Gary Lewis

Yes, welcome! Glad you joined. Like the truck. Very much like Big Blue was a few years ago. But what are your plans for it? And, tell us about that winch? Also, where's home? We have a map (Bullnose Forum/Member's Map in the menu) and we'd be happy to add you if we had a city/state or a zip. But, I hate to tell you - this place is not the place to be if you plan to truly "finish". There are waaaaaay too many ideas on here that will cause you to be tempted to change or extend your plans. I'm not sure there is a finished truck around here.

Say more about using "a different source buss"? Does it have any connections in it? Tell me how, please.

Congratulations! Looks like it was a party.

Yep, looks nice! The new cover fit very nicely. I have a black one on Big Blue's blue dash pad and you'd never know it.

Glad it fixed it.

Ok, a bit to report. First, I got the Elements fire extinguisher installed:Next, I got the door lock motor installed in the passenger's door, the wires run up past the kick panel to the area above the glove box, and the moisture barrier/map pocket/door panel/kick panel/threshold reinstalled. So I'm ready to start wiring.And, speaking of wiring, I've done some thinking and checking regarding fusing for the security module itself. And here are what seem to be the best two options:Easy: Just put a 10A fuse in #8 that currently powers the courtesy lights, dome light, cargo light, OX locker, and the aux power, fog light, backup light, and compressor relay coils, and tie into that. It is right there already, so would be easy to tap into.Difficult: This requires more work but gives a dedicated circuit to the security system. In the illustration on the left there's a red line that represents the always-hot buss that powers fuses 4, 8 , 12, & 16. And there's a blue line that represents the buss that powers 7 when 12 hasn't blown.In the illustration on the right I'm showing the blue line between 7 & 12 cut and a green jumper from 8 to 7, thereby making 7 always hot. And that is possible by delicately prying the clips up that hold the busses in place and removing them. Then cutting the 7 - 12 buss in two and reinstalling the part for 12 and then reinstalling the tap for 12. But on the piece for 7 I'll crimp a wire into it - and they are set up for that. Similarly, I'd pull the buss for 4, 8 , 12, & 12 and then crimp the wire from 7 into the jaws of 8. Reinstall that buss and the hot side of 7, and add a wire and connector for the outgoing side of 7 shown as purple.As said, that is more difficult. But I worked with a spare fuse box today and figured out how to get those things out. So, while it would be more difficult it is doable, and it would provide a dedicated circuit for the security system. I'm thinking about it, but would welcome your thoughts.

Sorry, Jim. Ships/night. Yes, I'm seeing the limit of a fresh carb'd 460/ZF5/3.55 gears in a heavy truck with 33" tires. I think I can get 12 MPG at a steady 65 MPH. But I know that it doesn't take much to drop it to 11.5 MPG. Wind, hills, faster driving, speed control, etc will do it.

Yes, I've done the D60/SuperDuty springs/RSK swap but haven't done a body swap, so I can't really compare. And I was the very first buyer of Sky Offroad's kit, so there was a bit of "oops" involved. But they got it right and it should be fairly straightforward for others - unless your frame is bent like mine was, which required even more work. But the work was worth it. I do NOT like the ride of a 4WD 250HD. To me the combo of TTB's and leaf springs is poor. My truck had 1" of travel before hitting the bump stops, so the springs had to be STIFF. But with the new combo I have over 4" of travel when between the axle and bump stop, and the ride is much, much better.

Michelle - Welcome! Glad you joined! Normally people introduce themselves in the New Members Start Here folder, as requested in the email we sent you. But our joining process seems to be bent, if not broken, so that doesn't always happen. But we ask that because we keep the guidelines there and we want everyone to see them as we hold people to them. So, please assure me you read them? By the way, where's home? We have a map (Bullnose Forum/Member's Map in the menu) and we could add you if we had a city/state or zip. As for the belt routing, I'm not sure we have that in the documentation but I'll let others chime in. Perhaps they know.

No, it wasn't a mis-type. I was WRONG! So, fuse 8 it is. Thanks for correcting me! And I want "fuse =>[lights, locks, dome, radio lights, ox, whatever - doesn't matter right now] => security module". I do not want a fuse buried in the dash. And since both the OX and the security module are to be fused at 10A, and the other stuff is trivial, it seems like #8 would do it. Yes?

I missing something on the "LG/Y out of fuse 8". I'm talking about Fuse 6. Did I mistype? On whether I want the security module on its same fuse, I do. But haven't figured out how to do that and not make it a slave to another fuse. And I don't want to lose the security module if the locks or lights blow the fuse. So I'd rather have it on a circuit with non-related items, and fused to 10 amps, than on a circuit with the heavy hitters that might short - and fused at 15 amps. So, what am I missing?

Thanks, Scott. And, it would also have the "engine disabler" we've discussed. What about the idea of using the Clock circuit?

Looks great, John! Painting the carpet at the back was, as you said, a no-brainer. It won't have traffic on it so should last quite well. The dome light looks excellent. Are you going with LEDs? And the pedals look fancy! I did something quite similar on my '58 Impala back in the 60's. Loved them.

Panels look good, and from the pics appear to match quite well. Bummer though on the oops. Anyway, well done!

