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Episode Transcript
(Marc)>> You're watching Powernation!
(Marc)>> Today on Music City Trucks we're shifting gears in our F-350 flatbed with three different transmission options.
(Eric)>> Then we get technical and show you how to measure for a new hydraulic clutch assembly.
(Marc)>> Finally we wrap up this project with new gauges and take our hot '64 F-350 flatbed on the open road and put it to the test. [ Music ] This has got to be the most iconic design! [ Music ]
(Eric)>> Welcome to Music City Trucks. I'm Eric Smart, and this is our '64 F-350 shop truck. The last time you saw this truck we got a brand new 445 FE dropped in and finished up the engine swap, but the engine alone can't make this truck move. So we've got some pretty cool options for the transmission.
(Marc)>> As you could probably guess we want to maintain manual transmission status on our flatbed, but that T-19 four speed wasn't gonna cut it anymore. We wanted to improve both drivability and reliability on this rig, and we're gonna do that with one of the transmissions that you see here on the table that we got from American Powertrain. As a matter of fact, Robert Hall from American Powertrain is here to tell us about them. Robert, thanks for stopping by.
(Robert)>> Thanks for having us over. Getting an engine is always fun. That's glamourous, but you're not going anywhere without a transmission. So we have three different transmissions that work great in truck projects, but you have to figure out what am I doing with my project? Where am I going with it? That's how you narrow down what you're going for. If you're going to tow something the 4050 five speed, that's your transmission. Very strong, 600-foot pounds of torque, built like a tank.
(Marc)>> I can just see how large it is top to bottom, and what's this bolt pattern here?
(Robert)>> That's the NV-4,500 bolt pattern. A very common bolt pattern in this type of application.
(Marc)>> I noticed this one is also set up for four wheel drive too?
(Robert)>> Correct, we have the four wheel drive or two wheel drive.
(Marc)>> But that won't work with our project?
(Robert)>> Not with this one.
(Marc)>> One of these will right?
(Robert)>> So going over to something that you're going to be using on the street, two wheel drive. You have the TKX 5-Speed or the Magnum 6-Speed. The 5-Speed, fantastically strong, also 600-foot pounds of torque. Also it will shift at 8,000 r-p-m, and it's buttery smooth, quick, crisp in a very, very compact design. So fantastic for anywhere you want to put it, and then when you get into something like a C-10 it's much tighter space, great fit there. Then the Magnum, two overdrives instead of one. So 7,000 r-p-m, 700-foot pounds of torque.
(Marc)>> Having that extra overdrive, that's music to my ears with our 5.87 gear that we have. That's one of the things we really wanted to go with. Having an overdrive's great, having another overdrive's even better. I noticed you've got the shifter mid-mounted here too.
(Robert)>> So the shifter location would have been back here. We moved it up here for the truck applications. That's one thing American Powertrain does is we make these fit your project instead of you making your project fit the transmission.
(Marc)>> That's another thing too. This rated at 700-pound feet, you guys can make it where it'll handle a lot more than that too, right?
(Robert)>> Yes, we have our Extreme series upgrades, 1,100 horsepower out of it.
(Marc)>> We don't need that on this one. Now getting it installed, that's the big question right?
(Robert)>> Yes, having a transmission is great but you have to make it fit, but if you're taking a '64 Ford and you're going to put an FE in it, you have a 5.87 rear end, you have to have the parts to make it fit, and that's another place where American Powertrain really ups the game because we have everything from clutches and flywheels to make things bolt up to your engine, to the crossmember to hold the transmission. We have adjustable ones. We have vehicle specific ones. Whatever you're working on we have you covered. The polyurethane mount you see here is actually something we have made. So you have good vibration dampening, plus strength. This clutch has to be operated and you don't want to do it with a mechanical linkage. So this nice in-line hydraulic bearing's made in the US, great product. You can operate that with a master cylinder that is built into a pedal assembly.
