Slash's 1979 Ford - IT LIVES!

[Slash]

Headlight doors arrived! Can't wait to see how they fit and look on the truck, very pleased with the quality so far. Very thick and robust and not easily breakable.

I can't decide...stick with black return to argent!!!??

 

[SVX]

Argent for me. Just looks a bit more period correct.

 

[Slash]

Argent for me. Just looks a bit more period correct.

Thats what I was thinking as well. The argent is original.

Here's a few more pics. That cab floor is amazingly good...also the new headlight doors.

 

[Slash]

Correct OEM cab lights, a stainless 2x10" overflow can, door striker bushings, marker light gaskets, and a heavy duty headlight wiring harness are all ordered and on the way. Last week tailgate handle moulding arrived as well. I also picked up a new Pioneer radio a few weeks back. Slowly checking parts off the list 1 by 1.

 

[Slash]

The cab lights and other parts have arrived, I've also ordered a new speedometer cable. I do need a gear, but finding out which one I need requires disassembly and I figure I'd check it out when I replace the cable. Hopefully no more jumpy speedometer.

 

[Slash]

New speedometer cable arrived today. Got insurance put on it, new title filed at the DMV and registration paperwork filled out. Hoping to hAve her on the road in a few weeks.

 

[Slash]

Ordered a polished stainless plate bracket that feels very robust and heavy. It has a built in light and is specifically designed for roll pans. Should have it on the road very soon. Can't wait.

 

[Slash]

Had a chance to get over to where I have it stored for winter and tinker a little.

I finally removed the giant 70s Super Tach, and will be replacing it with a smaller one. I got the new head light doors on and they look great...can't wait to get a grille that matches. Set the plate bracket on as well, but that and the halos for the headights need to be wired still along with the heavY duty harness. I will probably convert over to heavy duty marine battery terminals and run an extra ground to the battery from the starter.

I planned on replacing the marker lenses, and in the process of removing them, I didn't realize how brittle the plastic had gotten over the past 40 years so in the process one marker cracked at the light fixture and the other side snapped clean right off. So I ordered brand new ones with the correct Ford oval stamping in them. I also saw that the front fender bulb sockets for them were heavily corroded inside and full of water...I have no idea how those lights even worked. So I also ordered new sockets.

I will be ordering a factory mounting bracket for the new Pioneer radio next week. Today I ordered speaker boxes for 6x9 speakers that are behind the seat.

Still have a lot to do but once I'm driving it and the weather clears I will be more in depth and active with it.

 

[Slash]

Sockets/lended and speaker boxes arrived. I need more speaker wire and odds and ends as well though. Hopefully when it's nice I'll be able to get the dash speaker out and get that hooked up as well. Should be a nice little sound system...two 6.5s in the doors, 5x10 in the dash (weird size), and two 6x9s behind the seat. Maybe I'll add in a 8 or 10" sub eventually. Either way anythings better than that cappy Walmart Dual stuff that was in it.

Also sourced a factory mounting bracket for the heater control and radio...with and little trimming to the bracket it will allow me to finally mount the new Pioneer head unit. Most of the wiring in the dash is pulled apart right now...the radio was a hot mess. Gotta love other people's wiring hack jobs.

I have a black center grille with a silver border to match the new buckets on order. It's currently on back order so it should be here in a few weeks, probably after I put it on the road and start driving it. I am going to order a new tachometer as well to replace the big one I removed. I'd like to have something there. I also need to shim the seat up. Because the cushion is so worn out its uncomfortably low for me.

I think we are finally done with snow so as soon as it all melts and the salts gone she's coming out of hibernation. We got close at the end of February but then randomly got blasted by a couple feet of snow.

Last pic is my red truck, my buddies 73 Cougar and the 79 up front when a close friend owned it.

 

[Slash]

Broke her out of storage! Felt so good to finally cruise in one of my dream rides.

 

[Slash]

Oh, how I love that sound.

 

[Slash]

So the weather decided it's not going to spring, so I put it away for the time being.

