit of time before my avatar changed. Maybe two minutes? That part of Nabble seems flakey to me.

Just a few thoughts to kick off this thread. We need to consider a picture album capability for the users. Nabble has one so I'll have a go at it in a day or so, but need to think through where it should go. I'm leaning to it being on a different page than the forum, but.... Anyway, I'll see what it is like. Next, you may have noticed that I've added Big Blue's pic to the top of the page. That's really just a placeholder for something, and I know not what. FTE has the outline drawings of two Ford trucks superimposed, but what if we had a logo of an outline drawing of a Bullnose truck? WilleyJoe did one some time ago but lost it in a hard drive crash, but maybe we can get him to do another one - if we think that is a good idea. Thoughts? What else can or should be done to make it feel welcoming?

I was once asked what the best tool is that I've purchased, and my answer was my lift. It has transformed the work that I do. One instance of that is changing halfshafts on the Subaru. The first one I did was prior to getting the lift, and it took me half a day to find a way to get enough leverage to pull the upper ball joint out. But when the time came to do it again I had the lift, and the ability to pull down on the pry bar with all of my weight made the job easy. Another is changing transmissions. The ZF5 is a tall beast, and I doubt you could get the truck high enough on jack stands to get it under. But on the lift it'll go under while on a transmission jack. As for what kind of lift, mine is a $2000 Chinese unit, and it has worked well for several years. But the key is that it is a 2-post lift. I originally thought I wanted a 4-post lift, but then realized that they limit you significantly on suspension work, and the access to the vehicle is dramatically reduced. And, the 2-post is cheaper!

But, don't we need moderators? Could just a few of us handle a forum like this? As for having the "keys", you don't need to have editor rights on my web site to manage the forum. I could make all four of us administrators, which allows creating sub-forums, moving posts or threads, blocking people, etc. Being an editor on the site allows you to create new pages, add/remove/edit content, etc. But I can make someone an editor on one page or every page on the site. Right now you are a site-wide editor. And that's what I was talking about when I asked you not to edit the site with a mobile device. But managing the forum can be done with a mobile device. For instance, I just created a new sub-forum called Garage/Shop & Tools on this iPad. But I wouldn't dare go into the Weebly editor, either the browser one or the app for the iPad, with the iPad as that is very likely going to cause serious problems. And, speaking of garage, I'm glad you are getting the wiring sorted out in yours and in the house. You need to get that thing whipped into shape so you can do a road trip! 👍 On Saturday, August 5, 2017, ctubutis [via Bullnose Enthusiasts] <redacted_email_address> wrote:

I agree that FTE is getting bad about the advert's. I was without my Supporter status for about 2 weeks recently and was appalled at what I was seeing. And by that I don't just mean the quantity of advert's, which was large, but the raunchyness of them. YUK! But so far it looks like adding a forum will be no additional cost over what I'm already paying. That is, if Nabble will do it for us, and it is looking better the further I get in. However, there are other aspects of Nabble beyond the forum, such as photo gallery, news, blog, and mailing list & archive. And they say there are more to come. But I have to idea if there is a cost to any of them. So, that sorta brings us back to staffing. I have no idea how many people it takes to make something like this run. Chris - do you know?

I'd like to hear from y'all about the structure. I looked around a bit and Fordification just has an Engines sub-forum where FTE has a loooong list of sub-forums by engine family. Obviously we don't have the range of engine families that FTE does given their range of years. But if we divide things up too much might we make it harder to manage, moderate, respond? As for things like driveline, tires, etc, while Fordification does have sub-forums for them, on FTE we do that in General Discussion. In fact, we do engine stuff there. Yes, there are forums for the engines, interior, driveline, projects, etc, but unless we are looking for experts on specific things we handle them in General. So, I'm wondering if we really want to divide things up very much. But, others have categories that Bullnose FTE doesn't have, like Shows & Events, Trivia, and even a website and forum feedback sub-forum. I especially like the latter, but any of it could be handled in General. So, we need to think through how many sub-forums and of what type we want to have. Yes, we can add later, but it would be good to start out with some structure, and if we think many of the recruits are going to be FTE'ers then perhaps we should make it feel like home? Oh, and there are the stickies. Chris - This is your opportunity.

The avatar/picture thing is wonky. I've tried it on a real computer several times now, and even though I expand the red cropping box to include the full air cleaner it still only takes the upper left corner of the pic - the part that the box is on when the window opens.

My intent is for this to be a cost-free and an ad-free forum. I am already paying the freight on my web site, and within reason will pay for any additional cost for the forum part thereof. And, since I don't think it is right to accept money for advertising when I'm using thousands of screenshots of the master parts catalog, the users of the forum should not see any ads. But, am I missing something?