Gary Lewis

Welcome! Glad you joined. But you may have missed the email I sent you asking you to make your first post in the New Member's Start Here folder - after reading the guidelines which are posted there. We do that because we hold everyone to the guidelines and want you to have had a good chance to read them. So can you confirm that you've read them? If so we are good to go.

Load Range is a classification that describes how much weight a tire can carry. Same thing as Load rating as youa re calling it, its based on an older measurement called ply rating. The KO2s I run are a C1 load range which is 6 ply rating with a max load carrying air pressure of 50 psi. Load Index is another way to describe in more detail a tires carrying capacity, in the case of the KO2s I run it has a load index of 109 which translates into 2,271 lbs carrying capacity. Yes they are not the same but you keep talking about load rating which I believe you mean Load Range and talking about pounds it can carry yet the Load Range is just the rating of the tire, ply wise and pressure wise and has nothing to do with the weight carrying capacity of the tire. That falls under the Load Index. As far as ride quality goes, you want to get as low a ply tire that can carry your load with a cushion for safety. Sure you can go with a 10 ply tire and run lower pressure but that 10 ply tire is a stiffer side wall than a 6 ply tire hence why you can run lower pressure. It would negate the purpose of seeking a softer ride to go with a stiffer side wall tire with the goal of running less air pressure to achieve the same carrying capacity. I am running 6 ply tires at 35 psi and the carrying capacity at 35 psi exceeds the total gvw of my truck by a good 1,100 lbs which means I would never hit that weight on my truck without doing serious damage to not only my suspension but over loading the trucks designed capacity. So the belief that you will get better ride quality with a 11 ply sidewall tire running at 35 psi vs a 6 ply sidewall tire running at 35 psi is laughable. Sure the 11 ply will carry more weight at 35 psi than the 6 ply but you dont need that carrying capacity if the 6 ply at 35 psi already exceeds the design capacity of the truck by 1,000 lbs. I pulled the trigger on the Falken WildPeak A/T3W's today. The local tire company, Tate Boys, has them on order and expects them to come in on Monday. So I'm set up to take the truck in 1st thing on Tuesday. Thanks for all the input. I really appreciate it and it certainly helped me think through things, including tire pressures. I'm planning on running much more pressure, but I don't know how much just yet. I've found a scale that is somewhat local where I can weigh the truck for $13 and then weigh just one axle for another $3. So I'm going to do that in order to have a better idea of what weight the tires are carrying, which will let me work out what the minimum pressure(s) should be.

I started checking those colors and jumped to the conclusion that you found the headlight switch connector. But then I looked at one of mine and it isn't that one. However, several of those wires are also in the headlight connector. If I have the colors right, the R/Y is headlights, the Bk/Pk is courtesty/dome lights, and the Br is exterior lamps. Can you tell me what all of the colors are, inc any traces or dots?

And you have a logo already! Go for it!

Yeah, right! Not a bad ride, but an expensive one. Someone's been pushing me to get Dad's truck done, so I'm getting BB ready for the trip in October and then I'll get back on Dad's. So I do NOT need another project.

I've got it, I've got it..... I ain't got it. The oil supply and return plan makes sense, I think, although I'm not 100% sure and a drawing would help might limited understanding. But the distributor plan leaves me confused. First, I assume there's a housing that bolts onto the cam drive to run the dizzy? And on the rewiring are you just swapping the two signals? And how do you relocate the shutter vanes?

I'd recommend talking to Scotty to see what his price would be on either a short or long block. I'm happy with my engine from him. I doubt it was any more expensive than it would have been from a local shop, and it was done w/o hassle or issue - like all of my experiences have been with local shops.

Yes, I'd say the seat is 87+. But it might be quite handy with the fold down arm rest. And I can't fault the welding as I'm probably not any better, although I do use shielding gas instead of flux. Stay safe in the flooding. We are in a drought and will hit 110F in a few days.

Yes, it is missing an "S". Aggieville - Might have been there a few times as well. And not just to go to Varney's to get books. Might have been to Bluemont as well.

Sorry, but that's the best info I have. Please let us know what you find out.

Well, the standards just went down a notch with that Rock Chalk Chicken Hawk hat on the front seat. (I told you I spent some time in Manhattan. ) Seriously though, that interior looks immaculate. You are going to have a lot of work cut out for you to maintain that. And, you are on the map - just around the corner from Panama City, which is where I got Big Blue.

