• Hello there guest and Welcome to The #1 Classic Mustang forum!
    To gain full access you must Register. Registration is free and it takes only a few moments to complete.
    Already a member? Login here then!

What did you get done on your Stang today????

Back to work on engine build project. Trimmed water pump gasket (a leftover from previous session on Sept 25). Bolted on heads. Installed roller lifters, pushrods, roller rockers. Found that one lifter was stuck. Luckily I had some spares; problem solved.



 
Spent about 8 hours cleaning out the barn, about 1/3 of the way through........ Hope to have a good clean work area for this winter and can get myself back into gear!
 
Washed and waxed both stangs, the wife's minivan and the sons Corolla. Then everything got rained on Saturday night :rant
 
Pulled the car cover over the car this morning so it would stop starring at me when I pull in the garage.

Sent from my Desire HD using Tapatalk
 
Removed the bug screen which did it's job.
aefde1e3-b325-930e.jpg
 
The Mustang's transport vehicle needed attention, so I spent the morning replacing shocks, a new stereo and speakers in the F250. Probably the easiest work I've done in some time. I have to admit, this is the first time I've bought a complete system from Crutchfield and it went in super easy. They provided all the pigtails and the trim kit was a perfect fit. Sure beats the factory setup!

The new Rancho 5000 shocks gives it a CTS ride. [nb]
OK, maybe not a CTS, but a lot smoother fo sho[/nb]
 
Put the Red 68 Vert on the lift. Ready for dissecting. First time it didn't start since I've had it. Maybe its a sign that it knows whats coming.
 
Almost finished prepping to pull the motor and trans. Bagging, tagging, and taking photos is slow work, but fun.

Getting started.
MOTOR3.jpg


Step 1: Radiator
MOTOR1.jpg


After:
MOTOR7.jpg

MOTOR6-1.jpg


Parts table and bigger stuff:
MOTOR4.jpg

MOTOR5.jpg
 
Last edited by a moderator:
"Opentracker" said:
I walked by mine and adjusted the car cover.

don't feel bad. adjusting the car cover is all i've done for almost a year now. did get it out in july & took it to get the front end aligned. they kept it three days & then said they couldn't do it because it needed a steering box (it doesn't), so back home & under the cover. thought seriously with everything thats went on lately about the next thing i do to it may be putting a "for sale" sign on it...
 
Daughter's taking Red out for a nice spin over to her college later today. Shag doesn't want to be bothered after putting on 640 miles this past weekend. So I'm thinking about the mustangs today while I'm working on the chebbie truck.
 
My Sunday began with a non-injury doofus, but the lack of blood doesn't make it any less stoopid. After installing a set of Crane roller rockers on my 30-over 5.0 last Sunday, I read the directions during the week -- imagine that! -- and decided I'd better check lifter pre-load after all. These are pedestal mount rockers, meaning they're non-adjustable. Here's a pic to show what I'm talking about:



To set the lifter pre-load, you bring each piston to TDC-compression and you tighten the rocker bolt until it takes up all the slack. (To find that setting, I took a .002 feeler and, while pushing down on the lifter end of the rocker, I stuck it between the roller tip and the valve. Then I pulled lightly on the feeler and loosened the rocker bolt bolt till the feeler slipped out.) Then you take your torque wrench, set at 20 ft-lbs, and tighten the bolt till the wrench clicks. If it takes less than 1/4 turn, you need a longer pushrod. If if takes between 1/4 and one full turn, you're in the correct pre-load range of .020-.060. If it takes more than a full turn, you put a .020 shim at the base of the pedestal. It turned out I needed shims on 2 or 3 valves. 3 or 4 more were so close to a full turn, I shimmed them too. That made nearly half my valves that needed help. I'm glad I took the trouble.

What adds to the doofus-ness of this was that I had used red Loctite on the rocker bolts last Sunday. To get rid of all that mess I took apart all 16 rocker-pedestal-rail-and-bolt assemblies and razor bladed and wire wheeled away every bit of the red residue. I also chased the threads in the cylinder head. All that cleanup work added a good two hours to the job. On reassembly I skipped the Loctite. I kind of don't believe in the stuff anyway, and after seeing the mess it created in this engine-oiled area, I decided to rely on bolt stretch alone to keep things tight. You know, the way the manufacturers did on a few hundred million factory-built engines.

My other project was taking the polished intake off the broken engine sitting in the '65 fastback and cleaning it up for re-use on the new motor. Here are some pix:











The '65's engine compartment got a severe acid bath many years ago when some fool thought it would be a good idea to go without a battery hold down. This same guy also thought it would be a good idea to go over a railroad crossing at a high enough speed to jump the battery off the tray and onto the alternator, where the alternator fan cut a hole in the battery and threw the juice into the radiator fan airstream, which dowsed the underhood area real good. This explains the staining on this polished intake. The reason I bring this up, besides the schadenfreude of it, is to ask if anyone has a quick and easy way to polish out these stains. I have an Eastwood intake polishing kit, with all the wheels and polishing compounds, but that method takes forever. Anyone have a better idea?
 
"SELLERSRODSHOP" said:
did get it out in july & took it to get the front end aligned.
You can set the toe-in with a piece of string. You can do camber by eyeball. I've never set caster, but with a '69 it shouldn't be too hard. The adjustment's in the strut rod, right? I'd just tinker with it until it feels right.
 
"180 Out" said:
The '65's engine compartment got a severe acid bath many years ago when some fool thought it would be a good idea to go without a battery hold down.

In this fool's case, (on a '67) the battery fell into the new HD flex fan. You can imagine what happened.
 
Finally got some mods/maintenance done on the AOD to get it ready to install. The shift lever got flipped, installed a new filter and a drain plug in the pan. While I haven't touched the body in awhile, at least I'm still making some progress with all the little projects that needed to get done!
 
Got the carb installed, and fiddled with the choke settings to give me a high idle when it is cold. When I took it out this AM, I had no high idle and had to baby the engine for a few minutes...
 
I figured out how to set the high idle even with the choke fully open. You manually open the throttle, close the throttle plate, and adjust the high idle screw. Start the car up without pressing on the gas pedal, see what the high idle is, and adjust as appropriately.
 
Saturday was a good day. Spent the day cleaning everything from the firewall forward and prepping it for paint. At the end of the day I was so dirty my wife made me strip in the garage, but the car was pretty clean up front. Still a couple more hours needed on it but it's close. Found a few rust holes under the grime that I will have to patch. Cut the stubs off the shock towers from the factory braces since I've got a new export brace to replace them. Started cleaning and sandblasting some of the suspension bits I will be reusing, got the left spindle/caliper mount cleaned and painted she's a beaut still gotta do the right one and some other bits, but moving forward and thats got me happy. Cheapo Harbor Freight blast cabinet has paid for itself already in prepping some of these parts.
 
Back
Top