Oct 27 cont:
The side clearances are good, however the left upper and right lower edges will need some attention fron the flap disc to straighten them up and improve the gaps:
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I had to adjust the RH body pivot slightly down and out to align the tailgate and body lines up perfect, and put some self drilling screws through to hold the alignment of inner and outer for future refefrence. Now it fits pretty good:
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I will cut/drill a few latch loop shims for the body catches, as the closing alignment is still off slightly, but that's not an immediate issue. I plan to get another bucket full of used garnet tomorrow and will blast as much of the inner and outer needs to be done until it IS done or I run out of garnet again. Then the inners will be primed with Super-Etch primer and the outer sides lightly primed so I can start the assembly prep and filler work. Once the inners are painted and the assembly is final welded back together, then I will fill and prime the outside and prep the tub, tailgate and hood for paint after Japan. Then, it's all out to get it ready for rego mid/late December for Xmas.
More soon.
Jan 5, 2020:
Time for an update.
HAPPY NEW YEAR, GFB!
Well, we went to Japan for 3 weeks in November, then I've been absolutely flat out at work, right up to break-up on Dec 20th. Form the 15th, it's been hotter than hell here all of a sudden, and y'all have probably heard of the massive bushfires we've had along the eastern seaboard. 700+ houses has been razed, MILLIONS of acres burned out and not a happy new year for a lot of people.
Since November, the truck has been either in the garage, or outside, due to the Handbrake Junior being back from Uni on her Xmas break. I haven't had the carport to work on the truck, so it's usually parked near the best shade during the day. I've only got to work on it in the evenings when it cools down some, so not a lot has got done.
The old girl has had an issue with the trans. When left for more than a few days, the trans will not drive on start-up, until I rev the engine a bit. Then it thunks into gear. I recently checked the trans for fluid, finding nothing on the dipstick, so I've been adding half a pint at a time to get it up to (I thought) the correct level. It took a quart and a half to reach the add mark, so I went for a decent drive, through town and out onto the highway to stretch it's legs. The new fan clutch helps cooling in town, but it really needs a larger diameter fan, because there is almost 2 inches between the fanblade tips and the shroud. I'll look into a new larger fan next week (still testing).
The next morning, though, I came out and found an oil patch under the left side:
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It appears I have fluid exiting the trans through the breather hose, and it had also coated the entire left hand underside with oil. I'll try dropping out 1/2 a quart from the cooler hose and try again. I'm planning to go back to the NP435 anyway, but I don't want issues with the auto so I can sell it and re-coup some cash. I have also done the door trims, and re-done the kick panels due to the paint peeling. The left door trip only needed a good clean with paint thinner to get all the grease and shitty surface cleaned off. Once painted and dry, I fitted it and it looks great, especially the contrast to the Sahara Dust colour:
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I scraped all the old paint off the driver's kickpanel, and painted that too:
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Pre paint:
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Then I attacked the driver's door panel. A close inspection revealed several layers of old faded and crappy paint, so I spent a few hours with a scraper removing the hardened layers back to the original surface:
Jan 5, cont:
I was on the verge of throwing this side trim away, but now it's been scraped clean and sanded, it looks really good:
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Ready for paint:
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I'd got a almost new tan armrest from ebay, which I fitted before paint, painted it all carefully and fitted it once dry. I'll take pics tomorrow, as it has been raining all day here today and is about 14C (for a change). It's really wierd now, getting in and having door trims!
I get my carport back after next weekend, so I'll build the bed cage at work, then pull the tub for finishing and paint. That will also be an opportunity to touch up the chassis where I've scratched the paint off everywhere and tidy up some of the wiring where I can get to it better. The permit runs out Jan 16, so I plan to drive it more and get some miles on the engine before the roadworthy inspection.
More later.
SteveG wrote:Rod, It seems you’re same from the fires?
Hey, Steve.
Yes, so far we haven't had any danger, so all is well for now. East Gippsland had a few big ones (Eastern Victoria) but with the rain, these should be under control easily. We are in the north-west Mallee region, the farming belt, so far we haven't had any fires. Things can change quickly, but after 2 days of rain, we should be ok for now.
I was wondering about this the other day too Rod & had a quick look on the map. Looked like you were a hundred miles or more from the fire areas from the map in the random news article I was reading. Really sad though with how much is being destroyed down there. Good to hear you got some rain, I know a lot of areas need it desperately.
The last 2 years here have been hell on wheels for Victorians. It would be a holiday to go visit and live in North Korea in comparison. I won’t bore any of you with the details, however, due to the edicts of our dictator Kim Jong Dan (Andrews), I am now semi-retired and un-employable.
