Gary Lewis Posted May 21, 2022 Share Posted May 21, 2022 Looking forward to seeing your data after that trip! I'm pushing hard to have it all sorted out prior to that, and I think I'm going to make it. Just a bit more to go... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kramttocs Posted August 22, 2022 Author Share Posted August 22, 2022 I'm pushing hard to have it all sorted out prior to that, and I think I'm going to make it. Just a bit more to go... Had the headliner out so decided to going ahead and make the upgrade to the later model visors. Ever since I got the truck the driver side visor had to be stored alongside the door or else it flopped too much. During the restore, I chose to keep it that way but didn't take many miles of driving to realize it was less than ideal. I haven't ventured into the SEM project yet so wanted to find some vinyl visors in the 86 Chestnut color. Fortunately the larger trucks had this color still in vinyl so picked up some like new condition ones off ebay that came from an 88 Super Duty. Downside is that instead of the 4wd sticker they have 7.3 starting and overdrive instructions but maybe someday a member on here will get into the business of re-printing all these (John? ) and I can fix that inconsistency. As countless others will tell you, it's basically just line them up and drill the holes. Since I had the headliner out already I decided to see how easy it would be to make a template (spoiler: not worth it). so I ran to the jy and cut the front section of the headliner out of an 87 and took a bunch of measurements. Worth noting that there is a hump that we don't have in our trucks. The template headliner quickly went in the burn pile since cutting out two large round holes is riskier than just poking four small holes. (large round hold in the 87 headliner) Using the measurements I drilled the 4 holes through the inner sheet metal. I was a bit surprised when I looked at the retainer that it had the hook facing forward. Seemed odd so I message Gary and he let me know his was facing backwards. Checked my dad's 94 and 96 and they also faced backwards. What gave me pause was that I didn't want to be locked into one or the other since I wasn't sure which I'd like. Fortunately, whenever Ford made this switch (year or maybe model?) they left the sheet metal holes the same and just changed the retainer. So the front or back facing hooks can just be swapped out. Notice the alignment pin and the screw hole are the same despite the hook direction (screw head is always hidden behind the hook). I then installed the headliner and using a pick while looking above the headliner since the front trim wasn't on yet, I poked the 4 holes thread the headliner. Then I took my junk soldering iron with a fine tip and made holes that were cauterized. I had first tested this on the scrap headliner and while I didn't have any issues with it melting further than wanted, definitely kept it quick. I got this soldering iron to do the same when making seat/seatbelt holes in the carpet. Once those were in it was just a matter of installing the retainers. I did notice that if I tried to tighten them down all the way, the headliner started to gap a bit at the trim since we don't have the hump stopping it. May be a winter project to 3d print some spacers to make up for the hump. -------------- This weekend was a local, small town festival with a car show/parade that my family tries to hit. It's about 20min from my parents place where I grew up and usually falls at the time my wife is getting her classroom ready so the kids and I get out of her hair and head there. My daughter wanted to be in the parade this year figured I'd put the truck in the show and join the parade line after that. Well, comes time to leave for the show so my daughter and I walk out to the truck as my parents go ahead and take off. Start to get in and there is a 4ft long or so black snake behind the front tire. Not wanting to kill it I poke at it with a stick (didn't want to get that smell all over me). Well instead of taking off, that thing shoots up into the engine bay. Open the hood and that thing is well hidden. Starts making the fake-rattler sound from wherever it took up residence. At that point my daughter is in tears and absolutely refusing to get close to the truck. Start the truck up and wait a couple minutes to see if it will vacate. Doesn't take long to see it come down to the front leaf springs. Instead of taking to the ground though it crawls back to the tcase skid place. Late by this point so I figure it will fall off on the dirt road pretty quickly and better there than in the engine bay. Carry the less than thrilled daughter to the truck and put her in the back seat telling her to watch behind us for the snake to drop off. Get to the end of the dirt road, no snake. Few miles down the road, still no snake. Despite knowing the path of the ductwok, I'll admit I was prepping myself for what I'd do if I saw a head coming out of the vents. I'll also admit that I could prep for that for years and I still can't be sure how well I'd handle that... Pull up to the car show, still no snake, put the truck in Park at the registration table located near the start of the autos, and get out. Turn around as soon as I get to the table and down drops that snake. Thing makes a beeline for this yellow ratrod and just as quickly as the lady sitting next to it pulls her feet up into her chair, it's up in that engine I came back after parking and by that time the owner had fished it out and chucked it in a grassy lot. Was a fun day already but that added a little more excitement to it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grumpin Posted August 22, 2022 Share Posted August 22, 2022 Had the headliner out so decided to going ahead and make the upgrade to the later model visors. Ever since I got the truck the driver side visor had to be stored alongside the door or else it flopped too much. During the restore, I chose to keep it that way but didn't take many miles of driving to realize it was less than ideal. I haven't ventured into the SEM project yet so wanted to find some vinyl visors in the 86 Chestnut color. Fortunately the larger trucks had this color still in vinyl so picked up some like new condition ones off ebay that came from an 88 Super Duty. Downside is that instead of the 4wd sticker they have 7.3 starting and overdrive instructions but