The "Blue Ox" build

[lil_Blue_Ford]

Last look before the teardown!

And now that I got to spend a few hours here and there on it....

Found it's a little different than tearing into an RBV, the core support is bolted in not welded and the inner fenders are part of the outer fender. Which means you have to unbolt EVERYTHING!

Only thing holding the core support in right now is the two body bolts. They didn't look extremely bad so I tried hitting 'em with the impact, but no luck. No big deal, I'll just hit them with the torch. While I have the torch out I'll get the coil buckets torched off. While taking everything off I discovered that my main ground wire looks like it's seen better days so that'll get replaced and I'll take care of a few other misc things that I noticed too.

My dog got a bit upset when I tore into "his" truck, lol. I keep telling him it's for the better.

 

[lil_Blue_Ford]

Between this pesky work thing and the 90+ degree temps with 90+% humidity, I haven't really gotten much done. I did get the coil buckets ready to be removed and in the process discovered that something isn't right because my pinion angle in the front sucks. I looked things over carefully but I can't find anything that looks tweaked (I hit the deer on the passenger side). Only thing I found is the rust has flaked off the frame behind the coil bucket on the drivers side but it doesn't really look like anything is bent anywhere. Of course, I don't have anything to compare it to, but something doesn't seem right. I'll get some pictures up, probably tomorrow night though.

 

[lil_Blue_Ford]

That's with weight on the suspension.

That's at full droop.

Something doesn't look quite right about it. Not sure where my problem is since I can't find anything wrong. Only suggestion I've had so far is to just wait until I get everything back together and get the coils settled back in and see where I'm at.

 

[lil_Blue_Ford]

New fenders (and my disaster of a shed).

New radiator support (and more mess).

New inner fenders for the rear (and yet more mess - bonus points for who can identify the most stuff in the pictures, lol).

Shiny new parts.... and that blue is engine enamel, Ford Blue of course.

And a shot from a couple days ago.

 

[lil_Blue_Ford]

Shot a little paint on the starter after taking it apart and cleaning it. Since I had to take it off to replace the wires, figured I'd give it a once-over.

Old passenger side motor mount (which is what prompted me to change them out).

New passenger side motor mount.

New drivers side motor mount. Shot both with Ford Blue tractor paint just because. You can't see it in the pic, but I had an "oops" moment with this. I had the engine supported with a board and a jack while I pulled the bolts. When I went to jack it up enough to change the mount out, the board kicked out and the engine fell. No big deal, right? I mean the mount was still in there and my fingers were out of the way.....

Yea, except it sheared a sensor off the block. Fortunately it sheared the plastic connector off and not the entire thing down to the threaded part, so I was able to unscrew it out. Problem is, the diagrams I've been able to find list it as a knock sensor and everywhere I call says either that it is not available or that my truck was never equipped with a knock sensor. So if the diagrams are wrong and it's not a knock sensor, wtf is it??

 

[lil_Blue_Ford]

Bedliner! We'll see how well it works... the bed will be coated (inside of course) and the lower bodyline will be masked off and done.

How the front of things looks tonight...

Pushrod cover was leaking pretty bad so I pulled it out. With unbolting the accessory bracket off the front of the motor, I was able to pull the cover without pulling the distributor. I had to unbolt the coil mounting bracket (two bolts). The accessory bracket had two studs and IIRC three bolts that held it on, so it wasn't bad at all to pull. I was able to leave all the stuff hooked up, there was enough slack in the lines to get it over far enough to be out of the way. I didn't get any pictures of the progress in pulling it since things were WAY too oily to be holding a camera and I seem to lack the help of a photographer.

After considerable degreasing... there is some new paint over the old on the pushrod cover.

 

[lil_Blue_Ford]

The pushrod cover is back on the engine and the new water pump is installed. Now I just have to find a replacement for the sensor I snapped off the block (it appears to be a knock sensor but there are absolutely none available that I can find), then I can bolt the accessory bracket back on.

