Rembrant

The Jigsaw actually worked pretty good with a fine toothed metal blade...but still, you have to be super careful as it walks through that plastic with ease. Having pre-cut the edges with an Xacto knife made the lines a little easier to follow. I suppose I should have checked to make sure the clock even worked before I went through all the trouble...lol, but anyway. I took the clock apart and the contacts are shiny clean, so hopefully it is OK. Being an early 1980 it is the old style clock with a 4 pin plug like a trailer connector. As for the paint...I'm not 100% happy with how the paint went on the flat surface, so I might mask that off on the bezel just in case. That is what I did with the instrument bezel...I masked off some of the flat smooth surfaces, and just focused on the weave pattern and edges.

I second this motion!

Yup, that's a handy trick. I used to do it every now and then if I didn't have a tap or a thread chaser. I use a zipcut disk and cut it on an angle so that I end up with a sharper cutter (as opposed to cutting perpendicular to the threads). Another handy tip is to buy a Refrigeration Ratchet Wrench to keep in your tap and die set. I have used mine for tapping threads many times. It has 4 different square hole sizes, and while it doesn't fit every tap size, it fits most of them. Great for tight spaces where you can't fit the big tap handle or get a good turn on it.

Gary, The glue doesn't melt the lens. I didn't take a lot of pictures this time, but I've done this before a couple times. Seems every used bezel I've looked at has at least one lens that is broken. I just cut them short so that when I lay down the glue on each end it sits on the black plastic and the lens, overlapping each by about 1/8" or so. Better pics from an older thread here: http://forum.garysgaragemahal.com/Dash-Bezel-Lense-Replacement-tp52379.html The lenses are attached a couple different ways. I have a newer bezel here...1985 I think, and its like they used hot pokers to melt the lens into the black plastic.

Hot glue! Just one of those cheap little guns (borrowed from Mrs Rembrant’s crafts toolbox LOL)

I did spend the morning wrenching on the old '80 project truck, and she now moves under her own power and now also have real power steering! I bought a reman C2 pump from RockAuto, and darn it all if the thing doesn't whine a little bit...I don't mean badly...it just whines like the Bullnoses all did back in the day. I also installed a new C2 pump on my '84 a couple years ago, but it's as quiet as can be....can't remember if it was a new one or a reman though. Anyway...this evening was bezel night! I picked up a black weave bezel that was removed, I believe from a 1981. The indicator lens on the far left is a blank/black one...if that means anything. The one in my 1980 has blank/black lenses in both the far left and far right indicator openings. This bezel was filthy dirty and both the "Fasten Belts" and "Brake" lens were broken. That didn't matter to me as I needed to move a couple of the lenses around to match up with my 1980 indicators. It also made them a real treat to clean. 1980 indicator arrangement: Interesting...and I previously never noticed this, but the whole bank of indicators in a separate piece of plastic that it glued into the main bezel. The piece on this bezel is all faded grey...you can see it in this pic: In any case, I'm happy with it for a $40 bezel. No broken tabs, and now fits the 1980 indicators. I then painted it with Satin Black: Letting it dry tonight and I'll re-do all the silver edge trim tomorrow night and she'll look like brand new. They're going to look kind of out of place in this old beater of a truck, but I can't stand looking at ratty bezels. If everything else on this truck looks like crap, the darn thing will have nice bezels...lol. With freshly painted gauge needles and cleaned up bezels, it makes the interiors of these trucks really pop imho. That's it for tonight. Peace & axle grease!

So I finally tackled this job tonight. I ended up doing it with a metal blade in my Jigsaw. I first cut around each opening with a utility knife so that gave me a little better visual line to follow without cutting too deep. I then smoothed out all the edges with a flat file, and I must say it turned out pretty well. I was a little scared to cut into it, but once I drilled a starter hole, I was committed...lol. I just washed it up, but I'll be painting it tomorrow night if all goes well. Here is the one I removed from the truck. I used it as a test piece for my paints. I did it in a Krylon Satin Black. It didn't sit as nicely as I wanted on the smooth surface, but it worked great on the weave pattern, so when I paint the good one I'm going to do it a little differently.