(Marc)>> That pedal assembly's made specifically for this era of truck, right?
(Robert)>> Yes it is. We have these for this era Ford truck and many other vehicles.
(Marc)>> I love it! So other than getting the driveshaft made we've got everything need to get this thing rocking-n-rolling, right?
(Robert)>> Absolutely.
(Marc)>> I better get going, and I'm going to hit you up on the driveshaft once we get all that measured. Thank you for coming by, really appreciate it.
(Robert)>> Most welcome, and since you are helping save the stick have a Blackout series T-shirt.
(Marc)>> That's awesome! I can have this! Cool, appreciate it! Take my picture and put that on social media. Enjoyed it! Coming up next, our flatbed goes full hydro, on the clutch that is. Collar goes on...
(Marc)>> Now it's time to get our transmission installed but we can't just bolt it all together and stick it up in place because there's some things that we need to check first. The first thing we're going to do is check the difference between the center line of the crankshaft and the center line of the input shaft of the transmission because if those are off what's gonna happen is there's a bearing inside the transmission that supports the input shaft, and if they're off it's just gonna wear that bearing out, and it's gonna be difficult to install as well. If you have a traditional cast aluminum bell housing it'll already have a hole in it here where I've got my tool set up here, but because we're using an aftermarket scatter shield type bell housing it doesn't have that provision. So American Powertrain gave us this tool that actually provides a spot here for you to install your dial indicator to take the measurement. So I've got the magnet on the back side of the crankshaft, and then I've got the tip of the dial indicator here on this bore of this tool here, this adapter plate. We're just gonna run it all the way around to see what the run out is, or what the difference is, the variance, between the center line of the crankshaft and the center line of the of the input shaft of the transmission. Okay well we're right at the edge of the spec at five thousandths variance, totally fine! I can go ahead and get this thing all taken apart, start assembling it with the flywheel. I'm gonna start with the pilot bushing. Then the block plate, and then the flywheel. It does get indexed. So we've got to make sure we line these holes up the right way, and there it is! When it comes to flywheel bolts you've basically got two options. You've got your o-e-m bolts and then you've got aftermarket bolts, like this from ARP, which is what we're gonna go with. This is their Pro Series seven-sixteenths inch bolt. This is made specifically for Ford and Chevy applications, and specifically for flywheels. Just need to get these things cleaned up because it's got some packing lubricant on it. We'll get some thread locker on the threads, and we'll get ARP's assembly lube on the underside of the head so it torques properly. Get these things installed and torque. Starting at 40, we're ultimately gonna go to 85 on these according to ARP's spec. Now it's time for our clutch disc and pressure plate. We're gonna be using ARP bolts for the pressure plate as well. Now we've got our alignment tool here, 26 spline. Right there through the disc, and then this part is gonna go right in the pilot bushing, and that is what centers everything up. We can go ahead and get our pressure plate installed. [ Music ] You don't want to just torque them down. We want to make sure that we pull this down evenly. Check that to make sure it's still inline. That sounded good! Normally you have a clutch fork that sticks through this hole right here, and then it uses a pivot point to push the release bearing against the fingers of the clutch here, and that's what releases the clutch. Since we're gonna be using this hydromax hydraulic release bearing what it uses is hydraulic pressure to release the clutch, but it has to push against something in order for that to work properly. That would be the transmission, but because of tolerances we don't know exactly how far that is away from the fingers of the clutch here. So we need to take a couple of measurements so we know how many shims we need to put between this and the face of the transmission. So I'm gonna be using this straight edge and I'm gonna measure to the fingers of the clutch. So our measurement is 4.832 minus the thickness of our square, which is 2.016, and that equals 2.816, and that is the depth of our pressure plate fingers from the face of the bell housing. Now we've got the measurements on the engine side. We need to do the same thing over here. On the transmission side we need to determine how far the release bearing face protrudes from the face of the transmission housing. We're gonna do that by installing the release bearing first with no shims, and then measure. Our bearing height measurement is 4.223 minus the thickness of our square, and that gives us a total of 2.207 inches of bearing height. So right now our air gap is gonna be 2.816 was our measurement at the engine, minus 2.207. That means our air gap right now is 609 thousandths. We need to be between 100 and 200 thousandths. So we're gonna have to shim all of this out. 445, those go in there, collar goes on, followed by the release bearing, make sure it's fully seated, measure again. So our final bearing height measurement is 4.666 minus 2.016, and that is 2.650. So now from the face of the hydraulic release bearing to the face of the transmission here where it bolts against the bell housing is 2.650, which we subtract from our pressure plate depth, and that gives us our final air gap of 166 thousandths. Perfect! Now we can get this transmission installed. [ ratchet clicking ]
(Marc)>> Time to work on the crossmember.
