Graham's '68 F-100 - Engine swap week

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hfdco4
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Re: Graham's '68 F-100 - Engine swap week

Post by hfdco4 »

Great job so far. I like you are doing this on your own and including your son as much as you can.
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sargentrs
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Re: Graham's '68 F-100 - Engine swap week

Post by sargentrs »

The center line of the engine is 1.50", toward the passenger side, from the center line of the frame. Your cranshaft pulley, transmission tail, drive shaft and differential yoke should all be in the same line. Have you considered mounting the transmission crossmember under the frame instead of inside the frame rails, and adding spacers as needed to lower it, then just drill a new hole for the mount in the crossmember? Once you have everything lined up and are comfortable, you could always get an aftermarket crossmember http://www.summitracing.com/search/part ... =Ascending
Randy
1970 F100 Sport Custom Limited LWB, 302cid, 3 on the tree. NO A/C, NO P/S, NO P/B. Currently in 1000 pcs while rebuilding. Project thread: http://www.fordification.com/forum/view ... 22&t=59995 Plan: 351w, C4, LSD, pwr front disc, p/s, a/c, bucket seats, new interior and paint.
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Re: Graham's '68 F-100 - Engine swap week

Post by motzingg »

thanks guys!

just a 'howdy' always helps keep me motivated to take pictures, what i'm doing seems like a pretty cheap, straightforward and common-sense modification to improve the usefulness and reliability of the old girl, so hopefully this can motivate others to follow in my footsteps. If i can manage the whole project in 1 week (saturday to saturday) I'll be pretty proud of myself and might not get divorced!


Anyhow, yeah, i can always fabricate a crossmember if i have to, and for a lot less than 100 bucks, although that's not too bad.

i feel like it should fit, when i get home tonight i'm going to take another look at the rear trans mount and see if i cant put the old one on the M5.

1.5" looks like what it would have been on the old engine, but this one is way over, and it definitely is going diagonal in the chassis... it doesn't look like the motor mount location changed, but the mounting stud is really far back in the pas. side mount, which in order to get it to line up, means that the engine would be tipped.

it is dead centered in the hump in the firewall, but by the time it gets back to the tunnel, it is well off to the side of the tunnel at the seat.



Well, I tried to get up the motivation to do the driveshaft myself last night... eh.

I cut the end cap off and was kinda dissapointed to see that the overlap/insertion part of the end cap only goes into the shaft about 1/2", definitely not enough to get a good alignment by hand.

It was a bit tougher to get a straight cut on the pipe with the angle grinder so tonight i'm going to take it to a machine shop and turn the end off square.

Got a few more little things hooked up.. electric fuel pump, wiring, heater hoses... not much really.
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Re: Graham's '68 F-100 - Engine swap week

Post by motzingg »

Made minimal progress over the weekend. Got the front clip back together. Slowly checking off the minor details.

I was hoping to get it all buttoned up but too much family stuff and saturday was pouring monsoon style rain.

The driveshaft shortening went pretty well. I was able to get it cut down at a machine shop in a band saw. It came out pretty damn close and I lined it up with a square and a rod through the clevis.
Image
Image


Didn't take a picture of the weld, but it welded up nicely. The length looks like it is dead on.

I guess the big news is that i got her fired up. Managed to fry the Duraspark box because i hooked it up backwards... hopefully this doesn't become a problem with the TFI coil on there. But I finally got the wiring figured out and spliced together the old alternator wiring harness. I had a backup box so no big deal.

She started on the first kick, once i got power to the CDI, so that was pretty cool. Sounds healthy.

Also fried the fuel pump so i'm going to have to get another one of those, wasn't able to run it much on account of the no fuel pump thing, but it should be on the road and rolling one i sort out the clutch and bolt in the driveshaft.


It starts... woah... like half a click right now. Even almost started when i unpluged the duraspark box one time. The rings still haven't seated but the engine sounds real healthy. The 2-3 minutes of run time hasn't turned up any gunk or shiny bits in the metal so i'm thinking i got it right this time... we'll see!
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Re: Graham's '68 F-100 - Engine swap week

Post by motzingg »

No pictures after this weekend, but I got a couple hours on Saturday and a couple hours on sunday to knock more stuff off my list.

Getting down to the odds and ends crap that takes forever and doesn't feel like you get anything done.