Ok, here's a plan I'd like feedback on. I'll go ahead and put a 15A fuse in #12 and combine lock, unlock, and lights onto that circuit. But for the module itself I'll connect it to the white/purple wire of the digital clock circuit. That comes from Fuse 6 and here's what it currently supports: OX locker, which is supposed to be fused at 10A Relay coils for the fog lights, aux power, backup lights, and air compressor relays Lamps, inc courtesy, cargo, and dome - all of which are LED Currently there's a 15A fuse in the digital clock slot in the fuse box as that's what was there from the factory. But I'll replace that with a 10A, which it should be anyway for the OX locker, and it'll be just right for the security system's module as well. The locker only pulls current when locking or unlocking, which won't be happening while the security system is active, and none of the relays should be enabled then either. So with the lights being LED there should be much current at all on that circuit. Thoughts?

Jim - I'm not sure what you are saying. Could you say it again, differently? I'm thinking that Code Alarm designed the system so that you could blow one fuse and the other functions will keep operating. But they don't have a clue what vehicle the system is going into and are making it as flexible and as secure as possible. Said another way, from the instructions I see that some vehicles have two different sets of wires for lock vs unlock, so they've fused those relays separately. But in our trucks it is just a polarity reversal on the same wires, so there's no reason to have two separate fuses. And on the lights, they have no way of knowing how many lights they are going to power, so fused it to protect the relay.

Scott - That's interesting, and an approach I wouldn't have thought of. So Fuse 7 daisy chains from 12? In other words, if 12 blows there's no power to 7? If so, I'm not sure I like that since blowing 12 would kill the security system. But if I pulled power from somewhere else then the security system could continue to operate even if it couldn't flash the lights nor lock the doors. As for lights flashing when locking/unlocking, you are right - they do. Had forgotten that. But maybe they do so after the fact?

Little late but a flasher is cheap & easy to replace so would give that a try first. If doing the switch just for testing he could just unplug the new from the harness and plug in the old for testing no? This way he would not need to remove the wheel and sneak the wires up & down the column. Also to get the wires up & down do they need to be removed from the hard plug then put back in the hard plug? If so could you got 2 wires in the wrong slots? Dave ---- Dave - I think he could just unplug the installed switch and plug in the old one for testing. Good idea. As for sneaking the wires down the column, if he did pull the wires from the connector it would be easy to swap two.

I think Jim uses stainless bolts.

Jonathan - It is a shame the heater is doing that. But what you are talking about in a standard tank-type heater for the tub and a tankless heater for the sinks is what I'd like to have for our house. Just a small tankless would do for us and eliminate a whole lot of wasted "hot" water, meaning it was once hot but has to be run out to get to truly hot water.

I talked with Jet Hot and I think I am going to go with Cradin Industries here in Borne, Tx. For a pair of shorty V8 headers the price is $185 for the coating or $168 for black ceramic coating. Im torn between the black and the Zinc Zirconia. I was informed people wanting that cast look go with the Zinc Zirconia for restorations. I just am not sure as it is a greenish tinge to the grey color and not fully sure if its just the camera or not. This is a pair of headers they coated in the Zinc Zirconia This is their black which looks like any other black ceramic coating. The place in Washington state I found actually has a bare stainless steel color but shipping round trip makes it quite pricy. On the 3G yep, I have poured over it numerous days, weeks, months as well as numerous notes. I already have my soft start regulator mine is the longest 8s I believe it is delay since I am going to be running the larger 130A 3G on a single V belt. I already modified an OE cast iron alternator bracket by cutting the ears off for the air pump I painted it in a eastwood zinc phosphate charcoal grey color for a OE like look but I think I will strip it off and get some eastwood underhood black in 2K and spray it. Only thing is I am fixing to open up my parts and illustration guide to seek a OE part number for the alternator adjusting bracket to see what my options are out there since it has to be flattened out to fit the 3G ear. I also have to sit down and try to get help from Goodyear to find the proper belt for my 3G conversion as I am looking at their sticky belts that have a lower slip rate. ~Update~ I remember what else I need to do. I need to get another dual roller timing set as the one I got has a bunch of casting flash and I was told by too many people to not use a Comp Cam timing set. I also need to get a 50oz imbalance damper and flexplate. I am leaning towards the Dayco/powerbond street performance damper since it goes supposedly goes up to 50* which if that is true it would make life easy on me if I ever decide to toss my DSII ignition system in favor of full computer control timing. Another thing I forgot to mention was I am putting my aircleaner search on hold for now and I am going to be buying some of those AlumiWeld rods to use a propane torch to weld my aluminum aircleaner back up where the sides are all split then I can just simply sand and shoot with some aluminum colored paint. At least I can get my truck back on the road and then later on decide if I want to do the dual snorkel setup or not. Looks like you have it mapped out. But on the air cleaner, I think the aluminum cleaners cracked due to lack of support of the snorkel. W/o the hot air tube the snorkel is hung way out there and vibrates from the engine's pulses. The aluminum can't take that and cracks. Not sure welding it up is going to fix that, so you might consider some kind of support.

Ok, now I understand where that space is. And yes, Blue has the remote start feature and I like starting him in the summer to cool it down before I get in.

How about a point-of-use water heater? I'd much prefer that over the long run we have from the gas-fired heater in the garage. In fact, we've considered installing one in our bathroom for the lavatories, not the tub.

Sounds like a good plan. On the headers, I had mine coated in OKC by Jet Hot. They spent a lot of time consulting with me and did a good job on the coating. As for the 3G, you've seen the spreadsheet on our 3G Upgrade page that provides some source info?

Yes, an E4OD is too long to fit under a regular cab 4WD as the transfer case hits the floor. As you've said, I had to cut the floor and graft on a piece out of another truck.