The shot above–featuring a slightly disgusted Your Correspondent–was taken by Peter Laurence (check out his photostream for great shots of the Vancouver ABFM) as I waited for my entry packet in the pouring rain…I had only ridden four miles from the hotel to the gardens, but I was as soaked as I’ve ever been. Friday was gorgeous, and I didn’t even think about packing leathers or rain gear. I didn’t dry out from this 9AM ride until I got back home 12 hours later!

Steve also noticed that my tabs were five months expired (!), though not until we got to the border. Thankfully I was never called on it, despite four State patrol agents giving the truck a thorough going over while checking out the BSA.

In all I had a good time, but there were times as the rain kept coming down where a fire and a pint of dark ale sounded very, very good!

Sigh…still no shop (or even a garage) and many, many things with wheels (not all pictured). I’m thinking of selling the Ferguson–it seems pretty unlikely at this point that I’ll have a use for it…and it’s overkill for even an acre of lawn. Especially one you don’t want field-tire tracks in.

Last week, Goldie started emitting horrible noises from the front end under braking, and you could feel a shudder in the brake pedal. I suspected I was running on low pads, but surely they weren’t all that bad, eh? Oops, they were completely worn out! Rebuilding the front discs was an interesting exercise.

1968 was the first year of disc brakes on Ford’s full-size pickups, and were only standard on heavy-duty F250s like the Camper Special (hello, Goldie). Rather than a separate rotor and hub like a modern car, the rotor is part of the hub. (The wheel bearings live inside of this assembly, but as they’re very-long lived tapered rollers, and these had no appreciable wear, I decided to just repack them.)

The hub/rotor assemby weighs about 40 pounds, and the calipers are interesting to compare to a modern design. They’re over a foot long and must weigh 20 pounds each, compared to the lightweight and compact (and more powerful) calipers that are on, say, my wife’s Subaru.

The pads are held in place by two large pins which have to be unscrewed, but there is very little room to do so while they’re on the truck. Bonus: If they’ve been on there for long they’ll be stuck.

I was going to reuse my old calipers and just replace the rotors and pads–but one of the pins holding the pads in place was really seized. Contemplating this, I decided that after 42 years it was time to replace them in any case.

Flexible rubber brake hoses tend to degrade over time (I just had one fail on the Miata after “only” 20 years), so bought a set. A good decision, as it turns out: The original hoses and the new hoses have different diameter threads on the end that screws into the caliper; the new hoses matched the new calipers; the old ones would not, an adapter of some sort would have been necessary.

The only really trying part of the job: after 42 years the steel brake line on the driver’s side and the flexible rubber line attached to it were unwilling to part–I had to cut the hard line. This line runs about a foot from the hydraulic distribution block on the frame to the wheel well.

I bought a replacement section of unbent line from Napa in about the right length. Fortunately, I have a pipe bender, but unfortunately, the line, while short, had many bends. It passes behind the power steering box in a way that doesn’t allow it to be removed or refit while bent to the proper shape.

Rather than go through the torture of removing the steering box, I bent the new line appropriately for the frame end of its run and then fished it through the places it needed to go, bending as I went. This is mechanically sound but nowhere near as neat a job as the original line. But only I know about it, right?

After a final bleed of all of the hydraulics, I bedded in the brakes by making five or six very quick stops from 60 MPH on the first test drive and then drove a few miles at highway speeds to let them settle in to their new home.

The difference in stopping power is dramatic!

I don’t know that the pads had ever been changed before, the inner ones were completely worn through and the old rotors were grooved horribly on that side. (I’m embarrassed, as I thought I had given them the once-over when I bought the machine, but I must not have been looking too closely.)

Cost? About $500 for the job…$105 each for the rotor/hubs, $85 each for the calipers, $15 each for the lines, $5 for the hard line, $20 for brake fluid, plus tax and such. It probably took a total of eight hours to do the work. Not bad for once every 40 years.

I took the BSA up to the Vancouver All British Field Meet at Van Dusen Gardens on Friday. I hadn’t really thought about it, but I suspect the combo above might just be a bit too much gold, like seeing an older couple wearing matching outfits.

My friend Jeff and I caravaned up there on Friday and overnighted in downtown Vancouver, to await the show on Saturday. The only real snag we ran into: we managed to hit the Frasier River tunnel while the reversible lane was closed against us, therefore we had the pleasure of participating as five lanes merged into one. (The F250 made it to Vancouver and back without a hitch, so no complaints in the elderly-fuel-guzzling-truck department.)

There was an excellent turnout of bikes for what is basically a car show, with at least 30 machines on display (plus they had so many cars they had to turn away some last-minute entrants, generally unheard of). BSA was the featured marque this year in the bike class, and ironically not a single BSA won an award despite some top-drawer machines. You’d think there would be a special “best BSA” nod, but I guess not. That said, I was in no danger of winning said mythical cup–my machine is no slouch but the Super Rocket next to me was truly lovely and there were plenty of other really nice beezers.

Despite a few spits of rain the weather was pretty darn nice both days. Who knows, maybe the MGB GT will be done in time to take it up next year. Given that I’m waiting on a couple of typically glacial Moss back-orders, that’s still pretty iffy.