Disclaimer:
I am NOT anti-vax.
I have had almost all the known REAL vaccines for dangerous viruses and disease (Cholera, Typhoid, Yellow Fever, Diptheria, the Hep alphabet and some others I’ve forgotten what they were for because I’ve travelled to parts of the planet where medical help is 12 – 15 DAYS by horseback AT BEST, to reach a Doctor who won’t have access to anything to cure me. Drinking my own urine was at times safer than the available water.
I have not had the death shots, nor will I be coerced into having them against my will. I well enough versed in the human body and medicines to understand these ‘gene therapy treatments’ are NOT ‘vaccines, will not protect me from contracting Sars-cov-2, will not stop me from infecting others and based on real-world evidence will NOT reduce the severity of the disease if I get it.
My body, my choice.
Enough of that shit.
The F100 is engine-less again, but a new heart is under way. I was disallowed to return to work after Oct 15, so I’ve been ‘working’ elsewhere. About mid last year, I started work on a flatbed tray for the F100, something custom I could use as a full flatbed, or mount a half box with gull wing doors on it and space for the quad bike. A year and a half ago, I purchased a Yamaha 350 Grizzly 4x4 quad bike with the intention of going interstate hog hunting, feral pest control, etc. However, border closures due to the scam-demic put paid to that idea, so I’ve been slowly working on other things, like house renovations (deck, rear extension, etc) to keep the police siren to lower than an ear-shattering level. Fortunately for me, when I was forced out of my employment, the owner of the company next door (whom I’ve done a LOT of work for, repairing a miriad of stuff and the work FIFO in QLD), saw fit to ‘employ’ me on the side at his farm (5,000 acres) in a small workshop we’ve set up there. From there, I do various repairs for mining equipment components, a Kenworth truck we are prepping for on-site mechanical work and an F250 requiring the Powerstroke 7.3L to be rebuilt after damaging a couple of pistons. I also do maintainence work around the farm and cleaning up (the place has been seriously neglected).
Fats forward to Xmas, Mick’s Bronco started acting up, loosing a few cylinders. We’ve known at least one piston had broken rings, due to oil coming from the breather cap, but it got worse quickly. I went down and brought it back on a trailer to the farm workshop and proceeded to find out what went wrong. Turns out a vacuum cap blew off or disintegrated and was leaking big time into the manifold. Once capped, the engine was better, but 2 cylinders revealed very oily plugs, so I started the teardown. I had the engine out in about 3 hours, taking my time to check everything to see what else we needed to do to it. The Handbrake was working days at the time, so I quickly put the f100 in the garage and whipped out the engine and ran it down to the farm. It took 2 days to fit the (rebuilt) original engine into the Bronco, but once it was in, it ran very nice. I made sure to clean the engine bay thoroughly and went over everything twice and took it for a run.
Mick came the next day and from the look on his face when we got it back to my place, he was very happy with it.
Anyway, I’ve been collecting all the bits for a new engine for the F100. I was looking at a 393 stroker kit for it, but I was concerned at how that would affect the AOD, knowing that too much torque would fry it. So, I’ve decided on a healthy 351 build instead. I’ll start a build thread in Tech for it. I’m considering using the mild RV grind Elgin 953-P cam in it and CNC ported closed chamber 2V heads to get a comp ratio of around 9.6 to 9.8:1. I’ll be running propane for 90+% of it’s life once run-in, so the higher compression ration will help both power and economy, due to better thermal efficency. I have the option to run the Comp Cams hydraulic roller #32-421-8 in it using 5.0L lifters, spider, etc to boost torque. I’m looking for big torque off idle and mid-range, where the larger 2V ports (compared to the 5.0W/5.8W) let it down a little. With the 2200 – 2400 stall convertor in the AOD and lock-up in 3rd and O/D, this should be quite a weapon in the light F100. I’ve also decided on 4.11:1 gears all round, with 31” tyres rather than big rubber to keep the overall gearing friendly for on and off highway. With the Skyjacker 2.5” front springs and Superlift 2” blocks for the rear, it will have enough clearance and height for everything I will likely do. Once it’s registered again, I’ll fit the Dana 60 8 lug and start looking for a Chevy front 10 bolt 8 lug to do the 8 lug conversion on the front. I haven’t been able to find a D50 TTB from a F250 here, they are like rocking horse poop at the moment, and shipping one over wouldn’t be worth the effort. I’ll keep looking, though. I won’t run the leaves, as I’ll adapt it to coils and radius arms (Desolate) to make it user friendly.