No Jim I didn’t know that. I see people often complain about the Bullnose gauges being no good and inaccurate, but I find they work pretty well myself. I expect the hot idle oil pressure might be a bit low on this old thing so I might throw some 10w40 in it next oil change.

Found out why my 300 was showing no oil pressure LOL. I installed the old original one from my ‘84 and boom, I have an oil pressure reading!

Welcome aboard! Fellow Canuck here, from the east coast.

How long did you run the engine with the vibration? They should at the very least exchange the incorrect flexplate for the correct flexplate, at no cost to you. Do you know if the issue was that they ordered the wrong flexplate or simply received the wrong flexplate (correct part number on box, but wrong flexplate in it). Are you wanting them to do the install? Might not hurt to ask them...if they are worried that the vibration might have caused any issues with the transmission. Maybe they'll want to take it apart and check it out.

Ha! Back in the Bullnose days, there were a lot of Non-AC trucks sold in Canada...lol. Funny, there was a guy on one of the Facebook Bullnose pages last year talking about AC, and he said that he had never seen one without AC, and had owned 5-6 of them.

I have this project on my to-do list and even have everything here to do it. It looks like a huge task I think just because of the sheer amount of components and disassembly and assembly required. I've looked at both AC and Non-AC cabs, and they are not much different. I can turn my Non-AC cab into an AC cab in about 5 minutes with a zip-cut disk on the grinder. The biggest thing is that the large 3rd hole (#3) needs to be cut (for recirculation) that isn't present in the Non-AC cab. Then the hole has to be trimmed to fit the heater core tubes through (#2)...currently that is where the heat cable passes through. Other then that, the main hole on the left needs to be trimmed a bit on the bottom. The fresh air hole that is behind the fender is the same on both AC and Non-AC cabs. I will probably start this before spring. I am now waiting for my new gasket set to arrive from Detroit Muscle Tech. It was a bit of a hassle for me to get it shipped into Canada...delivery has turned into a couple months. Hoping it arrives in February. Once I have the new gasket set, I plan to mount the hvac box so I can trace out the recirc hole in the cab...that way I don't mess it up...lol.

I call these things cushion clamps, and I have them all over my truck as well. I used the 1/4" ones for my brake lines, and larger ones for my electrical and fuel lines inside the frame. I pretty much threw away all of those old plastic frame clips that were in the frame. They are difficult to enlarge the holes. Been there, done that, bought the Bandaids. Only thing I can think of for drilling them out would be to make a little jig/guide for it. I have some random pieces of aluminum plate here that use for various things, but I'd take two pieces...1/4" or 3/8" thick, and squeeze the clamp between the two and then clamp in the Vice, with the cushion clamp just outside of the visa jaws of course. Or you could use steel...but have a guide hole in each piece and have the cushion clamp pressed between the two. Am I making any sense?...lol. It's making sense to me...lol.

