Gary Lewis

Bob - Around here the UV seems to have done a number on the plastic, just like the ones I have. Dane - Perfect! If I go with buckets or captain's chairs I'll probably order those. And black is just fine. Thanks! And now for the base that bolts to the floor. The base I'm using was planned for Dad's truck, so if I go with buckets or captain's chairs in Big Blue I'll need another - at least when I put Dad's truck together. This ebay advert says the part number is F4TS-1561756-AE, but with the extra "E" on the end that is likely an ID #. Anyway, they want from $350 to $650 for those things! But I'm wondering if I couldn't take the base off of one of the several bench seats I have and make a base out of angle welded to them. With this one as a guide it shouldn't be hard to get the height and spacing worked out, and I tend to make things plenty strong so that shouldn't be a problem. Thoughts?

And since I'm pretty sure I'm going to like these seats I'm now hunting for the inboard belts with the "standup" sleeves. I've looked in these places: SeatBeltsPlus: They have the whole belt set, but they are $320 and don't come in blue. But I asked them if the inboard belts are available and their response was "Thank you for your question. We sell those buckle sleeves separately from the seat belt, but the seat belt itself can not be sold as separate buckle/clip side. Here are links to the sleeves. They say "Jeep", but they are the same sleeves used in the Truck kits. Left Side Right Side" SeatBeltPlanet: They have the whole belt set which is $253 and does come in blue. But I asked them if the inboard belts are available and their response was "Buckles and tongues are designed and built as matched parts. The tolerances and engineering specs are very specific which requires that they be used with their matching part from the same manufacturer and same batch. Non-matched parts may latch together and even stay together under light loads but are likely to separate in an accident. For this reason, Federal Motor Vehicle Standards require that we only sell complete seatbelts. Keeping you and your family safe is our #1 goal!"

Today I installed captain's chairs in Big Blue. And the original, bench seat seatbelts work. However, the inboard belts don't have the plastic standup sleeve so fall to the floor. But I have a couple of those sleeves and while they are in bad shape the belts themselves appear to be the same length as the bench seat inboard belts.

Gary, I saw this engine in a truck on Ebay. This is all I'm trying to do with the valve covers. Of course most will know exactly what the engine is, but a lot of people will not;). Distributor in the back? What in tarnation?....Y-Block? Anybody know how to find a font? How would I figure out what font those Mercury letters are? That will look good, Cory. And yes, it looks like a Y-block to me. As for fonts, you need Jim/Ardwrkntrk. He knows fonts. He's AWOL, but you might be able to get him to come help you. I just sent you his cell # via FM PM.

Oh yes! Sorry about the COVID! Hope you get well quickly!

Nice looking truck. A little patina and a little surface rust, but overall pretty good. And I see a cassette player - those are rare. Let's put your video here to make it easier for folks. I just hit Share on Youtube, copied the "embed" code, clicked the "Embed" button above and then the Embed Codes button, and the pasted the code between the ">" and "<" of the tags.

Will do, thanks for the tip. I have the right-angle one you and others recommended here that I'll be putting on. While I have the radiator out I may as well replace the thermostat and water pump too... I was probably talking about the wrong part. I mean the felt-lined U shaped piece that installs in the top and sides of the door, that 6' or so long rubber piece. When I got the truck, one of them was missing and the other was in poor condition. As I cleaned the truck out I found the missing one stuffed behind the bench seat, so clearly the previous owner knew this was an issue. I was able to reinstall it but it was cracked in a few spots so I figured I'd just get new ones for both sides. I'm trying to mix small and big jobs at this point to keep things moving. Up next: 1. Figure out how to permanently attach the radio. I got one of those Classic Car Stereos deals which is basically a standard 1-DIN radio with a custom front to look antique. My F250 has no side rails or carrier for it, and the radio came with just a metal bar you're supposed to attach to the back - which I have nowhere to attach it to on the truck. So I'll have to gin something up. 2. Sort out my trailer harness wiring. The cable's all there, I just need to add connectors. These things are cheaply made and I'm hard on them so I want it to be easy to replace. But my Weather-pack kit only goes up to 6 pin plugs. Probably I'll do a 5+2 arrangement (5 signal, 2 brake). 3. Mock up my winch mount. I have some cardboard I can use to template this out. Dry fitting very roughly, I think if I mount the winch on a 1" drop from the frame, and put the bumper on 1" standoffs, I can notch the bottom of the bumper instead of cutting a hole in it. That would keep it looking even more "stock". Since this isn't a rock crawler I'm not worried about entry clearance and I gained an inch of margin from my new tires anyway... 4. The great paint debate. I've always known this was going to be a "rattle can special". I'm just going to scratch it immediately anyway, I just prefer to scratch a red truck than a pale Pepto Bismol one. The trouble is I have stuff like bed rail caps and stick on replacement trim that I want to mount permanently, but I want to paint before I do. But it's 30F out... What to do... Obviously I have to wait. I just don't wanna! The window felt makes a huge difference on noise. Installing new is the way to go as it isn't expensive. On the radio, Ford made a bracket to go at the rear of the radio, and I have one of them holding the back of my Sony, as shown in this thread. Sounds like you have a good plan on both the trailer harness and the winch, but I'm wondering about the clearance on the winch so will have to see how that works out. As for the paint, good luck. I understand the concern, but don't have any suggestions.

You are right about EXPENSIVE! But pretty. Personally, I think I'd like a truck with no other trim on the sides but those on the wheel openings. Nice and clean.

