eeeeexxxxaaaacccclllttyyyy . And she got the big kitchen that she wanted. Win win win. I get shops to work in, she gets to do what she loves and cook, and I get to eat!

 

That sounds just like my house. Lucky men we are!

 

1) Thermostat and upper rad hose changed out.. Temps are good. Inside not so good. It would appear I have either a plugged/bad heater core or blend door issue or both. So that will be a MUCH later project unless the inside temps aren't comfortable enough in -20 Celsius weather.

2) Discovered the fan shroud and electric fan are NOT original to the truck

3) Fixed some rust on the roof and hatch

4) More debadging and molding removal

Not done for the day either.. or maybe.. not sure.

 

Sheesh! Ford 9" is great but really gonna decrease ground clearance if you're keeping with stock size tires. Most guys don't go the 9", 14 bolt, or D60 route until they start running 35+" tires.

Congrats, man!

 

^^ yep.. gotta be careful that it doesn't slip out of the recess it is supposed to sit in...or it will be a bad moon rising for sure. (along with the heat, lol)
And that you have it facing the right direction, and if it has a breather hole in it that it is facing UP.

 

One last thing... discovered my front axle is not straight. Center of axles (f/r) the left side is pushed towards the front at about an inch.

Drivers = 102"
Passenger = 101"

Will be investigating later when replacing hubs but thinking one arm is possibly bent

 

Even with a shave kit, I'd hesitate to run a 14b with 37s. Definitely not with 35s in my opinion. That 1.5" of clearance you get from shaving disappears when you air down.

The 9" isn't nearly as bad as that, but I'd still run a bolt-in 97+ 8.25 with up to 33s. Then an 8.8 or 9" for 33 to maybe 37s. Then look at that 14b when I'm approaching 40s

Just my opinions. There's a ton of room for variations and disagreements

 

0331 head. Need I say anymore? Going to do a poor mans rebuild or an "in frame" as some call it.

 

Couldn't agree more.

Dammit man. Yeah that would explain the 92% leak down.

 

MMMMMM chocolate rusty milk!

 

Cross hatches, who needs them? Im sure the rings are sealing great....

You know the sad thing is, it looks like someone rebuilt this head recently (has a fresh felpro gasket and fresh paint). I bet they thought it was a blown head gasket and never had the head checked for cracks. Then slapped it back on and thought everything was good. Wrong!

Delicious isnt it?

 

Yeah, you're probably right, man! That's what happens when people aren't thorough with T&D.

 

I run 235's so I'm up a couple inches already from 215 stock, Do you think there is really that much difference in the housing size? I never checked, I will have to measure them today. Thing is this 9" is free and just needs matching gears. I also noticed awhile back the axle tubes are bent from over loading on the corporate I have in there now so I would need the whole thing.

I understand what you guys are saying, I'm going to go measure this 9" and compare it to the corporate housing. But honestly I have never had to air down on this thing with these 235's, even in sugar sand or talc powder. This thing is so light it floats on top of everything I have taken it over with my normal running pressure of 28 lbs. This is because I don't run an aggressive tread and it rarely breaks through the crust.

You guys sure this just isn't a hating on ford thing? lol

But seriously... You have me curious of how much difference there really is, I'll get back to you after I measure these.

 

Finally took her out last night first time since install the new headlights, and upgrading the turn signals and tail lights to led. Went to adjust the projectors up because beam was too low, and found out the adjusters aren't working. Now trying to get an answer from Spec D tuning on what they are going to do about. And because of the way they mount, can't even go back tp factory headlights until spring, when I changed out the header panel with new one.

 

Well a Ford 9" housing is just slightly bigger than a Corporate. The corporate measures at 10.5 inches and the 9" is 11 inches. So this means that the Ford, because the axles center exact in the housing, would hang a 1/4 inch lower than the corporate.