I've been accused, and rightly so, of making simple things quite complex. And I may have done it again - but I don't think so as I believe this is a very complex subject.

In this post Ralph/81-F-150-Explorer laid out the part #'s for the various radios bezels. (Boy, do I miss Ralph!) But, while that seems straight forward it confuses me for two reasons. First, there are other variations than what Ralph listed. And second, what I see in the catalog doesn't always agree with what he posted.

Given that, I've spent some time trying to get my head around what is in the 3 pages of catalog entries for just the radio bezels for our truck. I finally resorted to my favorite tool - a spreadsheet. And after several hours I came up with what is shown below. And, while you will surely have a hard time reading it due to the width it requires, it begs several questions that I'm hoping y'all can answer:

1. What do fog lamps have to do with the radio bezel? I know there's a difference in the instrument bezel, but that part # is a C90 and not the D70 of the radio bezel. But the catalog shows different part #'s for the radio bezel with and w/o fog lamps.
2. What does the engine have to do with the radio bezel? Again, the catalog shows entries for both gas and diesel engines with differing part #'s.
3. Would some of you who have the catalog be willing to spot-check my work? I'm hoping we can use this as a forever-after document but want to get it right. You'll find it beginning on Page 2572 of the Text section.
4. Can you think of a way to clean things up, to make it easier to read? I'm going to do some work on it myself, but would like your input as well.
5. Does anyone have a picture of the brushed aluminum trim? I'm seriously considering going that way on Dad's truck but have never seen it.

EDIT: Changed the layout to make the width smaller.

 

Gary, I believe the trucks equipped with factory fog lights came with the switch mounted in the dash on the left side, so that area would have been reinforced much like for the wiper and head light switch. [Oops, I just reread and saw that you said "radio bezel". Sorry!]


The diesel equipped trucks did not have the pocket to the right of the steering column. [Again, I failed to catch regarding "radio bezel".]

 

Yes, it is really confusing when the master parts catalog devotes considerable real estate to fog lights and diesel engines in the radio bezel section. I'm assuming I missed something.

 

Gary does the radio bezel difference for gas/diesel have to do with a tank selector switch?
(My 82 (gas) has the tank selector right below the radio)
It's the only thing I can think of besides the pocket and "WTS light" and "water in fuel" lights, but they're more under the dash iirc.

 

I hadn't thought about the tank switch. But, that is dependent on having two tanks, and the word "tank" doesn't occur in any of those three pages. Further, the switch itself is part of the HVAC panel.

But, does the diesel have lights where the clock would be? I know some of the big trucks did.

 

Gary, this is off the radio bezel from the '80 in my signature, which had the Rosewood trim and factory clock, the part numbers and text from it are as follows:

"E0TB-10045A98-E CLOCK W/GRAIN"
"E0TB-10045A98-F NOCLOCK W/GRAIN"
"E0TB-60045A98-D NOCLOCK ALUM"

Which doesn't seem to correspond with anything in your chart. The different variations I can think of for the radio bezel are with or without clock, with or without radio, with or without nameplate, and in either Rosewood, Burlwood, XLS brushed aluminum, and black or gray weave. I don't have the numbers readily available for the cluster bezel, but that isn't original to the truck anyway. Mine happened to be equipped with factory fog lamps also. The different variations I know of for that are with or without fog lamps, with or without A/C, gas, diesel, and in any of the grain/textures listed above. Of course all this excludes the bezels used for dealer A/C, as well as the components of the medium duty F-Series trucks.

 

Ranger - What you are seeing is one of the things that got me into this. David/1986F150six put me onto an ebay advert for what looks to be a silver weave radio and instrument pair of bezels. I couldn't really ID the bezels so I asked the guy what #'s are on the radio bezel:

• E0TB-10045A98A CUSTOM
• E0TB-60045A98A FORD
• E2TB-10045A98HA

I've searched the master parts catalog and "10045A98A" doesn't fit with anything, much less the radio bezels since they are "10044D70" or "15044D70". So I pulled out some of mine and found that none of them, nor yours, nor the one above have what should be their own # on them. In fact, the #'s that are on them look like a small catalog of other bezels. Here's a link to one of my albums where I've included pics of several radio bezels and the #'s on the back of them.

As I think about it, documenting the #'s showing in the catalog isn't a lot of help unless someone finds one in a NOS box. What would really help would be to document the #'s that are on the back of them as that's what people will see. So, I am going to rethink the spreadsheet and figure out how to put the three #'s from each with the appropriate entry. BUT, I'm going to need help from y'all to tell me what the #'s are on the back of yours and, what yours is, meaning which entry in the spreadsheet it is.

Anyone with an idea on how to do it please chime in. The intent here is to be able to pick a bezel and know what you have.

 

Wish I could help, mines missing and running an aftermarket JVC unit.
I always thought the radio bezel was the pop-on border that goes around the clock, radio, HVAC?
What's that piece called?
I'm looking for one in red
(Sorry if I'm hijacking your thread Gary, it's not my intent.)

 

That's what I'm calling the "radio bezel". Officially the catalog calls it "PANEL ASSY, INSTRUMENT PANEL CLUSTER OPENING". Which might explain the stuff about gas, diesel, fog lights, etc. Hmmmm.

But, you aren't going to find one in red as they didn't make one in red. Or, maybe I should say you won't find one that came from the factory in red.

 

Ahhh
Good info,
My f150 was orig that metallic dark red and white with red interior so my complete dash, glove box, ash tray, steering wheel, door panels, etc etc are all red, so I ASSUMED it was red, but my steering wheel center and dash border are wood grain....not sure which pattern but doesn't look like burl wood (my 87 had burl wood).
I guess my radio bezel was wood grain then,
Thanks a bunch, at least now I know what to look for.

 

You need to put the info about your truck in your sig. I'm 67 and cannot remember the info about mine much less yours. But 80 - 84 was Rosewood, and 85-86 Burlwood.

 

Heck sometimes I can't even remember lol.
I'll fix my sig, but she's an AC, clock, dual tanks on the radio bezel.
There's always great info on this site, learning all the time.
I had no idea there was such a variation on the radio bezels, no wonder you're confused, I know I was.

 

Gary - I think it'd rock if you could save your spreadsheets in HTML and post the html code (and have it work) as images don't get indexed by the search engines.

 

I just saved it in HTML. Want me to email it to you to post, or walk me through (again?) how to post HTML?

 

Ok, guys, I'm working like mad on this and could use some feedback - assuming you see this as potentially helpful. I've revised the spreadsheet to provide a place for both the catalog # for each bezel as well as a place to capture the #'s that appear on the back of each bezel. And, I've captured the first info. Turns out that Ranger80's bezel is identical to Dad's original bezel, meaning they are both 1980/81, Rosewood, with clock and radio, and have the exact same info on the back.

I've added that to the spreadsheet and have done a screenshot of both the side with no nameplate holes and the side with nameplate holes. Does this format appear to work?