I’m currently collecting engine parts and other stuff to get the old girl finished. With the current situation looking grim here for the foreseeable future, a move to NSW is on the cards, as I CAN work there without the death shots and need the truck legally mobile for when we pull the trigger on the move.
I post up more later, along with pics.
Cheers, y’all.
Glad to see you're still plugging away at it Rod. Sorry to hear about your current state of affairs due to your government. Why the dana 50 ttb? Just for the ends or the whole beam? I thought in stock form they're pretty limiting?
I'm just here for the views. It helps me feel wanted.
Glad to see you're still plugging away at it Rod. Sorry to hear about your current state of affairs due to your government. Why the dana 50 ttb? Just for the ends or the whole beam? I thought in stock form they're pretty limiting?
Hey, Randy, good to hear form you.
The plan was to get a complete chassis front cut with the Dana 50 TTB, then use the beams, pivots and tempararily attach it with the leaves to mark a centre line. Then, fit up the weld-on Desolate radius arms and make some weld-on bosses to use the coils spring studs and spring seats, getting rid of the travel restricting leaves. That'll have to be a future project. Otherwise, I'm doing ok, making enough to pay the bills, keep the police siren to a tolerable level and get the truck on the way to drivable again.
Hope your family id doing well.
Cheers.
Hey Rod, how did that electric fan setup work for you long term? It concerned me that you were not running a fan shroud with them.
I am running a Vintage Air 18 inch monster fan and shroud on my 86 Bronco 302. It has worked ok in the sand dunes, but I am upgrading to a 427 stroker after I swap the new 1972 custom stretched and widened body. I am basically building a FULL-SIZE Early Bronco. I plan to make a tube core support and then I can run a 34 inch wide radiator with dual 18in fans and a custom shroud.
Hey Rod, how did that electric fan setup work for you long term? It concerned me that you were not running a fan shroud with them.
I am running a Vintage Air 18 inch monster fan and shroud on my 86 Bronco 302. It has worked ok in the sand dunes, but I am upgrading to a 427 stroker after I swap the new 1972 custom stretched and widened body. I am basically building a FULL-SIZE Early Bronco. I plan to make a tube core support and then I can run a 34 inch wide radiator with dual 18in fans and a custom shroud.
David
Hi David,
I took them off because they didn't cool in traffic as well as I would like. However, this is probably because it had the wrong thermostat in it. Clevelands require a specific thermostat with a 'foot' on it. When it opens, the foot should blank off the bypass plate under the thermostat, which the one fitted couldn't do, causing coolant to bypass the radiator. Likewise using the factory clutch type 7 blade 'car' fan. At idle in traffic, it had temperature creep. I'd have to put it in neutral and keep the revs around 1800 to keep the temp remotely under control.
Now, I have an aftermarket kit with a 'footed' thermostat and a spacer plate to correctly orientate it to the bypass orifice. I fitted one to the bronco and it keeps it's cool much better than before. I also found that the fan was smaller than the factory replacement shroud opening, leaving about an inch and a half between blade tips and the shroud opening, so I have a larger fan blade set to fit the shroud tighter and make more airflow. Until I can find a retro-fit higher capacity alternator to fit my particular application, radiator fans draw too much power. I may try them again later to see if there is any difference once the new engine in run in and loosened up.
Cheers.
So, I’m finally building my own engine for the F100. Enough of other people’s engines, it’s time for one that won’t be coming out (hopefully) anytime soon. This 351 Cleveland short engine came out of an ex employer’s Falcon Utility (our version of the Ranchero) and was removed because of varying factors, partly stripped and then left exposed to the weather just inside the door of the go-kart track’s fuel store. 4 years later, I was offered it for free, to which I accepted. It was disassembled at home about 12 years ago and then stored on various shelves, forgotten.
Recently, I dragged it out and once on a spare engine stand, I flexi-honed the cylinders to see how bad they were. Except for some slight rust damage in 2 of them, I could have fitted new std pistons and called it done. Herein lies the twist to this tale.
First, a little history about Cleveland engines. I’ve built several of these, from basic re-rings to all out racing engines. I’ve heard all the stories, read all the opinions and I’m going to impart my experiences with these now forgotten marvels of Ford’s heritage. The 351C was developed for 2 reasons:
1/ To build an intermediate engine to phase out the old and getting obsolete FE engines and to fit in between the 289/302 Windsor engines and the 385 series big block 429/460 engines.
2/ To develop an all new power plant to fit into NASCAR’s new engine rules that were coming in the near future.
