Rembrant

Well, for the time being I've decided to leave it as it is Gary. For 2020, I might just grab one of those cheap retractable shades that I can pull down when it's bothersome. I might check and see what tint is available off the shelf locally, but that won't be until Friday as everything will be closed until then. I probably won't install the window until the spring anyway, so I have lots of time to change my mind (and I do that, a lot...lol).

Gary, yes on to other tasks... Right now I'm painting the metal bars of my new-to-me sliding rear window! Going with semi-gloss black in hopes that it looks as close to original as possible. I'm between coats right now, but if all goes well I'll try to get the SRW all reassembled tomorrow. I painted some test pieces and the semi-gloss seems to look pretty good. Not too bright, and not too dull.

So I got the old Bull out for a Christmas Day shakedown run! It was -3C out..or about 26F, but the roads were nice and dry. I made one final little tweak of the idle mix screws, and it's running MUCH better now! The big difference is between 1500-2000 RPM where it never really ran well previously. I can now cruise along at 1500 RPM in 4th gear and accelerate smoothly to 2000, which was never the case before. The AFR seems to be really good as well. Cruising along at light throttle at 2000 RPM, the gauge is reading 14.5-14.7 pretty consistently. I'm a happy guy today. Merry Christmas guys, and thank for all the assistance in getting the old Bull running better;).

Dave, you are correct sir there was a little gap at the top where the door was starting to pull away from the wall. I didn't measure it, but could see a little sunlight peaking through. I wasn't really concerned about the gap at the top. The only issue it caused for me was a little heat loss, which I don't think was much of an issue at all as the truck was giving off enough heat to more than fill my little garage...lol. I wanted the bottom sealed up as much as possible so that exhaust fumes didn't roll back inside. If there was any exhaust getting in along the top it had dissipated enough that it wasn't noticeable (I had a sensor out there with me). I have been running engines in this garage for over 15 years now, and it's never really been an issue...but this old Bullnose has been a bit of a thorn in my wife's side because of the fumes. Gotta do what I can to keep the peace or I'll be working outside...lol.

It sure IS clean!

Hey, it's all good advice, and I do agree. I'd actually prefer to not tint, but there are times in the summer that I've been driving this truck and it is really miserable in the heat. I'm just a little over 6 ft, so I have the seat all the way back, and the back of my head is about 1" from the window, and I'm tellin' ya it is just like a magnifying glass. The whole point of the truck was for it to be fun, and I'd like to drive it as much as possible. I plan to put AC in it, but that may not happen right away. The alternative to the tint is to leave the windows clear, and get one of the little retractable sun shades to put behind me. That way if it is one of those hot and sunny days, I can pull it down for protection. We'll see I guess. Now that I've got the old truck looking pretty good, I'm trying to tackle some of the other issues this winter so that the truck is nicer to drive in the spring.

My personal opinion is that keeping them at least somewhat original in appearance keeps the resale higher, should you ever decide to sell it. I don't think they need to be kept in numbers-matching original condition, but as you say clean and running strong and it will keep the value as high as possible.

Thanks Shaun, I went through all of my Bullnose pics this morning looking for SRW tint examples, and found these few, some from members on here... Oddly, I think about 60% of the truck pictures I have just have clear back windows like mine. I'm not sure what I want exactly, but I know that when driving it now, the sun scorches the back of my head, neck, and shoulders through the plain solid window. Thanks for the info on the percentages. I'll check with the local shops and see what they have. I have never tinted a vehicle window in my life, so I know nothing about it.

I felt like doing easy stuff, today so I did some more work on this SRW that I picked up at the junkyard. It's actually in pretty nice condition now that I've got it all cleaned up. I had to drill out two of the four screws, and I took the aluminum channels to work so that I could blast them clean. Everything else I've been cleaning with Rags, tooth brushes, and Q-Tips. I think this old thing is going to work great when it's all finished. Not bad for a factory window at $35 and about 10 mins of my time to remove. I'm going to paint the aluminum frames that will be visible from the rear. I think Satin Black will look a little more natural than gloss. They're all faded now. Question though... There appears to be a tiny bit of tint to the glass...will that offer any help from the sun burning the back of my head?...lol. I'm thinking of getting some tint done, and now would be a good time. Problem is, I don't want the window to be too dark. Maybe I'll buy one of those little roller window shades...hmmm.

