Let the ZF5 swap commence!

Finally, I have all the parts to complete my zf5 swap. I have a 94 f250 4x4 with a n/a 7.3 and e4od. The ZF5 that I am putting in is out of an early 90s f super duty 2wd with a 460 gasser. I will be using my buddy's gigantic magnet drill to machine the holes on the ZF5 bellhousing.

Todays progress:
Transfer case and drive shafts removed
Linkages, wiring harness removed
Crossmember bolts removed
Transmission bolts removed
All but 1 starter bolt removed
Interior and inspection plate removed

I need to get the starter off, crossmember out and fill tube out before i can drop the e4od

One thing I found out when I did the swap, I had to take the exhaust loose. If you are afraid of the bolts up front, see if you can take it apart somewhere further back. I found I had to tilt the engine back on it's mounts so the transmission would clear the floorboard. I then had to leave it tilted back and stab the zf in upward at a angle, bolt it up, and then lift the hole thing back up and put the rear mount in. The exhaust would not let the engine tilt back for me.

I can't remember what I did about the fan shroud, but take a look at it in case the fan hits it when the engine tilts back.

Great, cant wait to deal with that. I have an mbrp exhaust kit and new manifolds ghat i was thinking about doing so the exhaust might come out anyways. Unfortunately, my truck has the crane on ir that i would have used to lift the engine.

Quick question, does the zf5 use the same starter as the e4od? I dont see a specific one for MT or AT on rockauto

Yes and there is no need to pull the starter.

You can leave the engine mounted on its mounts, no need to loosen or lift anything. It will tilt back enough on it's own naturally once the exhaust is loose, and then just hang there till you get the zf bolted up.

Crossmember, fill tube and starter cables are out. Cradle is holding it all now. Just waiting for my buddy to be free to spot me while i pull it out

Well the E4od is officially out and ive hit my first snag. There is no shim plate between the engine and transmission. I need that shim plate so i can drill my zf5 since my zf is off a 460.

The spacer plate is there, after you remove the e4od, starter and flex plate you will be left with 2 bolts above the crank shaft, remove those and the plate can come off. Don't forget to remove the spacer on the crank shaft if you have the thin e4od flex plate.

I got it. For some reason I thought it was supposed to be a thin plate of steel.

I drilled and reamed all of the bolt holes, just need to do the dowel pins tomorrow.

Well the ZF5 is all done. I finished machining it the other day and also bolted on the 4x4 linkage and the tcase. Tcase required alot of cleaning of the mating face, thread holes. I used Nickel anti seize on it and copper permatex spray gasket after polishing the face to a shiny finish.

I found that a 10mm deep socket was .001" smaller than the 1/2" bolt holes in the adapter plate. I tapped in the socket, then centered my mag drill over it and tightened the jaws of the drill down with the magnet off. This centered the drill and allowed me to hit the holes perfectly on center.

I then pulled the pedal assembly out of the truck and put in the clutch pedal setup.

My next step is to remove the exhaust manifolds. My exhaust was rotted out at the manifold flange so I had to cut it off to get the e4od out. I have a set of brand new manifolds and an MBRP exhaust kit that I will modify to fit my truck. Unfortunately 5 of the bolts on my manifolds are rotted away, there is no bolt head left on them so I am going to try and torch them off, hammer the manifolds off the engine, and then remove the broken bolts with vise grips.

More pictures to come!

I finally pulled one of the rotted exhaust manifolds off today. I have two unused nos manifolds and a large amount of 3inch mandrel bent pipe that i will use to make a new exhaust system. Most of the boltes are so rotted that the corrdct size socket wouldnt work.

I removed the plastic wheel well liner to get access to the bolts. I remove the rotted bolts by finding a socket slightly too small to fit and hammered it onto the bolt head. All the bolts came out fairly easily once i got a socket on them. Look at how much material is missing from the old manifolds...

What do you guys recommend for painting exhaust manifolds?

I've never seen a header paint hold up more than a few hours/months. Might look around for ceramic coating services. Por15 has a high temp paint I was interested in but it's only rated to 1200 degrees. My understanding with these idi's is it's safe to hold 1200 all day and you can touch 1300 for a few seconds. Doubt that paint would hold up


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I use tech line coatings on my exhaust, expensive, but after a dozen or so tear downs, my hot snail still looks great.
wont flake off and can handle up to 2000*

http://www.techlinecoatings.com/hi-performance/bs-exhaust-system-coatings.html

Since your have the transmission out don't know if you want to go turbo sometime but go ahead and mod fo it to. Like beat in fire wall and cut an ear off the transmission, so it will go it smoothly.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G870A using Tapatalk

yes, I would like to turbo it some day, that is probably a long way down the road though, just bought a house a year ago so funds will be tight for a while.

I looked into those techline coatings IDIoit, looks like a good product but expensive. I will have to pass for now as I am trying to keep this build below a budget. I have used VHT epoxy paints before for brake calipers, suspension, etc and was impressed with them. They make a "flame proof" header paint that is rated for 1300 constant, 2000 intermittent and the full kit costs 28$ (Primer, color, topcoat). Cure cycles at 250-400 degrees so I can cure it in our tempering oven at work.