Gary Lewis

Ok, here's the plan, Stan. I'm going with black door panels so need black grommets. I got to looking at the existing door panels and started wondering if I really want to replicate the original panels. But I've never been fond of the velour on the panels, and as I inspected the velour from these panels I found that they need a thorough cleaning. But I seriously doubt that I could use fabric cleaner w/o damaging the basically cardboard backing. And the plastic speaker grilles are badlly UV damaged and it would be very difficult to repair them. So I asked Janey and she suggested going with all black panels. No velour and no chrome trim ring. I like it! The black door panels will tie in with the black thresholds and the black instrument and radio bezels. Plus, if I do black windshield trim, grille, etc it'll fit with that as well. And it makes the truck more utilitarian, which is the plan. (Not to mention, it will be a whole lot easier!) But, I either need to find black arm rests or paint these.

Scott - You snuck in there and I missed your response. BUT, hold the horses a bit as there's been a change of plans and I think I now need black grommets/boots. I'll explain in the next post....

Jim - I'm not finding those boots on LMC. But maybe it is because I told them it is an '85? I just changed to an '87 and it is still showing the 1980 - 86 door panels. But, I already know those panels are not right for 1980 - 82 or can't be right for 1983 - 86 due to the different boots. Boy, I do not like their web site.

Ok, I WAS WRONG! I do not have a black boot. Or, more precisely, I do but it won't fit. Turns out that there are two styles, and it looks like the new style started in '83 given the all new part numbers for that year. Looks to me like the '80 - 82 trucks used a flat "boot" with a plastic plate behind it. Here's the inside and outside views for Dad's original door handle boots: But the later door panels don't have the studs for retaining that style boot. Instead, they are just plain, as shown on the left, and take the style boot shown on the right: And I have those two boots, although they are the worse for wear. And, I have a pair of blue ones, but they are so hard and so well stuck to the absolutely GROSS blue panels that I know they'll break if I try harder to remove them. So, I'm still in the market, but for $46/ea and the wrong color to boot, I might paint these brown ones and see what happens. At least they cover the edge of the door panel. But thanks, David. I appreciate it.

Yes, like that. Only blue or black, preferably. And, less expensive? I found that I have one black one on one of Dad's door panels, so could use that and buy a new one. So black would probably be preferable in that case. Thanks, but....

Missed that. Yes, ultimately it will/would. But there are a whole lot of other things that NEED to be done before July, so that will have to wait. And in the interim I'll run the aftermarket gauges. However, I think I'll wait to start cutting up gauge bezels as the one I have is working, and I'll use that time to get other needed things done. I'm getting ready to start painting the interior trim and just realized that I don't have the boots that go over the door handles and seal off the door panels. I've included the info from our page at Documentation/Interior/Handles, Boots, Etc to show part numbers. It looks like I need these parts: (RH) E5TZ 10226A06-A (LH) E5TZ 10226A07-A Blue. Anyone know of any? I could probably paint ones from another color with SEM, but I'm not sure how it would hold up with the movement there.

I didn't consider it "thinking" and was surprised when I saw that's that it is called. Looks like Duh to me. But let's see how this works out. It is easy enough to tweak to fit our needs.

Duh??? Changed it to "Duh???" and it still shows as "Thinking". Shows how much I understand how this software works.

Well, that didn't work. I changed the text of "Thinking" to "Duh!" and it still shows as Thinking.

Missed that. Yes, ultimately it will/would. But there are a whole lot of other things that NEED to be done before July, so that will have to wait. And in the interim I'll run the aftermarket gauges. However, I think I'll wait to start cutting up gauge bezels as the one I have is working, and I'll use that time to get other needed things done.

I think that's too big for the pocket, as you said. But, even if it fit I'm not sure how useful it would be. That location is not the easiest to see while you are driving. My gauges cover that area and then some, and I have to concentrate a bit to read them. And, mine have a wide sweep, with two of them having a 270 degree sweep. But those Autometer gauges have something like a 45 degree sweep, and it would be difficult to read them.

