I am busy. July is a killer for my personal stuff as well. My b day is the 25th my anniversary is the 27th and Mrs. Bruno's b day is the 31st. So I have a full plate there also. The heat is about to kill me. When I get off I am whooped to say the least. I need to get a free minute to finish up the side boards. I discovered that instead of 6 posts I need 8. So I went to the scrap yard and picked up a piece of rectangular tubing to make 2 more with. I did cabbage onto some nice treated 2x12's to make the boards with. I have been thinking about what needs to be done to finish up. I need to come up with some kind of tailgate hinge mechanism. I should probably load up Jason and bring him along to do some welding. If you are slowing down with your personal obligations I may try to sneak out there next week. James is foaming at the mouth to help out with a head job on the Bronco also. I just cant bare to think about staying out in this heat longer than I have to at work. So maybe I should try to make the straight edges to check the head with whenever I make it out there.

 

I understand the personal stuff: Our son, the one that is out of work, came home with us on the trip to DC and stayed a week. Yesterday was our 43rd anniversary awa or DiL's birthday. The 8th is our grandtwin's birthday; the 9th is our son's birthday awa my parent's anniversary, and the 10th is our son & DiL's anniversary. So, I understand.

Anyway, I'm here next week. But, we'll be leaving next Friday and back on the following Monday. And, I'm going up to see Dad's new digs some time next week - he goes into a nursing home tomorrow. So, check with me but we should be able to work it next week.

 

I have to say the diesel should be the longest shaft, there is an adapter plate on the 7.3l to compensate for the additional dual mast flywheel which would require a longer input shaft to reach the crank. I wish them transmissions were more readily available for me. It has been well over ten years since ive taken one out of a pickup.

 

That is TOO COOL..
Great Job!!
Tip of the hat to you.
Nothing like an extended crank for a 351M.

 

I'd forgotten about that discussion. But, IIRC it was going to cost arms and legs to have the input shaft changed by a pro, and the shaft itself was pretty expensive. I've since seen whole diesel transmissions for $500 on CL around here, but from what I've heard the ZF is a complex beast and requires some special tooling.

And, btw, I see you are in Aurora. I assume you know Chris?

Thanks! And, btw, I have a good-sized tote full of swarf. Where should I send it?

 

I think you should bundle it up and send it COD to Pennsylvania Avenue.
Be sure to put ATTN: National Debt Reduction Fund...

 

Got the faux hub done and the spacer mounted on it with a few light passes on the spacer. The shots are:

1. The faux hub with the center pilot the same size as that of a 351M/400's crank pilot. And, it is tapped 1/2-13 in the center
2. The spacer mounted on the hub
3. A light pass taking .003" off the pilot of the spacer to see how much runout there is. The shiny place is where the material was taken off.
4. Here I've taken about .005" off and there's still a bit of dye left.

Not shown is a pass taking a total of .008" off and all the and all the layout dye is gone indicating it is co-axial with the hub's pilot. And, I put dye on the face of the spacer and took a light cut and all the dye was taken off, so that cleaned up very nicely.

Don't think I'll get back to the project until Monday at the earliest since company is coming in for the weekend. And, even Monday is doubtful as we'll probably go see Dad in his new digs. He's out of the hospital where they were testing him and into a different facility that understands how to deal with Altzheimer patients.

Anyway, I'm closing in on having this part done. After that I'll put it on the mill and drill the bolt holes. Then finish the engine and start taking Dad's truck apart. But, I may have to wait a bit as there seems to be another project looming - bed removal and "shipping" and I might need Dad's truck for part of that.

 

The only thing "special" you really need is the holder to assemble and its a base mount with a strap to hold the gear pack together. Ive done a few and they arent too bad. It can be done with a wratchet strap if you need help holding the pack together.

I was looking for a 2WD ZF for my F100 and ended up with a C6 because they are hard to find.

I know a Chris that builds mopar trans, wouldnt be on this board.

 

The Chris I talking about is our moderator, ctubutis. He lives near you.

