Rusty_S85

Correct, in the case of exhaust we are talking about radiant heat. Heat that is radiating out from the pipes. You can block this radiant heat with something as simple as a plain metal heat shield and creating an air gap. My problem is how can a company say a thin silver color, not talking about chrome just silver colored coating block radiant heat from leaving exhaust components but a thicker sandpaper texture finish in another color will not block this radiant heat. We aren't talking about a chrome surface, we are talking about a silver ceramic color and like an engine doesn't know the difference between what brand of oil you put in it, your headers won't care what color the ceramic coating is on the outside as it can't see what color it is as the heat is directly acting upon the steel or stainless-steel tubing of the headers themselves. In the case of Jet-Hot they state their thin 1200 series silver coating will block majority of heat escape from the headers but then in the same breath state the thicker 2000 series off-road coating with its sandpaper texture provides no insulation properties to the header and won't block any bit of radiant heat. The thicker, rougher coating is going to act as an insulating blanket compared to a thinner coating, it's like wearing two layers vs one layer and the color won't matter. If you have 1000-degree gas flowing through a steel pipe coating it in white, black, red, or green won't change that the surface will still reach the same temperature as you have the same core temperature within the pipe. Same with headers, if you have 1000-degree exhaust gas it won't matter if your headers are silver, white, or titanium gray they are still exposed to the same temperature gas and will rise to the same top temperature. As far as black is better at transferring heat, there isn't a whole lot of study done in the automotive field but what you will see is that with the shift from copper to aluminum radiators the black painted radiators disappeared. In reality copper radiators were only painted black not because the black transfers heat better but because the radiator looked better longer. If you look up home radiators for heating your home there are numerous studies done that says black is a good color for dissipating heat but even those studies say between non-black colors and the most efficient black color, you are only looking at black being 1% better than the non-black colors. Hardly anything to split hairs about and why you see home radiators for those that still use them painted the same color as the room they are installed in, color while it makes a difference it doesn't make that much of a difference. Now if you are standing out in the sun talking about UV rays then yes, the black color will absorb more of the rays from the sun building up more heat and a lighter color like white which reflects most of the rays from the sun it doesn't absorb as many wave lengths, so it builds up minimal heat. That doesn't apply in the case of a cooling system or an exhaust system because these components are not sitting out in the sun meaning their temperature isn't dependent on how much wavelength of UV rays the components absorb, the temperature is a set temperature which means the color doesn't change a thing. Painting your radiator black or white doesn't change that it will still hit 195 - 220 degrees with a 180 - 195 degree thermostat and it is this temperature indifference with the ambient air temp of sub 105 degree air blowing across these cores that causes the heat to be leached out of the coolant by the heat being leached out of the radiator itself. Doesn't matter what color it is, what matters is the temperature difference this is why in an AC system we raise the high side pressure to 250 - 300 psi to push condenser temperatures to well above ambient air temperature to promote a efficient heat transfer to cool the refrigerant inside. Same with headers, your exhaust is a set temperature of say 1000 degrees, doesn't matter if you paint your steel tubes black or white the finish will reach the same temperature and it will dissipate that heat to the cooler air around it. This is where I don't understand with Jet-Hot how they can say their thinner 1200 series ceramic coating can insulate majority of heat emission from headers but yet their thicker 2000 series off-road ceramic coating doesn't insulate any of the heat emission from headers. This isn't a color thing as we aren't dealing with heat absorption due to how much of the light spectrum a given color is absorbing and generating heat. Even Jet-Hot says their 1200 series coating in black doesn't insulate but their silver color does, a color that is gray till the top shiny coat is applied to make it look silver. Can't tell me that thin coating in silver is going to block 90% of radiant heat from headers but the same thin coating in black is going to block 0% of radiant heat from headers just like their thicker 2000 series off-road coating is going to block 0% of radiant heat from headers. With headers we are coating to insulate the steel tubes to reduce the amount of heat transfer from inside the tubes to the outside of the tubes. Thickness of the insulation is what determines how well heat is kept within not if its silver or black in color. You can paint your radiator, or your air-cooled cylinder block any color you want under the sun, and you will not see one degree change in operation. In fact, if you have a motorcycle that is air cooled, I will probably suggest getting rid of the black painted cylinder head and go with a light color to reduce the amount of heat the cylinder head will be absorbing from UV rays from the sun. Yes, one could argue the black radiates heat outwards but even if you are on a motorcycle going down the highway at 70 mph with a black t-shirt on the absorption of the UV rays from the sun will still make your t-shirt hot even with the air blowing on it. Same principle with the air-cooled engines and their cooling fins, that black even with air blowing across it won't have the ability to cool if the sun is beating down on the black paint forcing your air-cooled engine to not just shed heat from your engine but also heat it absorbed from the sun.

