4WD IDI C6 are hard to find?

[onetonjohn]

I'm in grass valley and the closest one is 100 miles away and 700 bucks on car-part.com. I had no idea. I figured no one liked the C6 and they are pretty much bullet proof, so they should be plentiful in wrecking yards. Never been wrong without first thinking I was right. I'm hoping to get a core build it up then do 1 day swap with existing trans in the truck, so it doesn't turn into 6 year ordeal like the white truck (project littlefoot)

 

[lotzagoodstuff]

If you are really going to build a spare, you should think about an E4OD. I love old bulletproof stuff, but the lockup converter and extra gear makes the relatively low revving IDI a completely different vehicle. Freeway cruising and fuel mileage make a vast improvement. Regardless of which way you go, pay attention to the torque converter as it’s diesel specific.

 

[onetonjohn]

That's the long term plan, but I'd like bulletproof towing (up to 10K) in the mean time. Current transmission seems OK, but don't tow often. It's leaking, and thought I'd go though it before pulling a boat up the 162 to bucks lake. Road is pretty steep and windy. Light traffic, but pretty sure I don't want to have problems out there.

 

[Clb]

Someone needs a shakedown run, always a good reason to tow to the lake,ANY lake.

Unfortunately I don't have any help to offer in finding one down here.
Idi used the big block bell pattern right?

 

[IDIBRONCO]

Someone needs a shakedown run, always a good reason to tow to the lake,ANY lake.

Idi used the big block bell pattern right?

Pretty much.
I can say that I haven't run across any 4X4 C6 trucks for a long time. Maybe they just weren't that popular?

 

[rreegg]

Any particular reason to not want a zf5?

 

[Clb]

Bullitt proofness aside?
Thinking of the amount of c-6 one could build for the "bullet proof overdrive variants, still zf ftw
Op
I posted a wanted core for you on irate4x4.com
It's probably a longshot.

 

[franklin2]

Unfortunately I don't have any help to offer in finding one down here.
Idi used the big block bell pattern right?

Nope. Ford used the international diesel with a odd international bell pattern. So they designed a adapter to change the international bellhousing pattern to something else. You would think since they had a blank sheet of paper, they would have made the adapter to fit the 460 bell pattern. But no, they came up with another oddball doesn't fit anything else bellhousing pattern. So they had to re-tool the c6 castings, zf had to re-tool the 5 speed castings, just for this weird pattern they came up with.

To the original thread starter; People take a 460 zf and re-drill it to fit the odd diesel bell pattern. Can this be done to a 460 c6 transmission also? Never heard of it being done, but not seeing why you could not try it if the 460 c6 transmissions are more plentiful.

 

[onetonjohn]

Any particular reason to not want a zf5?

I've got another 86 F350 that I did the zf-5 swap. That one is currently getting road worthy. Resealed steering box and blew out pitman seal. Put new one in - and now it's leaking. Redhead box on the way. But I need the other truck reliable for hauling while I work the bugs out of the z5-5.

 

[onetonjohn]

Nope. Ford used the international diesel with a odd international bell pattern. So they designed a adapter to change the international bellhousing pattern to something else. You would think since they had a blank sheet of paper, they would have made the adapter to fit the 460 bell pattern. But no, they came up with another oddball doesn't fit anything else bellhousing pattern. So they had to re-tool the c6 castings, zf had to re-tool the 5 speed castings, just for this weird pattern they came up with.

To the original thread starter; People take a 460 zf and re-drill it to fit the odd diesel bell pattern. Can this be done to a 460 c6 transmission also? Never heard of it being done, but not seeing why you could not try it if the 460 c6 transmissions are more plentiful.

You can drill the big block and make it work, but the IDI pattern slightly different. Also, I've heard if you get the gas one, it clocks the transfer case at a different angle. That's my biggest concern or I'd buy 2wd Diesel, and 4wd gas put them together and swap output shaft and tailshaft housing. I thought that would be easiest path till I heard about the transfer case angle thing.

 

[onetonjohn]

Nope. Ford used the international diesel with a odd international bell pattern. So they designed a adapter to change the international bellhousing pattern to something else. You would think since they had a blank sheet of paper, they would have made the adapter to fit the 460 bell pattern. But no, they came up with another oddball doesn't fit anything else bellhousing pattern. So they had to re-tool the c6 castings, zf had to re-tool the 5 speed castings, just for this weird pattern they came up with.

To the original thread starter; People take a 460 zf and re-drill it to fit the odd diesel bell pattern. Can this be done to a 460 c6 transmission also? Never heard of it being done, but not seeing why you could not try it if the 460 c6 transmissions are more plentiful.

That's a good point. I got latched on to the idea that I need the diesel case, but as you point out that may not be true. Gas are easier to find and cheaper. Then I only need to worry about matching the 41 spine BW output shaft. I'll have to check the pumps aren't different. Also there is band servo is and planetary, but you can update to the bigger one for diesel. As I'm typing, there is a probably more than I know about. Will research this path. Funny how I can get tunnel vision and not see all the options - given the amount of time I spend on it. Thanks for the reminder.

 

[david85]

Regarding diesel vs big block bolt patterns, this got me many years ago when I first started the E4OD swap. I bought a 460 pattern transmission instead of a diesel. Short answer is no: Diesel and Big block are different.

The top two bolts appear to be in the same location, but the lower four are not. The ZF5 bell housing can be redrilled, because of how the flange is cast into the housing. The E4OD cannot be redrilled, because of how the casting is "optimized" with less excess material, and additional gusseting right where the new holes would need to be.

So the long answer is still, no (for the E4OD).

The diesel is easy to identify because of the cutout at the bottom of the bellhousing. The other bell housings have a continuous face flange all the way around.

 

[franklin2]

Regarding diesel vs big block bolt patterns, this got me many years ago when I first started the E4OD swap. I bought a 460 pattern transmission instead of a diesel. Short answer is no: Diesel and Big block are different.

The top two bolts appear to be in the same location, but the lower four are not. The ZF5 bell housing can be redrilled, because of how the flange is cast into the housing. The E4OD cannot be redrilled, because of how the casting is "optimized" with less excess material, and additional gusseting right where the new holes would need to be.

So the long answer is still, no (for the E4OD).

The diesel is easy to identify because of the cutout at the bottom of the bellhousing. The other bell housings have a continuous face flange all the way around.

So the 460/c6 bellhousing on the transmission would need to be checked to see if it has enough "meat" to redrill it to the diesel pattern.

So someone with a bunch of parts laying around, needs to hold up the international adapter against a 460 c6 and see what it looks like. If you had your idi out, I guess you could unbolt the adapter and take it to the junkyard with you.

 

[onetonjohn]

I just so happens I do have an IDI on a stand with the adapter. Might be tricky to the the adapter out but with some finagling, I could make that work.

 

[Clb]

Found one, waiting on a price with the blackbox doubler he won't separate....