Big Blue's Transformation

[Machspeed]

John - When I think about what I have to do I get discouraged. But then someone asks me for a story about the truck and I go back over what I have done and I realize there's a whole lot more behind me than in front of me.

And, speaking of that, I'll lay out some of my thinking for y'all in order to get some feedback. Here's what I have planned for the next few weeks:

• Mission Control: I'll wire up the switches and add the wires I need for the fog and backup lamps.

  But I'll need relays to complete that effort and where to put the relays is a question.

• Aux Power: I'll finish the power box wiring and run the #2 wiring for power to the inverter. But I need to add a fuse in the circuit from the aux battery to the aux power relay, and where to place the fuse is a question.

• Air Compressor: With the inverter installed it is time to install the compressor itself in the tool box and the tank under the bed.

Let's say that gets done in the next month. That puts it at mid-January and I'll have ~5 months to the time to go to Ouray. Is that enough time to install the EFI and get it tuned? Sure would be nice to have it on that trip. But, I do not want to jeopardize the trip, so probably should save that for next fall.

In any event, there is going to be a space crunch when I go to EFI as the air cleaner box and another PDB go on the driver's fender. So back to the questions of where to put the relays for the lighting - in the PDB? And where to put the 150 amp megafuse for the aux power - somewhere that won't be in the way for the EFI swap.

In fact, I worry that the current layout of coolant recovery/windshield washer tank with the Cole Hersee smart isolator tucked between it and the fender will have to change when I go EFI. And I think I may better take some time to think through that issue before adding a relay box for the lighting and making new aux power cables.

Toward that end, I kept the driver's fender off of Huck. So I can bolt the air cleaner box and PDB to it and get a good idea of what space I have left.

Thoughts? Suggestions? Better ideas?

Sorry, Gary. You're on a bit of a time crunch too so I have empathy for you. Still, I suspect you're having at least some fun with this project. You'll get her done, buddy!

[ArdWrknTrk]

Jim - I really like the Meter Match. Today I need to calibrate the Empty reading against the rear tank, which is empty, and then I'm essentially done.

However, there is a mid-point reading that can be used to try to make the readout more accurate, and over time I may want to play with that. That's because the gauge moves pretty rapidly through the middle and then slows down at the Empty end. So if I were to stop when I think I've used 1/2 of the tank I could push the button to train it to show 1/2 and it will interpolate above and below that to increase the accuracy.

If I calibrated the Empty setting and then took the truck to the station I could put 9 1/2 gallons in the 19 gallon rear tank and then make it read 1/2. Then fill it up and calibrate Full.

That's great news!

I don't have much ability to program things like an Arduino.

I hope it works as well in reverse as it does for you. 👍

[Nothing Special]

Bob - I'm looking at Circuit 14, the brown wire shown below. It doesn't dim, but is just on/off.

I don't know if dimming the dash will cause the fog relay not to trigger.

Not sure what the pull in is for a relay, but ~7V stator power works too.

I never turn them down that much anyhow.

The diagram doesn't make me think so.

It looks like the same wire as the parking lamps

I agree, that's what the diagram looks like. But I know that on all of my '80 and '90s Ford trucks (including my '85 F-250HD) that the headlight warning buzzer would not sound if I had the headlights on and the key off but the dash lights were dimmed. From the looks of that diagram circuit 14 should be just what you want. But I don't see from that diagram how the headlight warning buzzer would work the way that I know it has in my trucks. So I don't know what to make of that.

And I know the relay doesn't take a full 12V to pull in, and certainly less to hold. But you can dim the dash lights to "off", so if you were using the dash light signal to trigger the fog light relay I'm certain that at some point it would not pull in the relay (which mat all be moot since Gary's diagram shows that he wouldn't be using the dash light signal).

[ArdWrknTrk]

Bob - I'm looking at Circuit 14, the brown wire shown below. It doesn't dim, but is just on/off.

I don't know if dimming the dash will cause the fog relay not to trigger.