maybe someday a member on here will get into the business of re-printing all these (John? ) and I can fix that inconsistency. As countless others will tell you, it's basically just line them up and drill the holes. Since I had the headliner out already I decided to see how easy it would be to make a template (spoiler: not worth it). so I ran to the jy and cut the front section of the headliner out of an 87 and took a bunch of measurements. Worth noting that there is a hump that we don't have in our trucks. The template headliner quickly went in the burn pile since cutting out two large round holes is riskier than just poking four small holes. (large round hold in the 87 headliner) Using the measurements I drilled the 4 holes through the inner sheet metal. I was a bit surprised when I looked at the retainer that it had the hook facing forward. Seemed odd so I message Gary and he let me know his was facing backwards. Checked my dad's 94 and 96 and they also faced backwards. What gave me pause was that I didn't want to be locked into one or the other since I wasn't sure which I'd like. Fortunately, whenever Ford made this switch (year or maybe model?) they left the sheet metal holes the same and just changed the retainer. So the front or back facing hooks can just be swapped out. Notice the alignment pin and the screw hole are the same despite the hook direction (screw head is always hidden behind the hook). I then installed the headliner and using a pick while looking above the headliner since the front trim wasn't on yet, I poked the 4 holes thread the headliner. Then I took my junk soldering iron with a fine tip and made holes that were cauterized. I had first tested this on the scrap headliner and while I didn't have any issues with it melting further than wanted, definitely kept it quick. I got this soldering iron to do the same when making seat/seatbelt holes in the carpet. Once those were in it was just a matter of installing the retainers. I did notice that if I tried to tighten them down all the way, the headliner started to gap a bit at the trim since we don't have the hump stopping it. May be a winter project to 3d print some spacers to make up for the hump. -------------- This weekend was a local, small town festival with a car show/parade that my family tries to hit. It's about 20min from my parents place where I grew up and usually falls at the time my wife is getting her classroom ready so the kids and I get out of her hair and head there. My daughter wanted to be in the parade this year figured I'd put the truck in the show and join the parade line after that. Well, comes time to leave for the show so my daughter and I walk out to the truck as my parents go ahead and take off. Start to get in and there is a 4ft long or so black snake behind the front tire. Not wanting to kill it I poke at it with a stick (didn't want to get that smell all over me). Well instead of taking off, that thing shoots up into the engine bay. Open the hood and that thing is well hidden. Starts making the fake-rattler sound from wherever it took up residence. At that point my daughter is in tears and absolutely refusing to get close to the truck. Start the truck up and wait a couple minutes to see if it will vacate. Doesn't take long to see it come down to the front leaf springs. Instead of taking to the ground though it crawls back to the tcase skid place. Late by this point so I figure it will fall off on the dirt road pretty quickly and better there than in the engine bay. Carry the less than thrilled daughter to the truck and put her in the back seat telling her to watch behind us for the snake to drop off. Get to the end of the dirt road, no snake. Few miles down the road, still no snake. Despite knowing the path of the ductwok, I'll admit I was prepping myself for what I'd do if I saw a head coming out of the vents. I'll also admit that I could prep for that for years and I still can't be sure how well I'd handle that... Pull up to the car show, still no snake, put the truck in Park at the registration table located near the start of the autos, and get out. Turn around as soon as I get to the table and down drops that snake. Thing makes a beeline for this yellow ratrod and just as quickly as the lady sitting next to it pulls her feet up into her chair, it's up in that engine I came back after parking and by that time the owner had fished it out and chucked it in a grassy lot. Was a fun day already but that added a little more excitement to it. Good job! Stupid snake! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary Lewis Posted August 22, 2022 Share Posted August 22, 2022 Had the headliner out so decided to going ahead and make the upgrade to the later model visors. Ever since I got the truck the driver side visor had to be stored alongside the door or else it flopped too much. During the restore, I chose to keep it that way but didn't take many miles of driving to realize it was less than ideal. I haven't ventured into the SEM project yet so wanted to find some vinyl visors in the 86 Chestnut color. Fortunately the larger trucks had this color still in vinyl so picked up some like new condition ones off ebay that came from an 88 Super Duty. Downside is that instead of the 4wd sticker they have 7.3 starting and overdrive instructions but maybe someday a member on here will get into the business of re-printing all these (John? ) and I can fix that inconsistency. As countless others will tell you, it's basically just line them up and drill the holes. Since I had the headliner out already I decided to see how easy it would be to make a template (spoiler: not worth it). so I ran to the jy and cut the front section of the headliner out of an 87 and took a bunch of measurements. Worth noting that there is a hump that we don't have in our trucks. The template headliner quickly went in the burn pile since cutting out two large round holes is riskier than just poking four small holes. (large round hold in the 87 headliner) Using the measurements I drilled the 4 holes through the inner sheet metal. I was a bit surprised when I looked at the retainer that it had the hook facing forward. Seemed odd so I message Gary and he let me know his was facing backwards. Checked my dad's 94 and 96 and they also faced backwards. What gave me pause was that I didn't want to be locked into one or the other since I wasn't sure which I'd like. Fortunately, whenever