Gary Lewis

I like those campers. Or, maybe I should say I like the look and the idea of them. I've never actually been around one. Are you getting a new one? Do they actually make them now?

Yeah the center cap says Western on them. They do look very similar to the factory wheels, but I notice that the valve stem comes out on the flat part of the wheel whereas the factory wheels have the valve stem on the "step" just slightly further out (if that makes sense). I'm guessing these wheels are wider than the factory, HOPEFULLY no more than 8" wide, as I'm wanting to go back to 235/75R15 tires on this truck. Partly because...well I'm cheap, and I need tires for my 70 F100 too. I don't want to buy for both, so I want to end up with one good set of wheels and tires I can move between the two trucks (they'll usually be on this truck, but they'll go on my 70 when I need to take it places like to the F100 Supernationals that is less than 60 miles from my house). After looking more closely I think you are right. Those are different from mine.

Ok, yesterday, I checked the vac pulloff. Document on here for a 1980 said right around 1/8" measured at front of choke plate. Did that. THen set the choke arm to the first step off high idle. Checked and adjusted the choke arm adjuster. Drove to get gas (~4 miles). Seemed to be stumbly right out of driveway, but got better by the stop sign 1/4 mile away. I had to tighten up the pulloff to get 1/8" and there is play in the plate. It ran better first thing a little more open (the old setting by eye). I may open that vac pull off a little more. 1/8" at front is not much opening of the choke plate. At the gas station, I had to adjust on the choke arm adjuster to get the plate to drop to fully open. I also put the choke arm on high idle and the rpm is at 1600 hot. I'm not sure what the hot idle should be for a manual trans. 600 sounds good, but is that too low for proper lubrication? The sticker on core support is for an auto trans. It says 875 in Neutral? I need to take a pic of that for reference when away from truck. This evening's cold start will be with no checks or adjustments. Just a cold start and see if it works properly. I think 550 - 600 RPM hot is a good idle speed. There's nothing magical about it, and there should be plenty of oil flowing at any speed for good lubrication After all, the engine is just ticking over and not pulling a load. On the choke pull off measurement, or any of the other adjustments, my thinking is that the factory specs are a good starting point. But I usually adjust things a bit more after setting up a carb to the factory specs, and then when I rebuild the carb I don't change anything. Each carb and each application are slightly different and once you get it "right" then there's no need to change it back.

I'm happy with the existing master cylinder, so assume that the switch being down isn't an issue. The instructions in the link show it in your position but say that the location can vary. On the brake controller, I have a Tekonsha 90195 P3 on Big Blue and have used it quite a bit, with no problems at all. I think the electronic controllers have come a long way since the one that gave you fits, although I'm sure a hydraulic one is the best. Thinking about today's work as I sip my 2nd cup of coffee and watch the squirrels decimate the bird feeder, I think installing the dizzy will be item #1. It came in last night and looks good. There's no slop in the lower bearing and the cap fits nicely. However, I'll use the cap that's on the plug wires at the moment, so it'll be interesting to see how well it fits this dizzy. The injectors came in last night, but I'm not ready to install them yet as that requires having the fuel connections to the fuel rail in place, and I don't have them there yet. Plus I want the regulator on the fuel rail before installing it as it'll be easier, and it doesn't come in until Friday. By the way, where does the vacuum to the FPR go? I'm sure it is "manifold", but there are several places to pic that up. Also arriving Friday is the new MAF sensor, so I'll want to PC the casting soon. However, I also want to PC the new thermostat housing, so will wait until it is in before doing any of that. The other news is that FedEx says the Topside Creeper is to be delivered today. That's amazing as I ordered it late Monday and it will get here Wednesday? It didn't even ship until yesterday, Tuesday, morning. I ordered it directly from the manufacturer, TraXion, and was thinking that if I'd ordered from Amazon it might have gotten here earlier as they said Saturday or Sunday.

You are now on the map.

Ouch! Twice as bad would be horrible. But I'm not sure 7 would only make it twice as bad. IIRC, Big Blue had 7 in the rear and when I took 2 out and it made a huge difference. So 7 in front is not going to flex - at all.

That's a lot of work, but it will be worth it in the end. I have some places on Big Blue's frame that I've POR'd and it looks good.

Congratulations! On the hood, have you released the second latch? It is with your left hand. And if so, have you tried pushing down slightly on the hood as you release the second one? And yes, I think those are factory wheels. I have a set on Dad's truck.

