Gary Lewis

Yes, it does look GOOD in that red dress. (As did someone else in a red dress in Bedazzled. Or did I make the wrong connections? )

Jamie - Wow! Just WOW! That is a magical transformation! I love it! And I agree with Jim on the appreciation for all healthcare professionals. This has been a horrible year and it is only going to get worse. I thank all of you and pray for you daily. On the overlanding, that's the direction I'm heading on Big Blue, so in the immortal words of Paul Simon: Ok, maybe not an "institute" but maybe a forum? On the CB, there appears to be a shift on away from CB to GMRS in the offroad arena. You can see where Bob/Nothing Special brought that up in Big Blue's Transformation thread here, and the following conversation re that. To cut to the chase, I bought Midland's bundle of their MXT115 base/mobile unit and two GCT1000 handhelds's for $210 from Amazon. So you may want to research the communications area before you buy.

Good question about the dash cover, Jim. Here's what FedUp says: Thursday , 11/12/2020 12:59 am LENEXA, KS Arrived at FedEx location Wednesday , 11/11/2020 9:34 pm OLATHE, KS Left FedEx origin facility Wednesday , 11/11/2020 4:37 pm OLATHE, KS Arrived at FedEx location Wednesday , 11/11/2020 2:32 pm OLATHE, KS Picked up Tuesday , 11/10/2020 3:09 pm Shipment information sent to FedEx So the email I got Wed at 2:02 AM saying I'd get it that day was, as I suspected, quite wrong. But it is interesting to me that there was almost 24 hours lost between the shipment info being generated and the cover being picked up. Then there was about 36 hours where FedUp had it and it was moved around by truck to their facility in Olathe and then to their facility, about 8 miles away in Lenexa. Meanwhile the 2300 mAh AA batteries I ordered from Amazon last night will arrive in less than 24 hours. Similarly the Midland radios were ordered last Saturday morning and were delivered before we left for church on Sunday morning. I believe that COVID-19 has moved many of us from picking things up from brick & mortar stores to buying online, and we aren't likely to go all the way back. And Amazon is certainly setting the bar high for speed of delivery. So our expectations are/have been dramatically changed on what is acceptable, and vendors like LMC and shipping companies like FedUp are going to have to change their approaches. Or, to put it another way, someone will and whomever does is going to get the business. As for the A-pillar, I looked yesterday and there's no easy way to get the wire from the open area in the A-pillar into the header going across above the windshield. And even then you have to get out and into the Highliner. The instructions with the Highliner say to come up the B-pillar and follow the dome light wires, so that's my plan. I have some flat speaker wire designed to go under carpet, so am thinking about using that for the left and right rear channels, and power to the radio will come from the actual stock radio circuit. I'll also have to cut into the roof area to install the weatherproof BNC connector, so I have some work to do before thing can go together.

Rob - I think it will look finished as the trim covers the edges. Should look good. But Janey said "It looks BLACK!" I said "Yes, there'd be way too much blue if I painted it." And she agreed. In fact, the all-blue door panels may be too much and I may eventually put the chrome trim on. But it is easier to put it on than to fill the holes if I don't like it, so I wanted to try w/o it first. Dane - Thanks! I hope to get the driver's door panel on tomorrow. I'm impressed with the difference in sound that the panel makes when closing the door. Probably due to the 1/2" felt that is now glued to the back of the door panel, but there's now more of a "thunk". Way different than it used to be, and even better than with just the sound deadening.

Wow! Just WOW!

Rob! You've been BUSY! Wow! Ok, I'll wait until next year on the choke. But, I'm curious! What brand eccentrics are you using?

Man, that is COMPLEX! I can't even get my head around what you said, much less what the problem is. But it appears that you have a plan, so here's hoping it works.

No. There was clean air coming from the air cleaner down a tube that was heated by the exhaust system and then went into the choke.

I'm pretty sure that's where hot air from the exhaust manifold goes in. And while the carb should be tuned to accommodate that amount of vacuum, you don't want to be pulling "dirty" air in. So it either needs to be plugged or routed to a source of clean air.

Thanks, Rob. The instructions, such as they are and they are really poor, indicate that the trim goes on after the Highliner goes in. So I think the difference is that the "skirts" are different lengths. How is yours held in place?

Wow! That's a lot of work. Well done! Here's hoping that it is purring in the driveway tomorrow night.

I never saw the tick, either. But I had the rash. However, it wasn't round like I thought it was supposed to be. But a month of antibiotics fixed me up as well.

Josh - Been there, done that on Lyme disease. Fortunately my wife found a picture of my leg on the internet and persuaded me to go to the doctor. (No, it wasn't my leg, but it was exactly like the swelling on my leg.) So we caught it early and I had few problems. But I'm sorry for your problems. On the choke, you said "I checked the next morning and the flap was straight up and down". That suggests that you had always-on power to the choke. If so, that's not going to work. Or did I misunderstand?

