Big Blue's Transformation

[1986F150Six]

And, progress is good!!!

Hey now!!

Imitation is the most sincere form of flattery!

[Gary Lewis]

And, progress is good!!!

Hey now!!

Imitation is the most sincere form of flattery!

To make a loooooong story short:

Now for a few details. I pulled the pressure plate, clutch, and flywheel. Then I ran the engine plate from Big Blue through the parts washer and installed it and re-installed the flywheel, clutch, and pressure plate.

Then I lubed the splines on the tranny, installed the release bearing and release arm, and installed the tranny.

It wasn't quite that easy, but I'll spare you most of the details. However, I will say that I had noticed that the driver's side transmission bolt that goes into the head goes right into the wet area under the valve cover. So I coated the top two with sealant. Boy are those two fun to get to! It took all of my long extensions to be able to get to them from behind. But I got all of the bolts torqued down.

However, I ran out of time before I could clean the crossmember and mark & drill the new holes in the frame. The crossmember has to move back about an inch, but I think the offset braces will bolt up to the upper holes in the frame. So all of that is tomorrow's plan.

[Rembrant]

However, I ran out of time before I could clean the crossmember and mark & drill the new holes in the frame. The crossmember has to move back about an inch, but I think the offset braces will bolt up to the upper holes in the frame. So all of that is tomorrow's plan.

Gary, that freshly painted transmission looks great! I love the look of new parts!

For my M5OD-R2 swap, I obtained the correct crossmember for the trans, and I had to drill new holes 1 3/16" further back to install. I forget where exactly the mount bolts landed in the slots in the crossmember, but I'm pretty sure I centered them or close. I actually modified my offset braces to fit the new crossmember location. It wasn't pretty, but it was the quickest solution I could come up with at the time. The upper bolts could not even be removed without lifting the cab on my truck, and I didn't replace the cab mounts until a year or more later on. The mounts are good and strong, and even if they are a bit ugly, nobody can see them anyway.

 

[ArdWrknTrk]

To make a loooooong story short:

Now for a few details. I pulled the pressure plate, clutch, and flywheel. Then I ran the engine plate from Big Blue through the parts washer and installed it and re-installed the flywheel, clutch, and pressure plate.

Then I lubed the splines on the tranny, installed the release bearing and release arm, and installed the tranny.

It wasn't quite that easy, but I'll spare you most of the details. However, I will say that I had noticed that the driver's side transmission bolt that goes into the head goes right into the wet area under the valve cover. So I coated the top two with sealant. Boy are those two fun to get to! It took all of my long extensions to be able to get to them from behind. But I got all of the bolts torqued down.

However, I ran out of time before I could clean the crossmember and mark & drill the new holes in the frame. The crossmember has to move back about an inch, but I think the offset braces will bolt up to the upper holes in the frame. So all of that is tomorrow's plan.

I'm almost embarrassed to show the underside of 'Lil Red.

[Gary Lewis]

However, I ran out of time before I could clean the crossmember and mark & drill the new holes in the frame. The crossmember has to move back about an inch, but I think the offset braces will bolt up to the upper holes in the frame. So all of that is tomorrow's plan.

Gary, that freshly painted transmission looks great! I love the look of new parts!

For my M5OD-R2 swap, I obtained the correct crossmember for the trans, and I had to drill new holes 1 3/16" further back to install. I forget where exactly the mount bolts landed in the slots in the crossmember, but I'm pretty sure I centered them or close. I actually modified my offset braces to fit the new crossmember location. It wasn't pretty, but it was the quickest solution I could come up with at the time. The upper bolts could not even be removed without lifting the cab on my truck, and I didn't replace the cab mounts until a year or more later on. The mounts are good and strong, and even if they are a bit ugly, nobody can see them anyway.

Cory - You drilled the braces to accommodate the existing holes? Interesting.

By the way, it isn't too difficult to raise the cab ~4" to get those bolts out and relo them. There was enough slack in the wiring harness on Dad's truck to allow that.

But I shouldn't have to do that this time as the braces I have are offset and are supposed to use the original top holes and then fit the crossmember itself when it is moved back to match up with the ZF5.

Jim - Big Blue was gross underneath and under hood when I started this transformation. And I'm happy to say that's not the case now. But tomorrow I'll have to melt the crud off the crossmember and braces so they match their new environment.

[Rembrant]

Cory - You drilled the braces to accommodate the existing holes? Interesting.

By the way, it isn't too difficult to raise the cab ~4" to get those bolts out and relo them.

Gary,

It was difficult at the time because the cab bolt mounts were all rusted and seized in place and I didn’t get to replacing all of that stuff until long after the transmission swap. The transmission swap was done partially out of necessity as the 3spd had a cracked case that was causing it to flex away from the bellhousing.

Yes I welded little extension on the brackets and redrilled the holes to work with the existing bolts. Finding the crossmember was a challenge enough I was not able to get my hands on a pair of the offset brackets.

[85lebaront2]

Cory - You drilled the braces to accommodate the existing holes? Interesting.

By the way, it isn't too difficult to raise the cab ~4" to get those bolts out and relo them.

Gary,

It was difficult at the time because the cab bolt mounts were all rusted and seized in place and I didn’t get to replacing all of that stuff until long after the transmission swap. The transmission swap was done partially out of necessity as the 3spd had a cracked case that was causing it to flex away from the bellhousing.

