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I also picked up some other goodies via Craigslist. They are sacrilegious, but I'm going to remove the sacrilegious emblems from them and put something else.
Haha! I ran hub caps with a tiny bowtie on my 64 Falcon convertible. I always meant to strip & paint checkers over it. No one ever noticed & I never got around to painting them.
Wheel Automotive tire Automotive lighting Alloy wheel Rim
 
Discussion starter · #282 ·
Haha! I ran hub caps with a tiny bowtie on my 64 Falcon convertible. I always meant to strip & paint checkers over it. No one ever noticed & I never got around to painting them.
View attachment 208248
At least those are tiny. I had to zoom in to see them.
 
Discussion starter · #283 ·
I have both bumpers removed right now. If the weather is nice again tomorrow, I'll hit the frame where the bumpers mount with some of the por15 I have leftover, if it's still good when I pop the can open anyway.

The step bumper uses different bolts to mount the bumper to the bumper brackets than the contour bumper does. I took one off my Bronco's rear bumper since it uses the same bolts as the new one for my truck and I'll use that one to see if I can find a match locally. Otherwise, I'll have to buy some spendy ones online.

The front bumpers use the same bolts, so I'll take one of those to find some locally as well since I don't want to reuse the old ones.

The difference in size between the front and rear bumper bolts is interesting though. The rear has two more bolts than the front as well, 6 vs 4.






The bolts that go into the frame I'll replace as well. They're old and rusty of course, but the threads are pretty messed up in a lot of spots. Interestingly, the frame has one nut as part of the frame on each side, so the bolt just threads into the frame. The others are regular nut and bolts.




I noticed on my Bronco, when comparing bolts with my new bumper, that is has three bolts holding the bumper bracket to the frame vs the two on my truck.

Also noticed my new gas tank starting to rust. I debated whether or not to take the time to remove all of the greasy protectant stuff they put on the tank at the factory and painting it like I did on my Bronco. I remember it taking a long time to clean off, so I could paint. I figured I'd give the factory treatment a chance.




The stuff they've been putting on the roads the last several years isn't playing nice. They used to just spread sand on the roads in the winter after the roads were plowed rather than salt and that made them a little grippier, but you still have to drive like a non-idiot. I was ok with that treatment. I'm surprised my tailpipe is still there anymore. It didn't always look like it had a few std's.

 
Discussion starter · #284 ·
Well, the weather was kind of poop today when I considered painting. It was something like 37 degrees out and very overcast, which probably isn't great conditions for paint curing. I think we topped out in the mid-40's with some sunshine, but I was off doing other things by then.

I did some carriage bolt hunting and learned a few things today. Apparently, no one carries a regular ol' 9/16" carriage bolt. Anywhere. Not even online unless it's a special order deal. They just go from 1/2" right on to 5/8".

No wonder jbg sells set of 6 of them with nuts and washers for $26 + up-your-keister shipping. Their bolts are stainless steel capped, so a regular carriage bolt with a stainless steel toupee.

Dennis carpenter sells a 100% stainless (allegedly) bolt/washer/nut combo for the rear bumper at a whopping $7 a piece, but the description says they are 1/2". So, consider that if you want new bolts for your rear contour bumper.

The front bumper bolts are less of a problem as everyone carries a 7/16" carriage bolt. Only issue I ran into was that the bolt holes on the new bumper are slightly bigger than on the OE bumper. I used one of the bolts off my OE front bumper to check and make sure they fit in the new one before I bought some new bolts, which they did, but I didn't bother to jiggle them around to see how much play there was, if any.

The new bumper's bolt holes are large enough to use the next size up carriage bolt, so that's what I'm doing. I'll be using 1/2" bolts vs 7/16". The 1/2" fit nice and snug in the bumper and still fit into the holes in the frame horns. Had I used the 7/16", I'm sure I would have rounded the bumper holes out.


New rear bumper bolt hole.