Wow! VERY nice. And not a bad price.

Welcome, Karl! Glad you joined. Yes, that is a beauty! Man, it looks new. Your uncle did a wonderful job on it, and I'm sure he will be proud that you do as well. Was your uncle around Salina? I spent some time in Manhattan for school, so am familiar with the area. They get some pretty harsh winters, so your uncle obviously kept it inside and didn't drive it then. We have a map (Bullnose Forum/Member's Map in the menu) and can add you if you'd like.

Chad - I don't know the answer to the question, but I'm hoping this will help you figure it out. I've extracted the pages from the 1973-79 MPC that I think are applicable to the NP 205. And in the parts list you want column J. And hopefully the illustrations I've included are for a 205, but the MPC doesn't really say.

I replaced both tanks, fuel delivery modules, and one filler neck. Turns out someone had replaced one filler neck with the later style, which does NOT interface well with a Bullnose tank, and that explains why it took sooooo long to fill the tank. So I didn't have to replace it.

Yes, I did. I had the spacer turned the wrong way 'round and then milled it to clear the mechanism. But when I tried to install it I realized the error of my ways. Fortunately it just took a bit more milling, and as that part of the spacer has no load on it there isn't a problem. But still...

Here are the parts I used:

Spent the day making the spacers for the driver's seat. I have them in but more needs to be done. One issue is that they don't quite line up as the outside one snaps into the last notch but the inside one doesn't. I think I can fix that by loosening the bolts that go into the base and repositioning things. But overall I think it is going to work. The farthest back position seems to be about where the bench seat was and it feels better to me. But in spite of figuring out where the headrest hit the window and moving the seat forward 1/2" the headrest still touches the window when I lean against the seatback. And that is with the seatback in the most-vertical position. But it doesn't push hard, and that's the angle I like the seatback, so I think it'll work. Here's a shot of the spacers, and the bottom one is actually the outside one and is the best of the two. The top/inside one is milled out so it can be put on either way - right or wrong. Don't ask. And here they are bolted onto the seat and then the tracks bolted to them:

"They say" (but who are they and what do they know?) that 235s will rub sidewalls when mounted as duals on stock rims without spacers. And it's not as easy as mounting them up and looking. you already mentioned the extra bulge when loaded. You also need to factor in higher dynamic loads as you hit bumps and take corners. You might also want to factor in a tire being under-inflated. Wow! I spent several hours working on Big Blue and y'all had quite the conversation. I've read all of it, but it appears that there's not much to say or ask at this point. But if I get the seat situation nailed down, or maybe bolted down, then I can take the truck in to get new tires.

If by "black trim" you mean stuff like the windshield wipers or the frame around the windshield, there is an SEM product called "Trim Black" that I have been using for about 20 years, and the stuff I painted back then looks as good as the day it got sprayed. If you are talking about interior trim, there are SEM products for that but I don't have much experience with them. I did spray my steering wheel rubber center with an "SEM Color" product that was black, and it's held up pretty well, but that was only about a year ago. I used this same line of products to do my interior, that was over a year ago and it's held up reasonably well. Here's what it looked like after it was sprayed. https://forum.garysgaragemahal.com/81-Interior-makeover-td90007.html#a90027 I used SEM products to do Big Blue's interior and I've very happy with it. I will admit that there are black scuff marks on the kick panels where we've hit them with our shoes, but I suspect the black would come off if I cleaned the kick panels. Obviously interior panels are like anything else and require prep if you are going to get good results. I followed SEM's instructions to the letter and got good results.

An 8 cylinder ignition harness has that wire in it and it grounds the 8 cyl terminal on the tach. A 6 cyl harness won't have it. But, 500 RPM off consistently sounds like just an error in the tach. You can pull the needle off and put it back on 500 off.

No, I've not used nitrogen for the reason you mentioned - I air down and then back up frequently when we are on the trail. But, to be fair, I've not heretofore been that concerned about pressures. However, Jim pointed out that I've been underinflating the tires, so that's why the tire pressure question has become so cussed and discussed.

Basically a straight line.

Me geek out???? Ok, I'll be baaaack...

Yikes! $170 bucks! But, it is free shipping. I'm tagging Dave/FuzzFace2.