Rembrant

Ya, I've often wondered how some of the changes played out when there were a half a dozen plants across the continent and 3-4 time zones. Surely some changes varied wildly across the production lines. The topic came up several times in arguments with Steve83...lol. I guess we agreed to disagree.

Welcome aboard Steve!

By the way, this is what the early strips looked like below. They fit into the wood instead of on top of it. Gary has some good picture in the bed section, under Flareside bed floors: http://www.garysgaragemahal.com/beds-tailgates-and-components.html I actually really like the pictures of the dark wood floor with the black strips. I think that looks great.

I think if you look at the bed crossmembers in your truck, you'll see that even if you have the factory 3pc wood floor, the holes for the previous style board floor were there anyway. You can actually see them in the pics of the underside of my 1984 bed. It's probably not easy to notice unless you had the two different trucks side by side, but the outer bed strip locations were actually the same between the different versions. All that changed was that the early floors had two strips down the middle, and the later trucks had one strip down the middle. The outer four strips were in the same locations on both. If you look at my picture above, you'll see that the center bolt hole is there for my 3pc floor, but the two other holes (red arrows) were there for the board floor anyway. So when the guys were assembling these beds, they either drilled those center holes at the time, or they were there all along.

Well, the documented change to the 3pc floor was 07/82, but maybe they were installing them earlier at the San Jose plant? I have heard a people comment over the years that they had 1982 model year trucks with the 3pc plywood floors, but I assume Ford still built 82's for a few months after 07/82. If the rest of the truck looks to match the inside of the bed, I'd say it was original, unless like you say somebody replaced the floor 30 years ago and bought the parts from Ford? I always thought that would be cool to walk into the parts counter at a Ford dealer and order up some wood...lol.

This the same clip discussed here isn't it? http://forum.garysgaragemahal.com/3D-Printed-Slave-Cylinder-Clip-tp49301.html

Ya, so it's not so bad. The outer shell stays on the frame. The front and rear sills are basically part of the "box", and the wood floor is sitting inside it. You would slide the left and right boards in first so they can slide under the fenders, and then work towards the center. Yes sir, sitting new on the dealer's lots, the bed floors were painted the color of the truck. Here's a fancy drawing showing the differences in the metal strips. So, from 1980-1982, there were 7 boards and 6 metal strips. The metal strips fit into grooves in the boards, so the edges of the strips extended past the flat bottom section of the strips. Starting late in 1982, Ford went to the 3pc plywood and 5 metal strips which simulated 6 wider boards. These metal strips had the edges curled right around because they sat flush on-top of the plywood (three of the metal strips were not covering any gaps at all). As far as I know, nobody is making the later style flush mount metal strips. I know Ron/Reamer modified a set for his '86 by removing the longer edges of the metal strips.

You did make me look...lol. Nice job on the rad and fans though. Well done.

Thanks Jim! I guess the point was, that oak or hardwood boards in general are the defacto standard for refinished floors in these things. Softwood and plywood are for daily drivers. I was thinking about using some bird's eye maple, but like I said earlier, I was really just trying to finish the truck and stop spending so much money on it...lol, it was never really supposed to be that fancy.

It sure does explain a lot. I went on the website of the company where I bought my marine plywood, and they have a section/picture for MDO plywood, and that is EXACTLY what mine looked like on the underside: https://robertbury.com/products/ It is really very interesting to know what Ford used. The top side of my wood floor had been painted black, and it was pretty rotten, so if there was an overlay on the top I couldn't see it. However, the bottom looked just like this picture. Thanks Jim for clarifying what I was trying to say when I said mine looked like MDF on the bottom...lol.

There are a few threads about bed rebuilds and such. Quite a bit of info around, although probably not all in one place. I rebuilt the whole bed on mine last year, so I can answer just about anything. No, it's not really like a flatbed. If you are only changing the wood, you can just leave the bed right on the truck. You'll want to replace the wood mounting blocks while you have it apart, but just doing the wood is pretty straight forward. I assembled the "box" of my bed on the floor, upside down: Then I had a friend help me flip it over right side up and sit it on the frame. I had a couple 3/4" boards in there I can't remember why now...lol. Then I pulled the boards out, and inserted the bed crossmembers and new wooden blocks: Once you're that far, you can just slide the wood and strips right into place. I used plywood like the later Bullnose Flares, but the process is all the same with the boards like the earlier trucks (1980-1982)

Mine is marine grade, but just the basic structural stuff in Douglas Fir. I got a lot of flack from my buddies for installing plywood by the way...lol, but by the time I got this part of my project, it was way WAY over budget, and I was just trying to get it finished so I could drive the darn thing. Spending another grand or more on a hardwood bed wasn't in the cards at the time, and just due to geography, I was going to have trouble dealing with the warranty of the boards, which I wanted to avoid. Besides, I wanted it to be sort of original, so when people question it, I can say that it was good enough for Ford, it's good enough for me...lol. This is where I test fitted the wood... Here it is back on the stands where I sanded and varnished it. And then back in the bed. I know it's not to everybody's taste, but I like it and it has grown on me more over time. I wanted a lighter color along with the body colored strips, so that is where I ended up. It's easy to change, so if I ever decide to change it out for hardwood later, I can do that. I have an extra painted strip in case I ever want to go with the board style.

