Gary Lewis

I think it looks great. And it'll sure be a whole lot more solid than what you had.

For $8 delivered it is hard to beat that set of tools. And they should work on the EFI fuel lines as well as A/C lines.

Our page on Documentation/Fuel Systems/Air Cleaners says that at 10 degrees you'll be getting straight hot, and at 90 degrees you should be getting straight cold. And in between a mix.

Wow! $3000!!!! You can buy a running truck for that! But glad you got the problem solved with the idle.

That IS a nice find. Hope it fires right up.

I don't know the exact name. I just Googled "electrical terminal removal tool" and found this set of tools on Amazon. Don't know if this would work on the ones on our trucks though. Yes, it goes over the pointy end and folds the wings in.

Rob - What do you mean by "stove pipe entrance"? On the brakes, until you get them bedded there will be some drag. But, you did lube the slides on the calipers, right? These calipers aren't known for sliding over and centering up nicely, so they need all the help they can get. And it sounds like the engine is smoothing out. I wouldn't be worried about it. Drive it!

Rob - It looks fantastic! Love it! On the vent windows, we have instructions from the Factory Shop Manual here: Documentation/Body/FRONT DOOR WINDOW GLASS & MECHANISMS. On the exhaust, I love Magnaflow mufflers, so I'd recommend one of those.

I think it will hold that easily. But I don't have any data to back that up. Perhaps on the pages I linked to below there is info on that? However, you could drill and tap the 4x4 to suck the inner rocker down against it. Or, do as I did, and use big pop rivets to pull them together. I used Marson 3/16" stainless rivets with a grip range of .062 to .270" to do that. And by having the adhesive already in between the parts I knew that the holes would be sealed. The adhesive I used was SEM DUAL-MIX™ MULTI-PURPOSE PANEL ADHESIVE Part #39747. But SEM also makes DUAL-MIX™ STRUCTURAL IMPACT RESISTANT ADHESIVE Part #39757 which might be a better fit. However, they both require use of a special gun, and you'll need to borrow one of those or buy it, and I think they may be expensive.

There's really nothing to worry about. The pin will look something like the one below, where the red arrows point to the "wings" I mentioned. The one in the pic has several of them but the Ford ones usually have 2 or 3. If they aren't catching, just bend them out slightly so they'll catch in the connector when slipped in. As for how you get them out, you use the tool at the top, which presses the "wings" in and lets you pull the pin out.

Isn't it amazing how many rivets there are?!?!? On the video, the way I do it is to upload it to Youtube, get the embed code from them, tick the "Message is in HTML Format" box in the upper left, and paste the code into my post.

Yes, yes, and yes. But I wasn't sure when you were going. Nor that the HF you went to was there. In any event, hope you can get the work done on your truck.

Cool! For fixing it, if you pull the wire and pin/socket out there should be a "wing" on each side of the pin/socket that snap into a recess in the connector. If you GENTLY bend those wings out SLIGHTLY it should go in, snap, and stay.

Well, Amazon didn't quite the the connector tool set here last night, but they did get it here this morning. So after church this happened: That orifice tube is not nearly as bad as one I was shown earlier in the week, but the evaporator still needed flushed. So I gave it some brake cleaner and then air and the brake cleaner didn't come out. Sorta like there was oil in the bottom that it merged with. So I hit it again with brake cleaner and sloshed it and that time I got some out, but it was with dirty oil. We did that a few times until it seemed I was getting out what I put in and it was fairly clean. So then I switched to the real A/C system flush and that brought out more oil. So we did that dance several times. But after texting with Brandon I just poured a slug of cleaner in and capped the evaporator. I'll let it sit overnight to see if it softens anything up. And, by the way, the connector tool Brandon put me on to worked a treat. The green one was exactly the right size and with a bit of oil and working it back and forth it came off fairly easily. But, in case someone needs the "how to" on using those tools, here's a page from the 1995 FSM. (Do you think we need this posted some place? If so, where?)

Yes, what you have circled is C305 - but only a part of it. Basically, everything on the steering column goes through that connector. Look here:

Jim - You did go to see your sister! Bill - No fun! But, would the shards stop in the condenser? When I went to talk to the guy about the Subie the other day he had an F150 in there w/a brand new FS-10 on it and he showed me the orifice. WOW! it had metal glitter all over it.

First, your book implies that the ground for your truck is at the right rear light. But it isn't. There's a wire that comes all the way back to under the dash. The 1985 EVTM shows, below, that there's a connector, C305, towards the bottom of the steering column. I'd check the O/LB wire there to see if the switch is feeding power to the lights. If so, it is the wiring and not the switch. If not, it is probably the switch.

I knew you did, Jim. And I expect most people do. Was just explaining in case someone didn't. And I do remember you recommending OEM. But this car's been running an aftermarket radiator cap for years, so I didn't expect there to be a problem. However, I am sure hoping that's the issue. We shall see. Also, there's an exhaust doughnut that has given up the ghost, so I'll get one of those while I'm at Subaru tomorrow. And I'll be squirting the studs for the exhaust with penetrating oil today.

I agree that you wouldn't want to paint your parts and then use the panel adhesive. I was just saying it will stick to paint.

I don't think it'll take you that long to get things in position, but 3M's Panel Boding Adhesive has a handling time of 90 minutes and a curing time of 24 hours. And I don't think you'll need more than maybe 3 C-clamps with the piece of 1" to spread the load. You don't want to squeeze all of the adhesive out. But I used it on painted surfaces. So I don't think you have to get the treatment off.

Inspecting the Stant cap closely I find that the "vacuum valve", as shown in the drawing below, has a stronger spring on it than I remember from other caps. This leads me to believe that it isn't releasing as the system cools, so coolant isn't sucked back into the radiator. For those that might not know, here are three snippets from this site on how the radiator cap is supposed to work:

Yes, that's the right part number, but it says 1980/87 all 8 cylinder engines w/o EEC. Yes, the plate is probably moving fine with vacuum. But it is the electrical connections that are in question. The 1986 EVTM has this testing procedure. Go to Step 6 and sub-step "b". Note the resistance from O/Y to P/LB should be 400 to 1000 ohms, and from either lead to ground should be more than 70,000 ohms. I think if you put your meter on and do those tests things will change when you move the plate via vacuum. Or, if it isn't the pickup wiring, then the ground might be an issue like Jim & Bill have suggested. But something electrical is changing when you apply a vacuum, and it shouldn't.

Looks to me like those are diesel only: And here are the pics from ebay:

Yes, but when the system cools it should pull the coolant back into the radiator. And this one didn't.

Well done, Dave! I know that dance of fitting the carpet, boots, etc. No fun! But you got it done and it looks great. And sounds like a new truck as well. CONGRATS!