Gary Lewis

I didn't find them on the Earls site, unless you mean the tubing separator and I doubt that. But I'll look some more. However, I assume you are talking about something that would clamp on the crossmember and provide a gentle turn to the hoses. Yes?

Very nice truck. I like everything but the blue light in the cab, but that is easily changed. Oh yes, the round headlights in square doors seem out of place. I realize the next year some of them came with rectangular headlights, and the year after all did. But to me that one thing is jarring. I don't know why it is since all the trucks prior to that had round headlights. In fact, most vehicles did. But now, it bothers me.

How would you do that, Jim? What chemicals would you use? I ask selfishly 'cause the engine oil cooler on Big Blue is easily seen through the grille and I'd wondered about painting it black but then remembered that would reduce the heat transfer. But I don't think anodizing would, or at least not much.

Exactly. So we shall see what it appears I need to do to get the hoses to lay/run where I want them to. But a question for y'all. In this lame/poor drawing the round thing represents the Sky crossmember and the other the oil cooler and hose. And we are looking at it from the side. Fortunately the crossmember will protect the hoses, but I wonder if there's a good way to lash the hoses to the crossmember to support them. Yes, I can put zip ties there, but is there something else that would work better?

I wish you luck! Take lots of pics, please. As for not noticing the difference with a Borgeson, the one I just put on Big Blue is the one that was on him when I got him. And I honestly never realized that there was no rubber biscuit in the steering linkage. So I don't think you'll be bothered by it either.

Yes, cool story! Love it! And I'm sure glad you kept your truck. As for the "little expense", you can spend a ton on Blackie and still be far less than a new truck. Speaking of the new Bronco, Janey told me today that we are w/in 3 payments of having Blue paid off. So I asked her if that meant I could then buy a new Bronco. I think she thought I was crazy, but then she realized I wasn't serious. At least I don't think I am. But I will admit that I do spend more time on the computer than working on my truck these days. Fortunately we have a lot of really capable people who are helping answer questions, so I am getting a bit done.

See, even that fits in "Lighting".

I understand. Trust me, I really understand. Enjoy it.

Scott - I see what you are saying. The steering box is very much in the way. Bill - And yours run straight back as well. Ok guys, I'm sold. But I'm going to put it up on the lift tomorrow and see how the hoses might run. However, my barbs come straight out, so I'm wondering if I should put 45s or 90s on them. We shall see how things might best run. Thanks.

Awesome! Man, that turned out great! I'll bet that is better than you even dreamed. And it looks like Lesley agrees. She sure has a big smile.

How do they come off the engine and to the frame? It appears they run down the frame, but how do they get there? Any guidance on that or pictures thereof?

Thanks, Bill. Those are the same mounting points I'm looking at using. This illustration shows how it was mounted from the factory, and the fittings are screw-on. I'll be using hose and hose barbs. But I will try to bring the hoses in the way this shows However, there's lotsa "stuff" around the frame and it is going to be a pain finding a clear run for the hoses. Do you have a pic of where yours run from the adapter on the engine to the frame?

Yes, that's a small-block ZF5. And it is a 4wd version.

Yep, I think you are right. In fact, the way I have the cooler in the pictures is literally up against the condenser, and it probably shouldn't be. So when I get the right rubber-padded clamps in I'll make sure they hold the cooler off the condenser and then figure out how much to cut off the back of the grille so it clears the cooler. And while I'm cutting on the back of the grille I think I'll see if I can clean up some of the mess left by http://www.garysgaragemahal.com/uploads/6/5/8/7/65879365/florida-man-42_orig.jpg. As you can see in this pic, it is a mess! So maybe I can get it on the mill and clean it up some. But, I also see in the lower right of the pic that there is at least one separator that is broken. Obviously this is no virgin grille. And while I was looking at this pic of the back of the grille I saw the nuts holding the Ford emblem on, which reminded me of my thought of painting the grille black. It would be easy to remove the emblem, spray it black, and put it back. But I wonder how a blue Ford emblem will look in a fully-black grille? I gave away the old grille off Dad's truck, but the 80/81 grille might have looked better than an 82/86 grille. Thoughts, ya'll?

Yes, it sure would. The existing shaft might work, but the one with the ZF is more likely to do so.

Yep, it is meant to be used. So I'm not too worried that the grille was hacked up. Still.... But, what did you mean by "Clearance Clarence"? Are you suggesting I should cut the back of the grille to give clearance to the cooler? Or?

You can speak for me any time, Jim. I'd be right more often that way. Find "two" what? Breakers to see if they'll fit in the PCM? I looked at mine yesterday, and the factory breaker that I have in my PDB for the headlights fits in a maxifuse slot.

Cory - Yes, a ZF5 has PTO covers, as shown here in the oval. Note that the tranny in the pic is either for a 460 or a diesel as it has the boss for the clutch slave, pointed to by the arrow. Small-block ZF5's have a slave that is concentric to the input shaft and there's no boss for the slave on the outside. Chad - You will need the taller cover from the other truck if the tranny is a ZF5 as the lower cover won't clear. And it would be good to get the crossmember and the associated gussets. If you use your existing crossmember it will need to be moved to the rear about 1", and while drilling new holes in the bottom of the frame for the crossmember itself isn't all that hard, drilling them in the top of the frame is a huge pain. But the ZF crossmember should make it a lot easier. On the wiring, I think the ZF uses the same backup light connector as the other transmissions. At least the connector on Big Blue seemed to work.

Yes, Nabble says they've been hit by spammers, which is taking a lot of CPU cycles on the server. On the other hand, there is progress on the attempt to run Nabble on another a server in the wild. As for Big Blue, there was some progress today: Really, this is just a mock up to see how the engine oil cooler and the grille will get along. You can see the large aftermarket oil cooler on the driver's side, but I've oriented it in the factory position rather than the horizontal position used by . Turns out the grille touches the cooler when it is snugged down, but not very hard so I think it'll be fine. As for mounting, I'm going to use rubber-lined stainless clamps to go from the tops of the tubes to the holes in the radiator support you can see in this pic - which I suspect are the factory holes for the 460's engine oil cooler. And I'll use another one on the bottom tube with a standoff back to the radiator support. Then I turned to the hoses going from the engine to the cooler. The ones that were on BB have no markings, so I don't know if they are heater hose, oil cooler hose, or what. So I ordered 12' of Hayden Automotive 112 Engine Oil Cooler Hose. Last, here's what the back side of the grille looks like after had his way with it. That's such a shame as the grille appears to have been in good condition prior to his butchering it. I'm seriously considering painting the grille black, but I wish I had a better or different grille to do that to. The hacks are visible through the grille from the front, but perhaps if it was all black they might not be? Thoughts?

Good point, David!

Thanks, Jim. I missed that question. Yes, auto-reset is what most automobile manufacturers use on headlights as you do not want to be fumbling in the dark to manually reset one. Here's one I've used before:

Jim - Does it look right after I collapsed this one to be like the one in the link?

That's a classic starter-dragging issue. The bearings on the starter get worn and when the starter gets hot the armature is just large enough from expansion that it drags. But when it cools it shrinks just enough to miss. For a while. Not all starter tests will find that, but most will if they spin it for a bit and let it warm up.

Yes. All of the transmissions have two versions - 2wd and 4wd. The former have a tailshaft housing that goes way back and has a rear seal, bearing, etc. But the 4wd vs has a place on which to bolt the t-case and a splined output shaft that engages the t-case. And you can't just unbolt the tailshaft housing from the 2wd and bolt a t-case on.

Is it family or ice cream that come first? Seriously though, Bob, I gotta see it in the daylight! Show us some pics, maybe with ice cream?