Hey Gary, remember I told you about the surprise I found when I tore apart the brakes? Here it is.



It appears the seal around the piston must have been leaking at some point. Once I peeled it off sure enough it was torn. The mystery goop, near as I can tell, is RTV. Hey, if it works I guess I thought at first it may have been an anti-rattle cure but it wasn't on the piston itself or the back of the brake pad. Here's some more update pics from this weekend.

More new shiny stuff. Shame it only looks this pretty once.



If you remember from the first page of the build I had put patches in the driver's side quarter skin before putting it on. I must have done something right, Dad and I finished blocking it out and they turned out pretty good I think





I've been asked about the interior paint before, so I finally got some pictures of my progress on the inside. It's Dupli-Color's Medium Blue vinyl and fabric paint, it's a little lighter than factory but it's awful close. This stuff is awesome!
These are a pair of trim pieces from inside. They were badly faded and discoloured.



A little wax and grease remover, then the paint and BOOM!



Here's what I have refinished so far. A lot of these panels were brown from the '82 since some of the '85s panels were toast. It covers any colour just as well. The door panels are my favourite. I removed the clips off the backside and took the chrome off to polish it, then sprayed the panel while it was off. I'm putting crank windows in so I needed the manual panels. They were freebies from the scrap yard

There's a pillar pod there too, that one is going to be cool. I noticed they don't make the pillar pods for 80-86 trucks, but they do for 87-96. I figured they're the same cab, how different could they be? So I tried it, Auto Meter #15300 dual gauge pod. It fits great! It's just sitting on top of the pillar panel, not fastened. Can't wait to get the gauges in it.

 

Brad - That brake looks AWFUL! The PO should be shot.

But the bodywork looks great! Good job!!

Hmmm. I see two things I've thought of - the pillar pod and the kick-panel vents. I'm anxious to see how both of those look. I don't think I want to go with the pillar pod but want to think about it anyway. As for the vents, I've often wondered why the A/C trucks don't have them as it would be nice to get the extra ventilation when heat or A/C isn't needed.

 

Thanks for the compliments!

I'm not sure if it was the PO that fixed the caliper or not. I got a kick out of it anyway haha.
Until I got the Bronco, I had no idea the AC trucks had no kick panel vents. The vents were actually Brown before, they came in the '82 since it had no AC. They come apart in three pieces so they were easy to paint entirely. They sure are nice if it's raining as well
I thought about the pillar pods for a long time. I like the subtle look, that's why the Flareside doesn't have them. Kinda like to keep it looking like a "sleeper" and keep people guessing

 

That interior is going to look great. Nice work on the chassis and body work so far. Your not going to want to take it off road. How long before it gets painted?

Another member on here has a column drop out of a F550 with a couple gauges in. I've been keeping an eye out for one in the junkyard to use on my bronco for a stock interior look. Havent found one yet.

 

Thanks! I'll be a wuss with it for awhile that's for sure haha. I'm not sure when I'll have it painted. There's a truck pull late August in the area that I'd like to have it done for. That drop panel looks awesome! Any idea what years the F550s had them or were they 80-86 only as well? I notice he's got trim on the gas pedal too. Looks really slick.

 

I saw a smaller similar column drop in the junkyard that was in a '80-81 big truck but it was too small for gauges or I would have bought it. I would think most bullnose big trucks would have something similar.

I got that interior pic from the bullnose section. It was in a recently redone black flareside. I cant remember which member has it though.

 

You gonna put the bronco in the truck pull?

 

Heres the link to the flareside with that interior.
https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1...ure-heavy.html

 

That is an awesome looking Flareside. I'll definitely be keeping an eye open for one of those trucks. I got looking on google and it looks like Ford used the Bullnose dash in those trucks up into the early-mid 90s. I'm in a rural area with lots of farms, maybe I'll be lucky enough to find an old beater grain truck sitting around.

I'll be putting it in the pulls, but it'll mostly just be for giggles. I can't imagine it'll pull too much. Might even pull the pipes off and put it in straight headers haha. Since I'll be building a front hitch, I may build a weight bar for some tractor suitcase weights to go in the receiver. That should get some laughs too

 

Take the top off and strap a spare engine in the back for rear weight with v8 boat style headers on it. lol Take videos of the pull.

 

Now that would get some attention. I'll definitely get some videos. Can't guarantee how good the quality of it will be, there generally aren't many sober videographers at the time of day the trucks pull

 

They were in 1980-1998 Ford F600-F800s, the dash and interior was the same in the big trucks as 80-86 small ones. I've been looking for one too.

 

Too bad the Louisvilles were all together different. There's a few of them in a couple local yards that I know of. I'll be on the hunt this weekend.

 

Couple more updates. You might recall the dash was brown. I decided to use it since it doesn't have AC and I'd try the Dupli Color paint on it. Turned out pretty good I thought.

Before



After



My rad saddle came back from sandblasting. Had to patch one spot at the passenger side body mount - easy peasy. So I primed and painted it, ready to rock.

 

Brad - Looking good! What paint did you use on the core support?

By the way, I like your choice in air compressors - I have a tank much like that in my shop.