Gary Lewis

The padded clamps haven't come in yet, so I did other things today. The first thing I wanted to do was to fix the tank vent problem, but the rear tank was still pushing fuel out, so I ran a hose into a gas can and let it drain. During the time that it drained I remembered that while the padding I added to the front springs helped dramatically, there has still some banging and clanging on bumps. So I did some more inspection and found that the top of the curve of the spring, where it curves around the spring mount, can easily hit the metal of the mount. So I slipped two layers of pieces of inner tubes over the curve, and it that made a big difference. I shot a video of before and after, but for some reason I can't get Youtube to accept it. So here is the best I can do: Then the draining was done and I could work on the vents. The best place I could find was up the side of the bed. So I measured where the filler neck is vs the bottom of the bed, and then measured up from there and put the top of the hose above that point. To support the hose I drilled through the end of the bed and inserted a bolt in from the front of the bed and a nut from the back to hold the clamp. And then I ran the 3/16" line from the vent lines into a 3/8" tee and then used 3/8" line from there up to the filter. Here's what it looks like:

My F250 w/a recently-built 460, headers, and a manual transmission with overdrive gets between 11 & 12 MPG if running at 65 MPH w/o a head wind. And if I remember correctly that's not too far off what my '72 F250 w/a 390 topped with a Quadrajet and running a C6 got when running at that speed. But when it was loaded down with our 9 1/2' self-contained camper we got from 7 - 9 MPG depending on the conditions, with 7 being with a head wind and 9 being under the best conditions. So, I don't think your 6 MPG is that bad. However, you didn't say at what speed. And as has been said, speed kills - MPG.

Who is THAT Gary Lewis! What did he do to get a spectacular reputation? Anyway, good find, David. Good documentation for Dave.

Yes! That's the one. Thanks, Scott! But it looks like Chris is past that point now.

Was that someone Frogger 2662? Bucket Seats thread - 9/1/20 I'm thinking it was Snakebite8 in this thread: http://forum.garysgaragemahal.com/Newer-bench-seat-td80682.html

Interesting. Didn't know that existed, but would have solved the problem that someone had recently when installing buckets in an extended-cab truck with a bench.

Rick - I know how much you like originality, but since neither of them are original I went for the chrome one as I think it is prettier. (But you need a different nut for that one.)

Yes, Ford called it "speed control", and the story I heard was that someone patented the term "cruise control" so Ford couldn't use it. And in their literature they called it speed control, as shown below. But apparently Specific Cruise System, Inc got to call it what they wanted to in their own literature. That's a different system than I've seen before. It has the same turn signal-mounted control that the Dana ones used, but has a different servo and control valves. And it uses a Ford-style vacuum reservoir and vehicle speed sensor.

Yes, it is expensive. But those thing are getting hard to find.

E2TZ 7N280-D 82/87 F100/350 U150 T-18,19,435

Man, prices are headed UP! I think the pandemic may be fueling that, with people sitting on computers looking at things and having time to work on their projects.

REALLY! You still have that???? In Steve's back yard? Wow! So, when are you going to fix your truck?

Good, I'm glad you've done the doors. And yes, that makes a huge difference when you close the door.

Pretty! And pretty cheap. Looks like it was used on most of the Dana 44's.

I don't know what "EGR Tube" means, nor how it is used. I'm wondering if Bill does, so I'm going to tag him for help.

That's funny! Ok, Jim (the self-ascribed "Jim #2) has made a good case for the simple approach of using some form of switched power for the voltmeter. So we need to include that approach in our bag of tricks. And, I'm thinking that we may want to have a tab for Other Options, or somesuch. On it we could show other approaches but not flesh them out as thoroughly as we need to do for the other, recommended approaches.

Thanks, Dane. The ground wire, which goes out the other corner of the cab and then to the frame, is going to be a bit more difficult to protect. I should have pics of that tomorrow, but I want to make sure that brush won't snag it.

Looks wonderful, John! And it does make a huge difference. But what about the doors? Are you going to use some of the Killmat on them?

$700????? Man, if that was next door I'd have it. I SURE don't need it, but ......

It is a good price, and the horn pad is in decent shape.

Sorry that I am late to the party... When I first arrived in Skiatook, the timing on a recurved distributor was @ 17+ degrees BTDC. The fuel mileage was good, but there was an occasional drag when starting. The ignition was handled with a MDS 6A ignition box. Gary did magic on the vacuum advance. We drove while Gary monitored AF ratios [up to 17:1]. When I left, the timing was a "fat" 14 degrees BTDC. The truck routinely consumed 87 octane gasohol. Gary, when you and I had our gas mileage comparison between my truck and "Blue", we both used 100% regular [87 octane] from the same pump. This was to limit the variables and that was the fuel you use in your truck. Thanks for the correction on the gas, David. I knew we filled up at the same pump and it was 100% gas, but forgot that we did the adjusting and testing on an earlier tank.

I got the hot lead to the inverter installed today, and a start on the ground lead. Here's the lead, the left one, connected to the aux power relay: And here's part of the run under the rocker and into the cab via the grommet. But I'm not really done as I didn't have enough of the 5/8" rubber-covered clamps, but they'll be here tomorrow so I can finish this run. Last, here are now-you-see-it and now-you-don't shots of the run inside the cab corner. Also, not visible is the extra grommet I put on the wire inside the corner, just in case I need it some day.

Looks great! What voltage range does it have?

I used CPVC pipe cement and some spare pieces of PCV as a splint on the backside to fix one A-pillar trim piece. That seemed to work nicely.

Done. First thing I wanted to ask about was an EVTM for the 1980 trucks. I found a few other years in the forum but not 1980. Is there one? Thanks! Good job on the sig. On the 1980 EVTM, there is one, and I have a copy, but I don't have it on the site. For the most part it is the same as 1981, but there are some differences. I'd try using the 1981 version and if you come up with differences or questions, ask and I'll see what I can find. It is a major effort to put an EVTM on the site, and I'm not ready to do that right at the moment given what I'm doing on other things. But should be able to help if you have questions that the 1981 version doesn't answer.