Brown Truck Under the Knife Project - Engine

[6 Nebraska IDIs]

David. Yea, lotsa gauges, but I like to know what's going on with my engines. Factory gauges just don't cut it for me anymore. I only trust the tach and speedometer, and probably do those more than I should.
The 3 larger gauges are what I used to run in the console of my Z28 when I was in high school. Didn't need them in the car anymore after I built the complete gauge cluster for the car out of Autometer gauges.
Rub it in man, you're leather seats are awesome. I can't wait until I can upgrade mine.
Dont get me wrong the bench seats in these are by far the most comfortable bench seats I've ever sat in, but nothing beats modern day leather buckets.

 

[david85]

The bench seats are ok until the foam starts loose its shape and the springs start to sag. My Dad used to spend hours on end in what is now my F150 driving all over the place as a tradesman and it was a killer on his back. I fixed it when he handed it down to me (stuffed carpet underlay in), but still isn't as nice as a modern seat that is more supportive and reclines for the extra cab. Guess I'm rubbing it in again now.

Leather isn't a good idea unless you have really good AC though. Lets just say there is the sound of a big roll of duck tape being ripped every time you get out after a hot drive. Light a match

Cold weather can be uncomfortable too until your **** either go completely numb or the heat finally kicks in.

Still have to install some arm rests some day though.

 

[Agnem]

Leather isn't a good idea unless you have really good AC though. Lets just say there is the sound of a big roll of duck tape being ripped every time you get out after a hot drive.

Don't wear shorts.

Yea my legs are gastly white.

Project looks great Sean!

 

[hesutton]

I think that was a good call on the bearings. Looking good buddy. You could just get your bench re-foamed and covered at a local upholstery shop. They are usually very reasonable on price and it may be a bit easier than search for and swapping seats.

Heath

 

[typ4]

The bench seats are ok until the foam starts loose its shape and the springs start to sag.

Are you sure that is whats out of shape and sagging???

 

[6 Nebraska IDIs]

Damn rain...
Been a slow last couple days.
I sidetracked to fixing the window regulator and weather stripping in the drivers door. I've had problems with that window rolling down since I've had the truck.
Went to a local salvage yard and picked up a door I'd known about, rust free original Ford door with the hardware in it, and picked it up for $40. Drilled the regulator out of it cleaned it up and installed it into my door along with a new weather stripping set. WOOHOO! Window works like new and seals great!

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[david85]

$40 for a rust free factory original door?

I only found one locally and the ******* wanted $250 for it.

Ended up getting a reproduction door shell for $230. Seems to be decent and they are painted by dipping from what I can tell, so all the folded edges are protected inside. Closer inspection reveals a light zinc coating on the sheet metal too

One helluva deal you got though.

 

[6 Nebraska IDIs]

Yea, I thought I got a good deal. Not sure what I'm gonna do with the extra shell for the moment. Keep it in storage I guess.

I finished my intake, for now. I'm not using the CDR connection so I need to figure out what I'm going to do with that eventually. I'll be running an evac system for the crankcase.

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[91f2504x4]

Did you order the weatherstrip kit from LMC or some other source? I have to replace the weather strips or anti-rattle strip whatever you want to call them on my truck too but I am hoping to find a set of doors with good glass in them. Both my door glasses have light scratches in them that get annoying sometimes. I tried using a glass polishing kit to get the scratches out but no luck. The dried out weather stripping is what scratched my windows. I am wanting to swap windows and weatherstripping all in one day when I can find some good glass.

 

[6 Nebraska IDIs]

I got everything from LMC. Seems to be good quality stuff. The outside window sweep needs a little bit of tweaking to make it fit in with the window weatherstrip that runs along the window track, but that's pretty much normal. Took me about 2 hours to do this one door. Only because there's allot of install, remove, reposition going on with that weatherstrip to make it mesh properly.
I could take pics of doing the other door when I get around to it.

 

[typ4]

The dirt in the dried out weatherstripping is what grinds up the glass. It is even hard to keep the windows nice with new sweeps.

 

[6 Nebraska IDIs]

Finished hunting and running the wiring for the pillar gauges today.
Not much other than that to speak of in progress though.
It looks like a disaster yet, I know.

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[Cincinnati Guy]

What year did you get that pillar pod for?

 

[6 Nebraska IDIs]

It's the pod I'd been working on for over a year trying to blend it real nice and make a mold of it, but after countless hours and attempts to mold it to the 83 pillar I gave up on trying to make it any better and decided what I ended up with wasn't worth the several hundred dollars in molding material it would take to make a mold of it. I'm sure many of you are very disappointed that I couldn't come through with the pillar pods for the 80-86 trucks. I'm sorry for getting everyone's hopes up. But I couldn't justify the investment it would take to make a mold of something I couldn't make look perfect, not to mention I talked with LMC product managers several times in attempts to get them to sign up for an order of them when finished and they wouldn't do it.

What I did was bought the pillar pod for the 92-97 trucks, cut it down to where it would fit well over the 83 pillar and then molded it to the factory pillar with a special adhesive (I'll find the package and give you the exact part number for it because its an important piece to making a strong pillar) then took a dremel to the back side of the factory pillar and cut out the holes for the gauge wires to go through.

I still wish I could have made it blend in better, but at some point a guy has to just accept he's not going to achieve perfection.

 

[seawalkersee]

I have to ask...why did you start tearing down the engine? What/how did you know there was a problem?

SWS