I ground the bellhousing and used an allenhead bolt on the stock exhaust manifold on my '77F150 351M/ZF NP 205 swap.

 

Hmm maybe I should shoot some pics of the current setup and see what you think.

With the 400 currently in the bronco (TM build) I hear running aftermarket headers don't gain much over stock manifolds - which iam currently running. I think most aftermarket headers (i dont think there is a wide selection) will be a problem since the Early Bronco have such a narrow frame.

Aftermarket headers would definitely be an unwelcome expense...

I will post up over with the Bronco guys and see what they have to say, there are a few running a 400 in theirs..

Thanks, PDF's would be fine i would imagine. I will have to find someone to do the work but living in the city I shouldn't have much of a problem.

 

The small gain that headers give really don't justify the headaches and expense they cause.That's just my 0.02. Dodge, Ford and Chewy didn't have any problems making plenty of HP and torque back in the 60's and 70's with cast iron exhaust manifolds.

Ask Gary Lewis what he thinks about my headers in the 87 Bronco.

 

If you EVER thought you wanted headers then your task is to change plugs on his Wheezer. And IF you get that done then try the impossible - take a compression reading. Whatever model he has should be recalled as being unusable.

 

Yeah, we spent the best part of a day just trying to pull the plugs and take compression readings. If I remember right we ended up pulling the driver side header to get to the work. BIG PAIN IN THE BUTT!!!

 

I don't recall any major problems having headers on my 1981 F350 4x4 with a 400....

 

It depends on the engine, the heads, and the header. So, what headers are you running?

 

Congradulations on an excellent job/description on a M/ZF swap Gary.
I wish I could have been more helpful when I first described my 77F150 351M/NP205 4 speed to ZF conversion.I guess the one thing I did achieve way back then was to prove that it was possible.I'm not saying I was the first person to ever do the swap,but if someone had successfully done one,they sure were not sharing it online!
Haven't been on this site for awhile.Glad to hear that you and Bruno are still in the mix.
Once again,congrads on a fantastic article.
kenmt

 

Thanks, Ken. You helped by proving it could be done.

As for Bruno, he doesn't get to play truck as much as I think he wants to. Has something called a "business" he runs and has to go to "work". But he must be good as he gets a few hours off every once in a while.

 

Here are the as-built drawings in both pdf and jpg format. Since I'm not a machinist nor a draftsman the drawings probably don't have all of the needed details, so please let me know if more is needed.

But, one more thing - note the .150" chamfer on the spacer where it meets the flywheel. I chucked the flywheel up on the lathe and increased the chamfer on it so I could have a larger chamfer on the spacer - and therefore more "meat" between the outside and inside corners.

And, I should point out that it is critical that the front and back faces of the spacer be truly parallel to each other. To ensure that I used a process suggested by Ken Blythen where I turned the front face and the pocket of the spacer and then removed it from the lathe. Then I chucked up another piece of material and created a faux crank with a through hole. Then I mounted the partially-finished spacer on the faux crank, w/o removing it from the chuck, by using a through-bolt. Then I turned the rear face of the spacer to size. Sure enough, when I mounted the flywheel to the crank via the spacer the runout on the edge of the flywheel was well within factory spec.

 

This is excellent.. thank you. I will print everything out and see if a machinist can make this happen from your PDF's.

 

Welcome. And please let us know how it goes and what he charges to do it. Also, do you still have my PM of the things I did? All the bullet points? I didn't keep it and probably should post them here with a few mod's.

 

No i didn't get a PM, just the list you posted in this thread

https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1...l#post13431963

 

Duh! No wonder I didn't have it in my Sent Mail. I really do think my memory used to be better, but I can't remember for sure. Thanks!

 

no worries thanks again! I will start a build thread when I begin.. after my vacation