85lebaront2

One other item on the frames, the 250, 250HD and 350 frames, in addition to being "taller" on the sides are also thicker metal. It is probably a metric dimension as 1985 was the year Ford started metric components and measurements.

Ok, first item. aluminum has no where near the tensile strength of steel, no way would I trust aluminum tow hooks. I have an Aluma cargo trailer, all aluminum, even the wheels except for the hitch and safety chains, those are steel. After I bought it, I went through and replaced every bolt with cres bolts. I used 304 cres condition B as it is the higher strength version. On attaching hooks to an F150 frame, as long as it is not new enough to have the controlled crush front frame horns there should not be a problem. If the truck has a driver's side air bag it will have the controlled crush front frame.

Back in the early days of the Boss 302 program, Shelby-American was asked to work on the engine's performance. Shelby's engineers found that the ports on the Boss heads really started working around 10,900 rpm. They reduced the port area to 1/4 size, lost 2000 rpm off the top of the power band and added 5000 on the lower end. We had a Ford parts manager in Hampton who ordered in a Boss 302 crate engine for his late model sportsman, running at our local 3/8 mile track. His was a Fairlane, everyone else was running Chevelles, so he was at a 48 cid disadvantage. all were running 5:38 rears. He had a "cross boss" intake with a single in-line top and an 850 cfm Autolite in-line carb. First thing I got him to do was go to a 6:14 rear, second I hand made some jets from smaller sizes he had in stock, from 0.110 to 0.130 in 0.005 increments. we went out Wednesday night for a practice session. Interesting experience hanging onto the roll cage as he went around the track. Friday night, we're in the pits (my GT350 was rather noticeable). He qualified outside pole, race started and he almost spun out on the start the car had so much more power. If I remember the French car boys found a way to get the setup banned (standard Chevy policy, if you can't beat them, ban them).

Gary, it wasn't so much cheating AKA VW as it was an almost impossible balancing act to get a Ford 400 to idle smoothly and meet the HC and CO standards. Idle screws would generally end up almost falling out to get one to idle right. If I remember Ford fudged the results to get the 400 certified as the 390 was dropped after 1976 in trucks. If Ford had put an air pump on them, they probably would have run better in stock form. I do see some did.

Gary, I don't know if you ever measured the space between the water pump shaft and radiator. I believe I measured it at 7" on Darth. I was looking into using a Crown Victoria fan (big electric one) but the fan shroud was a perfect fit, except the fan motor and water pump shaft needed to occupy the same space. I ended up with a T-bird unit, same motor, almost identical fan, but narrower. Using it I would make a blanking plate on the right side with rubber flap valves to blow open at highway speeds. You have to remember, Ford never intended to use the 460 in these trucks, the engineers figured the 400 would suffice. If some work had been done to the 400, like a better cam, 4 barrel etc. it might have worked. My fan controls would be in the EEC-V with a 200° or AC on low fan and a 220° high fan. These fans use an 80 amp relay for high and really move some air.

Jim, I spent a bit of time doing hardness and other tests in the NNS main machine shop. During the "Naval Holiday" in the 30s, NNS supplemented their income and kept a valuable workforce employed by overhauling C&O locomotives inside that shop. The hydraulic turbines (the ones that spin the generators) in the Hoover dam were made by NNS. I have run hardness tests on the propeller shafts of Nimitz class carriers in there, they are huge hollow beasts probably around 10' in diameter. During sea trials of the Theodore Roosevelt, Adm Rickover told the NNS and NAVSEA personnel that he was assuming command and taking full responsibility for any problems. Following this he said "NNS has been telling me for years how fast these carriers are, full war emergency power!" At some unknown speed one of the 4 USN provided propellers cracked, the resulting strain put 1.5 turns of twist in the affected shaft! There was a picture in our company newsletter of a Soviet Bear turboprop bomber pacing one of our new carriers during the high speed portion of the sea trials, no flaps deployed, just flying just far enough away to not be deemed a threat. After Nauticus opened in Norfolk, they have an adjacent slip that is big enough for a cruiser to tie up in. One of the newer gas turbine cruisers was there and after touring the bridge, I let the Chief giving the tour know my employment and asked how their "excess of 30 knots" compared to a carriers. His reply was "their excess is far in excess of our excess".

The sign for the completed model says "15,000 hp @ 75 rpm". For those who are not familiar with these, they were directly connected to the propellers, no reduction gear like steam turbines. This was one of the contributing factors. In order to reverse the engines they first had to be stopped, the reversing gear activated, and finally restarted in reverse.

Having spent 30 years at the biggest private shipyard in the US, and actually being the technician who tested the mechanical properties of the plate Dr. Ballard brought up from the wreck, the Titanic always interested me. The USS Texas (built by NNS) used the same style engines (vertical triple expansion) steam engines.