In the meantime I got the catch can mounted up, the headlights wired to a pair of relays and ripped the heap of mess of wires out from under the dash. Over the truck I counted 84 but connectors, 5 or 6 exposed splices, 1 that didn't even go to anything, and the trailer harness totally hacked up. Replaced the headlight switch and voltage regulator (regulator was done in process of elimination). Had an issue with flickering running lights, turns out another bad splice was touching the frame causing the thermal breaker to trip in the switch. But they work now. The new cab lights are on and rewired (not perfectly but enough to work). All marker light lenses and gaskets replaced and the front 2 pigtails replaced. I also determined that I have no power to the reverse lights so I'll need to get them working. Busted the horn button hitting it one day when an idiot cut me off, so that will need fixing as well. Replaced one of the 2 broken exhaust hangers and got the plate light wired and working. Replaced some fuel hose, fixed a fuel leak at the carburetor. Ran a new chassis ground, replaced the magnetic pickup coil in the distributor as well.

Funny story there, the two rivets that hold the pickup coil to the bracket inside the distributor actually sheered right off. With the bracket broken, the coil was able to swing around freely. Enough so that it moved far enough away from the reluctor stranding me. Ended up getting it running and drove it home. After that I rebuilt the top o the distributor.

Must have had a bad coil wire, because after about 500 miles the boot turned into a pile of ass. So I replaced the wire with a spare I had laying around and swapped the distributor cap with one off of one of my old 351 Windsors.

The master cylinder seal is really bad and is puking brake fluid so that is a must buy immediately. As I mentioned in earlier posts the door seals and weatherstripping all need replacing as well as one hinge (door pin bushing is toast) and both strikers.

Otherwise it's been pretty good and quicker now that the vacuum advance in the distributor works. She could be a lot quicker though

 

[Slash]

Well the lights and halos are finally wired and looks much better than the cob job that was in there.

 

[Slash]

 

[Slash]

So I haven't posted lately but a whole cap load of stuff has gone on. Basically she's been out of comission for a few weeks.

What started off as a broken wheel stud quickly escalated.

So I put two of my 275/60s on, snapped a stud. No biggie. Hadn't had a chance to replace it when, get this, that exhaust hanger I replaced before putting plates on it, once again sheered right off. In the process, the exhaust pipe bounced off the axle and proceeded to put a pin hole on a year old fuel tank. So I ended up cutting 4 feet of each pipe off and dumping them in front of the axle. I still need to get replacement straps and a fuel tank, but the leak is so small that I can at least drive on it. I replaced that exhaust hanger, but still haven't done the stud.

In the process of that happening, the motor developed a strong miss above 4000 rpm. Turned out I had a few bad plug wires and the coil was arcing...fixed that and I continued to do it. When I say a mis, I mean this thing spat flame out the tail pipes like an anti lag system does on a turbo car. I was convinced there was a collapsed lifter or something wrong with the valve train. To boot, on that same problematic bank, it now puked smoke like a freight train. Fresh set of plugs from a week before were tan on the electrode but very wet in the threads. Compression test revelead all problem cylinders were isolated to one bank and were within 3 psi of each other on a dry test. So valve seals it is. I have yet to do them, but right now I'm getting the engine back together as I had one half of the valve train taken apart and all seemed well. It also seems the carburetor is too small for the engine so eventually here I will be upgrading to a 670cfm Holley. Also put a brand new master cylinder on it.

But while I was in there...I'll let pictures do the talking.

Not done yet but way better than it was!

 

[Slash]

Unfortunately, after all that work, the engine has wiped a camshaft lobe and gouged a lifter and will be needing a rebuild But it did look good!

 

[Slash]

I may have purchased a thing...

 

[Slash]

More teasing

 

[Slash]

Well I have not updated this in quite some time and I think a proper update is entirely due.


The truck is down and out. I may have mentioned it but at the tail end of 2018 I lost the engine due to several factors. The camshaft ate a lobe and could not properly run. So, I parked it, and put it away for about a year without so much as lifting a finger. Well, that's not entirely true, I've been collecting parts like crazy.

The first step was figuring out what I wanted to do with the thing. Obviously, it was fix it or replace the engine at this point. So, why not do both? I purchased a 429 Cobra Jet engine with a spare transmission off a friend for $500. That engine, which currently resides on an engine stand next to the truck, will be built and installed eventually. However, I decide to pull the top end off this engine in the truck and fix it so I can drive it while I build the big block. I recently tore the whole top half of the engine off, scored an oil pump, spare oil pan, whole valvetrain, a Comp Cams 260H cam (I won't be using this though as the cam currently in it is hotter), a pair of rebuilt heads, manifolds and a few other things as part of the stock pile. Basically the pile of parts I have sitting here for this thing I can damn near build a truck from scratch,

Besides tearing down, cleaning up grease, painting, I've found a few things worthy of addressing from previous owners, we all come across things like this. But overall everything has come apart with no major surprisings and I am grateful for that. So I figured I'd share some pictures of some of the work I am doing. I'll be back with progress updates soon and more on the parts lists but for now this will suffice lol.

