WHYDTYTT: What Have You Done To Your Truck Today?

[NotEnoughTrucks]

Yesterday: what do you do when home from work by 10:30am and its not too hot? Work on the truck of course.

Started the truck and moved it out so not to get covered in body work dust. I love how smooth this 300 runs.

Brake pedal still goes to the floor but does stop so will need to look into that some day.

I used a grinder with 36 grit disc to take the hood down to metal and prep it for a skim coat of filler. The skim coat of filler is needed because when I took the skin off the frame I put little bend marks in the skin.

It also had an area that I straighten that needed a little more filler & shaping so I did that first then the skim coat.

Then I removed the tail gate and started stripping it or paint & rust using a Eastwood disc made for this. I still have more to do with a smaller disc then will treat the gate with the acid I have for this.

If not too hot over the weekend I hope to get the hood & gate in primer.

I also have been looking at masking machines in 12" & 18" wide paper. I have been using news paper but we don't get the paper here and what I have is small sheets so felt its time to move up to one.

Dave ----

I have a good friend who was a body shop owner. Retired now, but he gave me a reason why masking paper was better than newspaper for painting. Quite simply, the newspaper is slightly porous and can bleed through. Masking paper is not as porous. Made sense to me.

[Gary Lewis]

I have a good friend who was a body shop owner. Retired now, but he gave me a reason why masking paper was better than newspaper for painting. Quite simply, the newspaper is slightly porous and can bleed through. Masking paper is not as porous. Made sense to me.

Dave - You are making great progress! Wish I could say the same for me.

But, I do have some progress to report. I'd previously told y'all that I took the radiator support that Jonathan gave me up to John to have it media blasted and then painted. He uses an epoxy primer and then a satin black. Well, I also had several other smaller pieces that go with the radiator support, like the corner pieces that tie the fenders to the radiator support, and wanted them painted to match. So I blasted those a couple of days ago and took them up to John - in Big Blue.

All in all, over the last few days I've driven BB over 70 miles running up to John's and out to the boat multiple times. And I filled him up today and got a whopping 9.15 MPG. I probably got the tank more full than the last time, so maybe, just MAYBE, it would have been 10.0. But, that's pretty poor. Abysmal to be exact. Hopefully the EFI/ZF5 combo will bump that up significantly.

Anyway, I'm taking it to the Fordification show in Anderson, MO tomorrow, to pass out fliers for our show. The round trip should be about 225 miles and I'm going to take it easy, keeping the speeds down to 65 max, to see what I can get.

Oh, and I jumpered the fuel gauge circuit through the 6-port valve's connector today, so the gauge may be working. The tank is FULL and the gauge now goes off the scale, but the sender is showing 15 ohms, so maybe it'll give me some kind of indication instead of laying on the bottom peg.

 

[FuzzFace2]

Dave - You are making great progress! Wish I could say the same for me.

But, I do have some progress to report. I'd previously told y'all that I took the radiator support that Jonathan gave me up to John to have it media blasted and then painted. He uses an epoxy primer and then a satin black. Well, I also had several other smaller pieces that go with the radiator support, like the corner pieces that tie the fenders to the radiator support, and wanted them painted to match. So I blasted those a couple of days ago and took them up to John - in Big Blue.

All in all, over the last few days I've driven BB over 70 miles running up to John's and out to the boat multiple times. And I filled him up today and got a whopping 9.15 MPG. I probably got the tank more full than the last time, so maybe, just MAYBE, it would have been 10.0. But, that's pretty poor. Abysmal to be exact. Hopefully the EFI/ZF5 combo will bump that up significantly.

Anyway, I'm taking it to the Fordification show in Anderson, MO tomorrow, to pass out fliers for our show. The round trip should be about 225 miles and I'm going to take it easy, keeping the speeds down to 65 max, to see what I can get.

Oh, and I jumpered the fuel gauge circuit through the 6-port valve's connector today, so the gauge may be working. The tank is FULL and the gauge now goes off the scale, but the sender is showing 15 ohms, so maybe it'll give me some kind of indication instead of laying on the bottom peg.

