Thread: Project Special K

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what does the digital display in the gauge show? I am interested in the TPI Tech gauges because they have some cool features with the digital display. Does the display just show mileage or something else as well? thanks

THE DIGITAL DISPLAY SHOWS MILAGE AND HAS A TRIP METER SO YOU CAN FIGURE OUT GAS MILAGE, DISTANCES ETC.. (dang caps lock button)

Today I did honey do list stuff to insulate the house better, But I did make to the shop for a few minutes to put the transaxle vent line in. It's not bolted to the frame yet, because the gas tank needs to go in first to figure out where it can go without being in the way.

Went out and seal primed with 2 part chroma seal the primed areas on the truck to help prevent new rust. Also ordered an Eliminator gas petal from Lokar, and 460 headers made for a F1 fit with stock steering from Sanderson with the ceramic coating! I'm pretty excited because all that is left is shifter linkage and throttle cables and then I can drop the engine in. If the nice weather holds I'll paint the rest of the frame, differential and inside of the cab with por 15! Here is a shot of the headers(without ceramic coating no photo of that)

Wow talk about fast. I ordered these yesterday at 130 p.m. and got this this morning when I woke up! The ceramic coating was well worth it! They say not to use a gasket with this coating! Thanks Don for the tip about Sanderson's. PS Don's rod is still featured there under customer rides.

Originally Posted by Evolvo

Just curious about why they say no gasket. Did they give a reason?

You know I went back to Sanderson's web site and couldn't find info on this. I read it somewhere, not sure where!

nice headers! You'll never go wrong with a set of Sanderson's, first rate all the way...

I used the copper ones on the last set of Sanderson's I installed, no leaks, no problems.

Got a chance to work on the truck this weekend. I decided to tackle the ever evassive steering wheel. I had bought a tap and die set from HF and drilled two hole in the base plate and then threaded them for #8 bolts atached to the steering wheel puller. Since the last attempt at doing, the shaft splines were sprayed with liquid wrench penetrating oil. When I tried to attach the puller the nut on the top of the shaft was too wide to allow the bolts properly align as it is very narrow base plate with only so much room for drilled screw holes. So, and I know some of you are already shaking your heads, I attached the puller without the nut on top of the shaft. The bolts stayed attached which was great, but instead of breaking that old onery wheel loose they just mushroomed the hell out of the threaded end of the shaft. Fortunately a new shaft was for sale, so now it is the reverse bugger of removing the steering column to get it off and the replacing everything!
The real bugger part is I don't have a service manual for this old truck, so figuring out how to proceed from here is going to take awhile. I did find a small book speedway sells on 48 ford steering boxes and hope that will help(just ordered it today)
So net gain this weekend was a S#@% load more work, but probably worth it in the long run.

Well with the help of some F1 friends and their advice I got the steering wheel off. The shaft end at the threads is bent enough that the nut won't go on.
I heated the base of the wheel as they suggested and placed a bolt down the center hole where the puller made contact, and it worked the wheel came off easily. Do you guys think this shaft is salvageable? Should I cut the end threads in the bent section off and use it, or try to re-tap it which I don't think will work?

Here is a better photo

Thanks Evolvo
I found a die that hinges open so you can place it on good threads and then close it and back it off cutting clean threads to the end. Its called a Chase 'em Back Tool and you can see how they work here.
http://www.chaseembacktools.com/
For 18 bucks for the die I need it's worth a try. I'll post back when I get it so you'll know wether it works or not.

Cool tool.

That would have saved me more times than I would confess....LOL
BradC

Today was at last sunny! I worked on some pre engine install stuff. The floor shifter has always been mounted to far back to where it would run into the seat so I moved it foward and then welded in a plate to fill the gap in the floor panel. Next I removed the current gas pedal to get ready to install a lokar eliminator pedal. I'm not sure if it will fit comfortably in the space between the steering column and the tranny tunnel, but I tomorrow I'll cut a hole and see how it feels. Anyway it felt good to get back to it.

Lokar petal went in today. It seemed like it would be easy but took a trip to hardware store for longer screws and several hours later I finally got it in. The hole for the linkage and drilling the screws was the easy part, trying to get them into the base plate under the floor board was a different story. There must be at least three layers of metal in some spots, all kind of tweaking each screw. Anyway it feels good to have it almost done, just need to mount the cable when it comes tomorrow. here is a couple of shots, with a piece of paper propping it up, since it isn't hooked up to the engine. I also cut a few scaps of sheet metal to fill the gaps around the brake petal and steering column.