Totally Stainless

[Gary Lewis]

I know that Brandon mentioned his appreciation for both the customer support and the products of Totally Stainless. And I'd contacted them about goodies for the upcoming show and got a good response. But, until yesterday I hadn't perused their catalog. Wow! 152 pages, with lots of good stuff on each page.

Here are a couple of the kits shown, which include our trucks:

• BODY KITS - Body kits include component kits for Battery Box, Starter Solenoid, & Relay, Bed Mount, Front Body Mount, Front Bumper(polished Carriage), Cowl Cover, Door Hinge, Door Jambs, Front & Inner Fender(does both), Gas Pedal, Grill, Hood Hinges, Hood Latch, Interior, Master Cylinder, Radiator Support, and Seat(for bench seats). Body Kits with Styleside Beds also include component kits for Bed Mounts, Tailgate, and Tail Lights.

• ENGINE KITS - Every engine kit includes component kits for the Distributor, Fuel Pump, Intake, Oil Pan, Thermostat, Timing Chain Housing, Valve Covers, and Water Pump. Over 132 pieces and available in 5 to 6 different bolt styles!

And they have individual components available, including SAE and metric: Carriage bolts, in both standard, oval, and curved styles; plugs; studs; specialty square nuts; clamps; air cleaner nuts; studs; and even door striker bolts - although maybe not for ours yet.

I'm not pushing this company, and certainly don't have stock in them. But they apparently have good products as well as good customer service. And with the very wide range of products they carry they may be just the resource some of us need.

[85lebaront2]

Looks interesting, of course nothing for a K-car or the 2.2-2.5L engines, but I can go through the individual items and find a lot of it.

[Gary Lewis]

Looks interesting, of course nothing for a K-car or the 2.2-2.5L engines, but I can go through the individual items and find a lot of it.

Yes, even if they don't have a kit for something they probably have the individual fasteners. Cool!

[Bruno2]

Yes, even if they don't have a kit for something they probably have the individual fasteners. Cool!

I believe they have full accessory kits too. I was considering one of those.

[Gary Lewis]

I believe they have full accessory kits too. I was considering one of those.

They do have some kits, although I'm not sure exactly what they have.

Which leads me to a discussion of a long conversation I had yesterday with their machinist, Bernie. He called to work with me on my needs for Big Blue as they don't have a kit for the EFI 460's. In fact, I don't think they were aware that there are differences in the normally-aspirated 460's and the EFI'd 460's.

In the course of the conversation Bernie let me know quite a bit about the company. Apparently he and the company founder were working together on another job and the other guy was working on a VW. He wanted some stainless fasteners for it, so Bernie made them. Others also wanted them so they started selling them. Then the other guy started finding other people with other vehicles and the company was born.

They kept expanding their offerings by taking vehicles apart and measuring things. And along the way they started buying in the more common fasteners and making up the kits. But, many of the things, like the knurled air cleaner nuts, are still made by Bernie on the old South Bend manual lathe.

Unfortunately the founder of the company passed away about 18 months ago, so now it is his wife, his daughter, and Bernie. And I think I see a way to help them by our expertise in Ford trucks, and especially the Bullnose trucks. So I've started liaising with them on the EFI 460 fasteners as they would like to have kits for it.

Given that, would you folks take a look at their catalog and see what might be missing for our trucks? I already know they don't have the door striker bolt as ours first appeared in 1980 (thanks to the 1982 MPC). What about bed kits for the Flaresides? Is there interest in those?

Anyway, I think we could help them help us. What do y'all think?

[Bruno2]

They do have some kits, although I'm not sure exactly what they have.

Which leads me to a discussion of a long conversation I had yesterday with their machinist, Bernie. He called to work with me on my needs for Big Blue as they don't have a kit for the EFI 460's. In fact, I don't think they were aware that there are differences in the normally-aspirated 460's and the EFI'd 460's.

In the course of the conversation Bernie let me know quite a bit about the company. Apparently he and the company founder were working together on another job and the other guy was working on a VW. He wanted some stainless fasteners for it, so Bernie made them. Others also wanted them so they started selling them. Then the other guy started finding other people with other vehicles and the company was born.

They kept expanding their offerings by taking vehicles apart and measuring things. And along the way they started buying in the more common fasteners and making up the kits. But, many of the things, like the knurled air cleaner nuts, are still made by Bernie on the old South Bend manual lathe.

Unfortunately the founder of the company passed away about 18 months ago, so now it is his wife, his daughter, and Bernie. And I think I see a way to help them by our expertise in Ford trucks, and especially the Bullnose trucks. So I've started liaising with them on the EFI 460 fasteners as they would like to have kits for it.

Given that, would you folks take a look at their catalog and see what might be missing for our trucks? I already know they don't have the door striker bolt as ours first appeared in 1980 (thanks to the 1982 MPC). What about bed kits for the Flaresides? Is there interest in those?

Anyway, I think we could help them help us. What do y'all think?

The accessory kit is $130. I may just buy one because these are certainly some of the most visible pieces on our motors.

[Gary Lewis]

The accessory kit is $130. I may just buy one because these are certainly some of the most visible pieces on our motors.

Would sure look good.

Do you have that engine running yet?

[Bruno2]

Would sure look good.

Do you have that engine running yet?

I bought the wife a Baby Grand Piano. We got it from her work Saeid Music. They wanted to do a social media commercial for the delivery and set up here at the house. I was waiting on Totally Stainless to ship the correct bolts for the front cover and water pump because there was confusion with the original order. So meanwhile while they were shipping them I had to spruce the yard and house up for the commercial that was filmed today. I should be back at it this weekend. It is time to drop in lifters and mount the heads. I will have to assemble a couple of valves in order to be sure the pushrod geometry is correct. Should it be then I will be off to the races on finishing the assembly to drop it back home in Jr.

[Gary Lewis]

I bought the wife a Baby Grand Piano. We got it from her work Saeid Music. They wanted to do a social media commercial for the delivery and set up here at the house. I was waiting on Totally Stainless to ship the correct bolts for the front cover and water pump because there was confusion with the original order. So meanwhile while they were shipping them I had to spruce the yard and house up for the commercial that was filmed today. I should be back at it this weekend. It is time to drop in lifters and mount the heads. I will have to assemble a couple of valves in order to be sure the pushrod geometry is correct. Should it be then I will be off to the races on finishing the assembly to drop it back home in Jr.

I'll watch for the commercial. Good luck on the valve geometry.

[kramttocs]

Glad this thread exists :)

Getting my truck painted and have been contemplating going with the full styleside body/bed kit.

I really wish they had the indented hex heads as I am not sure how good plain hex heads will look.

They do have the button head bolts but also not sure on that look.

I spoke to a lady there today (very helpful) and was told that the bolts were equivalent to grade 2 (I believe this is standard for common stainless besides arp stuff). I figure that will work just fine for most things but I did have some concern for the hood hinges, door jambs, and tailgates hinge bolts. I know the tailgate hinge bolts are a 9.8 (~grade 5). Not sure if there would be any concern there with downgrading the strength.

I've put a lot of thought into this the past couple of days as it's a fair chunk of change for arguably, aesthetics. Would be glad to hear any thoughts/opinions.