Gary Lewis

I think I'd consider a crate engine and be done with it. If you buy that engine hoist it won't be a whole lot more work to replace the engine than just the heads.

Not a lot to show for today but I did get a few things done. First, I painted 5 of the 6 metal trim pieces that hold the headliner up. The other one is the piece that goes under the rear window, and I'll paint it when I paint its mate after I mill some slots in it to clear the dividers in the caddy. And that may be tomorrow. But I didn't want to start slotting the trim piece until I knew exactly where the caddy is going to sit. So I measured and measured and measure and finally used a 1 1/2" hose saw to put the holes in the caddy's bottom to clear the cab bolts. And I got it right as it sits nicely over them. About that time Amazon delivered a couple of things, including the rivnuts. I hoped to install them but ran out of time. However I did get three holes drilled in both the caddy and the floor, so tomorrow I plan to install the rivnuts and bolt the caddy down. Then I can cut the slots in the trim piece and paint the two trim pieces. The other things Amazon delivered were the 8-32 flanged button-head screws. So I was able to pull the screws I had holding the GMRS radio and the L-bracket in and replace them, one at a time. I think it turned out well.

Good question! I don't know. But you are right as the same part fits "F250/350 - - diesel-L.H.- 1981/86". Which is interesting as there there were no 1981 or '82 diesels. Second error in the MPC I've seen today.

That's an unusual one as it is for the little-used aux battery: E1TZ-10A705-A F-U100/350 - -w/dual battery—L.H.—gas- 1981/86 Apparently the aux battery wasn't used in '80?

I agree 100%. I would have suggested the engine hoist but doubt he has one. However that's the way I take them off and put them on in the vehicle. And an engine hoist isn't that expensive.

You can do it. And for FAR less than $3K even if you have to (get to? ) buy a ton of tools! Seriously though, I've not see a need for an impact to get exhaust bolts out. Or any of the bolts involved for that matter. The hardest part of the whole job is handling the heavy heads, and to do that I'd suggest a step platform of some kind that raises you just high enough to reach over the fender. And with a blanket on the fender you can lift the head on/off. The job takes me some time as I want to be very thorough and CLEAN everything to ensure the gaskets seal. And, in your case I'd wonder if it was the head gasket's fault or if maybe the head is cracked, so I might have them magnafluxed. And I'd also wonder if it was time for a valve job with new guides and seals. But even with that you aren't going to top $400 in my guess.

We watched this movie again last night. Loved it!

https://www.ebay.com/itm/80-91-92-93-Ford-F150-CARGO-BED-LIGHT-Lamp-w-Gasket-F250-F350-OEM-80-86-87-91/164506390348?hash=item264d584f4c:g:bJkAAOSwqb1frEzU https://www.lmctruck.com/1980-96-ford/fd-1980-96-cargo-lamp-and-components https://shop.broncograveyard.com/1980-1993-Ford-Pickup-Cargo-Lamp/productinfo/34995/ Thanks, David. But for $32 - $49 plus shipping I like Jim's suggestion better. Amazon delivered this for $7 this morn. Sorry, I should have said something so you wouldn't go searching.

I can fully understand the tears. And not being able to enjoy telling the story just yet. But some day they will be able to, and that's quite a story to tell!

Bill - Ok, I missed that it'll be retained otherwise. So the foam would help give it stiffness awa keep it from rattling.

I would have thought that it would have been obvious that seam needed sealer. But I guess in a transition it could be forgotten. But wow, that's quite an oversight. So what are you going to do? Put seam sealer in there?

Bill - It does look good. But I'm not sure I'd use double-sided tape between the panels. How are you going to get them apart if you need to? Like getting to those screw heads? How about Velcro? Or maybe gluing nuts to the back side of the outside panel and use a spacer between the two panels to get the right distance? Or, maybe glue coupling nuts on and use their length to form the distance?

Well, the frame is grounded, come to think of it. I forgot to mention the #2 wires from both batteries to the frame. So that would work, and it would keep the current out of the cab's shell. I think I like that!

Congrat's!!! That must be a huge pain to have to re-re-re-revise the wedding plans, but at least they finally were successful.

Scott - I'll play with the height and see what it takes to use the original holes in the trim panel. I doubt 1/4" is going to make much difference on the inverter hitting the seat back. On the cabling plan, glad to see someone agrees. A few insulated clamps screwed into the pinch weld, as we discussed, should hold the cable(s) nicely. But I'm waffling on the need to run a dedicated ground for the inverter, so I'm looking for input. I have a #2 ground from each fender to the cab, a #2 ground from both batteries to their respective fenders, & #2 grounds from both batteries to the engine. So there's a really good ground path from the aux battery to the inverter via the cab, and it would be easier to just run the hot wire. But I don't want any interference problems. So, what is the collective wisdom?

