Gary Lewis

Yes, neat story on the truck. Glad you got it, and then got it fixed. Quite a story. On the rail inspection, I've often wondered how that worked. So you do ultrasonic and induction. Do you use induction on only the welded rail? Or can you do it on the other? I worked the Scanty Pay in '65 through '68 summers, and a couple of winters during that time while I was going to college. Worked the mainline from Ark City, KS to Purcell, OK, which were the division points at the time. And that was about the time they introduced the welded rail to that division. I will never forget riding the rear car of a 1/4 mile set of cars of welded rail out of the yards. We went from Track 8, down the lead to the double switches out to the main and then to the siding. To see rail stacked side-by-side probably 6' wide and 3' deep snake out of there like that was mind boggling.

Looks like it sold for $15K.

Got it, Jonathan. Will work it tomorrow and see what I can do. Thanks.

Jonathan - We have a new page: Documentation/Driveline/OverUnder Drives. I have a tab for Gear Vendors, with the electrical diagram on that page, and Doug Nash. So send me what'cha got and I'll put it on. Plus whatever else we want. It is "we", and we might as well have what WE want.

Bill is right about the placement of the ball stud on the different carbs. Here's the best that I could measure on how far from the center of the throttle shaft the stud is. The farther the stud is from the shaft the more travel required to go from idle to full throttle. The Holley is a factory carb for a 351HO, so that travel is apparently what the factory linkage is set up for. There's also the position "on the clock" where the stud is at idle. And each of those carbs has the stud in very different positions. So it turns out that one bracket like I made won't work for all those different carbs. In fact, my bracket won't even fit on the Holley 'cause it hits the back of the rear float, as shown here: Anyway, I did get the bracket blasted and then welded. Hopefully I can get it powder coated tomorrow and move on.

Got my first pair of LED replacement bulbs in the shop. Took a bit more than I expected as the tombstones I bought aren't an easy fit. Here's a shot showing how I had to modify the bracket to accept the new ones. You can see where I've cut one side out and marked the other side to cut. As for how bright they are, let me say BRIGHT! But, I can't prove that via the camera, as you'll see below. If you look directly at the LEDs they hurt your eyes, but the fluorescents don't. Maybe it is because the LEDs are point sources and the fluorescents aren't. The LEDs are very white and crisp. I really like them, and given the improvement from this I want to convert more of them, soon. Here's the best pic I could take, but that doesn't show what my eyes see:

From our Specifications/Transmission Codes page "B" is a 4-speed Clark with OD.

Our page at Documentation/Driveline/Transmissions/Manual Transmissions and then the Applications tab has the full applications list from the MPC, meaning it includes the vans. So you can see what they used.

I agree. $900 is too much. I bought a running truck for $650, although the body wasn't as good as the one you described. And I bought a couple out of fields that weren't running for $200 and $250. You don't know what else is wrong with the truck, so I'd start at $500 and go up from there, being happy if I got it for $650 to $700. And I say "happy" 'cause the body and bed, plus maybe the interior, are hard to find any more in that shape. Go for it! Use the body and bed and part the rest out on here.

Jonathan - What about emailing the PDF to me and I'll put it in our documentation for all to see?

Good info, Steve. My issues with the C6 are the fact that it doesn't have an overdrive and doesn't have a lock-up torque converter - both of which the AOD has. But you are right that the AOD can be less than robust. However Monster Transmissions markets several AODs, one of which is supposed to be good to "up to 600 HP". On the other hand, I don't know if that comes with a warranty. Nor do I know how harshly it shifts. And while placing an OD behind a C6 solves the OD problem I think it exacerbates the slipping torque converter. My limited understanding of the hydraulics involved in TQs says that the slippage goes up as the RPM comes down, and really takes off as you approach "stall speed". So as you drop the RPM with the OD but are still requiring the same torque through the driveline to power the vehicle you'll increase the slippage of the TQ. And all of that slippage gets turned into heat, which can damage the tranny if not cooled, and detracts from the economy as it used to be in the form of gasoline. To solve all of those problems, meaning the lack of strength of a factory-built AOD and the lack of both OD and lock-up TQ in the C6, Ford designed the E4OD. And with the upgrades to it over time my understanding is that it does solve all of those problems. But, it requires some form of electronic control. Basically, you have to map your way through all of the issues and pick your poison. Which means the "decider" needs to understand all the issues, which is why we are posting.

I'm reasonably pleased with my powder coating results. My powder is resistant to brake fluid but is not resistant to brake cleaner as it'll soften it if not take it right off. So it isn't as durable as an epoxy. However, there is an epoxy primer powder that I've used a bit, and it is durable. But you have to put your top coat on it and the base/epoxy coat does a decent job of insulating the part so that it is hard to get the top coat to adhere electrostatically. The trick there is to pull the part out of the oven after the epoxy has melted but before it is fully cured and shoot the part with the top coat. Given the heat the top coat adheres well, but then you could easily build up way too much powder if you aren't careful. And, you have to work quickly, so it isn't good for large parts. I think your SPI epoxy primer sounds like a good solution for when you want black, like for suspension components. And especially for springs since they shouldn't be put in an oven at 400 degrees, so you can't do powder.

