I'm thinking about this swap myself. What year ZF had the slave cylinder mounted to the side of the tranny so I can avoid the hydraulics? I have started looking for F250's with ZF's in them. Haven't found one yet.
Definitely keep us posted.

 

Was this a direct bolt on NP 205 transfer case to the ZF tranmission?
What other modifications are needed?
Thanks for keeping us posted.

buck

 

Big block and diesel only, sorry Frank.

 

I am not sure about the slave cyclinder mount on ths side... loudfords - are you saying that all the 460 & diesel ZF's have the mount like this or were you just pointing out what engines used ZF's?

ZF's were actually used in many applications, including I6 300, 460's, and diesels and I beleive 88-95 is what we want, there was something different about post 95 but I cant remember. I even thought they had ZF's on tritons but I am not sure about that. The only one that will bolt on fit the 351M/400 bolt pattern is the ZF that came behind the 460 motor. Someone can correct me if I am wrong but wasnt the ZF the only choice for a 5speed on an 88 & up f250/350 with a 460? My brother in law just wrecked his 88 F350 (which I assume has a ZF) and I pleaded with him to let me part the truck out but he finally decided he was going to try to get it back on the road. Dang.

 

Yes that's what I was saying. The 300/351 small block version of the ZF has a concentric/internal slave cylinder.

 

You have to make a notch in the tail housing to clear one of the shift rails on the 205. Take a gasket made for the four speed and use it as a template for where to grind. The only other modifications that I made were grinding off a couple of "ears" that stuck out on the tranny because they looked like they could rub against the tranny tunnel. I'll take pictures of which ones I ground off. Another thing, I was wrong about the flywheel spacing. The flywheel is 1/2" closer to the block on a 351/400, not further away. I got a pilot bushing for the 400 and put a thick washer behind it to space it out a little, it looks like it's going to work fine. Without the washer behind it, the input shaft just barely made contact with the pilot bushing. I was going to have one made that was 1/2" longer, but I have no idea what those things are made out of. I've heard that they're impregnated with oil, the washer sounded like a much easier solution. The clutch disc also looks like it will work fine without spacing the flywheel out any, we'll see once I get it in there. When I think of more stuff I've done, I'll post it up.

 

I did the ZF swap into my 78 (see gallery) but also switched to a 460 because of the flywheel thing. So far you are doing most of the steps that I went through in order to make it fit. One thing though, if you are going to use a mechanical clutch setup like I did you will find that you will need to cut and lengthen the ZF clutch fork to give a better leverage ratio-unless you have the left leg of a body builder. It also makes for better push rod angle. Also I discovered that the ZF throwout bearing always rides on the clutch diaphram fingers because the fork has no clips to pull the bearing backwards and hold it in place. At least thats how my setup worked out. Hope this helps.

 

I'll look into that clutch fork thing, sounds like it wouldn't be a bad idea. I put a couple of pictures of my truck in my gallery. I'll put the pictures of the tranny swap in there tonight or tomorrow.

 

Hope this project goes well for you, cant wait to hear the results. BTW, thats a nice lookin rig you got there. Them big tires really make those axles look dinky dont they?

Good luck man

 

Yes those tires do make the axles look small. The front looks like a tooth pick. I got the clutch disc and throw out bearing yesterday, I should have it back on the road by this afternoon. I can't wait to push the stick to the right and up

 

I would suggest the first time you try it to push the stick to the left and up... or to the left and down.


But I know what you meant

 

Do you have any pictures of the ZF transmission swap and items you mentioned.

 

I think that I have a couple pictures of the tranny. I need to look through all of the pictures that I have taken. I got the tranny and transfercase mounted today and the exhaust back on. I'm going to finish it up tomorrow night, I ran out of time today. Everything seems to be coming together like it should, which worries me. We'll see what happens tomorrow.

 

I like to use CV shaft grease on all moving pivot points, drive shaft splines, pilot bearing. Applying a dab here and there.

buck

 

I got the thing back on the road yesterday. It's nice to cruise on the freeway at 60 spinning 2000 RPM instead of 2500 RPM. I'm going to load the pictures that I took into my gallery tonight or tomorrow. Everything went about like I thought it would. I lengthened the clutch fork about 3 inches and it feels just like it did before. I also heim jointed the clutch linkage, it works a lot better, no more binding. Thanks for all of the input.

Chris