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I have a 1968 F100 with a 400/C6 that my grandpa gifted to me before he passed away a couple month back. Took me a month to get it shipped to Franklin TN from Sacramento .CA. I have had the truck for 2 weeks and going through the usual to make sure everything is in working order.
Starts with no problem. I started the truck today for the 3rd or 4th time since I have had it to check the trans fluid level as I intend to do a complete fluid change and noticed the motor seemed really hot in the garage per the usual. I plan on doing a radiater flush tomorrow and might change the engine thermostat but I am having a hard time looking online on finding the right thermostat part number. The 400 and C6 came out of a 1972 LTD from what my uncle told me.
Any help on the part number would be great or advice would be welcomed
Sorry to hear about your grandpa, but glad to know he had the right idea and left the truck for you.
Interesting engine swap, but I like it. The 335 series engines take kind of interesting thermostats. Pretty sure the 351M and the 400 use the same one with the extension that covers the bypass tube inside the block, while the 351 Cleveland (same family, but with lots of differences over the other two) takes a different t-stat and uses a restrictor plate over that same bypass port.
That said, sorry I don't have an actual part number for you. I've never had a problem getting the correct one from the local parts stores, but I've heard the horror stories of store computers looking up the wrong one, or the wrong one being in the right box. Hopefully someone here has all the direct info. Lots of good detail oriented members here.
What made you think it was hot? It's good to flush out the coolant system anyway since you don't want old stuff in there and you don't know when the last time it was done. And it would be good to open up the thermostat housing to verify it's got the correct one anyway. But I wonder if it's actually running hot or just "felt" like it. I wonder if the temp sender was correct for the '68's gauge, or if it was just for the motor and whatever gauge the application had. In a car like that LTD it might have been just an indicator lamp and would have had a different sender for that than the one for the gauge.
Don't know how to tell the difference, but it should be testable. Your truck has a gauge, or a lamp? I thought they all had gauges, but for several years anyway there were different dash layouts available, some with all gauges and some with lights in place of some of the gauges. Maybe it was the same in '68?
Sounds like it's time too for a new tool in the garage. Maybe a basting thermometer, or better yet (or at least more fun!) is an IR electronic thermometer you can point-n-shoot at various parts of the engine and cooling system to make sure the gauge or light (or your senses) are telling you the truth.
Back to the t-stat, you can probably get away with either a 180 or a 192 (or is it 195?) but I would not use a 160 unless you had to in order to cover up some other issues. If it works as advertised, it can be harder on the engine to run cool like that and it's definitely harder on the heater temps in cold weather!
This is the only thermostat Ford offered for these engines. People get the wrong one because either they or auto parts stores don't know that the 351W uses a different thermostat.
The only aftermarket brand I'm aware of that makes the correct thermostat is Robert Shaw.
1TonBasecamp and NumberDummy, thank you on the timely response and help with this. hopefully I can get this buttoned up and be on the road this weekend.
1TonBasecamp. to answer your question, I have started it multiple time with the hood up and this time felt different. Seemed like the whole garage got really hot (the garage door was open) and it was hotter then usual holding a hand over the motor. it might just be me but I will flush the radiator and change out the thermo to be on the safe side. Also like new tools so I will differently be looking into an IR electric thermo.
After spending many hours under the truck I have found that the Starter to Solenoid cable is in the process of falling apart in place and the exposed cable is green. I took all 3 cables off and measured them to get the closest cable length for replacement.
Positive to Starter Solenoid- 12 inches
Negative to Engine Block- 33 inches
Negative from Solenoid to Starter 42 inches
The Cable that ran from the Solenoid to Starter also had a cable bracket that was bolted to the block and the length of the cable was covered in a heat wrap. The part number on the cable read D2AF- 14431-BA SXT.
Not sure if the 3 cables are F100 specific or if they came off of the 72 LTD when my grandpa did the engine swap. NumberDummy can you help on this for insight.
The "D2" indicates it's a '72 or later part (engineered and started it's use in '72), so sounds like it came with the engine. And appears to be original by it's condition. I'd say it's given 47 years of service so can be well retired!