(Eric)>> Next up, we get ready to shift into high gear with our new hydraulic clutch pedal assembly!
(Marc)>> We're making some good headway on our flatbed with the engine and transmission swap, and I went ahead and got the transmission crossmember installed and measure for my driveshaft. I'm gonna go order that.
(Eric)>> While Marc is doing that I've got the shifter test fitted, and that looks pressy good in there. But we can't quite call the transmission finished yet because we've still got to get this hydraulic clutch pedal installed. Before we can do that we've got to get the old one out. Now I'll get this pin removed. Little bit stiff but work it some and it'll come right off of there. [ hammer banging ]
(Eric)>> Little bit of gentle persuasion. I don't think this pushrod has ever been out of this truck. We've just got to convince it to leave. There it goes. We made it this far. Should be able to work our brake pedal out of the way. Get this out of the way. With the old pedal out of the way it's time to get this one installed but can't just jump straight to installing when it comes to stuff like this. So we're gonna test fit it and make sure that everything actually fits. [ Music ] Stick this collar up here. Then grab our pin. We're gonna use it just to get the new clutch pedal into place to make sure we've got clearance everywhere we need it. That's sitting just about where we're gonna want. We're gonna go ahead and see right in here. Just shave that, and right back here where this hydraulic feed line is at. Go ahead and give us a little bit of extra clearance there too. Well now that we've got this new pedal installed there's just a couple more things we've got to do. Run these lines, get the brake pedal in, and then we'll be done under here.
(Marc)>> I got it! Under this side all we need to do is get this reservoir mounted. Big thing with this is we need to make sure it's the highest point in the system. That way all the air comes out here. Just need to put a couple of screws in and get that hose attached. [ drill humming ] [ Music ]
(Eric)>> Well we got our pedals in here. Looking pretty good, and since we're already inside I think we need to move on and handle something else that's pretty important to this truck. [ drill humming ] [ Music ]
(Eric)>> Now with this old cluster removed and this one single gauge that after two engine swaps really had no chance left of working at all we're gonna go ahead and take the new RockAuto cluster with the fancy new gauges that somebody was nice enough to get all loomed up for me. We're gonna get it installed, and then from there it's all plug and play. This Autometer gauge cluster from RockAuto is an all inclusive kit with everything you need to monitor your speed, oil pressure, coolant temp, voltage, fuel level, and r-p-m. That looks pretty slick. That right in through there, and now we can come up here and we've got to get the engine side of this harness done so that those gauges will actually work. Of course that includes the sending units. We've got to get the speedometer put into the transmission, but all this wiring can get pretty boring. So when we come back this will all be finished up and hopefully we'll be able to fire it up.
(Marc)>> When it comes to brakes there's tons of different options out there, but how do you know what to choose for your vehicle? That's where EBC Brakes comes in. They offer brake upgrades for all different types of vehicles, driving styles, and performance needs. Whether you've got a daily driven commuter, or full tilt race truck, or anything in between. Let me give you a few examples. Got some nice wheels you want to keep free of dust, Red Stuff. Want to improve the safety of your grocery getter, Green Stuff. A daily driver that runs to the track sometimes, Yellow Stuff. And this is just a small portion of what they have to offer. No matter what your braking needs EBC is your one stop stopping shop. Coming up, our ferocious flatbed finally lives up to its name. I would put it under mission accomplished.
