1951 F16

[jaybee]

The Coyote is a fat engine for sure at nearly 10" wider than a 260-289-302. They require an enormous amount of underhood space.

The ABS bits look good, and if you get a little buzz from them I'd bet a little Dynamat on the backside would fix it.

[kb426]

O&S worked on the interior for a while today. I remade the 2 panels above the doors. I had heated the ends of the last pair and didn't like the end result. I have ordered some flange head screws and some button head bolts for the rear panels. I cut some pieces of carpet for the firewall. I'm not happy with the way the dynamat lays out on top of it so more work can be ahead. Every time I add something, it get's quieter inside.

[kb426]

This is pitiful. My bolt order came in. The button head fasteners that are hidden by the seats are in place. The flange head screws have been installed on the abs panels.

[kb426]

O&S spent some time with carpet this afternoon. I cut a piece that went from under the seats to up the firewall. I have the 1" plastic conduit full of wiring running down the firewall and on the side of the trans tunnel to deal with. Unless I come up with a better idea, I will fab a cover for the firewall and have a cover made from carpet to cover the area around it. A lot of trucks have a console down the middle to deal with that. The upper panels on the doors have vinyl glued on them. The glue is turning loose so I'm looking at different options for that. The glue that I used to buy is out of production and the replacement I bought isn't as good. More thinking ahead.

[kb426]

I installed a set of front brake pads late today. The old ones were better than 50%. The new pads moved the caliper and necessitated grinding on the calipers for clearance.

[kb426]

Ladies and gentlemen, let me show you my rickshaw spray cart. LOL. It's now painted green and I have removed the wheels from my old lawn mower and it's almost ready to attack dandelions.
I did some work with the efi on the 51 this afternoon. Holley has put up a video on setting the idle speed. It has a key component that isn't in the instruction manual. "Disable the spark control before setting the idle". The engine has to be warmed up before doing this but I think I made progress. I won't know for sure until driving it from a cold start. I'm anxious to see how this works in the morning.

[chimp koose]

All this painting and STILL no metalflake!!! This would work better if it had a shot of gold flake accent Maybe lettering John Deere in gold flake

[kb426]

O&S made a minuscule amount of progress. The glue had failed on my upper door panels and the removal didn't go as well as I had hoped. The panels weren't quite tall enough to cover the factory black lower inserts so I cut out some new ones from abs. I heated the ends to match the factory layout but they are plain and simple. I'm tinkering with the sniper but I'm still in learning mode. I'm making some progress but I'm not satisfied with the results yet.

[kb426]

O&S did some work today. I made another panel for the driver's door. I had a wrinkle in the 1st one that I wasn't successful at removing. I tried 3 times to heat it and flatten it but it was easier to make a new panel. I dug out the sewing machine and proceeded to relearn how to sew. Doing this once a year or so hasn't been the best way to maintain what little knowledge I have of doing this. If I knew what I was doing, you would say that I'm binding the carpet. I'm attempting to put edging on. I'm saving the most visible parts for last. It's getting better as I go. I'm using black vinyl and wrapping it around the edge of the carpet and sewing it together. I started with the pieces that are hiding under the seats.

[kb426]

O&S is not proud of himself today. The carpet edging is beating me up. Trying to sew a very straight line proved to be very difficult. I think I may have reached a point on material thickness that is more than my machine with my skills can handle. The pic shows a panel I made to cover up the wiring that ran down the firewall. It is held in place with velcro. I'm going to work on it some more but I was at a place where I knew today there would be no improvement. I moved on to the seat on the dr650. I made a pattern from the original vinyl seat cover. I used convertible top cloth material for the new cover. It was a very poor fit. That material has almost no stretch. I got started on plan no. 2. I using the top cloth for the top of the seat and vinyl for the rest of it. I have the parts cut out and was feeling tired so I quit. Tomorrow I will attack once again.

[kb426]

O&S was something of a worker today. There has been a clunk in the front end. I have been under the truck a dozen times looking for loose or broken parts. A week ago I jacked up the front end and set it on jack stands on the crossmember. I used a floor jack underneath a tire and could see a tiny bit of movement in the lower ball joint. I decided to replace upper and lower a-arms because they all have bushings and the same amount of wear in my mind. The 1st side was a bear. The nuts on the ball joints had to be cut off. The 2nd side was better. I have a pretty good day in doing this. I went for a test drive and the clunk is gone.

[kb426]

O&S jacked up the front of the truck and finished up the front end job. A couple of days ago, I had rotated the new trailing arm bushings and made a thin nut for the tie rod on the left side. The trailing arm bushings are about 20 degrees off from where they need to be for any of the crown vic conversions. The factory mounts them on an angle and all of the conversions I have seen have them flat with the bottom of a frame rail. The right side bushing plate was off from where the original was. I stuck it in the mill and slotted the bolt holes. After bolting on the bushings, I set the camber at 1/2 degree negative. I wanted zero but there isn't enough adjustment in the bolt to accomplish that. That is within the specs. The truck drives very well. If I see abnormal tire wear, I may change that. For now, the front end is crossed off the list.

[kb426]

I have no spare tire for the truck. 15" wheels won't clear the disc brakes. The Mustang gt wheels I have are too deep of back space to work on the rear. Today I ordered a matching American Racing wheel. It's a little over 6% higher than the one's I purchased last fall. In some ways, I'm glad that I could find one. I'm going to buy a cheap tire and hope I never need it.

[kb426]

O&S put some time in the shop today. 1st up was a tool to tighten or remove a Ford ignition bezel. They sell these but a little time and scrap metal and 3 - 1/16" roll pins and I was done. I should have done that years ago. I took the best pair of old hood hinges and cut the bottom of the rivets off of the arms. I punched out the rivets which are also the pivot pins and removed the arms. I cleaned them up and then welded around the perimeter of the holes. I stuck them in the mill and machined the holes. I put the piviots back in and pressed them into the mounting plates. I welded the pins to the plate. Job completed. I shot some flat black on them for rust prevention.   When ever the hood is removed for painting, the rebuilt hinges will go back on.

[416Ford]

1st up was a tool to tighten or remove a Ford ignition bezel. They sell these but a little time and scrap metal and 3 - 1/16" roll pins and I was done. I should have done that years ago.

I made one of these from an old socket for the wiper nuts. If it doesn't fit I use needle nose pliers and a screw drive between the blades. Nice adaptation.