Gary Lewis

What is your degree in? Production/operations management sounds like something I should have had for my career in IT as I would up managing a rather large infrastructure, meaning mainframes, desktops, networks, and help desks. In other words, "operations". Anyway, glad it'll be easy. And, glad you'll get to work on the truck.

I think you may have made major progress. The two balls in the accelerator pump circuit could cause problems as w/o the weight the bottom ball probably wouldn't seal. And a leak there can really make the mix rich. I'm anxious to see what you find at highway speeds.

Yep: E0TZ 19893-B R.H 1980/ F-U100/250 - - A/C (dealer installed)

Jim - If I remember correctly I only have one "lifting eye" and it is already powder coated. But, I can ground the alternator to the block to ensure the charging system is well grounded. I'll do that and document it in Big Blue's Transformation thread. As for grounds for diagnostics, those abound given all the grounds I have from fenders to cab, fenders to radiator support, batteries to fenders, and batteries to frame.

Yes, I think you may be correct. However, while we know the tach will work, will the rest of the cluster? Are the lights above the same? I don't know that I've heard one way or another. Do you know?

David - I think I actually have that shirt. So I'll pass. But thanks. Scott - Yes, I thought it was a neat find and a good buy. We are dreaming of going to Colorado in September or October, and that jacket would be good for that. And, although Janey doesn't know it, I'm dreaming of taking Big Blue on that trip. Probably no chance of getting it completely ready, but......

Yes, you may have the right printed circuit. And yes the Broncos are the same. But no other vehicles were from what I know. And 1980 is slightly different in that the turn signal and other lights were in different spots. But that can be changed if you find an '80 printed circuit with tach.

Yeah, I'm not sure about the 90's being a loose fit. But it is a gift to myself. Janey was sitting right beside me, you both know where, as we listened to it rain and we drank our tea/coffee. And she said "Buy it." I asked if she was serious and she said "Yes." I didn't ask again.

In a word, "poorly". Which has me wondering if that 3G you sent me is gonna work. But at least I'll have plenty of battery power for breaking in the cam if it doesn't.

Interesting! I've never seen one like that. But, it is no longer available.

You are right, David! I missed that his is an '86. In '86 Ford did away with the idiot lights and all trucks came with gauges. As for the printed circuits, as the snippet below shows there were two different ones. And while the catalog clearly shows that -C was for trucks w/o a tach, I've seen many clusters that had that printed circuit but didn't have a tach. My guess is that at some point Ford realized that it made no sense to have two different printed circuits when they probably cost exactly the same, and dropped the -C. But I can't prove that. (Note the catalog also shows that the -A is for 1981 through 1986 trucks w/o gauges, but there weren't any such trucks in '86.)

Good idea, David. But you could do the same on the positive cable as well.

Maybe. First, tachs weren't installed as part of a trim line like XL or XLT. They were an option that could be had on any trim line. But there were two different clusters from 1980 - 85: with gauges and without gauges. Those w/o gauges can't have the tach added very easily. Those with gauges have one of two printed circuits: with tach & w/o tach. If yours has the holes in it for the tach then all you need is the tach. If not, then you need the tach and the proper printed circuit. We have a page on tachs (Documentation/Electrical/Tachometers) but it doesn't really cover this. So I need to upgrade it.

I think I can relate, David. Our daughter, SiL, and grandtwins left last night to their new home in Charleston, SC. They've been living in Nicaragua building medical clinics, but when the virus hit had to come back to the States. In fact, that was the second time they had to return as the unrest there two years ago had them come live with us for several months. Dublin reminded us a lot of London, where we lived for a while. I'll bet they like it there, but I sure understand how you feel. I assume your son & family has to go into quarantine for a fortnight - right? (That's 14 days, which he'll soon learn if he doesn't already know.) I know the UK is requiring that now. Old Testament writings, and a focus on Job sounds intense. Job is a very interesting book, especially since we don't know who wrote it nor exactly where it was set. And apparently it predates the Mosaic Law. Anyway, at least you had them living with you for a while. We will always remember the times the kids stayed with us.