[ engine revving ]
(Eric)>> Kill it!
(Marc)>> This thing is gonna be awesome.
(Eric)>> That thing sounds great and obviously we got it running so that we can check the very last thing off of our list. And now that leaves us with just one more thing to do, and that's go drive this thing. But we did notice while we were working on it that these old doors are a little bit noisy. So we're gonna go ahead and throw in some new door seals that we got from Steele Rubber. Now you've heard us talk about Steele Rubber products here before because we've used their stuff several times. Now they've been around since 1958. So we know we can trust them for a quality product, and being able to use their parts on a truck this old just showcases the versatility of their catalog. Now if you want to get one of their catalogs for yourself you can go online and get one for free and see everything that they've got to offer. The first step to installing these door seals is gonna be getting all this old stuff peeled off. You just take a razor blade and start working away at it a little bit at a time. The best way to make this easy on yourself is to make sure you cut as much of the old adhesive out as possible before you try and peel this weather seal back. Now with the old seal cleaned up it's time to start getting the new one fitted. Get these put in here, and then we can seal up the rest of the inside. This stuff can get pretty messy. So you want to be careful. You do want to be pretty quick about it. Well with that done this should sound a lot better.
(Marc)>> That's nice!
(Eric)>> I think that's definitely gonna help going down the road, but that means we've got to go down the road. You ready to go.
(Marc)>> Yeah, I'm gonna fire this thing up. [ engine starting ]
(Marc)>> Oh yeah! This thing doesn't have seatbelts.
(Eric)>> No fun in that anyway. [ engine rumbling ]
(Eric)>> So 600 horsepower, almost 600-pound feet, 60 year old steering, drum brakes all the way around. I mean what could go wrong?
(Marc)>> A lot!
(Eric)>> This is by far the sketchiest thing I've ever driven.
(Marc)>> It's pretty sketchy. It demands respect. You disrespect it it'll disrespect you back. To me that's what makes it cool.
(Eric)>> Even just a hair too much throttle and this thing is trying to rip itself.
(Marc)>> How much throttle are you giving it percentage wise?
(Eric)>> Five! Anything more than that and it's just trying to be everywhere. I'll tell you what though, this thing, she'll rip the gears.
(Marc)>> Placement of the shifter's nice?
(Eric)>> Honestly it's perfect. I'm glad we got the mid-shift.
(Marc)>> We could clock it and get a different length handle. I like it where it is.
(Eric)>> If there was one word I could say about this truck after everything we've just done is wow!
(Marc)>> That's it, wow? I think I would put it under mission accomplished because we wanted it to have some drivability, which it completely lacked before. So the 300 straight six made a lot of peak power but under the curve it really didn't make a lot of power. It was pretty sluggish on the low end even though this thing's got a 580-something gear in the rear.
(Eric)>> You know just as well as everybody else I'm not a Ford fan, but if I had to pick one this might be it. [ engine rumbling ]
(Marc)>> Well our old county truck, turned farm truck, turned hot rod has come a long way from where we started. It's shorter, it's lower, and it's definitely faster.
(Eric)>> After driving it for a while everything under here still looks good. All the gauges stayed where they needed to be, and I'm pretty confident we could drive this thing just about anywhere.
(Marc)>> Well we accomplished what we set out to do, and that was improve drivability, improve reliability, and improve safety. We've done all three. No, it's not a brand new truck. With almost 600 horsepower, all of that torque on tap all the time, it's a little sketchy driving this old farm truck, but on the other hand that's what really makes it all fun. That's what we set out to accomplish. At the end of the day that's what we love to do. Speaking of which, we better go get back to the shop and start on another project.
(Eric)>> We'll tuck this handful and a half away for a little bit.