 

[Slash]

Another piece of the puzzle has been completed. I began to rebuild my "new to me" cylinder heads yesterday. The word was that a few valves had been pulled and they looked ok, and to run them. I figured what the heck, they are already off the engine so I might as well go through them.

First step was disassembly. Turns out, everything was in pretty good shape. Old, but ok. So while it was apart, I took some time to clean and degrease the first one (I have yet to disassemble number 2 yet). There were no broken valve springs, the valves and guides looked pretty good, and the seals weren't destroyed (a little hard but still malleable). Once disassembled, I sprayed it down with Purple Power degreaser and got to work. A drill with a wire brush attachment, a hand held wire brush and some elbow grease worked well. I wiped down and dried the head a few times and then hit tight spaces with a propane blow torch. Once residual residue had dried or turned to ash I went over it one more time, then cleaned the gasket mating surfaces with the wire wheel. I did go over them again later with a scotch brite cookie attachment for the drill. This was the first real inspection:

Initial inspection checked out; everything looked great.

The camshaft I am using in this engine is spec'd out as .509/.509 lift, 280/292 advertised duration (218/228 @ .050"), 114 lsa, 109 intake centerline. The stock valve springs were absolutely notoriously weak and cannot take any kind of lift over the stock cam, and this cam is MASSIVELY bigger than the factory craptastic cam (If I recall correctly the stock valve lift was something .425!). So I took the opportunity to purchase 288lb @ .580 lift double coil valve springs. The difference speaks for itself.

First step in rebuilding these heads was to determine wether or not to replace the valves, seats and guides. The valves while super dirty with oil residue and carbon build up, looked saveable as did the valve seats. The guides had very little wear and the valves moved nicely thru them when lubricated. I picked up some grinding compound and lapped the valves and seats. They turned out better than I was expecting them to. While I had the valves out I took them over to my bench grinder that has a wire wheel on it and cleaned all the surfaces. Here is a picture of the seats after lapping.

I figured while it was apart it couldn't hurt to clean up the super rough castings on the exhaust ports, so I went ahead and smoothed them out with a dremel. I also did the intake side, though not nearly as extensively.

I did debate on smoothing up the chambers, but didn't bother. After I was done with that and throughly cleaned all the metal shavings out of them, I chased all the threads in the head, and began reassembly. Put a little assembly lube on the valves and reinstalled them with the springs and new valve seals. The valve springs I purchased I was able to retain use of my factory keepers and retainers. Then while I wait for assembly of the engine I applied some penetrating oil to hold off rust from all my gasket surfaces.

It's now ready for paint!

 

[Slash]

Here's a bit of a lengthy update for you guys.

So first off, I ordered what is called a "Marti" report. What this is, is official documentation licensed for use by Marti Auto Works by Ford Motor Company. This report, gives me all kinds of neat information, like when the original invoice was filed, when the truck was bucked, actually built, the dealership that sold it, options it had etc. Basically what it boils down to is that this truck was a F150 "Custom Explorer" with no options but a 302 engine and power steering. It didn't even have a radio! Along the way, things like power brakes and the 351 engine, transmission etc were changed, the truck has been painted and lost it's stripes and its manual transmission etc. The other cool thing is that they offer you the option to have a copy of your original invoice, dealer lot window sticker, door sticker and door warranty data plate if you so choose to order them. Here's the copy of my report:

As you can see, many things have changed over the course of 41 years, but these are verified records from Ford themselves that verify how this particular truck was ordered when new. Interestingly, it was ordered as dealer stock to have sitting on the lot.

Here is a quick (read: AWFUL) photoshop I made of it to basically kind of show how this truck looked when it was new. The biggest discrepancy is whether or not the "Explorer" emblem was above or below the marker light; I have seen both. I didn't edit the tires to blackwalls.

___________________________

I went to the junk yard a couple weeks ago and scored a turn signal lense, so I cleaned it and installed it along with one of my original lenses, and removed the cheapo Mexican made lenses that didn't fit worth a crap. They were installed when I banged it up in 2018. The factory lenses are a little faded, but look good otherwise.