Not sure what the pull in is for a relay, but ~7V stator power works too.

I never turn them down that much anyhow.

The diagram doesn't make me think so.

It looks like the same wire as the parking lamps

I agree, that's what the diagram looks like. But I know that on all of my '80 and '90s Ford trucks (including my '85 F-250HD) that the headlight warning buzzer would not sound if I had the headlights on and the key off but the dash lights were dimmed. From the looks of that diagram circuit 14 should be just what you want. But I don't see from that diagram how the headlight warning buzzer would work the way that I know it has in my trucks. So I don't know what to make of that.

And I know the relay doesn't take a full 12V to pull in, and certainly less to hold. But you can dim the dash lights to "off", so if you were using the dash light signal to trigger the fog light relay I'm certain that at some point it would not pull in the relay (which mat all be moot since Gary's diagram shows that he wouldn't be using the dash light signal).

I'm not disagreeing Bob, I'm simply saying "it's been working for me."

But -like I qualified- I never dim my instruments that low.

[Gary Lewis]

I'm not disagreeing Bob, I'm simply saying "it's been working for me."

But -like I qualified- I never dim my instruments that low.

Well, I can't speak for all Bullnose trucks, but on Big Blue the brown wire at the clock plug has 12v with the lights on regardless of what you do with the dimmer. So I think that's a good source of a "lights on" signal.

In fact, why isn't that connector a good source of many of the signals I need?

• Always Hot: On those circuits where I want to be able to bring something on at any time (fog lights, backup lights, aux power, battery parallel, and air compressor) I could use this as all it will be doing is to pull in relays or give the smart isolator a command.

• Switched Hot: For the switched circuits (front locker & aux power) this would pull in their relays.

• Lights On: As said, this appears to be a good source to bring the fog lights' relay in.

• Ground: This will just be for the LEDs

Thoughts?

[kramttocs]

Well, I can't speak for all Bullnose trucks, but on Big Blue the brown wire at the clock plug has 12v with the lights on regardless of what you do with the dimmer. So I think that's a good source of a "lights on" signal.

In fact, why isn't that connector a good source of many of the signals I need?

• Always Hot: On those circuits where I want to be able to bring something on at any time (fog lights, backup lights, aux power, battery parallel, and air compressor) I could use this as all it will be doing is to pull in relays or give the smart isolator a command.

• Switched Hot: For the switched circuits (front locker & aux power) this would pull in their relays.

• Lights On: As said, this appears to be a good source to bring the fog lights' relay in.

• Ground: This will just be for the LEDs

Thoughts?

Not sure you could ask for one better - both in single connector functionality as well as location.

[Gary Lewis]

Not sure you could ask for one better - both in single connector functionality as well as location.

That was my thinking, Scott.

So I'm now laying out the switch types in TurboCAD. Here's the first one:

 

[ArdWrknTrk]

Well, I can't speak for all Bullnose trucks, but on Big Blue the brown wire at the clock plug has 12v with the lights on regardless of what you do with the dimmer. So I think that's a good source of a "lights on" signal.

In fact, why isn't that connector a good source of many of the signals I need?

• Always Hot: On those circuits where I want to be able to bring something on at any time (fog lights, backup lights, aux power, battery parallel, and air compressor) I could use this as all it will be doing is to pull in relays or give the smart isolator a command.

• Switched Hot: For the switched circuits (front locker & aux power) this would pull in their relays.

• Lights On: As said, this appears to be a good source to bring the fog lights' relay in.

• Ground: This will just be for the LEDs

Thoughts?

Surewhynot?

It has the functions you need and it is right there.

Sometimes I'm slow, but sometimes I'm "special"...

[1986F150Six]

Surewhynot?

It has the functions you need and it is right there.

Sometimes I'm slow, but sometimes I'm "special"...

And, "special", like "progress" is good!

[ArdWrknTrk]

Surewhynot?

It has the functions you need and it is right there.

Sometimes I'm slow, but sometimes I'm "special"...

And, "special", like "progress" is good!

Thank you David!