Rembrant

Things have been moving pretty slow with the old Blue Mule project lately. I have been on the road with work living out of a suitcase for two weeks and I just got back into the swing of things again this morning. A friend of mine came over to help me lift the shell of the new bed on to the frame. So far it is all assembled with SS hardware and everything looks great. Fit and finish is great so far. Things will start happening a little quicker now over the next few weeks. I have some more parts on order from LMC, Ebay, and Mar-K. I'll pick up the new bed wood this week, and I have to get some parts sand blasted and cleaned up, and I still have to have the fenders, steps, and tailgate hinges painted blue. One more week of work, and then I'm off for a week of vacation and I hope to get a whole bunch of work done to the old girl while I'm off. Progress...slow but sure...lol.

Hard to tell Jon, but it looks like it was originally kind of a cream color? I know it's faded badly. (My wife and I always argue jokingly over what is white and what isn't...lol. I'll say white and she'll say Ivory, etc). I was close by to this truck this past week while on a work trip (it is 3000 miles west of me) and I wanted to go see it in person to see if he wanted to sell any parts. He said that the interior is red and that the dash was silver and was all still intact. I would have grabbed the bezels if he would have sold them...but I didn't have time to go look really, and I need another set of bezels like a hole in the head...lol.

It is very nice, but I have to agree on the price...I think that'll be a stretch.

LOL. And it shows $40 shipping for me, converted to CDN would be about $500 bucks...lol. It's sweet, but not that sweet:nabble_anim_blbl:

Ditto!

Oh that thing IS nice, isn't it?...And nice condition too.

They look like they're in really nice condition. You rarely ever see them that nice. Black weave was 1980-1983, right? It looks like the very far left indicator lens is blank/blacked out....the one that later said "Emissions", and then after that "Shift". I seem to recall reading somewhere that this particular lens was blank on the very early trucks? In any case, they're nice pieces for sure.

It's a gasser, so likely a 460, or 351w? I like it...and it looks pretty straight too (for the length of it...lol). I laughed at the football field part, thanks Gary!

Oh I like that first one...nice.

Gary, Remember the DSO discussion?.... I happened to come across one while looking at trucks for sale, and it had the 6 digit DSO code. I don't know if we discussed it previously or not, but something I noticed on this particular certification label is that there is no factory paint color indicated in the usual spot...it is just blank. I read through this thread again and I see where Jonathan posted a picture of a cert label above with a 6 digit DSO code, and it too appears to be blank where the factory paint code would be. The certification label above is from a truck that is a weird orange color...so I'm assuming it was a custom order of some kind...company truck or whatever. Otherwise there's nothing unusual about it. Anyway...I was just killin' time....carry on;).

Happened to come across this old XLS while looking for other stuff....looks to be ready for the crusher, but figured worth a mention since they so rarely ever pop up... https://www.kijiji.ca/v-view-details.html?adId=1440483793&requestSource=b The grill has been changed obviously, but it still has black door handles and mirrors, and it looks like the bumpers were black before they rusted away. Windshield trip looks like it was black as well...

One of the main selling features of my 1984 Bullnose was the interior. These are the only two pics I have at the moment, but despite it's cruddy exterior appearance, it had a nice clean and original interior in it...just one little rip in the seat on the driver's side from getting in and out. I've seen lots of blue, red, and tan interiors...but just a few months ago I did happen to see a nice and very original green interior...the only one I've ever seen I believe.

Nice truck. It's very much like my own, and just the way I like 'em...nice and simple. My Flareside is a bare bones basic truck as well...also a factory 3 on the tree, but now with a 5spd. Does your truck have AC?

Hi Pete, It’s been a while since I had a column disassembled but I can’t for the life of me remember any Allen head screws. Is this a tilt column by any chance? I’ve not seen the inside of one. I know with the regular non-tilt columns there’s just a couple t-bolts holding the ignition housing on there. Maybe 10mm or 3/8 hex nuts and then the t-bolts basically fall out. If the column you’re working on is a tilt unit then it could be completely different from what I’m used to.

