Gary Lewis

John - I'm happy to do that for my trucks. However, could you take a look at what I have in the show write-ups and let me know if you want me to revise, write a story, or what else needs to be done? Dad's truck Big Blue I'll do whatever you want, just need to know what that is. As for the map, we decided some time ago that asking a bunch of things in the intro email wasn't getting us what we wanted, so now we just ask for things like the map once they are "in".

Play around with it. Click Options and you can even edit the title. You should decide if you want completed trucks or if it can include partially-built trucks. For instance, Big Blue is drivable but not done. Dad’s truck is years from being drivable. And what info do you want in each entry? Do you want it to be standardized or random? Maybe you could peruse the show entries. There is a lot of info for each one, but it would give you an idea of what the folks might submit

John - I think the idea of a picture gallery controlled by you would be ideal. You can see what the one we have now looks like, so it needs some oversight. Some consistency. And we can call it whatever you'd like. It'll be "yours", and although any of the admins will have the ability to make changes we'll just have to agree that we won't. You could start by adding the entrants from this year's virtual show. There are surely enough pics in there to get a good start, and you can add them by right-clicking the pic, getting the URL, and paste that into the "Or copy an image from the Internet:" line of the Insert Image widget. Maybe you want to create a template that you'll use. You could ask newbies to fill it out and use that to create the entry in the gallery. But, be aware that some of our members join just to ask a quick question, so not all will care to fill out your form. Don't take that as rejection. You could even have the template as part of the gallery, I think. We'll have to play around with this a bit to figure out what we want it to look like. But I've created it, called John's Proposed Picture Gallery, and we can change the title as well as lots of things about it. I haven't fully explored what can be done with a picture gallery, so let's figure it out together. All admin's can edit it, but let's you and I do it.

Bill - What do you mean by "power point"? I think I'm planning on installing a USB charger in place of the cigar lighter, and have my eye on this one from Blue Seas. There are cheaper ones, but the vast majority of them have a volt meter included, and since our cigar lighters are hot all the time I don't want the current draw of one with a volt meter. There are certainly less expensive units on the market. But some of them raise serious doubts, like this Ginsco Quick Charge 3.0 Dual USB Charger, which has some dubious claims or, at best, poor translations in its advert. First, iPhones certainly DO allow fast charging. Second, "under the premise of firm fixation"? And "blue LED"? That is green on my screen. "Let this USB charger be with you on the road safety"? "The usb socket will be controlled by the car power manager, stop charge automatically when your device is fully charged"? I think I'll pay for a Blue Seas one as at least their descriptions make sense. And, it appears they'll be around as they show to have been winning awards since 2005. Anyway, what are your thoughts?

Yep, that and it won't melt the lens. Plus, the 3x lumens won't hurt. Just occurred to me that when I pull the Highliner out to do the wiring is when I need to do the radio bit. It'll be far easier to have it upside down on the bench and get the dimensions worked out than right side up hanging in the truck. So, as I sip my first cup of java, let me think through what needs to be done while it is out: Radio: Cut the L-shaped piece to take the nose of the radio, then lay the radio in the pocket and determine what shims are needed to get the nose to come through, and then screw it in. Power: Cut into the dome light wiring to provide always-on power and ground to the radio. Extend the wiring so the fuse is in the pocket with the radio. Dome Light: Cut into the dome light wiring to provide power and ground to the dome light. Use a 2-pin connector so the Highliner can be take out if required. Speakers: Run the rear channel wiring up the B-pillar to the speaker area. Note that the channels will have to be split so both run to each side. Antenna: Determine where to put the BNC connector and if that can be gotten to w/o cutting the inner roof panel. Cut the antenna's lead and solder the BNC connector on, making sure the SO connector will go through the Highliner's hole. Drill the hole and mount the connector. I guess I really do have plenty to do before the baffles come in on Thursday! Also, I need to space the speaker grills away from the Alpine speakers by 1/8" and I'm wondering if these will do the trick. At .4" thick these are way too thick. But I'm not finding what I need. And cutting them out of plastic sounds like a huge pain. Anyone have a better idea?

This one's ok, but I liked the later one better due to the improved styling and the 5.8L.

