Gary Lewis

I worked the bracket for a 351M/400 over like shown below. It works well. You start with a perfectly good chunk of fairly soft cast iron that looks like this, and cut on the red lines. And then cut some more. And then grind a bunch. But, it isn't that easy to tell the truth. This thing is all angles and protrusions and is even hard to secure in the vise. But, it can be done. Whack the spacer off that's at the top of the picture and then make a few more cuts to get as much of the excess off that you can. Then cut the rest of the goal posts off where the red line shows at the bottom of the picture. Then turn the piece that mounts to the water pump over and cut more on the red line shown below to get the angle shown. And grind on it to clean it all up. Next up is the spacer. I did mine in the lathe, but that really isn't necessary. And, it takes a long time even with a lathe since the thing doesn't start out very round at all so you have to be really careful and take lots of cuts. Without a lathe I would put a bolt through it and go to the bench grinder, which is what I did at the start to take some of the lobes off. And here's what my finished product looks like mounted. This is the 2nd one I've done.

Looks like the shorter bolts are for the vans? Unless I'm misreading the parts list. Yes, but I changed the page to only include the pickup stuff.

Brandon - The bolts for a van are a different length from those for a pickup. (Guess I shouldn't have included the van stuff.) But I don't have a catalog for the '96 stuff, so I don't know if that takes a different length or not. I should have the bolts and washers out of Huck if you want them. Rembrant - Very good point!

I read the reviews, and I can say that they don't reflect well on Red Head. Were I to buy now I'd seriously consider Blue Top. But I have a brand new Red Head waiting on installation in Dad's truck.

Just for you, Brandon, we have a new illustration and associated part numbers. See Suspension & Steering/Steering/Steering Gear Box. But, to answer your question, you need three 7/16"-14 x 5 15/64" bolts and three 15/32" I.D. x 1" O.D. x 3/16" thick washers. So, let me ask: How many Facebook groups or other forums can, much less will, do that?

No, but we will..........

Beautiful! Well done.

That's about all you can do, I guess, if you are filling it via the heater hose and it is still low. Hadn't thought about the thermostat opening and then closing quickly. That would complicate things, for sure.

Good to know, Brandon. I'll pass the word on to Scott, the welder guy from the show, as he needs a new steering box for Red, his '78. Man, the box on that thing is huge! Much bigger than ours as it is L-shaped. The steering shaft comes in to the top of the L and then a long sector shaft goes down, but it is encased in box.

Yep, I used those on a 350 I built once. Worked fine, but I think the better approach is to buy a pair of cast valve covers. They won't bend, so seal much better.

Mark/Dyn - I can't thank you enough. Those parts are going to make the conversion of Big Blue to EFI much, much easier. Having the right harness to convert it to MAF & SEFI instead of either using one of the SD and bank-fire harnesses that I have will be straightforward. Bill - What is the best approach to burping a 460? I had assumed that filling it via a heater hose would be best, but what did you find worked?

Mark - Thanks. I hadn't heard of Blue Top, only Red Head. But, it looks like they do similar things to the steering boxes. It turns out that Ford's design had the end of the shaft running against the cast iron case. And, while it was submerged in lube there was still wear. But when worn out boxes are "rebuilt" by Cardone and others that wear isn't addressed. Presumably they have a limit on the wear that is acceptable and boxes with more than that get tossed. But, a rebuilt box isn't the same as a new box. Enter Red Head and apparently Blue Top. Red Head explains that they bore out the case and place a bearing where the wear was. And Blue Top says their boxes are "Remanufactured with OE seals and custom fit ball bearings to eliminate play", which I assume means they also bore out the box and put ball bearings there. And that can make a huge difference in the feel of the steering.

Brandon - Do you have a link to Blue Top? And, do you know anything about them?

Excellent! And, Bully for Ron/Reamer.

