Big Blue's Transformation

[Gary Lewis]

I usually just order a cable overnight from Amphenol made with whatever terminations I need.

(Used to do that a lot with rocket telemetry. Double shielded SMA was typical for tight electronics bays)

David - Yep, it is a plan. Maybe I can execute it on Wednesday.

Jim - I wish I could just order a new cable.

In this case I need to put a connector on the Midland antenna. Originally the antenna had probably 20' of little coax terminated in a PL-239. But I wanted to be able to remove the antenna so I put a waterproof bulkhead BNC on the back of the cab near the cargo light and cut the coax and soldered it to that BNC so it would reach from that to the radio's SO-239. And then I shortened the coax dramatically and put the male BNC on it. But apparently I did a really poor job on that connector, hence the very short transmission range.

At $20+ for just the connector I toyed with buying a new GMRS antenna with a BNC connector on it and coiling the coax somewhere. But I couldn't find any antennas with the right connector. Lots of "NMO mounts" with coax and BNC connectors, with that meaning "New MOtorola" I'm told. But then you need an antenna to go with it, and most of the NMO mounts are to be mounted through sheetmetal rather than on with a magnet.

So after lots of searching for the right antenna or right connector, to no avail, finally Digi-Key came through!

[Gary Lewis]

I use Frost King foaming coil cleaner on AC's (though I don't have one in my truck)

Get it at the big box. It comes with a coil brush on the cap and is inexpensive.

For mold and mildew I usually use Spray Nine by ITW, but it is not good for aluminum.

It does guarantee 99.9% effective on spores, bacteria and virus... and is NSF approved for food facilities.

Jim - Thanks for the info on the Frost King spray. Hopefully what I have will do the trick.

[ArdWrknTrk]

David - Yep, it is a plan. Maybe I can execute it on Wednesday.

Jim - I wish I could just order a new cable.

In this case I need to put a connector on the Midland antenna. Originally the antenna had probably 20' of little coax terminated in a PL-239. But I wanted to be able to remove the antenna so I put a waterproof bulkhead BNC on the back of the cab near the cargo light and cut the coax and soldered it to that BNC so it would reach from that to the radio's SO-239. And then I shortened the coax dramatically and put the male BNC on it. But apparently I did a really poor job on that connector, hence the very short transmission range.

At $20+ for just the connector I toyed with buying a new GMRS antenna with a BNC connector on it and coiling the coax somewhere. But I couldn't find any antennas with the right connector. Lots of "NMO mounts" with coax and BNC connectors, with that meaning "New MOtorola" I'm told. But then you need an antenna to go with it, and most of the NMO mounts are to be mounted through sheetmetal rather than on with a magnet.

So after lots of searching for the right antenna or right connector, to no avail, finally Digi-Key came through!

Digi-Key, Mouser and Newark are all great to deal with.

I'm glad you've found what you need!

[Gary Lewis]

Digi-Key, Mouser and Newark are all great to deal with.

I'm glad you've found what you need!

Yes, I've purchased from all three over several decades and they've treated me right. But Digi-Key won my heart today.

On another note, I was looking for something yesterday and ran across the upper plenum in all its powder-coated glory. And I got to wondering what the BBK throttle body would look like on it. Kinda pretty if I do say so myself. And, by the way, that's the location of the IAC valve right below the throttle body.

But, when I bolted it on I found I'm going to have to do some porting of the plenum. In the shot below you can see the red on the plenum where I "painted" it with a Sharpie. There's enough slop in the bolt-to-bolt-hole fit that you can line it up pretty well if you work at it, but since there's nothing on the back side of that flange there's really no reason not to take it out where it won't cause flow problems. When the time comes, of course.

[1986F150Six]

But, when I bolted it on I found I'm going to have to do some porting of the plenum. In the shot below you can see the red on the plenum where I "painted" it with a Sharpie. There's enough slop in the bolt-to-bolt-hole fit that you can line it up pretty well if you work at it, but since there's nothing on the back side of that flange there's really no reason not to take it out where it won't cause flow problems. When the time comes, of course.

https://forum.garysgaragemahal.com/file/n106632/BBK_TB_%26_Upper_Plenum_Matchup_II.jpg

Whoa!!!

 

[Gary Lewis]

But, when I bolted it on I found I'm going to have to do some porting of the plenum. In the shot below you can see the red on the plenum where I "painted" it with a Sharpie. There's enough slop in the bolt-to-bolt-hole fit that you can line it up pretty well if you work at it, but since there's nothing on the back side of that flange there's really no reason not to take it out where it won't cause flow problems. When the time comes, of course.https://forum.garysgaragemahal.com/file/n106632/BBK_TB_%26_Upper_Plenum_Matchup_II.jpg

Whoa!!!

I keep telling you, it isn't whoa but GO!

 

Seriously though, just a bit of cleanup where the throttle body mounts will surely help the flow. There's nothing else in the upper plenum to restrict things as the interior is one big huge cavity and the outlets have probably three times the area of the inlet. So that little bit of metal sticking out is all that I need to remove.

 

As for the A/C system, y'all are probably wondering if I've exorcised the smell. And the answer is no. In fact, I've not tried because it has been raining cats and dogs here and has now turned cold. But Saturday it is supposed to be clear and up to 68 degrees, so maybe I can do it then.

 

But tomorrow I'll put the new BNC connector on the GMRS antenna. I may then take a drive to see how it works, leaving Janey at home with a handheld. And if I do I plan to fill the tank to see what the MPG was for last week's trip.

 

Meanwhile I've been working on Big Blue's Christmas list. All of this will come from Daniel Stern with the exception of the last two items, which are from Amazon - as recommended by Daniel.

