Gary Lewis

Jim! Wow! I had no clue what you meant, but that's cool! However, that looks like a whole lot of work. On the other hand, it would be interesting. But, his joint was at 90 degrees and mine is not that at all, and it is dictated to some extent by the length of the jack - I want to keep the jack low so the angle has to be shallow. (And, I don't have one of those welders so can't do that. ) Here are two other joints I've thought of. The one on the right is what I'd originally planned, but it is complex and takes a lot of welding. The one on the left is easier than the one on the right and takes less welding. Or maybe I should say less critical welding. But both of those require cutting an un-balanced hole in the end of the tubing and I worry that doing so would cause the hole saw to deflect. And that could mean that the front and back cuts aren't exactly where they should be and then the round tube would be at an angle. So I'm leaning to the one above. Simple joints. Less welding, little of which is critical. And balanced holes to cut. However, it requires welding on an end cap or using a plastic cap. Thoughts?

Bummer, Jim! I hope it turns out to be easy. Simple. But I don't know what that would be. You've done the first thing that came to my mind, the ignition module. What about the pickup in the dizzy?

Well, the E6 # appears to be the right one. I'm guessing that the profile of the tailgate changed in '87.

Bummer on your truck. What seems to be the problem? And yes, $64 is going to be very well spent on those tow eyes. I'm thrilled. Now I just have to nail down the rest of the material list to get things on order. But, tell me more about the "rounded, folded joint"? Are you saying to cut a wedge out of a piece of tubing and then fold it and weld it up? And when you ask "is there really a reason to penetrate through the top of the triangle" do you mean the triangle of the square tubing? Are you suggesting that the tubing be placed on the top of the folded joint as well as the gusset and welded there? If I understand what you are saying correctly the joint would look like this? And then the tubing would be on top? If this is true then I have two problems with that: First, I've found that kind of joint hard to do. Second, and more importantly, it would put the top of the tube almost 2" above the angled piece, and the jack that goes on the angled piece would hit it. But maybe I misunderstood? Try me again? What I'm thinking is shown below. The square tubing is 2 1/2" and if it has 1/8" walls then a 2" hole will go through w/o cutting the walls. So the tube could be welded front and back.

Tire Rack shows the K02's in 35X12.5R15LT will fit wheel widths of 8.5 - 11". So you'd be right at the bottom of the range.

Well, there is a bit of news to pass on. First, it took the pros only a few seconds to find the problems on Big Blue's A/C system. Both the suction and discharge hoses have leaks. So a new "assembly", as it it called since those two hoses share the manifold at the compressor, is on order and is expected to be here in 3 days or so. And I got a text from Welderscott saying that his first try on having the tow eyes made wanted $125/ea. So he kept looking and found a customer that had some 1" plate in stock and wanted $32/ea and he told him to do it. So we are on our way! Meanwhile I tried to relearn TurboCAD and got far enough I was able to add a gusset to the spare tire support arm, as shown below. Given that, I've asked Scott if he thinks that might let us downsize the wall thickness of the swing arm pieces to 1/8" from 3/16". As drawn that's an 8" right triangle of 1/4" plate, but I actually have some 3/16" plate so I'll probably use that. I'm thinking that is long enough to nicely distribute all of the up and down loads as we hit bumps and the heavy tire tries to move, preventing those loads from trying to twist the 2" tubing that supports the tire from the grasp of the square tubing. And speaking of the square tubing, currently I have a bizarre interface between the vertical and angled pieces of tubing. I need to clean that up in the drawing, and I think the solution is to put the 2" hole in the vertical piece and cut the angled piece to hit the side of the vertical piece. But I'll work on that and come back with some views of that to help us all understand what I'm talking about.

If you are going to re-gear then the smaller tires may be just right.

Yep, the ARP thread sealer is a pfte I think it said teflon based paste for automotive applications for sealing fittings for gasoline, oil, and coolant. I use it on all pipe fittings be it fuel, oil, or coolant and it works great. The only thing I dont have is I cant find my old bottle of antiseize compound which I am sure after 15 years that stuff is probably no good anyways but I need to get antiseize for all the bolts screwing into aluminum. I have to check and see if the ARP thread lubricant will work in the place of antiseize as I am unsure but I know I will need it for the very least the spark plug threads. Check out Loctite PST, aka 567. The writeup says "Henkel Loctite 567 Thread Sealant is a high viscosity, low strength acrylic instant sealant for tapered and straight fittings. Its high lubricating properties prevent galling on stainless steel, aluminum and all other metal pipe threads and fittings."

