Project "Uncle Fester"- 9/21 Interior almost finished

[72stepside]

Just a quickie here...

These are pictures of the assembled engine just after a bath in Marine Clean and Metal Ready, awaiting POR Engine Paint.





Before anybody gets excited, the 'prop' under the harmonic balancer is only there to make me feel better. There is hardly and weight on it. That engine is heavy and I wanted that added insurance after rebuilding this puppy.

Should be able to start painting tomorrow.

More later...

[JWW]

Looking good. Man you are making some progress.

[FormerMarine1981]

Almost doesn't look like an engine without all the grease and oil grime all over it

[72stepside]

Starting to come together...



That is POR Engine Enamel... Ford Corporate Blue and Aluminum. The pulleys and brackets are satin black engine enamel in a rattle can (Duplicolor if I remember correctly).

We're finishing up all the brackets and accessories. It seems everything we grab has grease and mud on it.

I still have the manifolds to go. Should get them painted and cooked over the weekend. Ignore the ugliness of the distributor. It's in there just to plug the hole for now. Still gotta clean it up real good and paint it.

Paint review...

The directions say it can be brushed on. True, but I found that it doesn't lay down as nice as POR-15. The blue turned out pretty nice by brush. The aluminum is very metallic and turned out great on the water pump because it is a cast piece. The valve covers and fuel pump were a different story. The smooth flat surfaces do not look good after brushing. Dad sprayed several 'final' coats of aluminum with an airbrush in extremely thin coats to get it to lay flat and even.

This paint however does go a long ways. I bought the little cans and have a whole lot left over. I'm gonna paint the transmission with the aluminum. Not sure what I'm gonna do with the rest of the blue. I probably only used 1/3 of a can of each color for all you see here.

[JWW]

[LOWERED 69]

Engine is lookin great!

[72stepside]

Engine is fully assembled (minus carb and plug wires) and resting comfortably on the engine stand. Taking a break for a few days before we tear into the C-6 transmission (actually, Dad is pulling the transmission in his Ford 8-N tractor cause it is terminal, so that's the reason for the break).

So, early on in this thread you see that someone put a 4 barrel intake on this 390. Clearly that isn't a truck intake but I was fine with it. It came with a riser and two barrel adapter which held the Holley 4412-C. The engine ran resonably well so I didn't think anything of it.

Fast forward to AFTER this engine is put back together and painted....

I bought a temperature sensor for a 1971 F-250 390CID engine. Not even CLOSE the size of the hole in this intake. That got the wheels turning and jogged the memory a bit. When I put the thermostat in, it was actually too small for the hole, so I looked at the old one, which was identical, and noticed it was still glued to the gasket. It appeared the gasked held the thermostat in, which didn't seem right to me, but we went on with it any way.

I got to digging around today on this site (love it by the way) and found there is a larger diameter thermostat for the earlier FE engines. Got the number off the manifold (C2AE9425C) and, with evidence of the thermostat and temp sensor part listing and further reinforcement found on this site, this is a 4 barrel manifold off an early 60's Galaxie. So, I'm a little irritated that I found this out now, but at least I can get the thermostat right and work out the issue with the temp sensor. I'm not sure what this intake will do to performance, but it is what I have and I am pressing forward. I can change it later if necessary with a chain hoist and/or 2 sticks of dynamite!

I still have to get a carb. I checked into the an Autolite 4100 from PonyCarbs but unless I start selling drugs or win the lottery, that is out (too bad too cause they rework them puppies nice). Probably gonna go with some sort of 600-650 cfm Holley.

So, I have a truck 390 bored .040 over with a car 4 barrel intake. This thing is shaping up more like Uncle Frankenstein than Uncle Fester.

[72stepside]

Tore into the C6 today. Overall not too bad. We took lots of pictures and wrote a whole lot of stuff down. I have a bunch of labelled ziplock baggies with parts in them. The Haynes Ford Automatic Transmission Manual has been suprisingly good... only found one place where it was lacking at the beginning. We looked at my 1972 Ford Service Manual a couple of times too.

The only issues when the truck was together was the transmission took a little while to engage and it leaked horribly.

Nothing looked really bad. No metal in the pan. No bad hard parts. ALL of the seals and gaskets were hard as a rock. They just fell apart when you tried to remove them. We have one more component to remove in the back of the case then we'll be ready to clean it all up, conduct a more thorough inspection, order a soft part kit, then put it back together. I'm gonna replace what I can, but most of the hard parts look good.

Pictures coming tomorrow upon completion of the disassembly.

[72stepside]

Ok, so here's a few pics of the transmission disassembly. I took 62 so I won't post them all...

The beginning...


This was found in the bottom of the pan. It came out of the valve body assembly. IIRC it holds the filter assembly on.


Improvised spring compressor to get one of the clutch packs apart. We put large bolts through a piece of wood that were spaced such to push the assmebly down so we could get snap ring pliers in there to remove the pack.




Next up is to order up a rebuild kit. I'm going on a motorcycle trip to TN/NC while the kit is being shipped. ZOOM ZOOM !

Stay tuned...

[FormerMarine1981]

Awesome work. The engine came together nicely, looks sweet. I changed out a C6 a few weeks ago with a friend and we didn't have the torque converter seated right. He was tightening the bolts down and I was just about to tell him to stop when the flange broke.

Keep up the good work.

[72stepside]

THERE HAS BEEN A WHOLE LOT GOING ON LATELY!!

This past week we got the transmission overhaul finished up.

Before...


After...

That is POR Aluminum Engine Enamel sprayed with an airbrush. Brushing on the aluminum paint results in a horrible paint job. That color is better sprayed.

I have to say the tranny overhaul wasn't too bad. We couldn't find any worn metal parts, but almost all of the seals were hard as a rock. I guess that explains the trouble it had engaging when you'd shift from park. With the help of the Haynes Ford Auto Transmission Overhaul book, Ford service manuals, two sets of eyes, and over 100 pictures, it went pretty well. Now I don't know if it worked or not yet because we can't fire it all up until I get the rest of the engine accessories, wiring, and the cab back on. I guess that's incentive to hurry up!!!

Here's the rebuilt 390 and the C6 mated up together...


And finally, back in the frame!!!!




For a refresher, this is what the mess looked like in June...


And this is how I got the drive train back to my house and also why I'm building a F250. Those poor rear springs...


So now that it's back home, I can work on it over here, spend a little more time with my family, and get my waistline back in order. I've been eating Mama's cooking all summer and it shows!

Big thanks to my chief mechanic, Dad, for all his work!!!! Couldn't have done it without you!

[robroy]

Good evening Chris,

I love the way the transmission paint turned out! I didn't know airbrushes were made that could handle something as thick as that paint; I'll bet you had quite a clean-up session when you got the last of that stuff through the gun.

The engine and transmission package looks absolutely gorgeous sitting back in the frame!

Robroy

[72stepside]

Good evening Chris,

I love the way the transmission paint turned out! I didn't know airbrushes were made that could handle something as thick as that paint; I'll bet you had quite a clean-up session when you got the last of that stuff through the gun.

The engine and transmission package looks absolutely gorgeous sitting back in the frame!

Robroy

We thinned it down some with the POR thinner to spray it. It says on the can that you can thin it. It come out really great that way. That's the only way to go with the aluminum. The metallic characteristics do no brush well at all.

[Madsen1970F100]

awesome thread and pictures nice work. YOu have been in places I will be going and answered questions I have yet to think of asking. Thanks and keep up the great job!

[72stepside]

awesome thread and pictures nice work. YOu have been in places I will be going and answered questions I have yet to think of asking. Thanks and keep up the great job!

Glad I could help.