Show Full Transcript
(Marc)>> Today on Music City Trucks we're shifting gears in our F-350 flatbed with three different transmission options.
(Eric)>> Then we get technical and show you how to measure for a new hydraulic clutch assembly.
(Marc)>> Finally we wrap up this project with new gauges and take our hot '64 F-350 flatbed on the open road and put it to the test. [ Music ] This has got to be the most iconic design! [ Music ]
(Eric)>> Welcome to Music City Trucks. I'm Eric Smart, and this is our '64 F-350 shop truck. The last time you saw this truck we got a brand new 445 FE dropped in and finished up the engine swap, but the engine alone can't make this truck move. So we've got some pretty cool options for the transmission.
(Marc)>> As you could probably guess we want to maintain manual transmission status on our flatbed, but that T-19 four speed wasn't gonna cut it anymore. We wanted to improve both drivability and reliability on this rig, and we're gonna do that with one of the transmissions that you see here on the table that we got from American Powertrain. As a matter of fact, Robert Hall from American Powertrain is here to tell us about them. Robert, thanks for stopping by.
(Robert)>> Thanks for having us over. Getting an engine is always fun. That's glamourous, but you're not going anywhere without a transmission. So we have three different transmissions that work great in truck projects, but you have to figure out what am I doing with my project? Where am I going with it? That's how you narrow down what you're going for. If you're going to tow something the 4050 five speed, that's your transmission. Very strong, 600-foot pounds of torque, built like a tank.
(Marc)>> I can just see how large it is top to bottom, and what's this bolt pattern here?
(Robert)>> That's the NV-4,500 bolt pattern. A very common bolt pattern in this type of application.
(Marc)>> I noticed this one is also set up for four wheel drive too?
(Robert)>> Correct, we have the four wheel drive or two wheel drive.
(Marc)>> But that won't work with our project?
(Robert)>> Not with this one.
(Marc)>> One of these will right?
(Robert)>> So going over to something that you're going to be using on the street, two wheel drive. You have the TKX 5-Speed or the Magnum 6-Speed. The 5-Speed, fantastically strong, also 600-foot pounds of torque. Also it will shift at 8,000 r-p-m, and it's buttery smooth, quick, crisp in a very, very compact design. So fantastic for anywhere you want to put it, and then when you get into something like a C-10 it's much tighter space, great fit there. Then the Magnum, two overdrives instead of one. So 7,000 r-p-m, 700-foot pounds of torque.
(Marc)>> Having that extra overdrive, that's music to my ears with our 5.87 gear that we have. That's one of the things we really wanted to go with. Having an overdrive's great, having another overdrive's even better. I noticed you've got the shifter mid-mounted here too.
(Robert)>> So the shifter location would have been back here. We moved it up here for the truck applications. That's one thing American Powertrain does is we make these fit your project instead of you making your project fit the transmission.
(Marc)>> That's another thing too. This rated at 700-pound feet, you guys can make it where it'll handle a lot more than that too, right?
(Robert)>> Yes, we have our Extreme series upgrades, 1,100 horsepower out of it.
(Marc)>> We don't need that on this one. Now getting it installed, that's the big question right?
(Robert)>> Yes, having a transmission is great but you have to make it fit, but if you're taking a '64 Ford and you're going to put an FE in it, you have a 5.87 rear end, you have to have the parts to make it fit, and that's another place where American Powertrain really ups the game because we have everything from clutches and flywheels to make things bolt up to your engine, to the crossmember to hold the transmission. We have adjustable ones. We have vehicle specific ones. Whatever you're working on we have you covered. The polyurethane mount you see here is actually something we have made. So you have good vibration dampening, plus strength. This clutch has to be operated and you don't want to do it with a mechanical linkage. So this nice in-line hydraulic bearing's made in the US, great product. You can operate that with a master cylinder that is built into a pedal assembly.
(Marc)>> That pedal assembly's made specifically for this era of truck, right?