Yes, I get 2131 as the R's at 55 MPH using 5.3 gears. Wow, that is LOW! 33" tires net 1,989 and 35" give 1,875. You could easily turn 35's with that 351. I'm more familiar with R's at 65 MPH, and with 35's you'd be turning 2,216. And with 33's it'd be 2,350. Those are still a bit higher than I like for relaxed cruising. For comparison, Big Blue turns 1,795 at 65 MPH in 5th gear, and 2,362 in the 1:1 4th gear. So with 33's you'd be turning what I'm turning in 4th, and I went to the ZF5 to get the 5th gear. Depending on what you are going to do with the truck, you might consider 35's. Any highway use and you'll like the bigger tire. Another way to look at it, the ZF5's 1st gear is a creeper gear and it gives an overall gear ratio of 20.31:1 with my 3.55 gear. But your AOD's 1st gear isn't nearly that low and gives an overall gear ratio of 12.72:1. That's not bad as my 2nd gear gives a 15.34:1 overall ratio, so you'll still have a reasonably low 1st gear.

What gears are you running? 33's would look better but they'll give you higher effective gearing. 35's would look great but really change the gearing. Use the calculator (Documentation/Driveline/Calculators) and see what the tires do to overall gearing and RPM. But the really tall OD on the AOD might not like the 35's if you have 3.55 gearing.

Glad you found them.

Angelo - I can't imagine how frustrated you are! Good luck! Jonathan - Yep, I put my trailer between the supports for the carport the other day and there's only ~3" either side. But with the front-mounted hitch it was possible. Wouldn't even try it on the rear.

Much appreciated. Gary, I know you have an E4OD behind an M...what did you do for a standalone controller and TPS? I haven’t run it yet, but I’m going with EEC-V EFI, which also controls the tranny.

Larry - You do know that there are different spare tire carriers, right? Read up on it here: Documentation/Exterior/Spare Tire Carriers. Just don't want you to get the wrong one.

Not my favorite front end, but a nice truck nonetheless.

See the more I read it it sounds like now it means if the oil pan is flat all around without the hump as you said. Its just vague some what cause the front and back are on the same plane its just where the crank is its not on the same plane. Ah you mean for sealing the coolant. I have to double check with my light I dont think on this E1 block goes into coolant but if it does I am using ARP thread sealer on the threads and ARP bolt assembly lube on the under side of the bolt head. Thats how I did the lower head bolts while the upper head bolts being blind holes just got the ARP bolt assembly lube on the threads and the under side of the bolt head. The pan did come out way better than I thought. Only thing I am not too happy with is in the corners by the front and rear arch I couldnt get the wire brush wheel in there to clean. Im going to see if I can scrape that paint off with my pick set I have at work but if not I dont think it will be that noticeable with the pan rail stiffener right in the same area. Yes, I think the difference is a pan that is flat all the way around vs those with a divot for the crank. Flat doesn't need the RTV, but with a divot there's the joint that needs the RTV. As for the bolts, if you are coating their threads then that should work well.

