kramttocs

I took today and tomorrow off to get some stuff done around the house but ended up spending this morning at the JY since the weather was so nice. There was a new F250 and Bronco there since last time. The Bronco had some decent options so grabbed another tach cluster and clock. The F250 though....it wasn't much to look at but had one little piece that made my day (doesn't take much I guess). I've seen a few speed senders/signal generators as well as jy trucks that have the add-on speed control, but I've never seen a sender like this. The black end (threaded over male threads on the sender) slips directly onto the speedometer gauge. The other end, as seen in the photo, matches the speedometer gauge connection so the white clip on the speedometer cable latches to it. So this sender lives inside the dash vs in the engine bay or near the transmission/tcase. The reason this is exciting is because of the GVOD and the number of wires I have going through the grommet (gutted EFI grommet) as well as the future wires I am planning to run through there. Right now that grommet is packed tight. Currently there are two senders down at the overdrive for the GVOD and factory speed control, along with a coupler and short speedometer jumper to make up for the added overdrive length. This will allow me to almost directly connect the new sender to the GVOD control box behind the dash, remove a cat6 sized wire from the grommet and clean up the cable down by the overdrive. That cat6 sized wire being removed will allow a handful of light gauge wires to be passed through there. I installed it tonight, hooked up some test jumper wires and ran the drill on the speedometer cable to confirm the GVOD engaged at the correct speed - which it thankfully did. If anyone has seen a sender like this and knows the part number, please share. I don't blame you if you don't find this all that exciting Other than that, I've been giving Chanute some much needed attention so will probably start a thread on it soon.

No more cutting out on you though?

Summit's customer service is one of the best I've ever dealt with. Glad to hear they went above and beyond!

To me that is as much or more a benefit as the extra brightness. I left my hood open for a few hours at the show the other weekend and it was nice to not worry about the light (heat) being left on the while time.

I really like the idea of printing a snap on guard for it. I don't see why it wouldn't work. Sadly I am having a bear of a time getting ABS to print without lifting. That may be a fun winter project.

I don't envy seeing your inbox

Glad to have you back Jim!

Excellent! Thanks for those test and providing another option for users. I have that one saved in my cart. Where is the temp difference after X minutes test though? That #90 gets blistering hot in no time.

Welcome! Glad you joined and looking forward to seeing your Broncos. Don't know if I've seen a Bronco with a plow on it before

Congrats on the purchase! Never knew Espy had them. To both of you- I would be really interested to know how the wiring is hooked into the truck. Piggyback on windows/locks or directly to the fuse block? For those that have these (or photos of them) a picture heavy thread about them would no doubt be interesting to a lot of readers.

That really is beautiful!

The different boots I've bought for the starter, alternator, and isolator were from Zoro and Amazon. Amazon had the Fastronix 5/16" - 1/4" Stud Terminal Covers I bought most of my magnalug stuff from Zoro and those covers were: Terminal Protector, Plug-In, PVC, Red, PK5 Terminal Protector, Red, 4 Ga Stud, PK5 Terminal Protector, Battery 1-2 Ga, PK5 I am not positive I used some from all of them though. I agree - those terminals are just right there waiting for something to happen. I like the shield idea. One thing that surprised me was how warm that thing gets when engaged. It makes sense but wasn't expecting it the first time.

Oh the things that truck has seen...

Very neat! And really like those in the wild photos Shaun. Had no idea what the switches looked like or the 'guide' that semi-tucks the wiring away on the outside.

So I'll wait and see what he tells me. EDIT: THE CAP BELOW DOES NOT FIT! And on the cap, I'm going with this one from Amazon. I really liked the Mr. Gasket one years ago until I found that their stuff is junk. But this one looks pretty good. Siri says 13 psi is .9 bar: I really like that cap! On the radiators - I could be wrong but unless you go with something like RonDavis, I am guessing they are all going to be the same (aside from core count) regardless of what brand they are sold under. Happy to be proven wrong. Edit: don't take this the wrong way. I don't mean at all that I think they aren't any good - again, really happy with mine. I just don't think I'd worry too much about the name or reviews for the specific brand/seller.

You are absolutely right about the megafuse. That is a good consolidation feature for those that have it. Did a little wiring on the truck last night. I want to run half of the new box's relays off the main battery for flexibility just like I have the other box split in half between batteries. Since I already had a 1/0 cable from the main battery going to the Smart Isolator near the brake booster, made sense to use it instead of running another one since the odds of overloading that cable are slim. The problem was that with the magnalug on the 1/0 there wasn't any room on the isolator's stud to add the 2awg terminal that would go to the ssVEC. There was barely enough room for the 1/0 terminal and still have threads leftover. Ordered a solenoid stud repair post that is basically a standoff. Screwed this on in place of the nut, installed the 2awg terminal and then installed the nut. Didn't show the last two steps since the terminal cover hides them. This part number was AB-506D. This is for the fine thread but they also have a coarse thread offering. These are marketed for tractor applications. Another edge case not really worth mentioning I know but I may run into this again in a year and need the number

Originally I wanted to go with a Champion but after doing some research and talking to one of their distributors I found out that they import theirs now*. Because of that and assuming they are all now made in the same place I went with one off eBay from one of the larger auto parts sellers. The price of the eBay one (with the fans/shroud) was about $30 cheaper than the Champion one (no fans/shroud). Even though I didn't, and still don't, plan to use the shroud I figured it might come in handy for something so why not. So to sum it up - for a similar price you can choose between a shroud/fans vs warranty. I would recommend reading through the Champion warranty to see what is/isn't covered and what voids it. I looked over the eBay one really closely when I got it and was satisfied. The welds all looked really good. Only issue I had was with some galling when installing the auto trans cooling line adapter but that's on me. Just my personal experience and decision making process. *If anyone has heard differently, do let us know.

In the 86 I have a 3 row aluminum that came with the shroud and two fans (though I am using the stock shroud and fan). I looked into the 4 rows but I couldn't find a real need for it in my case. No complaints at all with the 3 row one.

Very nice! Non-headliner with no cracks at the top screw hole.

Looking forward to seeing the results of your bulb test. Add them here if you want: http://forum.garysgaragemahal.com/Underhood-Work-Light-LED-Replacement-tp59373.html

Good point - the RTRW one was actually in a DC package also.

Was thinking the same thing and put a watch on it Will be really interested to see what it goes for.

Another option (where I got mine): https://www.rubbertherightway.com/1986-ford-truck-restoration-parts-87071-prd1.htm D7TZ-1042430-KIT

Love that scenery!

I've seen a couple mentions of them as factory but like you're saying Dave, it may only be dealer. That's why I am curious about the door sticker since I would think if a truck came off the line with them, the front weight value would reflect that. I know there were some oddball c&c's where the door tag matched the unusualness.