Brad I would toss the old cooler lines and install new ones.


5/16 steel brake line. The kind with a steel coil outside.
A 5 foot piece will do one line.

No special connections necessary. They will bolt right onto the transmission and cooler.
Plus they can be bent without kinking and the coil keeps it away from sharp objects.

 

if they are bent will they keep the shape I need?

 

They will hold the bend shape.
With your cooler lines run them next to each other so they can be clamped to each other for added strength. Tranny out to the radiator cooler then to a added cooler, a frame mounted spin on filter then return back to the tranny. All hard piped to not have any rubber hose to fail plus the hard pipe acts like a cooler. I have the cooler mounted across the lower frame rail just under the bumper, this way the cooler heat isn't added to the radiator.
Above the cooler is another cooler for power steering, again another topic.
.....=o&o>.....

 

I have steel lines now, and was thinking about an external cooler and fan, hpwever I dont seem to have room with out moving the rad back. There is no room under it as the bumper runns acroos the bottom of the rad. hummm somethings to think about. one more thing, I cant seem to acces the gallery to update my pics, anyone have an idea why?

 

It's been almost 3 years posting and I haven't installed pictures, a mental blockage thing, ADD?
.....=o&o>.....

 

It is verry wierd to me. I get to the page that list my albums, then click edit and I get an error message "Iexplorer cant read memory ................ click close to end program." If I create a new album, it gets all the way to the point where you upload pictures and it does the same thing. I have the new java scripting, and have been there before when I uploaded the pics in the first place. Anny ideas??? can anyone see my gallery?

 

Well guys it has been a long wait, but the weather has given me a window to work on my truck again. After a lot of strugle I have actualy managed to get the transmission back into the truck. Now I am having trouble getting the exoust headers back into place. There dosent seem to be enuff clearance between the bell housing and starter so that I can get the header up to the head to bolt it together. I have tried to losen the moter mount on that side, and jack the moter up to see if I could get any more room, but I cant seem to get more then an inch before the valve covers hit the firewall. To make thing more fun, the header is welded to the exaust pipe, so I have to wiggle the header and about 14 foot of pipe as well. I hope someone has a good idea gause I am running out of ideas. cutting the header from the pipe isnt a verry good idea because there will be no way to reweld it after it is in place. this has to go in as one piece. Please help!!!

 

First off, did you take off the starter?
There will be no room for a header to fit with the starter in the way. Even with it out, I had to do some pretty serrious tinkering and twisting to squeeze my header in place.

 

Well I just put the starter back in. If I managed to get the header in with out the starter then I am afraid I wont have the room to get the starter in. how did that work for you?

 

the starter will fit after the header, but you must leave the header loose.
Step 1: remove starter.
Step 2: slide header in place. ( this step involves a lot of cussing and twisting and tweaking the header to just the right angle to get it to fit between the frame and engine)
step 3: Do not connect the header yet, roll it away from the engin a little and fight the starter into position, then twist hands and arms into positions not humanly possible while you bolt on the starter and attach starter cable. (Make sure there is clearance between the starter cable terminal and the header. More on this later)
Step 4: attach header to engine. Hopefully you will quit dropping the header nuts before your patience wears out.

I learned this all the hard way while trying to change out the starter on my '79 with 400/C6. I had to remove all the bolts and nuts from the header to get the starter in and out. Then about 3 months later , the truck became hard to start when hot. It turned out that the terminal on the starter cable was just barely touching one header pipe when everything got nice and warm, causing a direct short. I had to turn the terminal slightly at the back of the starter and then added a wire cable clamp and bracket to hold the wire steady. There was just a little bit of movement at the starter terminal (1/8" or so) and when the pipe expanded and the cable got hot from the header, things got close enough to short things out.

Hope this helps.
Scott

 

lol wow Scott, that sounds good in thery, I guess on friday I will have to see if it works in practice. One thing I may have to change for this to work however is the way I am supporting the transmission right now, because I cant put the transmission mount crossmember in untill after the header and pipes are in place. I am not shure how I can change it to work but I will take a second look at it in the meanwhille.
Thanks Scott for your wisdom.

 

I completly agree with scott.
The other problem I had was:
The bolts on the starter were so F**ed up, I couldn't undo them, so I tried to beat a socket on to them(one size smaller)to be able to undo them. You can imagine how fun that was with the limmited space availble. Of coarse with my luck, it didn't work. I unded up buying a bolt out kit, and finally got them off, and them bought some new bolts, and a new starter while I was at it.
Then after I put in the headers and started, I made a heat sheild for the starter. Now I hope I never have to change that starter again.

 

Well Scott I tried it your way and what do you know......... after much cussing and knuckel beatting I got it together. I am like you MBBFord, I hope I dont have to change that starter!! Now all thats left is to place the drivers side set of pipes on and then the cross members, driveline, and finnaly can start filling up the tranny with fluids.

Thanks for your help
Brad

 

Brad, glad to see that you got it fixed. I have been out of town for a few days and just got home tonight. By the way, when I finish rebuilding my 400 I am also changing headers on my truck. I am going with a set of Doug Thorley headers that have extra clearance from the header pipes to the starter. I am not sure if I will be able to change starters later without removing the pipes, but I should at least have more room than with my current set of (no-name, unknown, headers were alreadying on when I bought the truck) starter and block hugging headers.
Scott

 

VICTORY!!!!!!!.......... Today I got everything done and got to drive it around a little bit today. there seem to be a little bit of slip between shifts from first to second, and I dont know if I can solve that by adjusting the band or not. it used to shift firmly, now it is a softer shift. If anyone has any ideas??? Love to hear them
Brad