Gary Lewis

Bill - My understanding is that the EFI heads increase the compression ratio slightly, maybe 1/2 a point. Vivek - At least you don't have things floating around in there and the speedo is working. Good job!

Got the snubber diode connected correctly so now when the blower motor is turned off the back EMF is shorted out and there's no spike to the truck's electrical system. That allowed me to put the PS PDB back together, meaning put the bottom cover on and then put the PDB back in the stand. And then the coolant/washer fluid reservoir back on the stand. So now I'm either ready to start on the dash or bite the bullet and put the alternator back in w/o clocking it as it still won't move. But Steve/FoxFord33 may come over tomorrow and he has a 3G with a cracked case that I may borrow to see if I even know what I am doing on clocking alternators.

Will - Sorry to bother you this way, but you and Derek started the joining process on the Invision forum but never confirmed your membership via the email that should have been sent to you. I'm trying to find out if there is some problem in the joining process or what cause y'all to not confirm. I sent both of you an email a few days ago but haven't gotten a response. Is there some problem with those email addresses? Just trying to make sure we don't have a problem in the soon to be used process.

Let's see if this page from the 1985 Truck Facts Book helps. Apparently when you ticked the box to get the optional diesel you got a reduced exterior sound package and a Sound Insulation Package. I can't find a listing for either of those packages so we don't know which of those two contributed what items on your truck.

I just quoted the same thing back to you via email. Yes, the ATF may have shifted the band just enough where the ECU thinks it has a 14.7:1 AFR when it is actually something like 16:1. That could make the engine doggy and maybe even miss under light throttle.

I think what we are looking at is option 912 EXTERIOR SOUND PACKAGE. The 1984 Light Truck Data Book says "Use with 6.9 liter (420 CID) engine or F-350 series over 10,000# GVWR" As for cost, in that application the wholesale & suggested retail were "N/C". But "Use with all other applications" the wholesale was $10.72 and the retail was $12.70. My guess is that the diesel trucks came standard with that, but I haven't been able to prove it - yet.

Wow! That looks good! As for the partial VIN, does it match your truck?

I don't know that you can check an O2 sensor. You don't know what air/fuel ratio it is seeing so don't know what its output should be. And it is especially difficult with the narrow-band sensor(s) you have since they only show the right output at a very precise AFR. So I'm wondering if it has been damaged due to the ATF in the fuel and, therefore, exhaust? And can driving with no ATF in the fuel correct it?

Microsoft has a long way to go to become trusted. Admitting to Congress that they could have and should have done more to protect us is one thing. But not acknowledging that the whistleblower was right suggests that they speak with forked tongue. And then the Recall thing suggests that they don't mean what they say. Having said that, this may be a bit like Boeing. Correcting the ingrained mindset is a very difficult thing. So instead of saying “If you’re faced with the tradeoff between security and another priority, your answer is clear: Do security," maybe they should say that not "doing security" will be a career-limiting move. As for "tying executives' salary to meeting security goals", that sounds good but w/o knowing how stringent those goals are we shouldn't applaud.

Jeff - You are right, thanks to both of them for sharing the trip with us! It has been fantastic to follow along - especially since we were planning to be there with them. Bob - It is a shame that the things conspired against you such that you left early. However, I can see that. Obviously Lesley was hurting, and I'm sure you were as well. Then the heat. Yikes! As for Hell's Revenge, that looks STEEP in so many places! But you make it look easy. However, I can see many places I'd have been spooked, and know Janey would have been in so many more. That's an interesting thing about us. When doing "carnival" rides, like at Silver Dollar City, she trusts the people that designed it and those that put it together w/o concern, and she'll get on the scariest of the rides. But get in a vehicle and she gets squeamish very quickly. I'm the other way 'round and don't trust the rides but do trust the vehicle - to some extent. But I think you hit the nail on the head: "it's actually pretty fun, at least to have DONE it if not to actually DO it!" I'm chagrined that I can't say I took Big Blue down Black Bear. And I'd really love to have a picture of him @ Top Of The World. But getting there is spooky! And those temps sound brutal. My brother said two weeks earlier it wasn't that bad, but over 100F and all of that sun would be tough. Again, I'm sorry that things went the way that they did. I hope you get a chance to do it again.

