Gary Lewis

The Bullnose senders on the market seem to be of poor quality. They don't last all that long and don't read accurately. So if he would make a good, high-quality sender he'd probably have a good market.

Getting an old truck, and especially one that's not been on the road recently, back in good shape takes a LOT of effort. And money. Been there, done that, had the frustration to show. But at some point you round a corner and realize it is just "small stuff" and the truck is useful. Boy, is that fun! So hang in there, I think your corner is coming up. I hope this week is good, weather-wise and truck/camper-wise. I think The Adventures Of Rocky, Bullwinkle, and Friend Mr. Peabody is going to be a classic and I'm looking forward to reading about them.

Yes, baby steps is the way to do it. And a bad DS-II box will do that. I had a bad box when I broke the cam in on Big Blue. Wouldn't hardly rev over 2K in neutral, and the tach went wonky at that point. So I kept it running for thirty minutes and then changed out the box - fixed everything. Plus, it certainly messes up the AFR readings. So disregard all of the previous readings as everything has now changed. But I find that idle AFR needs to be around 12:1 to make the engine easy to start and provide good tip-in. To break in an engine, inc rings, you need some significant acceleration. Don't lug it, but don't go full throttle in 1st gear. And don't take it too high in RPM. On Big Blue I used heavy throttle in 3rd and 4th gears when turning between 2K and 4K RPM. And I didn't allow the RPM to stay the same for more than a couple of minutes in the first 100 miles or so.

Is it the frame or the bumper it is hitting? Either way, it can't be right. I'm wondering if the spring hanger is bent. I'd measure it vs the other side.

Grant - You are now on the map. And if it is convenient, could you put your name in your signature? I really like to call people by their name rather than their "handle", and with 1500+ members it is getting hard for this old man to remember them.

Congrat's! Glad you got it figured out.

Progress!!!! Loving it! Yes, there are steps backward, but you are making more steps forward than backward, so it is progress. On the front discs, you can rebuild the calipers for next to nothing. The casting is usually fine and you just need a new piston and seals. That's it.

Excellent! I hope Eddie gets to make several trips this year. Looking forward to the pictures.

Thanks. Glad you've read the rules.

Welcome, Ian! Glad you joined. We have a map (Bullnose Forum/Member's Map in the menu) and can add you with a city or zip. Nice area west of Denver. Hope to get back there soon.

Welcome to the forum. But, as said in the email I sent you, your first post was supposed to be an introduction in the New Members Start Here folder. One reason for that is because when you open that folder you'll see our guidelines, which are really requirements as we require everyone to abide by them. So we want everyone to have had the opportunity to have read them. Please confirm that you have.

Oh ya...I forgot about you Big Block guys with all the extras lol. I was referring to the lowly small block and 300 inline guys with no AC and no extras lol. It's coming Gary, slowly...but coming. I'm scrambling and scheming to get it finished for this summer, but I'm not sure it will happen. I still need to spend a lot of $$$ for some bigger ticket items, but all things considered I'm OK with tinkering on it as is. The price of gas this year puts a bit of a damper on all things V8. Even the V6’s are getting hit hard. I filled Blue up the other day for $142. But those 33 gallons will take it well over 600 miles. About twice what I’d get on Big Blue.

Just starting on my first cup, but the sight of that engine woke me up. And you are right, the header IS close to the starter. Is there any way you can fashion a shield that will sit 1/2 way between the header and starter? Maybe held on with the flange bolt? But you are making progress. Good progress. However, I’m not sure what open engine bay you are talking about on the Bullnose trucks. A 460 with dual batteries, dual PDB’s, and EFI seems to fill that space up.

That’s a great looking sender! Might they start making the senders for Bullnose trucks? Or for the later trucks, like the 96 stuff I’m using?

Glad you figured it out. Good to know.

Jet Hot is what I have on Bug Blue’s headers, Off-road 2000 IIRC. And they do coat the inside.

It sounds like you are making really good progress. I agree that you want to tune under load. But I think your idle AFR is a bit lean. Try closer to 12 and see if it doesn’t idle as well as tip-in better. Willie sounds good in a truck. Seems right at home there. On the rear window, you might try silicone spray on the seals. Should help it crank up easier.

How about disconnecting the TV cable and operating the throttle?

Floorboard cancer is probably due to a windshield or cowl leak. But w/o rust elsewhere it should have lots of good parts. Go for it!

Nice truck. But on something that is probably for towing I think I'd want a crewcab.

Yes, nice! And almost no one will know the difference on the grille. So if you like it, then well done!

Like it says, it is a classic.

Actually it was the bleeders that were rough. The threads look like they were rolled around in sand or something. I'll try to get a good pic tomorrow. I did actually try the teflon tape trick but just couldn't get a good seal. I did not try grease or other things folks usually use. Mostly I was kind of already looking for an excuse to try something new, so... I've read reviews that say these speed bleeders don't have "enough" sealant but they were on older versions that did look in photos like they only had sealant on 3-4 threads. The ones I got, the sealant was more like 7-8 threads. That must do the trick because these seemed to work fine. But I think they would work even without sealant. Think about it, with normal bleeders if you want to go solo you usually use a vacuum pump - that's what I was doing. You draw like a 20-25psi vacuum on the bleeder then crack it. But now you have this huge vacuum right at the bleeder port so if there's even the tiniest leak around the threads, air is going to flow better than fluid and you get bubbles. With these speed bleeders you're back to the old brake pedal method, "pushing" the fluid down to the cylinder. The MC doesn't suck fluid back to it, mostly it's just the return springs pushing it back. Since there's no strong vacuum being developed, I think you'd need little to no sealant to keep air from getting back in. Whatever token amount is there is probably more than enough. For what it's worth while these do let you go solo I think it's still worth having an assistant if you can manage it. It's still easier than crack-step-hold-close-release-crack-step-hol.... over and over but with an assistant you can get a better look at the fluid flow so you know when the bubbles are out. Saves having to dump half a bottle of fluid "just to be sure"... BTW I did get new soft lines for the front-left/front-right/rear-center but decided not to replace them just yet. It was too cold today and I think my lines are end of life but not a "tomorrow" project. I got all the parts - new washers, bolts, clips, lines, etc, but I noticed especially on my rear center connector that the 3/8 flare fittings are in really bad shape. I'm worried about breaking one because I don't have the materials or tools right now to repair those. So probably I'll wait and order some new hard lines as well and replace all the lines at once. Until then these parts are small. I think I can just keep them in an "emergency repair kit" in the truck with those plus a (new, sealed) bottle of fluid. I'll keep a sharp eye on them for any signs of leaks over the next few months, and if I have to do a field repair I can manage it. I won't be driving the truck much, mostly just to a few shops for things like draining the R-12 from my A/C. I'll re-visit this in April or May once the weather warms up a bit more. Oh! The bleeders were rough! I missed that. But instead of tape I’d use thread sealant goo. It doesn’t set up nor peel off. Anyway, sounds like the bleeders work well. Good to know. And your plan seems good as well.

You should look at the page at Bullnose Forum/Forum FAQ's on how to post a pic. But here's your pic. And the thing the arrow is pointing to is the speed control, aka cruise control. It's cable to the throttle can be disconnected until you get the problem sorted.

Progress! I haven't used speed bleeders, but at ~$15/pair from what I see online they'd be well worth it. However, you said your castings are quite rough. Did the speed bleeders not suck air around the threads? I see that they appear to have some form of thread sealer, so does that really work?