wow those came out great.

 

Those gauges came out great. I've recently put LEDs in the gauges of my '69 Thunderbird. Been thinking of doing the Rangers gauges also. What size resister did you use and how did you wire it in to get the dimmer to work?

 

Thank you for hosting & feeding me, Gary, that's the only way I could make these trips.

The thing I noticed this time - besides the substantial, tropical moisture in the air inhabited by buzzing, winged insects - is the wildlife, most of which I saw as roadkill. In my neighborhood, I have lots of ground hogs, rabbits, coyotes, racoons, the occasional deer (though not as roadkill on that one, cars hitting a deer generally happens only in the mountains).

As a whole, out there, I saw bigger mammals (as roadkill) than I generally see here - including this thing that I guess was an armadillo, the rings around its body reminded me of an internal view of a colonoscopy.

But the strangest thing I saw was on Hwy 60 on my way home, a turtle was ever so slowly making its way across the road. I haven't seen a turtle in the wild since childhood in the Chicago area, that was kind of a shock.

 

Mike (and anyone else): See the thread on LED Musings for info on the LED's, resistor & its wiring, and paint that was used. But, if that doesn't suffice then come back to me. And, before you go to the trouble of wiring up the resistor, give the LED's a try as I doubt you'll need the resistor.

Chris: - Happy to have you come. As for the animals, that description fits an armadillo - assuming it was holding up the sky, which is their normal pose. But, if you want to see turtles, come back in the spring as they'll be everywhere on the roads. Apparently that's the warm spot, and they must be looking for warmth.

 

As for pictures, we don't want to forget the bra on David's truck.

 

Thanks you! I'd already forgotten. Glad you got pics.

For the others, this was David's cunning plan to cheat the gods of aerodynamics, and we will let him tell us how it worked. 😎

 

I am still attempting to "catch up" after being off for a few days, so will report regarding mileage, later. But, I must say for the reading pleasure of all, that I find it interesting that our bra-wearing moderator paid such close attention to my attempt at aerodynamics for the brick. The truth is, I thought of Chris as I was mounting those beauties!

 

Where is the "like" button!? Come on, IB, give us the tools!

 

If head turning by passing motorists counts, I was "liked" many times during the drive.

 

For those of you who do not know me, I try my best to report accurately and provide good comparisons. Normally, I drive with MPG in mind, but due to certain happenings this year, I abandoned the normal driving patterns and drove faster and that is reflected in the results.

Instead of my "normal" detailed tank-by-tank description, I am going to provide the overall average for the approximately 1300 mile trip as compared to the previous 2 years.

2014 55-62 mph with no aerodynamic modifications = 21.93 mpg [highest tank = 23.26 mpg]

2015 55-62 mph with aerodynamic modifications = 24.13 mpg [highest tank = 25.72 mpg]

2015 55-70 mph [weighted towards 65-70] with aerodynamic modifications = 22.05 mpg [highest tank = 23.46 mpg]

 

Do you think this year's mod's weren't as effective as last year's?

 

Thanks for that link Gary. I've bookmarked it for future reference.

 

The test was not a good one, since for reasons mentioned I did not drive my normal speed pattern. But, I believe some good information is available if one "reads between the lines". These brick shaped trucks do benefit from aerodynamic assistance.

When the 2015 information is compared to the 2014 data, there was a 10.03% increase in the average gas mileage. This was with the "aero pkg." being the main difference. In all fairness, between the 2014 and 2015 period, the distributor advance curve was altered, so that has to be considered.

Although the average of the 2016 period is 8.6% lower than the 2015 time frame [due to driving faster], the average still was 0.5% greater than the 2014 period.

 

I enjoyed reading this thread; thanks to Gary for hosting the event. I like how 1986F150six called his truck "the Brick," and his gauge cluster turned out great! It's good to see the camaraderie spread outside this forum. That sort of active dedication makes me appreciate my own truck so much more. With such die-hard fans that share a common respect for the Bullnose trucks, these models will become "classics" yet!

 

Sorry I did not make the GTG I have been swamped with work and still cannot see the light at the end of the tunnel. Looks like you got some stuff done like normal.