I rebuilt the carb on the F250 a couple of weeks ago, and on Tuesday, that little bit of maintenance came back to bite me in the behind as the truck spluttered to a halt halfway up the hill a mile from home. I was able to coast all the way back into the carport, so Goldie was at least halfway decent about the whole thing.

This led me to replace the fuel pump (misdiagnosis on my part, but, hey, new fuel pump) and the coil–which was arcing everywhere, as it turns out. The distributor cap oddly enough had one completely corroded wire terminal–I mean, there was nothing left. So it’s had kind of a mini-tune-up and will be running on at least one more cylinder than it was recently.

But the problem appears to have been the new float needle valve seat coming loose, which would lead to constant flooding, I would guess. I put the carb back together and on the truck tonight, and it appears to be running well again. C’est la vie.

I took Goldie the truck up to Friday Harbor recently to pick up an elderly bandsaw to add to my growing collection of old Delta woodworking machinery. It was about as beautiful a winter day as you’ll see up here!

The saw is a 20″ Delta made in about 1965. It’s the newest stationary tool I have in my “collection.” Due for a restoration soon.

We don’t normally get this kind of snow down here next to the sea; it was beautiful while it lasted. This photo was taken on Christmas Eve, and the snow is all-but-gone as of today.

We were promised a local blizzard and we got…nothing. This is a photo from last year when we got a few inches of snow. (The amount you see here is enough to send all of western Washington state into a panic, with such curiousities as people chaining up on bare roads, abandoned cars in the middle of slushy but otherwise OK roads, etc., etc. It really is quite amusing.)

It is wise to become familiar with the controls and dash of your F250 before taking to the road. You may wish to refer to the illustration while reading the reference below.

1. Fuel Gauge: This needle will move constantly from right to left, much like the second hand on a watch–this is normal. The reading you see here is typical. There is a lever under your seat to switch from the main 16 gallon tank to the auxiliary 20 gallon tank, and then to the auxiliary auxiliary 10 gallon backup. This three-tank sequence will typically enable you to reach a gas station if one is within a reasonable distance.¹
2. Ampere or “Alternator” Indicator: You can safely ignore this instrument as the needle will only move if you’re struck by lightning, and even then only if the bolt earths itself via this instrument.²
3. Light Switch: Pull on, push off. Even a Ford owner can understand this.³
4. Wiper Switch: For your convenience, we have included an intermittent feature–by turning the switch on and off by hand, you can infinitely vary the interval at which the wipers clear the screen.⁴
5. After-Market Tachometer: Included is a manually set needle for red-line which, as far as an owner of typical intelligence can surmise, cannot be reset. It is currently set to a 1920-esque 2200 RPM.⁵
6. Odometer: From the good old days when a car reaching six-digit miles was almost unthinkable.⁶
7. After-Market Vacuum Gauge: Your F250 will barely squeak into the “economy driving range” if you coast; any whiff of the gas pedal will take you into the “Performance Range,” which is to say your fuel use is measured in gallons per minute.⁷
8. Cargo Light Switch: Useful for loading rusty junk into the bed at night. Lights up when activated, too, which will tempt you to leave it on as you drive down the road.⁸
9. Cigarette Lighter: Doctors suggest smoking a pack a day to steady your nerves.⁹
10. Oil Pressure Gauge (hidden): Do not be too surprised if your Ford Big Block V8 registers barely any reading at all on this, even at highways speeds.¹⁰
11. Coolant Temperature Gauge: F250s come with two varieties of engine: the first variety barely causes this gauge to read into the “normal” range, as seen here, even on a scorching day. The other variety immediately has this gauge heading for “H” on start-up, even in an Alaskan winter, and hovers a needle’s width below “H” all of the time. Owners of trucks in the first group have less than half the stress-induced heart problems as owners of trucks in the second group.¹¹
12. Speedometer: No weaselly mark at 55, just a lot of red after 70, which is a reminder to keep an eye on the fuel gauge as it will be moving fairly quickly itself at those speeds.¹²

¹ Reasonable = 20 miles, less if there is a hill.
² Really, has anyone ever seen the amp gauge on an old American car or truck move, at all?
³ The functionality of this switch has never been improved–the label says “Lights” and if you pull on it, the lights come on.
⁴ Do not accept electronic substitutes!
⁵ Really. But I’m also quite dim.
⁶ Goldie just turned 100,000 a couple of months ago, as a matter-of-fact.
⁷ This is one of the least useful–but liveliest–of instruments. Though it is more useful than the altimeter in my MGB.
⁸ Works, too!
⁹ I just plug my cell into this, not needing my nerves steadied.
¹⁰ Goldie has decent pressure, but a lot of old Ford trucks have gauges which barely move from “0″.
¹¹ Goldie is in the “runs cool” club, the red ’69 was in the other.
¹² Shown is the speed Whidbey Islanders travel on any highway. Oh, yeah, it gets old.

I finally got rid of the rusty body shell from the “parts MGB” today. I had to surrender the title to do so, which I guess is proper–but also flushes my idea of finding a decent shell to put the saved mechanicals in. (Not that I’m ever going to get around to that, realistically.) So, with that, I’m going to remove 1964 MGB #2 from my current list–a victory for common sense, alas.

Shown in the photo is the trailer I part-own with my neighbor. It’s a neat design, all aluminum, so it’s pretty easy to haul. Need to do something with the sleazy wheels that are on it, though.