I'm also starting to hammer out details in preparation to hopefully add an on-board air system to the truck as well. My original thought was that it wasn't a real necessity, but after considering things, it might prove quite useful since I do construction work - there would be no reason to have to drag a compressor out to the job and try to find a place to plug it in, all I have to do is get my truck within range of what I'm building. Right now I'm getting started looking for an affordable York compressor and trying to find a tank I can tuck up under the bed somewhere. I'm also thinking that I might plumb in to be able to throw a larger tank in the bed and hook it up so that I can run a nailgun for awhile without having to run the truck.

 

[lil_Blue_Ford]

Water pump and pushrod cover on.

Pushrod cover closeup. It's close to the distributor, but you can still remove it through the front like I did without disturbing the distributor.

The hole for the sensor that I snapped off is in front of my index finger. The plug for it can be seen hanging to the right above the motor mount. It's a knock sensor and after speaking with a retired Ford mechanic, he said that it shouldn't cause a problem to leave it disconnected.

Both coil buckets and the water pump pulley painted and drying. And yes, I know it looks like I missed a spot on the coil buckets. It's because I did. Next step is to scuff it where the coil and shock sit then it's getting painted with bedliner there. It's going to be an experiment to see if that helps control rust issues.

 

[lil_Blue_Ford]

Some paintwork on the frame and on some rusty spots on the body. I'll probably hit the body with some blue paint, but the frame is painted grey (the body is still primer).

My supervisor for the repair work.... lol



Got some more stuff ordered from Summit, just arrived today (ordered it yesterday). Also got some new body fasteners on the way and finally got around to ordering my new headlights (good thing I waited, I was able to snag a discount on 'em). Still need to get an order placed for a couple more bolts and stuff, I should have that put in tomorrow and should have it by early next week at the latest. Not sure if the York is going to make it in yet or not. I might have to put it in later. I'm not going to manage to get paint on it yet either, I need the truck really bad for a couple weeks to take care of a backlog of work that's been building. Once I make some progress and get some money back in my pocket I'll yank the fenders off again and see about finishing up things and getting paint on everything.

 

[88_Eddie]

looks good

 

[lil_Blue_Ford]

looks good

Looks like a mess to me still!

But at least it's nice to be making some forward progress for a change.

 

[lil_Blue_Ford]

Well, it's official, the York is not going to make it in at this point. I haven't been able to hunt around for a pump and I don't have time to do the fab to fit it in place. It's going to be next year's project at this point.

Haven't made a whole lot of progress, between trying to make money, take care of some stuff around the house, and the fact that I took this past weekend off for my buddies bachelor party... not much got done. I did clean up some wiring stuff and the coil buckets are on but I don't have all the bolts in yet. Fabbed up some new brake lines for the front with some nickel/copper alloy line too. Figure I'll do the rear with new line when I get around to tearing the back of the truck apart since I have a leaky axle seal back there anyway.

New headlights are here, a little darker than I wanted but they should look pretty sweet. Got most of my fasteners but still need to get a new alternator bolt. The stock one has a bend in it so I went out and bought a 5 1/2" x 7/16" bolt since that's what the original one was. Only thing is, I didn't consider thread length - the new bolt only has 1 1/4" of thread and I need more like 1 3/4" thread or a shorter bolt. Stupid me.

 

[lil_Blue_Ford]

Ahh.. the project that never seems to have an end....

Last Tuesday I figured I had a day or so left to get it back together. At the end of Wednesday, I still figured I had a day or so left....

Worked on it all this afternoon and I still have.... a day or so left....

I'll get some new pictures up soon as I can get them on my comp. Been having issues with getting my camera to connect.

I've lined up the sheet metal three times now and it's still not lined up right, driving me up the wall. RBVs are far easier to change fenders on since the inner fender and core support are welded together, unlike F-150s.

 

[lil_Blue_Ford]

Finally got everything lined up, got the brakes bled, got the front tires back on and it down off the jackstands....

Tried to put in my new headlights/marker lights and discovered that the headlight adjusters came pre-stripped from the factory and the marker lights due to a different design than stock don't sit in far enough (which means there is a big gap between the trim and fender). Definitely NOT happy right now.

 

[lil_Blue_Ford]

PHOTOS! finally, lol....