I can sit, standing and walking is a problem, and until my PCP gave something strong, getting much sleep was an issue. Plan at present is, the lady who called me Friday will see the Dr. Laurent sees the X-ray and MRI information and either he or she will call me to discuss options and timing.

As some of you know, I have had some severe lower back pain since late January. I am waiting for a call back to set up for surgery at the Jordan Young Institute at Norfolk VA's Sentara Leigh hospital. As a result I am not doing anything in my garage, so in order to keep from going stir crazy, I have been working on this:

I haven't seen one of those since I retired. I actually have an award for what is called an "opportunity for improvement" or OFI in conjunction with the General Foreman of NNS X36 (riggers) department. His idea was to use them with a welded on J shaped tube as hangers for temporary air and power on board ships either under construction or repair. Previous method welded the J piece to the structure and after use cut off, weld ground down and repainted. The new design is reusable and only needs the clamp screw loosened.

Darth had both the rear air feed and the "spiders" into the exhaust manifolds. He also had dual air pumps and enough plumbing on top to almost completely hide the intake manifold.

Backing plate is different. Shoes can only go so far out as the drum has to fit on at the proper spacing for the truck's track width. I ran into this while playing musical axles on Darth. I had the original 1986 axle, a 1990 F250 axle and a junkyard 1993 F350 dually axle. That one had 3 1/2 wide shoes.

I would love to see if he could do a 460 EFI intake like the later Chevy 454s used, a really nice ram tuned manifold.

Welcome Nathan, glad you found us!

Not always… I found this metric with tripometer on eBay, but like the US ones, one number is missing. Can’t reach 100,000 km. A trick to stay young? One of the changes I added to Darth was a later dash and steering column. The later dash has an 85 mph speedometer, but the odometers (main and trip) can be switched between Miles and Kilometers. Here is Darth's about 15,000 miles ago:

Under the drum the cable goes around is an electromagnetic clutch powered through the hydraulic switch on the master cylinder. If the switch is opened by hydraulic pressure in the brake system, the clutch releases the drum and the throttle return springs do the rest.

I have a better set of valve covers, those are just to cover it up.

Ok, first item, I believe on all of the speed controls a blown brake light fuse will keep the speed control form activating. I still stand by the need for a "safety kill" in case the nice hefty stepper motor and it's affiliated gear train jams. Brake light switch will tell the electronics to let go of the cable - gears are jammed - no clutch magnet release - throttle is now stuck at whatever opening you were at!

Mat, here is my 1972 vintage Lakewood folding engine stand with my new 460 on it:

Ok, the electronic vs vacuum speed control: 1. Steering wheel switches are the same for both 2. Vacuum system uses a dump valve or a pair of dump valves depending on whether it is auto or manual transmission. 3. These are the "fail safe" so if the electronics fail to cancel via closing the vacuum valve and opening the vent, the servo is vented so the throttle is released. 4. Electronic speed control uses a servo motor and an electric clutch to pull the speed control throttle cable. 5. Electronic speed control clutch is fed through the switch on the master cylinder, hydraulic pressure opens the switch dumping the clutch so that if either the servo is stuck or the electronics fail to disengage the speed control you do not have a "Chevy motor mount moment". To achieve the same safety function, a normally open (closed when depressed) switch on the brake pedal will serve the purpose.

Jim, Shelby did do it for Sunbeam. Funniest was after Chrysler acquired Rootes group, they tried to stuff the 273 into the Tiger, too big to fit. Sunbeam's West coast division tried doing the swap by retaining the Alpine's monkey motion steering linkage. End result, a 2 seat roadster that plowed worse than a Square Bird with a 430 MEL in it. Shelby American used an MGB steering rack and pushed the engine back in the body, yes plug changes rival a 4 speed Mustang CJ with a smoke grinder, but the cars scoot and corner.

No, Darth's was updated due to the left side wheel inner bearing seizing and galling the tube. I got a used axle from Pete's and used just the housing as it had a rusted 4.10 set in it. I used the guts from the 1990 F250 parts truck as it was a 3.55 limited slip. Due to the axle from Pete's being a 1993 or newer, it had the 3.5" wide rear brakes. The one I completely rebuilt was my best friend's (we have been friends since 1972) used one he bought from Pete's for his 1995 F350 with the first gen Power Stroke 7.3L. He wanted rear disc brakes installed as he didn't like the stopping power. We took Darth to dinner one night when I was clearing out the house in NN because his had a trailer hooked up and to get his Corvette out involved moving that first. Since he knew the way and I didn't, I just threw him Darth's keys and said "you drive". First corner he nearly put us both through the windshield.

You do good work Jim, I don't think I have ever seen any rear end that FUBARed! As far as setting one up, I know one, but he's not in SE Connecticut nor willing to travel there. He's also getting ready to have back surgery.