Gary Lewis

Well, we have a moderator that has a Brick and posts about it, so would that tend to answer your question? Seriously, there's no requirement to have a Bullnose to join the forum. And we post about other things than even pickups. Some have Broncos they post about. I posted about my boat, and probably will my Super Bee if/when I have it built. So I don't see a problem with people posting about later trucks. However, for the most part the documentation is for Bullnose trucks. Having said that, I have started including up through 1989 when I add things out of the Master Parts Catalog. So it is fine for people to join and post about later, or earlier, trucks. But we just won't have much documentation to support them.

Well done, John! That is going to be a whole lot stronger than the heavy trash bag I used.

Those look great, Bill.

Yes, that is a great price! And that winch looks like it could move mountains.

Go, Rusty!

Welcome back! Sorry you are having problems again. But before you pull the bed you might want to pull the wire off the sender and ground it to make sure that it really is the sender. Regarding the problem filling the tank, what tank and filler neck did you install? I ask because a Bullnose tank won't work very well with a later filler. Otherwise, you may have a kink in the vent hose.

Got the wiring from the bed run into the cab and the grounds terminated. Here's a shot showing the wires coming down the side of the bed from the front stake pocket. There's a wye in the red/power wire right above the grommet where it goes through the bed support, and the grounds and that new red wire go through the convolute you see peeking out and then to the right and down through the bed support. As you can see, the grounds terminate on the bed ground point, and the convolute going over the top of the frame has the red/power wire. That wire will run down the inside of the bed and up through the left tail light opening to power the lights and the 12v power points. I decided it would be easier to do that than run it under the bed side along with the light strips. Speaking of the light strips, the kit came in today, and I'm very pleased with it. Looks like there's enough wire to allow installing them w/o drilling any holes and only making two connections - ground and power. The strips come with about 6' of lead on them, which terminates in a connector. Those connectors go into connectors on a 3' wye that goes to the switch. So the switch will go on the leading edge of the stake pocket and its lead will go into the stake pocket and drop down through the tail light's cavity to below the bed. I think there's enough lead on the wye to put the connections down below the bed, so the right light's lead will be long enough to cross under the bed, go up the tail light cavity, and into the bed under the edge to the light.

Judd - Welcome! So, what is a "Deilse"? And how did you get the pics so small? I think it must be nice truck, but can't quite tell. Son? Is he a member? If not, get him to join! Where's home? We have a map (Bullnose Forum/Member's Map in the menu) and could add you if we had a city/state or zip.

Thanks for the explanation. I can see how it works now.

That is cool! The engineering is quite interesting. But how does it turn? Would sure have been nice for many things I’ve done.

Wow! That's the nicest hoist I've seen. So, what is the motive power?

Nice truck. 5.0L and E4OD should be an economical combo - for a truck.

Well done! The installation looks sano and the CB looks period-correct. On the RG-58 run, you could insulate it with some of the sleeve from here: https://www.delcity.net/store/T6-ThermaShield-Wrap/p_818140.h_807506. Don't know that the one that comes up is the right size, but they have several sizes. And you can put it on over the line. I have it on my dip stick that is extremely close to the headers and it is surviving. I like the antenna hold-down idea. And, being plastic, can you still use the radio?

That’s really cool! I’m sure they were very pleased.

Yippee! That is a MAJOR milestone!

Thanks, Dane. I think we have a quorum. Leading edge it is. This helps me figure out what wires I want to run where. I won't start that until I get the bed cover fully installed and the security system wired, but I needed to nail this down for my planning.

First, you shouldn't have an electric fuel pump on an '86 w/a 300 six. It should be a mechanical pump on the engine. Second, I've not had a fuel pump cause that kind of problem. Usually they just quit. Instead, I think you may have an ignition problem. Perhaps the TFI module, which is notorious for failing? Let's see what other say, but I think you are losing spark until things cool down.

Huh? I don't even know what that means. But you must have taken a wrong turn. The page at Documentation/Electrical/Wiring Diagrams looks like this:

Yes, it is an adventure. And sometimes they are epic adventures. Seriously though, I find that posting what I've done each day helps me, in several ways. One, if I need to refer back to what I've done I can find it, and I've had to do that frequently. Two, just looking at the truck doesn't say "You've really, REALLY done a whole lot!" But when I go back and read some of it I'm blown away with what's been done. And three, I get encouragement from the comments of others. So, I highly recommend that you track your progress, and as often as you can. You'll be surprised how much benefit you get from it. As for what you've done, you are certainly making progress. Getting the camper off w/o getting hurt sounds like an adventure. Selling the GV was probably easy, as they are sought after. But getting that engine out, and especially w/o removing the hood, is quite an accomplishment. Well done!

That's basically where I am on it, Scott. But I was curious what others thought. If you had pins to line up, like a 110v AC plug, then I could see having them on the front edge being a pain. But I can't see plugging into a 12v power point being an issue. And, by the way, I plan to put the on/off switch for the bed lights at the top of the leading edge of the stake pocket. So an always-hot wire will be run under the top of the bed sides to that switch, and then on through the hole in the top of the stake pocket to the power points.

It is going to be really nice! Take pics at the show so we can enjoy it as well. And hopefully you'll get a lot done this weekend.

Well done! Glad it worked out for you.

Ok, got a question for y'all. I bought the 12v power ports and am planning to put them in the rear stake pocket so we can easily have power in the tent or just in the bed. There's plenty of room to put them on either the inside edge or the forward edge of the stake pocket. In the pics below I show them on the inside edge with rectangles and indicate where they'd be on the front edge with an arrow. Ditto for where they'd come through into the tail light area, except they'd come through round so I show a circle on the inside edge. I think it would be easier to plug into them if they are on the inside edge, but they would be more protected on the front edge. Thoughts? (By the way, I'm not ready to do this yet as I want to get the bed cover and security system done first, but as I'm running wires I want to run them all in one go.) As for what I did today, as I was running wiring for the various things in the bed I realized that I didn't have a ground on the bed. Everything else is well grounded, but not the bed. So I added one using #4 wire and Magnalugs. This was the first crimping I've done of Magnalugs with the new 5-ton crimper, and since these terminals are larger than most I used the 4+ die. Turned out pretty well, although I apparently got too far forward and created wings on the bigger part. But they folded back in easily. The hole in the frame was an existing one that was the perfect size to tap 5/16-18, and the connection to the bed is via a new hole and a 1/4-20 nutsert. The grounds for the toolbox & bed cover will come back to that point, but the lights and power ports will probably be grounded in the tail light cavity to the bed itself.

Amen, brother! I've had nothing but good experiences with the POR-15 products, but I follow their guidance on prep religiously.

Looks good, John. Pre-drilling the door panel should work nicely. I was shooting the staples through the panel and they broke the panel.