That link didn't work for me, but I did some searching and found this: https://www.retrofoamofmichigan.com/blog/open-vs-closed-cell-foam-insulation. However, that site is confusing. Anyway, I think it'll work.

Nice find! The tool kits don't show in the master parts catalog. Given that I don't have a way of seeing what the individual part numbers are. But if that kit has the part number called for in the factory shop manual it should have all of the individual pieces you need.

Thank you for your service! That's a great looking Bronco. I'm anxious to see what you do to and with it. Hopefully you'll start a thread in the main section or Projects to document that. Where's home? I ask because we have a map (Bullnose Forum/Member's Map in the menu) and we could add you with a city/state or zip.

I stumbled across it when I was looking for a good method for aligning V belt pulleys. I am having a custom pulley made for my Samurai and needed to make sure the 3D printed test part aligned correctly. I bought it from here: https://www.hogslat.com/hog-slat-laser-fan-pulley-alignment-kit That's a cool tool! I didn't know anything like that existed. But now that I think about it, I have a centering laser for my mill and its body is a cylinder. I could probably lay that in the groove of a pulley and it would show where the next pulley needs to be.

You have the later brake master with the switch on the top. Mine's the older one with the switch toward the bottom on the passenger's side. But is that a trailer brake controller? And Scotchlocks?

I ordered the speed control deactivation switch and harness from Amazon. And the TSB about it is here, inc the installation instructions. When the kit gets in I'll post pics of the original repair harness - which has two replaceable fuses that we are expressly forbidden to replace - and the new harness, which is cleaner and w/o fuses showing. And, oddly enough, the label on my wonky harness says if the fuse blows to install the harness I just ordered.

Bummer! I hope they'll replace it under warranty.

Well, we have your weather coming in here tonight. Take it back! Rain turning to ice/sleet turning to snow, and then down to 7F. Anyway, I'm glad your bolts came out nicely. That is very unusual. But good. However, I hope you are going to coat them with something that will make it easy to get them out next time. I use Loctite 56747 PST, but there are other things that should work. The new water pump appears to have a more refined impeller. But otherwise it looks the same. Should be good.

So "open cell" doesn't mean it'll allow air to move from cell to cell, creating a leak? I assumed you'd need closed cell foam, but I don't know.

Tim - I'm sorry to see that you have to sell. But if it is what I think it is then it should be sought after. Being an '86 F350 4x4 it should have the Dana 60 solid front axle with leaf springs. Right? If so, then that is big improvement on the earlier trucks, like mine was, with the TTB's and leaf springs. BaT has been bringing in pretty decent money, so I'd think that's an option. But I've never done it so don't know how big of a bit they take out of the sale. So a private sale would be best to save the commission. How 'bout telling us all about it? Maybe someone on here would be interested?

Hadn't noticed the lines and the white paint. Well spotted. That thing is NOT worth what they are asking.

Ok, Bill, thanks. I'll order the Dorman thermostat housing, and while I'm at it the recommended 180F 'stat, although a Gates unit instead of Mr. Gasket. And I have the recall harness on the brake pressure switch, and may have the switch. However, I'd probably be better off to put a new one in. But I like the idea of wiring it to switched power. As for heating up that lump of cast iron, I expected it to take quite a while. But I was disappointed in how long it took to also warm up the cab. And going from a 195 to a 180 'stat isn't going to help that any. Three thermostats? I wasn't aware of that, but I guess it worked - when it worked. How often did one of them stick? How hard was it then to figure out which one was bad? On other news, I got the update from Fedex that my Topside Creeper is to be here tomorrow. And, I discovered that my nephew just bought the same one and likes it a lot. I think it is going to make getting back to the oil pressure switch and the fuel lines a whole bunch easier. And it'll help all the way around getting things in place. And today I got in the 24" O2 cable extensions as well as the tamper-proof Torx bits. The O2 cable extensions are going to be perfect to make a harness with. The Torx bits allowed me to remove the MAF sensor from the casting. I wasn't sure I was going to get the screws out due to the corrosion, but with a bit of lube and working them back and forth they came out. Here's a pic showing the corrosion and the fact that there was no seal or sealant of any kind between the sensor and the casting. I expected a gasket or goo. But I don't like the looks of that corrosion so I used aluminum tape to protect where the sensor fits and blasted the casting. There's a before and after below, but I'll powder coat the thing before installing a sensor to keep the corrosion down. But speaking of installing a sensor, I just ordered one of the Cardone bare sensors. Talked to my nephew about sensors and he says he's installed a bunch of the Duralast MAF sensors w/o problems, and believes that the Cardone units will be as good. So at this point I think the only thing I have left to order is probably the brake pressure switch. And probably more wire, shrink tubing, and convolute. Oh yes, probably a connector.