In the late ‘60’s and early ‘70’s, NASCARs were powered by large heavy 7-ish litre engines, running at 7000 rpm and making around 600 HP using a 0.600” lift camshaft. In 1970, a new engine hit the track. 200 lbs lighter, this 5.8 litre engine could make the requisite 600 HP, using the same 0.600” lift cam profiles at 7000 rpm and use less fuel doing it. That equated to 4 – 8 extra laps per tankful and the 200 lbs off the front end and re-distributed more advantageously around the car also meant 5 – 8 more laps on that stressed right front tyre (depending of driver style and car set-up). Imagine doing a Daytona 500 and having one less pitstop.
Anyway, a few problems were encountered along the way. Apparently, these engine did not have the desired ‘priority mains oiling’ that engine builders favoured. This meant that under certain circumstances, oiling problems and bearing failures became headaches. Unfortunately, the way the engine was designed and cast, the oil supply from the pump could not go directly to the oil gallery that fed the main bearings. This meant the oil had to travel the lifter gallery front to back down one side, turn around and then feed the other side lifter gallery and main feed galleries last. Anyone who has a good look at one of these blocks stripped down will see what I mean.
Another issue which was discovered by engine builders here in arse-tralia was that when they were limited to using the stock oil pan because of ‘rules’, it was EXTREMELY difficult to get them to last a race. I’ll explain.
One of the engine’s Achilies Heels is that the stock oil pump can actually empty the factory 4 quart oil pan of oil above 4000 rpm. This is due to the drain back passages in the cylinder heads being far too small for the job, resulting that the cylinder head rocker boxes kept a LOT of oil up there away from the oil pan where it was desperately needed. One ‘cure’ for this was to weld in tubes to each corner of the rocker covers and plumb 1” hoses back directly to the oil pan to help get the oil back where it was most needed. When the rules finally allowed dry sump systems, a separate stage was plumbed into the backs of each cylinder head to remove as much oil forcefully as possible. That and the dry sump system cured the external factors surrounding oil starvation to the main bearings. Other cures have been restricting oil flow to the top end by using gallery restrictor plugs, restricted feed pushrods, solid pushrods and oil spray bars, etc. to try and control the oil build-up in the rocker boxes. However, another problem reared it’s ugly head. It turned out that all these tricks and fixes started causing valve springs to fail much faster than normal, sometimes barely lasting a race. You see, oil isn’t just a lubricating medium, it is a COOLANT as well. A certain amount of oil splash was needed to keep the valve springs cool, otherwise, due to their flexing as the valves are opened and shut at fantastic speed, they get VERY hot. Heat destroys the spring’s temper and it weakens quickly. Until dry sump systems were allowed, it was a very delicate balancing of oil flow vs oil pan capacity and managing drain back to keep the engine alive.
So, lessons I’ve learned, regardless of what the engine is for:
1/ Use a larger capacity oil pan and a good windage tray (minimum of 7 litres/7 – 8 quarts of oil). A good windage tray is worth 8 – 15 HP, plus it helps remove unwanted oil and mist blanketing the rotating assembly that could be in the oil pan doing it’s intended job.
2/ For stock or MILD street, a STD capacity oil pump (Melling) is fine. No need to have any more oil flying around in there than is needed.
3/ If road racing and class and budget allow, DRY SUMP it. Unless you can get enough capacity in a wet sump and control oil movement, you WILL have issues. Personally, I’ve NEVER dry sumped any of my engines, I’ve built my own oil pans and am proud to say I’ve never lost an engine to oil surge or starvation.
4/ IF you really MUST use restrictors, only use them if you are using a SOLID ROLLER camshaft and plan to turn more than 7500 rpm.
5/ My advice is DO NOT put the restrictors in the cam bearing feed galleries. A standard engine only has 90 lb on the seat and around 200 – 220 lb on the nose. Performance camshafts require stiffer springs and in the wilder grinds and rollers, 200+ lb on the seat and 450 – 500+ lb on the nose is not unusual. This puts a lot more pressure on the limited oil pressure/volume to keep the journals from touching the bearings and limiting oil flow and volume here can be catastrophic. I personally do not use restrictors in my engines for various reasons, but especially not in racing engines.