Strange! Those are all very different grilles but have the same #'s? I wonder if grilles are like instrument and radio bezels - you can't go by the numbers on them as they all seem to have pretty much the same #'s. I have two grilles in the shop and I'll check the backs of them tomorrow to see if that might be the case. Once is the hacked-up one that is chrome and dark - maybe E3TZ 8200-H Dark charcoal. The other is also chrome but probably with argent, so might be E3TZ 8200-G.

Well, the seats and the console are in, as you can see below. Some observations: The seating position feels like it is a bit forward of the bench seat, and Jerry/Ozark1 confirmed that 8 years ago on "that other forum" when he said "Gary..I think I mentioned in one of my earlier posts to your seat install, that the angle of the seat back is different on a Bronco, when compared to a bench seat from an F-150. The seat will sit further toward the front, in order for the back to lock. My seats are "lowback"..and do not hit the window..but still are closer to the steering wheel than the stock bench." The seating position is a bit higher as well since I had to adjust the rear view mirror up a bit. The seat belts work, but the inside belts have to be reached for as they lay on the pan/mounting bracket when you take them off. So it would be nice to have some of the "guides" that stand the belts up, like shown below, although those are in pretty bad shape as they are brittle and broken at the top. But it does seem like the belts are the same length as those for the bench seat. I think the console is about 4" too far forward. It clears the shift lever, but it would probably hit my coffee tumbler in 4th or Reverse. And there is a gap behind it that is unused. We are leaving soon on a 3-day trip over into SW Arkansas, which will let me see what I think of the captain's chairs. But there is a little voice in my head saying "What if you seriously don't like them?" So we are going to take Big Blue on an errand on Monday to test the seats. And if we don't like them then I'll put the bench back. However, I think we are going to love them, and if that's the case I'll be looking for another pair of them.

These then. Do we need all of the pics from this thing?

More layers of the onion? Well, the speakers could be considered part of the onion, but this might be considered "piling on".

Maybe so. It sure is confusing!

Gary, if there's anything in there regarding rocker installation that is different from the previous trucks I wouldn't mind seeing it, but the 1984 FSM just says to install and torque, nothing more.I know in the 1995 they had roller cams, but the hydraulic lifters, rocker arms, and pushrods would all be the same thing really...so the procedure should be the same all things considered...Let's see if this section of it helps. And if you want more just let me know.

The 1985 cross reference says that ID# E3TB 8150-AA is PN E3TZ 8150-E. So my version of the MPC has this comment added: HOWEVER, the illustration portion of the MPC shows the name plate location on the R & B trucks to be as shown in Shaun's post, as shown below. So I'm very .

Cory - I have the '95 FSM. Would it help to post the section on that engine here?

Nice truck, but I suspect that price is more than what it sold for new. Crazy!

As it turns out there's a new version of the owner's manual available to match the new firmware, and Melissa sent that to me. And the way the rear camera zoom appears to work is that you pre-set the amount of zoom in the settings, and then toggle zoom off or on while using the system via the icon. I haven't found a need to zoom the camera, but may over time. What do you use it for?

I think you'll be happy with the Champion. But I'd change out the drain valve before filling the system. Or at least make sure that one is sealed. On the window "sweep" that goes at the top of the door panel, I don't recommend stapling them on. I've broken a door panel that way. Instead I drill and pop rivet them, with a washer spreading the load on the end of the rivet. As for the blower motor, later see if you can pull it apart and lube the bearing. Worked on one motor for me.

Yes, you got lucky! That was a needle in a haystack. Well done!

This one? Do we need to capture these pics?

I knew you'd know all about them, Bill. They sure cut down on the wear on the points. However, in a way they pulled too little current through the points since the points wouldn't clean up when fouled. You probably remember my story about running out of gas in one tank on the 390 and switching over to the other. But the engine wouldn't catch. Long story short, the high vacuum during the coasting time had allowed/pushed oil vapor into the distributor and fouled the points. I ran a business card through them and it fired right up, but that was after I disassembled the QJet on the side of the road, convinced it was a fuel problem. After all, I'd run out of gas, so...

Yes, I would agree - the name and the price were the draw. But from what I'm hearing they have no bass. The RA's might help that a bit. I also have one Boston Acoustic 6 1/2" driver and two of their small tweeters. These were leftovers from my Miata, which had one of those 6 1/2" units, their 4" unit, and one of the tweeters in each door. Driven by an Eclipse head unit and an Eclipse DSP unit and a separate power amp, that outfit was awesome! I'd sealed the doors by installing metal panels in all of the cutouts, and miraculously happened on the right volume for those speakers. They kicked out bass far beyond what they should have done. Good, taut bass that moved your pants leg on drum beats. It was amazing. I'm not expecting anything like that with these RA's, but if I could get some decent bass I'd be happy. And, if the captain's chair idea works out there's room below the console for a self-powered subwoofer like the Sound Ordnance B-8PTD. Here's a shot of where it would mount, with a cardboard box the same size as the subwoofer:

I'd have to disagree for a few reasons. One, we both know the MPC omits ALOT. Two, if you look at an 83-88 Bronco II/Ranger grille, you can tell this isn't it. Three, if you look at subsection 8200, you can tell that this grille is most likely E3TZ-8200-H, based off of the color alone. I'll bet you are right, Shaun. Which means I'm wrong. I'll cross reference it in the morning.

The speakers that are in there are Sony Explod 1-826-515-11, which are not very good. I think they sold for $36/pair. So these RA's should be a big upgrade. As for baffles, I have some in there now, so will probably put them back - if they fit over those massive magnets.