Gary Lewis

I don't live in an area that gets much snow, but if there's any salt around my Bullnose trucks aren't going out. Not at all. The rust-proofing back then was poor. Almost non-existent. So I won't risk further damage to them by getting salt on them. But if we had a snow and I could just go play I would.

You didn't tell us much about the truck, like engine or transmission, 2wd or 4wd, HD or not, etc. And if yours is a barn find it may not be ready to be driven, which is a big deduction in price. I say that because a vehicle that cannot be driven is usually going to have a number of problems, but you cannot ascertain that w/o driving it, so you have to assume it does - and that really brings the price down. So tell us more about the truck. And post some pics. Fill in the details so we can help you.

Since I have the '85 and '90 reservoirs I thought I'd get some pics and measurements. First, a view of the bottom with various things called out: Red ovals show where the pin/tab is that locates the reservoir on the bottom Green arrows show where the inlets are from the radiator Blue arrows show where the discharges are for the washer pump Next, an end view: Last, the measurements, and the one on the right shows the holes in the tabs are ~1" farther apart on the later reservoir:

At least you'd need the spacer from the 4wd truck to lift the rear. That's what someone did with Rusty. But your approach is better all the way around.

I know the question is for Frogger, and I'm interested in what he tells us. But I found that the tabs that hold the reservoir to the fender are about 1" farther apart than on the Bullnose reservoirs. So I had to make a whole new bracket for mine as I have it mounted on the passenger's fender.

You actually don’t have to swap out the rear springs. Rusty was originally a 2wd truck and someone converted it to 4wd and left the original springs. They are 2 1/2” wide where the 4wd springs are 3” wide.

I sprayed FluidFilm on portions of Big Blue’s frame and underbody, and have been surprised by how well it sticks and penetrates. In fact, it made its way through the body putty above the wheel wells in the rear! I sprayed it on the back of the wheel well and it made its way through the cracks in the putty. And it has stuck to the frame tenaciously.

You say that you have a 4-speed, but lets make sure what one that is as there was the one with overdrive, the NP435, and the T-18. And they each have different gear ratios, as you can see on the page at Documentation/Driveline/Calculators. And it makes a difference. The OD would allow you to run pretty low gears and still cruise with low R's when not towing. And you'd need the low gears to get the trailer rolling as the 1st gear is only 3.25:1. But the NP435 and T-18 have 6.X:1 1st gears and then 1:1 4th gear, so you don't need as steep of gears. And, you don't want steep/low gears with the 1:1 top gear. So what tranny you have makes a big difference. Do you know? But with an NP435 or T-18 3.55 gears were common. However, going 65 is going to have you spinning 2400 RPM at 65, and that's pretty fast and will kill any MPG. But would be good for pulling.

Good to know. Thanks.

Yep, that was part of Step 4. But you didn't have to take floor register duct out? Anyway, glad you got it out.

It does, in person it looks pretty good for what it is, the only question is how durable the finish will be, I know the 2K primer is quite durable but the non 2K underhood black might not be as durable only time will tell. I do know if it isnt that durable I will be pulling it all off and will strip it down and re do it with the 2K engine primer and top coated with the 2K underhood black. I just couldnt justify paying $27 - $30 a can for the 2K stuff not knowing if one whole can would paint all I had or if I would only use half of it like I did with my engine and then waste the other half. I tried to use photoshop to get the header color changed from black to the zirconia to see if it might be a viable option I might like and this is the best I can do as the black base color is making it hard to get the color as vibrant as I want playing with the sliders. This is two photos of the Zirconia to show its greenish grey color My other option is the black So I am still on the fence on which color to go with I just know I dont want silver as when scrapped it turns grey. I like the black and I like the Zirconia but I know the black will be a sure way to go that will look good but I also know the engine is going to be nothing but Dark Corporate blue and black with only the sniper stealth being the old Holley gold color. There's also the issue that black will radiate the most heat. And you are trying to keep as much of the heat in the header as is possible. That's why I went with a light color.

Haven't tried Brillo pads, but have used 60 grit wet or dry - wet. You need the wet to carry off the dead stuff you remove and to keep from clogging the sandpaper. But you wind up with a smooth piece of plastic, so you need to put some texture back on. I haven't tried it, but I've read good things about SEM texture coating.

Excellent! I love a story with a good ending!

Put em on eBay! But before you do, check to see if there is a # on them. Of course it'll be an ID # but I should be able to cross ref it to the part #. I'd really like to know what it is.

I think the black looks good. The shots in sunlight tell the tale.

I think black will look good on the cap. And the protective boots are a good idea. As for snow, not yet here. Maybe not at all this winter. But how much snow do you get in a winter?

Well, it gets weirder and weirder. Here's the info on the bushings themselves. And the Broncos take different bushings for the radiator support than the pickups. On top of that, the bushings for the Bronco changed in 12/80, but were even differenter!

This is strange. First, below is the illustration from the MPC on how it goes together - with an annotation or two from me. But note that the bracket is 5A041. So I looked that part up and that's where the strangeness started. Note that the Bronco (U150) is listed three different way - 80; 86/on; and 81/85. Weird! But they all took the same part - E0TZ 5A041-A, which is the same as the F-Series trucks. But it was replaced by F2TZ. But they couldn't have been built with that part as it didn't come out until 1992. So I'm completely at a loss as to why some of the brackets have an oval slot.

That's great, Gary! Let me know if I can be of help in that. No problem making a day trip to Skiatook! Thanks, John. May take you up on that, but a bit later. Right now I'm just finishing up the move from the old air cleaner pages to the new page. I think I'm there. Old pages deleted and redirected to the new page. And the name of the section has changed from Fuel Sytems to Fuel & Air Systems and the old URL has been redirected to the new URL. So I think I'm done. But if anyone finds a glitch please let me know.

I don't think I'd worry about it, the church bus won't care. Throw him under there!

Good plan, Stan.

Thanks, but there is no hurry.

Thanks for checking in! Glad things are going well and, in a way, I hope we don't hear from you for a while if that means things are continuing to go well.

I have that air cleaner if you need a picture let me know. Unless Bill has one already. I'm not sure Bill does, so if you could post some pics that would help. And especially of the rear trap door.