PaPa's 69 F100 Explorer Coyote 10R80 swap

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This also arrived not long ago.

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My supercool radiator from my 75 Trailer Special turned out to be rotted. It was going to cost over $700.00 to put a new core in. I seriously considered this for a couple of days, but decided it wasn't worth it. I bought a Cold Case aluminum radiator for less then 1/3 the cost. Its no wonder radiator shops are becoming extinct. When the radiator came in it had a serious defect in it. I am not sure what it is but you could feel and see a bump on the inside. The quality control is suspect as it was obvious they tried to polish it out which you can see in the picture. They could not fix it but sent it out the door anyway. The overall polishing is not even close to show quality and is actually very poor. I plan to paint it anyway so it does not bother me. Summit Racing was great and replaced it right away. The new one looks fine.

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Hard to believe it's been 6 months since my last update. I have been doing a remodel on a house I need to sell so I haven't had much time to work on the truck or post progress. I have been working on the rear axle as much as possible. So here is what I have pictures of so far.

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The springs have been painted with 2 kinds of paint. They have been painted black sometime in it's life. This is confusing to me as it has been in the family since new. I know my father never did anything back there, he would have had me do it, and I would remember. I can't see my grandfather doing it either. At this point it is a mystery however later I remembered something that may have something to do with this. There is a silver paint under the black that had to be applied while the springs were apart. I always thought that Ford did not paint leaf springs, just leave them bare so this is also a mystery. I am pretty sure these springs have not been apart since new as the bolts were still peened over.

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Here is why I believe the springs were painted while apart, probably before assembly. I would like to know if anyone else has seen this on other trucks.

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Here is where the leafs contact one another

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Leaf springs being prepped for refinishing

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Final prep

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"Experts say you should never paint your leaf springs because the paint wears off between the leafs. This causes the bolts to become loose resulting in broken springs. These experts also say not to powder coat for the same reason plus the springs loose their temper above 275 degrees. They will also say to never oil the springs because it attract dirt and grit which gets between the leafs. So of course I ignored the experts and powder coated. I got around (I hope) the temper problem by curing at a low temperature for a long period of time. Also I am using spring liners to help prevent the wear problem. Also I don't expect it to get a lot of miles anyway. I can always replace the springs at a later date.

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On to assembly. The black liner that I bought has a lip on it to keep it in place.

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Fitting the liner.

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Assembly is complete

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On to the rear axle.

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Removal of axle seals.

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I want to duplicate the factory markings when possible. So its time for some automotive archeology. No markings were visable so I pressure washed the axle assembly. I then took some degreaser and a nylon brush and scrubbed it down. Some markings became visable.

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