Well, there ain't much room. But we'll get to that. I got the passenger's door panel on: Also, here's the door handle grommet that I painted. It was brown. And while I'd gotten the passenger's kick panel vent and kick panel itself on, I'm not sure I posted a pic. So here 'tis: Now for the Highliner. I couldn't wait so put it in place, which is a chore since there's not much to hold it up in place. So I used a ratchet strap through the door openings to bring it up somewhat in place, put two screws in the sun visor holes to anchor the front, and then stuck those 2x4's in to bring the back up. That let me sit in the seat and explore. And it looks like the piece of 1/2" foam they supply is just about right. The sides, directly above the driver and passenger, recess up and would touch the inner liner of the roof w/o the foam. But there appears to be a bit of room down the center so I don't think it would be a good plan to drill through the Highliner and into the roof as pulling it up that way might not be good. So for the radio bracket I think the machine screw/nut approach is best. But I might bring a flathead screw in from the top and put the nuts on from the bottom. That way the bracket can be removed if necessary w/o removing the Highliner.

This? And then what do you need?

Just giving you a hard time.

On some of them.

Rob - Here's hoping that the RTV on RTV holds. I'll bet it will. On the fast idle, I probably did a poor job of 'splaining. The fast idle is pushed on by the choke, but it comes off with gravity. So as the choke comes off so should the fast idle - but only after the tension is taken off it from the throttle return spring. So if you open the throttle with the engine cold the choke and fast idle will set. And when you release the throttle the fast idle is held captive until you open the throttle again and take the pressure off. Then, if the choke has opened some, the fast idle cam will drop down and you'll have less fast idle.

Ok Rob, thanks. I plan to do some investigating to see how much room there is up there as I do want to put whatever insulation I can up there - either in addition to or in place of that foam. Jim - I was thinking hot-melt, but we are thinking alike.

Ooops, I just noticed the one I provided a link for is: -A, not-B. https://www.ebay.com/itm/Ford-OEM-Fuel-Shut-Off-Valve-E3TZ-9N176-A-NOS/324363989887?epid=1424840248&hash=item4b8599b37f:g:6KMAAOSwaAdfpcfS Personally I'd use a return-style fuel pressure regulator to replace the vapor separator.

Jim - The nuts are a push, not press, fit in the holes. Apparently the plan is for that to provide enough friction to be able to tighten the screws. And as you do that the rubber part above the plastic panel but below the brass threads is meant to expand and prevent it from coming back through the hole. But, as Rob experienced, that's not always what happens. IIRC, his turned as he tightened them, and then eventually came through the hole due to the weight of the radio. Rob - I agree these are probably strong enough to hold that little radio. But I like the idea of fastening the radio to the top to ensure there are no problems. And having thought about it, I think that having the Highliner upside down on the work table will make it fairly easy to do this. I'll measure and cut the hole in the face, place the radio on the bracket laying on the Highliner, and see how it lines up with the hole in the face. Then shim until it does line up. But that begs the question of how to attach the bracket to the top. Rob - The roof has a center section that runs from the front to the back and is lower than the rest. Does the Highliner come up against that and mash that foam? Or does the shape of it keep it away and it just comes up against the foam? If the foam isn't mashed then I could use a couple of screws with nuts on the top. If the foam is mashed maybe I'd want to screw into the roof. Thoughts?

If I understand what you are saying that's not going to work as they are ~1" long. And the threaded part is in the end that would be down so you can't cut it off. There would be a 3/4" gap between the lip of the L-shaped piece and the top. I think Rob's suggestion is the best because if it doesn't work then no harm, no foul. I move on to cutting a hole in the bracket and mount it to the bottom.

Bummer! I forgot that they came out with the weight of the radio. Mine fit in fairly tightly, and since the threaded portion is above the Highliner they are meant to spread out as they pull down. So maybe they'll work if I run the screws in snugly - which I can do w/o fear of breaking the plastic due to the flanged-head spreading the load. As for connecting the radio to the Highliner itself, I can do that but it is more difficult as it is hard to measure inside that closed area. But, if it worked out fairly well then I wouldn't have to cut the bracket. In fact, I wouldn't even have to order more screws. Nor put holes in the L-shaped piece other than for the sound to pass through. So, it seems like trying it attached to the top would be the first thing. Then I can always do the more destructive approach. Either way I cut the hole in the face of the L-shaped bracket for the radio to slip into and then figure out where to mount the radio to match the hole. So if I don't figure out how to do it in the top I can flip it over and mount it to the bottom piece.

Well, a sheet metal screw into the "rivnut" isn't going to work as they are threaded. And I can see how Rob was having trouble with them spinning as they sure are easy to remove. May put them back with a dab of hot-melt. Anyway, I think I'll find out what thread they are and order the matching flanged button-head or truss-head screws to match. Won't match the rest of the truck, but at least all of the ones in the Highliner will match. And I won't have to countersink the holes. Plus, I won't worry about the bouncing pulling the screw heads through the plastic.

Yes, it'll be much easier lining things up when working with one piece rather than two. I'm not sold on the "decorative black oval head screws". But if I used Ford screws they'd match those used on the rest of the truck. I want to replace the machine screws that go into the plastic "rivnuts" that holds the L-shaped piece to the Highliner to make all the screws the same. I'm not sure that the rivnuts will take the sheet metal style screws, but will check the diameters today. And, I'd have to countersink the holes to get the heads to recess, but worry that the bouncing of the truck would put a lot of force on those two screws that hold the L-shaped piece to the Highliner. They are carrying the weight of the radio, and while it isn't much it gives me pause. But I assume you work with that style of screw all the time. Do they hold in thin material? Is .093" plastic "thin"?