I have a friend with a sandblaster, he is a painter by trade and needed one for those cases where he needs to get graffiti or overspray off of brick, etc. It's one of those that mixes the sandblast media with pressurized water. He told me if I ever needed to sandblast something to let him know so I met him for dinner last week and told him I had a lot of parts to sandblast. He told me what media to buy and then said schedule with him to find a good time. So I am trying for this weekend.

I do not have any spare Ford truck wheels here. I could actually use a spare myself. The Studebaker is the same as a Ford pattern, 5 on 4.5.

 

Speaking of wheels, it looks like there are some possibilities at LKQ:

One 1984 model, no exterior pics so can't see wheels:
https://www.lkqpickyourpart.com/loca...84-ford-f-150/

Two 1989 models, one looks to have steel wheels:
https://www.lkqpickyourpart.com/loca...89-ford-f-150/


It looks like a steel wheel is only $14 there, might be the way to go!

 

Thanks I will look more into that.
Dave ----

 

I can't remember if I posted anything about this before, but I had a rough time getting the radiator support out of the Studebaker. After removing all the bolts, it was loose enough to wiggle around but it still wouldn't come out. I tried to "persuade" it by putting a jack underneath it and raising it, but all I succeeded in doing was bending it upwards and raising the car! Turns out, there are 2 "ears", one on each side, that are connected to the frame. You have to remove those bolts, which by the way also serve to mount the inner fenders. There are brackets on either side of the ears that prevent you from getting in there with a sawzall or a cut-off wheel. According to guys on the Studebaker forums, you essentially have to disassemble the front end to get it out. It's one of the first pieces installed when putting the car together. Another one of those "great ideas" from Studebaker that lead to their ultimate demise? Well I decided it was easier to cut it apart and remove it, then cut off the ears and weld it back together than it would be to take the whole front end apart, so that's what I did!



The ear prevents you moving up or down, the piece in the front and the chin piece on the bottom prevent you from sliding it forward, and the inner fender piece prevent you from sliding it backwards.

It's a pickle, I tell ya!

Cutoff wheel is out, about to be the moment of truth.

The point of no return! You can see the 2 mounting ears that caused me so much trouble.

Welded back together and cut off the ears.

You can see I cut one side below the ear and the other side above it, this was so that each piece would only have one ear and could therefore come out by sliding it inwards.

After stitching it back together, now I wanted to address the bend in the bottom.

This was all I could do with clamps, even after adding a little heat from my torch. It helped a little but it would always go back once I loosened the clamps.

I brought the radiator support along with a bunch of other pieces to my friend Jeff, he sandblasted them and then sprayed them with black epoxy primer.

Wesley helped me straighten the bottom piece, using his hydraulic press. Did each side maybe 1/4 inch and then the center.

Tada! Nice and straight. Next step will be to paint it black.

Just in case anyone is curious, yes I did test fit it and was able to get it in, but only from the bottom! It won't go in from the top. I swear for a minute there I thought I was going to have to cut apart again to get it in place

 

Did a few things today since it was a smidgen cooler according to the weather man... had to redo the power wire to the Sub that was installed in the diesel by the previous owner. Found that the wire had just been tagged into the fuse block 🙄. Now its got a wire from the battery with a fuse and all.

Then I addressed the tiny factory transmission cooler on it, I swapped from the 7.3 cooler to a 6.0 factory cooler. The cooler has 3 times as many rows as the 7.3 cooler.


Best part is it bolts right in, and only special thing it requires is a 1/2 by 3/8 barb since the 7.3 takes a 3/8 line and the 6.0 uses 1/2.

 

Nice job Larry. I added a remote filter to mine also to catch more crud, just uses a fl1a oil filter. I put one on both trucks. The 6.0 cooler is huge.

 

Nice upgrade on that cooler Larry definitely an improvement. Dusty I did the same thing, added a remote filter on mine. Every time I change my oil I replace the inline trans filter at the same time.

 

Yep. I actually had to use a fl400s size one on the f250, after I aligned my bumper, I couldn't squeeze the bigger filter between the bumper and core support, haha

Decided a few months ago I wanted to add a oil pressure gauge to the explorer, it's one of few things I can't check on my phone with my obd 2 bluetooth adapter. The factory one Is just an on off switch at 5 psi. The factory sender is in a tight spot, but it's literally the only port to screw into for an oil pressure gauge on the whole engine. Put in a brass T to keep a spot for the factory "gauge" , used some posi-tap wiring splices too get power instead of scotch locks that cut wire strands. Molded a gauge pod to fit, found a VDO gauge that matches the cluster well, painted the pod to match the a pillar. 10 psi at idle, 20 at 1500, almost 40 at 2k when warm. 50 psi cold idle. Only spec ford gives is 20 psi minimum at 2k.



​​

 

I like that Dusty, came out good. And now you know the PSI as you're driving

 

you wouldnt believe how many times i get roasted when i tell ppl the same thing. The factory sensors just read in ranges on vehicles today. No pressure/temp. Proper pressure/temp and excessive pressure/temp. Theres no in between on them for accuracy. Same with the battery one. But no. Mention that on a forum and get roasted by idiots.

Now the oil pressure gauge on some chevy models are a bit more accurate with their ranges. But you have to change out the factory sensor to get that accuracy because the sensor itself only reads the ranges. Change out the sensor to something aftermarket (off brands you get at regular parts stores). That gauge will get more accurate. Can watch the needles move with the engine rpm then.







why on mine i got the sgII and individual in my truck.

 

I had a 90 Mustang where the oil gauge was like that. Essentially taking the technology of a dummy light and translating it into gauge format. Anything above 5 pounds just leaves the gauge needle in normal range.

 

got the rotted floor repaired in my laundry room. No more risk of falling through it coming through the door back there now. And with both sides painted i dont have to worry about terminites eating the new boards.

 

Wellllll finally did it, I awoke the sleeping giant? Beast? Pink panty dropper?



Ran it for a few seconds a couple different times Sunday, everything sounded decent for absolutely 0 tuning, and timing set "close enough to make it crank". I just basically wanted to make sure it would run prior to bolting everything around it. After that I ran through the valves real quick.

Then I started bolting radiator/fenders etc in place.




If it doesn't get to hot in the shop this weekend I hope to get it running again, this time with coolant so i can actually work on tuning it some. I took some video, but obviously being in the building you can't really hear much other than just LOUD on the video.... but it sounded good, that big ol cam sure counts it off.

 

Larry that pink motor looks pretty hot!
Fuzz, I think I figured out why my gun would only spray dry. Hard to see in this pic but there is a pretty thick layer of paint on the needle, I'm sure that was reducing the amount that could flow. I remember you seeing my paint gun for the first time and shaking your head. Well, now I am finally cleaning it!
This is blue, so we know it's more recent. But inside the gun I've come across red and that would have to be from 2013.

 

needs cleaning after each use Why is the end of that wrench rusted?