Rembrant

Gentlemen, As I reassembled the front clip on this truck, something I haven't gotten quite right is the hood apparently. I may have bent the hood...I screwed up a couple things as I was putting it all back together, but my end result now is that the back edge of the hood is sitting lower than the cowl panel, and the hood hits it when opening and closing...you can see the paint chips. I don't know if you can see it in the picture below? The cowl panel is down all the way, so the back edge of the hood is too low in the center. How would I go about correcting this? All other edges are lined up pretty well at this point. Should I put something under the back of the hood to try and bend it up? What would you do?

That's great Rick, thank you. This is very helpful. The old truck is pretty rough yet, and far from factory original at this point and time, but it being an '80, I'd like the hood letters to be on there as they're supposed to be. Thanks gents!

So I bought a set of used letters. They were cheap, and I didn't want to stick shiny new hood letters on this ratty old truck. (Still, I'm fussy enough that I'd prefer them to be on there). Which leads me to my question...how do they attach? Do they have pins/posts on the backs of the letters? If yes, then I guess that is a problem as this truck has been painted and I assume the holes were filled in. I guess I can double sided tape them? Or should one drill new holes? (or re-drill the old holes?)

I saw a map yesterday showing how much of the USA was covered in snow. Texas? South Louisiana? Huh? Strange days indeed. We have had a pretty easy winter up here on the coast...in fact up until the first week of February, it was about the mildest (and snow free) winter in memory. Still, I feel for the folks down south with frozen pipes and no electricity. That situation is no joke. Frozen pipes are not really an issue for us here...they're all buried deep enough. In extreme cold, it can be an issue with mobile homes, but they usually have their exposed water lines heat traced anyway. Power outages are pretty common for us in the stormy winter weather, so we have a 10k watt backup generator that runs on gas or propane. It really is a must around here. The power is usually only out for a few hours at a time, but it can be out for a full day or sometimes two days. About 15 years ago, we were a solid week without power in the middle of the winter. In any case, I wish them all the best down there until this all gets sorted out. I bet there will be a run on generators in the coming weeks/months.

Haha, it’s ok Gary I’m fluent in both!

Perfect Gary, thanks so much. Just what I needed.

Gentelmen, Would one of you with an 80-81 truck be kind enough to measure the hood letters for me? The height and width of the F would be fine, as they should all be the same. I found a used set locally and want to make sure they are correct. Thanks in advance.

Ya I think you’re right. I haven’t used it much but I did buy a sample kit a few years back that had all the prep products and black POR-15. I found it to be really runny so it was tough to use on vertical surfaces, and it dries really dull looking. Other than that I suppose it was fine. I may not have used it right and maybe didn’t give it enough of a chance, but I just went back to what I know which is paint. I’ve been really happy with the Ospho product so far as well. It’s runny and I like that so it will get into all the cracks and crevices that thicker material will not. You can also see where it works too. I guess we find the products we like and stick with them LOL.

John thanks for the reply. I have not put any of the Fluid Film black on it yet. That is only for later when it is finished and ready for the road. The whole frame has now been ground down with a cup wheel on my angle grinder, and then coated with a treatment of Ospho (brushed on). I then clean up the frame again and have been painting with black rust paint. It probably looks kind of weird because I have been doing it all in small sections, a little bit at a time. It’s just the way the project has played out I sort of had to assemble it and refurb the frame as I went along. The black fluid film is for later as a protectant. I know most people like POR-15, but I personally don’t care for the stuff. I’ve tried it before and maybe I did something wrong but I just didn’t like how it applied. I’ve been having good luck with the Ospho and black rust paint. I have a paint gun if I need to paint a bigger area but I’ll often use rattle cans or small cans and a brush for the hard to reach areas.

Jim, That's not a bad idea actually. I assume what will happen though is that the outer shell of the larger bushing will deform into the open area at the end of the eye curl. I went through this with my '84...bit of a long story, but it was another oddball that a regular bushing wouldn't fit, and that one I took to a leaf spring shop. When they pressed the bushings into those springs, the bushing shell distorted a bit and pushed out into the part that isn't in the circle (The good thing is that it eliminated the possibility of the bushings ever being able to rotate). I thought what they did was cut an 1/8" off the end of the curl and tightened up the hole a little bit, but they may have simply pressed in slightly larger bushings, I'm not really sure. I called three spring shops yesterday, and this RB229 bushing (1.785" OD) is odd enough that none of them have ever stocked or sold a single one, and none of their suppliers had them in-stock in Canada either. The guy at one shop was clever enough to mention that the RB219 bushing (1.813" OD) was readily available (fits a 90's GM 3500, I guess) and he said that is what they would install if I brought the springs to them (which I wasn't doing since they are 3 hrs away).

I've done a lot of digging on these bushings and the correct ones that I need are no longer available from Ford, and the aftermarket replacement (part # RB229) is also impossible to find in Canada. RB229 is available in the US, but at $32 each plus $50 shipping they'd end up costing me about $175 CDN shipped, and I don't really want to pay that for a couple of $10 bushings if I don't have to. The next closest thing I can find is the RB219, which is available locally (by order at least). It is 1 13/16 OD compared to the RB229's 1 25/32 OD (or 1.785" to 1.813"). So 0.028" larger. What do you guys think? That should press in there, shouldn't it? If I cleaned the eye out with a flapper wheel to make sure it's clean and smooth, and hit it with the press I'd like to think that the spring would open up by another 28 thou? Any thoughts, good or bad?

