1990 F350 4x4 7.3 IDI

[n8in8or]

Second coat of paint is done. Nothing new to show except the thermometer - a little warmer today since I did the painting later in the day so the overnight cool had worn off and it was just the ac keeping the heat down.

Oh, I did get some bling today. Dually air fill hoses and heated and lit west coast mirror heads.

 

[ak diesel driver]

I'd like to see how those hoses work

 

[n8in8or]

I'd like to see how those hoses work

I'll post when I install them

 

[n8in8or]

After 12 hours of drying, the second coat looks pretty much like the first coat.

 

[WarWagon]

After my heart with the west coast mirrors! Still have people stop and ask me where I got mine. I actually don't recall...

 

[n8in8or]

After my heart with the west coast mirrors! Still have people stop and ask me where I got mine. I actually don't recall...

It had west coasts on it when I got it, but it had nice stainless frames with crappy, small, painted mirror heads. I wasn't really wanting to put those heads back on, but the framework will still work great.

 

[n8in8or]

Tonight I pulled the masking off. It was nice to see it looking like a truck again. I also replaced the lock actuators, reinstalled the door handles and the door lock cylinders. I finished by replacing the vent window weatherstripping on one window......that was a job! It took almost half an hour to do that. Not fun. I think I learned enough to make the other one easier though.

 

[n8in8or]

The last 2 nights have been primarily spent on door reassembly. I have both windows back in, all new weatherstripping installed and the mirrors reinstalled (with the old heads still attached). I also found that the passenger side power lock switch wasn't working - I opened it up and got it working again.....free fixes are cool! Next will be installing the new mirror heads and wiring them and then opening up the holes in the doors for the new speakers.

 

[n8in8or]

I got one mirror set up tonight. It took a bit to figure out the bracket configuration. It's hard to tell how well it's going to work just sitting in the barn, so I think I'll get the other installed and drive it around a little before I drill the hole in the door for the wires.

 

[n8in8or]

I didn't get much time to work on it this weekend so I've only made a little progress. Things now done: installation of passenger side mirror head, I got the washer pump working again, speakers installed in the doors, clearance lights installed and cargo light installed.

 

[DieselSlug]

Looks awesome!

 

[n8in8or]

Looks awesome!

Thanks!

 

[n8in8or]

A bit more progress this evening. Seat belts are installed as well as all interior trim with the exception the door panels and the door sill plates. The door panels are waiting for me to confirm the mirrors are going to work before I drill holes in the doors. The sill plates unfortunately have to wait for me to receive the correct sill plates - I ordered new ones and what I ordered isn't right, so I get to try to get that rectified tomorrow. The interior needs a bit of cleaning - there's a lot of sanding dust on the surfaces and there are goobers on the headliner from wire wheeling the floor months ago.

 

[n8in8or]

This evening I got the cowl panel and the lower grill filler panel installed. After that I started installing my new LED bulbs. I had to modify the retaining rings to get them to fit. I also had to remove the bulb adapter, slip the retainer over the front of the bulb and then reinstall the adapter.

 

[THEFERMANATOR]

I would trim some more of that plastic away to allow more airflow across the bulb heat sink's. Those large leds can create alot of heat, and won't last if they can't shed it.

 

[n8in8or]

I would trim some more of that plastic away to allow more airflow across the bulb heat sink's. Those large leds can create alot of heat, and won't last if they can't shed it.

I didn't even notice that. Thanks for the thought! I will definitely do that tomorrow.

 

[Jaryd]

I would trim some more of that plastic away to allow more airflow across the bulb heat sink's. Those large leds can create alot of heat, and won't last if they can't shed it.

You have a brain like Albert Einstein did @THEFERMANATOR. You are a vehicle genius. Nothing can get by you either.

Looking good Nate. I didn't pay attention to the heat sink either. Let us know how the lights do for you.

 

[n8in8or]

I made some progress this weekend, but there isn't a whole lot to show for it.....it always amazes me how long electrical work takes to do.

