Gary Lewis

Now I understand - they fit fine off the truck but have a gap on. Weird. On the t-case, I’d forgotten about the overdrive. It replaces the t-case? I assumed it was in addition. And that was quite a haul, especially given the adverse conditions. 👍

I have a scale that is inch on one side and metric on the other. But it is 12” Long and wouldn’t fit.

Are you saying you don't like Aspen? And, does this guy give a warranty? I'll give him a call tomorrow.

Houston, we may have a problem. Here's a pic of Trick Flow's Windsor-style EFI manifold on a Mustang. I've confirmed with Trick Flow that the upper plenum is reversible. However, that makes it say Trick Flow backwards. But, it looks to me like the there may not be enough room for the throttle and the inlet tubing w/o hitting something like the brake master cylinder. Going to have to get measurements and do some checking on Big Blue.

That's a good approach. However, a lot of the problem that people have with the aluminum manifolds is not due to inadequate sealing, but electrolysis. You have two dissimilar metals that have a liquid on them, and unless that liquid has the proper corrosion inhibitors in it electrolysis will occur at the junction of the two metals. To put it simply, if the coolant isn't replaced frequently aluminum will be removed from the manifold and plated on the cast iron.

Jim - No problem. So, what did I do today? First, I spent quite a bit of time talking to people about building an E4OD, as described in An E4OD For Dad's Truck. Then I talked with Trick Flow about their intake. I'd been looking at pictures on their website that show the upper plenum pointed right, and that concerned me. But, as it turns out the upper plenum can go on either way. And after that I started pulling parts off the huck. Got the cooling system drained, the hoses off, and the radiator out. Then the A/C condenser was disconnected and removed, followed by the tranny cooler. Finally I pulled the radiator support off. (Bill - Don't miss my note to you about the hardware I have. You may not need to ship me any.) Last, off came the front sway bar and crossmember. And then I listed it on here for Darin/Oz first and then whomever.

This is offered first to Darin/Oz Econoline/F100 as he's asked me about it, but if he doesn't want it then it will be available to others. This is a front sway bar from a 4wd 1990 F250 w/a 460. It includes the crossmember, sway bar, bushings, u-brackets, and fasteners. First, here's a picture of Dad's front frame showing the holes for mounting a sway bar. Darin - You can compare that with your frame. And here's the holes on the crossmember itself: Darin - If you need more pics or measurements please let me know. And here's the crossmember, sway bar, fasteners, etc:

Bill - I updated the page with your quote. Hope that's ok.

Buying that t-case might be a good solution. Although it looks like it'll cost you $125 you can probably sell yours for a lot of that. But make sure you get the driven gear.

On issue at a time: HVAC this time. Here are pics of the pieces I showed previously: And here they are together: So, what's different to yours? Do you want these?

Glad you made it. And, glad the regulator is working. As for the key-off draw, pull the positive battery cable, put a trouble light from the positive post to the battery cable, and then pull all the fuses. The light should go out, indicating that whatever circuit is the problem is dead. Start replacing the fuses and when the light comes on you know which one it is.

They look good. You did well.

Yes, he knows it is a 4wd tranny, although I had to remind him a couple of times. I told him I was willing to buy a Trick Flow, but he prefers the stock one. Fine by me as that saves $200.

Interesting! Good to know I wasn't alone. I hated that carb! As said, I came from a history of Carters and had no problems at all with the WCFB on the '58 W-engine, but the Holley on that brand new Bee was awful. I wound up having my next door neighbor, the head of the massive machine shop at Conoco, have it put on the mill and a couple of passes taken on the primary face. That made all the difference. Of course by then I'd learned a few of the gotcha's on a Holley, like making sure you lube the o-rings on the transfer tube as you install the second bowl. Oh, and if you use an aftermarket kit make sure that the one hole for the accelerator pump is on the correct side.

That would be my guess. I don't have the certification label off that truck so don't really know.

Yep - You can verify the name of the color here: Specifications/Body Codes.

