Are you going with the Bendix power steering gear?

Chad

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Bendix for sure! I still need to send it to Redhead for rebuild, but I have everything to bolt it on including NOS rubber washers and AMK reproduction studs for the Ford (not Thompson) power steering pump. I also bought a PS cooler from a '68 (or maybe '69) that was used with a Bendix gearbox on an F100.

I plan to add PS, AC and a 5 speed over next winter. For now I just want to get it back on the road.

I didn't know there were 2 different height lifters on the FE, and I had the older short 1.84" style. The new ones are the later 2" height. I had a set of custom pushrods made before I learned the lifters changed dimensions. I don't have time to work on the truck this week as my son and his wife are visiting from Texas.

 

Well it's been almost a year since I last posted and I'm finally getting to spend some time on my truck again. I've been preoccupied with my remodeling project and just haven't had time to play with my truck until recently.

I re-purposed the Tremec TKO from my mach 1 to use in my truck. I ended up replacing pretty much everything except the actual gears and synchros. I had to upgrade the tail shaft housing in order to install the mid shifter. I had to replace the top because I had modified the original to fit in the tunnel of the mach 1. I had to replace the input shaft and bearing retainer to work with the original bell housing, which necessitated installing a new bearing. I had to buy a new inspection cover on top because the modified top required a custom made inspection cover. So now I have a practically new TKO 5 speed.

I think this will work very well with the 3.7 gears in the 9". Since I plan to eventually replace the 9" with a Dana 60 to create my Faux-250, I had to decide whether to use 3.73 or 4.10 gears. I put together the attached spreadsheet to help me decide. It became obvious that the best gears to use with the taller 29" tires would be the 4.10 set given that mostly I will be using the truck for cruising and occasional light towing.

 

My son came over and helped me install the TKO. Pretty straightforward swap. Should make a big difference in mileage.

 

Today I worked on the power steering install. I ended up getting a new reproduction pump, but I found an NOS reservoir that has the tall offset neck for AC. I decided to use the '66 T-bird front dress to keep it all period correct and use as many factory parts as I could and have "factory" AC. The high pressure hose is also NOS. As you can see in the pictures, the Bendix gearbox was rebuilt by Redhead. I haven't found an oil cooler that fits and looks right yet, but one will be there before I take it out on the road.

 

Slow but steady progress. I mounted my NOS Autolite 55 amp alternator in the low mount position as it would be on a T-bird. You can barely see it now... what a shame.



I placed a York AC compressor in place just for mocking up purposes, I'll eventually install a new or rebuilt one. I found a PS cooler I like that will work well with the York compressor.

 

Cool build! What is the compressor mount bracket from? Thinking of adding ac to my 427.

 

It's from a 65-66 T-bird. I think the same bracket was also used on the Galaxy 500 of those years (with an FE of course). It's a good 5/8" taller than the '68 up bracket which won't clear the reservoir neck. If you aren't going to use the old style pump and unique AC reservoir, you can use the much more common '68 up bracket that was used on cars and trucks.

I'm going to drive my truck like it is for at least a year while I gather parts for the F-250 Camper Special conversion, but here's a pic of the badge you made in a re-chromed F-250 bezel. It came out superb!

 

 

 

To be honest I don't remember, but most likely on e-bay. I'm using a factory Ford 2 sheave pulley. If I used the 3 sheave pulley I would have had to add spacers to the power steering pump brackets to move the power steering outboard of the a/c. I decided I would rather keep it like the stock T-bird set-up. They only used a single belt on the alternator, so I figured I could too. The power steering reservoir was part of an NOS a/c add on kit that came with the A/C belt, but it was probably missing the rest of the parts as it only came with the reservoir, cap and a/c belt.

I've ordered a reproduction 68-72 condenser and receiver/drier. I'm going to mount them in front of the radiator and inside the radiator support like the dealer installed pieces would have been. I'm going to fabricate some short hard lines that mimic the routing of the dealer installed a/c discharge and liquid lines that would have been installed in 65/66.

 

Any chance you could take a picture or pictures of the pressure hose and the Ford parts label on it? I've been thinking about going power steering but possibly not a/c.

Sort of interesting how the original caps didn't have any dipstick, at least from what I've seen.

Thanks!
Chad

 

I found a NOS hose dirt cheap. I will get a pic of it. Has a tag with part number but its on bottom.

 

I found a NOS hose dirt cheap. I will get a pic of it. Has a tag with part number but its on bottom.

 

Actually the originals came both ways, they just don't reproduce the cap without the stick. The reproduction dipstick is longer than the original and the font isn't spot on, but unless you have them side by side you probably wouldn't be able to tell the difference. I'll take some side by side pics to show the differences.

I still have the original hoses if you're interested, just keep in mind they're over 50 years old. If you can get the NOS hose from Boss9 that would be best. The replacement return hose is no where close to the original in appearance, but I needed the extra length to route it to the cooler. I think a cooler is essential to making the Bendix box survive. Just my opinion based on everything I've read. Also Redhead highly recommended it.