Gary Lewis

Bill - You did post on phpBB, and apparently the pic loaded easily? How did the pic loading on there compare with that on InVision?

Yes, and having that capability at the end of a long day on the trail is very welcome. You'll like having the new compressor.

Ok, now for what I did with my truck yesterday. Steve/FoxFord33 and I took Big Blue and the trailer to Stillwater to retrieve a Mercury Mountaineer he bought for parts. We got a late start and an even later return, 11 PM, but we made it. I'll let Steve tell y'all why it took so long - if he wants to. Big Blue wagged the trailer just fine, but we had three problems relating to Big Blue that I'll be working on: Front Bumper: The gentleman Steve bought the Mecury from didn't have a key, so we had to drg it onto the trailer with the winch - all four tires sliding. It was a big strain for the winch and something shifted in the bumper/winch mount as we did it. So I have to check that out and fix it, whatever it is. Chuckling Noise: Lately I've been having a chuckling noise on rough roads that sounds like plastic rubbing again metal. And last night we had plenty of rough roads. But I think I've sorta found the source of the noise - the steering column. If I pull up, push down, or otherwise put force on the steering wheel I can pretty well stop the noise. And if I put my fingers at the base of the wheel where it goes into the metal collar of the column I can feel movement between them that coincides with the noise. So either the wheel itself or something in the column is apparently making that noise. Clutch Safety Bypass: I got that thing installed just before Steve said "let's go" and I'll swear it worked in the shop. But when I tried to start it in neutral last night w/o pushing in the clutch it wouldn't do it. So I have to figure out why.

Not a dumb question. The bulbs twist into openings on the instrument motherboard. I think there are 5 of them. They are T10 type bulb, meaning that they go into a holder and the holder twists into the motherboard. The ones I used are shown here at HIPO. The HIPO bulbs are bi-directional, meaning you can put them in either way and they work. Some cheaper bulbs only work one way and you then have to take the cluster out of the truck and turn those that didn't come on around to get them to light. It is a pain as removing the cluster isn't the easiest thing you've ever done. HIPO also has the paint for the needles, and you should paint them while you have the dash apart. I drove the truck quite a ways in the dark last night and was very pleased with the dash lighting. I love the HIPO bulbs - without the blue filters that were on the bulbs from the factory.

Bummer on the language bit. I hope that the change Chris made sorts that, at least for now. And yes, I agree that the picture loading is much easier than Nabble. Have you tried it on phpBB?

Thanks, Chris. Bill - I've emailed you the new password for InVision.

Thanks for the pic. That does look good. I like the HIPO LED bulbs for the instrument lights. You can see the results of my testing here.

I've used it many times, and like it. But I don't use their brush-on top coat. I just spray on the paint of my choice while the base POR15 is tacky. I've had very good luck with that.

Got the LEDs in & installed, and then the whole thing buttoned up - just in time to maybe take BB & the trailer to Stillwater with Steve/FoxFord33. So no pictures yet. But I also got the 1/2" wide black-on-clear tape for the Brother label maker, so will add a label like "Clutch switch bypass" on the bezel before taking the pic. Maybe Monday. And, there's a "bonus". I'd realized before I did it that since the LED is hot when the key is on, if you push the clutch down it'll light as the clutch switch will connect the negative side of the LED to the starter relay's coil. Obviously the .03A of the LED is no where near the 3.5A needed to pull the starter relay in, but the relay is enough load to light the LED. Not sure I like that, but I'll bet I get used to it.

Looks like it'll work great. (However, you may not need it this round in Moab.)

Show us a pic at night?

I understand the "enough for today" bit. I'm almost there. Anyway, glad you got the dash back together. And you used an LED for the headlight and wiper switch illumination? How did that work out? And the JB Weld worked on the hood?

Ok, we are sort of ready to test both phpBB and the InVision platforms. You can get to either of them via those links or by going to the Test Forums item in the menu above. Neither of those platforms knows anything about you so you'll have sign up for them. And for simplicity I'd suggest that you use your current handle/screen name from here. That way we'll know to whom we are replying. Also, I've created a new sub-forum called New Forum Platform Discussions. It looks like a folder on the main page, and I've moved this thread into it. Plus I've created threads for discussing the InVision and the phpBB platforms. The game is ON! Please have a play with both of them and let us know what you think. And, I don't remember what the joining process is for either of them, so when you join please document what you had to do and how it went for you.