Bill - Please don't miss the question about the need for the fire-starting switch in the previous post. But I have another minor issue I just realized - I have the need for three engine coolant temp sensors and only two places for them that I can find. There's the mandatory ECT sensor for the EFI, the sending unit for the factory gauge, and the one for the aftermarket gauge. But there are only two spots in the intake manifold. as shown below. (Yes, the dizzy is out and the pointer is at 13 BTDC.) And unlike the 351M/400's I can't find an opening in the water pump. But I did find this Dorman 902-1030 thermostat housing, which is said to fit 460's "Ford 1994-86, Ford 1979-78". But not '96? It sure looks like the one in there but with the extra bungs. I'm guessing that the later trucks didn't have the bungs. But otherwise wouldn't it fit? The bolt spacing for the thermostat housing appears to be the same between Huck's E8 lower plenum than the F2 I'm using from the '95 F450. And both Dorman and Amazon say that one will fit Huck's plenum, so...? And yes, I realize that this will mean whatever gauge I put in the thermostat housing, which will probably be the aftermarket one, will read after the thermostat. But I've always wanted one there to let me see that the thermostat is working. For instance, during our last trip it took Big Blue a looooong time to warm up at 15F. So is the 'stat not closing? This would tell me.

David - This will show up in your mailbox, although I'm not exactly sure when. That's because I don't know if I'll be able to make it to the shipping spot tomorrow, and if if I do whether or not it'll go out. We have a major winter storm hitting soon. )

Yep. Exactly my point. You cannot buy new parts w/o getting some made in China. And I'm not sure it is worth trying to avoid it.

I am in SC, so not far from you. Hello, neighbor! Your truck should also have heat within 2 miles of driving. The trick is, you have to drive it like your new vehicle. So many people with carburetors think they have to let their vehicles sit at idle and let it "warm up" before driving away. But that is not true. Or, I have seen others aggressively WACK the throttle repeatedly in order to get the fast idle speed to come down before the engine is ready. But that is not the proper procedure for the choke system and results in poor cold weather driving. In even the coldest temperatures, you should be able to drive away almost immediately, provided your choke is set up correctly. Your choke will come off gradually and automatically as you drive. It is actually better for your engine to drive away sooner rather than later. The name of the game is to get your engine up to full operating temperature as quickly as possible. Whether you have a carburetor or fuel injection, your vehicle will warm up faster in 2 miles of [conservative] driving than it would sitting there at idle for 15 minutes. Yes, I suppose a fully electric choke with one wire "looks" better, and it is certainly simpler to hook up. But a thermostatic "hot air" choke with electric assist will work much better and is better for your engine in that it doesn't unnecessarily choke the engine. Fair enough. I also kept my old Motorcraft 2150 for the same reason years ago when I replaced it with my Autolite 4100. I learned a lot from that old carburetor sitting on my desk. You cannot escape things made in China these days. I've just ordered a whole lot of parts for installing EFI on Big Blue, and was surprised to see that one Motorcraft part said it was made in China. Try buying a MAF sensor now. Motorcraft ones are not available new. And the replacements all appear to be from China - unless I've missed one. And I just ordered a Topside Creeper NXT, which is from TraXion in Arkansas. Turns out while it was designed in the US it was made in China. Ditto the Pormido mirror/camera system for Big Blue. There is not one designed, much less made, in the US that comes close to doing what this one does.

Basically, while you are in there do all three. But I would start by looking for the slop. Have someone watch as you turn the steering wheel gently to take the slop out. My guess is that the box will be the source of the problem, but the rag joint can do it, as can the lower bearing in the column. All three of those can be done from under the hood without dropping the column. The box is the hardest to do as it is messy since you have to break into the fluid lines. And you have to pull the pitman arm off the box. Plus, you have to pull the steering shaft, which has the rag joint. So that’s the easiest time to replace it. And while it is off replacing the lower bearing is easy.