Thanks for posting this. My Grampa was a Chevrolet Truck employee late 50s mid 60s and I remember him explaining to my Dad why the GMC V-12 didn't get put in very many semi trucks - it gobbled fuel and was a dog. Seems the only guys liked it were a few West Coast LP tanker-haulers and since it mostly burned the propane boiling off the big tank it wasn't a problem. Those beasts found their (intended) niche sucking down Natural Gas and pumping water up out of wells in Texas.
Reading the brochure it seems GMC never intended the V6 engine family to do long haul. Rather regional haul and straight truck. Their Series 9000 (later 9500) long haul line was diesel only.
I've suddenly taken an interest in these big Ford V8 truck engines. I work in an engine rebuilding shop, and a customer brought in an engine claiming it to be a 477 cubic inch. Researching the history of this series, I see they offered three versions. The 401, 477 and 534. Once we dis-assembled it, we found out it isn't the 477, but the smaller bore 401 version. These engines aren't very well known these days as far as finding parts and tech info. Does anyone know of a good source for parts, shop manuals etc ?
Google Search and Ebay have always gotten the job done for me - well also I use a special tool called Clonezilla which is a specially made Linux operating system that can make your computer boot from a flash drive, CDROM or DVD. Once it is running you can have Clonezilla make a "drive image" of your hard drive that is amazingly compact and then store it on a 2nd flash drive. WHY is that important???? Because in Romania, Russia or some African hellhole some impoverished but tech-savvy dude found that shop manual in an old garage or library. He "borrowed" it and shot digital pictures of every page of the manual. Then he used some other software to compress it into some weird but usable (uncompressible and restorable ) format. Then he made a deal with some 3rd party to ADD SPYWARE INTO IT and he gets a few dollars per copy that gets downloaded. After you realize he has got the world's only copy of what you need - You make a drive image of your hard drive and safeguard that flash drive. Then you download the crap and immediately unplug your computer from the Internet. You unpack the crap, move the good info onto a third flash drive (after running some super-anti-spyware over it !) then yank the power cord out of your PC. Hopefully you have learned Clonezilla's OTHER function which is to unlock your hard drive's built in "ATA SECURE ERASE" function to "burn down the barn to get rid of the rats. Whoever wrote the spyware is way smarter than Microsoft or Dell and he made a Trojan that hides in the parts of your hardware that your computer normally can't even see. So you wipe that drive, put your preserved drive image back on it - and WRITE OVER THE BIOS FIRMWARE (update the bios in your PC) on your computer's motherboard. After you have done all that you may restart your computer and finally look over the amateur-made-but-complete pictures of the real actual manual you want. About a week of spare time goofing with it gets you the info you need WITHOUT getting your PC held hostage to ransomware or your bank account(s) stolen. You are welcome. I learned to do all this the Hard Way !!!!!!!!!
@@mccrackenphillipbigger. The V12 was 700 some cubes. Cross Dock companies used to run em in the trucks that pulled the turnpike triples (3 pups) up into the 70's.
I've always thought Cummins developed that engine as a v8 diesel and just couldn't make it work, so they palmed it off on Ford as a gasser, way way overdesigned, different water temperatures in various parts of the block, rogue thermostats and shutdown devises etc. The heads had singular air intakes at the center area to feed all four cylinders from a 4 inch hole, massive webbing in the block. Two hundred and fifty horsepower from 534 cu.in. was terrible efficiency. The 427chev truck(tall block) ran circles around it in nearly every way, 549 IH similar results except for reliability, they pretty well matched Ford on that point. The 238detroit was better by far than all the gassers at the time, that's my humble opinion of course.
You have to remember the 549 International (1956) and the 534 Ford (1958) were state of the art in their time. All these big gasoline truck engines were under carbureted for longetivity and reliability. Even the big GMC V6's (1960) were all equipped with 2 barrel carbs. The 427 Chevy came along much later (1966) and had to turn 20 percent more RPM to make similar horsepower. Among the larger trucks I own, two are class 6 trucks. One is a '72 F750 with the 391 4 barrel and the other is a '68 Loadstar 1800 with a 392 4 barrel. Both of those trucks are equipped with 360 CFM Holley carbs. So they are leaving horsepower on the table too. The 238 is probably a better choice in that HP class but was much more expensive and probably not available in all class 7 trucks.