Ford made this switch (year or maybe model?) they left the sheet metal holes the same and just changed the retainer. So the front or back facing hooks can just be swapped out. Notice the alignment pin and the screw hole are the same despite the hook direction (screw head is always hidden behind the hook). I then installed the headliner and using a pick while looking above the headliner since the front trim wasn't on yet, I poked the 4 holes thread the headliner. Then I took my junk soldering iron with a fine tip and made holes that were cauterized. I had first tested this on the scrap headliner and while I didn't have any issues with it melting further than wanted, definitely kept it quick. I got this soldering iron to do the same when making seat/seatbelt holes in the carpet. Once those were in it was just a matter of installing the retainers. I did notice that if I tried to tighten them down all the way, the headliner started to gap a bit at the trim since we don't have the hump stopping it. May be a winter project to 3d print some spacers to make up for the hump. -------------- This weekend was a local, small town festival with a car show/parade that my family tries to hit. It's about 20min from my parents place where I grew up and usually falls at the time my wife is getting her classroom ready so the kids and I get out of her hair and head there. My daughter wanted to be in the parade this year figured I'd put the truck in the show and join the parade line after that. Well, comes time to leave for the show so my daughter and I walk out to the truck as my parents go ahead and take off. Start to get in and there is a 4ft long or so black snake behind the front tire. Not wanting to kill it I poke at it with a stick (didn't want to get that smell all over me). Well instead of taking off, that thing shoots up into the engine bay. Open the hood and that thing is well hidden. Starts making the fake-rattler sound from wherever it took up residence. At that point my daughter is in tears and absolutely refusing to get close to the truck. Start the truck up and wait a couple minutes to see if it will vacate. Doesn't take long to see it come down to the front leaf springs. Instead of taking to the ground though it crawls back to the tcase skid place. Late by this point so I figure it will fall off on the dirt road pretty quickly and better there than in the engine bay. Carry the less than thrilled daughter to the truck and put her in the back seat telling her to watch behind us for the snake to drop off. Get to the end of the dirt road, no snake. Few miles down the road, still no snake. Despite knowing the path of the ductwok, I'll admit I was prepping myself for what I'd do if I saw a head coming out of the vents. I'll also admit that I could prep for that for years and I still can't be sure how well I'd handle that... Pull up to the car show, still no snake, put the truck in Park at the registration table located near the start of the autos, and get out. Turn around as soon as I get to the table and down drops that snake. Thing makes a beeline for this yellow ratrod and just as quickly as the lady sitting next to it pulls her feet up into her chair, it's up in that engine I came back after parking and by that time the owner had fished it out and chucked it in a grassy lot. Was a fun day already but that added a little more excitement to it. Wow! What an adventure with the snake. I'm with your daughter - I don't like them! That was a very thorough approach to installing the visors. Well done! But what do you think of the visor? It didn't flop at all on the dirt road? Hangs nice and solid where it is put? What's not to like? And, what about the way the clip is facing? 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kramttocs Posted August 22, 2022 Author Share Posted August 22, 2022 Wow! What an adventure with the snake. I'm with your daughter - I don't like them! That was a very thorough approach to installing the visors. Well done! But what do you think of the visor? It didn't flop at all on the dirt road? Hangs nice and solid where it is put? What's not to like? And, what about the way the clip is facing? Well worth the upgrade if anyone has visors that flop. May be worth adding to the Upgrades page? No complaints at all. Didn't budge a bit I have the hooks facing forward which seems a bit odd but haven't used them enough to decide if I don't like pushing them a little forward to unhook vs just pulling back. Not sure what rhyme or reason Ford had. Once I pick up the SEM paint, I'll be painting both styles just in case. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary Lewis Posted August 22, 2022 Share Posted August 22, 2022 Well worth the upgrade if anyone has visors that flop. May be worth adding to the Upgrades page? No complaints at all. Didn't budge a bit I have the hooks facing forward which seems a bit odd but haven't used them enough to decide if I don't like pushing them a little forward to unhook vs just pulling back. Not sure what rhyme or reason Ford had. Once I pick up the SEM paint, I'll be painting both styles just in case. Maybe we should add that to the Upgrades page. I'll look later, but you are welcome to do it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kramttocs Posted August 22, 2022 Author Share Posted August 22, 2022 Maybe we should add that to the Upgrades page. I'll look later, but you are welcome to do it. I am not sure I am able to edit the html pages but if I am able to do so, happy to. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigBrother-84 Posted August 22, 2022 Share Posted August 22, 2022 Turn around as soon as I get to the table and down drops that snake. You own the first 1986 F-250 Snake Edition! Â Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kramttocs Posted August 22, 2022 Author Share Posted August 22, 2022 Turn around as soon as I get to the table and down drops that snake. You own the first 1986 F-250 Snake Edition! That's awesome! Didn't know that was even a thing. Shelby Super Snake Sport is a mouthful though. Should have blackened out one headlight and called it Snake Plissken Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigBrother-84 Posted August 23, 2022 Share Posted August 23, 2022 Should have blackened out one headlight and called it Snake Plissken Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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