Correct Gary, stuck in the frame not in the box. They're out, but boy oh boy were they stuck in there. Top bolt was no problem, it screwed right out. I tried some prying pressure between the box and the frame while pounding on that bolt, and it wouldn't budge. So from underneath, I reached up with my grinder and zip-cut disk and cut into the box ear next to the frame. I put a couple other deep cuts here, and was then able to pry the box away from the frame. The 3rd bolt...the one closest to the cab, is a little different. It's not in a tube like the others, but in a channel...like there's an "S" shaped brace welded inside the frame. I then ran a drill through the one bad hole to get all the rust out, and even that took several attempts to free up. Anyway, it's all good. Everything cleaned up great in the end, and the new box is installed with brand new Gr8 bolts. The next nightmare was the steering shaft...the two sections that slip together were seized together. That was another hour or more trying to free them up...good grief. Turned a thumbnail black in the process...lol. Got my thumb between the vise and a ballpein hammer. In any case, the steering system is all complete again. New box, new pump, and two new lines. All new bolts and hardware, and lots of antiseize. Interesting...I noticed that the pitman arm on the 1995 chassis was different from the one I removed from the 1980 chassis. (Also noted sketchiness...the pitman arm on the 1980 was installed upside down...lol). Anyway, the 1980 had an E0 pitman arm, and the 1995 had an E2 pitman arm, and they had noticeably different angles too them. Not drastic, but definitely different. That E2 pitman arm was a pain to remove as well. I couldn't get the hooks of my puller behind it, so I ended up having to cut the snout of the pump to make room for my puller (I had already ruined the pump removing it from the frame anyway, and I still had the 1980 pump to use as my return core). So, lots of progress. After having a weekend of picking rust out of my hair, eyes, and teeth, and smashing a thumb with a hammer, I still feel pretty good about it all. Brake booster arrives tomorrow so I should actually be able to drive this thing by next weekend or soon after. Annnnd...my friend Rodger came by today not only with fresh coffee, but he brought his buffer kit to see what the paint on the old truck looked like under all that grime and oxidation. The old 3B Midnight Blue Metallic looks really nice under there...amazing really. It's too bad the old thing is in such rough condition overall. She sure was a beauty in her day 4 decades ago. Gentlemen, Have any of you ever used a brake line plug before? I have one on order with some other stuff arriving today. I'm going to install my new brake booster and used master cylinder tomorrow and I will only be able to hook up the front brakes. Anyway, I bought one of these plugs: https://www.amazon.ca/Dorman-785-450-Brake-Line-Plug/dp/B004SF0ZGM I wonder, can I just install this in the residual pressure valve on the master? I should be able to bleed it through the threads and then tighten? I don't need super brakes...I'm just talking about moving the truck around the shop is all. The company I work for goes under new ownership on Monday morning, and that might mean the end of my free work and storage space. I want to get the truck mobile enough that I can move it around in case I need to get it loaded on to a trailer or flat deck to bring it home.

I would say so, yes. And it will cause a 300 to vibrate for sure. A 300 flexplate should not have weights welded to it like the 302 or 351 flexplates. I would say by the size of the weight on yours it is for a 351 or earlier (pre-1982) 302. 351 Flexplate: 302 Flexplate: 300 Flexplate:

If you look on a site like RockAuto you can look at pictures of each flex plate to see the difference between them. Basically they will be the same except the 302 flywheel will have a balance weight welded to it. I think it is on the inside or engine side.

Currently at $35,000. Maybe Bullnose market values are starting to finally creep up.

Nice old truck, and it sounds good too.

10-4! Thank you sir. I'm going to test fit the '95 master to it tonight and get the pushrod set so I can slam it all in the firewall on Saturday.

Speaking of brake booster parts, I just received a new booster for the 1980 project truck, and it doesn't have that plastic part. It just has a rubber bellows type seal on the back. Is it OK just like this or should I go digging the old booster out of the junk heap to see if the plastic piece is still on the back of it??

Well if it's anything like the last Bullnose a couple weeks ago, the bidding will keep going... https://bringatrailer.com/listing/1985-ford-f-150-lariat-4x4/

If I could get my hands on some of these southern Oregon Bullnoses for the prices they list for, I'd have a head FULL of holes...lol.

Nor did it all make sense either...hanging a transfer case on an I-beam???...lol. Quote: "Ford's solution was again subtle, but effective: take the twin-I-beam setup from the conventional trucks and hang a redesigned (for lightness and improved efficiency) transfer case on one of them. Simple in concept, very expensive to engineer."

Right. I missed that. I was more or less referring to the plain white exterior and white wagon wheels. No exterior mouldings or trim or two tone, and no fancy wheels, etc.