George - No, I don't have the FS10 in service yet. The FS6 was marginal, so I'm hoping for a significant improvement. But, I did fully insulate and seal the underhood box, so that should help. If you want to talk about A/C systems then Bill/85lebaront2 is the guy. He converted Darth from FS6 to FS10. Ratdude - Good you got the gap you were looking for. You are on a roll! Well done.

I'm in for the gallery idea as well. But there are at least two ways of doing that: Forum: We can set up a picture gallery on the forum. We actually have one (Bullnose Forum/Picture Gallery) but it is kind of hodge podge. We could set up a new one specifically for the TOM if that is what you are thinking. And we can put you in charge of it. Web Site: Under Documentation/Picture Galleries we have quite a few pages on specific trucks. This isn't quite as easy to do as I have to make you and editor for the web site, but I can limit your access to that one page or group of pages if we want. Personally I think doing it on the forum is best, but we'll have to figure out how we want to do it. Note that the current gallery has archives, so over time people could go back and look. Anyway, look it over and see what you think. We can probably even tailor it quite a bit.

You are now on the map. Now I understand "gray market". Makes sense. I love the 280 SL's. Beautiful cars, and yours must be a hoot to drive on the Blue Ridge Parkway. We've driven it, but I think it was in my ML-320. Not nearly the same.

Good logic, Bill. Also, I forgot to say that I pulled the #912 bulb out of the Highliner's dome light fixture and installed the ping pong paddle LED replacement. I'm happy to say that these LED's don't care which wire is positive and which is negative. I have pics if anyone is interested, but suffice to say that it fits - barely.

Welcome, Andrew! Glad you joined. Would you like to be on our map? It is at Bullnose Forum/Member's Map in the menu. Nice truck! And that's quite a fleet. But what's a "gray market" 280 SL?

Ok guys, you've convinced me. I'll wire it hot all the time. And I got the speaker baffles on order. I went with Boom Mat units from Amazon. Should be here on Thursday, so I have plenty of time to get the wiring done, inc the BNC connector for the antenna, and maybe even get the Highliner in. But to finish it I need to paint the metal trim, and I want to get the dash cover painted first so I know I have enough paint left. In other words, there's lots to do.

Yes, my experience is that brake controllers cause problems with LED's. But in my case it was a new brake controller. Bill - What kind of panel do you have in mind? What all functions do you need on it? Just "power point, hazard flasher switch, panel dimmer and courtesy light switch and the rear window defroster switch"?

You are making good progress. But I hate to see that the FS10's have a problem - I just moved to an FS10. Anyway, keep on keeping on!

I don't have much experience with a hard-wired 2-way radio. It's limited to a couple of trips back in the '90s when I had a CB in my CJ5. But I started off using switched power and ended up changing it to be unswitched. Yes, it wasn't ideal that the radio could be left on when you left the vehicle for an extended period of time. But for me it was a bigger problem to have the radio shut off when I shut the engine off to get out and spot the trail. If you had the modern alternative where it stayed on for ~10 minutes after shutting off the ignition that might be best. But then I wouldn't want it turning off when I opened the door. And who am I kidding? I hate all of those modern complexities. After all the babbling, if it was me I'd use unswitched power, but neither is ideal. Bob - That's a good point. But wouldn't turning to ACCY work? However, ACCY brings several things on, including the instrument cluster, radio (obviously), and most importantly the aux battery relay. I'm using the Cole Hersee smart isolator so the batteries really aren't paralleled then, but I'm going to use the original aux battery relay to power the inverter. However, there is supposed to be a switch in the radio bezel to turn it off. Still, there might be several things to turn off, so it would be far easier to have the GMRS radio hot all the time. Thoughts? As for the Highliner, I put a layer of the Noico insulation on it. Here 'tis: And, having marked where the Palco foam fit I put a layer of the sound insulation on the roof's inner panel. Then I put the Highliner in place and it fits. There may not be quite as much space between the speaker's magnet and the roof now as when I had the other foam in, but it doesn't touch so I'm happy.

Interesting. Thanks, David.

That changed with the PDB. Previously I was running one auto-reset breaker for both high and low, but with the PDB I have a fuse on the high beams and an auto-reset breaker for the low beams.