(Robert)>> Yes it is. We have these for this era Ford truck and many other vehicles.
(Marc)>> I love it! So other than getting the driveshaft made we've got everything need to get this thing rocking-n-rolling, right?
(Robert)>> Absolutely.
(Marc)>> I better get going, and I'm going to hit you up on the driveshaft once we get all that measured. Thank you for coming by, really appreciate it.
(Robert)>> Most welcome, and since you are helping save the stick have a Blackout series T-shirt.
(Marc)>> That's awesome! I can have this! Cool, appreciate it! Take my picture and put that on social media. Enjoyed it! Coming up next, our flatbed goes full hydro, on the clutch that is. Collar goes on...
(Marc)>> Now it's time to get our transmission installed but we can't just bolt it all together and stick it up in place because there's some things that we need to check first. The first thing we're going to do is check the difference between the center line of the crankshaft and the center line of the input shaft of the transmission because if those are off what's gonna happen is there's a bearing inside the transmission that supports the input shaft, and if they're off it's just gonna wear that bearing out, and it's gonna be difficult to install as well. If you have a traditional cast aluminum bell housing it'll already have a hole in it here where I've got my tool set up here, but because we're using an aftermarket scatter shield type bell housing it doesn't have that provision. So American Powertrain gave us this tool that actually provides a spot here for you to install your dial indicator to take the measurement. So I've got the magnet on the back side of the crankshaft, and then I've got the tip of the dial indicator here on this bore of this tool here, this adapter plate. We're just gonna run it all the way around to see what the run out is, or what the difference is, the variance, between the center line of the crankshaft and the center line of the of the input shaft of the transmission. Okay well we're right at the edge of the spec at five thousandths variance, totally fine! I can go ahead and get this thing all taken apart, start assembling it with the flywheel. I'm gonna start with the pilot bushing. Then the block plate, and then the flywheel. It does get indexed. So we've got to make sure we line these holes up the right way, and there it is! When it comes to flywheel bolts you've basically got two options. You've got your o-e-m bolts and then you've got aftermarket bolts, like this from ARP, which is what we're gonna go with. This is their Pro Series seven-sixteenths inch bolt. This is made specifically for Ford and Chevy applications, and specifically for flywheels. Just need to get these things cleaned up because it's got some packing lubricant on it. We'll get some thread locker on the threads, and we'll get ARP's assembly lube on the underside of the head so it torques properly. Get these things installed and torque. Starting at 40, we're ultimately gonna go to 85 on these according to ARP's spec. Now it's time for our clutch disc and pressure plate. We're gonna be using ARP bolts for the pressure plate as well. Now we've got our alignment tool here, 26 spline. Right there through the disc, and then this part is gonna go right in the pilot bushing, and that is what centers everything up. We can go ahead and get our pressure plate installed. [ Music ] You don't want to just torque them down. We want to make sure that we pull this down evenly. Check that to make sure it's still inline. That sounded good! Normally you have a clutch fork that sticks through this hole right here, and then it uses a pivot point to push the release bearing against the fingers of the clutch here, and that's what releases the clutch. Since we're gonna be using this hydromax hydraulic release bearing what it uses is hydraulic pressure to release the clutch, but it has to push against something in order for that to work properly. That would be the transmission, but because of tolerances we don't know exactly how far that is away from the fingers of the clutch here. So we need to take a couple of measurements so we know how many shims we need to put between this and the face of the transmission. So I'm gonna be using this straight edge and I'm gonna measure to the fingers of the clutch. So our measurement is 4.832 minus the thickness of our square, which is 2.016, and that equals 2.816, and that is the depth of our pressure plate fingers from the face of the bell housing. Now we've got the measurements on the engine side. We need to do the same thing over here. On the transmission side we need to determine how far the release bearing face protrudes from the face of the transmission housing. We're gonna do that by installing the release bearing first with no shims, and then measure. Our bearing height measurement is 4.223 minus the thickness of our square, and that gives us a total of 2.207 inches of bearing height. So right now our air gap is gonna be 2.816 was our measurement at the engine, minus 2.207. That means our air gap right now is 609 thousandths. We need to be between 100 and 200 thousandths. So we're gonna have to shim all of this out. 445, those go in there, collar goes on, followed by the release bearing, make sure it's fully seated, measure again. So our final bearing height measurement is 4.666 minus 2.016, and that is 2.650. So now from the face of the hydraulic release bearing to the face of the transmission here where it bolts against the bell housing is 2.650, which we subtract from our pressure plate depth, and that gives us our final air gap of 166 thousandths. Perfect! Now we can get this transmission installed. [ ratchet clicking ]
(Marc)>> Time to work on the crossmember.
