Many thanks for dropping by and saying, "Hi." Lots more ahead so won't be finished soon but I am determined to get Zelda drivable this year. Of course, I said that last year too. ;-)

 

Ha, ha, ha. I've been saying the same thing for the last five years .

 

With modifications and adjustments complete and everything checked and double-checked, it is time to crown the top end with the intake manifold and its accompanying parts.


Following Edelbrock’s recommendations, I used Gaskacinch on both the cylinder head and cylinder head side of the gasket that came with the top end kit. This stuff enables one to place the gasket right where it needs to be and not worry about it shifting around when the manifold is lowered onto it. The other imperative move is to use Permatex Great Stuff to seal the so-called China walls. It can be purchased in a tube that fits in a standard caulking gun and using that set-up is very effective and convenient.


Here’s the view from the rear of the engine. I’m not going to make any attempts at prettifying this as it is largely out of sight when installed.


With the intake manifold torqued down (30 ft/lbs instead of Edelbrock’s recommended 25), it’s time to shift from mocked-up to sealed and torqued down. Note how the plumbing for the heater has been temporarily bypassed. Eventually, I will add heat and air but, for now, I am the Geeter without the heater. Extra points for any and all who get that ancient DJ reference.


This will be sufficient for the installation into the engine bay. After it’s in, I’ll add the fan. After chassis installation and the initial break-in. I’ll be relocating the oil filter, adding the Saginaw power steering pump with custom brackets and plumbing all of that with Russell hoses and fittings. So this configuration keeps things simple for startup and break-in.


The new pushrods were cleaned to remove manufacturing grit and lube then soaked in motor oil for a few minutes before placing them through the holes in the intake manifold and onto the lifters.


All of the components of the rocker assembly were also cleaned. Here are the stands, studs, spacers, shims and shafts all oiled up and ready to go.


Harland Sharp recommends that the rockers be marinated in oil overnight so here they are soaking in a mixture of 5W-20 and Dextron V.


The marinated rockers were reassembled, installed on the engine and the studs were torqued down to 25 ft/lbs. Rotating he engine in 90º increments, valve lash was set to zero with an additional half turn for hydraulic lifter preload. Adjuster nuts were torqued to 10 ft/lbs. Note that some rockers are in the midst of opening their assigned valve.


Spark plugs (RC12-YC) were gapped at 0.050” and treated to an anti-seize compound on the threads. These are gasket plugs so they get an extra half turn after being seated.


Using Edelbrock’s recommended stud kit for the rocker assembly interferes with the baffle in the valve cover so I lowered its profile a bit with a little hammer work. Had the valve cover been of cast aluminum construction, this might have been a more difficult problem to deal with.


With the valve covers in place and cinched down, the engine is sealed well enough to start thinking about getting it off the stand and connected to the transmission. Since I don’t want to attach a chain to intake manifold bolts as I normally would with cast iron, I am thinking about alternate methods that make use of the studs for the headers. To make good use of the load leveler I have, I’m thinking about two nylon straps, one front and one rear. Maybe re-purposing safety belts would make sense.

 

That engine is a beautiful piece of machinery. Thanks for the detailed write up and info. Great work as always..

 

You could use the plate that bolts down where the carb goes. I'm not a fan of it either, but guys on the FE forum say it's not a problem. Now once the trans is on, all bets are off.

I'm not a fan of Champion plugs on an automotive engine, on lawn equipment, perfect.

I prefer Autolite in 18mm plugs and NGK in 14mm plugs. Mainly turned that way based on an old roommate who builds drag cars, says Champions are junk.

 

I would definitely say you're on the right track.

Check out a few of the photos from some old posts of mine (Post #89). I used ratchet straps on the transmission, and also on an engine later on (bigger ones for the engine of course).

College/University Budget Build Thread - Post #89

I imagine that you can do the exact same thing, minus the mess I left on my straps lol.

With enough straps, I was able to have FULL control of the level on the engine and on the tail of the trans.