The head board and front and rear sills are all expensive pieces imho. I recently purchased all of them new. The crossmembers are cheap...but the sills are more complicated parts to make. The front sill is an important one because it is also where the step brackets attach to the bed. I just got my new headboard for my '84 back from the body shop today: If you want to know what the bottom lip is supposed to look like, see below. It attaches to the front sill all across the bottom. You could have a sheet metal shop make a new flange and weld it into place, but it would be a fair amount of work. If you're handy with a MIG welder and a flap disk, then that would be the cheapest solution. Here is a picture of the new headboard and front sill assembled with the step brackets before I took it all back apart again to be painted.

Greetings from the Maritimes. I swapped my 3-on-the-tree truck to a 5spd manual from a 1991, and man I couldn't be happier...it is by far my favorite Bullnose mod/swap of them all. BUT...it requires the hydro clutch you don't want. In case you ever do look into it, I can tell you there are a couple things that make the swap nice. The 3spd and the M5OD 5spd are only about 3/8" difference in the lengths, so your existing driveshaft will work, and your existing speedo cable will work. My truck being an '84 was a factory hydraulic clutch model, but it is an easy thing to swap in (Yes, I know you don't want it...lol, just FYI). The 3spd trucks had a solid cab floor, so any swap to a floor shift will require cutting out the the hole for the tunnel cover. It's all stamped there...so all you need to do is follow the lines. In any case, good luck with it.

Ha! I'll see if I can get the code for the guy you know. This project is still going to be slow progress for a little while. I've been swamped at work, and I'm away the next two weeks on work trips.

Dave, that's a good question and unfortunately one I cannot answer. I had a shop do these for me. I'm going to assemble the bed and wood floor myself, and then get them to paint the cab later. I had the front sill and all of the bed crossmembers powder coated black at a different shop (they were a freebie that were done by a vendor of mine at work). The body shop had these things for weeks. Apparently they had a lot of trouble converting the old Ford 3P paint code into a new base/clear mixture. They painted and sanded these things 3 times. They had the paint rep create a new mix for them...I believe Sherwin Williams. In any case, I'm pretty happy with them...they look good. I wanted the factory color and I'm pleased with the appearance.

Finally...

Happy Birfday!!

I recently purchased this panel from Mar-K, and it's a nice piece and fits well. I'm sure the one from LMC is good too, and probably priced better (And it may also be a Mar-K piece anyway). They do sales from time to time...they recently had one on for Memorial Day. Not sure when the next one will be...likely Thanksgiving now. Yes you can replace the wood and strips with the bed still on the truck. The whole thing can sit on the front and rear sills.

If you can focus in on the steering wheel, you can see just how hard he was working to keep it straight...lol. I enjoy watching truck pulls, but I prefer the stock, stock-ish, super-stock type stuff. I'm not as big a fan of the wildly modified stuff. This one below is good for the diesel guys...when the truck decides it's going to pull without you...lol. THis one must have gotten a gulp of engine oil and liked the taste too much;).

Thought you Bullnose geeks might enjoy this pull if you haven't seen it already;). A good friend of mine is into truck pulling and has been for many years, but he's a Bowtie guy;).

Buy a donor AC Cab...or a complete donor truck with AC...or swap firewalls...there's no simple solution. I was eyeing up one of those Vintage Air systems until I saw how it fits in the cab. Somebody posted pics on FB not all that long ago. You'd never fit one in a truck with a manual trans...not one with a shifter on the floor at least. I'd have no problem installing an aftermarket system, as long as the AC unit in the cab was small enough. If you find something, let us all know;).

I bought a set of these and I believe Reamer did as well. Down to only 3 sets left I see. Last chance to own some original Ford steel here...when they're gone, they'll be gone forever. There's a bit of work required to finish these. Not difficult work, but still work. I'm hoping to get mine back from the paint shop this week.