(Eric)>> Next up, we get ready to shift into high gear with our new hydraulic clutch pedal assembly!
(Marc)>> We're making some good headway on our flatbed with the engine and transmission swap, and I went ahead and got the transmission crossmember installed and measure for my driveshaft. I'm gonna go order that.
(Eric)>> While Marc is doing that I've got the shifter test fitted, and that looks pressy good in there. But we can't quite call the transmission finished yet because we've still got to get this hydraulic clutch pedal installed. Before we can do that we've got to get the old one out. Now I'll get this pin removed. Little bit stiff but work it some and it'll come right off of there. [ hammer banging ]
(Eric)>> Little bit of gentle persuasion. I don't think this pushrod has ever been out of this truck. We've just got to convince it to leave. There it goes. We made it this far. Should be able to work our brake pedal out of the way. Get this out of the way. With the old pedal out of the way it's time to get this one installed but can't just jump straight to installing when it comes to stuff like this. So we're gonna test fit it and make sure that everything actually fits. [ Music ] Stick this collar up here. Then grab our pin. We're gonna use it just to get the new clutch pedal into place to make sure we've got clearance everywhere we need it. That's sitting just about where we're gonna want. We're gonna go ahead and see right in here. Just shave that, and right back here where this hydraulic feed line is at. Go ahead and give us a little bit of extra clearance there too. Well now that we've got this new pedal installed there's just a couple more things we've got to do. Run these lines, get the brake pedal in, and then we'll be done under here.
(Marc)>> I got it! Under this side all we need to do is get this reservoir mounted. Big thing with this is we need to make sure it's the highest point in the system. That way all the air comes out here. Just need to put a couple of screws in and get that hose attached. [ drill humming ] [ Music ]
(Eric)>> Well we got our pedals in here. Looking pretty good, and since we're already inside I think we need to move on and handle something else that's pretty important to this truck. [ drill humming ] [ Music ]
(Eric)>> Now with this old cluster removed and this one single gauge that after two engine swaps really had no chance left of working at all we're gonna go ahead and take the new RockAuto cluster with the fancy new gauges that somebody was nice enough to get all loomed up for me. We're gonna get it installed, and then from there it's all plug and play. This Autometer gauge cluster from RockAuto is an all inclusive kit with everything you need to monitor your speed, oil pressure, coolant temp, voltage, fuel level, and r-p-m. That looks pretty slick. That right in through there, and now we can come up here and we've got to get the engine side of this harness done so that those gauges will actually work. Of course that includes the sending units. We've got to get the speedometer put into the transmission, but all this wiring can get pretty boring. So when we come back this will all be finished up and hopefully we'll be able to fire it up.
(Marc)>> When it comes to brakes there's tons of different options out there, but how do you know what to choose for your vehicle? That's where EBC Brakes comes in. They offer brake upgrades for all different types of vehicles, driving styles, and performance needs. Whether you've got a daily driven commuter, or full tilt race truck, or anything in between. Let me give you a few examples. Got some nice wheels you want to keep free of dust, Red Stuff. Want to improve the safety of your grocery getter, Green Stuff. A daily driver that runs to the track sometimes, Yellow Stuff. And this is just a small portion of what they have to offer. No matter what your braking needs EBC is your one stop stopping shop. Coming up, our ferocious flatbed finally lives up to its name. I would put it under mission accomplished.