No, I'm talking about the gauges that are already mounted - which you can see in the pic below. The back of the pocket is cut out and the bulbs, wires, tubes pass through there. But to get the bezel off I'd have to pull the senders out of the engine and back through the firewall. Instead, I'm thinking of cutting a slot in the bottom of that burled wood bezel and snaking the tubes, wires, etc out that way. After all it is faded burled wood, what else is new, and the back of the pocket is cut out. And then I plan on cutting a slot in the black bezel, as well as cutting out the back of the pocket. That way I can remove the bezel when I want. (During the whole "transformation" the bezel and gauges hung by the wires and tubes in the truck. ) But, where to cut the slot in the black bezel is the question. In the pic above you can tell that cutting the bottom of the bezel would be visible, but only slightly. However, as you get in from the passenger's side you would be able to see it. Instead, I'm thinking of cutting the left side of the pocket out to the collar to the steering column. In the pic above it is not visible at all, and in the pic below you can see that a slot over to the collar would do the trick. Thoughts? Better ideas?

Everything I've found says that axle takes the same shaft as all the others, so it should have 31 splines.

Yep: 83/88 R E3TZ 9927886-A R.H. E9TZand 9927887-A L.H.-r/b E9TZ 9927886-A or

81/ F—U100/350 — w/o headliner E1TZ 13776-A #E1TB 13776-AA-dome

Gary, a few days ago, another forum member [Cinamon] was looking for a "Custom" center bezel [Projects forum; 10/28/20]. He contacted the following seller and the seller would not separate the two items. Perhaps he and you could work together on this? https://www.ebay.com/itm/80-86-Ford-F150-Custom-F250-F350-Bronco-Dash-Instrument-Cluster-Radio-Bezel/274488085308?epid=1528534502&hash=item3fe8c3cb3c:g:lysAAOSw3WZfV~JD David - That's a good idea, but as it turns out I believe I have what I need. And, by the way, Cinamon is a lady. Looking over my stash I found that I have two instrument bezels that match the radio bezel. They both have the same ID # on them, E0TB-10045C90-B, but the top one has the screw holes and slot for the fog lamp switch. There's nothing sacred about that bezel as it would be easy to put those holes in the other one if someone wanted a fog light switch. So I'm thinking about using it and saving the other one. That means I'll not only put screw holes in it to secure the gauges but I'll have to cut out the "pocket" to get the wires and tubes through for the gauges on the right. In fact, I'm thinking of slotting the bottom of the bezel right below the pocket so I can remove and re-install the bezel w/o pulling the senders out of the engine. Thoughts?

Scott - The guide is just for admins as we are the only ones that can edit the site. But as much trouble as I had remembering how to do it, I just had to document it. Rob - The emoticon you used is named "thinking". IOW, when you hover over it or when you click on it you'll see that's its name. But to me it is looks more like "duh" or "doh". And since we now have one called "thinking" I'd like to rename it. What do you think it should be?

I believe all F150's have 31-spline axles. I'll do more checking

Congrat's!!! Glad you got it running. Keep on truckin!

Ok, here's an update. I've figured out where I'd put the emoticons that we've added, and that was on a hidden page on the web site. It is called, oddly enough, Smilies. I've now un-hidden it and you can see it in the menu under Bullnose Forum. And the reason for un-hiding it is twofold. First, because I couldn't find it last night so don't want to lose it again. Second, because everyone can use the smilies on it - even if they aren't included in the smilie drop-down above. How do you do that? Simple - go to the Smilie page and right-click the smile you want to use. Then click Copy Image Address. Then click Insert Image and paste that into the Or Copy An Image From The Internet area, but make sure to replace the code that is already in there. Is it difficult?

Interesting truck. And I like the flat bed. Clean interior. Nice wheels.

LOL! So, you are happy? I wrote a "how to" in the Administrative section to remind me how to do this. You might take a look and see if it makes sense to you.

Many of them are stock Nabble emoticons. As for a transparent background, I'm not following. I've cropped the image down to a rectangle just barely including the face and hand. So the only "background" is in the corners. Or am I missing something? :nabble_thinking-26: But we can change out the picture if we find one better.

That is very good! I added it to the Resources folder: Bullnose Forum/Resources/Installing Rear Windows.

This video does a good job of explaining how to install a rear window: