71 F250 4BT Cummins Work Horse: Just doing a little work

[KRob]

Couple of dumb questions.

I think i am going to start quick question threads though in the right areas.

Fuel gauge not reading full
http://www.fordification.com/forum/view ... =8&t=73279

Temp Gauge operating Range
http://www.fordification.com/forum/view ... =8&t=73280

[KRob]

So quick update....Ill come back and add picture tomorrow.

Fuel and Temp gauges have been adjusted and are still not working real well. Oil pressure gauge is off the chart now after adjusting ICVR

Had an oops a couple nights ago. Some how some of my wiring harness grabbed the steering linkage and twisted it self loose thus loosing all rear lights on a dark rainy evening. http://www.fordification.com/forum/view ... =8&t=73826

Transfercase linkage has been built and is installed. Used the original handle and built a new bracket and bent it up through the original whole in the transmission hump. Need to find some new boots and get them buttoned down.

Hold up on sound insulation is the hole in the floor boards....still have a little welding to do.

Lastly back to the first note is I think i am done screwing with the factory gauges....I am looking for ideas over here. http://www.fordification.com/forum/view ... 55#p661855

Anyway, had an interesting conversation today at a dinner. Guy + family walked in and he told me he liked our (wife was with me) truck....his wife then informed us that he had seen it yesterday when my wife drove through town and had talked about it for quite sometime afterwards....makes me feel pretty good about Frankin-Ford.

Have a good evening.

[460 crew]

Haha for once its a good thing to b the talk of the town.

[motzingg]

when my wife drove through town

that statement right there is pure win. building a franken-ford is one thing, building it well enough that your wife is willing to drive it is another!

[KRob]

Motzingg....you said it. My wife is as close to angel I am going to get in this world. Amazingly she enjoys it, but she is starting to get irritated that i haven't finished the inside of the cab so that i can insulate/sound deaden. Its kind of noisy and she wants to be able to talk.

[KRob]

Had a real good score....or at least i thought it was.

Got a Metal Dash, passenger side window glass, driver side arm rest, and transfercase boot in far better shape then mine all for $60. I thought that was a pretty good deal.

My plan is to take the metal dash and build my own gauge cluster. After doing some measuring i think i can fit one 3 1/8 and four 2 1/16 gauges inside the original hole. When i did the measuring i added a little to each gauge since the measurement is the hole needed not bezel. I am going to run the standard gauges speedometer, temp, oil, fuel, volts. I also have a Pyrometer/EGT gauge however i have that screwed down to the dash. I don't like it there so it may get moved else where.

I am looking for ideas PICTURES on how other folks have put there dashes together here http://www.fordification.com/forum/view ... =6&t=73864

[KRob]

So I am currently not where Frankin-Ford is sooooo I am contemplating what is getting done next and working on the one part I have with me.

So I am tired of non-op gauges and continually screwing with them and not having any idea weather they are accurate or not. Lets face it the last thing I want to do is blow up my engine. So I found a metal dash cluster and have ordered some Auto Meter Designer Black Chrome. The speedo is a little bigger then the stock gauge opening will handle so I will have to massage the edges a little. Originally i was going to wait till the gauges arrived before painting....however patience has never been a virtue. So here are a few pictures



Outer circle in the center should be the chrome ring of the gauge, middle circle should be the hole for the gauge to go through. You can see how much will have to be shaved on the dash.


I am not happy with how some of the paint turned out, due to having to re-tape and the tape pooling the chrome paint off. I think once i get the the gauges and can get the edges cut and so forth, which i will have to do some touch up painting anyway, i will retouch more of it.

Anyway... I will be home this coming week and hopefully will get the cab patched....one rust hole and all the none screw/wire holes patched, so that i can insulate. I am planning on using a decimal meter before and after and using several different insulation products. So i will post my results.

Also on my to do list http://www.fordification.com/forum/view ... &sk=t&sd=a Heater Super Charge!
(notes to self LMC http://www.lmctruck.com/icatalog/fb/full.aspx?Page=42 parts:43-1054, 43-1250)

[sargentrs]

Gauge panel looks great, KRob! I plan on spray chroming mine too.

[KRob]

Sorry useless post...no pictures...well maybe.

Still waiting on gauges....so no progress on that.

