Haven't got a good pic of the topper yet but here it is at night. It's not a dealer add on as its fiberglass.
I won't mount it for a month hopefully sooner, but should I paint it white to match the truck? I know it's hard to see how it will look until it's on the truck



Also put the order in for the L&L headers, $621.57 that's a steep price but hopefully worth it. One more piece to the puzzle, they should be here by 14June2016. They're building them this week. Stuff I still need: Thermostat and housing, distributor, radiator, electric fan, random wire stuff, hoses, alternator (can I reuse the one off the 95 F350) fuel pump, fuel pressure regulator, new brake lines, the rest of the exhaust including mufflers considering going with the Borla ProXS as they have good reviews (I really don't want the truck to be obnoxious and as minimal drone as possible, gauges,
Still need to do: mount transmission, replace floor, repaint firewall (most likely will use bed liner on it), bed liner bottom of cab, install 38gallon fuel tank and rewire truck, break in engine and install all parts above.... One step at a time not in that exact order

 

I moved the transmission crossmember back 4.5 inches. It's not bolted in yet, I need new bolts. The old hardware had to be cut off. I removed the floor pan I tack welded in too to get better access to the transmission crossmember.
No pics today it was raining pretty good.
Yesterday I repaired the front passenger side leafspring mount and applied some POR15. I need to redesign a power steering mount because it hits the steering box.
Will post pics when I can take some

 

Spent a lot of time in a 753 pushing snow off the yard, pushing coal into the bin and loading coal, during the warm season it was drilling post holes with an auger. Was on 9 acres for a few years and a third of it was driving, parking area, had a 14 tree long driveway.

 

Glad to see you are breathing new life into this truck. Should have lots of power with this new setup

 

Hopefully so. On your 1990 7.3 w/ 500+k on it, how did the ZF hold up for you?




And the 753, its a good little machine. It impresses me when it has traction, it really annoys me when it gets stuck. I've had to winch it out of mud/dirt a few times this year. I used it to move the 460 from the shed to the cherry picker. Gravel work area, cherry picker wouldn't roll too well.

 

The ZF has been fine for both trucks so far. Only have had to replace the clutch. The 350 has pulled 15k lbs of hay just fine as well with that transmission

 

Nice! I don't think I'll hit 15k worth of hay but 8000 a few times a year.
I'm pulling the engine. I got the 95 power steering pump to work and the crossmember in place. I marked the holes for the new transmission mount.
Pulling the engine in order to clean the firewall up a lot, finish the POR15 and start rewireing everything.
Tonight's goal is to pull engine and transmission. Possibly drill 2 holes.

 

Got the crossmember bolted in with grade 8 hardware. Its one day out from POR15. The side supports are clean and the POR15 is drying. I cleaned the firewall a little and sprayed it with bed liner in a rattle can.
All this work is going to just lead up to a cab swap when I have the funds available. My cowl is rusted underneath. Maybe I can fix it.



Before and during




After. This was the first coat


I don't know who suggested it or what thread it was on. But if you don't have a steam cleaner or power washer using heavy duty oven cleaner does a really great job at helping get caked on grease off. I am sold on that.

 

Question time!
The threads on the transmission mount seem to be fine thread or metric. Does anyone know what size threads (so I have get a pair of nuts) are for a 1995 ZF5 mount bolts?
What thread/size bolts are required for the clutch on the 460 (1995)
I have the flywheel mounted on the engine, tonight I will torque that to spec. I would like to make a Lowes run to get the hardware for the clutch (grade 8) but I need to know the thread pitch. It is not 1/4x20.


Lastly: EXHAUST!!!! I am looking at mufflers for the truck. I want it quiet for the most part except under WOT. The borla in the above post seems to be a little loud in the youtube videos I have watched. What are you running and how do you like it? Thanks!!!!!


Updates: I modified the clutch linkage arm to accept the pushrod for the ZF. I am not sure if it will work but I will attempt to weld in the reinforcement panel to the firewall and get it mounted up today. It would be nice to have the engine in and hooked up to the transmission and not remove for a very long time (fingers crossed). This all depends on if my clutch push rod mod works though. It looks like it will be mounted inside of the brake booster. (I really hope it doesn't interfere with the engine install..)

 

That crazy search function worked out for me...


https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1...-nut-size.html


the transmission mount to cross member nut size which may work is 12x 1.75 still searching to verify. PG 2 of that thread confirmed it. 4bt swaps says 7/16 x 14. I will get both just to make sure. ARP says its 7/16x20 for the clutch bolts...

 

The clutch master cylinder is installed. The engine doesn't interfere with anything, I will post a pic later.
I ended up making 2 U-channel's out of 2 1/2" pieces of angle iron from Lowes to space the thing out ~1". Then welded 10GA on top of that, drilled the holes and welded studs to the back for the master cylinder to bolt up to. Then welded that onto the firewall after welding some more 10GA and blending it in to look like the plate isn't there. After cleaning it sprayed it with rattle can bed-liner and installed it.


Bad news is I cannot for the past 3 days get the pilot bearing to line up. Today I will re-pull the engine and transmission and bolt them up together, raise the cab a lot 4-10" and reinstall as a unit.


Thanks to other forum members I have decided on going FiTECH EFI on this. I will order it in Mid-july along with a bunch of other stuff. I want the meanstreet 800HP set up just incase if one day I want to make this 460 over 500CID.
Less than 3 weeks before I head down to Ft. Polk, LA until the beginning of August yayyyy JRTC. It can't be that bad as a pilot, I'm sure it sucks for the grunts. I would have loved to get this truck done before I left but crap happens. Pics to come tonight hopefully

 

Great build, subscribed! We are the vendor on the forum, let me know if you need any parts!

 

Also, ordered the L&L's on June 2nd and they still have no tracking information which means they have not shipped yet. Customer service said when I placed the order they would be build by the 8th and shipped by the 10th... Not sure what to expect for $600+ headers but I would at least like an update 'hey your headers will be on the welding table next week, hey your headers are almost complete, they're almost ready to ship' etc but NOPE

 

I ended up pulling the engine out, the transfer case off the ZF5, then pulled the ZF5. Assembled the engine transmission close to the ground then installed it. Put the clutch hydraulics on and tried it out. It bent the mount at the pedal. I gotta figure out a new mount. I think if I make the steel thicker and reinforce the hardware it will work. It wouldn't be modifying if you don't hit a few snags along the line.
Happy everything went in without much fuss. Can't wait to get it running

 

Today I pulled the rear driveshaft off the axle. I find it embarrassing and funny how much stuff I've overlooked on my own truck. Turns out the rear suspension has a double stack of blocks. I'm shocked they haven't broken free yet!!! That's now a priority to fix before I drive it again.
Also there was some strange paint on the inside of the driver side cab that was not stuck to much. Come to find out it was bondo and tinfoil.
I worked a little bit on the center cab floor support. I think I need to change it again because it's 1/2" above the transfercase. I pulled it half way out of the car port with my Corolla hahahahaha! Now I have access to the driver side of the truck to fix that rusted mess.


Last night I reorganized some tools. Now the last place I used them isn't their home. It's sad I know




Wth is that stupid stupid fix the PO did. I wish I was smarter when I was 21 buying this truck




Pics of the ZF5




Transfercase is close to the frame






Hole I needed to cut to get the trans in there. Still thinking about welding nut plates on it and having it a removable panel.