Oh man you weren't kiddin' eh? I figured I'd follow-up on this thread in case anybody else was ever curious. I went and checked on the proper garage exhaust hose, and it was way too expensive for what I wanted. I talked to my brother in law and he had about 20' of this 3" industrial flex hose and he guaranteed me that it would be perfectly fine for exhaust use. Well I finally got to test it today, and it worked great! I don't have any specs on the stuff at the moment, but I'm going to check on it Monday. Oh...and I used rubber pipe couplings to seal the hose to my two tail pipes, and they worked great too. I brought an CO2 sensor out into the garage while I was working out there, and I didn't set it off, so I guess all was OK. Oh, and I forgot to mention that I used 2x4's under my garage door as spacers rather than cutting holes in my door. I wouldn't use them enough to warrant drilling dedicated holes.

O2 sensor is monitoring the right hand bank of the 302, and it's pretty close to the engine...probably a bit too close, but it works fine. I'm noticing that the AFR reading is much smoother now that I have the vacuum leak fixed...it was on that same bank, so the AFR was swinging quite a bit previously. We had to run out this evening, so I didn't do much more with it today. I'll spend some time on it tomorrow and see if I can get it dialed in a little better. I can tell that it's already running much better than it was before.

I'm all for the days getting longer! Winter came early here this year. We often have no snow at Christmas, and the ground is white right now...lol. Anyway, the worst is yet to come, but at least the hours of sunshine will grow. Happy holidays all!

Ok, that was all very easy. The 1100 RPM idle was due to the choke plate linkage being hung up on the carb spacer, because I had it positioned wrong. Once that was fixed, idle dropped to 600 RPM. I've played around with it for a bit, and got the AFR at 14.5 at an idle of 750 RPM. Best vacuum I can get in this scenario is 17.5". Question though... The idle mix screws. I assume they need to be adjusted equally left and right? Each has to be the same number of turns? I'll have to play with it some more. The 14.5 AFR was with the right hand idle mix screw at 3/4 turn out, and the left hand screw at 1.0 full turn out. Once I evened them both up to 1.0 turns, the AFR dropped to 13.2-ish. I'm on the right path at least. It's idling nice and smooth. Can't drive it until the roads clear up though, bugger.

Ok, so I stuck the distributor back in. Once the gas flowed back up to the carb it fired right up. Up to temp now, here are the readings: Base timing is at 10 degrees BTDC. RPM is 1100. Engine vacuum is 18.5" AFR is approx 11.2 So what do I start adjusting first? Idle speed, idle mix, or timing?

Gary, if it was on this coast I'd be on my way to look at it right now. I think a fella could make a pretty nice little weekend driver out of it for very little money. I think for the asking price it will probably sell pretty quickly. The truck itself is nothing very special, but I thought that a few of the rarer options were cool and worthy of a nod for those of us Bullnose enthusiasts!

Ray, it's all good man, I've had the opportunity to do way more things in life than a lot of people my age (And my dad died at 38 with Cancer). I really want for nothing. I've done a lot of traveling with my work, and personal travel too. Luckily, with all of my work traveling over the years, I've had the chance to meet a lot of internet forum friends in person, which has been very cool, each and every time. My work has been extremely hectic this past couple years, and I've been involved in a lot of projects that I have a difficult time getting away from. There are certain states that I have very fond memories of visiting, and Kentucky is certainly one of them. It is a very beautiful state, and everybody I've met there was very nice. I took my mother on a work trip to Nashville about 15 years ago, and I drove her up to Paducah so she could see the quilt museum, and she just kept saying "wow" over and over again at how pretty the scenery was. Getting in the old truck and driving it to Kentucky is not a problem...that is the easy part. Problem is, if it happens at a time when I have to spend the whole trip on the phone, it will suck the fun out of it pretty quickly. In any case, part of my New Years resolution (that I plan to try and also force on my employer...lol) is to do something about vacation time. Fingers crossed!