New rear bumper bolt hole with 9/16" carriage bolt off my Bronco's rear bumper, fits nice and snug.





New front bumper bolt hole.





New bumper bolt hole with 1/2" carriage bolt, fits nice and snug.





Shot of the front with no bumper. Frame horns aren't too rusty.





Rear with no bumper. I had to cut a couple wires that were tapped into the OE harness for the trailer plug before dropping the bumper. I'm sure had I just dropped the bumper, it would have cut them for me anyway. The only wire that had an OE plug was the wire for the license plate light.





I think I'll straighten out this one bit on the old front bumper and then put it on my Bronco. It's a lot straighter than my Bronco's bumper. This one wasn't always like this and if I go through enough of my pics, I'm sure I could figure out a ballpark time of when it happened. I'm pretty sure someone bumped the very edge of the bumper on the passenger side and bent it back towards the fender and it started to fold right there in the pic where it's bent which is right next to the top bumper bolt which would be the pivot point in that scenario considering the frame horn is there. Jerks.

 
Discussion starter · #285 ·
Picked up the driveshaft yesterday. It was ready Tuesday afternoon, but I've been feeling like garbage all week and haven't left my bed unless I've had to.

It cost a wee bit more than I had hoped, granted, the lowest price possible was based on everything being good minus the tube and then replacing the u-joints regardless. He replaced both end yokes that weld to the shaft since he was using thicker tubing (.083) than what was used on the factory shaft and the cost difference between him machining the old ones to fit and just using new ones was negligible. So there's that.

Kinda wished he had painted the yoke going into the transmission like he did everything else. Must have been an oversight, huh? I wasn't in the mood to tackle that, so I put the shaft on the way it is. If it bothers me enough, I'll paint it when it has to come off again, which would be when the new engine is made and the old engine and transmission come out.








If you're wondering how far that yoke goes into the transmission, it goes alllllll the way. Once the other end is bolted up to the diff yoke, I think this yoke sticks out of the transmission about to where the electrical tape he put on it ends.

I wish I hadn't been sick for my days off from work, because I got jack squat done with all of this. Anyway, I set the front bumper on the frame horns to see how things fit. The top bolts went in nicely. The bottom bolts, not so much. Couple of options there. Open up the holes in the frame horns or use the smaller carriage bolts and tighten them carefully so they don't round out the bumper holes once they have some torque applied to them. I didn't have a lot of time to play with things, so I'll need to see how much, if any, side to side movement I can get out of the bumper with just the bolts in the top.









And then lastly, I had to bite the bullet and order some 9/16" bolts from JBG and they arrived today. I won't lie, I was like you effers when I opened the package and saw the box they sent me.





And then I was relieved after opening that box.

 
Discussion starter · #286 ·
Had a little more time today to mess with things before heading off to work.

I removed the 1/2" carriage bolts from the front bumper and put in all four 7/16" bolts hand tight. They do have the play that I mentioned, but they fit and everything goes where it needs to. That and I like the smaller heads on them compared to the 1/2" carriage bolts.

I'm going to have the bumpers and the bolts powder coated, so my thinking is that when that's done, I'll tell them to powder coat everything under the head of the bolts down to the threads on the 7/16" ones. That should add some thickness to the neck of the bolt and take some play away. 🤷‍♂️ No pics on that stuff.

I installed the rear bumper brackets and left the bolts a little loose, so I can wiggle stuff around. I didn't take a close up specifically to show it, but believe it or not, these brackets are made of thicker metal than the portion of the frame they bolt to.












This is just with the rear bumper resting on the brackets, so no bolts holding it on. I already don't like the gap between the bumper and the rear of the bed, but that's just how these bumpers fit. Ford filled that gap in on the Broncos with some sheet metal. It's obviously more noticeable when you're standing right there looking down at it.






The top bolt holes in the bumper lined up nicely with the bracket holes.





