I was a tad unlucky on mine. Head gasket(s) failed miserably on my break in. Silver race type from a reputable builder. Failed and was going to fail in so many other places so not sure if I had a dodgy pair. Bought a good middle of the range Felpro set, used some sealent adhesive spray (Hylomar?) and diligently retorqued. Thrashed many times and no worries.

 

I've always used Felpro on my mopar builds and have had nothing but good luck. Never used the adhesive spray on anything other than small block mopar timing cover gaskets. The book I was using while building this 400 suggested using it all over the place. I guess I'm old school when it comes to that stuff. If it isn't holding it in place, why do you need it? Time will tell if it was a wise choice.

 

If i hadn't (A) been given the spray for free, and (B) had a head gasket failure I probably wouldnt have used it either. I have been involved in the U/G mining game some of the loctite sealants are very good. Even dealt with some guys from Caterpillar and they use it a bit too. 515 is a fantastic sealer and unlike the silicon types doesnt have blobby bits that float around the engine. One guy who must not be named even told me that if you REALLY had to in an emergency use 515 liberally on both surfaces of a torn head gasket and as long as you followed curing times etc, it would be a perfectly good field fix until you could get another gasket. this was on commercial deisels with a lot of compression.
from what I've seen of it I would believe him.

 

U/G Mining!! I've been doing that since 1997! Been working on and around Elphinstone & now Cat Underground stuff for quite a while. The good yellow gear comes from Tasmania!

I have seen 515 and other stuff used on deutz, cummins, and Cat engines but more often than not, we were just changing junked out engines. Probably worthwhile on this lower compression stuff too.

 

Maaaate!! Done a bit of stone drivage (road headers and jumbos)and coal mining over the years. Most of my UG was in New Zealand. Involved with the hire game now in Aussie so havent had to touch the spanners for a few years now. Leave that to when I'm working on the 400 LOL

 

There's been a bunch of progress since my last post. The truck has been moved to my in-laws place near Sheridan, Wyoming and I've been working on it almost every weekend. A lot of the work has nothing to do with the engine though....I'll post pictures of that stuff in another place.

I've replaced that "trailer safety relay" I mentioned a couple of posts back. It was a $12 part from Napa. The wiring hack job has been mostly repaired now too. I have torn about 100' of wiring out of this thing. I really want to know what the PO was thinking when they installed all of it. What a pain in the %$#.

Alternator wasn't charging, and that ended up being a bad alternator, and a bad wire. Changed the voltage regulator in the process just to be safe.

Truck starts right off, and runs the way you would want it. Once I hooked up the exhaust it became a lot easier to be around. That 400 through straight pipes sounds very mean. The edelbrock carb isn't ideal but will have to do until Wyoming 4x4 and I can get together and order the right one.

Power is very good. There is no shortage of low end torque, even with this heavy truck. I think the cam selection was perfect for the application. I ran it down the dirt road out here and was very surprised at the acceleration. When I turned around I mashed the gas and ended up in the other ditch! It's going to take a little getting used too. Thankfully this truck has the iron needed to put up with the power.

So now it's time to get this thing licensed and put some miles on it. This journey hasn't always been easy, but it's been fun. Takes quite a bit of time to get everything just right but I think it's finally paying off. I'll add some pictures after I get back to civilization, because the Supercab is coming to town today.

 

keepin old iron alive can be a challenge. helped another guy in sheridan area with a 650 quick fuel double pumper with 1 to 1 linkage and he likes it. its on a nice little 429. he has no carb experience and so kept the carb smaller and more driver friendly. my 70 crewcab 4wd is still happening and hope to have running by end of month. truck has many upgrades!!

 

After much research and debate with friends, I've ordered this carb: Summit Racing SUM-M08750VS - Summit Racing Street & Strip® Carburetors - Overview - SummitRacing.com

And this distributor: Ford DUI - Street/Strip Version

The carb showed up yesterday and I'll have the dizzy will be here on Tuesday.

I'm looking forward to installing them and reporting back.

 

I ended up using the summit racing 650 and I really like it. Runs great straight out of the box. One thing I would recommend is picking up a new fuel splitter line that runs from the front fuel bowl to the back. The one they send with the carb is really cheap and will leak when you start it. Good luck.

 

Damn good advice! Thank you. I almost added one to the cart when i was purchasing the carb. Thankfully, I have another one here that will suffice.

I hope this one runs right out of the box.

 

will be back in sheridan middle next week. drop a message, will be available to play a little.

 

Had a good weekend with the truck. Installed the new Summit carb and the DUI distributor. What a difference!

The summit carb performed right out of the box, as did the DUI distributor. Follow the directions on both and you'll be happy. I ended up backing the timing off a bit (following the directions for road testing) and am very happy with the results.

I also installed a set of thrush turbo mufflers, re-bushed the driver door hinge, installed a new temp sender, bled the brakes, and a few other projects. This is turning into a damn nice truck. Runs good, looks decent, and I have less than $3500 in it.

 

congrats, and yes a good truck.

 

How did you end up setting up your cam - straight-up or advanced 4 degrees?

 

It's set straight up. After reading the Cam card again and talking with a few guys here (Wyoming 4x4) the answer became a lot more obvious. It needs to be set at zero.