Thanks Gary, As little as we both are making in the progress dept. it is progress!

I want to get out to the garage today but it is already nasty outside and I have a few things I need to do first so who knows.

At 9 mpg if you keep driving BB you will be going thru your retirement money in no time LOL

Dave ----

[Gary Lewis]

Thanks Gary, As little as we both are making in the progress dept. it is progress!

I want to get out to the garage today but it is already nasty outside and I have a few things I need to do first so who knows.

At 9 mpg if you keep driving BB you will be going thru your retirement money in no time LOL

Dave ----

Yes, BB is 'spensive to drive - especially since I have to run premium in him. Blue is a much more reasonable truck to drive as he gets about twice that and does anything asked of him on regular - although he gets better MPG towing with premium. And, he rides better, his A/C is much more effective, the radio picks up Sirius so I can listen to the oldies, and he's quiet enough to really listen to them. But, he's just like every other Ford truck on the road, so where's the fun in that?

[85lebaront2]

Yes, BB is 'spensive to drive - especially since I have to run premium in him. Blue is a much more reasonable truck to drive as he gets about twice that and does anything asked of him on regular - although he gets better MPG towing with premium. And, he rides better, his A/C is much more effective, the radio picks up Sirius so I can listen to the oldies, and he's quiet enough to really listen to them. But, he's just like every other Ford truck on the road, so where's the fun in that?

I guess a couple of things, I drove Darth to Newport News Thursday to pick up a 1991 Shadow transaxle to replace the one for the konvertible that got water in it. While I was there I was looking in the old Junkyard building and found a 1994 gas engine full gauge cluster with the "glass" broken. I asked Donnie what he wanted and he said "take it" I told him I will bring the 1995 F450 one next time I come.

Today I installed the oil pressure and temperature gauge pair so I now have a working oil pressure gauge.

As far as fuel economy, Darth hovers around 10 to as high as 12.5, before the EFI and E4OD, he got a solid 10. unless I was towing the 5th wheel, then it was more like 8.

[Gary Lewis]

I guess a couple of things, I drove Darth to Newport News Thursday to pick up a 1991 Shadow transaxle to replace the one for the konvertible that got water in it. While I was there I was looking in the old Junkyard building and found a 1994 gas engine full gauge cluster with the "glass" broken. I asked Donnie what he wanted and he said "take it" I told him I will bring the 1995 F450 one next time I come.

Today I installed the oil pressure and temperature gauge pair so I now have a working oil pressure gauge.

As far as fuel economy, Darth hovers around 10 to as high as 12.5, before the EFI and E4OD, he got a solid 10. unless I was towing the 5th wheel, then it was more like 8.

Bill - Good score on the gauges.

As for the MPG, Big Blue got 11.2 today on what should have been a max-MPG scenario. The maximum speed was 65 MPH and some of the stretches were 45 to 55 MPH. There was little stop and go, no passing, etc. So if Darth gets up to 12.5 MPG then there's hope for BB getting that or maybe a bit better with EFI and the ZF5.

Anyway, the 220 mile run to Anderson, MO for the Fordification show went quite well. Big Blue is easy to drive and the A/C worked fine. But there's still the glass packs that need to be replaced as well as the exhaust that is hitting the frame, plus the clunks in the front that may be from a cracked frame, so things should get even better. And with the ZF5 the RPM and, therefore, the engine noise will come down as well.

And now, about the Fordification show. They had 20 Ford trucks, and a few other vehicles. Big Blue was the newest Ford. I hadn't planned on entering him, so parked in the street and walked in. The guy that was working the entrance asked if that was my truck, and strongly recommended that I enter him. Glad I did - he won the trophy for Best 4x4!

[85lebaront2]

Bill - Good score on the gauges.

As for the MPG, Big Blue got 11.2 today on what should have been a max-MPG scenario. The maximum speed was 65 MPH and some of the stretches were 45 to 55 MPH. There was little stop and go, no passing, etc. So if Darth gets up to 12.5 MPG then there's hope for BB getting that or maybe a bit better with EFI and the ZF5.