I'll probably use both of these for license plate lights. My Bronco has a trailer plug in the left one, I think it's a 6-pin. I'm still debating how complex I want to make things as far as adding a hitch. Fancy would be a hidden one behind the plate. Simple would just be a regular hitch sitting below the bumper, maybe tucked back a little. Just going by the seat of my pants as usual.





My fancy JBG rear bumper bolts. They came with film covering the stainless, ooh la la! The darker washers are actually curved slightly. Not sure what the 2 zinc washers are for. I might have the check out my Bronco and see if any of the 6 bolts have extra washers or thickness, something like that. I suppoooose I could just call/email JBG and ask them, but where's the fun in that.













Not sure how I didn't take a pic of the bolts in the bumper, but I somehow forgot to snap one before leaving. The top four fit nicely, the bottom two holes on the bumper do not line up with the bumper brackets. I'll have to come back to it and play with things next time. Everything is currently bolted hand tight.
 
Discussion starter · #287 ·
I fiddled with the rear bumper bolts and got everything in. You can't put the top ones in and tighten them at all as the bottom of the bumper needs to rotate in towards the truck for the bottom bolt holes to line up with the brackets.

However, I think if I torque everything down tight it'll bend the bumper around each of either the top or the bottom bolts. Only one side is going to rest flat against the brackets while the other gets sucked in when tightened down. I don't know if this is typical for the contour bumpers or if this is an aftermarket bumper thing orrrr an aftermarket bracket thing orrrr both. 🤷‍♀️

I got some plastic inserts for the license plate screws and put on the plates and then took the new driveshaft for a spin. I had the bumpers tight enough not to go anywhere, but not cranked down. Anyway, the new driveshaft is super smooth and that made me happy. Zero vibration in the truck now. I took it various speeds all the way up to about 60 mph for a few miles.

Also parked out of the gravel, got my jack, and did some test fitting. The back is good, which I new it would be. I'll need different lug nuts, these are from my other wheels and fit those better.






This is going to be more of a challenge though, even with spacers, which I had already planned on using.

 
Discussion starter · #288 · (Edited)
Looked some more into my ignition problem and got it solved.

I'll sum up the journey quickly from beginning to end.

The 40+ year old OEM ignition switch wore out.

I installed an NOS switch and the ignition started working again.

I was only getting power to the coil in the run position.

Figured maybe NOS switch or starter solenoid acting funky.

Tried a new, aftermarket switch, no change.

Tried a new, Motorcraft starter solenoid (current one is an older AutoZone solenoid), no change.

Read online for a while, decided the ICM was most likely culprit.

Bought a new, Standard Motor Products ICM, problem fixed.

It starts super quick like it used to. Things just only last so long. I am a little annoyed with the new ICM quality though, both retainers on both new plugs snapped off just from me plugging stuff together without any significant force. Oh well. It starts like it should!
 
Discussion starter · #289 ·
Dropped the truck off today to get my springs swapped out. I'm glad someone else is doing it since it's been snowing off and on the last few days.

I put the NOS Motorcraft ignition switch back in and I'll keep the new switch as a spare. I'm debating on whether or not to buy a second new ICM as a spare. Might hit the JY and get a working spare that way. I think Ford used the same duraspark 2 box up to 86 or so. Up until they went to EFI anyway.

I found this on my windshield after it snowed the other day. I'm assuming someone left it there before the snow fell. I hit the wipers when I started the truck to clear the windshield and it got mangled. Google says 512 is Austin, Tx. Weird.


 
Google says 512 is Austin, Tx. Weird.
With people keeping their numbers & moving all over, we're running into odd numbers on a pretty regular basis.
 
Discussion starter · #291 ·
With people keeping their numbers & moving all over, we're running into odd numbers on a pretty regular basis.
That's a good point. I guess I'm just used to seeing 208 for everything.

I got the truck back just before the shop closed. I didn't have much time to check on things once I got home, so tomorrow I'll see about measuring some things.

It definitely looks higher on the driver side than it did before. It doesn't seem like it sits much higher, if at all, on the passenger side, which is good.

