fljab

Hi all, I haven't been here for a while. My Bullnose trucks have been sitting. I really need to get down to one of them which would probably be the F100, but it's got rear end issues and a seized wheel bearing. Not a big deal really, both fairly easy fixes, but hasn't been done. I was traveling so much (well, up until this last yr!) and the Bullnose just wasn't keeping up in many ways. I bought a late model, short bed standard cab truck with cruise, AC, and a V8 and basically switched over and parked the older ones. Anyway, wanted to check in. I've been looking at my parts, the extra 300 and 240 engines and know I'd like to get going again. Over at the other forum have been reading posts, some from old Bullnose friends and getting motivated again. Happy New Year and hope it brings good health to everyone as we move forward past the crazy last yr we all just went through, or at least that I went through! See you all down the road. fljab aka Jim in Mims, FL

Exactly. People are all too quick to compare that to a run-of-the-mill $1500 work truck. I guess it's priced high if your goal is to haul firewood, but if you want a restoration platform you could never get a work truck to that level for $7K... not even close. That is a clean truck. 118K miles w/new trans + transfer case. I don't know if he means the engine is just underpowered (which can be fixed), but I like it! Too bad I'm truck poor lol......

Got it. I'll be looking forward to the write up!

I got it running this morning. Could have had it yesterday, but something about being in direct sunlight @90+ degrees made me put off the final bits to this morning. I still need to revamp my cables as I think the grounding system needs help, but it starts and runs and I got it out from in front of the garage door. Mama is happy and that's the big thing! So, how did the International FTE meet go?

I got power back today, so that's good news. On the BW front, I pulled the starter and no, it didn't match up to the one I had as a spare due to the length (auto vs manual). I took it in to the parts place and got a new one, along with the correct battery, solenoid, and some cables and other bits. They did test the starter and it was no good. It failed the "majic smoke" test immediately. I'll get back on it tomorrow. I have the trickle charger on the battery now.

What I'm really going to trust is a visual of the two side by side. The Ford page link also lists them for both engines + 302. I know there is a snout (technical term) length difference of ~3/8. Advance Auto doesn't list separately auto and manual transmission applications, but as I understand it that is why they are different lengths. I ran into that before and didn't notice the lengths and tore up a brand new, not rebuilt starter. I got my money back for it, but lesson learned. From now on will compare side by side regardless of what the computer screen says. It's hard to find good parts people these days, ya know? That makes contributors like Number Dummy priceless in my book. Having lived in Florida well over 30 yrs I have seen and been through some storms. But this one pretty much topped the list. We had another one 10+ yrs ago that dumped as much rain, but none of them were as wide spread as this one. Restaurants and other businesses are just now getting their doors open. My wife stopped at our small town southern style restaurant yesterday and brought home some food. Much better than what we can do on our single burner propane stove for sure. I could go on and on, but bottom line is we were very fortunate vs many people around the state so no complaints.

That's a thought. I could pull the plugs and try to turn it over. It seems far fetched, but that would do it and somewhat easy to check. It was nosed into the wind at the corner of the house, and I can tell you it was pretty wild Sunday night outside. Before I start changing components, I'd like to figure out what is going on. I did go on Advance Auto parts website and looked at starters and the part number for the unused rebuilt starter I have as a spare for the 300 also pops up for the 351W. I need to pull it anyway and clean things up, so if it matches, I think I'll put it in. I've only left the house/property once since last week and that was to get more generator gas from a friend that didn't lose power. My new front yard pond has receded to the point I can get another Festus load of debris! We saw and talked to a power crew from New York earlier today in the neighborhood. They were repairing down lines. They told us FPL will be here "soon" to restore power.

I parked BW sideways across one of my garage doors as a hurricane prep before Irma. It's been starting fine altho sometimes I had to do a charge first and prime the carb, but it would crank and fire up no problem. I got it parked, it was running fairly well. A couple of days later after the storm passed went out to move it back out to it's spot and I can't get it started! Won't even crank. Did the battery charge, no go. Took the battery, new solenoid, and positive cable out of my other '85, nyet. Can barely even get it to make a sound at all. I'm getting power to the solenoid from the ignition, it seems to have enough power in the battery. I guess I need to start on the hard stuff - crawling under neath and cleaning the lead down to the starter, make sure all the grounds are good, maybe even pull the starter and ensure it's mating to the engine right. Jeez, what a pain! Not to mention they had the wrong battery in it (side lugs vs on top, and pos and neg reversed). No hold down clamp (robbed the one from the parts truck). If they could find two different fasteners to attach something, that's the way it was done. The cables are the crappy kind that you clamp the wire down; not sure how to describe it. What puzzles me is it started/cranked fine before, and now nothing. I used to own an Izusu truck that would go through starters. It had a "World Class" which was a cheap rebuild brand from Advance Auto with lifetime replacement. I replaced it 3 times in 60K miles and they would quit suddenly, but that truck was a small one with a 4 cyl and 5 sp manual, so it would push start fairly easily. I got to where I could replace those starters in 10 minutes and kept a special wrench I made in the glove box for the back starter bolt. Dunno, but it looks like a starter system R&R is in my future. Researching parts now. I hate to just start throwing parts at it, but I don't like the looks of some of the things I'm finding done by whoever worked on it last. I have a rebuilt, never used starter for my '85 300 six. Probably not the same one as for a 351W, but it doesn't cost anything to lay them side by side and compare. The worst part of this is it's blocking the garage door. I can't roll it forward because it would run over Mamas prized fig tree and other plants. Can't go backwards because it's angled into the recess for the door. My riding mower is in the garage as are my special county supplied garbage bins that they pick up with a powered arm rig. I'm not sure there's a worse spot for it to be stranded; frustrating for sure.