Anyway, the 220 mile run to Anderson, MO for the Fordification show went quite well. Big Blue is easy to drive and the A/C worked fine. But there's still the glass packs that need to be replaced as well as the exhaust that is hitting the frame, plus the clunks in the front that may be from a cracked frame, so things should get even better. And with the ZF5 the RPM and, therefore, the engine noise will come down as well.

And now, about the Fordification show. They had 20 Ford trucks, and a few other vehicles. Big Blue was the newest Ford. I hadn't planned on entering him, so parked in the street and walked in. The guy that was working the entrance asked if that was my truck, and strongly recommended that I enter him. Glad I did - he won the trophy for Best 4x4!

Congratulations sir!

[NotEnoughTrucks]

Bill - Good score on the gauges.

As for the MPG, Big Blue got 11.2 today on what should have been a max-MPG scenario. The maximum speed was 65 MPH and some of the stretches were 45 to 55 MPH. There was little stop and go, no passing, etc. So if Darth gets up to 12.5 MPG then there's hope for BB getting that or maybe a bit better with EFI and the ZF5.

Anyway, the 220 mile run to Anderson, MO for the Fordification show went quite well. Big Blue is easy to drive and the A/C worked fine. But there's still the glass packs that need to be replaced as well as the exhaust that is hitting the frame, plus the clunks in the front that may be from a cracked frame, so things should get even better. And with the ZF5 the RPM and, therefore, the engine noise will come down as well.

And now, about the Fordification show. They had 20 Ford trucks, and a few other vehicles. Big Blue was the newest Ford. I hadn't planned on entering him, so parked in the street and walked in. The guy that was working the entrance asked if that was my truck, and strongly recommended that I enter him. Glad I did - he won the trophy for Best 4x4!

Congratulations, yes indeed!

[Ford F834]

Bill - Good score on the gauges.

As for the MPG, Big Blue got 11.2 today on what should have been a max-MPG scenario. The maximum speed was 65 MPH and some of the stretches were 45 to 55 MPH. There was little stop and go, no passing, etc. So if Darth gets up to 12.5 MPG then there's hope for BB getting that or maybe a bit better with EFI and the ZF5.

Anyway, the 220 mile run to Anderson, MO for the Fordification show went quite well. Big Blue is easy to drive and the A/C worked fine. But there's still the glass packs that need to be replaced as well as the exhaust that is hitting the frame, plus the clunks in the front that may be from a cracked frame, so things should get even better. And with the ZF5 the RPM and, therefore, the engine noise will come down as well.

And now, about the Fordification show. They had 20 Ford trucks, and a few other vehicles. Big Blue was the newest Ford. I hadn't planned on entering him, so parked in the street and walked in. The guy that was working the entrance asked if that was my truck, and strongly recommended that I enter him. Glad I did - he won the trophy for Best 4x4!

Congratulations Gary! And even without seeing the other trucks I’d say well deserved. Big Blue got the short end of the stick at the 2017 GTG. He’s a very nice 4x4! 🙂

[Gary Lewis]

Congratulations Gary! And even without seeing the other trucks I’d say well deserved. Big Blue got the short end of the stick at the 2017 GTG. He’s a very nice 4x4! 🙂

Thanks, guys! As said, I didn't even plan to enter him, and parked on the street. But they insisted.

Had a really good conversation with Keith Dickson, Mr Fordification. We had similar experiences on another forum, which is why his and ours exist. And, we've both had significant and similar interactions with Bill/NumberDummy, although obviously I've spent time with Bill in my home.

Further, we are both trying to use the MPC to document our flavor of Ford trucks. And while we are ahead at this point, from what he told me his method may be preferable as it'll provide pages that the search engines can read where our pages are actually pictures of text and can't be read.

As I was pulling out they stopped me and asked if I could stay for a while and have dinner with them. Unfortunately I couldn't as I teach Bible class on Sundays and my lesson was no where near done. In fact, I literally just finished it. But, I'll contact them via email as I want to see what synergies we can develop between us.