'88 Eliminator... Feb. 2009 - Jan. 2025

[neohic]

On 1/14/2024 at 3:26 PM, pizzaman09 said:

… it's a beautiful truck and will be happier if you drive it more frequently.

I think it photographs a little better than it is. 
 

Quick project today. When I made the transfer case shifter a LONG time ago I used a GM style column shifter knob. It finally cracked and fell apart. Gone are the days of just picking up another one off the shelf at a parts store, I guess? I improvised at the hardware store.

 

[neohic]

Proof of life and doing truck stuff today.

 

[neohic]

Time for a VERY overdue day in the shop.

 

 

When I first brought this truck home from its long storage slumber it sat for a little while longer because it needed the transmission pulled to change the input seal behind the torque converter. Was that all it needed?… nope.

 

First in the list was pulling the fuel pump. Last winter it served daily driver status because the usual daily needed a water pump. The car was still under warranty which meant that it sat at the dealership for a couple weeks. Sadly, the truck let me down in terms of stumbling and dying a few times but I completely understand that this was my fault. Now that winter is rolling around again (we had 24” of snow fall over the past few days!), I figure it’s time to get it back to “reliable” status.

 

What’s in the tank?…besides what’s left of last January’s gas?…

 

 

… surprising not much. I was expecting to find a small, scummy pond! As for the pump assembly, I think I found where the stumbling was coming from.

 

 

Classic case of a collapsed fuel line out of the pump along with an embarrassingly disgusting sock. Threw a new Carter pump and sock in the sending unit and even reused the high-speed, custom hose clamp I used to keep the pump together in a parking lot WAY back in 2006. Felt like bad luck to get rid of it!

 

 

Next in the list was the lack-luster brakes. Again this was my fault. Cue the capital letters again, WAY back in 2010 when the truck was coming together again for its third life I never did anything but add a zip tie to the rear brake proportioning valve to get more juice to the rear disks… that was never actually enough.

 

 

I did the typical delete and plugged the line from the distribution block. Will I need a prop valve with the rear disks?… stay tuned. A while back, Don had this same setup with good results.

 

With the prop valve out if the way, we can clearly see the red overspray on the rear harness, the cheap Gabriel shocks that are surprisingly still hanging in there 14 years later, and the lack of bump stop extensions. Maybe some addition shop time on more upgrades? Maybe… maybe… Need to leave a little meat on the bone, ya know?

 

[Salvagedcircuit]

Lookin mighty good in the snow! Excellent work. One of these days I'm going to have to service my gas tank + pump. both are still stock

[neohic]

PSA: When you change your fuel pump, make sure the new assembly o-ring is the same size as the old one otherwise your tank will leak… a lot. 
 

[Drahcir495]

1 hour ago, neohic said:

PSA: When you change your fuel pump, make sure the new assembly o-ring is the same size as the old one otherwise your tank will leak… a lot. 
 

I learned that the hard way too. 

[neohic]

Drove to work the other day and made a mental list of creature comfort updates.
 

 

I think I need to take a look at what it’ll take to clean up the original seats (maybe seat foam, back rest handles, and the little plastic deals and frames to make them flip forward?) and figure a different radio. The auxiliary input I added to the factory radio worked… and then it didn’t. Always something. 

[neohic]

Bringing sexy back…

 

 

I pulled the original seats out of storage to have a good look at them. Why did I get rid of these in the first place?! They’re dirty. The seat doesn’t fold forward on the drivers side. All of the plastic touch points are either broken or missing. I feel like I could’ve tried harder when I was going through the truck way back when. Glad I didn’t get rid of them though!

 

 

Overall they’re still in great shape other than the missing/broken parts. There is one small crack on the driver’s seat bottom. Otherwise these are a part of this truck’s winter plans.

[neohic]

Started on getting the seat upholstery off the foam today. There’s plenty of how-to information online on how to clean up these seats, but I documented mine anyhow. My seats were obviously out already, but the seat brackets were also removed years ago. These seats have been in storage since they came out and I was very happy to find a super minimal amount of mouse evidence.

 

I started with them on my table.

 

 

Along the back of the seat bottom are a couple hooks that come out followed by the elastic band.

 

 

Then the striker plate for the backrest needs to come off along with the six screws around the perimeter.

 

 

With the screws out, pull the couple retainer wires back and out of the seat bottom.

 

 

The seat foam pulls right off after reaching in to pull the upholstery from the hook and loop tape.

 

The foam is fine(ish) but the sheet metal base has the typical crack. As for the backrest, it starts with undoing more hook and loop, then gently pulling the vinyl over the hook.

 

 

Gently lifting the middle of the backrest up, you’ll see a ropey thing that the side wings hook around. These come right off and the upholstery then gets peeled off the center foam.

 

 

I flipped over the seat to get to the head rest socket dealies. The two little tabs get pushed together and they pull right out the top of the backrest. 

 

 

Again, the foam is in fine shape.

 

 

Last were the headrests. Couple screws come out and the vinyl comes off.

 

 

With everything apart, I took the opportunity to replace the cheesy zip ties that hold the flip-forward mechanism cable with some mechanics wire.

 

 

Neither side would flip forward when they were in the truck. This’ll be a nice change as the current seats also don’t flip forward. I’m on the lookout for a good bottom seat cushion to replace the cracked side but I’m also looking into fixing it. Maybe rivet a patch in there? Don’t think I dare try and pull the foam off to weld up the crack. Time to clean the upholstery.

 

[neohic]

Seat upholstery came up to about an 8.5/10.

 

 

The amount of brown, gross drippings that came out of these was really alarming. I scrubbed and scrubbed with Purple Power and then took a trip to the self serve car wash. Everything got wrung out pretty good and then hung up on things around the shop.

 

The driver side seat bottom got looked at too. I was hesitant about trying to weld on it because I didn’t want to ruin the foam, but I think 245+k miles took care of that anyhow. Thinking I’ll either get some foam or try and harvest some from the seat bottoms of the current Ford seats since I’m not planning on trying to sell them anyhow. As for the cracked seat pan, I bent it back, welded the cracks, and then hit it with a big ol’ finger full of RTV since the vinyl will be touching the repair.

 

 

Next on the list is to figure out how to get these little guys off.

 

 

The roll pin doesn’t go all the way through. I do have a back up plan if they get ruined, but I’d like to save them if I can. Open to suggestions. 

[fiatslug87]

This was from Don’s post.

“I got mine out by using a hardened small finishing nail. Use a bench grinder to grind down the nail point on four sides like a tiny easy-out with a point. Tap it into the roll pin as far as possible, then twist and pull it out with pliars and the roll pin should come out with it. It may take a couple or three tries, but it comes out eventually.”

[neohic]

5 minutes ago, fiatslug87 said:

This was from Don’s post.

“I got mine out by using a hardened small finishing nail. Use a bench grinder to grind down the nail point on four sides like a tiny easy-out with a point. Tap it into the roll pin as far as possible, then twist and pull it out with pliars and the roll pin should come out with it. It may take a couple or three tries, but it comes out eventually.”

I just found that one also. Thanks, Mike!… and Don!

[Salvagedcircuit]

Excellent Work! Cool to see parts of the MJ I've never explored before