Then, this past week/few days, I jacked up the truck and began to remove the transmission, as it was super covered in grease and grime and I wanted to degrease and repaint it. Someone had painted it blue when it was rebuilt. In the process of removing it I discovered that 2 of the 6 bellhousing bolts had mysteriously disappeared. If that wasn't enough, the front frame crossmember that bolts to the radius arm brackets was missing bolts. Once I removed those the transmission came down and out with ease, giving me a LOT of room to really get in there and clean the frame up, which will be happening soon. Everything was covered in grease, almost 1/8th thick in some spots. On the flip side, I did see that whoever replaced the brake lines used copper nickel line, and the oil pan had all stainless bolts on it, and the freeze plugs on the block got replaced with brass ones. All hardware I removed will be replaced with stainless counterparts.

I packed it up and called it a day once I got the transmission out and home.

I began to start cleaning up the crossmembers and transmission by wire wheel, water and degreaser. Once I got the crossmembers cleaned, I hosed them off and dried thoroughly then primed them with self etching primer and black gloss enamel, same as used on the transmission. I sprayed the converter with Ford blue enamel. I also hosed down the transmission with my pressure washer to get the hard areas cleaned. I left the bottom of the bellhousing alone and unpainted because it was pointless to do with me pulling the pan off and flipping the trans over.

Once I got it back in the garage I drained the old pan (which had 20-30k on the fluid and filter since its last replacement and is about due anyway), and turns out all those bolts were loose leading to some leakage. I purchased a deep B&M pan kit from a friend cheap, and realized it was missing the gasket for the extension pickup for the filter; no biggie, the local transmission shop charged me $1 for a new gasket. So for now, she's almost reassembled and ready to go back in the truck. Next step is cleaning and painting the frame under the truck, and then I can begin plumbing the transmission lines as I am converting everything to AN fittings and installing a B&M super cooler and Derale external filter system.

Another big step but not pictured here is my fuel system upgrade. I have/will be installed a Carter fuel pump and the entire fuel system is being converted to stainless hardline, stainless braided hose and AN fittings (those blue and red fittings you see on racecars ). I wanted to do this to rid of all the clamped connections as the last thing I want is a fuel leak and fire on my girl.

_____________________________

I also removed all my bracketry and pulleys to get them ready for sandblasting; not everything is shown here.

__________________________________

Now here is where the fun begins. The original plan was a basic cam swap, and as you can see, that didn't exactly happen. I purchased a 429 engine a while back with the intent of building it while the 351 was in the truck running, but after rethinking it, the 429 is almost 300lbs heavier than the existing engine and it would just drive like crap. It's already front heavy as it is, and without upgrading the front coil springs it would just be awful. That being said, as you can see above, I teased Boss 429 valve covers and the original idea for this truck was to convert this Lincoln car 4 barrel 429 over to a Boss engine, but I have decided against it. Space (lmao its a truck) is a big factor believe it or not with the Hemi heads. I did a lot of research and spent a lot of time measuring, and ultimately with the steering and brake stuff being in the way it wasn't worth relocating.

Last week, I removed a 400 engine from my friends 78 F250 Camper Special. There was nothing wrong with the engine and ran beautifully, other than it was doggy and threw a tantrum pulling his race car trailer especially backed by the 4 speed. He had a new engine built that should make about 400 horsepower. Since I am doing all the work to swap his engine, he is giving me the old 400, for free. This engine has about 15-20k miles on it since rebuild and the short block is in excellent shape. I was going to remove the adjustable valve train and put it on my cylinder heads I rebuilt in the above post, but then something happened.

Basically I've been talked into building an engine, and to do it now while the truck is apart. I can get the 351 running as is, but, as it so happened to be, I want some HORSEPOWER. I'm taking this 400 apart that he gave me to see what it has for pistons...if I like what I see for compression then I will use that short block; if not, I have 4 engine blocks to pick from and having a rotating assembly installed and machine work done will only cost me about $1400 which is reasonable and far less if I assemble it myself. I am looking at picking up Trick Flow 195 cylinder heads with a 72cc combustion chamber that should yeild me about 9.3:1 compression with a flat top piston at 0 deck which brings the piston up .070" in compression height. The stock compression height sucks which is one reason why stock 351M and 400 engines only made 156 and 173 horsepower respectively. These heads with a very mild cam (and I stress very mild) will pump out 400 horsepower and 500tq on pump gas (93 octane). This is a very mild combo and odds are I'm going to throw a far hotter cam in it. With not much else done to it, a few videos I have seen have had these engines north of 550hp. I don't plan on going that far.