You don't have to match lengths exactly to a swap either. If a shorter cable (shorter is better) will fit with clean routing around obstacles and moving parts, shorter is better and cleaner.
But hey, if it takes 33" or 42" or even 60" to snake around things and get there cleanly, that's what it takes.
But that's also why bigger is better. That 33 inches is better suited to a larger gauge cable than the typical 6ga that Ford might have used from the factory. Besides, you're trying to get rid of a hard start when hot issue anyway, so bigger might actually be called for in this case.
What gauge cables did you get to replace the old ones? I usually say 4ga is the minimum, with 2ga being even better at least for the longer runs. The 12" one can get away with being smaller, but the 33 and 42 inchers should be as big as you can get.
Thanks for the insight Paul. I haven't replaced them yet but planned on going with 4guage. I have read a couple of articles on here and will not use 6guage. I am also not planning on routing the Starter to Solenoid the same way, I don't want to clip it to the block and run an inch under the exhaust manifold as it previously was. I will likely run it down the side of the fender well and under the fire wall to the starter.
Sounds good. The farther away from heat you can run them, the better, as long as you can still keep them away from rubbing on other things.
If it's available where you get your cables though, maybe the 2ga for the longer two would not be a bad idea and probably only cost a couple of dollars more.
Good luck. Hopefully this will solve the issue entirely and you don't have to keep hunting for that elusive gremlin.
After spending many hours under the truck I have found that the Starter to Solenoid cable is in the process of falling apart in place and the exposed cable is green. I took all 3 cables off and measured them to get the closest cable length for replacement.
Positive to Starter Solenoid- 12 inches
Negative to Engine Block- 33 inches
Negative from Solenoid to Starter 42 inches
The cable that ran from the Solenoid to Starter also had a cable bracket that was bolted to the block and the length of the cable was covered in a heat wrap.
The ID engineering number on the cable is: D2AF-14431-BA = Ford part number:D2AZ-14431-B
Not sure if the 3 cables are F100 specific or if they came off of the 72 LTD when my grandpa did the engine swap. NumberDummy can you help on this for insight.
The following are Motorcraft "universal fitz-alls" that were used on other vehicle applications besides what I listed.
D1PZ-14431-K .. Starter Relay to Starter Cable - 43" long (Motorcraft WC-8096): 1970/71 LTD all V8's; 1972 LTD all V8's except 429 4V Police Cruiser.
What engine did the truck come with originally? 4th digit of the VIN is the engine code: 1968 F100: A = 240 1-6 / B = 300 I-6 / H = 390 2V / Y = 360 2V
Note: You CANNOT use part number prefixes to ID the year, make, model and etc because FoMoCo is in-famous for replacing 10's of 1,000's of part numbers EVERY YEAR!
D1PZ-14431-K .. Starter Relay to Starter Cable - 43" long (Motorcraft WC-8096): 1970/71 LTD all V8's; 1972 LTD all V8's except 429 4V Police Cruiser.
What engine did the truck come with originally? 4th digit of the VIN is the engine code: 1968 F100: A = 240 1-6 / B = 300 I-6 / H = 390 2V / Y = 360 2V
Note: You CANNOT use part number prefixes to ID the year, make, model and etc because FoMoCo is in-famous for replacing 10's of 1,000's of part numbers EVERY YEAR!
VIN: F10ARC1868 I thought the 4th digit was the location it was manufactured
I hope all is well during this crazy time we are living in.
Truck is coming along great. Have since moved back to NC and tore it to the frame and starting g the rebuild.
Question. After many hours searching Fordification and the world wide web, I am still unsure of the year of I-beams that are on the truck. The spindles are disk not drum. Needing the year so I buy the right kingpins.
Numbers are
C7TA-8-A (fomoco) 30 and C7TA -9-A (fomoco) 28
Asking because I haven't found a year with 28 or 30 with the first part of 8 or 9 A. Have seen postings that have C7TA with the year 1968 or 1971 next to it. Depending on the website.
YEAR!
