Gary Lewis

That axle looks good! And I think I see Bilsteins in there. On the brake lines, my experience with Inline Tube was very poor. Every bend was wrong and I had to correct them. And they sent the wrong pieces several times, and claimed the problem is that there are so many different lines for a Ford. Not true. Anyway, I don't recommend buying from them. But if you do be prepared to re-bend every piece and have them make a new part for the rear where the lines connect to the tee as they don't understand the size of fittings the Fords use.

Man, that thing looks cool! Mean, even.

The lug nuts look great! I just checked their site and may order a set from them. Their prices a very good. On the ash, that is such a huge tragedy. I cannot get my head around that. On the dash, yes it is a lot of work to get everything in place at the same time. Lots of wires going everywhere. But zip ties and patience got mine back on. Good luck!

Thanks for the info! I drove the truck home whe I bought it and I was able to buckle the driver side with the bench setup. I recall it being snug. With the captains seats I can just barely buckle the driver side and the passenger side is a good 3 inches too short. from what I've read online the receiver end is different between captains and bench so I know I need those. Just wnat to know if I need to grab the belts themselves as well. Well, I need to know the answer to this as I'm planning to bolt captain's chairs in Big Blue, which has a bench. Unfortunately I can't answer the question of length, but I can say the part numbers are different, and I'd bet the length is different. Here's what I'm seeing on our page at Documentation/Interior/Seat Belts. So something is different with bench vs captain's chairs vs buckets. And I'll bet it is length.

I’ll have to dig up pics later, but the rear goes to a clip up on the frame pretty well straight above the axle. The factory had some kind of “button” that went in the end, presumably to keep critters out. I use a small gas filter for that purpose. I think the front went to the frame as well, but I took Big Blue’s up just below the brake booster, and used another filter.

Sorry, I didn't see your post until you'd already ordered so I chose not to say anything. I have a house full of company so was distracted. The silver MSD springs are probably meant to go with the blue springs, and this manual provides some info on how they would react in the MSD dizzy. And it is important that it is in their dizzy since the weights may well not be the same. But you want to slow things down significantly, so I think I'd try one silver and one blue MSD springs. Don't know what that will give you, but I think it'll be a lot better than what you have.

No prob! They were just too cheap to pass up.

You are on a roll, David!

David - You are right! Matt - If you don't want those I think I'll buy them!

Yes, as Matt said they are location-specific. I really like the looks of them, but good ones are hard to find from what I've seen.

I have a heated shop, so I've forgotten how bad it is to work outside in the heat or the cold. Good luck! But I applaud you for not going with LED headlights. To me they don't look "right" on these trucks, and any that put out the correct light are very expensive. So I think you did well with your choice. But, do you have a relay setup? I've forgotten. On the horn, assuming you have one of each the second one really improves the sound. But they are marked so you might look - although getting to the top one isn't easy in some cases. And I agree that a winch through the stock bumper is a cool way to do it. I've seen pictures of people who have done it and if I didn't have the Warn winch bumper I'd have seriously considered going that way.

I like the plan with the valve covers. It'll look "right" to most and confuse some. And the engine is going to look sharp. The dark engine will make the aluminum parts "pop". But Dave is right about the pilot bushing and torque converter. So checking it out as he suggested is a good plan.

Sounds like a fun plan. But show us some pics of your truck. And did you get any pics on the 2018 Power Tour? As for grandkids, mine like my truck as well. Hope to take them on trips in the future.

Dave -Sorry for the flop. And sorry for the late and short reply - we have company. First, I don’t let Mr Gasket products in my shop, much less on my truck. I didn’t tell you that when you ordered the springs as I hoped you wouldn’t have the same experience. Sorry. But you obviously need to find a heavier spring. Does Crane have a kit? Their stuff has always been good. And you can test springs by hooking two together and seeing which stretches first. I’ll try to get back on this topic tomorrow.

Thanks! You guys are right, they aren’t the front seats. I told the guy I’m not interested.

Thanks for the vote of confidence, guys. John - These don’t have arm rests. I wish they did. Matt - You may be onto something. I’ll have to check that out.

How about sharing., somewhere, how you made the mounts?

