JBNeal

I appreciate the effort that ya put into making this gathering happen every year...as many baseball fans say, maybe next year...we can celebrate remotely, I suppose...maybe even ship ya salsa and a roll of TP to put on the shelf for awhile ?

When in doubt, cc your chambers before ya get started to verify your baseline measurements...then you have a better idea of what options are available to ya...shooting for 8:1 CR should give ya decent power, though 9:1 might be pushing it...another reason to shoot for 8:1 is to leave ya some wiggle room in case the head needs to be milled somewhere down the line...cleaning up the top of the block isn't a bad idea, and good to follow through on valve measurements...don't forget about them pistons, tho

Diodes are used to restrict current flow just like a check valve in a hydraulic circuit...

I had driven a 5spd Omni and Dakota for years before driving my '48 3spd, and it took a little while to get accustomed to the dynamics...same when I got the '49 4spd moving again...as I told a lady friend of mine who I had taught how to drive a 5spd after MANY other guys had failed, each powertrain has a personality, and it's kinda like dealing with women: some are easy going, some take a little understanding to know how to deal with, and some are downright difficult...we "discussed" this for awhile before she realized what I was saying after driving her Tercel, my Dakota, then my '48...at first, she thought that '48 was impossible, but then she got the hang of it and said it wasn't so bad after all..."kinda like you" I said to her with a big grin, which she rewarded me with a big ol' punch in the arm

to clarify: insulator: rubber bushing used to clamp column under the dash bearing assembly: tapered roller bearing; no p# on part spacer: split conical metal bushing spring: compresses the spacer into the bearing when the steering wheel hub is tightened onto the steering shaft, wedging the bearing onto its race

in Bunn's books, some factory photos show spokes oriented at 10-2, and other factory photos show a spoke at 9 o'clock...both my '48 and '49 have the latter, though it's your truck and ya know how to install it, so try out which way you like...I like the 9 o'clock because I can have my arm on the window sill and that spoke is right there to grab hold of

Taking a closer look at the pics, the axle studs appear to thread into the adapter nuts enough so that the nut thread engagement approximates the stud cross-section...the nuts appear to be longer than required for ease of installation into a cavity. Call it good and move forward to figuring out what's the deal with the axle shaft length discrepancy cuz that needs to be solved... As for the brakes, try putting the pads onto the bracket first. Retract the caliper piston fully with a C-clamp or the like, and the caliper should be able to be located onto the bracket appropriately. Ya ought to apply some Sil-Glyde to appropriate areas to keep brake parts properly lubricated

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my gut says that the whole country might be on lock down by the end of the month... ?

Vac.port for vac.wipers

Disconnect the tach and take it for another test drive...

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The Saturday before last, I wheeled into NAPA about an hour before closing time (I had called earlier in the day to verify) to get parts for a battery cable that my elderly neighbor's International 384 needed. The 2 kids behind the counter made a bet: whoever found the parts last had to buy dinner at the Sonic up the street. I had dealt with those 2 knuckleheads before, so I figured that this oughta be good, so I officiated by writing down what I wanted and handing them the list for the get go. To my surprise, one guy immediately whipped out a soft cover catalog from under the counter, while the other guy was searching the computer...the paper catalog had both lug p#s and was on the way to the back to cut the cable before the other guy had one p# pulled...the irony is that I had called 3 O'Reillys that were closer to the house, and none could look anything up because I was working on something not on their dropdown menus

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Have ya contacted this supplier? They might be interested to know that their pattern is off by a fat Sharpie tip...maybe they could work out a deal with ya on a return... additional information - Glass Replacement Source

OUCH what a dunderhead...hope ya can get that all squared away without blowing a gasket... Rain-X works shockingly well to the point where ya might not need your wiper blades on at all...the biggest problem I had is plowing through bugs, that tends to make a mess during late spring through summer, which is typically dry weather in these parts so I don't mess with reapplying...but in cooler weather, it works quite well

Maybe I can bootleg some glass jars of you-know-what over the mountains to offset the stress of this learning expense

The 3-eared plate that holds the bakelite insulator appears to be brass; the spring, retainer and steering shaft nut look like steel. These parts would benefit from rust removal by electrolysis or chemical converters, then can be plated by electrolysis...I was doing some research on this and there are multiple sources on how to do both on the internets, some are more accurate than others. One of the OEMs that I worked for had me helping out with a dedicated line for passivation and nickel plating for parts used in aircraft electronics. This process was very similar to the chroming process used at the school furniture manufacturer where I worked the summer before I wandered off to college. That electrolysis process included staged hot water rinsing, nickel plating and chromium plating..one night the control system malfunctioned, leaving several carriers in various stages of the process. That's where we found out that prolonged exposure to nickel gave a much deeper luster than prolonged exposure to chromium... These funny looking parts would probably benefit from some kind of plating as they all contribute to ground continuity for the contact switch that is the horn button. Sandblasting and acid baths would do some damage to metal surfaces and affect performance. Reduction of oxidation along the horn button ground path is a chore as there are multiple contact points to address. Without getting them all cleaned, the horn isn't as loud as it could be...I had toyed with the idea of a coax cable routed through the steering shaft to provide a direct ground path from the horn button to the battery ground and bypassing the steering gearbox as a ground path, but have been sidetracked for awhile with this that and the other

As far as I know, the B-vans had a LOT in common mechanically for their entire run...the upgrades for brakes and suspension may be backwards compatible from the 80s all the way up to 2003...

Kinda sounds like a remanufactured engine where they ground off the original number and stamped their own...there should be a date code on the side of the block directly below the distributor, as well as a date on the head near the ignition coil, that might help figure out what engine it might be a little bit

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I've made the switch to headlight relays on several vehicles, 6V and 12V, and light output almost doubles the visible field ahead without oncoming glare...that's why I put together a wiring diagram that incorporates a headlight relay years ago...are they required? Nawwww but I live out in the sticks so any advantage I can get to avoid the nocturnal varmint population, I'll take it ?

VRRRY NICE... that D-series may have a few things to look at given its age: ignition modules can fail suddenly but are easy to swap out; there have been issues with the amp gauge getting smoky because of a dash wiring issue; and them brakes might be sticking and ya might not know it... I saw a Palomino once, very similar color scheme, awfully nice looking but its motor was a basket case...seller wanted top blue book value even though the tailpipe qualified as a neighborhood DDT fogging device... enjoy the ride

additional information - headlight relay instructions

Bob Uecker on the radio? That must be a hoot and a half...Astro radio has been so-so for years, Ranger broadcasts get really interesting when they are getting clobbered cuz it turns into story time and joke contests...same goes for Cowboy games, especially preseason...what AM stations remain hereabouts are sports talk, dittoheads, tribbleheads, Tejano, and the holy roller channel...FM has 2 old country western stations that fade out on windy days, a so-so rock station, and alotta trash...as much as I'd like to fix up one of the tube radios on the shelf, I'd rather just clean up the exterior and get some FM board with an aux.port to hook up to the mp3 player on my phone so I can enjoy my cruise with less static