This past weekend at a local repair shop for large trucks [diesels], I had a chance to look under the hood of a 1979 F600. This was a former military vehicle equipped with 300 six cylinder and NP 4 speed manual. It is a real man's truck in that it has no P/S or power brakes.

The engine was listed as non-catalyst, but had a surprising amount of vacuum hoses and solenoids. It had EGR and thermactor system, but the air pump had been removed and a few hoses had been cut. The distributor is Duraspark with two vacuum hoses going to the canister. The ground strap went from the negative battery terminal directly to the block and a 2nd cable piggy backed to the same engine block bolt and then to the frame. There was no cable going to the mounting bolt of the starter motor, like is the case on my F150. Of course, the cables had been replaced and this may not have been the original routing. There is a very large air cleaner with a missing snorkel.

I enjoyed looking at the heavy duty exhaust manifold with the 2 1/2" pipe going straight down.

I cannot post pictures, but do have a photo of each side of the engine which I can email to AbandonedBronco [moderator] if he so desires and perhaps he could attach to this thread.

 

Sounds good, send them my way.

Are you sure it was an NP 4-speed? I've been keeping my eyes out for an F600 with a 300 in it for a while since most of those came with the rare NP-540, which is a heavy duty cast iron 5 speed version. An even rarer few of them came with the NP-540 O, which is a 5 speed with overdrive. The rest were 5 speeds with a 1:1 final.

That particular transmission is one of the few purchases that I've already informed my wife that I will by on sight and we'll figure out how to pay for it later.

 

I certainly may be wrong concerning the transmission. I will try to investigate further and report back.

The photos have been sent to your email.

 

I was only curious about the transmission. I think they're a super cool rare gem. An old school, heavy duty, cast iron 5 speed that'll bolt up to the 300? Mmm...

 

I stopped by Friday and determined that the transmission is a 4 speed.

There was a plate on the dash board with what I felt was interesting information, which shows how the 1979 model was load rated:

FSN# 2320-00-702-5876

Curb wt.: 7160#

Payload max.: 6665#

Gross wt.: 14,000#

Warranty: 15 mo. or 12,000 miles

S.N.: F608(B?)VEC0663

 

Can you get pics of the bellhousing and clutch setup?

Is it a normal bell or an adapter to a SAE bell? The EGR tubs is blocking me from seeing if it's an adapter.


You should also look for the Clark 280VO and 282VO. Both are 5spd, synchronized in 2nd through 5th with a 5.xx 1st and 0.8 5th.

They seem to have made their way into a lot more GM than Ford products but 5spd ODs seems to be fairly common (a relative term) behind FEs in medium duty trucks.

I think that the most effective way to get one is to buy the whole truck and part it out. I really need to find PTOs for mine but I get the feeling I'm gonna need to buy the whole truck in that case as well.

 

I've never heard of the Clark 280/282. Is it a direct bolt on? That's what intrigues me about the NP-540 in the big F600 trucks is that they came behind 300s, so, aside from possibly a few clutch bits and pieces, and possibly a transfer case relocation, they're a direct bolt on. No modifications, conversion plates, etc.

 

They can be found in F600s and such. Most of them are behind an FE or 385 just because those were what commonly went into those trucks. It should be no different from using an NP540 out of a 300 equipped F600. Mine came from a GM application. It has a 1/3/8x10 input with the same stick-out as a NP435 and the bottom two holes in the bell-housing pattern on the trans don't line up. I will probably either fix this with a Lakewood bell with the appropriate holes drilled in it or by adding material to a SBF bell but if I go with the latter I'm gonna find a cast iron 5.125 bell to start with. I can cobble together a hydraulic clutch from parts from a bunch of different vehicles. It was also rebuild by someone who put it behind a tractor engine in an F350, put a few hundred miles on it, and sold it to someone who used the body for a project and I bought the trans for $100 so I'm not complaining. A trans from a Ford application should have no problem as long as it has the SBF bell pattern on the transmission side. The Clarks I mentioned have a 5.125 bearing retainer so you'd either need an early SBF bell or to have a machine shop bore out a normal one.

 

I own the same truck... Im building it in the large truck forum.. mine came from the Air Force and has 12,000 original miles,, Im using F650 axles to make it 4wdb and a low pro with 19.5 tires

300 six hd motor.. np 435... now has the F650 dana 80 and drop front end... it dropped the truck ten inches