Now that really fun part. Boost and/or nitrous. The biggest problem I'm going to have with a power adder is the stock connecting rods. They are super long and no one makes aftermarket rods. You can use Chevrolet rods and Dodge 340 pistons (or a 351 Cleveland piston), but then you run into the problem of the wrist pin being offset .026" which puts a side load on the cylinder walls and causes premature ring and bore failure. However, these engines will safely run up to 150hp shots of nitrous bone stock, so with heads, compression, opened up ring gap and timing pulled I can theoretically run more and that would be fun. I have been considering boost and turbo kits, but that's so far in the future and expensive as compared to nitrous (kits start at $500), so I'm more worried about getting this thing running and having some fun with it first before I really start looking at power adders.

__________________________________

This week I am going to start sanding and priming/painting the inside of the frame and things I can easily get to now that the transmission is out of it. I also have a massive stock pile of new parts for this thing (roughly $3,000 worth!) that are laying around waiting to be installed like new shocks and boots, wheels etc. I am also currently into looking into installing ladder bars or putting slapper bars back in for some kind of traction device. Ladder bars may have a problem with clearance of the frame rails, so I'll keep you posted.

What started as a simple camshaft replacement, as expected, turned into a whole wild thing!

 

[Eunos_Cosmo]

Been a long time since I was in the V8 Ford world...does anyone do EFI 351Cs these days? That seems like it would be an awesome engine.

 

[Slash]

Been a long time since I was in the V8 Ford world...does anyone do EFI 351Cs these days? That seems like it would be an awesome engine.

Believe it or not the last year or so has exploded with Cleveland stuff as people are now realizing the power potential of the "junk" 400 truck engines. The aftermarket is starting to come around for them again. They still have their flaws, especially the 351M and 400 engines but a lot of that has since been rectified. A lot of guys are doing like my father is with his 351W, going with bolt on throttle body style EFI. The ever so popular "Clevor" is making its rounds again as well it seems, at least on social media. This is kind of the reason I'm opting to build a 400 engine over the 429 I originally picked up for this truck. The biggest issues you have with the 400 is basically the timing, and compression. There are guys routinely getting over easy 600 horsepower out of the 400 truck motor.

I'm not sure how in depth you've been with Ford small blocks, but the 400 is in retrospect just a tall deck, stroked 351C, akin to the 351W is to the 302. The pistons are 15cc dished, .075" down the piston bore at TDC, and run with an 80cc open chamber (so like, 7.9:1 compression lmfao) with an abysmal exhaust port, crappy valve springs, super tiny cam specs and cam timing retarded 4 degrees. Basically, if you throw your typical bolt on parts at one of these you'll pick up a significant amount of power. But, now they are finally offering pistons for the 400 (they needed to be specially designed for the right compression height and the fact that the rods are .026" offset from center on the wrist pins) that bring compression height back to 0 deck at TDC which bumps the compression over 1 point by itself on stock heads. The other fun thing is other than the pushrod length, everything in the top end is direct swap from a 351C itself, excluding intakes, but they are making adapters for the deck height now as well. So any aftermarket 2V and 4V head bolts right onto it, and the head swap alone is worth 150-200 horsepower if you want to spend the money.

It's pretty cool to see something that was once considered a slug start to come alive, kind of in the way the 351W did; and the fact they are 300lbs lighter than a 460 with an already longer stroke is pretty nice.

________________________________

Moving on, this past weekend I finished up the engine swap in my friends 78 F250, and boy, does that 400 sound MEAN! All said and done, the engine produces well into the 400 horsepower and over 500 ft-lb range with a very mild cam (Comp Cams 270HR if anyone cares). It still needs some things buttoned up, like wire tidying, but I was amazed how smooth everything went, and even fired up on the first crank. The biggest mistake we made was wiring the leads to the starter solenoid backwards since we got distracted. What an arc that made on the alternator bracket! The new dual diaphragm clutch felt amazing, and on the first try, didn't even have a single leak!