Got the speaker working - a wire had come off it. And, I got the passenger's speaker in. The system sounds decent - but there's no bass to speak of. However, as Janey pointed out, we aren't driving Big Blue in order to listen to music. We may do it some, and if I'm by myself I may crank the tunes up a bit, but she doesn't like the music loud, so we'll just listen a bit and then turn it off for a while. Also, I did some research on the storage unit, inverter, wiring, etc. First, the cab mount bolt heads stick up ~1/4", so with the carpet out and holes to fit the storage unit over the bolts it might drop 1/2", which is very welcome as that'll help the inverter clear the seat a bit better. That may cause me to have to drill new holes in the trim piece I'm considering using to capture the top of the unit, but it'll be close. Here's the piece I'm talking about and the hole is 5/8" above the bottom of the inner panel. So if the storage unit drops 1/2" and I want 1/4" of engagement I'll have to drill new holes. And now for the wiring plan - and I'd like your thoughts, please. I'll be using #2 wire from the aux battery, through a megafuse, then through the original aux battery relay. Then I'll go right down the fender liner, along the rocker panel, up through grommets in the cab corner, and then under the add-on step that the storage unit will be sitting on, and over to the inverter. Here's the only minor hurdle in that plan, but I think the wiring will easily go past that. Then along the rocker panel to that existing grommet for one wire and a new grommet for the other wire and into the cab. It'll enter the cab where the right arrow is and go under that add-on piece, suitably modified, where the left arrow is. And it'll go up through the bottom of the storage unit right into the inverter.

Yes, and when you are disconnecting circuits I like to have a DVM between the battery's positive post and the positive cable to see which circuit is causing a drain. I always like to start on the 10 amp setting and then work down when I find that there's just a small current drain. Oh yes, disconnect the dome and courtesy lights so you can have the door open. But, if you are looking for a reason to buy a new tool, I really like this tester from Harbor Freight. You don't have to put the DVM between the battery and the positive cable, pull a fuse, go look, come back, etc. Just pull a fuse and plug this thing in and it'll tell you what the current draw is on that circuit.

Well done, Cory!! Some times you get lucky on things and you did on the shock mounts. And, they look great framing that spring. I understand the issue of "it feels like it's getting somewhere, but still so far to go..." I'm, THERE! When I look back I see a whole lot of things have been done, but when I look forward there's so much more to do. I'll keep you in my prayers re the surgery. Please let us know how it goes.

Gary has a layer of sound deadening and foam across the back wall, so Velcro isn't going to work. And I don't want to pull the foam. So I'm looking at alternatives.

Middle of the night thought: There's a metal trim piece that goes into the holes shown with the red arrows. I have an extra, so how 'bout slotting it to miss the vertical pieces in the storage unit and using it to hold the top of the unit back against the wall? I wouldn't have to be limited to the number of screw holes that are in it as I could add some to make it more secure. And since that part of the cab is double-walled I could even put nutserts there to increase the holding power. I'm going to be painting some/all of the metal trim anyway, so I could slot the piece using the mill to make the slots smooth and paint this one as well. Thoughts?

Bill - Pull straps/handles is one reason I got an assortment as I hope to put handles on the A-pillar and will want to bury nutserts there. I thought about going metric, but most of my "stock" of fasteners is SAE so went that way. I think I have some flanged button-head 1/4-20 screws that are long enough to do this job, and I know I have 1/4" fender washers to put under them. So that's the plan, Stan. How do you "set" your nutserts?

Dane - Thanks. When they spin I'm sure it is a serious problem. But by "in metal" do you mean "in steel"? Aren't the Cessna's aluminum? Perhaps that was a galvanic problem with a carbon bolt and the aluminum? As for "in steel", don't our trucks have them in the doors for the mirrors? I tend to remember a problem with one of them, but it was badly corroded and the bolt was seized in the rivnut. As I remember, someone had replaced the stainless factory bolt with a plain steel one. But other than that I've not seen problems. Have you? For the most part the rivnuts I've been around have worked well. Sure hope these do.

I'm going to be using using rivnuts to hold the bottom of my behind-the-seat storage unit to the cab, as discussed here. But I don't have any rivnuts so I ordered this assortment. Then I got to thinking about how to install them and discovered this discussion of what they are and how to install them w/o the special tool at Spyder Industries. I watched the video and was sold. But, I can't figure out how to embed it here, so I did some more surfing and found this video that I can embed. The guy is quite wordy, but he eventually shows how to do it, albeit different than the way Spyder Industries recommends. Do any of you have other recommendations?

Welcome! Glad you joined. Maybe you can sort out the old man. Seriously though, how 'bout going to the New Members Start Here folder, read the guidelines, and then introduce yourself. We ask people to do that to ensure they've had a chance to see our guidelines as we hold people to them and wouldn't want you to get surprised.

That's cool! Good to know.