Thanks, Stein. We are close.

I'm lost. I don't understand. I'm going to tag Bill as he's dealt with the EEC-IV system much more than I have. Bill - This started after he left the lights on and took the battery voltage low. But he's driven the truck and it doesn't seem to be learning, so while I thought it would learn and fix the lean problem it doesn't. Could we have a bad O2 sensor?

Thanks, Stein. I see the banner, and once we get to Invision I can put a banner up like that one. But there's no way to put one up on Nabble, so we will have to wait to do that.

Got the subwoofer installed, but it wasn't quite as easy as that statement makes it sound. The lift won't go high enough to let the doors open, so that didn't work. Given that I ran a wide ratchet strap over the roof and down to the step bar on the driver's side and then lifted the passenger's side of the seat platform up enough so I could reach under the carpet and route the wires. That worked out well. I ran the power wire through an existing grommet in the firewall and connected it to a fuse in the PS PDB that is always hot. So all I have left to do in the PDB is to rewire the snubber diode and put everything under the hood back together. That leaves quite a bit to get the dash back together, but it is progress nonetheless.

Wow, that sounds like quite a day! Temps in the mid- to upper 90s with all of the intense sun there is out there and having to stop for 15 - 20 minutes at a time is brutal. Even just the hot air flowing through it is exhausting, much less the baking when stopped. And then to have that news come in about Kirby had to make it a really long and tough day. But the pictures look great! That is stunning country and there's something interesting to see everywhere you look.

Yes, those heads look great!

The fibrous padding. Hard to get through it neatly with just a box knife w/o getting into the insulation and sound deadening below it. Was hoping to raise it up enough to cut it with scissors, but not with the seat platform right there. And yes, I'm planning to cauterize the carpet, but since I don't have a heated knife I'm going to use an old soldering pen.

Got a bit more done. Wired the RCA/speaker level adapters in & set up a ground lug on the seat base, the part that bolts to the floor. Doesn't sound like much, but that took a while. After that I cut the slit in the carpet where the wires will come through, but the backing on the carpet proved hard to get through. And when I pulled the door sill/threshold off the passenger's side I found that I can't get where I need to with the seat platform in. But I really don't want to unbolt the seats from the platform, so I'm going to pull the 4 bolts that hold the platform to the floor and raise it via ratchet straps over the lift arms raised up to above head high. Then, with the straps taut I'll raise the lift and, therefore, the seats.

Perfect! Thanks, Scott.

I'm sure that Scott/kramttocs was the one that found the company, sent them his foam, and they cut new. But I can't find his post about it. I'll tag him to see if he knows where it is hidden.

Ok, since you said "it's definitely a step above the ones I was going to bring Gary on" I was able to watch it without too much concern. Not "too much" concern. But there were times I was holding my breath. (Kind of like watching a movie for the 2nd or 3rd time knowing it works out ok but still being concerned the whole time.) Man, some of that off-camber stuff is .... wild. And The Wedgie is way too much. Luckily a number of the transitions are so sharp that Big Blue wouldn't make it. But you made it! Well done! And it is cool that you found someone you've "met" on another board. I'm glad you did that one, and did it well. But that doesn't look like me.

Time for an update on the subwoofer. Got the RCA leads and the remote turn-on wire run from the Sony to the place where they'll come through the carpet today. So now I have to cut a slit in the carpet, pull the PS threshold, and run the wires under the carpet and through the slit. At the same time I'll run the power wire through the slit, along the same path as the others, and then through the firewall to the PDB. Then I'll connect the power wire to the lead from the fuse in the PDB and be able to put everything under the hood back together. And under the console I just have to connect the speaker level/RCA converter to the speaker leads from the Kicker and connect the ground. Then comes the fun of getting the dash back together. But, speaking of the dash, I need to figure out why we don't have a whole lot of heat in the winter out of the heater - even though I changed to a 195 stat. I'm wondering if my blend door repair has gone awry, and now's the time to check that out.

I wish I could answer that, but only Ian can. I'll tag him, but he leaves tomorrow on a mission trip to Honduras, so we may not get an answer soon.