Well there you go. Interesting stuff. Maybe that is what was done. The original wood floor on mine was definitely plywood, but the bottom layer definitely had NO woodgrain appearance...it was a brownish color that looked like a phenolic or some other manufacturerd wood compound/product.

Well, when I was shopping around for the marine plywood for my bed, I ended up talking to a local specialty wood shop that sells a lot of marine products, and they told me that they had two different types of marine plywood. One is the structural plywood, that they actually build boats with, like the hull, the deck, the cab, etc...and then there was a marine grade plywood for doing interior finish work, cabinets, etc. The only reason I bring that up is that the interior grade marine plywood was the product with all of the fancy veneers on it. The stuff I bought, is basically just smooth one side. I spent a couple years working in a plant that manufactured IKEA furniture, and part of their process was to add a layer of brown paper on the backside of all of the panels (panels were particle board) and it's only purpose was to prevent warping. The particle board went through a machine that applied adhesive, then it went into a press where the brown paper was applied. You wouldn't think that a layer that thin would add that much rigidity, but it did. Maybe Ford did something similar with the plywood, since it became three large pieces instead of narrow boards.

Cool! You can see it in your pic Ken, it's just like a layer of brown paper almost...a thin/smooth veneer.

Can that be done with a 1993 also? I know Banks sells a piggyback module for the E4OD. I'd love to have it, but in the current economic situation, it's not as necessary as some other things I want and need. Still, I've read good reviews on how it improves the shifting.

Right. I suppose a lot of people get confused between Portland and the rest of Oregon. I've spent a little bit of time there and love the state, but I never did get to see any eastern parts of Oregon. The Hells Canyon area was on my bucket list for years, but I never did get there.

Right you are. It was smooth like glass, but definitely part of the wood. You know that hard paneling you can buy that's always dark brown? Usually smooth on one side, and rougher on the back? Same kind of stuff they use for the back panels on things like a dresser, or cabinet? That's what it looked like on my truck, but it would have been just a single layer veneer of the plywood. I couldn't remember what it was called, but that is what mine looked like when I wiped away the undercoating. I just didn't take any pictures of it unfortunately. Ken's could be something different, I'm not sure.

Hey SCFlareside. My '84 Flareside had the original 3pc plywood bed floor in it when I bought it, and while it was partially rotten on the top, the undercoating had preserved it like brand new on the bottom side. I cleaned some of it off looking for any markings on the wood, and the bottom layer of the plywood appeared to be like an MDF veneer or something. It's all gone now, but if you saw it in person it looked just like that brown MDF paneling you buy at Home Depot, etc. It was 3/4" plywood, but the bottom layer was as smooth as glass. It was almost as if they used a finish plywood, like the stuff used for making cabinets, etc. At this point and time, more than 30 years later, it is pretty uncommon to find one of these trucks with the factory bed wood still intact (rotten or not).

Ha! I used to have a friend in Myrtle Creek, Oregon and the first time I actually spoke to him on the phone back about 20 years ago, the very first thing he did was correct my pronunciation of Oregon...ha. I'll never forget it, he said "Wait, hold up....first things first, Oregon ain't gone nowhere! It's Ore-Gin, not Ore-Gone". Maybe it's a Canadian thing, I dunno, but I had never heard it called anything but "Ore-Gone". lol.

Welcome aboard Kyle. I'm on the other coast in Nova Scotia.

Gary, While looking at E4OD filter and gasket kits, I came across these two selections...one for a shallow pan, and one for a deep pan. Do you know which vehicles got which? Most of the brands show a picture of the shallow depth filter as standard, but AC Delco for some reason shows both.

I've generally steered away from additives as well, but I'm not totally against trying them. I've tried several different diesel fuel additives and cetane boosters over the years, and while they probably did help with the water in the fuel and things like that, I never did see any changes in MPG or power, etc. I've used the Zinc additives in the oil of a VW diesel I had. It was one of the dreaded camshaft eating 2006 models, and I figured every little bit would help. Did it help in the end? I have no idea...but it there was at least some psychological benefit, and that's worth something...lol.

This thing has 4.10 gears, but I don't really know what it weighs. They asked me at the DMV last week how much it weighed, and I had no idea. I know the GVWR is 11,500 lbs, so I guessed at 4500KG which would be close to 10,000 lbs. It was just a guess, but 4500KG was the tipping point...if I picked a pound above that, my registration was going to be another $100. I might run it over the scale this week just to find out. But I'm getting used to the E4OD. This thing cruises along nicely, no problem there. It has lots of power. It just seems sometimes like it gets into OD to soon, and I have to kick it down hard to get some more power.

That is long! I have a picture of this thing saved from the previous owner, and with the RV being 31ft, the trailer and accessories on it must be another 20ft at least (There's a dirtbike on a hitch on the back of the SUV). It would have been a PIG to drive like that...lol. It got me thinking though...I could road trip and bring my Bullnose on a dolly, or even better yet bring home more junk while I was away somewhere...ha. The wife would be so impressed.