Rembrant

I thought Ford was ported vacuum for distributor vacuum advance, no? I thought full manifold vacuum for vacuum advance was a Chevy thing. Have I been reading wrong all this time?>..lol. And where do I get one of these restrictors? Can I buy a Ford one or a new aftermarket?

Dave...sorry to hijack here, but I have a related question maybe you and others can help with? I've been thinking about vacuum advance. I have mine connected to the ported vacuum barb on my Holley carb, and I have confirmed that there is no vacuum present at idle. However, by barely moving the throttle off idle, I will quickly get full vacuum. But, I don't want full vacuum applied to my vacuum advance immediately off idle, correct? Is that vacuum only present because there's no load on the engine, and I'm just revving it? Just trying to wrap my brain around that. I would assume that I wouldn't want full vacuum advance just off idle...but maybe the vacuum behaves differently when driving with a load on it?

That seems like a pretty reasonable price for a NOS part (for a change).

Have you given any thought to just buying a used cargo van to use strictly for work? I'm just wondering if it makes any more sense or would it be too expensive. That or an old pickup with a Spacecap on it? I dunno, I'd have a hard time using a classic Flareside as a work truck. You may not set out to use the bed on the truck, but it could happen, and you wouldn't want to hurt those fiberglass fenders or bed, etc. Just playing devil's advocate Ray, and curious about other options...if there are any;). For what you'll spend modding the '82 for more power, maybe you could buy an old 3/4 ton with an 8 ft box? And, who wouldn't want more trucks??...lol.

Great story isn't it? I've been following it along a little bit. I was a crazy Steve McQueen fan as a kid, and have been ever since. All because of Bullitt and the Bullitt Mustang. It was one of the best sounding cars I had ever heard...I can't remember if it was straight piped or what, but the sound was intoxicating. Unfortunately for us Ford fans, the car itself was a bit of a turd as a pursuit car...lol. If you read any of the behind the scenes story, the 440 4spd Charger would walk away from the 390 Mustang like it was parked. One of the reasons they left the skinny tires on the Charger was to handicap it against the Mustang. At the end of the day, it didn't matter. They were two very iconic cars though, and were (and still are) universally loved by all. By the way, that Mustang is going up for auction next month on Mecum. I think there is a big auction going on in Kissimmee starting a month from today. https://www.mecum.com/lots/FL0120-397388/1968-ford-mustang-gt-bullitt/

Dave can correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe his front tank is still the factory 16 gallon. He added the 19 gallon rear tank. The Styleside short box trucks were available with the rear tank, it's just that the Flaresides were not. Dave did some pretty crafty work grafting the 2nd fuel filler door into the Flareside fiberglass fender. Again, Dave can correct me here, but I think it would be really difficult to swap a 19 gallon front/side tank into a short box truck.

Well you'll probably be able to help out a lot of people because the question comes up fairly often about where to buy a new wiring harness for these trucks. The wiring in my '84 is pretty nice, but Bullnoses with the wiring all hacked up seem to be pretty common.

Welcome aboard Frogger! Gorgeous truck! I love Flaresides....I have the same truck in blue...also a 1984. Can't wait to hear more about it. If we can help with the wiring, just shout.

My daily driver is a VW Golf diesel with the 6 speed DSG auto transmission. I have been driving manuals for many years, but I bought this Golf with the DSG specifically because I wanted an automatic trans. The two reasons were that 1. So my wife could drive it on the rare occasion that she needs to...which I usually only twice per year when I take her car to the shop, and 2. because I was getting really tired of the stick shift in traffic. I don't spend a lot of time in traffic, but when I do, it was punishing in a manual trans car. I quite like this little auto, but it's nothing special...it's just an appliance, like a washing machine.

In case anybody was wondering how an automatic transmission worked.

Indeed it does! It's not a bad lookin' truck, but it might need a lot of work to rehab. I wish there were trucks at this price around here.

I don't know anything...lol. I was just screwing around on RockAuto while I'm sipping my first coffee. I have the Crane kit on my old distributor, but I don't have much experience with the 300/6 stuff. I am oddly fascinated by the 300/6 and would love to have a Bullnose with one...maybe someday! But, we do have some 300 Experts on here, so I'm confident the boys will sort out any issue in short order.

Dave, I know, lots of oddball stuff! I thought this one looked kind of cool as a bumpside Bronco. Like a vehicle that could have been (here) but wasn't. I used to travel to Mexico quite a bit with a previous employer, and it was also funny to see thousands of new VW Beetles running around all over the place. I believe they also stopped producing them around the same time...mid-2000's.

They appear to be quite a bit different. The small block 302 and 351 distributor has the vacuum advance arm inside the housing like below: The 300 has the cannister and arm outside of the base assembly... Going by those pictures, the vacuum advance mechanism is similar, but not the same. I crudely put the 300 distributor beside the Crane advance below, and at a glance, it doesn't look like it would work to me, but I could easily be 100% wrong. I'm just screwin' around. Dave, I *may* have a Crane vacuum advance you can use, I'm not sure yet. I have a new distributor coming from Parkland Performance soon, and he will be sending my old distributor back (and it had a Crane vacuum advance on it). Only thing is, I'm not sure if he was going to reuse the Crane advance or not. I probably won't have it back for a couple weeks, so I don't know. PS: Also, if you look at the small block vacuum advance and the Crane unit, there is a bend in the arm, and the 300 vacuum advance arm appears to be flat.