The bluing by the weld, Id keep an eye on that, if I am remembering right thats a sign of too much timing that is causing the ground strap to get hot enough to anneal the metal creating a blue line on the strap at this point.. You are still good as the bluing is above the weld still, but you are at about the limit you can advance your timing before the bluing will disappear from the strap and the ground strap is super heated and has a good chance of causing detonation.

Ive heard horror stories about Autolites but I have used them before, they just arent my prefered plug. I do have a NGK DSII Coil for my truck but I never been a huge fan of NGK for plugs, I do like their O2 sensors how ever. I know some plugs are hard to read the carbon ring, I found out that if you are careful a band saw at the threads can remove the threaded portion and separate it from the porcelain so you can see the band, this is something youd do more with a hot plug that has the porcelain a lot further down and out of view which mine would have. Correct, people dont fully understand that a hot plug has less porcelain in contact with the metal body so it doesnt dissipate heat as easily and a cold plug has more contact to dissipate heat more easily If I change my plugs to another brand when I will most likely destroy this to chop the threaded portion off to inspect the porcelain I dont know what brand I will go with but I will probably stick with copper plugs however as they seem to be highly recommended for daily street use.

You seem to have this backwards. If the alternator can only 'sense' declining battery voltage (or just "normal" -not charging-) battery voltage below it's -usual- 14.35V set point, then it will keep raising output (both amps AND volts) until it sees that. I've seen voltages of 20 and alternators literally smoking because the sense wire failed. or, in your scenario, the fuse, holder, connection, did Think of it like this... What would happen if you put your house thermostat on the outside? The thermostat is divorced from the internal temperature and the AC or heater will continue to run full tilt but never be able to affect what the thermostat is actually "sensing" Almost the moment the megafuse is out of the circuit your battery is going to be headed towards its steady state of 12.6V, even without any loads placed on it. The alternator is going to go full field, and it won't have any battery to absorb the charge. That's a recipe for disaster. And yet all manufacturers state to put the sense wire as close to the battery positive terminal as possible. It was done this way when our trucks were new and it was still done with the 3G in the 1990s. The charge wire is fused between the battery and the alternator and the sense wire is going to be between the battery and the fuse for the charge wire Just like our trucks the sense wire hooks to the solenoid from the regulator and the charge wire has a fusible link in line and it connects to the same battery lug on the starter solenoid. If this charge wire fusible link fails the same situation you speak of would be there, the sense wire is reading battery voltage with the charge wire not providing voltage/amperage to the battery circuit. Even if the battery voltage dropped to 12.6v the alternator will only ramp up output to the voltage set point which on mine is under 14.5v, outside of a regulator failure the alternator would never put out more than 14.5 volts