LMC sells them, but I don't know if they fit the 1-ton chassis or not. I assume yes.

The VIN is 1984, at least LOL.

This is an interesting swap around. Check out the interior. https://www.ebay.com/itm/124571144075

The 302/5.0 was available in the light duty F250's. I've seen a few of them pop up for sale recently. They're more common in the 2wd F250's than in the 4x4's, but they are out there. My M5OD came out of a 1991 F250 with a 302 in it.

Haha, I don't know about L.A. Jim, but the entire state of California does. Gary, I've been really amazed seeing people posting about how far south the cold weather and snow is this year. It's really something to see (scenes have been popping up on all the truck and dog pages I follow lol). The good news is that the bad weather makes for good garage days;). Ask me how I know;).

That's cool, thanks for sharing the pics Pete.

They all get pitted and rusted here, I'm used to it. This started out as a budget build, so I couldn't be too fussy when frame shopping, especially when they're all rusted out here. This one had everything I wanted with the 5spd and 3.55 diffs, swaybars, etc..., but the downside is that it was rusty. Welding them up is pretty common here, but the original frame that was in this truck was too far gone to repair.

Nice. I'd be lost without my calipers. I have a similar set...they're just cheap ones, but they've lasted for years and are pretty accurate to this day. I check them every now and then with a 0.003" feeler gauge, and they're usually correct. If they're accurate enough at 3 thou, they're accurate enough for what I usually use them for. We have nicer ones at work that I have access to, and they get calibrated annually, so if I do need to measure to tighter tolerances, I have had access to them.

Jim, interestingly the new hangers DO have drain holes, about 3/8" in size. Oddly, the ones I installed on my '84 a couple years ago do not have the drain holes, and they are the same Dorman hangers. Looks like they added the hole recently?...I don't know. Today was frame repair day (I've had a couple of these with this project, considering I've rebuild 2 crossmembers and stiffened up a couple spots on the frame previously). The one bad spot in the rear section of the frame was around the right rear leaf spring hanger. I didn't take as many pictures as I normally would have as I was in a bit of a rush today, but I cut two big chunks of frame out and welded in fresh 1/8" plate, outlines below: I welded them on both sides and ground them smooth so that they're not visible, at least from the outside. I also added some extra plates on the inside for extra strength...probably not necessary, but I did it anyway. I'm going to weld in some 1" wide 1/8" flat bar along in the inside of the bottom flange to strengthen it up as well. In the end the right hand leaf pack is all installed (temporarily as I still need to get the front bushings sorted out). I have a few more little things to weld in, but the hard work is all done now. I should have a whole bunch of easy stuff over the next few weeks...installing new shocks, gas tank and fuel line, brake lines, etc. Once it is all soaked with Fluid Film black it'll look great. Oh well, life in the land of rust. This frame was not perfect, but it was way better than the one that was in this truck. It is 15 years newer after all lol.

I should say that I think they're the same hanger as on the other truck. I bought the Dorman kits each time, but the '84 has 2.5" wide springs, and this one has 3" wide springs. However, I think the difference is only in the shackles and the hanger/brackets are the same in each case. I must say though, they're nice pieces, and very heavy.

Jim, interestingly the new hangers DO have drain holes, about 3/8" in size. Oddly, the ones I installed on my '84 a couple years ago do not have the drain holes, and they are the same Dorman hangers. Looks like they added the hole recently?...I don't know.

Looks like a good score for $400 to me Angelo. I quite like the Bricknose trucks.

Ha! I've lived in Canada my whole life, and I still hate the cold. Luckily it's fairly mild where I live on the coast. We didn't have any snow until a week ago, and daytime temps were usually above freezing (32-40F). Last Sunday though, we got about 16" of snow in 12 hours, and it's been cold ever since (Daytime temps 19-20F). Last week my neighbors lawn was as green as it was in the summer. Summers are nice here though. 80F is hot for me, and 85F too hot lol. If the winters were a little milder here, I'd be happy. I lived where it hits -40F, and I've worked where it hits 125F, so I've experienced the full scale, and if there's a place that I could live where it was about 65-75F and dry all year round, that's where I'd like to be...lol.

Haha! Now that's a good point. Well, there have been some developments lately that are changing my future plans. I don't know if I'll keep it or not, but it's more likely now than it was a few weeks ago. Well, it didn't start out that way. I only bought this 1980 as a make work project. I have no other hobbies, and I need stuff to do in the winter (or any free time, really). The plan for it was to leave it kind of rough so that I didn't mind driving it in the rain, or gravel roads, or even four wheeling if the mood hit. So I will definitely use it. I have a daily driver truck, so that's taken care of. I can't really have is TWO garage queens. If all there is to do is wax and polish them, then I'll get bored with that quick. I kinda need a project to keep busy. Things might change though...who knows. I'm having fun with this truck, so I'm just rolling with it.