Rembrant

Shaun, I've certain considered this same issue, and I would probably end up having a seizure with the same OCD...lol. I'm not 100% sure I would like a Bullnose swapped Brick, but this particular truck checked a few boxes as a good candidate...it is a 4X4, short wheelbase, manual trans, has been carb swapped already, good solid cab (supposedly), and it has front end damage, so it is already in need of a new front clip;). Still, I won't know until I see it. Your point is well taken though. Jim, My goal is something to do...lol. My Flareside is basically finished. It needs a few odds and ends, but for the most part it's just shine and go. I absolutely love the truck, and I love all the praise it gets when I take it out. That makes all the hard work so worth it. But I need more to do than just shine and go. The winters are long and I need something to occupy my time. As much as I love my shiny truck, I also enjoy the cutting grinding welding sand blasting part that makes old junk look nice again...there is a lot of satisfaction in that. The RV has filled that gap all through this winter and more importantly kept me busy during the Covid lockdown, but it too is mostly finished now. So I've been thinking about another Flareside, but a 4x4. Not one to fully restore or anything...but just something to beat around in. Something that will keep me busy mechanically, but not something I need to worry about (scratching or getting dirty). I want to be able to haul stuff, and put a trailer hitch on it...and maybe even take on a dirt road...lol. Problem is, I'm cheap, and based on what I want to spend, I need to start with junk...and what I've been finding mostly is a little too junky...lol. So finding something...anything, is a challenge around here. I went to a new cruise night last night at a place called the Masstown Market. It's a tourist hot spot as it is right on the main TCH in the middle of NS. It's 75 miles away, but I went for a change of scenery. Two different guys that stopped by my truck told me there was one like mine sitting in the grass in a town not far away (on my way home) so I stopped in to check it out... Alas it was not for sale, but I had to check anyway. Something like this I would buy so quick (and actually pay good money for...well above my current budget) but the guy was just not budging. This stuff drives me crazy, because it's been there for years obviously. Anyway, I'll keep looking...but it's all really just something to do.

I haven’t been around much lately as I’ve been pretty busy working on the old RV. Leaving tomorrow for our first overnighter. Going to hang out at a beach tomorrow and may end up staying there lol. I also just did two cruise nights in a row. Thursday night was super busy here and there was a big turn out. Tonight I drove 75 miles to check out a different one that just had their first night. The old Blue Mule is running like a champ and is in bad need of an oil change. I may also have found another project...a 1980 Flareside 4x4. Owner has had it for 28 years. 300 six and C6, on a 1989 chassis apparently. Don’t know much else about it, but a friend is going to check it out for me next week as it is a bit of a drive away. Also going on Sunday to check out a 1989 F150 4x4 short wheelbase with a later ‘92 style Flareside bed on it. It is a 302 truck with 5spd and front end damage. If it is worth fixing at all, the intent would be to Bullnose convert it, of course;)

Yup! We had a rash of this junk showing up in Canada back in the 1980's. Not sure if you got them in the US or not? I actually had one of the little Lada sedans very briefly when I turned 16. Some university kids were renting my Grandmother's place at the time, and when the school year was finished, one of them left this little Lada behind...lol. Same as the one in the pic below: It was a 4spd and I used to tear around our property with it, learning how to drive (I guess?...lol). We also had Skodas in the 80's as well, but only briefly. The cars were trash and difficult to get parts for, etc. On top of that they rusted so fast you almost couldn't do anything with them at all...lol.

To me it looks like a Lada Niva. There were a bunch of them around up here at one time, but they rusted badly (and broken down often).

I used to have a Pela 6000 oil extractor and used it all the time to do oil changes on my old diesel Volkswagens. Feed the tube down the dipstick tube, and suck the oil out of the pan. Worked great, but I found it really messy with the black diesel oil. I sold it a while back during a garage clean-up as I wasn't using it with any current vehicles. https://pelaproducts.eu/pela-6000/

Jim, I still have to investigate the thermostat, but I have a new 180F one on hand and a new gasket, so maybe even today if I get all of my other chores done. Question: How does one know that the radiator clutch fan is working properly? What am I looking for? I noticed yesterday that it started to get a bit warm on the gauge while idling with the AC on full. DRiving down the road it seemed to be fine, so I was wondering if it was an issue of air flow when not moving. More testing to come...