It is one thing to check if the sealing edge is flat to seal but another that the ports on the intake line up to the ports on the head. If you get the 2 end ports to line up the center ports may be to high. If you get the center ports to line up the 2 end ports may be to low. I would take that straight edge and check the head at the top or bottom of the ports or both to see if they are straight across then do the same on the intake. Think before I even did that I would take the gasket and lay it across the intake and see if it lines up as it may show the ports to high or low too. Good luck. Dave ---- Good idea to use the gasket, Dave.

I’m like The Beach Boys - I Get Around.

As said in the other thread, put a straightedge on it to see how much warp there is. You'll be checking where it bolts to the engine, the faces of the runners.

I'm not a pro, but I would take a straight edge to the ports. It needs to be pretty close to straight where the ports are to go up against the engine. If you have feeler gauges check to see how much warp there is to it and let us know.

Boonies? My SiL proposed to my daughter in the Beehive. And I've not only eaten at Harold's, but I've heard him sing. Plus, we celebrated graduation from ACU at Perini Ranch. You are now on the map.

Cool story! I'll bet you are a happy camper. Glad you joined. Where's home? I ask because we have a map (Bullnose Forum/Member's Map in the menu) and we can add you with a city/state or zip.

Still remember that. I did everything I could to support it and it still cracked. If I remember correctly, it cracked in another spot a few years later while it was installed in the truck. It was covered with a sun shade at that point and I had even cleaned it up and had some quality (not Armor-All) protectant on it. Didn't matter, still cracked. Yep, the damage had already been done. The plastic was no longer flexible and any little movement could cause a crack. I may have told this story before, but years ago the company I worked for ran a PVC plant and my team was responsible for the instrumentation on it. One day I was talking to the chemist and asked him if GM bought our plastic. He said "GM wouldn't touch us with a 10' pole. But Ford buys some of our plastic and Chrysler buys a lot of it." I asked why and he said that the plasticizer in ours didn't stay in the plastic long enough to meet GM's specs, and when the plasticizer leaves the compound becomes brittle. At that point I had a 7 year old 1969 Super Bee and the back seat upholstery was broken where our dog had walked across it. He said the stuff I'd been seeing on the inside of the windows was the plasticizer and it was baking out of the compound, leaving the upholstery brittle. And Armor All doesn't really restore the plasticizer. It can't get down into the compound, so while it might help the plastic on the surface, it doesn't help the rest of it. So there isn't much you can do to save an old dash pad. It is going to crack, it is just a matter of when.

I guess I spoke too soon. I thought I had a thread on my trip to SMORR in 2020, but turns out I just had included in in my Bronco thread. You can look that up here if you want, and I will edit the videos in there. But I'll post them here as well. To refresh memories, on this trip I was invited to go to the Southern Missouri Off Road Ranch to meet up with a group of guys I know from another board. This board is dedicated to old flat-fender Jeeps from the '40s, so out of the 12 vehicles in the group, only 2 were newer than my 49 year old Bronco! I drove the Bronco 600 miles down to Missouri (with just my dog, Kenzie), 'wheeled 2 days and then drove home. Definitely a memorable trip! Here's some video of my Bronco on the trails. And if you've been thinking that I can drive my Bronco just about anywhere, these next two videos are places I wouldn't even try! Here's some video from a ride we were given in one of the Jeeps: And here's three of the Jeeps on a hil climb (the third Jeep in this video is the one we rode in above): Thanks for reading and watching! On the first video, things got a bit tippy a couple of times! I hadn't expected that in MO, but as I think about it we have plenty of really steep stuff in OK at Disney. So I guess I shouldn't have been surprised. At 10:40 where you said "I think we'll call it at that", did you winch out? That seemed like a pretty tough climb and you were starting to go sideways. Part 2 is insane! I can't believe they can make it up those places. I'm not sure the RZR's we took to Disney would have done that. How's that for going for it?!?! Ouch! He hit hard. I'm glad he has that arrow showing which side is supposed to be up 'cause I don't think he knows! Part 3, why did he say to unlock the rear? To be able to turn tighter? I laughed at "How's it look? Not good." Man, that was scary. But it is hard to believe what they can do with them. I thought I might want to go to that park, but I sure don't want any part of those trails.