Gary Lewis

A YouTuber I was watching once said "I never do any more than what's absolutely necessary, and sometimes I don't even do that!" With that preface I'll give you my thought. When I was bed-lining my Bronco I just put masking tape over the underside of the holes. The bed liner coated the tape and cured there, filling the holes (or at least covering them). Something pointed could poke through I suppose, but it's worked for me. Although I have to admit, when I was having the bed of my '95 F-150 lined I did fill the holes from the POs 5th wheel hitch (in an F-150 ) with carriage bolts. After I saw how thick they put the RhinoLiner on the floor of the bed I really felt like I could've got away with just using tape (which is why I did that with the Bronco a few years later). But I think Line X doesn't apply their bed liner as thick as RhinoLiner did on my truck, so take that for what it's worth. Bob - That's a good idea! I'll discuss the holes with the guy tomorrow. If he thinks the tape will do it I'll go that way. I want to clean the bed and treat any surface rust, and that would include those holes and around them. So it'll be easy to put the Gorilla duct tape I have on the bottom once the paint's dry and then he can shoot the whole thing.

Sorry for the delayed response, but you asked difficult questions. I think you will need to go to a salvage to get the vent cap. And the vacuum canister. And I do think the vacuum line just connects as you've found.

That's a good idea, Scott. Luckily I have a bit to figure that out, and can go with eyebolts and then change later. My plan is to talk to the Line-X place in the morning and see if I can take it in on Friday. But I'll also ask what they'd recommend to treat the surface rust with. I'd normally use POR-15, but want to make sure that the Line-X will adhere to it. And I'll then clean the bedsides. I think they are good enough that I don't need to have them treated, but want to make sure.

Glad you got it going. And that calculator is nice. I added a link to it from our page at Documentation/Driveline/Calculators.

That seems to work well, Scott. But what is it?

I thought of this thread when I saw these [just in case someone else has damaged ones or have lost them]... https://www.ebay.com/itm/174730953269?hash=item28aec6c235:g:RxwAAOSwWDtgaJLN Those are nice, David. And I thought they were cheap until I realized that's just where the bid is at present. As for what I did today, after we ran errands in Tulsa, this happened. And what you might not be able to see is that there are 5th-wheel hitch brackets laying to the side. And moments later the tailgate cover and the camper tie downs came off. Then I swept and vacuumed the bed and here's what it looks like. It is in far better shape than I was expecting, and all I need to do is clean it and maybe hit the spots with surface rust with a treatment. But, there are ten holes that were for the 5th-wheel bracket and I need to fill them. I'm considering placing eyebolts in a couple of them so I can use ratchet straps on the spare tire, but I guess I'll put carriage bolts in the others. Thoughts?

Yup. But I think Ford consolidated the inventory to one plant, probably Twin Cities, and let them go with slide locks until they ran out. Most of the others converted in March of '81.

Thanks, David!

True, that's what he said. But what he said is not quite true. I know you know this, David, but for the others we've proven with anecdotal information that the date of 3/1981 is not entirely accurate. It appears that the changeover was done on a by-plant basis, and two plants kept using the slide locks past that date. For instance Twin Cities was still using slide locks as late as 07/81. And KC seems to have continued to use them for a while as well. I have great respect for Bill/Numberdummy as he's forgotten more than I'll ever know about Ford. But we have evidence from many trucks that the slide locks were used past the 3/81 date. So I just wanted to make sure that people won't find your post and think that answers the question of when the slide locks were discontinued.

I don't have any guidance. But I've seen some, so did some Googling as well as looking on my book shelf and found these: Holley Motor Life: The rule of thumb is for every 5000 ft. change in elevation, compensate by 3 jet sizes. ITSTILLRUNS: Adjust the jets one size for every 2,000 foot change in elevation or for every 35 degree change in temperature. Super Tuning & Modifying Holley Carburetors: I have a copy of this book, by Dave Emanuel, and it says "As a rule of thumb, in order to maintain the same air/fuel calibration as was present at standard temperature and barometric pressure (70F and sea level), jet size should be dropped one number (.002") for each 35 degree increase in temperature or 2,000 foot increase in altitude." I found plenty of other seemingly authoritative statements, but they all seem to point to the same thing: 1 size per 2000 feet or 3 sizes for 5000 feet. And those are essentially the same.

Would work fine for the bolts on the 5th-wheel bracket, but I'd rather not point a torch between the cab and the bed to get the camper tie downs off. I'm hoping that the carriage heads for the 5th-wheel bracket bolts will hold and the nuts will come right off with an impact.

Yes, I believe it does. I think all the frames had them.

Ahhhh! Ok. As for removing the drop-in bed liner, I certainly understand that. Yesterday I PB Blasted the bolts and nuts holding the 5th-wheel hitch bracket in Big Blue's bed so I can get the bed liner out. But the tool box has to come out as well before the liner comes out. And while I was at it I lubed the ends of the bolts holding the hip-busting camper tie downs to the front panel of the bed. With the tool box out I can reach the bolt heads and finally remove those blasted things.

Yep. I was just saying that even the big boys having you extending things that way when the tank is deeper.

I have a new 38 gallon tank I'll sell you for half the retail price. But I suspect shipping will make it less than a good deal. And, it is the large opening tank, but I have sending units with pumps I'll sell that fit it - again at half retail.

The kit that comes with the 38 gallon tank to replace a 33 gallon tank on a Bronco has extenders for the float and pump. Pretty much the way Chad did it but with different materials.

Progress, Jim! As for the rack, no place to use ratchet straps to pick it up?

Good eye, Jim. I missed that, but you are right. I can even see the slot.

Nor did I until I looked at the MPC. But there were two others: E1TZ 13A576-A #E1TB 13A576-AA 81/82 F-U100/350(99) - - w/ trailer towing pkg. E3TZ 13A576-B #E3TB 13A576-AA 83/88 U150 — w/trailer towing package 83/88 F100/350 w/trailer towing and/or camper special package

You are right. Should have twigged to the E0 number.

It came with those two key fobs. And that brings up another reason I'm doing the cover before I finish the security system - the interface between the two. I hope that the connections to the cover for a remote switch are actually triggering a pair of relays, and if that's the case the 300ma outputs of the security system should be fine. But if those connections are actually grounding the motor then I'll have to add relays between the two. So I need to test the remote connection for current draw, and that is best done when it is installed. That way I'll know as I finish the security system install if I need relays or not. As for the heft, there appears to be no support for the unit save for the rails that sit on top of the bed sides. There is no mention in the instructions of bolting the unit itself to the bed, so the only support has to be from the tracks. But I'm going to call tech support to confirm that. Also, the top cover plate for the unit has a ~1 3/4" lip that is designed to lay on top of the front header panel of the bed, and it has a piece of weather stripping under it to seal the bed from the elements. But in my application the front side of the unit is to be sealed to the tool box with weather stripping, so I'll have to mill that lip off the cover.

Let's just say that Prince Phillip's casket would have ridden on it nicely.

You SOLD it??? Hope you made a bunch of money on it as it really looked good. So what's the new project?

I'm confused. Your truck should have the Holley 4180-C and it should have an adjustable choke. However, it probably has rivets in place of the screws that have to be drilled out and then screws put in place of the rivets. A very thorough pair of instruction documents are available on this page: Documentation/Fuel Systems/Carburetors, Chokes, & EFI/Holley 4180-C and then the Ford Service Manuals tab. They talk about adjusting the choke pull-down, which opens the choke up with vacuum, and the fast idle cam but not the choke itself as that was a no-no for emissions purposes. But it seems to me that yours needs to be adjusted. However, lets see what others have to say.