The specs on that engine are very similar to what I am going to be following as I will be rebuilding the 400 that came out of his truck, for my truck since he gave it to me for free for helping him. Lots of good parts in it as well (new oil pump, ARP oil pump shaft, Comp cams pushrods etc), but unfortunately had stock style replacement pistons and as you can see from the above paragraphs, have next to no performance value. That engine will be pulled apart and we will decide between 1 of 4 bare engine blocks I have on which one to use and then decide what pistons size I need. I will be using Track Boss pistons for the 400 engine that will yield about 9.5:1 compression on the 72cc Trick Flow Power Port 195 heads I am going to be buying. All in all, the engine should run me around $5,000 from scratch and with the right cam, net me a very streetable and more importantly, reliable, 500 horsepower. The engine I am rebuilding will be going to the machine shop shortly some time this week, if all goes as planned. I was a little concerned with the block has it had a hot spot on a lean cylinder so we will see how it goes; over all though, the block looks good just like the 20k miles it was advertised as and has visible cross hatching on the cylinder walls.

That being said, I have buttoned up a few things. My transmission, sans torque converter, is buttoned up and ready for reinstallation. I am debating on having the driveshaft sent out now for an aluminum replacement or doing that down the road. I have a new front cover seal here, valve cover studs, and one of my favorite things: vintage license plates from the 1980s that have a valid number and I will be using them when I put the truck on the road.

I also ordered the correct Lakewood traction bars, and painted them up Daytona yellow since they came black. I can't wait to see how they work. I also did something else, and that's order some big rubber! 325/50R15 Nitto NT555R's. I don't think traction will be a problem for a while (hopefully)!

 

[Slash]

Junkyard scores the other day, finally found a halfway decent set of green door panels to return back to original from black. Also scored a mint fender in better shape than the one on the truck. Also scored a tailgate in decent shape as a spare.

Today I dropped off my engine block to the machine shop. He thinks a .010 overbore to .040 from .030 will clean them up. Found out the block has siamese bores which is cool. Only issue is I have a front sump oil pan and the block isnt drilled for it since it is out of a 4x4, so a special oil pan, modded pan or a different block are my options. I'm leaning towards a pan because of how nice the block is.

 

[Slash]

Here's a small update on where we are at.

The engine and bottom end are at the machine shop, when I stopped by, the block was in the tumbler. We opted to go .040 over on the block. Boy does that cast iron look sweet all cleaned up! We are for sure staying with the 72cc heads, however we may mill them down for a little more compression, haven't decided on that yet. I'm going to need pushrods and haven't decided on what roller rockers I want yet. I went ahead and ordered my flat top pistons (13.3cc Track Boss/Keith Black), they are on back order until June 29th. The bottom end is going full ARP including main studs, head studs etc. We were able to use 351 Cleveland main studs but the rod bolts are specific for the 400. I will be ordering a Kevko front sump T pan soon, along with their oil pickup and a magnetic drain plug. Today I ordered new fuel tank and will be getting ready to plumb the fuel system up to the pump when that shows up.

The big news is I finally loaded her up on the trailer yesterday and brought her home out of storage. We are getting closer and closer, and I'm super excited.

 

[Slash]

Quick update. Ordered a fuel tank, some stainless braided hose and a bunch more AN fittings and started plumbing my fuel system by modifying my new fuel pump to accept AN fittings and piecing together part of the fuel line. I also installed my master disconnect switch but did not wire it in yet as I am waiting on battery cable, new marine battery terminals and cable lugs. I also couldnt resist setting one of those 325s next to the stock 235. Wow they are wide.

I also removed the 351 completely (lol my chainfall was being used so I did it the hard way and dropped it from underneath with a floor jack) and started cleaning the frame, the frame is super mint with clean steel minus a pea size hole that a tack weld will fix. Someone else welded the engine cradle to the frame which is ok with me, extra rigidity. Also glad to see the brake lines are new and the front 2 are plumbed with copper nickel line. I also spent some time cleaning up some wiring.

Got more done in the last few days than I have in months.

 

[Slash]

] So today I fixed a ground wire but ran out of heat shrink, pressure washed/primed/painted everything up front while I havent fixed the small hole yet it's not a big priority and I did find some hack of a patch job on the coil bucket that rusted through. Fortunately it's super sturdy so it's not a priority to fix right now since it's not broken. I also found (but already knew) that a coil spring cup was rusted through bur not bad enough that I'm super worried. I will get to it soon; I am buying used replacements tomorrow. I chose flat black for paint since I figured gloss would show imperfections even worse.