I had them adjust the tow in some more as well. It steers better than it did when the tie rod relocator was loose, but it still kind of wanders, which is why I asked them to adjust it.
 
That's a good point. I guess I'm just used to seeing 208 for everything.
Yeah, I see both sides of this. I still have my number from my first cell phone because without long distance charges I'd rather just keep the number everyone knows I have, that I've had for 20 years. On the other hand I live in a one area code state and totally have people ignore my calls because my number is out of state. If I really want to pull off a Craigslist deal I need to use my wife's phone with a local number.
 
Discussion starter · #293 ·
Yeah, I see both sides of this. I still have my number from my first cell phone because without long distance charges I'd rather just keep the number everyone knows I have, that I've had for 20 years. On the other hand I live in a one area code state and totally have people ignore my calls because my number is out of state. If I really want to pull off a Craigslist deal I need to use my wife's phone with a local number.
I have a similar problem, but it's with the FB marketplace rather than phone numbers. I made a joke account a long long loooong time ago as I didn't really use FB, so it had a silly name. Then when CL started to die down I decided to use the FB account I had made, so I could use the marketplace, but FB changed a lot of things by that time and basically made it to where I can't change my name on my account unless I show them ID and I'm like, nah.

I only use it for the marketplace, but having no profile pic, no info, and a joke name makes it... interesting! I still manage to buy and sell, I just think I'd have more action if I had a more legit looking profile. Funny thing is, it's gotten to the point on FB where the scammers have legit looking profiles too, so maybe I've come full circle.
 
Discussion starter · #294 ·
Not too much to update on.

I looked into a few things. Spoke with the powder coating shop to get an idea how much my bumpers will cost. Considering coating my air cleaner and valve covers. Found a shop that is willing to make/modify a receiver hitch to fit under my bumper how I want it to (high and tight), but they are booked 'til May. Machine shop is still waiting on the stroker kit, but they have been receiving a lot of parts recently, so maybe soon.

I've just been scratching whatever itch comes up. I haven't been in the mood for doin' a lot of stuff lately, but Saturday I decided to make a small amount of progress on something. I have a new propane tank tray for my popup in order to fit two tanks to it. I dug around and got out the grinder and spent a while cutting the old one off. This one had a single tank and then the battery sitting next to it.








I smoothed that area of the frame and then I mocked up the new one, but I did not take pics of it. I'll probably christen my new welder on this project. It'll only need small welds and all the metal is fairly thin, the tray and the popup frame, so I probably won't have to worry too much about getting a lot of penetration. I'll make a new "tray" for the battery using some angle and put it in front of the tanks. I also have a new regulator, hoses, wiring for the battery, etc, that needs to go on.

Other than that, I'm gonna see about rebuilding the 2100 that currently sits on my 302. I dug out the rebuild kit from my boxes of parts. I need to find something to use as a cleaning solution, but I'm gonna toss everything into the ultra sonic cleaner I got from HF a while back and see how that works out. I just want to rebuild the carb and see if that will improve mpg a bit. I know the carb is not 100% happy as it's sat a lot and ethanol fuel isn't kind.
 
Discussion starter · #295 ·
Messed some more with the camper.

I had a list of items I wanted to get done, more than just messing with the camper, but I ended up just getting this one item done since it had a small snowball effect before I hit my self-imposed cut off for the day.

So, I'm changing tank trays, swapping regulators and hoses, and changing the trailer plug from a 6-pin to a 7-pin. All I really need to do with the tray at this point is weld it in place, but thankfully I had the forethought to do that last as I figured throughout this process I may need to move it around or change plans altogether.

Anyway, I pulled the 6-pin plug apart. It didn't look too good inside. Yes, that wire was not connected when I opened it up, which helps explain why all of the lighting didn't work when I plugged the trailer into my truck's harness.






