Gary Lewis

I'm glad the site is helping. It has been an effort borne from frustration over having to answer the same questions over and over. I finally realized that if we documented the solution once and then built on it over time it would help a lot of people. Apparently it is working. Hopefully the ICVR will solve your problem. And glad the relays worked well.

I doubt brake fluid is as potent as lacquer thinner, and I have one of the pieces soaking in that right now. That's because there are recesses into which I can't get a flap disk, so hope the thinner will soften the stuff and I can scrape it out.

Jon - I think you copied your FTE post and pasted it here. For simplicities sake I've pasted the schematic here. And if you have power at the fuse but not the switch then you have a problem with the wire between. So I wouldn't start adding relays and wires. I'd find out what is wrong on that fairly short wire, which leaves the fuse block as a brown/orange wire and then changes to brown/white at C606, which is supposed to be at the left side of the switch.

I suspect that we may have had that issue, because he grabbed two old halogen bulbs out of a box for testing. We put LEDs in pretty much everything, now that we found a brand with a good pattern on the road and longevity. Ersatz bulbs from our fleet may have caused the odd symptoms in my OP. But when we tested for voltage drop tonight, we found a bigger problem. When a halogen bulb is running on the driver side, the voltage supplied to the passenger side socket high beam drops to 7v. I also noted that 0.2v leaks in from the parking lights into the low beam circuit on that side. At this point, given the age of the truck, I'm going to teach him how to put his headlights on battery-direct relays so that the (apparently functional) driver side headlight wires only trigger the relays. Should be a good teachable moment for the young man. And we'll use new headlight plugs and all-new 14g wires in split loom, so he could also use that to run an LED light bar etc. As young men do these days. Gary you and I are of the pre-halogen age when DOT sealed beam headlights were dismally dim and that's all anybody had. I was 16 when I first discovered Cibie and Marchal replacement lamps with - gasp - halogen H4 or H1 bulbs, in non-DOT non-sealed beam EU lenses. They were as much of an improvement as LEDs are today. But they sucked down the power, so I always installed battery-direct relays. On one Volvo 244 with quad lamps I wound up running hi-watt H4s in all four for a retina-sizzling total of 480 watts. That car had battery-direct relays fed by the stock Volvo relays, lol. I once wangled my way out of a speeding ticket by convincing the cop to write me up for illegal lights instead, a fix-it ticket that was dismissed merely by showing they had been replaced with sealed beams. Until I got home. I think you are right, it is time for relays. As for the H1 and H4 bulbs, my CB750K1 got the first such. And I carried a spare bulb, which gave me a warm, fuzzy feeling. Moved that setup over to the Yamaha XS11 in '78, and have been a fan ever since.

If I had to redo my shop I'd put two doors in the front and put the machine shop across the back. That would allow me to put two vehicles side by side, and one on the lift. Welcome, Bill. I hope the lighting worked out as planned.

Well, the best-laid plans... First, a friend needed help with his chain saw, so we made some mods to the way the bar is attached. Basically one of the two studs had stripped out of the case. So we drilled it out and tapped it 3/8 - 16 and installed a bolt from the inside, securing it with Loctite Orange. But by then I'd discovered what I feared - that POR-15 is NOT easily removed. I tried media blasting it, and that was going to take forever as it didn't want to come off. Then I looked for paint remover and, finding none, tried brake cleaner, denatured alcohol, and then lacquer thinner - to no avail. Next was flame, and while my MAPP gas torch charred it a bit, it still didn't want to come off. Then I tried a flap wheel, and it gummed it up badly and refused to come off. About then my friend showed up with the chain saw, so in desperation I popped them in the oven and set it to 500F. And after two hours at that temp we were done with the saw, so I pulled a part out and tried it in the blast cabinet. No go. But now the paint was hard enough that the flap wheel worked to some extent and I got 5 of the 6 parts flapped and blasted. So maybe tomorrow I'll get the 6th part prepped and can PC them.

Well, Dane, how right you are! Here's Big Blue's vs the one for sale. Not at all the same. Maybe later, 87 and on?

That is NOT a "80-86 ford f100 f150 f250 f350 bronco tailgate trim piece". It looks like the 1985/86 F-Series trim piece, not an 80/84 F-Series panel. And I don't think it is a Bronco panel, which is different.