The crossmember and driveshaft went together real quick once I realized that I had to use the OLD TRANSMISSION MOUNT ... duh.. wow it seems so obvious now, but i was trying to figure out how to use the one on the M5R2... it never occurred to me that they might be interchangeable, but they totally were. The 50 year old mount bolted right on to the M5R2 and fit the crossmember perfecto.

I used a ratchet strap around the framerail to pull the tailhousing over 2-3 inches and the bolt went right in. The holes had to get moved back 5.5" in the framerails and that was done quickly with a cordless drill.

Brand new 1/2"-13 grade 8 bolts bolted the crossmember in place.

The Clutch hydraulic line, not so good. I tried to heat it up with a torch and jam it on the barb in the transmission, but by the time I got it hot enough to push onto the barb, it started burning. It is really sturdy stuff. Reminds me of PEX tubing but much much stronger and I think it was probably pressed in place with some kind of pressing tool and a lot of force.

Then Oreily boned me by either not ordering or ordering then loosing the fuel pump rebuild kit i need to get the engine running. Hopefully it comes tomorrow, its been nearly a week since they ordered it from their facility in Dallas... should only take a day or 2.


Today I ordered the replacement hydraulic line... Just to get me going for the time being... 33 bucks ouch! And the missing plugs for the alternator, and some random stuff. 75 bucks from Rock Auto worth of assorted odds and ends, that kinda stuff blows your budget fast!


The front clip is totally bolted back on now, and my dad helped me get the hood installed and lined up pretty good. I'm not going to put all the trim pieces back, as I hope to be tearing back down to paint...


oh yeah what else? 187 bucks to the Travis County tax office and the truck is legal free and clear in texas! That is nice to have taken care of as well.


pictures probably wont come this weekend, maybe, depending on when the rest of the parts come in and its worth taking a picture.
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Re: Graham's '68 F-100 - Engine swap week

Post by motzingg »

Esh, even I don't want to read this without PICTURES!

too bad i get home after dark these days.


Well, O'reily screwed me, after waiting a week, and 3 trips to the store with them saying the fuel pump rebuild kit 'should be here tomorrow' i finally had enough and ordered it from summit.

That and the clutch line should be in on thursday. In the meantime I'm hauling my son to day care in the bicycle trailer... maybe i can work off some of those holiday pounds?
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Re: Graham's '68 F-100 - Engine swap week

Post by motzingg »

Quick Update:

I had posted the last two weeks on http://fordsix.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=72714

Regarding a Knock sound that showed up in the engine after the first warmup.

My dad was in town for thanksgiving and when i fired up the truck he said he heard something, with his head under the hood just for a second. A couple days later I finally got the fuel pump rebuilt... which is working awesome. The relief valve spring was too stiff so i had to cut it just about in half to get the pressure down where it wasn't blowing out the floats. I also had to adjust the floats lower, but that is working perfectly.

Eventually i will put a good filter in there and do a return to tank loop, but i gotta get a new tank sorted for that.

So anyway... got the engine real nice and hot. Got the air purged out of the coolant, set the timing, the engine was running absolutely perfect until it started this tapping sound. Drove myself crazy trying to figure out what it was. I probably ran the engine a good 1/2 hour total between several attempts to diagnose it. Finally last weekend I bit the bullet and pulled the oil pan.

Yep... worst case scenario...
Image

The offending rod cap
Image

compared to a not-taco'd rod cap
Image

And of course, the rod is bent in the same fashion. That meant pulling the head and everything out with it.
Image

The piston made contact with the head and, while not totally scrapped, it probably ought to be replaced.

Ordered a single used rod and piston off Ebay, reasonably priced at $25. They haven't arrived yet but i'm itching to put them in.


The good/bad news is that the entire rest of the engine looks perfect. Breaking in perfectly. It would have been a flawless rebuild had I not managed to screw up torquing the one, final, rod cap. Probably just tightened it down and spaced out.

The crank journal is unscathed, the bearing took all the abuse.
Image

Ugh... just kills me that this happened. Total mistake on my part, and what a mistake to make! Stuff like this drives me crazy, the rest of the life of the engine i'll be wondering about that #6 cylinder and kicking myself. Bummer.

Talked to my brother on the phone when i realized what happened, he told me to watch Larry Larson rebuild the top end of six-figure drag race motor, in the pits, in 15 minutes during drag week. If he can do that, whats one stupid little loose nut in a stock tractor motor in a 50 year old truck. Get it done, do it better, move on. Learn from the mistakes and push yourself harder to not make them again. This experience already has me bench racing the new motor! Gotta purge those demons somehow.
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Re: Graham's '68 F-100 - Engine swap week

Post by motzingg »

Its been a real long time since the last update, and I picked a really bad place to leave you hanging.