Problem is ARP only offers two kits with no specific listing for years on the application just what time of timing cover and water pump you have. The kit I bought is 154-1504 with a note on summits site of "Designed to fit models with an aluminum timing cover and water pump. Will not fit reverse rotation (serpentine drive) water pumps." It also has a listing on summits site for application, 1963 - 1968 289 V8 and 1968 - 1986 5.0L / 302 V8 The other kit that ARP offers is 154-3204 with a note on summits site of "Designed to fit models with an aluminum timing cover and cast iron water pump. Will not fit reverse rotation (serpentine drive) water pumps." It also has a listing on summits site for application, 1963 - 1968 289 V8 and 1968 - 1979 5.0L / 302 V8. It sounds like the kit I bought 154-1504 will fit any 302 / 5.0L from 1980 - 1986 where ford used the aluminum timing cover with aluminum water pump. Below is a photo I took with colored circles pointing out the issues I am having with the ARP bolts, It was late when I sent my customer support ticket in last night and I didnt create this till today. If need be I will provide this to try and get them to help me if they are willing but I have a feeling they wont cause they didnt help me with the 7/16-20 cam bolt that most aftermarkets are using on Ford roller cam cores. In case its hard to read the text I put in the break down is as follows. Green : bolt has more than 5/16" thread engagement Orange : bolt has right at or just below 5/16" thread engagement Yellow : bolt has 1/16" to 1/8" thread engagement (feels like a few threads) Red : Longest bolt in supplied kit is about 1 1/2" short of touching block I could get by with the orange bolts but I would like a little more thread engagement like the green bolt has. The Yellow bolts I cant use as there is so little thread engagement that I just know it will pull the threads out of the timing cover and probably the iron block as well. The red bolt I measured the depth of the opening through the water pump and I got 5.0620" might as well say 5" even as the water pump back cover is not compressed flat. From the water pump to the block I got 4.2850" so I figured some where around 4.5" to 4.75" bolt length I would need to account for ideal thread engagement once the alternator tension bracket is added to the height. On the stripper it worked great. The inside it took multiple coats to get it fully stripped to prevent any worry of my oil pump pickup screen getting clogged with paint down the road. This picture is the inside of the pan as I finished last night before starting on the outside. On the outside I sprayed it and let it sit over night as after 2 hours the paint was still slowly bubbling up in new areas and I wanted to have it easy to remove it with all the tight corners I couldnt get a wire brush wheel into. This photo is the outside sprayed with the stripper. This photo shows after 10 hours of letting the stripper work And how the paint actually started to harden back up after the stripper dried out but was able to cut it and pull it off in sheets like a skin. This is how the inside ended up after I finished cleaning the whole pan and spraying it with WD40 to stop rust from forming. and how the pan looks just lightly installed on the engine. I didnt torque it down for a couple reasons. First reason is the Fel Pro instructions for the one piece gasket is very confusing on if I should or shouldnt be using ultra black in the corners. The other reason is I have Ford pan rail stiffeners and dont like the idea of not having the pan under the stiffeners painted so I am thinking possibly masking off the oil pan rail on the block and painting the oil pan separate from the block. Draw back of this is the pan rail will be painted black and the ARP black oxide bolts will be un painted as well. And a photo of my Powerbond SFI Race balancer partially installed to check the timing marks. Looks like true TDC is going to register as 2* advance on this balancer. I will double check it again once I get it fully pressed in place on the crank as its possible it may shift slightly. On the fel pro one piece gasket this is what the paper says that is confusing me. "On skirted engine blocks, those applications where the oil pan mating surfaces are all on the same plane, the oil pan gasket should be installed dry with no chemical adhesives or supplementary sealants. Non skirted engines, those engines where the oil pan side rails and the end seal surfaces are not on the same plane, require the use of a small amount of RTV sealant applied to each of the 4 corners on the block side of the gasket." The confusing part is my 292 Y8 is a skirted block, the crankshaft sits above the oil pan rail. Windsor small blocks are not skirted blocks as the oil pan rail bisects the center of the crankshaft. But the way Fel Pro is describing it makes it sound like they are calling the Windsor a skirted block and doesnt need any RTV in the corners. So I need to email Fel Pro and get clarification cause it sounds like they want me to install this dry but I hate to install it dry and it leaks on me cause they explained it horribly in a contradictory way. On the bolts they will be primered and painted in Eastwoods 2K epoxy primer and epoxy Dark Ford Corporate blue. The oil pan is the only spot I am unsure about cause I dont want bare metal under the pan rail stiffeners being able to rust but I also dont want to paint the bolts separate as the paint will come off when tightening in place. Ideally it would be best to paint assembled but I also dont want to get paint on the Fel Pro one piece rubber gasket. I'm reading the instructions differently. I think when they say "On skirted engine blocks, those applications where the oil pan mating surfaces are all on the same plane" they are including the timing cover. And on a Windsor the pan has a big dip in it to accommodate the timing cover. That tells me the Windsor is "non-skirted" and you'll need the "small amount of RTV" in the four corners. Speaking of the pan, that came out amazingly clean. But on the bolts into the engine for the water pump, I always use some kind of sealant to protect the bolts from corrosion. Jim has gotten me using Loctite PST for that.

I'm going to guess that the choke isn't operating properly. Go to Documentation/Fuel Systems/CARBURETORS, CHOKES, & EFI/Motorcraft 2150 for a discussion about them. Go to the External Systems tab. And then the Instructions tab for adjusting the choke.

Glad you got back in, Jim. Hope you can get the phone fixed. Yes, I feel like he's an expert in the field as he deals with welds and materials daily. But, I'm going to bounce the idea of a gusset off of him and see what he thinks. I think it'll significantly reduce any tendency for the spare tire to take the mount down or up, and I think that will reduce the need for material in the swing arm. And thinking of the round tube that supports the spare tire, I found a piece of 2" with .204" walls in my stash, so I could use that. But since there's to be a tube slid inside that one to hold the license tag and a tag/3rd brake light, I'd like to go with .125 wall since I have some 1 3/4" tube that would fit inside. Perhaps with a big gusset?

That would explain it.

That's good advice! Glad you are doing something with him. And that Evaporust might be just the ticket for cleaning things up.

Good job, John!

Good luck, Chris!

Looks great, Chad! But wait until you put the fender liners on before you think it looks small.

So you used something in the trailer hitch? And yes, I have a 33" tire taking up a whole lot of what is left of the bed - after the toolbox and cover canister. So I really would like to get this bumper built. But, to follow the work there you should go to Big Blue's Transformation. Start there and scroll up a few posts.