 

@axidjw, thanks and here's hoping that it runs as good as it looks.
@1320stang, I'll be installing the engine and trans as a unit so I'll need all of the adjustability of the load leveler. The Champion RC12-YC plugs ere specifically recommended by Edelbrock in the instructions to the top end kit. They go on to say that it may be necessary to go to a different heat range so this will provide a starting point and a benchmark for future adjustments. BTW, I see from the packaging that Champion is now a Federal Mogul company.
@Aaron-71, Thanks for pointing out your use of nylon strapping. The goal is to lift egine and transmission as a unit with all of the adjustability of the load leveler but w/o chains scratching things up. I may even temporarily remove the motor mount brackets on the frame to avoid tipping the unit up and down so much.

 

Been quietly following along for some time now, probably my favorite thread here. Have a question about the oil filter, nothing to do with the brand but it's current mounting position. You already talked about relocating it, but on my engine (390 so I'm told) mounted in what appears to be the same position I had a really hard time getting the old filter off. It interfered with the power steering box, long story short after fighting to get it out I replaced it with a shorter filter since the stock unit simply would not fit without crushing the housing.

Somewhere on here it seems like somebody mentioned the filter adapter for trucks being different than that of the cars, the truck version offering a vertical mounting position rather than horizontal. As I recall (without going back and checking) this is the same engine you pulled from the truck. I guess what I'm asking is if that will interfere with your steering box or if you deliberately used that filter adapter rather than the other one, if such a thing exists?

 

Ford did make two different filter adapters and both were used on the trucks.
The vertical filter adapter was P/N C0AZ-6881-A and was for '73 F250 4WD, '74 F100-250 4WD and the 75 & 76 F250 4WD
The horizontal filter adapter was P/N C5TZ-6881-B and was for the '73-'76 F100-350 2WD, '73 F100 4WD and the '75 F100 4WD.

 

Sounds like you have a 4WD which would require a different kind of oil filter adapter than on my RWD truck.
I posted that as a separate thread that you can read or re-read here. Note the ninth image showing the three kinds of oil filter adapters for the FE engine, two for trucks and one for passenger cars. One of the truck adapters is for RWD while the other is for the 4WDs.

• The passenger car adapter holds the filter in a vertical position.
• The RWD truck adapter holds the filter in a horizontal position.
• The 4WD truck adapter holds the filter at a 45º angle (to avoid the steering box I assume)

With the correct adapter, you should be able to use a full sized filter. I hope that this info helps you identify the problem and perhaps find a solution.
As you'll read, my plan to relocate the oil filter is to solve a different problem but if you're not able to resolve your issue with a factory piece, this might be an option for you to consider. I'll be using a dual filter but single filter relocation is a bit easier.

 

Nice write-up on the filter relocation

Why are you going with dual filters? Typically one is plenty sufficient, given that you actually replace the filter with every oil change. Just curious about this.

 

That may explain my horizontal adapter. Maybe I bought the wrong filter, although the one that I pulled off was the same size. Not really sure how the PO managed to install it to begin with. I'm not a brilliant man by any means but I'd like to think screwing on an oil filter is truly as straight-forward as it seems.

Yes I do, and had forgotten yours was RWD over the course of this thread.

On my way to reread that information. Thank you both for the clarification. Looking forward to the next installment.

 

I may regret the decision but the thinking was that dual filters would:

1. Add about a quart to the oil supply without an expensive custom pan. That **may** be important since I have a high volume oil pump. There have been some reports of oil starvation due to HV oil pumps under some conditions.
2. Since the oil goes through the filters sequentially, the second one may catch what the first one misses.
3. Discarding oil filters need not be two at a time. Replace the first in line with the second filter tossing that first filter and then add a new filter to the second position.
4. Act as an oil cooler due to the greater surface area that two filters expose to the atmosphere as well as the remote location. Filters directly connected to the engine block receive more heat via conduction than a remotely located filter.

The obvious downside is that it takes up more space.

 

Jerry Blavat (not sure about the spelling). Used to listen to him until the local station cancelled his show.

 

You got it all right so reach on over there and give yourself a nice pat on the back.
For me, I misspelled "Geator" in "The Geator with The Heater" so I loose points. Not all cars back in that day had heaters so having a car with a heater could improve one's popularity when the thermometer dropped. Details via Wikipedia here.