Be careful running it in the garage! Anyway, as the engine warms you should be able to watch the temp in the engine come up with the stock gauge and yet the aftermarket gauge won't come up much. Then when the thermostat opens you should see the aftermarket gauge take off very rapidly and then stabilize at operating temp. To me that seems like a neat way to know that your 'stat is working. Unfortunately the thermostat housing for Big Blue doesn't have a port in which to put the aftermarket gauge, so I didn't get to do that. On the volt meter, if you connect to a circuit in the cab you will be "seeing" the voltage after the drop caused by the current of all of the various devices you have on at the time dropping the voltage across the resistance of the small factory wiring. That will vary as you turn on the A/C, change the fan speed, open the door so the interior lights come on, etc. A way around that is to put a relay in the wiring run from the battery to the volt meter and trigger the relay with key-on power. But, I hope you also put a fuse near the battery in your feed to the volt meter. Otherwise a short in that wiring could catch the truck on fire.

Right on both counts - no longer under the OT and that's religion, which we don't discuss. And I fully understand your problem on where to stop. I am afflicted with the same malady. I refuse to put greasy parts back on, so at the very least things get cleaned. Some get blasted and either painted or powder coated, but others go back dry w/o blasting much less painted or PC'd. And I have no good "rule of thumb" for which get what treatment.

It is factory as the only 4-speed automatic was the AOD. And all of the transfer cases were 2-speed. The AOD wasn't all that robust and was never offered behind the 351W, apparently because it couldn't handle the power in stock form. But there are people who build it today to handle plenty of power, so if you want to go that way it is possible.

Only supposed to be 89 here in 'Took today. Maybe today's the day.

Nice, but $33,900? I doubt it'll get that.

That's probably the difference, Bill. I'll bet the Holley has the stud closer to the shaft so less movement is required. I need to check that as well as on the Street Demon to see that I can swap to the Street Demon after I get the engine broken in and a few MPG tests done. I want to give the carb back to Branden, and I want to try the Street Demon.

And I don't have a pool, although Janey wants one, so no pool acid. And the folks across the street have a salt water pool. Anyway, the coating came off with the wire brush on the grinder pretty easily, so the blast cabinet will probably make short work of it. The angle is left over from the garage door installation on the shop and is very mild steel. It wasn't square so I fixed that with a small hammer and the vice. Didn't take much, but it is now square. However the bracket appears to be easily strong enough as it doesn't flex when I operate the throttle. And speaking of (typing of?) throttle, there's a delicate balance between getting the slack out of the cable and getting full throttle. Right now I have the bracket slid back so the throttle hits the idle stop just before the slack runs out of the cable. And when I pull the cable the whole way the throttle opens fully just before the coils of the concentric spring bind on the cable. But if I give the cable more slack at idle I'll probably get coil bind before the throttle comes open fully. I wonder if there's a different hole to put the stud in? I'll look tomorrow, but where I have it appears to work.

I've not swapped an FMX to anything, so I don't know. But we have a page (Documentation/Driveline/Drivehshafts) via which you can probably figure that out. Unfortunately my internet connection is down at the moment due to quite a lightning storm and I'm just using the cell phone to access the site so I can't check it out. But if you start with the Application tab and find your truck with an FMX and get the driveshaft # and then with an AOD, you can then go to the Cross Reference tab and look up those driveshafts and get the lengths. And, if I remember correctly the same crossmember works, but I'm not sure of that.

I misunderstood. Thanks for the clarification. Yes, I wanted the pulls to be in the right plane. That linkage snaps over that ball stud pretty well, but I once had one come off on my '72 390 w/a Q-Jet due to the angle, and it did it at a very precarious point on the road. So I'm really careful anymore about throttle linkages. I may get to work on it a bit tomorrow afternoon, after church. But I do need to mow, so..... The angle I used has a galvanized coating on it so most of the tack welds were sooty. Given that I'll media blast all the coating off and then do the welding. And then I'll need to round up some other things that need to be powder coated and blast them as well. Maybe I can get the PC'ing done Monday and finally get the bracket installed.

Yes, what would you work on?! Oh yes, there's the AMC, and, and, and.... Vehicles are never "done".

I think there are at least two GV OD's. Which one do you have? Scott/kramttocs put one in his truck, so maybe he has the wiring diagram. If he doesn't come along in a bit I'll ping him for you.

I hope you find the hoses. I was lucky that Huck's system, complete with hoses, fit Big Blue. Huck, the truck that keeps on giving! As for the vise, I couldn't get along w/o one. I cut steel in mine for the throttle cable bracket and then put the whole assembly in there to tack weld it. Oh yes, I put the sheet metal angle in there and tapped it until the angle was 90 degrees.