On the voltage, and I know you already have it hooked up, there are two schools of thought. Mine is that I want to know what the voltage of the battery is, not what voltage I have in the cab. And there's a big difference. The cab voltage will vary significantly depending on what you have turned on, like the A/C or lights. That's because Ford used fairly small wires to bring the power to the cab, so there's voltage drop when things are on. Anyway, just my thoughts. On the oil pressure, that's pretty easy. The factory sending unit should be down by the fuel pump and you can put a tee in to run both the factory unit as well as the aftermarket one. But the water temp is a different story as you shouldn't use a tee. The sending units need to be in the stream of coolant to get an accurate reading, and if you use a tee they are well out of the stream. But, some times you have options. Some engines have a second port on the thermostat housing. Yes, that's after the thermostat so you won't see the true engine temp until after the thermostat opens, but once it opens the two gauges should be seeing the same temperature of coolant.

What's the line? If that's a compliment I thank you! Seriously, I got the "great job" and "well done" in the replies, and I definitely thank you. But I've also received comments that these will lower my cg significantly! It is a little heavy (about 50 lbs by my calculations), but no heavier than the aftermarket rocker guards I bought a while back but couldn't use (they were intended to screw to the stock rockers, and mine were already too rusted away for that). And yes, it is stout! Yep, that was Dad's line. But he usually said it when he knew full well it wasn't intended as a compliment. Anyway, I like stout, especially in something that's to protect the vehicle. And if you can get those bad boys solidly connected to the vehicle they'll certainly protect it. Plus, you will have good jacking points.

Thanks, Jim. They need all the help they can get.

They look great! Well done! The curves and the fish-mouths make it look professional. And, it is stout. As for welding vs adhesive, I can easily see the debate, and I think welding will be great.

Bummer! Sorry about that!

Good idea, Shaun. I wish we had. I'm off U-Fall. That was my family, and my grandkids, they put in danger.

Douglas - You might want to edit your post and take out the address. I don't want my address out on the internet. But that's your call. Anyway, on the issue you are having, it sounds like one of your battery cables is bad. Put your volt meter's positive cable on the battery-side stud on the starter relay and the negative lead on the engine block. Do you have power? Does it go away when you turn the key to Start?

Haven't done anything to my truck today, but loaded the 20' U-Haul the kids rented to take them to Charleston, SC. We were under an excessive heat warning, so it wasn't fun, be we got it loaded and they took off with the Subie following. And stopped 100' away as my daughter told her husband that she saw something on one of the tires. I was watching so went down there and wound up sliding under. This is the inside of the LR inside tire. How many of you want to rent from U-Fall? Two hours and 15 minutes later they actually left.

Thanks, but no. At present everything is covered. However, the future is uncertain and there may be an opportunity. My hope is that we get Nabble running on a commercially-managed server. I don’t think that will cost very much, but I don’t know yet. Thanks again for offering.

Sorry for the late response - the server was over capacity. Anyway, I fully understand that you don't need notification that the forum is up or down. And I really understand about the shared email. Janey and I did that for the longest time - until the traffic from the forum got too onerous for her.

Yes, welcome! At 67 you are young - I'm 73 and there are at least two others on here older than I am. But I've not had to have a hip replacement so all I can say, having watched others do it, is to heed the therapist's instructions. My brother thought he was tough and didn't, and paid the price. On your truck, if you only have 5.3 volts at the battery you'll have to charge it to get it started. And you'll probably need to replace the starter relay on the fender as it is apparently welded shut. That happens, but sometimes that's because you have a bad cable or connection. Other times the starter itself is bad and drawing way too much current. And Dave is right, we have a map (Bullnose Forum/Member's Map in the menu) and I can add you if you give me a city or zip code.