North Idaho Driver

[popeyes71]

Looking good as usual with just the right attention to detail! The new emblems and steering wheel look great!

[Idaho Chris]

Enjoying watching your fixes and clean-ups.
I’m going to copy one of them and change my gas line and vacuum line from over the top of the valve cover of the inline-6 to around the sides of it.

Who knows how many times good ideas have been copied on these trucks. I wish I could claim originality, but I copied the fuel line re-routing from a guy named Steve on another truck site. [the vacuum line re-route was original though]

Looking good as usual with just the right attention to detail! The new emblems and steering wheel look great!

Thanks Popeyes!

So yesterday I installed new H4 headlights. The lights are made by Hella and the ones I chose have European spec lenses with a sharp cutoff pattern on the low beam. This allows the headlamps to be aligned higher on the road without annoying other drivers. I have used this exact lamp in a number of vehicles I have owned since the mid 70s. In fact, the Mach 1 pictured earlier in this thread has these lights installed. I bought the lights from Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B001G72SKQ/?c ... _lig_dp_it

At the same time I installed a relay wiring harness to allow full voltage to the lights. I also sourced it from amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B06XHSFLTZ/?c ... _lig_dp_it

I routed the wiring harness up over the radiator support where the horn wires are. Routing this way, the harness is about a foot short so I had to splice in a bit of wiring. I mounted the relays in front of the battery on the radiator support.

A couple pics:





The lenses look fairly stock which was important to me. While I was tempted to try a set of more modern high-output LED headlamps, the lenses are just too modern to look right on these old trucks in my opinion.

The results are pretty impressive and a major improvement from the original anemic light output. The low beam pattern really illuminates the right shoulder well (especially important here in deer/elk country) without blinding oncoming traffic. The high beams are truly fantastic and are sure to start small wildfires if left pointed in one direction too long.

Living out in the country I use the high beams frequently, and there is little chance of over driving them in this old speed-challenged rig.

An unexpected benefit of the relay wiring harness is an increase in the brightness of the dash lights. Taking the load off the stock wiring apparently increase the voltage to the panel.

While I was doing this install, I finally got around to cleaning up the engine compartment wiring. I decided to go the convoluted tubing route since it is so easy to make changes if the need arises. Here are a few pics:

[JoshT]

Think we could get some night time pictures of those new headlights. I know it wouldn't really show much, but I am curious about this cutoff you say they have. If we were talking about HID's I'd know what to expect, but I'm at a loss on a Halogen housing like that. I'm planning a headlight upgrade as well, for much the same reason. Sounds like I should shove these up to the top of my shopping list.

Did that harness plug & play on your truck, or did it need hardwired to the existing headlight wiring? Several of the ones I came across searching Amazon in the past would have to be wired in.

Thanks for posting the links!

You've also helped my on my own wiring delema. Need to clean up wiring in my engine bay and was trying to decide between just rewrapping the harness, or going with tubing like that. Was leaning towards the tubing since I've already got a bunch of it, now I know I'm going to use tubing and possibly wrap that.

[Manny]

That is just a nice nice truck!!! All the small details just make it lovely. Only thing it may need is a 3g alternator, but otherwise love your work its just nice!!! Perfect driver!

[Idaho Chris]

That is just a nice nice truck!!! All the small details just make it lovely. Only thing it may need is a 3g alternator, but otherwise love your work its just nice!!! Perfect driver!

Thanks Dan. She's getting there. I still have the tailgate to take care of, and of course my leaky rear seal and transfer case mounts, but there is light at the end of the tunnel.

Think we could get some night time pictures of those new headlights...

Here you go Josh, a shot with the low beams shining against my shop door. You can see the sharp cutoff and the flare up on the right side, should give you an idea anyway.



and a shot of the high beams which have no cutoff:

Did that harness plug & play on your truck, or did it need hardwired to the existing headlight wiring?

The harness is literally plug and play. There is no modification to the stock wiring or switch. Very straight forward and simple installation. Check out this YouTube link of a guy installing the harness in a Jeep Cherokee and you will see what is involved: https://youtu.be/3yGa1DvyluY

Like I said the harness may be a little short depending on how you run the wires.

[JoshT]

Cool, I've never noticed a halogen housing with a cutoff like that. Usually just find that in projectors.

[Idaho Chris]

Cool, I've never noticed a halogen housing with a cutoff like that. Usually just find that in projectors.

Only the European spec lenses have the cutoff profile cut into the glass. Hella makes a similar lamp housing that is DOT spec and it has no cutoff. It is an inferior lens in my opinion, though as I recall it is a bit cheaper.

[Idaho Chris]

The new transfer case mounts came in so I installed them today.

Box for part number in case anyone needs the information:



and here is what is included:



It is easiest to drop the brackets that hold the mounts to the frame (four bolts each side) before removing the mounts. A transmission jack under the transfer case allows everything to be lowered as an assembly. The mounts were trashed on the driver side and the donuts were missing completely on the passenger side.





Here's a shot with new mounts installed before bolting the brackets up to the frame.



The rattle under the cab that has been bugging me when I drive over bumps is now gone. The entire drive train is so much smoother and tight. I wish I had inspected these mounts months ago when I first got the truck. A cheap and easy fix all things considered.

[hfdco4]

Looks good. I bought the same mount kit for mine when I get to that install.

[jzjames]

So, do you think you’re getting such good gas mileage is because of non ethanol premium gas?

[Idaho Chris]

So, do you think you’re getting such good gas mileage is because of non ethanol premium gas?

So here's a calculation that should answer this question:

A gallon of gasoline (premium and regular have the same energy content) has an energy content of about 114000 BTU

A gallon of typical 10% ethanol blend gasoline has less energy at about 111800 BTU

Thus the ethanol blend has 98% of the energy content of straight gasoline.

If mileage on gasoline is 15 mpg, the ethanol blend mileage would be .98 x 15 or 14.7 mpg.

So running non-ethanol gasoline does improve mileage, but only slightly.

[popeyes71]

I remember doing new bushings on mine when I got it and what a difference it made! It made the drivetrain much more positive.

[Manny]

Wow those t case mounts were hashed!!! sure that made her feel way better. Hope your goals keep moving well. As for the rear seal you plan on dropping the pan and rolling one in?

[Idaho Chris]

I remember doing new bushings on mine when I got it and what a difference it made! It made the drivetrain much more positive.

Wow those t case mounts were hashed!!! sure that made her feel way better...

Yes, the new bushings made a huge difference. The drive train is real tight now. There was a slight occasional rattle/buzz at certain RPMs from the transfer case shifter that is completely fixed as well. I'd sure advise anyone with a High Boy to check out their mounts. The fix is inexpensive, easy and sooo worth it.

... As for the rear seal you plan on dropping the pan and rolling one in?

Below is a photo of my current 'fix" for the rear seal oil drip.



I have thought about trying to roll a new seal in, but I have not had great luck repairing a rear seal without actually pulling the engine for full access to the real seal and installing a new one. I expect I will just live with the drip until clutch, transmission or engine work require me to pull the engine. Actually a buddy has offered to give me a hand and I expect we could pull the engine, preform the fix and get everything back together in a long day.

I dunno, maybe the next time I am due for a coolant change I'll take him up on his offer. For now, I am just living with the drip and chalking it up to part of the 'old truck' experience.

[jzjames]

(my 300 I6 has had a drip for 17 yrs)