Nice truck! And clean too. I love it (and I have a penchant for blue anyway...) But a Phoenix truck with no AC, and not even a sliding rear window?...wow... It was 90F here yesterday, which is 'blistering heat' for us...I can't imagine driving that truck when it's 115F for weeks or months on end...lol. I too don't have AC, but man am I ever impressed with how big an improvement it was to add a sliding rear window. It has made a big difference this season so far.

I believe the Flareside steel bed sides are 14ga, but I'd have to re-check them to confirm. I seem to recall measuring them around 0.060" thick. I had my new stake pockets and extension panels made out of 16ga iirc. I must check my notes tonight and see if my memory is serving me correctly. I have a little Lincoln welder and they are so easy to dial in for that thinner steel. There's a chart on the inside of the side cover, and that gets you right in the ballpark. A couple tweaks from there and you are golden! These are my fake spot welds below.

Ya, and it says "No damage" lol, which is clearly not true. From what little one can see, the bed sides are not too too bad...they extension panels are still intact, and that says something at least. Somebody might buy it. I sold one very similar to that for $300...probably in worse condition.

Great price too. Nice find.

I went over to a commercial tire shop here in the industrial park, and they confirmed that they usually install the valve stems just like they are on my RV duals (shorties, pointing inwards). He recommended the valve stem caps that stay on and you can check the pressure through them, plus the special reach pressure gauge that fits through the holes to reach the inner and outer stems of the duals. He said this is what their techs do for most fleet vehicles around here (with tire maintenance contracts). He said most people don't like the extensions because they're not overly reliable. I learned something new today!

Gary, I just put 40 gallons in that fuel tank yesterday morning, so anything that saves me from having to drop it I will most definitely try...lol. So my new fuel sending unit arrived today, and in looking at it, I discovered what my problem is...although I'm still a bit confused...lol. And here it is... Three fuel lines...or so I thought. Two for the 460EFI (one supply, and one return), and the 3rd smaller line to feed the onboard Onan generator. Except...it behaves exactly the same as the sending unit currently installed in the RV. I can blow through the small line (with force) and cannot suck on it at all...it is blocked. So I follow the line down to the pump housing that sits on the floor of the tank, and it just elbows into the top of the housing. Fine. So I pop the fitting out of the housing, and low and behold the stupid thing has a duck bill on the end of it...or, effectively a check valve...so no wonder I can't pull any fuel from it. So this new replacement unit has the exact same issue as the one currently installed in the RV. The seller said he had replaced this unit in the past few years, but since the generator was inoperable, he wouldn't have known that the line was blocked. I called the manufacturer (Spectra Premium, here in Canada) and Mr. Tech support tells me that this unit is not for RV's, and that this 3rd line is for emissions or fuel vapor return or something he wasn't too sure about. The interesting thing about that is, this duckbill is exactly where a generator fuel pickup should be...approximately at the 1/4 full tank mark, so that it doesn't drain the tank completely and leave you stranded while camping. So I guess I can probably just pull my existing unit, and remove the duck bill from the end of the line? As far as I know, there are no emissions lines laying loose back there that connect to this fitting....and even if there were, then where would the generator connect?...I realize this thing is 27 years old, but surely there still a lot of 460EFI RV's on the road with onboard generators?

Haha...Canadian Tire is probably less of a tire shop than Wal-Mart is...lol, but yes they DO sell tires...it's just not their specialty...lol.

No, you were being clear. I understand how the stem is supposed to stick out for the inner wheel, but where is the valve stem supposed to be for the outer wheel?

I thought that's how they were supposed to work... But I can't even check the pressure of the outer wheels, because they have short valve stems pointing inwards. As far as I know they are the stock wheels. Previous owner painted them black because I have pictures of them when they were the factory grey.

Oh, and this may end up being a really dumb question, but since I have never owned anything with dual rear wheels before, I need to lean on the experts again... Are the valve stems supposed to be hidden on these wheels?>.. Either I have to remove the wheels to check the pressure, or I need to buy a specific pressure gauge that I'm not aware of...

