Cody

I’m not Mark, just a Mark Twain quote at the bottom. LOL

I’m out of town till Saturday and leaving for the FE Reunion in Pennsylvania on Tuesday so might be a while before I get a shipping quote. Is that a problem?  If you’re not in a big hurry we can figure it out when I’m back from Pennsylvania, about September 15.  I think I could get them to the Milwaukee area if you could pick them up there....

If you want to just call to discuss my cell is nine five 2 91three thirty three17.

Thanks

I have 63 427 heads (iron) and long tube 427 cast iron headers with no gaskets and no sealers of any kind  No leaks or problems of any kind after15,000 street miles. JMHO gaskets are more prone to leaking than no gaskets.  Ford did not use them.

Regarding the FE Reunion, my daughter lives in Pennsylvania and she is hearing there may be a new state mandate coming that would put a limit of 250 people for outdoor gatherings.  Seems it would affect the FE Reunion, hope not.

I have a cast Scat 4.25 stroke crankshaft that I installed the large diameter pilot bushing in, I assume it was the 1.848 dimension.  This mated up perfectly with a Borg Warner T10 4 speed in my 63 Galaxie.  I later converted to a Tremec TKO 600 and found and additional smaller hole in front of the larger hole that had the pilot bushing.  I assume this would be the 1.375 diameter, the supplied pilot bearing with the TKO 600 kit fit into this hole and mated up to the TKO 600 input shaft pilot.  The counter bore in the rear of this crankshaft was also quite deep which would have allowed for additional clearance if the input shaft pilot would have extended past the front of the pilot bearing.  In my case it did not extend past pilot bearing but it was nice to know there was clearance if needed.

Hopefully one of the vendors that handles these crankshafts can verify if both diameter holes are present in all Scat crankshafts, mine is a sample of one.  Now, all that being said I would be checking and double checking that crankshaft end play is present during every step of the installation.  It seems there is an abundance of horror stories related to tearing up the thrust bearing and crankshaft when the end play is removed for one reason or the other.

D and L Transmissions out of New York. 631-351-4837. Very knowledgeable and very helpful on my T-10 for my Galaxie.

Well I'll throw my 2 cents worth in and hopefully not muddy the water too much.  I had a very similar situation on a 63 Galaxie while installing a TKO 600. One key difference was that I was using a truck bellhousing which is slightly deeper than the original 63 FE bellhousing.  I had a kit for a Galaxie that was supplied by American Powertrain which included a pilot bearing,  not a pilot bushing.  This pilot bearing was a much smaller OD (outside diameter) than the pilot bushing in my crankshaft, obviously this smaller OD pilot bearing was not going to fit in the large hole my original pilot bushing was in.  The picture of your pilot bushing would appear to be the same OD as what was in my crankshaft.  When the TKO 600 was mounted onto the truck bellhousing it looked very similar to what your pictures show that the splines bottomed on the bushing with a substantial gap remaining between the bellhousing and transmission case.  What I did find after I removed the pilot bushing was that there was another hole in the crankshaft that I was not aware of due to the pilot bushing covering it up.  This additional hole, deeper in the crankshaft, was the correct diameter for the pilot bearing that was supplied with the transmission kit.  So, installing the pilot bearing into the smaller and deeper hole in the crankshaft resolved that problem for me.  I should also mention that while I was struggling with this issue I had an old 352 core that I was making comparisons to with an original FoMoCo crankshaft and it only had the larger diameter hold for the pilot bushing.  My crankshaft was a Scat 428 stroker crank, which had the large hole (fit the bushing) and the small hole (fit the bearing).  I do have a more extensive write up about this and some other issues on the TKO installation, I didn't want to dump the whole thing in the middle of this post.  If you are interested in reading the entire write up, PM me with an email address and I will send it to you.

I would agree with some of the other responses that it really looks like you didn't get the short shaft. 

I would be especially aware of the crankshaft end play at every step of the way as the potential for disaster is present if end play is not present.

My kit come from American Powertrain and I had some real issues working with them and the issues I had.  Interestingly Modern Drive Line actually helped me out in resolving my problems even though my kit come from a different vendor.  I think all these vendors do their best to resolve the issues but sometimes you just have to work a little harder to make it clear to them what the issue is or find the right person in the organization that can fully grasp what your up against.  I'd be hounding Modern Driveline on this as I think they are little more knowledgeable on Ford applications then some of the others plus it's their kit and they want you to be happy with it..

I grew up about 20 miles from Rushford, MN in the 60’s and remember hearing stories about Ernie Tuff and his foray into NASCAR country. I was only 11 in 1964 but clearly remember hearing about him. Some of the stories are similar to what is in the CL post. The post kind of indicates NASCAR made some rules just for Ernie to make it a little harder for him compared to the Southern racers. I do remember hearing that some of the heavy hitters from the South referred to Ernie as “That dam farmer from Minnesota “.

A few years back Ernie brought the car up to a local cruise night at the Lakeview Drive In in Winona, MN. I wasn’t there but understood it was quite an event because of it being there.

The forum member that brought this to Jays attention is a good friend of mine and still lives near Rushford. He does know Earnie Tuff and would certainly vouch that the story and history is true. Could there be some embellishments..., probably, but most of the basic facts are real. It will be very interesting to see how this story ends.

JB, I get the part about not wanting to do a complete disassembly to see if this is a factor.  I also agree because your dealing with about 3/8" (.375) you should be able to make some measurements and determine if this is a factor.

My deal was a bit different, I don't remember the exact dimension but seems it was about a 1/16".  When installing the transmission the case actually "clunked" up against the bell housing.  I was fortunate to notice it didn't feel right when tightening up the transmission mount bolts.  I was within a whisker of total disaster, either snapping an ear of the transmission body or tearing up the engine thrust bearing upon start up. 

Hope you get it resolved quickly and easily.