I also changed my front shocks to those Skyjacker black max's I got a while back.

 

[Slash]

Here is the next update.

I spoke to my machinist Monday, and got some good news. The block at the time was in the line bore machine getting ready to be bored to .040" over. The main studs were installed, the head studs and rod bolts have arrived along with lifters and the spider tray/dog bones for the roller cam conversion. The crank was able to be polished, so that is great news as we will be using standard size bearings instead of oversize. We also chose to go with Cometic MLS head gaskets.

Next step was that I modified a cage for a radio head unit in order to finally get my Pioneer to be solid and not zip-tied in and wobbling all over the place. It's still kind of hack-ish, but it works decent enough and you can't see it, so it didn't bug me too much until I can properly build a brace. One other little thing I did as well was tighten up the nut on the back of my power outlet as the thing was looser than a goose and was rattling around. Eventually, I will be adding another power outlet.

From there, I got my traction bars bolted up. They will need proper shim adjusting with weight off the axle when it goes down the road (the old engine is in the back), but they are in at least. I also had my Nitto's mounted today since I was too lazy to do it myself at work, took them home, replaced a broken wheel stud from way back when and then bolted them in. My LAWD they look great, only have a slight worry about rubbing the inside bed at full suspension compression, but I need to drive it to check that first. Worst case scenario is a small wheel spacer, but I don't think it will be necessary.

I also got the engine perches painted and bolted in with some yellow zinc coated grade 8 hardware with washers and lock washers which were neglected by the previous owners. They had not used lock washers and had come free, loosening up causing the engine to rock and subsequently tearing the rubber in the motor mount, which will be replaced because for $28 for the pair, the heck with it. I also purchased new universal joint straps, some lug nuts and extra wheel studs. I will be purchasing new universal joints for the drive shaft soon, so I have them ready when I go to put the driveshaft back in the truck unless I have an aluminum one made for me. I had some more fuel stuff show up today including my new fuel tank and some wire lug ends so that's a plus. I will be tackling the fuel system soon, thinking about buying some new hard line as I want to go longer than what's in the truck currently. I did start prepping to mount my external transmission filter on the frame once I get a shield figured out, apparently they make a shield that slides over the filter to prevent any flying stones from puncturing the filter. I will be converting it to AN fittings and getting rid of the phenolic NPT barb'ed ends that are threaded into the housing.


Here's some eye candy.

 

[Slash]

Today I replaced that leaky fuel tank. Did not realize the filler and vent tubes were dry rotted so I will be replacing them eventually, for now I reused them. I also vented the rollover valve at the back instead of the front of the truck.

 

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Today I stopped at the machine shop. I made my biggest purchase on the engine and the most expensive part, the cylinder heads. We decided to go with Trick Flow 190 Power Ports. 195cc intake runners, 72cc chambers to keep the compression reasonable for pump gas. I don't remember what we went for with the springs, either 1.46 or 1.56 were the options. To be honest I didn't even discuss it as I forgot all about it. I also had the camshaft ordered (more on this in a bit) and Comp Cams roller rockers. We went with Ford Performance replacement roller lifters for a 302/351W. The spider tray and dog bones are here as well. The block was as mentioned earlier, bored to .040 from .030, and today I found out he also line bored and decked it for a true 0 deck with my step dished pistons from TMeyer (which are actually just specially made Keith Black/Silv-O-Lite). He also installed the ARP main studs, balanced the connecting rods and put the ARP rod bolts in them so they are mated together. Cometic MLS head gaskets are there, and I dropped off my intake, flexplate, spacer plate and some gaskets/seals along with my Comp Cams double roller timing chain. We also got the head studs in. Lastly, the crank was able to be polished and did not need machine work. Basically this whole thing is being blue printed.

Here's were we are as far as the camshaft goes. With the current economic crisis and Covid there has been a lack of cam cores for some reason, and what should be easy to get camshafts are taking a few months (SBC and Coyote engines). My friend's 400 mentioned in this thread took 9 weeks. I am hoping to have this truck out by mid August so I sure hope it does not take that long.

I am also looking into MSD distributors now, I've been talked out of sticking with my Duraspark because the advance system on them are trash.

Here's a few pictures. Didn't get any of the rods.