 

[Gsmblue]

I keep telling you, it isn't whoa but GO!

 

Seriously though, just a bit of cleanup where the throttle body mounts will surely help the flow. There's nothing else in the upper plenum to restrict things as the interior is one big huge cavity and the outlets have probably three times the area of the inlet. So that little bit of metal sticking out is all that I need to remove.

 

As for the A/C system, y'all are probably wondering if I've exorcised the smell. And the answer is no. In fact, I've not tried because it has been raining cats and dogs here and has now turned cold. But Saturday it is supposed to be clear and up to 68 degrees, so maybe I can do it then.

 

But tomorrow I'll put the new BNC connector on the GMRS antenna. I may then take a drive to see how it works, leaving Janey at home with a handheld. And if I do I plan to fill the tank to see what the MPG was for last week's trip.

 

Meanwhile I've been working on Big Blue's Christmas list. All of this will come from Daniel Stern with the exception of the last two items, which are from Amazon - as recommended by Daniel.

 

Wow! Merry Christmas indeed. Looking forward to seeing your write up on the DRL-1 installation. I have 3 trucks that are curious

[Gary Lewis]

Wow! Merry Christmas indeed.

Looking forward to seeing your write up on the DRL-1 installation. I have 3 trucks that are curious

I think there are a lot of curious trucks.

Seriously though, the DRL-1 module is actually used two ways. I found two different wiring diagrams on Daniel's site and asked him about it. His response was:

If you want to use the module to add DRL functionality to the front turn signals, you hook it up in accord with the DRL instructions. If you want to use the module to add turn signal flashing to the front side markers, you hook it up in accord with the markerflash instructions. If you want to do both, you need two modules, one hooked up the one way and the other hooked up the other way.

My plan is to hook it up the "markerflash" way as I think it would be very beneficial for people beside me to know my intentions when I engage the turn signal. But I'm not as sold on daytime running lights. (I'm not saying they aren't beneficial. Just maybe not as beneficial as letting people beside me know I'm about to occupy their space.)

[1986F150Six]

I think there are a lot of curious trucks.

Seriously though, the DRL-1 module is actually used two ways. I found two different wiring diagrams on Daniel's site and asked him about it. His response was:

If you want to use the module to add DRL functionality to the front turn signals, you hook it up in accord with the DRL instructions. If you want to use the module to add turn signal flashing to the front side markers, you hook it up in accord with the markerflash instructions. If you want to do both, you need two modules, one hooked up the one way and the other hooked up the other way.

My plan is to hook it up the "markerflash" way as I think it would be very beneficial for people beside me to know my intentions when I engage the turn signal. But I'm not as sold on daytime running lights. (I'm not saying they aren't beneficial. Just maybe not as beneficial as letting people beside me know I'm about to occupy their space.)

Gary, please compare the Honda light bulbs to your present 1157 bulbs. You remember that you took photos with the LED bulb compared to the present bulb. I would think it best to look at just the illuminated bulbs, to eliminate any lens variability.

When I read that the Honda bulb is reported to be 45% brighter, I was reminded of the Sylvania SilverStar Ultra bulbs, which are known to be bright, but do not last long at all.

[Gary Lewis]

Gary, please compare the Honda light bulbs to your present 1157 bulbs. You remember that you took photos with the LED bulb compared to the present bulb. I would think it best to look at just the illuminated bulbs, to eliminate any lens variability.

When I read that the Honda bulb is reported to be 45% brighter, I was reminded of the Sylvania SilverStar Ultra bulbs, which are known to be bright, but do not last long at all.

David - If Big Blue was a daily driver then I'd be worried about the longevity of the Honda bulbs. In fact, Daniel alluded to that when he said:

Yes, though the Honda bulbs' lifespan in continuous-duty service might be short enough to cause grumbling, and I don't have direct data on the continuous-duty heat resistance of the Bullnose front turn signal assembly. Might be just fine, or might be a case of "Hey, the turn signal is just a 50% duty cycle, so we can use cheaper plastic with half the heat resistance!".

But, I'm not supposed to be driving more than 6000 miles/year, so I don't think I'm going to worry about that.

As for testing, you know me. My plan was to put a new 1157 on one side and the Honda bulb on the other, both front and rear, and take pics. But you think I should take one pic with just the two bulbs by themselves? The camera would adjust to average the light, but if one bulb is brighter than the other it should be obvious. Right?

And now for what I've done today. First, I installed the BNC connector on the GMRS antenna lead. But when I tried to put it on the connector that's on the truck I found that they are not compatible. So I've ordered the right one from Digi-Key.

But, installing that connector will require dropping the headliner, and that's a pain. And if I get a rear view mirror with front & rear cameras I'll have to drop it then as well. So I'm going to hold off installing the connector until I know the status of the mirror - and I sent Pormido a note asking for an update today.

However, I did get the altimeter in today and have looked the cab over for places to mount it. Here are the three places I found, in my preferred order. But I'd like to hear from y'all as to what you think and if you have other suggestions.

First, here it is up on the headliner above and behind the GMRS radio. In that location it is easy for either the driver or passenger to read in the daytime, and if I want to read it at night I can turn on the dome light as it isn't illuminated. The minor downside is that the handsfree mike would need to be relocated. But in reality it should be farther forward to pick up the sound from the occupants better.

Then here 'tis directly in front of the driver, above the sun shade. But it is in an odd, non-centered, location and requires that the mike's cord sags - which it seems to do normally. But then it isn't easy to read by the passenger.

Last, it could be put beside the other three gauges. But it doesn't match, can't be lined up exactly, and wouldn't be easy to mount there.