Hopefully this approach will work well and I won't have to break into this ZF. I've rebuilt one manual tranny in my life and it was in my room at college about 45 years ago. So, I'm probably not quite up to speed on that task and maybe better not refresh on a ZF.

 

i have also gone a very similar route. currently workin in north dakota and not getting to play truck for a week or two. my question is with flywhee and OEM 400 or 460 flywheel. with the 400 flywheel my starter ring gear alignment was a issues and the 460 flywheel hyd thicker set up corrected this issue. the 460 flywheel and bushing and had .650ish with mock up. now building a new bushing with .150 behind flywheel and will correct several issues with starter and keeping throwout bearing on tranny guide and not be rocking on end of tranny guide. catch you later. keepin old iron alive one ford at a time. on the .150 behind flywheel i could of went a little more but left myself some room for fine tuning, shimming if necessary.

 

on my setup looking to have about .900 to .850 engagement at hub to input shaft. this is more than enough with 460 hyd flywheel bushed. the bushing is a one piece setup similar to yours. .150 thick behind flywhee and bushed to center the 460 on small block flange on crank of 400. catch you later.

 

How much did it cost to have your 460 flywheel balanced to the 400? I'm using the stock 351M flywheel, which is the same as the 400 unit except drilled for a smaller pressure plate due to the 11" clutch the 351M uses vs the 12" of the 400. Going with the larger flywheel would have allowed using a more common 460 clutch, but I did find that some 460's had an 11" clutch and that's what I'll use.


I'll have about the same spline engagement via my .300" spacer on the 351M flywheel. But, I'll have to use a 351W auto tranny starter as it has a longer Bendix throw, and will need to move the ring gear on the flywheel forward .080".

Are you going to any extra effort on the spacer/bushing to ensure the front and rear flanges are perfectly parallel to each other? As others have pointed out in this thread, if they aren't perfectly parallel then the flywheel won't run true, and due to the much larger size of the flywheel vs the spacer the error is multiplied many times over. So, Ken Blythen came up with a neat approach wherein I make a hub exactly the same size as that of the crank and clamp the spacer to that for the final machining. That way the front and rear faces of the flange have to be truly parallel.

 

it cost me 80 bucks to balance my 400 balanced flywheel to the new 460 hyd thick flywheel. kinda tricky because the 400 was a 28 ounce flywheel and the 460 hyd was 24 ounce. this is what the balance guy told me. i think normal balance job is usually about 150 bucks. the 460 flywheel i have a 12.250 dual friction clutch on it. hopefully be back home this weekend and do final assembly. the hub/spacer .150 is machined properly so no wobble or runout. been a interesting little learning curve for overdrive. still not 100% complete but really close. i will check final run out once assemble. stuck workin n dakota makin some bank$$

 

460 starter with hyd flywheel. about .900 spline contact nice. could probably cheat to 1" if i had more time to tinker. not enough time these days.

 

Got the lathe work on the spacer done today - with one scary moment. On the very, VERY last cut, a 45 degree chamfer on the inside of the pilot bearing pocket, I touched the tool and not the cutting edge to the work. That gouged the work and knocked the faux hub out of alignment with the chuck.

After cooling down a bit and examining the spacer I realized that the gouge was only on the end and a tiny bit of the inside of the pocket. So, I chucked it up and cleaned up the chamfer.

The spacer is a slip-fit in the flywheel and a good fit on the crank. All that is left on the spacer itself is to drill the holes for the bolts. There I have two possible methods for that:

1. Rotary Table: This allows rotating a work piece very accurately, down to seconds of a minute of a degree. To use it I'll machine a rod with a slight taper (MT #2) that will go in the rotary table, and it'll have a reduced diameter on the other end that will be a precise fit into the center of the spacer. That'll precisely center the spacer on the rotary table, and then I'll center that under the mill's spindle. Move out 1.500", drill a hole, rotate 60 degrees/drill another hole times 4, and then rotate 57 degrees and drill the last hole
2. The other approach is to clamp the work to the table, find the center, move out 1.500" and drill, and then move to the other holes via X & Y coordinates as determined via the drawing.

I haven't decided which way to go, but what do y'all think?