Uncle Pete's 1975 Ford F-250: 27 June 2019 Well, at least it looks good....

I don't even know where to start, it's been awhile since anything has been posted. Even though we have been working fairly steady, here a bolt there bracket, modify this or that, it seems again to be very slow work. Of course if you are paying attention to the date (27 June 2019) you're probably thinking turn out the lights the party's over, but there is still daylight left and a hope and a prayer. So where are we at? And what's left? First let me say and I quote Sundance from the movie Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. "The total tonnage of what you don't know is enough to crush the world". Man what I didn't know and have learned is incredible, not that I can re-do it again my self, but I sure know a lot of things I'd do differently.

1. My friend Mark Synder said to me, one thing you have learned is "don't paint it until you put it together, put it together make sure everything fits and works then take the body apart and paint it.😫

2. Since the last post Cody Landis has jumped in to help complete the project, Cody is the builder of the motor. 😃

3. The bed is on (not bolted in yet) we have to make the brackets to bolt to, Why you ask, Well the original bed was pretty beat up so we had to get a donor bed, way back when, any it's from a 1978 F-250 ours is a 1975 High Boy. The Frame is narrower, so the bed bolt holes are set for the wider frame. We need to make brackets to bolt to the frame so we can bolt the bed to them 😡 The bed looks nice and we still need to attach the tool box door to the side of the bed, then it will be complete.

4. We mocked up the A/C evaporator we know it fits, the lines are made and hooked up to the condenser, and the dryer, now the evaporator is out so that the carpet can be put in.😄 We have't really set the air vents and hoses in, but they likely won't get done until after the parade. We don't need them anyway up there. 😐
5. The grille, what a slice and dice that was. 😕With the extra inter cooler, condenser and the brackets to hold them, the grille didn't fit the same. Now I knew that was coming but I really had to cut into the grille and the inserts. Then the hardware for the inserts came from LMC and they didn't work right, the screws were way to short so improvise and modify again.

6. I really miss George, he has been working quite a bit and hasn't had much time to come out. When he is here it is a big help

7. The transmission, oh boy there was a problem every time we turned around. It leaks (still) not a lot but it's not supposed to at all. It didn't have all the parts we needed, another lesson learned, I learned to make sure when you order something, like from Canada, that you make sure it has everything you need. We needed a speedo gear, couldn't find one anywhere, around here. I called North American Powertrain and found out I should have specified the "extra" parts I needed. I ordered them and now they are here. We had to make do without it to test run the truck, which meant no overdrive. Then the hose connection needed to be altered because the linkage hit the connection, of course that was after we fabricated a bracket so the linkage would fit in the first place. Mind you it's getting close to the deadline of 3 July to take it up to the parade. Assembling the shifters wasn't to bad just had to modify things again. I thought the tranny was the end of the deal, it's not coming together so we're not going. However we made the modifications and decided it will be OK if we just go slow, after all it's a parade. So on 2 July we get it ready and now it's time to give a test run, I drive, no more than a couple of miles and return and it's hot (the motor), something is wrong and it's now 11pm. We talk about the items that could be wrong. We agree that it's the thermostat and it needs to be changed out. That means all new fluid also. It's 11:30 and I say No it's not going. I send everybody home. I'm going up there without the truck. I mean I have cut everything I can, no A/C, no radio, no gauges (that work anyway) so we just can't do it. I didn't sleep hardly at all, and apparently neither did Farmer cause he called at 6am wanting to get a new thermostat and fluids. At first I said no, then he talked me into it. We were leaving in an hour or so, but we stayed to work on it. I have some updated pictures.