Gary Lewis

Scott - Now I understand. But the stud isn't tapped, it just has a hole in it so a bolt goes through and you have to get to both sides. I'm not seeing that working very well with a boot. But I might be able to tap the stud. Still though, with the end of the stud up against the divider there's no way to get the boot in there. And the inverter can't move as its "feet" are up against the caddy on the passenger's side. It literally JUST fits. But, maybe I could cut the side out of the boot? Jim - I think I'll try my liquid electrical tape. But, if I can tap the stud it would make things easier. The bolt head could be on the back side where it isn't vulnerable and it would give fewer nooks and crannies on the front side to get the liquid to cover.

Jim - That's exactly what I was going to say. I don't have an experience with any of those apps because my shop camera lets me take full control of it. But if I didn't have it I'd try one of those apps.

It took me quite a while to find her. And you are on a mobile device????

Jim - My liquid electrical tape is still usable, although getting thicker as I discovered when I daubed the connections to the dome light and radio. But PlastiDip might be better.

Scott - Can you say that again, differently? I don't understand. But the stud coming out of the inverter is up against the plastic divider. And the terminal on the wire is on the back side of the stud going straight up. And it is against the divider as well. Dan - I think you are right. I believe that a couple of pieces of electrical tape may be the only way.

Got the two metal trim pieces painted, the one that goes under the rear window and the slotted one to hold down the caddy. Then I got out the #2 red wire I have and ran it from roughly where the factory aux battery relay is to to the inverter by the previously-discussed route. The route works well and it turns out that I have ~6" more wire than needed - for that run. Here's a shot of the wire going under the add-on "step" so it can get to the other side of the truck where the inverter is. When done there'll be convolute over the wire for protection, but I don't have the right size at the moment. I needed to cut a slot in the caddy to allow both the hot and ground wires to come through. And, while that slot was over one of the holes in the add-on "step", I did have to cut a notch in the hole to ensure clearance. You can see where the wire comes up from the bottom of the caddy, which is where the slot is. And it is connected to the positive terminal of the inverter. (Any ideas on how to insulate that terminal?) Also, I cut the end out of the caddy to give access to the outlets and switch, as well as to let air out when the fan is running. Man, cutting that plastic is slow work! Things left to do on the inverter and caddy install include: Making an opening in the passenger's end of the "step" to let the inverter's ground cable through Finding the right contactor Buying the project box, A/C outlet, fuse, and power points and making that system up Buying the ground and additional positive cable I need as well as the Magnalugs and heat shrink Adding a larger link, inc megafuse, between the aux battery and the factory aux battery relay

Now that's PROGRESS! And, as Jim say, progress is good! Happy Thanksgiving!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING! Ours is going to be quite different than we hoped as we aren't going to get to be with our kids. But this way we will live to be with them next year. And boy, do we have a lot for which to be thankful!

That is really COOL! Expensive at from $460 to $529, but really flexible.

Yes, WOW! That is cool! Would you mind having a how-to about that? Like the circuits and the sketch?

Gary, I didn't see the second part of your message until today. I went in and read up on it and a lot of good information in there and I will attempt an adjustment soon. I do have a question though, on page 17-20-13 of the AOD transmission section, the photo # D4802-1A shows a retention spring for the 4.9 and 5.0L EFI engine. Is that still available? This could be my issue as on mine there isn't one there. Greg - The MPC has this entry but I'm not sure that's it: Because it shows it here and that's not the one in the other illustration: Other than that it doesn't list any other springs I think it could be. So, maybe you can put a throttle return spring there?

Hmmm, maybe THAT'S where they came from? David, not Vernon?

I milled out a template in aluminum, got it to fit, and then used that to lay out the plastic. And I had to use the Dremel on the plastic as I couldn't get it in the mill due to its shape.

Thanks, but there's no huge rush.

I did. And I discovered the other day that I have NOS ones, courtesy of Vernon. He obviously didn't know that by '85 they'd changed to the grommet, and bought up anything he could find that he thought might work.

80/87 E-F100/350 — w/factory installed speed control

You are right, David. That's the 1982 and later door panel. And it is a good buy at that price as it has the door handle grommet, the chrome trim, and the window scraper.

That is EXPENSIVE for a broken part. Not sure how it could even be repaired w/o the repair being visible.

Jim - Can you do the search again, please? I've gone through hundreds of contactors at Surplus City and can't find any with 12v coils. And I've searched via Google and not found the one you found.

Yep, a mill makes work like that very clean. Nice straight lines. But setup is tedious. For something like your panel I'd affix it to a sacrificial piece of wood and mill both the panel and some of the wood at the same time. The only problem is the corners, which will be rounded. So if you want square corners you'll have some file work to do. Or, if you are ok with rounded you may want to use a small diameter mill, and then you have to go SLOWLY or you'll break the mill. I broke a 1/8" mill the other day cutting out the template for my radio bezel. I had the RPM too low and even with the very, very slow feed it broke.

George - Thanks. I think the storage unit is going to be wonderful. Jim - I'll keep looking at Surplus City and see if I can find it. Thanks.

The problem you are going to have is that the camera will adjust to make the lighting look the same. That's what cameras do - they make every scene have the same amount of light by adjusting the shutter speed, lens opening, and ISO setting - the film speed. So if you are using a real camera the trick is to go into your baseline pics and determine what shutter speed, f-stop (lens opening), and ISO rating it used on those pics. Then put the camera in Manual mode and dial those settings in. That way if you have more lighting on the next pic it'll look brighter.

Looks great, Bill! I think you are going to be very pleased with it.

Well done, Shaun! I missed that.

Jim - Meant to say I checked out Surplus City and can't find any contactors with 12v coils. They don't even have a pick for that in the filter, although I did try other options. I think I've found the one I want to use. It is Jameco Part no.: 552462 and is $34.95. But, it is going to be a tight fit where I want to put it, which is right above the inverter. I'd originally thought I wanted to have one project box that filled that area, but at the top of the caddy the box can only be about 2 1/2" "thick" or the seatback will hit it. So maybe I want a box that isn't as "tall" and can hold the contactor, fuse, DC power ports, etc. Still need to work on that plan. Last, as you probably know from the other thread, I got the nutserts installed today. And then one of them spun. It took me a long time to cut the head off that bolt, a little at a time to keep from melting the caddy. So I tack-welded all three nutserts in. With that done I got the caddy bolted down. But to get the caddy to sit at the right angle I had to cut the carpet back, leaving it just on the bolt-on step. That leaned the caddy back against the rear wall just where I wanted it. Then I cut slots in the trim panel and screwed it onto the rear wall. And now the caddy is SOLID!