ICVR = instrument cluster voltage regulator. You might be interested on our page at Documentation/Electrical/Gauges. That's because there's info on the ICVR, the wiring, and the gauges themselves on that page. See if that helps and then ask more questions. But I don't think you'll want to use aftermarket gauges. That's because the Bullnose gauges are not truly electrically driven. They are actually thermometers. Yep. There's a heating coil in each gauge that the current heats, causing the needle on the gauge to move. And the current going to the gauges is pulsing. The ICVR is not a voltage regulator at all. It simply chops the current to reduce the effective wattage to the heating coil. The result is a pulsing voltage that you don't want to use to drive electrical gauges.

I'm not sure I understand the question. Are you wanting to diagnose your gauges or replace them with non-standard gauges? If your oil pressure gauge is working then so is the ICVR. If not, it is probably the ICVR that is the problem. If the ICVR is working you can put your trusty VOM on the wire going to any of the gauges and get a pulsing voltage. But a test light would be better/easier to see.

Not a bad price.

Given the previous set which includes the curved trim between them at less money, these are expensive. And it looks like they'd have to be painted to be pristine. So...

Not a bad price.

Fairly expensive given the horn pad's sad state. But the bezels look pretty good. However, that instrument bezel is not appropriate for an F150 or Bronco as it is for a diesel and they never got that engine.

Yes, you can do it. But I'd suggest making one change at a time so you know what to back out if it doesn't work. And don't miss the other tab with the other Ford document on the carb. They are slightly different so it would be good to have your head around both of them.

Holy mackerel, Andy! Those people are attempting highway robbery! The one for $208.55 (who comes up with prices like that?) is expensive enough, and then shipping is another $100. But the thing is obviously brittle as there's a chunk out of the speaker grille, which is where the rot always starts. Then there's one for $400 + $100 shipping that is in worse shape! And the one for $500 + $100 is not in as good of shape as the $208.55 one.

Man, that is EXPENSIVE!

I think you have your shop, it just has an Air Stream in it! The height looks like it would be great for a lift, and the side-entry door would be very handy. So, a 450 sq ft building that is 10' wide can be 45' long. And if that is too narrow maybe 11' x 40'? How long is the trailer?

Completely agree! I am curious about the "multiple pedal depress" advice. I suppose it is about a "slow" movement, since the goal is to «clip» the choke flap closed... If "pumping" vigorously, won't it open de flap immediately after the second shot? If the pedal is depressed multiple times, slowly, is it certain that the choke will remain fully closed after the last shot? On my side, Big Brother has the following starting behaviour: 1- Depress pedal completely and release; 2- Start the engine; 3- Motor starts immediately... but after 2-3 seconds running, RPM drops and it stalls. 4- Redo step 1. 5- This time, motor starts and continue as expected. But sometimes, it doesn't run smoothly and seems to have a "slightly" opened choke flap. 6- Choke often omit to disengage when the motor builds its heat, so I have to give a fast shot to the pedal, to slow down the RPM. Sometimes a second time after couple of minutes, to drop to the "normal" idle speed. The bad idea I tried was, at step 3, to slightly pump the pedal in order to "help" the motor stay fuelled and avoid a stall: Yep, it doesn't stall, but I have to stay in the vehicle to keep it running, since the choke seems now to be slightly opened. I would be very happy to find a starting sequence (and/or an adjustment) that enables Big Brother to start as... well let's admit... a fuel injected one. The choke is only controlled by temperature and, on some carbs, vacuum. So pumping the pedal several times while the engine is off will have no effect on the choke since the temp won't change and there is no vacuum. But once the engine is running several carbs have a vacuum pulloff, and that includes most 2150's and the Holley 4180C you have on your truck. And that does just what it's name implies - pulls the choke off a bit. Basically it is a feedback or closed-loop system - if it pulls the choke off too much the engine will slow and the vacuum will drop, which will add some choke back in. The trick is to have it pulled off just enough, and it sounds like yours is coming off too much. As for the fast idle, as long as you don't depress the throttle the fast idle cam will be captured by the throttle linkage and can't change. But if you open the throttle the fast idle screw will release the fast idle cam. So when you say you have to "give a fast shot to the pedal to slow down the RPM" that is exactly to be expected. You can see the adjustment procedures below on those two systems from Ford's document on our page at Documentation/Fuel & Air Systems/Carburetors, Chokes, & EFI/Holley 4180C and then the Ford's Service Manuals tab followed by the 4180C-4V tab. And from your description I'd say you need to do the pulldown if not the fast idle adjustment.

Yes, the Holleys have the fix for the original error, but what about the Summit carbs?

A bit more expensive, but still beautiful!

Beautiful! And a reasonable price with free shipping.

Another great buy!

That is a great price!

Getting that hole saw lined up properly with the existing hole is going to be a challenge. Do you have a smaller hole saw that will just fit in the hole? That would line it up.