Yes, aluminum really pulls heat away, plug AFR recommended as a starting point was Autolite 3924 copper plugs. From the Autolite tech sheets I found online there is no clear-cut way to rank Autolite plugs to compare them, but my plug is the 392 family, it is a resistor plug and it is a 4 on the heat range. This family consists of plugs 3922, 3923, 3924, and 3926, so my 3924 plugs are on the hot side of the family range and even summit states for mild small block aluminum head builds the 3924 would be used in many of these applications. I just need to make sure because in my case once I move 90% of my driving will be at 65 - 75 mph on the highway for hours on end turning between 2,400 and 3,000 rpm. So, I might need to go with a 3926 if the aluminum heads, 7 bladed flex fan, and aluminum 2 core radiator draws too much heat out of the plug. On the flip side it might be too hot and I need to go down to a 3923 plug. One thing I found interesting is the 3924 plug translates to a RC12YC champion or a FR5 NGK plug. What caught my eye was the 12Y for champion, my old Fairlane took 14Y Champions when new which sadly is no longer produced since I wanted to keep with champions. Just like these 3924 plugs I tried to find a Motorcraft cross over I prefer Motorcraft plugs over autolites but there is no cross over. Yes, it is good to start with what the manufacturer suggests, they built whatever you are using, and they know a good starting point if not what to use regardless.

Were the headers coated in anything like ceramic coating to help hold off heat? I sent mine out to Jet-Hot and got their 2000 Off-Road coating they told me it doesn't reduce temperatures under the hood like their silver standard 1200 ceramic coating but I don't buy that, it's a thick coating it should provide insulation the way the guy explained it to me it's the silver color that reflects heat a way, don't see how but that's what I was told lol. I personally don't have to worry about vapor lock on my setup since I am going to be going from 6psi to 60 psi fuel pressure when I drop my new engine in. I did however still route my custom bent 3/8" stainless fuel line like the factory that has it exiting under the power steering pump. Pretty good ways away from the header also which should hopefully keep the hot headers from getting sprayed down with fuel in case of a fuel hose failure down the line. That works too with some insulation from temperature as well. I'm going to be snapping the 3/8 stainless hardline I bought from Inline-Tube for my truck into the OE clips on the frame. I'm hoping the clips holding the factory 5/16" line will accept the 3/8" line without breaking. One thing I thought about was doing like late model cars and covering the fuel line on the frame rail in the silver foil backed fiberglass insulation to insulate it from heat as much as possible. But on the flip side pressuring the fuel up to 60 psi generates heat and that could hold heat in more, so I am on the fence on that still. Thats one thing that never made logical sense to me. Chrome is thin and provides no form of insulation, but yet places like Jet-Hot claim their silver ceramic coating reduces under hood temperatures while their non 1200 series silver ceramic coating does not provide any form of reducing under hood temperatures. I just don't see how my 2000 off-road series ceramic coating that is rough like sandpaper won't insulate my headers and keep exhaust heat in better than their thin 1200 series silver ceramic coating. But that is what they say, I could how ever see bright colors reflecting radiant heat away however like a white color reflecting sun rays away to the point that it doesn't absorb enough UV rays to generate enough heat. I just don't see how that works in the case of headers where it's not the outside absorbing radiant heat but the inside that is being exposed to the heat and the outside is supposed to keep the heat in. I avoided the 1200 series silver coating in favor of the 2000 series off-road coating for more durability and temp rating as well as getting the titanium color for a more natural bare steel look. Didn't like the silver as it just looks like cheap autozone chrome, and I know any little scratch turns a dull dark gray that is very noticeable.

Yep they are a pain, for me I will have to do it cause my engine is all new and nothing from the factory so I have to figure out what plugs mine need. My starting point is what AFR recommended for my heads and they state they are a pretty commonly used plug with my head so I should be fine. I still want to do a chop to make sure everything is good. I dont have knock sensors nor computer controlled timing but I do have an aftermarket EFI system to take over my fuel so I am not too concerned about AFR, I am more concerned about my plug heat range and my ignition advance as well as if I am detonating or not since my timing is going to be a bit on the edge of what all sources state I should be running for fast burn cylinder heads.

