Diary of a Restore (Thread)

[AmericanSavage]

Got the stub shaft all done today—speedi sleeve, and new bearing set.  I am rather concerned how to get this BACK into the pumpkin.  The bearing is a near press on into the housing.  Will tackle that process tomorrow though.

New Spicer u joint installed as well.

[Gary Lewis]

Looks good.  But won't the bolts on the flange press it back in?  They did on Dad's truck.

[BigBrother-84]

Looks nice job.

Erik, hoping this is not your living room carpet!

[AmericanSavage]

Gary Lewis wrote

Looks good.  But won't the bolts on the flange press it back in?  They did on Dad's truck.

Gary, I am actually hoping that will be the case!  One of the bolts of the three is a little difficult to get to, but I am hoping you are correct!

[AmericanSavage]

BigBrother-84 wrote

Looks nice job.

Erik, hoping this is not your living room carpet!

Ha!

It is actually part of a carpet in the garage--there's four of them for the wife's car wheels instead of sitting on the bare concrete.

Next house, I am hoping epoxy garage workspace.

[AmericanSavage]

Waiting on the spindle sleeve to arrive.  Got the new front hub and spindle as back ups in the mail this week.  I will be holding onto them!

Well Gary, you were right!  I set the stub shaft in, and it would not go in easy.  I lubed it up with grease on the outside of the bearing, and tried again.  It went in with ease.  The three bolts seating it the rest of the way.  Easy peasy.  Thanks!

One more thing:  I set the speedi sleeve on the shaft to the lip.  I probably should not have done that.  The seal is a double lip.  I BET one lip is on the shaft and the other is on the sleeve as can be seen here.  The sleeve for the shaft was not as wide as for the spindle or the rear end.  If I had to so it over again I would have stopped about ¼- ½ “ before the lip.

Got the rest of the shaft ujoint pressed in, and the new spindle bearing and seal.  Those spindle seals are loose, so I ultra black the outside of that seal and let it sit.  Will not get it on until tomorrow.  Want the ultra black to set up.  But, the knuckle and shaft are all in!  Moog camber/caster installed and spec'd to the same as D side.

[Gary Lewis]

Looking good!  Glad the bearing went in that easily.  And I doubt you'll have a problem with the seals.  

[AmericanSavage]

Thank you Gary, and everyone on here, for all the excellent help and advice.  Truly it helped me a lot.  I am in your debt.

After this is done, I am going to take a break.  Pay off some bills, and then, It is time to tackle the interior—I need to reupholster the 87 bench seat someone put in.  I thought about getting an original bench from the pick, and there were some in excellent condition there, but I am going to keep this seat for the center fold down—which I rather like.  I like to keep things stock, but this seat bench (years i think 87-91 or is it 97) I grew to like.

So….does anyone have a reliable place to order an upholstery kit?  What about if the foam is degraded?Stock Interiors is all I know of in terms of kits—though no foam they sell.  I know places like LMC sell upholstery kits too, but I have no idea the quality, etc.  

Also, as @fuzzface2 mentioned I should do (I agree!) some time ago, this summer or early fall, I am going to tackle the bed wheel wells and pull those dents (or cut and do some hammer work on a sand bag, then re-weld the original back into place) and reshoot the paint in that area.  

Oh, also, I am getting rid of those 305 tires, and going down to something less.

[Gary Lewis]

I'm glad things are working out.  But I don't have a source for upholstery as I've never done it myself.

[81-F150-Explorer]

SMS Auto Fabrics can be a good source for finding the auto fabric you need.

They have the exact 1981 Explorer fabric to recreate my seat to like new factory condition.

Finding an upholsterer to put it together is another matter.  

[AmericanSavage]

I have been doing some body work mop up since the change of the front shafts.

I am also continuing to try to figure out how to measure toe for each wheel and not total toe so I can see if both wheels are spc’d to the same per the SM.  It is rather difficult to make a square box and get the wheels straight to take accurate measurements!

I have samples of interior fabric coming from Stock Interiors for whenever I tackle that issue.

In the meantime, I went over Gary’s stripe page again.  I know that if my truck ever had tape, it was limited in color—though conceivably it could be any combo.  Yet, the first page of Gary’s stripe page lists only a few combos for the F series.  I am vacillating between a Bittersweet (an orange color) or something else—maybe silver—but that goes with tutone according to the spec.  

Either way, right now, I have the top red stripe on—harder than it seems—there’s a few spots I see could have been straightened, but you have to look for it.

The bottom stripe is my quandary and looks like about a ½" tape.  The top I have is ¼” Oh, and from all I can tell a solid color truck used type 2 design so that is what I am going for.  I have a ½” color red a shade lighter than the top, and so could use that, just not sure if I want to as the orange might pop better, but then again, I may hate it.

[AmericanSavage]

Today’s post brought to you by, this guy👆.