No, it only needs switched power. Apparently it stores settings in non-volatile memory. Ok, so the next decision: I checked and the 1/2" foam Palco sent is open cell. IOW, I can easily blow right through it. So it isn't going to stop sound, and probably not heat very well But I have plenty of the Noico RED 150 mil Сar Sound Insulation, Heat and Cool Liner left, and I'm thinking that three layers of it will be .45" and, therefore, be a good replacement for the 1/2" foam. I've marked where the edges of the Highliner are, and I can mark where the foam currently ends, so that would give me plenty of guides to put the Noico stuff up there. I'm thinking one layer adhered to the Highliner & one layer adhered to the roof, and then I'll trial fit it again. And, what are the thoughts about the speaker baffles? Something like these, although I'm not sold as they'll take quite a while to get here. The big reason is that in the Highliner the driver's right speaker is right next to the passenger's left speaker so they'll bleed badly if precautions aren't taken. So I'm thinking of using those baffles and placing pieces of the 1/2" felt insulation I have left over between the baffles. Thoughts?

Ok guys, much ado about nothing. I put the 1/2" foam pad on top and then secured the Highliner with a bunch of the metal clips that go into the metal trim pieces. And I can push up on the speaker in the Highliner and it'll move w/o hitting the roof. I'm going to guess from what I can see that there's at least 1/4", meaning the foam is only half compressed. The Highliner will go up a bit when the metal trim and sun visors are installed, but not enough to cause the speaker to hit. But it just dawned on me that the LG/Y wire is "hot at all times". And since the radio is completely silent until someone breaks the squelch it would be very easy to leave it on. So I'm thinking that's a bad idea and I'd be a lot better off bringing switched power from the actual radio circuit up there. And, not placing the in-line fuse in the circuit that Midland sent as I don't want to have to dig into the Highliner to find it.

Scott - I understand what you are saying. And if was anything else I'd probably agree to find a spare fuse in the fuse block. But for something that can't pull more than ~2a and power is soooooo close......

Nope. Just grilles. The picture they sent is shown below. I will have to space the grilles ~1/8" away from the Alpine speakers due to their piezo tweeters, but that's not a biggee. I'm wondering if this isn't a good use of true speaker baffles instead of those huge 4x4x2" foam blocks? At least they would ensure no contact between the magnet and the roof, thereby eliminating any rattles.

That's a good buy on the relays. Now you just need the headlight connectors, which I got from Danial Stern, and a connection to the factory wiring.

Yes, that will work nicely. There are several different Bosch-style relays, and the 4-pin just eliminates the 87a terminal, which isn't used in the headlight wiring. So you'd use two of those, one for low beam and one for high beam. And even if you ran 100W bulbs you'd only be pulling ~15 amps for two 100w bulbs.

Ok, question time. First, to everyone: Why feed power for the GMRS radio up? Why not use the constant power on the LG/Y wire that goes to the map lights, as shown in the pic below? That circuit is fused 15 amps, but the radio's own wiring has a 3A fuse in it. And all that circuit serves are the courtesy lights, dome light, cargo light, and warning buzzer. It would be so easy to use the original dome light wires to pick up constant power for the radio, switched power for the dome light, and a ground with a screw into the roof. Then I'll bring the speaker wires up the B-pillar 'cause the speakers are to the rear and it'll be easy. Thoughts, please. Now for Rob: Did your center speakers in the Highliner hit the roof? Mine do, as shown below. Also, how did you use the 4x4x2" blocks of foam that are called "baffles"? Directly behind the speakers? Did they tend to push the Highliner down due to their thickness? I know that when the 1/2" piece of foam is put in above the Highliner that it will bring it down a bit. Does that make the speakers clear?

Well, so much for the plans of mice and men. The first thing I tried was to put one of the new ping pong-paddle LED #912 replacements in for the cargo light. No dice. The bulb in the cargo light goes in straight and the replacement expects to be used at right angles to that, like up in a dome light - which is what I bought them for. So I'll have to look for an LED replacement for that one. The second plan was to paint the dash cover. I'd glued it on Saturday and waited until today to take the straps off. Turns out that this new Coverlay cover goes far enough into the defrost vents that the screws that hold the pad to the cab need to go through the cover. But mine wasn't glued down well enough to do that. So I did remedial gluing by squirting more of the Permatex RTV adhesive in there and have it well and truly "wrapped". Maybe tomorrow I'll paint? Meanwhile I'll work on the Highliner. Going to mark where it hits so I know where to run wires and see about fishing wires up the A-pillar. And, with the cargo light out I'll see about drilling the roof and installing the BNC connector for the GRMS antenna.