Well, I didn't mail order the hoses, I got them from O'Reilly. The reasoning for doing that over Amazon was the minimal savings and the confusion over which one to get. This way I can take it back and have another one in an hour, or the next morning at worst case. Same thing on the heater core and the Gates heater hose. The only thing ordered in this was the Robert Shaw 351M/400-specific thermostat.

I'm thinking the spring isn't necessary for my usage. I haven't had one in the lower hose and it hasn't collapsed even though I've pulled a trailer, albeit a fairly light one. The radiator is essentially new and the pressure cap is working - now. Looks like I'll be fine with these hoses.

 

Gary,
Check out the 'Navi-Gates' feature of the Gates website.
It will show you each hose/belt. whatever with the part numbers, and with universal applications whether you have to cut it down.

Having the RIGHT part number makes it easy to order from Amazon or any other online retailer.

 

That's EXACTLY what I was looking for last night but couldn't find. I looked up Dad's truck and it says I have the right hoses. Thanks.

 

I need to get on your schedule pretty soon. I have been seeing all the rush repairs on dads truck due to the pressing trip to DE. I keep putting the head gasket off because of the weather and cocluded if there was a warm shop to do it in I couldn't procrastinate anymore. However, I have been seeing all the stuff you are doing to the truck and hearing of travel plans so I didn't want to get real serious about planning.

I like the body options coming at you. $1200 in material sounds high to me , but , I am not in that business and have no credibility to challenge him.

 

Sundries add up fast. Discs, sandpaper, filler, tape.
Then solvent wash, reactive reducers, etching primer, primer-filler, color, clearcoat (if you go with a two stage system)
Buffs, compound, wax/sealer.
I can see it costing that much "all in" at retail, easily.

 

We do need to get together on the head gasket. What do you want to do first? You'd mentioned milling a straight-edge, which won't take long. But then I assume it would be on to draining the coolant and pulling the heads.

You really wouldn't need me to do much re pulling the heads, so you could start this weekend if you wanted. My knee surgery is Wednesday and I'm not going to be doing much, but I might be able to run the mill. On the other hand, even my framing square should be adequate to check a head. We don't need to know exactly how much warp, just that it has about this much.

The only issue I see is what to do with the Bronco while the heads are off as I'll need to use the shop some to replace the cooling system components before the trip. Right now Rusty is in the drive to the shop. If we moved him behind the shop we could leave the Bronco in the drive while you have the heads done. Meanwhile I could use the shop on Dad's truck. And, if you are ready to put it together while I'm gone to DE you can use the shop. I'll just tell the very observant neighbors and all will be well.

Yes, it must add up fast, and I don't really have any of that stuff. In addition he said I need a $500 paint gun, which sounds expensive but when you consider that it is offsetting a much larger expense in having someone else do it the cost seems much more reasonable. And, I'd use it on the Bee.

I guess the guy is serious since he called yesterday afternoon for me to come over as he was getting ready to paint and wanted me to watch. Unfortunately I had other commitments, but he said he'll call later this week.

 

Don't know that you "Need" a $500 gun.
Surely not a $50 HF gun either.

Used to be Sharpe, Binks & Devilbiss but now you're looking at a HVLP Sata or something like that.

 

Yep, I'm curious as to what he's recommending. I'll let you know soonest.

 

Got two things done today: Sanding the dash pad and rotating the drive shaft - by hand.

Dad had used some blue plastic to "fix" the dash pad, but as we know there is no fixing these pads. And, all his work did was to cause the plastic at the splits to curl even more and then highlight that fact due to the color he used. The first picture shows what it looked like before sanding, and the second is the after shot. Yep, still ugly even after the sanding, especially with the speaker cover gone, but now it is ready for the Coverlay cover as the curled plastic has been sanded smooth. And, I used GoJoe with pumice on a scrubbing pad as well as a detergent mix to clean the plastic to ensure there is no oil or ArmorAll on the pad that would hinder the adhesive from sticking. Then I reinstalled it on the truck, so at least all the innards of the dash will be hidden until the cover gets here.

And, I did rotate the drive shaft by hand, but really what I was doing was to index it differently. I'm still chasing the slight vibration that I noticed after replacing the u-joints in the rear shaft. I marked the t-case and diff yokes as well as the ends of the shaft, so know I got it back together the same way. But, the shop manual suggests trying different combinations to see if the vibrations change or go away, so that's what I'm doing.

If you think of the yokes and drive shaft ends as having two positions, A & B, then there are four combinations of how it can be put together:

1. A on the t-case and A on the drive shaft (A:A), and A on the drive shaft and A on the diff (A:A). This is the way it went back together initially and I had a small vibration at 65 MPG when cruising, but no vibration when coasting or letting off.
2. A:B & B:A IOW, I rotated the shaft 180˚ and put it back in the yokes without moving them. This is the next combo I tried and the vibe at cruise was cut in half so it is very small. In fact, it isn't there all the time, seemingly coming and going. However, there is a very slight vibe when easing off of the gas, like when going down a long hill and backing off to maintain speed or drop speed very slowly. But, come off the gas further and it goes away.
3. A:A & B:A That's what I changed to today by rotating the drive shaft 180˚ at the t-case yoke.
4. A:B & A:A Haven't tried this combo yet and hope I won't need to.

We are taking the truck up to KS on a trip to see Dad tomorrow, so will know how the vibes are. And, I'm anxious to see how the jetting affects the gas mileage and the vacuum. I can already see that the vacuum is higher than it was, meaning I've backed off the throttle slightly compared to what it has been taking to maintain the same speed.

 

I hope that helps with the vibration...If not, you might resort to the old hose clamps on the driveshaft...

On the dash pad, when you put it on, weight it down with heavy books or whatever for quite a while so your adhesive will work...At least that is what I did on mine and it is still holding since 95...Trav..

 

Good idea on the cover. Hadn't thought of weighting it down, but I'll do that. Can't wait for it to come in 'cause that pad is UGLY! (Reminds me of a song, but it was so long ago only Bill would have heard it.)

And, I might have to resort to the hose clamps. Just have to get someone to go in the truck and I run it up on the lift. May have to do that, but I have this shot and one more.

 

You'll get it lined out...Confidence my friend...

Bill will probably get you lined out on old songs...(I still remember John Wayne when he was carrying a guitar and singing songs)

BTW, have a good trip tomorrow..Trav..

 

Thanks. But a good trip is one where Dad appears to recognize me. I'm confident he doesn't remember names anymore, but there is usually some look about him that tells me he knows who I am. That's good enough for me.

 

Subscribing very interesting build thread. I am fixing up my dad's 86 F150 also.
Trav

 

I dunno 'bout that.......