They appear to be quite a bit different. The small block 302 and 351 distributor has the vacuum advance arm inside the housing like below: The 300 has the cannister and arm outside of the base assembly... Going by those pictures, the vacuum advance mechanism is similar, but not the same. I crudely put the 300 distributor beside the Crane advance below, and at a glance, it doesn't look like it would work to me, but I could easily be 100% wrong. I'm just screwin' around. Dave, I *may* have a Crane vacuum advance you can use, I'm not sure yet. I have a new distributor coming from Parkland Performance soon, and he will be sending my old distributor back (and it had a Crane vacuum advance on it). Only thing is, I'm not sure if he was going to reuse the Crane advance or not. I probably won't have it back for a couple weeks, so I don't know.

Came across this thing on Instagram and thought it too interesting not to share. Brazillian Bronco? 2wd? If you feel like going to look at more pictures, check the link below and you will see the Thumbnail. Once in there, there are 37 pictures. http://www.hotv8.com.br/v8/carros-vendidos/?marca=2

Finding a 2wd ZF5 with the SBF bellhousing I believe is much easier than finding the 4x4 version. I saw a couple of them at the local junkyard go to the crusher. I'm sure there's a much lower demand for them than the 4x4 versions. But remember...a ZF5 has a hydraulic clutch, which I know you don't like.

Dave, There was discussion about steering on one of the local Ford truck FB pages the other day, and the guys were talking about steering wander and steering boxes, etc, and I had to laugh because one guy said that "You have to remember, the 1980-1996 steering gear is less like a steering box and more like a suggestion box"...haha! Anyway... I went through TWO new (reman) steering boxes from Napa, and it really is surprising how much play there was in them. Shocking really. And that was with new everything...all joints and bushings, and everything brand new between the pitman arm and tie-rod ends, rebuilt steering column, all new tires, fresh alignment, etc. All good...it still sloppy and loose steering. You know what I did notice though? Nice solid steering in the turns. I could be driving down a straight road, and steering like they do in the old movies...back and forth...lol. Get into a long sweeping turn, and the steering would be smooth and firm, and would hold the line perfectly. Somebody can correct me if I'm wrong, but that told me that the box gears were worn in the center where you drive most of the time, but once turned you got to the nice tight teeth with much less wear on them. That was my perception at least. I always joked to myself and said I wish this damn truck steered as nicely on a straight road as it did in the turns. Anyway, whatever, it is what it is. I finally gulped hard and spent the money on a RedHead steering gear. It was a huge improvement, and I do like it, but it too now has a little slop in it with some use. Not nearly as bad as before, but still there's a bit there. I don't really have any good advice for ya...I know many others will strongly disagree with this, but I don't think there's a lot of harm in adjusting the box a little bit. If it doesn't help it doesn't help, but if it's sloppy anyway, it might not hurt.

Gary, I see you're catching up on some projects today! Did you take a day off from being retired?>..lol. I'm just kidding, I know you're a busy guy!

I didn't notice it, no, but it probably came from the same truck that the bed parts came from...lol. These builds almost always arise from what they have on hand...bunch of old trucks kickin' around the farm...tear 'em all apart and build one!

By the way...and I'm not sure why I even remember this...lol, probably trivia from an old car/truck magazine, but the full size Chevy van used to hold the crown (and possibly still does) for being the longest running production vehicle in North America without a platform change...1971 to 1995. When it comes to vans...be it Ford or Chevy, what percentage of units built were cargo vans for work vehicles? 90%? Higher?..lol.

Sounds about right. That is definitely a 1980-1986 Flareside bed...or the remnants of one...or the fenders only. It looks to be fairly homemade or heavily modified.

Yes, accessories would be cool. I find a lot of this stuff very interesting...mainly as a Bullnose enthusiast...I have no need for these hooks. I came across a Bullnose Bronco for sale yesterday and noticed a switch under the dash that looked sort of like a factory add-on. I could barely read the print on it, but I discovered that it was a rear window defrost switch. I didn't even know it was an optional accessory until I checked the 1982 (I think) facts book. But back to the tie-down hooks. I still find it interesting that they seem to be way more common in the west. I'm curious if there was a marketing reason for this?...Or just a style preference by region...who knows. Side note...but related: I bought a new Silverado (for my work) early in 2013, and since it had to be silver, the dealer was checking the neighboring provinces, one of which is New Brunswick, where they get a lot more snow then we do. He said the dealers there order most of their trucks with limited slip diffs and all-terrain tires. Here, where the weather is much milder, the trucks mostly have all season type tires and open diffs. Just goes to show you the differences in how they order trucks based on the region. Out in western Canada, the Bullnoses were often all XLT's and Lariats, etc. Out here in the poverty stricken east coast, all bare bones strippers with no options! Ha!

According to Wiki, the 3rd generation of the E-Series went from 1974 to 1991. That's a long stretch. "During its sixteen-year production run, the exterior of the Econoline/Club Wagon would remain nearly unaltered. In 1978, the Super Van/Super Wagon was introduced; based on the 138-inch wheelbase, it was a rear body extension allowing for extra cargo room or an extra row of seating (for up to 15 passengers). In 1979, a minor facelift updated the grille design; round headlights were replaced by rectangular units. In 1983, the Ford Blue Oval was added to the grille, replacing the "FORD" lettering on the hood."

I can't find them in the 1986 accessory catalog, and it is the most thorough, nor the MPC, nor the 1986 price list. But, I only tried calling them a "tiedown", "tie-down", "tie down", or "anchor". What else might they be called? Gary, Happened to come across these tie-downs below while searching for other junk. They are not the same as on the Explorer above, but they do appear to be Ford parts. https://www.ebay.com/itm/NOS-OEM-Ford-1984-1992-Ranger-Pickup-Truck-Tie-Downs-1985-1986-1987-1988-1989-90/123611093647?hash=item1cc7cb9a8f:g:bMEAAOSwvrJcPRkv