@@turbo8454 well stated reply, astute observation on the carb limits also. I remember Chevrolet/GMC six cylinders in the fifties getting more power by adding one barrel carbs, different intake manifolds of course, but that was their method to add power. There was a marine application of the 534 with two turbos but it only made 300 hp. The danger part was that they compressed the intake air after it went through the carb, so if you blew an intake pipe it would fill the engine compartment with fueled air, go figure. BTW, I got to run some 409 truck engines back in the day, they really had the power, never ran the 392 Hemi truck, but got to run 360/413s, love the MOPAR, but they were doggy in a lumber truck 🚚
@@romualdasmarcinkus7879 maybe in some circles, I got to run a couple of Chevy 409s that really hauled ass, and a couple 427s in twin screw tractors, I once rode in a GMC tilt screw tractor with the v12 gas and 30-32 tons of logs, it wasn't fast loaded but ran with other stuff hauling 20tons. I also put at least 100k driving a couple 534s, and they pulled pretty good mostly, but took a lot of gas to get it done and a lot of roadside rigging to get home. Hate to admit I am that old, happy Father's day
The 534 was the basic structure for the creation of the V636 Diesel Engine built in partnership with CATERPILLAR INC. That engine evolved into the then All-CATERPILLAR 3208 V8 Diesel Engine. FORD V636 diesel engines are kinda like CATERPILLAR 3208 engines painted in FORD's oval blue.
His truck has a two speed rear axle rear end, yet not used here. if two speed works, then splitting some of the gears would save on revving engine too much.
@@williamlake1753 Cool. It reminded me of the 1965 step side chevy half ton my father had when I was a kid back in the early 1970's. Brought back some memories.
My dad was a truck driving mechanic when this truck was popular God rest his soul love to hear old trucks running the sound is music to my ears
I love to see old trucks restored and running the sound of old trucks running is music to my ears
I watched this whole drive and lost awareness of everything else. Thank you for posting.
This truck is from the muscle car Era love to see them running its music to my ears
Put a many of a mile on that old girl myself. Glad to see it back running and touring the town
I used to run sand/dirt for a friend of the family that had a 60 F1000 with one of these 5x2 trans. Sounded a lot like this and power to spare.
Thanks for the ride through B&L! You're local to me!
Man I could go to sleep with this….it’s so damn relaxing…
Thanks for posting this.
My Grampa was a Chevrolet Truck employee late 50s mid 60s and I remember him explaining to my Dad why the GMC V-12 didn't get put in very many semi trucks - it gobbled fuel and was a dog. Seems the only guys liked it were a few West Coast LP tanker-haulers and since it mostly burned the propane boiling off the big tank it wasn't a problem. Those beasts found their (intended) niche sucking down Natural Gas and pumping water up out of wells in Texas.
Wasn't that essentially 2 GMC V6's siamized together?
@@MisterMikeTexas block, crank, cam unique to the 12. heads manifolds, rods and slugs were common with the sixes I think.
Reading the brochure it seems GMC never intended the V6 engine family to do long haul. Rather regional haul and straight truck. Their Series 9000 (later 9500) long haul line was diesel only.
I've suddenly taken an interest in these big Ford V8 truck engines. I work in an engine rebuilding shop, and a customer brought in an engine claiming it to be a 477 cubic inch. Researching the history of this series, I see they offered three versions. The 401, 477 and 534. Once we dis-assembled it, we found out it isn't the 477, but the smaller bore 401 version. These engines aren't very well known these days as far as finding parts and tech info. Does anyone know of a good source for parts, shop manuals etc ?
Maybe a 391. Also around 73 or 74 they added an 880 to the Louisville line which was only available in a 475 which I think used the 391 block.
Google Search and Ebay have always gotten the job done for me - well also I use a special tool called Clonezilla which is a specially made Linux operating system that can make your computer boot from a flash drive, CDROM or DVD. Once it is running you can have Clonezilla make a "drive image" of your hard drive that is amazingly compact and then store it on a 2nd flash drive.
WHY is that important????
Because in Romania, Russia or some African hellhole some impoverished but tech-savvy dude found that shop manual in an old garage or library. He "borrowed" it and shot digital pictures of every page of the manual. Then he used some other software to compress it into some weird but usable (uncompressible and restorable ) format. Then he made a deal with some 3rd party to ADD SPYWARE INTO IT and he gets a few dollars per copy that gets downloaded.
After you realize he has got the world's only copy of what you need - You make a drive image of your hard drive and safeguard that flash drive. Then you download the crap and immediately unplug your computer from the Internet. You unpack the crap, move the good info onto a third flash drive (after running some super-anti-spyware over it !) then yank the power cord out of your PC.
Hopefully you have learned Clonezilla's OTHER function which is to unlock your hard drive's built in "ATA SECURE ERASE" function to "burn down the barn to get rid of the rats.
Whoever wrote the spyware is way smarter than Microsoft or Dell and he made a Trojan that hides in the parts of your hardware that your computer normally can't even see.
So you wipe that drive, put your preserved drive image back on it - and WRITE OVER THE BIOS FIRMWARE (update the bios in your PC) on your computer's motherboard.
After you have done all that you may restart your computer and finally look over the amateur-made-but-complete pictures of the real actual manual you want.
About a week of spare time goofing with it gets you the info you need WITHOUT getting your PC held hostage to ransomware or your bank account(s) stolen.
You are welcome. I learned to do all this the Hard Way !!!!!!!!!