I went to the pick yesterday just to see IF I might find a tach.  I was not smiled upon.  Heard Mr. T saying to me the entire time how much he thought my endeavor was a waste of time.  All the 80s trucks were full on idiot lights, and no tach.

BUT, I did find door map pockets in similar color as mine—one seems a schosh darker than the other—probably time, sun?  At any rate, nabbed them.  They are in generally good shape—came off a 87 Lariat.

So there’s that accomplishment for when I do the interior bench.  Gotta find some sort of mesh fabric for the back side of the vented part of the two pieces.

1980 Ford XLT F350
400 Engine (rebuilt to 406)
Holley 2300 500 CFM manual Choke Carb
Under Restore (1st time)

[Gary Lewis]

Lol!  Ben there, done that - found nada. But you did better as those map pockets will work out nice.

[81-F150-Explorer]

I've been there too.  

I usually get some Ford type pan head screws that are not year specific.  Very useful.

Motorcraft flashers from the emergency 4- way side of a compatible vehicle that are hardly used and are heavy duty.

Some Ford factory wire conduit off of a wrecked Taurus trunk lid.

Anything useful, just to say I got something.

[AmericanSavage]

81-F150-Explorer wrote

I've been there too.  

I usually get some Ford type pan head screws that are not year specific.  Very useful.

Motorcraft flashers from the emergency 4- way side of a compatible vehicle that are hardly used and are heavy duty.

Some Ford factory wire conduit off of a wrecked Taurus trunk lid.

Anything useful, just to say I got something.

Ha!  

I did that too once and grabbed something off a Lincoln.  

The picks for our trucks are getting sparse.

However, Last year I literally rebuilt all the plastic interior and headliner that was removed (mine was literally stripped inside), from my local pick.  Since then, nothing.  I got lucky.

[AmericanSavage]

Back from the hiatus.  

Saved up enough to get those 305 70R16s off the truck and am going to sell them.  They were not in bad shape, but for what I am doing, 305s are too big.  I think the previous owners used them for beachy things.

Went with 265 75s.  I had rims that were 8” wide.  That was about the lowest I could go.  If I recall the truck originally came with 235s on it, with those 16.5 rims. Man these new tires make the ride so much quieter.

Anyway, once I got the new tires, I started back on the toe.  It was pulling slightly to the right.  All my previous attempts failed.  I could never get the string right, and wind messed with the box I was trying to build.  We are on the beach and the truck is too long for my garage so….strike one.

I got Tennhulzen toe plates.  I was…wait for it, ¾” toe in. No wonder those monster tires were wearing on the outside. Spec is 1/32—so 2/32 total.

Then I got a novel idea to use the frame to check individual tire toe.  I set a carpenter level across the wheel, and measured from the frame on each side out to the level/plane at same location on the frame. Got them even so I could make adjustments with the plate and make exact turns on each side.

These Tenhulzen plates make total toe super easy.  Have not taken it out yet, so we shall see if I did it even close to correct.  The wear will be the tell if there’s no pull.

Also, got the map pockets on the doors.

Saving for the bench seat reupholster and various interior projects—it will include sanding and SEM painting a lot of the plastic interior, which I pulled from the local pick last summer.  Nearly all the interior was stripped when I bought it, so had to recreate it from old trucks last summer.  I was lucky enough to find all the parts I needed.  Now, the local pick has one 87 and a bunch of 90-2000s.

Oh last thing:  finished the pinstriping.


 Pics:

[Gary Lewis]

Congratulations!!!  

I know the benefits of getting the right tires on a truck.  Makes a huge difference.  And the correct toe-in makes it easier to drive as well.

Looking good!  

[tjmac]

Great thread! I'm new to the forum and to Bullnoses and learning fast, so scrolling through all your changes is really informative. Thanks for sharing! Subscribed!

[Gary Lewis]

You caught the bit about "the right tires and wheels".  

Told Rick about your purchase and the tires/wheels on it and he immediately knew what that does to the handling.  When he bought the FJ he has it wasn't handling correctly.  He brought it down and let me drive it and I recognized the nibbling and darting that oversized tires give you.  So he dropped down two sizes on tires and it cured the problem.

However, you can sometimes help the problem by changing tire pressures.  We had a brand new Chevy Citation in 1980 that came from the factory with wider than normal tires.  On a trip to Denver in December of '80 (very special trip) that thing didn't want to stay in the ruts on I-70.  It just kept trying to climb out of the ruts.  So I started adjusting the tire pressures and found that I had to run 40 psi when the owner's manual said 35 to get the thing to track properly.  Otherwise the edges of the tires followed every little groove in the highway.

[AmericanSavage]

TJMAC:  

Thank you!  I am learning as I am going.  A lot of more capable and experienced people than me here. I made my share of mistakes, especially on the body.  BUT it is tons better off than it was!

Cheers to you.