Nice little '81 Flareside here just listed for sale. Appears to have the Free Wheeling B package...some neat options there. Factory fog lights and bezel switch, leather wrapped wheel (I think) and factory tach. The bumper guards, tu-tone paint, and aluminum wheels were all part of that. Original documentation shows they paid $1600 CDN for the package. https://www.kijiji.ca/v-cars-trucks/kelowna/1981-ford-f-150-custom-pickup-truck/1478509726 The body has been touched up obviously, but the truck is pretty well intact for it's age, and we don't see those options very often anymore. At $4950 CDN (Approx $3800 USD) I betcha it will sell pretty quick. If it was over here on the east coast I'd grab it myself;).

I have no idea what my 2020 travel plans are yet, but I'd love to make some trips with the truck. I'd love to make it out to Oklahoma as well. I am trying to get my old truck dialed in better so that it is nicer to drive on the highway. That includes engine work and wheel work, but I'm getting there, a little bit at a time. According to Google maps, Louisville is 1600 miles, and I'd have to pass right by Ron and Jim around the 7 and 800 mile marks. I guess we'll see. At this point and time, I'm just daydreaming anyway. Getting out for car night on Thursday has been enough of a challenge, so getting half way across the continent is a whole other ball of wax!

Merry to Christmas to all from the Great White North!

I would love to go. I am hoping to put a lot of miles on my Bullnose in 2020, and would love to do a trip or two with it.

Hey Dave, I was always looking for an M5-R2, but I kept missing one that was only a mile away because the guy had it listed for sale as a ZF5. Once he realized his mistake, he relisted it and then I grabbed it right away. It was funny in the sense that it was for sale down the street for a month and I didn't even know;). The M5-R2 does not have a PTO cover. It's pretty easy to identify though. It is a little smaller than the ZF5, and it has a long tail shaft like a typical transmission. It also has a slip yoke. Here's a picture of mine below: The part number on the transmission data tag will tell you what speedo cable drive gear it has also. Now I am no expert on the ZF5, but it is a bigger chunk of a transmission with a very square back end and a fixed yoke. Here's a picture I snagged from Google.

Oh, I was just mentioning that I saw it for sale. I didn't buy it. My V8 is still intact;).

This is one of the prettier Kawasaki's I owned...and one of the more modern classics. I bought it wrecked from an insurance auction and spent a winter rebuilding it. I believe the guy had hit a deer with it as several spots on the front of the bike had deer hair jammed into the grooves and seams. I still see it around from time to time. Once I got used to riding 1000's and larger, I was never happy with anything smaller.

I'll see what I can find. Hoping to get her fired up tomorrow. I'm just gathering supplies to vent the dual exhaust outdoors so that I don't have the fire department here again (and a very angry Mrs. Rembrant)...LOL. I didn't realize how expensive that garage exhaust hose stuff was until I went to buy some. Local shop sells them in 11' sections (3" hose) for $170 each (plus 15% tax of course). That was going to cost me $400, so that little plan got nixed quick. Anyway, brother in law had 20+ feet of an industrial 3" vent hose, so that should do the trick nicely. I even grabbed a couple rubber MJ couplings so that I can seal the tailpipes to the hose. Stay tuned...lol.

Quote from a quick search says that it was only the "Cat free" 1978 models... "It was not only a real looker but these trucks were also real performers. In 1978 the Dodge Lil' Red Express was the fastest American made production vehicle from 0 to 100mph as tested by Car and Driver magazine. Due to a loophole in the emissions regulations, the 1978 Lil' Red Express truck was not required to have catalytic converters. What it did have was a special high performance 360cid, 4 barrel small block engine producing 225hp at 3,800rpm. The package also included HEMI style mufflers with a cross over pipe, a special A-727 transmission and 3.55:1 rear gearing. Production run of 2,188." I did see another note there that while it got the trophy for the fastest vehicle, it scored absolute last in interior noise...lol: https://www.hotrod.com/articles/mopp-0111-1978-dodge-lil-red-express-truck/