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From this it may be more accurate to say that they started the switch to metric nomenclature in 1981 or earlier (not surprising, given that my '80 has a lot of metric parts when it comes to body hardware), and perhaps completed it in 1983.
Good points. I'd like to find some 1983 and 1984 truck literature to see what they imply. But your wording sounds good.
FWIW, my 1978 Oldsmobile came with a 5.7L (350) Diesel and half the damn car was oddball metric head bolts (wrench sets did not contain certain sizes, like 15mm).
I like it. Gary, you can get some period-correct police lights for it, and pass it off as a prototype F-250HD pursuit vehicle, intended for chasing down cattle rustlers.
David - I'm not seeing the specific decals in those links, although I have seen police interceptor decals and 460 truck decals elsewhere. But, are they showing up for you?
Matthew - I'm getting a Ford bull bar and could put the police lights on it.
....But, Dad's engine is a bit of a conundrum. Granted it started life as a 351M. But, by slipping a Ford 400 crank in it it really is now a 400 since the only difference is the crank and pistons. In fact, that block could have gotten a 400 crank back in 1981 as the same blocks were used in both engines. So, while my signature says it is a stroked 351M, the truth is that it is a stock stroke. Does that make sense? And, in this case I am torn between calling it a 400 HO or a 6.6L HO.
I'm going by what I remember you saying earlier in another thread (sorry if my rememberer is faulty), that one of your desires was to stick with a 351M since that was the original engine, but that you were planning to modify it and stroking (by installing a stock 400 crank) was just a way to modify a 351M. Sure it's less confusing to call it a 400 now, but if you want to avoid all confusion you really need to say everything that's been modified. So what's the extra confusion of calling it a modified 351M matter?
But again, that's off my remembering that you wanted it to be a 351M. If you want it to be a 400, that's fine too.
As to 400 or 6.6L...
Originally Posted by Dorsai
Ford switched to metric nomenclature in 1983, did they not? So to be technically correct, Dad's should be a 400, and Big Blue a 7.5L.
my dislike of calling a 400 "6.6L" has nothing to do with the model year of the vehicle it's in. It has to do with what the engine was named when the engine first came out. Ford called the 400 a 400 originally, so that's what it always will be to me. Same with the 460 / 7.5L. As far as I'm concerned even my '97 has a 460.
If you're trying to be technically correct, displacement can be measured in any units of volume, so there's no preference between cubic inches and liters. (Of course, 460 cubic inches = 7.538L, so due to rounding error 7.5L is less technically correct for any model year, unless a 460 really displaces 457.68 cubic inches).
So what we're really talking about here is the engines name, not its displacement. And whether someone should use the new metric name or the old one is more a matter of avoiding confusion by using the terms that most people recognize, flavored by a bit of personal preference. Based on that, I prefer to go with the original engine name, with the previously noted exception of the 5.0L in Mustangs.
my dislike of calling a 400 "6.6L" has nothing to do with the model year of the vehicle it's in. It has to do with what the engine was named when the engine first came out. Ford called the 400 a 400 originally, so that's what it always will be to me. Same with the 460 / 7.5L. As far as I'm concerned even my '97 has a 460.
This I understood, and actually agree with you on - once a 460, always a 460 (or in my case, a 300-not-a-4.9L). But the discussion was around what kind of decal should go on the air cleaner, which relates back to what Ford would have put there. My point was that at the time, Ford would have put the traditional displacement on before 1983 and the metric displacement on afterward, although we've since learned I probably wasn't quite correct on that.
But, none of that matters now...I'm casting my vote for 460 Police Interceptor, period-correct displacement nomenclature be damned.
I think I'm where Matthew is - I'll call it a 460 when someone asks, but the decal should probably spell that out in liters. (However, having been bored, probably at least .020", it really is a 466/7.6L)
As for 460 police engines, Wiki says there were two, and this one would probably qualify as the C-code Police Interceptor instead of the mundane Police Cruiser. I still think I like the HO idea, but ......
David - I'm not seeing the specific decals in those links, although I have seen police interceptor decals and 460 truck decals elsewhere. But, are they showing up for you?
Matthew - I'm getting a Ford bull bar and could put the police lights on it.
I'm still cogitating about the decal, but I did peel the onion a bit more today. I was looking at the passenger's side fender and my eye fell on the jack, which was up against the regulator's wiring. "Hmmmm, that's not right. In fact, the jack isn't stored correctly."
So I pulled the regulator off and discovered it was mounted in the wrong spot, as shown by the red circles below which were where the screws were. I put it were it is supposed to go, beneath the solenoid, and turned to the jack, which was rusty. In fact, I could hardly get it to move. But, after lubricating it profusely and running it all the way up and down about 10 times it now works easily. Then I tried to store it, but the bolt/wingnut combo that was on there wouldn't tighten up all the way. Apparently that's supposed to be a metric fastener of some kind but someone put a 5/16-18 in about half way so that the nut's threads were toast. I ran a 5/16-18 tap through it, which went reluctantly, and now the jack stows like it should and will no longer rattle. And the jack won't abraid the regulator's wiring.
Vernon didn't intend to hire them, but either they sub-contracted for someone he did hire or they snuck in at night to do their dirty work.
Remember the movie Bedazzled? The one back in our day? Where the does downright mean things, like pulling a 78 from its jacket in a music store, scratching it, putting it back in, and placing it on the shelf. Sometimes I think he (it was the later version with Elizabeth Hurley where the devil was a she) played with Big Blue the same way. Fill that crankcase up with gas. Make that heater core split. Put that seal in the PS pump cockeyed. Make that brand new one-wire alternator fail. Break that plastic hinge on the heater. Touch that T-19 so it dribbles. Oh, and for the best one of all, make that 460 leak from every orifice it has.
does downright mean things, like pulling a 78 from its jacket in a music store, scratching it, putting it back in, and placing it on the shelf. Sometimes I think he (it was the later version with Elizabeth Hurley where the devil was a she) played with Big Blue the same way. Fill that crankcase up with gas. Make that heater core split. Put that seal in the PS pump cockeyed. Make that brand new one-wire alternator fail. Break that plastic hinge on the heater. Touch that T-19 so it dribbles. Oh, and for the best one of all, make that 460 leak from every orifice it has.