This thread is going to be about testing the phpBB platform.

This thread is going to be about testing the InVision forum platform.

Jeff - I think I understand what you are saying. But I don't think any platform will make it easy to do what you are wanting. I believe it is up to the "writer" to decide how to organize things. In my case Big Blue's Transformation thread was about anything I did to make him what I wanted him to be. And, as you suggested, one day I was working on "this" and on another day I was working on "that". So if the writer has a thread like that then the only way to read up on what was done on the engine is either to summarize all of that when the work is over, or give links to the discussions about it in the "big" thread. Or both - summarize and put in links to the discussions. On the other hand, I could have chosen to only discuss the engine in an Engine thread, and the transfer case in a Transfer Case thread. I did some of that with a thread on the cameras with the thread Installation Of A Pormido 998 Mirror/Camera System and the thread on Clutch Switch Bypass For Big Blue. And while there were a few others, they were the exception. So please tell me what you have in mind? How can the platform fix this?

Bill - If you mean the one that entitled "Big Blue" instead of "Big Blue's Specs" then that's supposed to be readable. But the Spec's version is what I have laminated and post with the truck at shows. As far as doing something like that for Darth, sure. But since we don't know what forum platform we are going to use we don't yet know how well a Word document can be pasted in and retain its format. It seems to work well with InVision, as shown on my two documents. Jim avoids any embedded document, and others have problems with them as well, so creating it in Word and then pasting it in should work nicely.

Slane - You may have missed the email I sent you asking you to go to the New Members Start Here, read the guidelines, and then post an introduction there before posting elsewhere. We do that because we will hold you to the guidelines so want to ensure you've had a chance to see them. We will wait to respond to your question until you've done that step.

Jeff - There are times in Big Blue's transformation that I wanted to document what I was doing w/o comment, but usually I was looking for input, suggestions, etc. So my thinking is that I might go back and transform the Word document I have, which is embedded in the first post in that thread, and put the info from the document directly in a post or posts. That's because several have said the embedded document doesn't work for them. I just tested that on our InVision test forum by copying the text from the file called Big Blue's Spec Card and pasting it into a reply. Go check it out here.

Testing the blog feature would be nice. If such blog can be structured in “chapters” or sub-subjects, this could be nice for posting a rebuild storyline, for example. Or a trip story, split in visited places. Welcome, Jim. But thanks really goes to Chris. Jeff - I added "Blog, or some ability to put together a story w/o interruption. Lock/unlock?" to Ought To Haves. But does that capture what you were saying? On the chapters, are you saying that something like Big Bro could have a main thread or blog and then beneath that could have chapters on the 3G alternator, etc? In other words, tell me more? And I've added some Nice To Haves about editing and emoticons.

Yes, when we are ready.

Jim - Thanks for the response. I think we have you covered, but you tell me. And in case you can't see it, we have these in Must Haves: Pics: Picture posting that is easy - and preferably that auto-rotates the pic prior to posting. Links: Easy to post links No server outages or over-capacity messages And this in Nice To Have: Not open a new tab in the browser when making a reply Ability to save draft replies Do those address your issues? If not, what changes need to be made?

UPDATE: Chris is going to put phpBB up and we'll be able to test both it and InVision in parallel - at least for a bit while the month's rent is still ticking on InVision. So please stand by to test and let us know what you think. Meanwhile I've created a spreadsheet where we can score what we observe in the testing. You can see that at Platform Comparison under Test Forums. (You may have to refresh your browser to see it in the menu.) And there's a Costs tab where I'm attempting to quantify all the costs associated with the website and forum. On the features to test bit, I need your input ASAP. What are you looking for? How would you rate that feature, meaning Must Have, Ought To Have, or Nice To Have? We need to know what we are looking for.

Right, Jim. I ordered this Standard Motor Products PS-64 Oil Pressure Switch from Amazon and it worked fine. On the speedo, I put a new cable in and still had bouncing. I lubed the new cable with varying things, to no avail. I finally lubed it with Mobil 1 synthetic wheel bearing grease, the red stuff, and it took most of the bounce out. That was probably 10K miles ago and it is still working fine, cold or hot.

Thanks, Bill. That's what he needs to know - 1991 or earlier.