The new piston came, went in, and the truck has been running and driving great for the last few months. Not much to say there! I had an extra set of bearings so i used standard bearings. I was able to get the oil pan gasket mostly back into place, and replaced the 1024 with the cheaper 15 dollar garden variety head gasket, since the engine will have to come apart again before turbocharging.

The heartbreaker is that the 'new' piston that came with my new rod from ebay was fairly torn up. I was frustrated and in a hurry to install it and popped it in knowing that i should have pressed the old piston off the old rod and put it on the new rod. So now there is one cylinder slapping just a little bit when it is cold. Its not enough that most other people would notice, but it drives me nuts, so i'll be rebuilding this one again.



Not sure exactly when I finished everything up, a few of the last details involved rebuilding and installing a holley 'Blue' fuel pump. A friend of mine gave it to me, it was packed full of garbage and all the seals were wore out. It took two weeks to get the rebuild kit, but it was easy to do. The pump i have was made in USA probably 80's vintage, i'm not sure, but it is very sturdy, built to last forever.

I had to cut the relief valve spring, the one that came in the kit was about 2x too long, i'm not sure if they mean for you to cut it or if that pump is usually supposed to put out 20 PSI of fuel, but I cut it in half for starters, then trimmed it down until the carb stopped flooding.

I built a nifty bracket for my electric radiator fan and installed that, I bought it for 30 bucks off craigslist, easier than going to the junkyard. The guy said it was from a tarus, it was almost a perfect fit but needed a little bracket to hold it along the top, pop rivets and a couple 1/4-20 clip nuts and bolts, it works AWESOME.

One of the axle bearings seized up (locked up HARD) and that had to get replaced. Much bigger job than it would have been had i had the proper tools... in the end i had to pay a guy $50 (YES THAT IS FIFTY DOLLARS) to press the bearing off and press the new one on... Dang i need to find a better machine shop! To his credit he threw away the old bearing and only charged me a $7 disposal fee. Bummer i actually wanted that bearing, would have made a good one for my 'offerings to the gods of speed' wall.

I started putting together the new wiring harness. That is going to be a job. I've bought some nifty little fuse blocks, a battery box (boat style) and i'm building it off a piece of 1/4" aluminum plate. Still haven't found a suitable box, but i'm working on that.


I replaced one of the front suspension bushings, the i-beam brackets, are gone... hey i actually have a picture of that!!
Image

Got it out with a torch, and quite a bit of cursing. Getting it back in was a different matter, it was .050+ bigger around the entire way. I had to put pie cuts into it and build a puller out of a long fine thread bolt, plumbing coupler, and a stack of washers to smash that bushing into place. Ugh... Still got to do the other one but i'm not exactly leaping at the chance to do it.


Last but not least, the old girl got some 'new' shoes.
Image

Those are some crappy used (hey they are all four the same!!) wal-mart goodyears. The are 235x70x15. The front two wheels are stock from a 1991 F-150. The rear two are from some 80's Jeep i think. The best i can figure. They could be no-name aftermarket or some other junk who knows.

I stripped them down with citristrip, wire-wheeld them off, and painted them with 'Majik' brand tractor paint from tractor supply. The key to using this kind of cheap enamel is to reduce it with proper enamel reducer and most importantly to use some enamel hardener in it. The result is a very good '10 foot' paint job, and every bit as hard as powdercoat. If you don't get down on your hands and knees, you can't even tell its a shoddy paint job.

Either way it serves its purpose, the goal was to use the deeper, wider wheels on the back to space out the 'dog leg' and it worked perfectly. In fact the truck might be 1/2" wider in the rear by my calculation. Either way the deeeep dish on the rear wheels gives it a racecar look, very tough in person.


Hmm, what else, not much really. Put a lot of miles on it like this. The front end and rear springs are the next to get attention. The rear has no bushings whatsoever in the springs and they are badly warped... 'Taco'd' is the technical term. I'm going to try to build a jig and press them back into shape using an arbor press. I've heard old dudes talking about doing it, it was a common practice on the old gassers... I don't see why it wouldn't work, worst case scenario they just sag back into shape and i'm back buying new ones.
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Re: Graham's '68 F-100 - Engine swap week

Post by TheRedlines »

I appreciated every step of this thread. Hope all is going well still today!
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