Hello, all! New member here. I recently purchased a 1979 Grumman Kabmaster that I'm looking to refresh mechanically and I have a ton of questions. I've already identified the motor and transmission to be 351 Windsor with a C6. It's got 6 bolts on the valve covers and the mostly legible emissions sticker under the hood says it's a 351. Transmission identification was quite a bit easier with the one-piece bell housing. The odometer says 50,000, but I'm fairly certain it's rolled over at least once based on the condition of some of the interior. My three biggest questions are these:

What chassis is this? I'm pretty sure it's an E350, but I don't know how to confirm. Here's the VIN: E37HHEB9415. If it is an E350, what are my options for tightening up the steering and improving the ride? It doesn't bounce too much after hitting bumps, so I think the shocks are in good shape, but I'd like to update what I can as far as bushings, motor mounts, etc go.

I'm planning on installing an Edelbrock 2181 Performer intake manifold with a 1405 600CFM 4bbl carburetor. First off, is this a good decision? Shouldn't have to go any bigger, right? Second off, how do I rig the carburetor to the kickdown rod for the C6? The current throttle pedal and cable are pretty screwed up (also on the fix-it list), and I think the kickdown rod is way too far out of adjustment to actually work right now. A few places have recommended a Lokar cable conversion kit, others say Edelbrock makes their own kit, other people have fabbed up their own brackets... Right now I'm operating on the theory that Edelbrock #1483 and #1491 will be all I need to hook up the kickdown rod, but if anyone can confirm that, I'd greatly appreciate it.

Assuming I have 150,000 miles on the clock, is there any scheduled maintenance I should look into to prevent catastrophic failure? Water pump, oil pump, timing chain, etc.?

Lastly, and this is less pressing, the gear selector on the steering column has some issues. The biggest problem is whatever switch in there that tells the reverse lights (and in my case, the warning beeper) to come on, is very finicky. Is that likely to be a problem in the steering column? Or is that switch located somewhere else? Also, the spring that should resist you as you pull the lever towards you to shift is either missing or broken, so that will be another thing to look forward to replacing.

Thanks very much in advance! This is definitely the oldest vehicle I've owned, let alone worked on, and will be my first venture into the realm of carburetors, so please bear with me if I ask any ridiculous questions. I just ordered , and they should help, but nothing beats a good forum community.

 

E37 = E350 Cut-Away Cab.

H = 351W

H = Lorain OH Assembly Plant.

EB9415 = 1979.

I'd post a pic of the steering column that shows the gearshift, but...

1978/79 E100/350: Two types of steering columns, with or without a tilt wheel. Tilt wheel operates by pressing the T/S handle forward.

Backup lamps operate thru the NSS (Neutral Safety Switch), located on the transmission.

D2ZZ-7A247-C .. NSS (Motorcraft SW-1148) / Obsolete ~ Available NOS & from auto parts stores.

1972 Mustang/Cougar w/console shift from production date 12/1971 / 1973 Mustang/Cougar w/console shift // 1975/80 E100/350 I-6 & V8.

 

Glad my thread caught your attention Number! I saw in my research that you seemed to be the resident expert on these things so I was hoping you would chime in. Thanks for decoding the VIN for me! If you happen to have an exploded assembly view of the non-tilt column, there are two bolts I took out that I'm already confused as to what they're supposed to do. They have heads shaped so that the casting of the upper part of the column holds them in place as you tighten on the nuts from above. They don't hold the turn signal controller thingy down and they don't seem to hold the two parts of the column together, so I'll have to experiment with it once I get the new gear selector in. Eventually I'll learn to take more pictures as I take things apart...

I dove into the steering column today after getting rid of all the extraneous hardware bolted in the floor and walls of the rear area. I found a couple issues that contributed to the floppy gear selector, but I of course did not find my reverse switch, lol. Here's the pictures I took while I was in there:

Steering wheel and turn signal bits out of the way:


First sign of trouble--little tang thingy has been broken off the gear selector, putting all the stress of shifting on the pin that holds the selector in the shift bowl (the hole around which is hella rounded out).:


Broken selector, found a new one on eBay for $15!:


Second sign of trouble--the spring that resists you when you pull the gear selector towards you is broken in two places:


Quick trip to ACE yielded one that fits damn near perfectly!:


Pin and spring assembled and installed:



Here's some pics of the rest of her:

 

Despite what the VIN decodes to, this is not a Cut-Away Cab, it's an E350 'rolling chassis' with the Grumman body mounted to it.

Here's the steering column pic, I'll be back tomorrow with part numbers, etc. as it's dinner time here in the hills.

 

Huh, OK. I guess they do go there... I don't know what the hell part of the shift collar they're supposed to hold on to, but I guess I'll give it a shot. Thanks again for the help!

You don't happen to have a vacuum line routing diagram for this year do you? The one in my engine compartment is totally illegible.

 

Hello All,
Just throwing this out there for you enthusiasts. I have a 1978 Grumman Kabmaster that needs to be moved from outside a warehouse in San Jose, CA. It's a giveaway if anyone wants it (wish I could keep it but circumstances prevent me from doing so). Only problem is they are paving the parking lot next week so it has to be moved fast. Any interest let me know. I'll work with you.

 

Here is the Kabmaster I'm giving away.