Do the two different style connectors disconnect in the same way? I had these tools years ago. I bought a 1995 F150 in 1997 or 1998 and I remember buying these tools to change the fuel filter in it. OK 460 people... I finally got around to changing out my coolant temperature sender last night. The back story is that when I bought this thing, the temperature gauge barely moved off the bottom...and if/when it did, it didn't move very far. The seller actually gave me a new 185F t-stat with the RV and said that he thought the t-stat that was in it was a colder one that the original owner had installed for towing. This was just an assumption, so that's all I know. While I drove the thing home that day (120 miles) in the winter, he seemed to blow pretty good heat from the vents, so I just assumed that the temp sender was likely getting flakey after 27 years. So I bought an aftermarket sender...the better one of the two available, and installed it last night. I let the thing sit and idle in the driveway for a while and it still barely moved up the gauge. I decided to take it out for a run on the highway, but I have a 10-12 mile drive (at 40-45 mph) from home before I get to the highway, and during that whole time, the temperature only came up to between the N and the O. Once on the highway, the gauge moved a bit more, maybe up into the O a little bit, but that was it on flat ground. It was only when I climbed a couple big hills back to back that the gauge shot up to the middle, and even just a hair beyond the middle, but once I back on to flat ground for a while, the gauge dropped back down to between the N and O as pictured. When I got back home I grabbed my temp gun while it was idling in the driveway, and all I could really reach was the top tank on the radiator, and it was reading 175F. My brother inlaw says it's acting like there's no thermostat in it at all (or the one that IS in it is stuck open). What say the 460 experts? Sounds like I need a thermostat? I was very pleased with myself for having swapped the temp sender without draining the coolant, but it sounds like I now have to drain it anyway...lol.

Haha! Well, it's my salty east coast version of surface rust...lol. This RV is a western vehicle, so I actually consider this good!

Do the two different style connectors disconnect in the same way? I had these tools years ago. I bought a 1995 F150 in 1997 or 1998 and I remember buying these tools to change the fuel filter in it.

Ok Jim, thanks. Pretty sure Princess Auto has all this stuff as well, and they're close to my work. I need to make sure I have all the right stuff in advance, because once I'm at the shop and drop the tank, I won't be able to run out and get a needed tool... Ospho is a good idea, and I still have at least 3/4 of a gallon left from doing my F150 frame with it. That'll be a good little project to slather it on the RV frame (after I get everything else operational lol).

Here is what the fuel line fittings look like. Two for the supply and return to the 460 EFI, and the small one with the rubber hose for the generator. Is the special tool required for all of them or just the generator line? I think I'm going to try and drop the tank myself if I can figure out what to do with the fuel. Going to reply again after this with a question about the tank. If I'm going to need tools for these fuel lines I'll have to get them this week. Note that the fuel line for the generator is smaller than the lines for the engine. Next is the tank. Don't laugh at the rusty frame...lol, it's really not that bad. Just surface rust. The driver's side of the tank is bolted to the bottom of the frame rail, see below: The passenger side is bolted to a beam that attaches to the crossmembers in front of and behind the tank. It almost looks like the tank is meant to hinge down once disconnected on the driver's side. Does anybody know? That sure would make life a lot easier. Unbolt just one bolt at each end of the bracket on the passenger side, and it should act like a hinge, no? Am I crazy?

Here is what the fuel line fittings look like. Two for the supply and return to the 460 EFI, and the small one with the rubber hose for the generator. Is the special tool required for all of them or just the generator line? I think I'm going to try and drop the tank myself if I can figure out what to do with the fuel. Going to reply again after this with a question about the tank. If I'm going to need tools for these fuel lines I'll have to get them this week. Note that the fuel line for the generator is smaller than the lines for the engine.

Is that what you ended up ordering? Or something different?

Gary, I just put 40 gallons in that fuel tank yesterday morning, so anything that saves me from having to drop it I will most definitely try...lol.

Gary, I'm going to try tonight to feed a wire or weed trimmer line back through the metal elbow on the sending unit and see if it's free at all. I have some really small bottle brushes at work I can use if by chance it is plugged up with dirt, debris, or rust, etc. If the plastic tube is kinked or collapsed, I guess I'll then be dropping the tank...not much choice. Bugger. Two steps forward, one step back...lol.