[ engine revving ]
(Eric)>> Kill it!
(Marc)>> This thing is gonna be awesome.
(Eric)>> That thing sounds great and obviously we got it running so that we can check the very last thing off of our list. And now that leaves us with just one more thing to do, and that's go drive this thing. But we did notice while we were working on it that these old doors are a little bit noisy. So we're gonna go ahead and throw in some new door seals that we got from Steele Rubber. Now you've heard us talk about Steele Rubber products here before because we've used their stuff several times. Now they've been around since 1958. So we know we can trust them for a quality product, and being able to use their parts on a truck this old just showcases the versatility of their catalog. Now if you want to get one of their catalogs for yourself you can go online and get one for free and see everything that they've got to offer. The first step to installing these door seals is gonna be getting all this old stuff peeled off. You just take a razor blade and start working away at it a little bit at a time. The best way to make this easy on yourself is to make sure you cut as much of the old adhesive out as possible before you try and peel this weather seal back. Now with the old seal cleaned up it's time to start getting the new one fitted. Get these put in here, and then we can seal up the rest of the inside. This stuff can get pretty messy. So you want to be careful. You do want to be pretty quick about it. Well with that done this should sound a lot better.
(Marc)>> That's nice!
(Eric)>> I think that's definitely gonna help going down the road, but that means we've got to go down the road. You ready to go.
(Marc)>> Yeah, I'm gonna fire this thing up. [ engine starting ]
(Marc)>> Oh yeah! This thing doesn't have seatbelts.
(Eric)>> No fun in that anyway. [ engine rumbling ]
(Eric)>> So 600 horsepower, almost 600-pound feet, 60 year old steering, drum brakes all the way around. I mean what could go wrong?
(Marc)>> A lot!
(Eric)>> This is by far the sketchiest thing I've ever driven.
(Marc)>> It's pretty sketchy. It demands respect. You disrespect it it'll disrespect you back. To me that's what makes it cool.
(Eric)>> Even just a hair too much throttle and this thing is trying to rip itself.
(Marc)>> How much throttle are you giving it percentage wise?
(Eric)>> Five! Anything more than that and it's just trying to be everywhere. I'll tell you what though, this thing, she'll rip the gears.
(Marc)>> Placement of the shifter's nice?
(Eric)>> Honestly it's perfect. I'm glad we got the mid-shift.
(Marc)>> We could clock it and get a different length handle. I like it where it is.
(Eric)>> If there was one word I could say about this truck after everything we've just done is wow!
(Marc)>> That's it, wow? I think I would put it under mission accomplished because we wanted it to have some drivability, which it completely lacked before. So the 300 straight six made a lot of peak power but under the curve it really didn't make a lot of power. It was pretty sluggish on the low end even though this thing's got a 580-something gear in the rear.
(Eric)>> You know just as well as everybody else I'm not a Ford fan, but if I had to pick one this might be it. [ engine rumbling ]
(Marc)>> Well our old county truck, turned farm truck, turned hot rod has come a long way from where we started. It's shorter, it's lower, and it's definitely faster.
(Eric)>> After driving it for a while everything under here still looks good. All the gauges stayed where they needed to be, and I'm pretty confident we could drive this thing just about anywhere.
(Marc)>> Well we accomplished what we set out to do, and that was improve drivability, improve reliability, and improve safety. We've done all three. No, it's not a brand new truck. With almost 600 horsepower, all of that torque on tap all the time, it's a little sketchy driving this old farm truck, but on the other hand that's what really makes it all fun. That's what we set out to accomplish. At the end of the day that's what we love to do. Speaking of which, we better go get back to the shop and start on another project.
(Eric)>> We'll tuck this handful and a half away for a little bit.