If u want to see something just as big check out the GMC truck engines big V6 V8 & a V12
@@mccrackenphillipbigger. The V12 was 700 some cubes. Cross Dock companies used to run em in the trucks that pulled the turnpike triples (3 pups) up into the 70's.
Ford manuals
Where is he located this is beautiful country
Thanks for the ride
I love it. I have a 63 C850 with the same engine. I know that sound quite well. What transmission are you running? The spicer 6352?
My dad had a f600 that he put a 391 HD in with a clark 5 speed with the running fourth gear in and it did really well my name is Kenneth Biscamp
sounds like a beast though!!
Got lucky and was able to pass a few gas stations. Hey what kind of mpg do you get with it? Around 6 or 7?
Try 2 or 3
@@williamlake1753 Ouch!
These old ford's are measured in smiles per gallons
Id love to take some old iron like this for a spin
badazzzz truck:)
They all have cracked manifolds.....put a set of headers on it.
These old trucks have out lasted newer ones
It was the dead of winter in South Carolina, barely 60 degrees
And that was about the coldest it got.
I've always thought Cummins developed that engine as a v8 diesel and just couldn't make it work, so they palmed it off on Ford as a gasser, way way overdesigned, different water temperatures in various parts of the block, rogue thermostats and shutdown devises etc. The heads had singular air intakes at the center area to feed all four cylinders from a 4 inch hole, massive webbing in the block. Two hundred and fifty horsepower from 534 cu.in. was terrible efficiency. The 427chev truck(tall block) ran circles around it in nearly every way, 549 IH similar results except for reliability, they pretty well matched Ford on that point. The 238detroit was better by far than all the gassers at the time, that's my humble opinion of course.
You have to remember the 549 International (1956) and the 534 Ford (1958) were state of the art in their time. All these big gasoline truck engines were under carbureted for longetivity and reliability. Even the big GMC V6's (1960) were all equipped with 2 barrel carbs.
The 427 Chevy came along much later (1966) and had to turn 20 percent more RPM to make similar horsepower. Among the larger trucks I own, two are class 6 trucks. One is a '72 F750 with the 391 4 barrel and the other is a '68 Loadstar 1800 with a 392 4 barrel. Both of those trucks are equipped with 360 CFM Holley carbs. So they are leaving horsepower on the table too.
The 238 is probably a better choice in that HP class but was much more expensive and probably not available in all class 7 trucks.
@@turbo8454 well stated reply, astute observation on the carb limits also. I remember Chevrolet/GMC six cylinders in the fifties getting more power by adding one barrel carbs, different intake manifolds of course, but that was their method to add power. There was a marine application of the 534 with two turbos but it only made 300 hp. The danger part was that they compressed the intake air after it went through the carb, so if you blew an intake pipe it would fill the engine compartment with fueled air, go figure. BTW, I got to run some 409 truck engines back in the day, they really had the power, never ran the 392 Hemi truck, but got to run 360/413s, love the MOPAR, but they were doggy in a lumber truck 🚚
@@Colt-tf6xf that truck was the FASTEST thing on the road when it was built. nothing else could come close
@@romualdasmarcinkus7879 maybe in some circles, I got to run a couple of Chevy 409s that really hauled ass, and a couple 427s in twin screw tractors, I once rode in a GMC tilt screw tractor with the v12 gas and 30-32 tons of logs, it wasn't fast loaded but ran with other stuff hauling 20tons. I also put at least 100k driving a couple 534s, and they pulled pretty good mostly, but took a lot of gas to get it done and a lot of roadside rigging to get home. Hate to admit I am that old, happy Father's day
The 534 was the basic structure for the creation of the V636 Diesel Engine built in partnership with CATERPILLAR INC. That engine evolved into the then All-CATERPILLAR 3208 V8 Diesel Engine. FORD V636 diesel engines are kinda like CATERPILLAR 3208 engines painted in FORD's oval blue.
His truck has a two speed rear axle rear end, yet not used here. if two speed works, then splitting some of the gears would save on revving engine too much.
It looked to be in hi already. No need to split gears in no load situation. It wasn't pulling hard at all.
which transmission and diff. gear ratio are you running?
How do I get my hands on one?
Power shift that beast
This Kenneth Biscamp again can anyone tell me where I could get a f600 or f750 or a f880 id really like to buy one
May I ask what sort of gas mileage you're getting with that?
3-4 mpg.
My dad knew someone that had one of these trucks as a water tanker and he was getting 1MPG.These engines only came with a big 4bb holley.
Grease that clutch pedal assembly.
It was greased after the video, you don’t really notice it driving, the camera picks it up very well
@@williamlake1753 Cool. It reminded me of the 1965 step side chevy half ton my father had when I was a kid back in the early 1970's. Brought back some memories.
@@richardmiseljr2413 I’m glad that it was able to do that for you.
Just sucks can't get parts for 534 worked on one couple years ago couldn't get rear main seal
You have straight pipes?
Yes
Nice sound
Nick truck
Test 123
Do you have powersteering?
No