Actually, there were two carbs for the Bee in '69. The "real" 335 HP Bee's got that AVS, and the 330 HP Bee's got the Holley. I've confirmed that with a lot of research, but it isn't a very well known fact. My first Bee, new from the factory in May of '69, had the Holley. And you are absolutely right about it being a piece of junk! It was awful, and it was my first Holley, which might explain my lack of love thereof. I was raised with Carters and they were bullet-proof. But that Holley gave me absolutely no end of fits, with a warped main body, blowing power valves, and jetted so lean that it wouldn't accelerate w/o opening the power valve - although that was not Holley's fault. I thought all Bee's had the Holley until I looked at the factory shop manual, which I have here before me. It says the 383's got the AVS and doesn't even have a section for the 4bbl Holley. But, mine had one the day it rolled out of the factory! That was a serious point of confusion until one day I was talking with Tony of Tony's Parts the MOPAR guru in lower, slower Delaware - your backyard. I told him of my conundrum and he said "Your engine was turquose and you had A/C and an automatic tranny - right?" Yep, how'd you know? He said "You had the run-of-the-mill 330 HP 383, which they put in the Bee if you ordered A/C and an auto. And it came with the Holley. The 335 HP 383 came with the AVS and was orange." And, that made sense because my Bee said "383 4bbl" on the side, but others said "383 Magnum", which the Bee I currently have says. Well, that answered the question, but I wasn't really convinced - until I went to the All-Chrysler meet at Carlisle. There was a 1960 Bee survivor that said "383 4bbl" on the side. I asked the owner what carb it had and he said a Carter, but that it originally came with a !@#% Holley, which he had on the shelf. He'd had no end of problems, and finally put a Carter on so he could drive it. Anyway, the bottom line is that this AVS isn't something I want to run given its emissions "tuning", some of which may not be easily reversed. Right?

Ok, I think I may have a better alternative to Midwest Transmissions. I just talked to Charles at Aspen Transmission, in Brandon's hometown of Broken Arrow. I like him and have confidence that he both knows what he is doing as well as will build a transmission that will work for me. Here are the main points of the discussion: Warranty: He gives a 2-year warranty. But, he is willing to delay the start of the warranty until I'm ready to fire the truck up. That is a big deal for me as it will be at least two years before I get the truck running, and everyone else I've talked to starts the warranty upon delivery. Upgrades: We went through the list of upgrades that Baumann recommends and Charles confirmed that he does all of those. In addition there are some that he recommends, and some that he says are optional but that are usually reserved for the diesels and he doesn't think I need. Pan: He said he'll just stick a stock pan on that has a drain plug. Finish: The tranny will be natural aluminum, but not painted. He said he's given up on painting them for people as everyone wants a different color. However, it'll be completely clean and ready for paint. Price: Depending on the options I choose when we detail it out, it'll be between $1800 and $2600. And, since they are local there will be no shipping. Brandon - Know anything about them?

Yes, the hot-start was a problem. And that backfire killed many a power valve on Holleys. Here's another pic:

Those were from an '82.

It’ll have to be bead-blasted if I’m to use it again. But is that an “emissions” carb? Is there really any reason to run it on anything?

It is interesting to me that there are still "new" carbs coming out. But, they aren't really new as they are, for the most part, just packaging features that have been used heretofore into better carbs. For instance, the Street Demon that was designed by an ex-Carter engineer and has, oddly enough, many of the good features from the Thermoquad and AVS. And now Edelbrock picking up the annular boosters from Ford and adding them to the AVS. And, here's a pic of the AVS on the Bee. The red arrow shows the raised cover for the longer metering rods that Bill was talking about. The green arrow shows the spring that keeps the air valve closed until a pre-set flow is achieved, and the yellow arrow shows the screw that adjusts that pre-set point.

A 650 is small for a breathed-on 460. But it may be just right for a stock 460. And if you have the solid needles they could be swapped out.

Yes, all the seats are compatible with the springs-loaded needles, which Edelbrock is saying are for “off-road” use. But weren’t spring-loaded needles used on several GM’s routinely? As for the step-up spring, both the 1825 and 1826 use the same one, which pops the rods up at 5” of vacuum or less. And I’ll bet the AVS sitting in my ‘69 Bee is the one with the taller jets and longer rods. I’ll check. Speaking of AVS, or Air Valve Secondary, Edelbrock is re-using that name they acquired from Carter. They now have an AVS2, which has annular boosters. There’s a neat video that shows the difference. So those, like Fonzie, that tout the annular boosters have a new carb to consider. In fact, we’re I buying a new carb I’d consider it, although I suspect the price is high.

Jim is right, with one minor exception - the inlet needles. The 1826 comes with spring-loaded needles where the 1825 doesn’t. Ebedbrock says it “Includes spring-loaded needles and seats for superior fuel control in off-road terrain.” But, if my memory serves me, back in the day Carter ran spring-loaded inlet needles on many street vehicles. Perhaps Bill can refresh my memory? Of course Jim rebuilt the carb, as others may have earlier. Jim, did you put sprin-loaded needles in? Those are easily changed. As for the calibration, Jim is spot-on - the 1826 is calibrated slightly richer at part-throttle. You can see the jetting on Edelbrock’s site, but the two carbs have the same primary and secondary jets as well as the same step-up spring. The only thing that is different is that the 1826 has a metering rod with a smaller cruise size, so that means it will allow a bit more fuel to flow in the cruise mode. Personally, I wouldn’t at all be concerned about running the 1826 on the street. As said, the inlet needles are easily changed, if they haven’t already been. And the cruise enrichment might be a bonus when running s smaller carb on a big engine.