I'm not familiar with campers/RV's and their wiring/color coding, so I used this diagram I got online in order to know what's what (and what terminal in the 7-pin plug I wouldn't be using) and then used my truck's battery (grounded to the trailer frame) and supplied power to each wire and checked the lighting to determine if they were functioning.


Wheel Product Automotive tire Font Motor vehicle






Everything (the exterior lighting anyway) was functioning properly, so at that point I just made sure the wire ends were clean by clipping an inch or so off them and then screwed them in their proper location per the diagram.







When I first looked at the camper, the lady selling it had all the interior lighting going and running off the battery, so I knew things worked. A week or two later I set it up with my kids, so they could check it out and nothing was working. Great, that lady got me! I knew I shoulda had a car down the street with another 4-5 guys all packing heat when I made that deal. But not so much.

Anyway, near the battery there's an inline, cylindrical fuse that was blown. They're the typical buss fuses these older trucks have, so I had some on hand, but I figured I'd just cut out the old fuse holder and splice in a new, blade fuse holder that is weather sealed.

Long story shorter and pictureless, I had some new wire, ring terminals, etc., and went through the process of replacing all of that, heat shrinking everything, drilling out a fastener for the ground wire that broke off in the frame when I tried to unscrew it, you're typical "this'll be a 30-min job" turned into a few hours or extra stuff and running to the hardware store a few times.

I did get the regulator and hoses changed out as well, so that's good. All that's left 🤞 , again, is the welding of the tray. I'll take some pics of the rest of what I did. You can usually tell at what point someone started to get frustrated when their picture frequency declines or stops altogether when they are documenting things.
 
Discussion starter · #296 ·
Few more pics I snapped before leaving to work. Not the greatest as I was in a hurry.

New tray setup for two tanks along with an automatic switching dual tank regulator. Once I get everything positioned how I want it, I'll weld it to the frame, get a second tank, and button it all up.





I ran a new ground wire from the trailer plug to the frame when I went to replace the ring terminals on it and saw how stiff and corroded it was under the insulation. Tucked the new wire into the split loom and then rewrapped the loom with new electrical tape to help keep some of the elements out.




And then a whole mess of a wire job here. I made a new ground wire from the battery to the frame and then spliced in my mini-blade weathertight fuse holder on the hot wire and added some red wire after the fuse holder going to the battery. Long story short, I already had good wire to use, but it wasn't in the same colors used on this camper for +/- and I didn't want to buy a new roll of wire.

At least everything was done up to my standards. lol. I used ring terminals and butt connectors that actually have solder in them and self-sealing heat shrink, so when you apply heat to the heat shrink, the solder melts and makes everything pretty dang solid. I don't know if you're supposed to crimp them on (they look like every other terminal you crimp), but I crimped them before applying heat. Then I covered every crimp I made with more self-sealing heat shrink. I'll probably put some split loom over them if I have some in my boxes of parts. I have a lot of stuff leftover when when I put the Sniper on my Bronco.




Just need some angle iron, so I can make a "tray" for my battery box and then that will get welded to the frame along with the propane tank tray. After that, I guess I'll pop up the camper if the weather is still decent and see if winter has ruined anything.

I also need to get on rebuilding the carb on the truck asap. I plan on driving it next week to SLC and back.
 
Discussion starter · #297 ·
I pulled some of my usual last minute bs and rebuilt the carb in the middle of the night before I left to SLC. I took it off before the sun went down, but wasn't buttoning it up back on the truck until about 4am. It was an interesting night.

When I was taking the carb off the intake, I figured I'd re-gap the plugs since it's been a while. The spec that's usually called for is .044. All the plugs were around .050-.052, so I started bringing them back to .044. Long story short, one of the plug wire ends snapped off and I ended up just buying a new set of wires and plugs. I tossed in a new cap and rotor for good measure, why not. At least the old plugs looked decent as far as their color, so I guess the carb is jetted adequately.





