North Idaho Driver

[Idaho Chris]

It looks better without the steps for sure!

Good idea about painting shocks, I’ll do that to my KYB when its apart! (black though)

I thought black might look better, but I only had gray primer in my shop. They will be brown with road grime soon enough I suppose.

[Joshgt87]

Love it man! Looks great!

[Idaho Chris]

Today I installed my Pertronix ignition. Per recommendations from forum members, (Thank you basketcase0302, sargentrs & WarEagle!!) I ditched the external condenser and installed a SPST relay. Here's pics of the progress-

Old coil/condenser and wiring:



Inside of distributor with points. The rotor looks new, don't need to touch that:



Distributor plate all cleaned up ready for install:



And now the Pertronix Ignitor installed. No gap adjustment necessary on this model.



I mounted a relay in an existing firewall hole and made a harness using the supplied relay pigtail plug to wire everything up. The red/green wire from the ignition switch triggers the relay. Per sargetrs' suggestion, I did not cut the original wire and instead coiled the excess wire and zip tied it next to the relay. I put a bullet connector on the original wire from the ignition switch so that I could revert back to points (spare set in the glove box) quickly in the event of a relay or Pertronix failure (I will carry a spare relay as well).



I replaced the stock coll with a Flamethrower coil from Pertronix.



I adjusted the timing as well. I'm running 12 degrees of advance for the moment. I always run non-ethanol premium and have not experienced any knock, so I'll stay at 12 degrees unless I see a reason to change.

Well, she fired right up and I went for a test drive. All is smooth and sweet. Honestly, I cannot tell a difference as she ran quite well with points, but I am certainly looking forward to not messing with mechanical points anymore. I will put a new set of plugs in next week and try running with a .035 gap. It will be interested to see if I get any improvement in gas mileage. I'll report back.

I am going to have to do something about those old wires. I know it is not stock looking, but I do like the 8mm wires that Accel makes. I need to get a set. Yellow wires do add horsepower don't they?

[Idaho Chris]

Today I installed modern three point seat belts. Funny, back when the laws changed requiring seat belts be worn while driving, I was seriously annoyed with one more intervention into my life from the Nanny State government. I swore I'd never wear a shoulder belt, damn what the law said! Well, fast forward to today and I feel naked driving anything without a three point belt strapped on. Hmmm... wisdom with age, or stupidity in youth? Maybe a bit of both I suppose.

Here are a couple of pics. I was fortunate to have factory threaded holes in the cab so no taping was necessary. Presently the shoulder attachments are spaced away from the cab with washers. I will need to source the proper bolts with the lip at the top of the threads so the belt attachment can swivel easily. Anyone know where I can find a couple of those bolts?

[Joshgt87]

I'd like to upgrade my seat belts to that style. Where'd you buy yours from?

[Idaho Chris]

I'd like to upgrade my seat belts to that style. Where'd you buy yours from?

I got them from Seat Belts Plus. Here is a link to the style I purchased which features an old style buckle, they offer a bunch of colors:

https://www.seatbeltsplus.com/product/WSCH300.html

[popeyes71]

Very cool upgrade to the Pertronix ignition! You will always run across mixed reviews about the Pertronix upgrade but I've never had a problem with it. I have always liked how if you are trying to look stock, it's an upgrade you can do that you really can't see unless your really look for it. Yet at the same time, the ignition system will work better and you will not have to play with points anymore.

[Idaho Chris]

Yesterday I installed a new distributor cap and a set of universal 8mm wires from Accel. I wanted to be able to cut the wires to length. Many times I have found that pre-cut wires come too long for my taste.

I put in a new fuel pump since the one old one had developed a small leak.



My temperature gauge has been reading quite low, and the heater did not put out very hot air. I began to suspect that the PO might not have installed a thermostat. Since I wanted to get rid of the universal flex radiator hoses that came with the truck and replace them with the correct pre-molded hoses anyway, I emptied the cooling system to investigate. There was a thermostat but it was a 160 degree unit. I replaced it with the OEM Motorcraft 195 degree part and replaced the radiator and heater hoses and clamps. All good now. You can see the new upper hose in this photo.



A few little things I ordered came in. First are the stainless sill protectors from LMC. Since I removed the running board step I needed something to step on when I climbed into the High Boy cab. They will probably only look shiny for a week or two, but better than wearing through the paint.



A set of oversized rubber floor mats that will hold some water and slush when mud season rolls around again in North Idaho (November). I still need to trim them a bit.



I have been getting a little gas smell in the cab. When I investigated I found that the rubber on the gas tank fill hose was cracked and showing its age. I replaced with new hose. I sandblasted the rust off the clamps and they cleaned up nice. While I was at it I replaced the cracked filler grommet as well.





The cowl rubber was severely deteriorated when I got the truck so I replaced it. I bought the new rubber from LMC. The rubber came with the attachment clips installed but they were put on sloppily and did not line up with all the holes on the cowl. I had to punch new holes in the rubber and move three of the clips. Even then the molding did not sit right, so I ended up using the same 3M adhesive I used for my door rubber to hold the piece in place.



Looking at these photos I have posted it is clear I am going to have to do something to clean up the wiring under the hood. One more thing to add to my list I guess.

And, the last photo for this post is of my new floor console. It sits nicely on the hump with non slip rubber backing and bendable metal ears that hold it in place. No holes, no attachment hardware, it can be removed in a second. Matches the seat nicely too. Finally a spot for my Big Gulp and my phone!

[hfdco4]

Looking good!

[jzjames]

Shaping up!
How does the temp guage read now? I ask because mine has always read low with the needle rising to barely a quarter.

[Idaho Chris]

Shaping up!
How does the temp guage read now? I ask because mine has always read low with the needle rising to barely a quarter.

With the 160 thermostat the temp gauge read just between the "T" and the "E" over the left line on the white bar; barely a quarter.

Now with the 195 thermostat the gauge reads slightly less than half on the white bar. Maybe right over the start of the "M".

I know I need to get back to you on the gas mileage with the Pertronix installed. I'm only down about a third of a tank so it will be a few more days.

[crazyhorse]

Mr Chris, congratulations, you got it looking good.

[popeyes71]

I'm glad i'm not the only one that had that experience installing the cowl rubber! I did the same thing as you and ended up using the 3m adhesive to glue it on and tape to hold in place until it dried. Keep up the great work!

[Idaho Chris]

I'm glad i'm not the only one that had that experience installing the cowl rubber! I did the same thing as you and ended up using the 3m adhesive to glue it on and tape to hold in place until it dried. Keep up the great work!

You would think LMC would do something about this sloppy manufacturing. We can't be the only bones with this problem!

[Idaho Chris]

Time to clean up the Camper Special mirrors. I ordered new stainless from Masters-Carr and new glass from eBay.





The mirrors were a bit "see thru" when looking through them at bright light, so I decided to spray paint the back side with flat black. I am sure they would have been just fine since they mount against the stainless back cover anyway, but I already had the paint so what the heck...



I completely removed the mirror assembly from the truck so I could disassemble and polish things up. Unfortunately I ended up having to remove both inside door panels because the nut inserts in the door panels spun and I had to get to the back side to put a wrench on them.

The rubber around the mirrors cleaned up good with just some scrubbing so thankfully I was able to re-use it. I have no idea where I could have sourced new rubber.

Before:



After:



The drivers side mirror had a Ford oval on it, but the shotgun side had a "Rotunda" logo inside the oval. Not sure what Rotunda means, but here is a photo:



Anyway I think the mirrors turned out nice and it was worth the effort.