First thing I did was clean off the flatbed - it's amazing how fast I can accumulate junk on that thing!! Once it was cleaned off I drove it around to see how the mirrors would do. I made a slight adjustment to the passenger side one, but overall they were fine so I decided to move forward. I snapped a couple pics while it was out in the yard since it was the first time out after paint.



While cleaning the bed off I looked at the door sill plates again. I decided that with a little modifying I could make these work. I have the correct ones coming (in fact they're OEM), but this truck doesn't need OEM, so I'll make these work on this truck and save the nice ones for a future project. Also since they stopped making OEM, they will be more valuable and expensive if/when I need them later.



After pulling back in the barn I wired the mirror lights. I found that both leads reached to the middle of the dash, so I tied into the ashtray light since that was convenient to get to.



After that I decided that I might as well stay on electrical while the bottom of the dash was torn apart and hook up the trailer brakes. I installed 2 circuit breakers under the hood for power to the system and for auxiliary trailer power. Once wires were run out back I drilled a hole in the flatbed and mounted the plug there. I think it will be a good idea having it here because it will keep the plug away from abuse, however I may have to extend the leads on my trailers, we'll see.



Once all the wiring was done I added D rings to the hitch. I wasn't in love with the little tabs that the hitch had so I figured it would be nice to add the D rings - both for safety chains and also for a place to hook up a tow strap if I need to. Once welded the whole hitch got wire wheeled and painted.



Since all electrical was done I figured I could button up the interior all the way which also included the door panels. As I'm putting things together I notice that the driver side lock rod isn't going up and down.....this is bad, since I had just replaced both actuators! I fiddle around and finally find that the nubs on the body of the actuator had broken off! So I get to do a warranty claim on that with Rock Auto.



The final thing I worked on was start final mods to the Dana 80 to install Ford wheels. This isn't done yet so I will post what I'm doing there hopefully tomorrow night.

 

[Will L.]

I really like the front & rear bumper. Those colors go together great. Never been a Ford bodyline fan, but really the bed is the bad looking part imo. Flatbed makes it look good to me. The hi-boy stance was always cool.

Only thing missing on tailboard is I used to do recessed license plate on rear to protect it and it looked cool imo. Make a rectangle using 3" channel iron 1" larger than the plate so all the flanges are sticking out. Then cut out the diamond plate also 1" larger than plate. Stitch Weld the removed piece to the channel iron rectangle flush on one side. Cut hole for license plate light to go in the side (it will be protected this way also). Really round off the corners on the exposed side of the channel for working under there later. Then stitch weld the channel rectangle to the backside of the plate. A small bead of paintable silicone along the stitched seam. Paint it up and move the light in place. I have also use simple 3" flatbar, but we always had scrap channel laying around.

When I owned truck equipment shop we built alot of these. Actually had customers come back and ask to add another on the other side of tailboard and sometimes into side boards of trucks as a step. If you do that put on a piece of grip tape.

 

[n8in8or]

I really like the front & rear bumper. Those colors go together great. Never been a Ford bodyline fan, but really the bed is the bad looking part imo. Flatbed makes it look good to me. The hi-boy stance was always cool.

Only thing missing on tailboard is I used to do recessed license plate on rear to protect it and it looked cool imo. Make a rectangle using 3" channel iron 1" larger than the plate so all the flanges are sticking out. Then cut out the diamond plate also 1" larger than plate. Stitch Weld the removed piece to the channel iron rectangle flush on one side. Cut hole for license plate light to go in the side (it will be protected this way also). Really round off the corners on the exposed side of the channel for working under there later. Then stitch weld the channel rectangle to the backside of the plate. A small bead of paintable silicone along the stitched seam. Paint it up and move the light in place. I have also use simple 3" flatbar, but we always had scrap channel laying around.

When I owned truck equipment shop we built alot of these. Actually had customers come back and ask to add another on the other side of tailboard and sometimes into side boards of trucks as a step. If you do that put on a piece of grip tape.

That's a neat idea, good thinking Will.