I rebuild the carb with a kit I got... years ago... from Mike's Carburetor Parts. I used the ultrasonic cleaner I got from Harbor Freight. It's on the small side for something like this and I basically had to clean the carb's main body like you would a pancake, I had to cook it on both sides in order to clean the whole thing.

Anyway, carb before and after. All I used was the ultrasonic cleaner and a very dilute mixture of simple green and water. I didn't hit it with anything else after that, so I could have cleaned things a little more I suppose. If I did it again, using the same equipment, I'd use at least 50/50 simple green, probably more. It works, it's just slow when there isn't much of it.









I noted the settings on everything and put it back together as it was prior to disassembly. The mixture screws were backed out 1 3/4 turns each.

Anyway, I took it for a quick drive after I put everything back together to make sure things were good. It ran fine, so I didn't screw the carb up. My power steering fluid, however, wasn't even registering on the dip stick and the pump was whining, so I went and topped all the fluids off with that one being the first.
 
Neat trick on the carb cleaning. Probably a lot safer than my ancient bucket of carb cleaner. I can smell it just from talking about it.

My favorite old carb guy is still at it. But he's starting to seem a little loco lately. Probably from 50 years of sniffing carb cleaner.
 
Discussion starter · #299 ·
The ultrasonic cleaner instructions say not to use anything flammable or that would damage the unit. Carb cleaner probably fits that description. My main reason was not wanting to use carb cleaner, or anything fumey for that matter, indoors, which is where I was going to work on all of this.

I'm sure carb cleaner or all of the tried and true methods work better. A larger ultrasonic cleaner with some better solution would probably work better than what I have. Mine does have a heating element though and that seemed to help a lot. At one point I just put parts into the cleaner and let them soak in the hot solution before even turning it on.

It's pretty loud for what it is, especially in a small indoor setting. The buzzing it makes is pretty sharp to the ears. It's similar in sound to the buzz a welder makes, but much higher pitch.
 
Discussion starter · #300 ·
I had originally planned to leave early in the morning and possibly spend time exploring downtown, but didn't really have a time set in stone as the only real plans I had for that day was the hockey game we were going to watch. We ended up leaving closer to 11am. lol. I needed a short nap and then got around to making sure the truck was good to go.

The truck did well. The only thing that was annoying was I had some sort of vibration once I got up to freeway speed and I was like, mother of god, what now. It sorta felt like an out of balance wheel, but it didn't come in until closer to 70-75 rather than the usual 50ish. Either way, I plowed through that annoyance and apparently it wasn't anything catastrophic as it went there and back, around 500 miles in total.

I didn't take any pics of the truck, or much of anything, but I snapped one once we reached our destination, which was actually in West Valley City. This is the Maverik Center (formerly the E-Center, that's what I know it as) where the Utah Grizzlies play. I guess you can see the top of my door, so there, a very partial truck pic.





And then my super thorough review of the game. The game was good. (y)

It was the Utah Grizzlies vs the Cincinnati Cyclones. We were not there specifically for either team, so I had no dog in the race. Imo, the Cyclones are a much better team. The game was tied up until the last two minutes and then the Cyclones scored and the Grizzlies fell apart. Last ditch effort by the Grizzlies to score and tie was done by pulling the goalie and that eventually led to another Cyclones goal. Go figure. Ended 6-4.

During warmups before the game, a Cyclones player (Justin Vaive, I guess his dad was an NHL pro) threw a couple of pucks over the glass to my daughters and I think he got one of them as a Cyclones fan because of that. lol. She asked if it was ok to cheer for them and I said sure. If we were in Philly or something, that's probably a no from dad for cheering the visiting team on.

She also asked why the ref was "driving" this player around. He had just got done fighting with another guy and started taunting the crowd when a ref came over to escort him to the penalty box for his 5 minutes and I guess, to her, it looked like the ref was steering him around like he was displaying this criminal to the crowd before locking him up. Anyway, I thought it was kinda funny.






You can see his being "driven" around in this twitter video the team posted. It's around the 35 second mark.


 
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