The 351C I am building started with a 1980 ‘GF’ cast (Geelong Foundry, Victoria) 2 bolt main, small distributor pilot block from a car an old employer had, a 1995 Ford Falcon utility, backed by a Borg Warner single rail 4 speed manual and 2.75:1 LS 9” disc brake diff. After tearing open the oil pan (it was too low at the front) several times and loosing a lot of oil, it was removed for a replacement backed by an FMX auto trans. This engine sat for many years prior to this build. I went over it thoroughly with a die grinder inside and out, cleaning away loose casting slag and de-burring all the edges, smoothing all the oil passages and drain back areas. I also used a 5” grinder on the outside, removing all the casting flash and smoothing every edge to make it look and feel less dangerous to my fingers and knuckles. I had to weld large nuts to the factory coolant drain plugs to get them out, but out they came. The valley was carefully drilled and tapped for the 5.0L HO hydraulic roller spider for future use. (I have plans). Every threaded hole got a new tap run through them and then it went off for machining. The bores went out 0.030” over size, the decks were squared and surfaced a minimum, and it was chemically cleaned. New camshaft bearings also went in. When it came back, all the oil galleries were brushed out with solvent and a 20ga bristle brush, all the lifter bores were cleaned and tested with a new lifter for burrs and fit, new oil gallery plugs, freeze plugs and rear cam plug were installed with non-hardening aviation sealer and it was washed and wrapped up ready for assembly. The Australian cast crankshaft required grinding the crank pins to 0.010” under size and the mains 0.030”. This was due to wear on the crank pins from being driven with a lack of oil (due to the damaged oil pan leaking) and corrosion damage at the oil hole on #5 main journal, caused by water seeping in down the oil sender hole and settling into the bearing gap during storage in the weather. It was cleaned and fitted to the block on King bearings with a Fel Pro neoprene oil seal and plasti-gauged out at 0.003” clearance on all journals. A little of the loose side, but I’m happy with the clearances. The Speed Pro H555P hyperutectic 0.030” over size flat top pistons had their ring gaps checked in their respective bores and averaged out at 0.015” for the top ring and 0.012” for the second ring, these were fitted to their pistons and installed, with 0.002” bearing clearances on the King bearings. The factory rods have been closed and resized back to correct and fitted with ARP Wave-Loc bolts.
A Melling HV oil pump was clearance checked, primed and fitted with a Milodon pick-up and HD drive shaft and was bolted down. A mixture of ARP and Milodon main studs are fitted, the Milodon studs are extended to use their rear pan windage tray, which was manouvered into place, clearanced to the rotating assembly and tightened to spec. As I cannot buy the correct Milodon oil pan (or the Canton equivalent) for love or money, I am building my own version, holding 7.5L (8 quarts) to fit the F100. That should be finished next week. Should I happen to find one of these elusive oil pans for sale, I’ll hit the ‘buy it now’ button and keep mine for a later project. The camshaft is the Melling version of the Elgin 953P (204/214 @ 0.050”, 0.494” IN/0.512” EX) installed with moly assembly lube liberally applied to the lobes and set at 4.5 degrees advanced. This is the same cam we fitted to the old 351C I removed at Xmas. Driving that is a premium billet Rollmaster timing chain set with a Torrington bearing cam thrust plate and bearing upper sprocket, Iwis chain and hardened multi-position sprocket on the crank. I have refitted the factory fuel pump eccentric, on the odd chance later on I will use the mechanical pump. The bead blasted front cover was fitted with a new seal and bolted on.
I have a new Powerbond street strip harmonic balancer ready to go on with a ARP bolt and washer, a Milodon HV water pump with ARP fasteners and I am currently debating over what cylinder heads I will put on (depending on available funds).
That’s my progress so far. Pictures and more to follow.
And, in my usual fashion, I forgot to take pictures during the short engine assembly, but I managed a few AFTER I bolted on the windage tray and set it's clearances:
Pic 1
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Pic 2
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I have installed the timing chain set since this was taken and the cover is now on.
I'll try and take more as the oil pan build progresses. I'm waiting for the balance installer kit to arrive and the ARP water pump fastener kit. I will TRY and provide more pics as the engine assembly goes ahead, too.
Cheers.
Looking good Rod! That should be a nice power plant for the F100. How are you dealing with the oil passage issues? Will you run propane or will this now just be ran on petrol? My uncle built a stroker FE and had restrictors put in the heads for the same reason. Its worked well so far, but it hasn't been driven much.
I'm just here for the views. It helps me feel wanted.
Looking good Rod! That should be a nice power plant for the F100. How are you dealing with the oil passage issues? Will you run propane or will this now just be ran on petrol? My uncle built a stroker FE and had restrictors put in the heads for the same reason. Its worked well so far, but it hasn't been driven much.
Thanks, Randy.
I'm not the slightest bit worried about the oil passages. I've run a Clevo well over 7000 (closer to 8000, actually) with no restrcitors and on teardown, it looked like it was just assembled and it did in excess of 240 runs down the strip, plus 10,000 street miles. This engine is being built to run mostly propane, with gasoline as a back-up and an emphasis on low and mid-range torque (and hopefully reasonable fuel efficiancy). The focus is on reducing friction losses, oil control and reliability.