Yes I welded little extension on the brackets and redrilled the holes to work with the existing bolts. Finding the crossmember was a challenge enough I was not able to get my hands on a pair of the offset brackets.

When I installed the E4OD in Darth, I had to drill new holes 7" back from where the C6 mounted. Bottom one was easy, top two were a PITA on each side. I used a long 1/4" bit after a good center punch to start the holes, then took them out to clear the bolts. I initially installed them inverted from Ford's procedure, and put nuts on the old bolts so they wouldn't rattle. Much later, when I was doing some other work, I had the front cab bolt covers off and decided to see if the bolts would come loose. They did and I was able with the radiator core support blots out to raise the cab front one side at a time and remove the old bolts and insert the new ones correctly from the top.

[Gary Lewis]

When I installed the E4OD in Darth, I had to drill new holes 7" back from where the C6 mounted. Bottom one was easy, top two were a PITA on each side. I used a long 1/4" bit after a good center punch to start the holes, then took them out to clear the bolts. I initially installed them inverted from Ford's procedure, and put nuts on the old bolts so they wouldn't rattle. Much later, when I was doing some other work, I had the front cab bolt covers off and decided to see if the bolts would come loose. They did and I was able with the radiator core support blots out to raise the cab front one side at a time and remove the old bolts and insert the new ones correctly from the top.

Bill - The E4OD is loooooong. The ZF5 isn't that long. I had to drill the new holes roughly 1" further aft from the original ones. But, more on that in a bit.

I did, in fact, get the crossmember and gussets as well as the rear insulator (rear support), aka transmission mount, installed:

Now let's first talk about what components I used, as I tried lots of them before finding the right combo. I used:

• Crossmember: I forgot to cross reference the crossmember Jim sent me from the '95 SuperDuty, but the ID # on it is F4TF-LA, although the "5025" is left off. None of the others I have were close to working, but this one just required a slot cut in it, as shown below, and the bottom frame holes re-drilled.

• Gussets: Again I haven't cross-ref'd these to part numbers, but the ID # of the left one is E7TA 7F468-AA and the right one is E7TA 7R314-AA. They are surely the ones from the '95 SuperDuty.

  But they fit the upper bolts in the frame perfectly and drop down just right on the crossmember when it is in the correct position.

• Insulator/Mount: E7TZ 6068-C. This isn't the absolute correct one for that crossmember, as you'll see, but it fits the transmission and didn't take much to adapt the crossmember to it.

Now to the crossmember. Here's a shot of how the insulator/mount hits this crossmember, showing that the right stud would go through the slot, but not the left stud.

So I slotted the crossmember:

At this point it all fit together but I needed to mark and drill the new holes in the bottom flange of the frame. I measured and measured and finally decided the direct approach was better. In the pic below you can see that I brought the crossmember up under the frame, and it is held in place by the nuts on the insultor/mount and aligned by the gussets, which are snugged up to the top of the frame. Then I marked the bottom of the frame through the bolt hole in the crossmember.

Then I drilled the holes. As you can see below, the holes are roughly 1" aft of the original holes. However, this crossmember is slightly shorter so the left hole is inboard a bit from the original hole. But, it all fits.

[salans7]

Bill - The E4OD is loooooong. The ZF5 isn't that long. I had to drill the new holes roughly 1" further aft from the original ones. But, more on that in a bit.

I did, in fact, get the crossmember and gussets as well as the rear insulator (rear support), aka transmission mount, installed:

Now let's first talk about what components I used, as I tried lots of them before finding the right combo. I used:

• Crossmember: I forgot to cross reference the crossmember Jim sent me from the '95 SuperDuty, but the ID # on it is F4TF-LA, although the "5025" is left off. None of the others I have were close to working, but this one just required a slot cut in it, as shown below, and the bottom frame holes re-drilled.

• Gussets: Again I haven't cross-ref'd these to part numbers, but the ID # of the left one is E7TA 7F468-AA and the right one is E7TA 7R314-AA. They are surely the ones from the '95 SuperDuty.

  But they fit the upper bolts in the frame perfectly and drop down just right on the crossmember when it is in the correct position.

• Insulator/Mount: E7TZ 6068-C. This isn't the absolute correct one for that crossmember, as you'll see, but it fits the transmission and didn't take much to adapt the crossmember to it.

Now to the crossmember. Here's a shot of how the insulator/mount hits this crossmember, showing that the right stud would go through the slot, but not the left stud.

So I slotted the crossmember:

At this point it all fit together but I needed to mark and drill the new holes in the bottom flange of the frame. I measured and measured and finally decided the direct approach was better. In the pic below you can see that I brought the crossmember up under the frame, and it is held in place by the nuts on the insultor/mount and aligned by the gussets, which are snugged up to the top of the frame. Then I marked the bottom of the frame through the bolt hole in the crossmember.

Then I drilled the holes. As you can see below, the holes are roughly 1" aft of the original holes. However, this crossmember is slightly shorter so the left hole is inboard a bit from the original hole. But, it all fits.

Is the front driveshaft going to clear that crossmember? Was the F-SuperDuty a 4x4?

[Gary Lewis]

Is the front driveshaft going to clear that crossmember? Was the F-SuperDuty a 4x4?

Those are two good questions. We won't know on the first one until I get everything together, but maybe Jim can answer the second one.