One more change I would suggest is that the yellow/white sense wire from the 3G should be connected to the starter solenoid on the battery lug. The distance that sense wire is from the battery could result in a decent change in voltage and a decent change in alternator output. Another thing is from what I remember reading is that if the sense wire is on the alternator side of the fuse, if that fuse goes, the alternator will still see voltage that changes via the regulator. On the battery side of the fuse if the fuse goes the alternator wont sense a change in voltage when the regulator commands it and will essentially shut down output from the alternator. Many people short cut this wire looping it right back to the battery lug at the alternator, while this is cleaner it doesn't take into account what the voltage actually is at or near the battery. I saw a diagram that went with a Remy alternator post that stated that with a sense wire fleet companies reported 50% reduction in battery charge time and a 30% reduction in battery warranty claim over alternators they had before without the sense wire. Remy also states the sense wire for vehicles that don't have them should be fused and mounted directly to the positive terminal or the nearest positive common junction. All the 1990s 3G wiring diagrams I looked up also showed this sense wire terminated close to the battery in a common junction lug no different than the 1G externally regulated sense wire was terminated close to the battery at the common junction lug on the starter solenoid. For mine I am personally leaning towards using a male spade on this sense wire on mine and plug it into the sense terminal on the OE fender mounted regulator this way I am reusing the OE sense wire and fusible link to the solenoid. I might change my mind however and just connect it directly to the solenoid with its own fuse, but I think it minimizes clutter on the battery lug at the solenoid to reuse that terminal. The plug did change and if you get the one with the changed plug it poses a pro and a con. The pro is the newer plug is easier to unplug with a wire fuel injector style clip you depress over the older tab you have to lift that faces the alternator itself. The con is that connector is a bit of a pain to locate as I had to locate one for mine. Regulator I went with on mine is a Motorcraft NOS unit under the number F5RU-10316-AA. Has a 14.6v set point and has a LRC from what I could find of 6 seconds. This regulator uses a pigtail found on the following vehicles. Crown Victoria Police Interceptor : 1993 - 1995 Lincoln Town Car : 1993 - 1995 Mercury Grand Marquis : 1993 - 1994 Mercury Mystique : 1995 - 1999 Ford Contour : 1995 - 2000 Not to be confused with the D-shaped connector found on the 1992 - 2002 Crown Victoria's without the police interceptor package. The all too common D-shaped connector for the 3G regulator typically found on many Ford/Lincoln/Mercury vehicles in the 1990s The hard to find but I believe superior connector. I don't know how many connectors there are, but I do know there's like four different regulator connectors when I was trying to find the one, I needed for my LRC regulator.

You should be good on the detonation, when you pull the plugs out now you should have a tan color porcelain which means you are not too hot and not too cold. I suspect what was happening is your electrode was getting hot enough on some cylinders to cause a slight detonation. You didnt have what appeared to be silver pyramids so you weren't knocking metal off your pistons, you were detonating just enough to rattle some carbon loose. Heres an old diagram I got about timing indicator mark on the electrode strap. Its one of those things that I am kind of dreading to do for my build, considering the proper way to do a plug read is to do a hard full throttle pass then kill the ignition system then pull the plugs. No way for me to do that unless I do it on the side of the road away from home.

The 1/4" difference is if I center the Y-pipe to put each side off an equal amount. If I mount one side the total is 1/2" difference. I haven't tried it yet but one of the guys I was talking with said instead of bending or trying to stretch it by hand, take and apply some heat on the inside of the curve and then use a ratchet strap to pull that one tube over. I also thought about getting some regular nuts and washers bolt one side up start the bolts on the other side and then heat just the Y pipe up in the bend and slowly snug the bolts down to see if I can get it to shift without deforming the cone. The next question if I do this would be will it retain its new shape after fully cooling off and is removed. To ensure a good seal I have already planned on a nice thin layer of grease in the cone so I can't have it dragging too much as it will scrape the grease off before I can super heat it with exhaust to turn it into a sticky Schellack. This past week I was spending time away from home, this upcoming week will be rain from a hurricane passing through so I don't know when I will get to try this but from here till fall, I am going to be finding time to focus on getting this done. That is my goal this year, get my truck completed to where I can drive it and then find out if need to do brakes or anything else after sitting.