However i did a little cutting today and cut the last section of cancer out of the floor board. I also picked up a chunk of plate to patch in. Oh i finally bought my own welder, a little Lincoln 140HD (Home Depot) same critter as the normal Lincoln 140, however doesn't have an infinite adjustment on the power. Bought it barely used and bought it right, guy looking for Christmas cash. So hopefully tomorrow i will get that welded in.

Once the floor is done i think i am going to strip out the interior clean it hard and then start laying sound deadening / insulation. My insulation will be a mixture of Mega Mat, which is a product of Fat Mat, and Frost King Duct insulation, plus a little jute and a polyurethane floor mat. I have used neither before of the sound deadening product before so we shall see. Oh shoot one other hold back before i can insulate, i have to figure this one out first. http://www.fordification.com/forum/view ... 59#p663759

One picture. This was this morning. Calling for below zero tonight.

[KRob]

Well....Insulation is in, not to my satisfaction but its a start.

All holes are welded or have rubber plugs. Then any questionable spots were wire wheeled again. Cab was then vacuumed and wiped out. Then any surface rust/bare metal was sprayed with rust encapsulating spray, then followed with regular spray paint.

Then I installed Mega Matt, made by Fat Matt. I only installed it up to the lower seam in the cab just above the transmission hump, though. I then through the jute mat that came with my LMC Rubber mat (Its some polyvynel thing). Part number/link. 49-5909 http://www.lmctruck.com/icatalog/fb/full.aspx?Page=95

This is where the trouble started that mat is an SOB to get wrangled in. Its been in a heated shop...set at 50 ish... for the last month you would think it wouldn't be so gosh darn stiff.

Side note, this morning/last night it was so cold that some of the diesel in my dodges fuel lines were frozen (where talking winter diesel), I went through with a blow torch and got it flowing. I was not the only one.

Now my plan is to go back in when i have the parts to rebuild the heater, and install sound deadener/ insulation as far up as i can. I am also hoping that at that point it maybe a little warmer and i can get a tighter fit with the rubber mat....Because i am not happy with it at this point.

Thought i had taken more pictures but i guess not....hopefully tomorrow i will be able to take a little video so you can hear the difference.

[popeyes71]

I know your fustrations with the rubber/poly mat! The previous owner had installed the same mat in my truck. The mat drove me crazy due to all the wrinkels and lumps it had and for not sitting flat! So I even pulled the whole interior out and layed the mat out in the summer when it was in the 90's and then before I put it in the truck I even laid it in the sun for couple of hours, that helped but it was still on the stiff side. I do like how heavy duty the material is but I wish it was molded better to fit the shape of the floor.

[KRob]

Popeyes71....Gosh it just irritates me, it maybe coming out for something else. But right now i need something in there.

I just filmed starting it however it didn't take for some reason. It has been below zero since i shut it off yesterday, took a few cranks but it fired right up, but it does not have a grid heater and it still started so i guess it past the test on whether or not i need to rebuild the air intake to install a grid heater. (Grid Heaters are like glow plugs however instead of being in the cylinder like glow plugs it heats the air before it goes into the cylinder.) While i was out there i also started my fathers 80 IH Scout with a 6 cyl Generator Eng Cummins. It started up easier but it was also plugged in.

Anyone have any suggestion on those poly mats, that SOB is still pissing me off.

[motzingg]

you could try putting a space heater (like a milkhouse heater) inside it for a few hours. Maybe a heat gun just to get it to relax along certain bend lines or stretch out anywhere it is tight.

[fireguywtc]

Krob you did almost the exact same thing I did to my highboy, I put the same kind of sound deadener down and then put the exact same rubber mat in my truck. Don't beat yourself up over it not being perfect I don't think its possible. I installed mine in the spring and it went through the whole Texas summer without really flattening out. But for a 4x4 its good enough.

I know I had to do a lot of trimming on that rubber mat and it was extremely hard to cut. I ended up wearing through a blister on my thumb and index finger. What a PITA it was but I did reduce the road noise.

[KRob]

Well if you watch TV and you see some kids sitting in the back of a Red Bump, you can know with out a doubt that it is a 71 F250 that has been slightly modified.






Long story short i spent two days on a TV commercial shoot in September. How I ended up on the scene was just by happenstance. Had some fun, met some new people and ate some good food, while Frankin Ford did all the work.