Quite a day, Jim. Well done. As for what I did "for trucks", although some weren't mine: Got the radio info for MotorsportXLT from the 1985 and 1996 EVTM's. While getting the radio info I discovered that I'd been sold a knock-off version of the '96 EVTM, so I posted a review on Amazon stating that as well as wrote the shysters directly. All in the hopes that other truck owners won't have to go through the same thing. (That's "for trucks", right?) Checked out the valve covers on Huck and found they are heavy cast aluminum. Should clean up nicely when I change Big Blue over to EFI. Speaking of EFI'ing Big Blue, I also talked and texted many times with Mark/Dyn Blin, who spent many hours in a salvage pulling the EFI harness, MAF sensor and air box, OBD-II connector, etc for that effort. Thanks!! Did some work on the fog lamp bezel as Ron/Reamer had discovered we don't have the recess in the rear into which the rubber insert nestles. Not quite done with that, but want to get it off to Ron for Pass 2. Well, looking back on it maybe I did get a bit more done than I thought.

I use a bit more than Pete does, but I still use some silicon seal. However, as I said in the email, that stuff is SLICK when WET. So I tighten things down snuggly, maybe finger tight, which squishes the excess out and fills in any cracks, dents, etc. Then the next morning I torque it down to specs. Having said that, sheet metal valve covers are notorious for denting where the fasteners go through. So you want to flatten them before installing. Place the rim of the cover upside down on the edge of a table and tap the cover flat with a small hammer.

Ok, I got to go to the shop long enough to tap the valve covers - very solid! Obviously cast. And, I got several text messages from Mark/Dyn Blin. It looks like he got the engine harness back to and including the power distribution box, the MAF sensor and the air box, the cold air inlet, the wye and the large hose that goes to the MAF sensor, and the OBD-II connector. But, the ECU was gone and the harness was cut just before the ECU's connector - in the cab I think. However, the wiring being cut is not a problem as I need to mount the computer in a different location so will need to lengthen the wiring anyway. And, I assume that I can do as you did and turn a EEC-V processor from a smaller engine into one for a 460 - right? As for the smaller hoses that go from the wye to the throttle body, did you have trouble finding them? Any chance I can use the ones I have from the F450 Jim parted out or the ones from Huck for that? Oh, and he said something about a cruise control and maybe something else?

I'm so glad you posted those pics! Now I have something to model.

Gary, check Black Hat Auction on eBay, store is lorieandjeff they are where I get a lot of my manuals, that is where the 1996 EVTM came from, the 1986 I bought new from Helm inc. when I bought Darth in 1994. Bill - I'm going to wait to see what the seller, Hordes Of Hobbies, says to this email I just sent them, and copied Amazon: You can read the review at that link, and you can see the pictures of your EVTM vs theirs.

Yes, like the carbs on most bikes in the 70's. I was given one of the VV's in the 80's and that was my first thought - like a bike carb. Unfortunately I no longer have the carb, and have kinda wanted one just for show.

Chris - The 1985 radios are the same as the 1986 radios, which are shown on pages 127 & 128 in the Electrical/EVTM/1986 EVTM/Radios. In addition, on Page 129 you can see the page number and even which figure in which you can find an illustration showing each connector. And the 1996 radios are shown below. Oddly enough, both of these are from Bill's EVTM's. The 1986 is his, and the '96 I took pics of is his. And I took pics from his because my brand new 1996 EVTM is WRONG! It is probably a Chinese clone and "hinges" on the top instead of the side, has the wrong stuff in the right place, and leaves a lot out. It is going back.

Chris - I'm not sure what you mean by "switch cover". Do you mean a knob or the bezel, like this:

I actually have an 81, 84, 85, 86, 87, and 96 EVTM - although the 86 is in electronic format. But, I figured the best bet was to look at the 85 and the 96. So, I've now brought them in from the shop and will peruse them during the Cotton Bowl tonight.

Actually, I've not yet bought them - but I will and I will buy from Daniel. In an email to me on Dec 27th he said: So, I'm confident that he has them. In fact, he shows them on this page. But, if you click on Buy Them Now you'll get something that starts with: So, send him an email at consult@danielsternlighting.com. He is very easy to communicate with, and he knows his stuff.