Late reply just saw this, but what I am seeing is the plugs you have in now are too hot and you need a colder plug not a hotter plug. You have nice colorization on the electrode strap indicating you have good heat, but the clean white porcelain is showing your plug is running too hot and is burning everything off preventing a nice fuel ring around the base of the porcelain. The black specs on cylinder number one is a sign of detonation, carbon is being blown off the piston and is sticking to the porcelain. Cylinder three has some slight speckling on the porcelain indicating it has some detonation as well. Another thing is your timing mark on the electrode strap is not too bad, depending on the source they want that timing mark on the electrode strap to be from between the ninety-degree curve and the fire ring where it is welded at. Some like cylinder seven I feel is a bit too close to the weld while cylinder eight I feel is about ideal close to the ninety-degree curve. I wouldn't mess with the timing however, I would try running one plug colder temp wise try and get some color into the porcelain, that should knock down on your slight detonation issue, it also has a very good chance at moving your timing mark on the electrode strap closer to the ninety-degree curve.

Yeah after your post about that switch providing ground I realized it could be getting ground from a lot of places considering the condition of some of our wires... time to find it and trace it out I suppose If you dont mind about the wire you can do a quick and dirty test. Unplug wire at the HVAC switch see if you still have ground to rule the switch out. after that the quick and dirty test would be to snip the wire about halfways between the HVAC switch and the blower motor. If the motor turns off you know the short is between the midway point to the HVAC switch. Can reconnect that wire and then go halfways between the cut and the HVAC switch and cut again. Can repeat this process till you find the short to ground. there are proper ways to test for this that doesnt require cutting but if the wire is already in bad condition and can be grounding out in multiple locations, sounds like the wire is trash and needs to be replaced.

hit up ebay and look for NOS parts. I picked the following up off ebay, this is the weather strip for the back stationary glass. I haven't looked lately however to see about the other weather stripping for the sliding back glass, but my plan is to get my factory back slider removed without damage so any rust damage can be repaired and then I am going to put the back glass back in using NOS rubber pieces where possible to essentially rebuild. They do sell a reproduction back slider, but it has its own latch and doesn't use the reproduction latch. I wouldn't go with that unless the body shop screws up on removal of the back glass and breaks it.

Yep Ive seen that pinstripe before, it would be more work to cut it and shape it like the OE than to simply mask off and paint the pinstripe on. See mine is not a simple horizontal stripe like they are showing, mine creates a box on the cab and the flare side fenders then I have a curved S shape piece to break up the two tone roof and lower cab. I dont have a stock photo from the ebay auction for the pinstripe kit I purchased and its currently put up and I dont like taking it out of the box as the decals are a pain to get back in properly. But my truck uses the following two pinstripe designs which I could in theory duplicate with their pinstripe I just dont know how I would duplicate the curved pieces for the cab roof and around the wheel arch. As far as decal vs paint goes, I personally prefer paint it makes for easier polish/waxing as you dont have polish/wax trying to build up along the sharp edge of the decal. It also is more likely to get caught and scratched off being raised up. My plan was to have the pinstriping painted on before the clear then have it cleared over then block sanded and cleared again in a layering process to give a smooth finish without being able to feel the edge of the painted on pinstriping. Something like that will cost more money but I am willing to pay for it.

On the fiberglass you will have to verify with the blasting company but generally it doesnt hurt bright metal trim or glass so I assume it shouldnt harm fiberglass but still Id verify before though. I dont know what I might run into on removing the fiberglass fenders I never removed them before but I know on mine I want all the old paint removed so if there is any hidden rust that it can be properly treated. I also know the bed rails will have to be fixed as well as I currently have a camper screwed down to the bed rails so those holes will need to be welded up also. You could primer yourself but you have to be careful cause some primers will cause issues with the color coat. I got my paint for my hood from a local paint shop they sold me acrylic lacquer primer and enamel single stage paint top coat. Went on fine but with in a few weeks the top coat split and curled up down to the primer. That was a reaction between the acrylic lacquer primer and the enamel top coat.