I don't think so. I've seen them just like this before when I was looking how to mount a compressor for my '81. Can't remember where, but I'm pretty sure it was a parts drawing online somewhere. I don't recall if I've seen one in the JY. Is the firewall a factory AC version? Curious if it could have been a dealer add on, or maybe production lines did it different vs another location? Where's Number Dummy when you need him??

Dang, thanks Gary! By the way, I responded at the bottom post, but it came up in the middle. I'm still trying to figger out this forum!

I have a '81 with a 300 and the SROD and originally had the 2.47. It was "horrific" driving and basically couldn't use 4th gear (OD) except under very narrow circumstances. Like, no hills, no wind, and willing to keep the pedal to the floor most of the time. If this truck has a 3.00 or 3.08, my opinion (for what little it's worth) would be to keep the granny low 4 sp and spend the money on a new/rebuilt transfer case. If the goal is to keep up with 75+ mph traffic on the freeway in a bigger metropolis, then you may want to rethink the situation. I just "putt" in mine, and folks in a hurry just go around me like they do big trucks. My truck is happy now that I changed rear gear to 3.50. The SROD is no heavy duty trans, but for what I'm using it for, is just fine for now. As has been said on FTE, I scored a toploader transmission and thinking to put that in to have a good reliable one under the floorboard. If I do that, then will accelerate looking for, or purchasing a new/rebuilt 3.25 3rd member for the rear end. 300s don't like to rev, and for the way I drive, that should be just fine.

Nice old truck, and Flaresides are getting harder to find. Do your research here and FTE and get started fixing it up!

You have the choice of getting aluminum or composite bowls: https://www.summitracing.com/parts/dem-1901/overview/ https://www.summitracing.com/parts/dem-1900/overview/

As for oversizing a compressor, I'm sure that is very possible. But, the guidance I found helpful was to find your max CFM usage and buy a compressor that will provide twice that volume. That way the compressor will cycle on and off when you are running full-tilt, and during the off phase the air can cool in the tank and the compressor itself can cool. And it is easier to get moisture out of cool air than hot air. That's how I sized my compressor and it has worked remarkably well. I can run my blast cabinet hard and the compressor will still cycle. And I really use the blast cabinet in my restorations as I like to powder coat everything, so every part has to go through the cabinet. True, for a given electrical (or gas) motor, a single stage will put out more, but cfm output is always rated at a certain pressure output and that needs to be considered. Storing compressed air at 150-200 in a given size receiver is still more reserve capacity than storing 110-125. I did a quick comparo online of IR compressors, both 5 hp, 230V, single phase, on upright 60 gallon receivers. The single stage drew 21 amps & put out 18.1 cfm @ 90 psi. The 2 stage drew 28 amps & put out 14.7 cfm @ 175 psi. The 2 stage was also ~$300 more. I see also that screw compressors are as small as 3 hp but are more than triple the price of a comparable 2 stage piston unit. Single stage vs 2 stage is kinda like comparing a F150 to a F250. There is some overlap in engines and capacity, but F250s start out with 351 base engine plus bigger payload and go up from there, while that is getting near the top of the F150 line. If you want to tow a RV for instance, or car trailer, in many cases you can equip a F150 to do what you want for less money, but a F250 would do it in a base model and have way more towing capacity with options not available in a F150. My little pancake HF compressor makes 110 psi or so and has less than a 1hp motor and single stage go up to (?) not sure, but 5 hp or so. 2 stage compressor start at 5 hp and go up to about as much as you want or need. I know this is all moot for your system and what you did works great. That is a good rule of the thumb if you can figure out what you need and double it. Bottom line is single stage compressors are cheaper to buy, operate, and maintain plus put out a reasonable amount of pressure and cfm for most applications we need in our home shops, no argument there.