Last night I found a dash pad for my generation truck for sale. It was tan in color and located only fifteen minutes from where I live. Needless to say, I jumped on the deal.

Removing the dash pad was very simple. In fact, cleaning the 30 years of bugs and debris that were pinned between the former dash pad and the windshield took much longer.

It is not a perfect match, but at least its tan! I believe my truck's interior color is "nutmeg".

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New:

 

You are now on your way to becoming a 'ford truck restoration artist'

 

Welcome to the forum Brad, good luck with your truck.

Oh yeah, and we are a bunch of picture wh***s here, so be sure to post plenty if them.

 

brad you might wanna consider dropping in that dash clock I gave you, cutthe holes out of the radio bezel and it will fit right in. the wiring is easy, I think the manual I gave you details the wires. that would add the coolness factor

 

Today I finally got around to installing the digital clock in the dash bezel.

As a side note, I would love to post pictures, but I can't seem to upload any. Sorry.

I discovered that the clock was the later model clock. Therefore, it would not plug in directly to the harness on the truck. I created a thread (https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1...l#post10748236) and followed Gary Lewis' advice to cut the plastic off the clock side plug and just plug the wires on the metal prongs. It worked.

However, I discovered that I had to be careful when plugging the wires in. I must've bumped something, because I ended up blowing a fuse out. It was the accessory lights fuse. After I replaced that, it all worked again.

I then had to figure out how to cut the plastic out of my bezel. I am a sinner, I know. Having little tools myself, I went to my girlfriend's father. He recommend many things, but finally settled on drilling a hole in a corner and taking a small saw (I honestly forget the name... it was like a tiny hacksaw) to cut the plastic box out, then sanding it with a metal file. It took about a half hour for the first box, twenty minutes for the second, and fifteen for the final one. It did make a mess of little plastic shavings, so I'd suggest not doing it over food or drink.

It looks a little rough, but, honestly, works. I'm sure that I could sand it down finer and it'd look great. I'm going for function over form, however.

In other news, during a very hot week last month, I bought an electric fan that plugs into the cigarette lighter. It was tacky, yes, but worked well for traffic jams. I had hung it from the passenger side visor and ran the wire down under the A-pillar trim and under the dashboard. It came out near the ash tray and plugged it. Unfortunately, it began to sag the visor even more than it already was and I took it off. It did come with mounts for the dashboard, but I couldn't decide a place worthy or it nor did I want to disfigure the dashboard. Needless to say, I don't foresee this fan lasting the remainder of the truck's life. It's a cheap lil' fan from Kmart, what more should I expect?

 

The dash cover looks nice. Seeing your truck brings back memories of when my Fire Department had a 1980 F-250 rescue truck. I miss that old thing! Best of luck with your build.

Dan

 

Just a little update about what my future plans are.

Right now, I haven't done much with the truck. I knew one way or another the engine was going to be rebuilding this Winter. After a lengthy discussion with my three instructor, who reflected on our votech's past experiences swapping engines, we decided to do something slightly different from my original plan.

Within the next month or two, I'm actually going to purchase a used inline six and bring it in. Then, as I buy parts, we'll build it up as best we can. After it can't be built any further, I'll bring the truck in and we'll swap the two engines nice and clean-like.

So, instead of a partial rebuild, the engine I'll be buying will be completely gone over and tested before we even begin. Then it will be cleaned and machine, and we'll begin from there. That's all set to take place, roughly, in November, with the engine actually going in the truck sometime Mid-Feb.

I'll keep the thread updated once things get moving.

 

Tonight the truck encountered some brake problems. The pedal went all mushy and I no longer have a parking brake. I did as much checking as I could with limited tools, but eventually limped it down to my employer's garage to be looked at first thing tomorrow morning.

The pedal was mushy and went to the floor with ease; but it still stopped. However, the emergency brake would not hold at all. The cable was getting tighter, but it didn't seem to engage the brake. Could something in the drum be screwed up?

I took it in because I have school tomorrow and need it for Sunday. So I'm hoping its nothing big. I'll update this weekend.

 

from the symptoms, sounds like some hardware broke perhaps holding the shoes.

rule out any leaks. the MC is from a 90 so pop the plastic top, if one side is down, the fluid went there.

brake light come on? it should if it sees unequal pressure.

if you lost hardware like brake keepers or whatever, remember, I put in a 1989 ford 8.8, its NOT a 1981 ford 9", so simply order parts for a 1989 F150 for the rear.

why do I think hardware broke? cuz you said the e-brake is out. the two systems act on the same brake, but share no hardware until you get inside the drum

 

The brake light did not come on, but as far as I know, it never has. Isn't it supposed to come on whenever the parking brake is engaged? That's how it is in other cars I've driven. I agree with you. I checked everything I could, but I just did not have the tools to even pull the wheels, let alone a jack at my house. Plus it was getting dark.

I did not think to add the rear end swap to my note I left my boss. I'll call first thing in the morning to let him know.

Whenever I pushed the pedal down, the cable got tight. It just didn't "feel" right. The brake pedal would stop the truck, but fall to the floor much easier than before.

 

Ok let me get this right you removed all the old hard crusty bugs? Boy talk about taking away all the personality!

 

Yesterday I received my Offenhauser Intake in the mail. In included a picture (I hope) since I heard you guys like that. This is really the first step in the engine rebuild process. A couple weekends ago, I took a trip to look at another inline six engine. The idea was, that I would buy a straight six and build that one up, then swap the two out very neat and clean-like. However, the way it is looking, the truck will have to be tied up for a few months to get this engine swap done.



I know I still need the following items:

• A Holley 390 cfm 4bbl
• A camshaft of some description (I'm still trying to make sense of all the numbers online)
• An EGR from an 83-85 Mustang

If anybody has the EGR or carb, and would like to have it taken off their hands, feel free to email me at vigilante70@gmail.com.

I guess that's all for now. Oh, I'm going to need new tires soon. My friend recommended that I get a pair of 'steering' tires for the front and just a pair of AT tires for the rears and run 'em that way. That seems like it would just eat through the front tires with no option to rotate them.

 

Oh, I forgot about this. Okay, so what happened was the self adjuster had somehow dislodged itself from its position. We popped it back into place and it worked just fine. Even adjusted the brakes. Which I found out was really fun on wet roads and bald tires. Anyway. Everything worked fine until the emergency brake cable going from the equalizer to the passenger wheel snapped almost a week to the day later. The emergency brake will still hold the truck, but it needs to get fixed. That's Saturdays project.

 

well didnt I toss in a few goodyear wranglers on the same wheels when you got the truck?

dont be dismayed by those tires, i got them when I got the truck - same day - from walmart. El cheapos. 5 years and 15k? later before you got em.

Call jim back up and jog his memory about the holley - I know he said one was hanging around - he has a huge parts warehouse and he is getting old...

goto summit or jegs. the only 300-6 perf cam they have in there, is the one you want.

the egr from the 4bbl stang is gonna be the tough one - most of those cars became razor blades a decade ago....join a mustang forum

 

Yes you did. I carry one around as a spare. I'll shoot your friend another email and ask him about it. Maybe he does, maybe he sold it. I did wait a while before talking to him.

A lot of people have commented on the wheels. They either seem to love them or hate them. I really like 'em, though. They look good on the truck. Better than the typical rusty wheels I see.

I see multiple cams on the Jegs website. They all give different degrees of lift, duration, and RPM range. What am I looking for, specifically?