Not one but several problems

[B67FSTB]

OK.Were to start.
About a month ago , someone came to me and ask if I know mustangs.
The owner told me he had alot of difficulties and particular the engine since it was overhauled.
The engine kept only running by moving the pedal up and down.
He went to several garage but they didn't know what the problem was. I must say , overhere the general garages don't know alot about classis cars let alone american made cars.
I told him I would look into this for a certain time and let him know what the status was as I didn't want to put alot of time into this.
After taking delivery of the car , I noticed that the engine only stays running when moving the accelerator pedal up and down.
IOW by operating the acceleratorpump in the carb continuously.
There were alot of things that wasn't right. Like the shaft of the choke was bent. Dirt in the carb . Vacuumleak at the base of the carb ( fomoco spacer on a edelbrock manifold = not good ). Bypass at the waterpump was blocked which causes alot of waterpressure in the engine so the gasket at the intake manifold blew which cause not only a waterleak but also a vacuumleak !!!
The carb wasn't hooked up right . Like the pcv was hooked up to the vac port where the brakebooster should be hooked up.Massive vac leak !! No wonder that engine wasn't running.
Here is what I have done.
New intake gaskets.
New intake bolts
Repaired the shaft of the choke.
Cleaning the carb
Mounted a new spacer under carb.
Mounted a new vac line from the trans to the manifold.
Connected the pcv correctly to the carb
Connected the brake booster to the manifold.
After all that, the engine kept running so I could tune it further more.
I must say , it did run very well. See youtube vids.
Here are some pics :

 

[B67FSTB]

Here a vid of the engine running

 

[B67FSTB]

After tuning the carb and ignition , I shut down the engine and suddenly the rad cap opened and watercoolant spayed all over the place !!!
Dammed . Headgasket failure.
So I dissambled everything and noticed the engine builder did mounted the left headgasket the wrong way !!!

 

[Horseplay]

That thing is a mess! Too bad because the car itself looks to be pretty decent. Nice work on it so far, Bruno.

 

[B67FSTB]

The body itself is very nice. But they did messed up putting it back together.
I also did repair some electrical problem.
Car had no oil pressure sensor , no temp sensor on the engine , rear lights and turnlights didn't work properly.
No e-brake , had to weld a new support under the floorpan that hold a c-shape bare which holds the right e-brake cable.
To much to list.
Today I did mount both cylinderheads back and adjusted the rockers endplay.
Tomorrow I will mount back the intake with carb.

 

[Horseplay]

Was this car bought as being a "rebuilt" car? Sounds like the buyer got scammed pretty good. I can't understand how people can do such things to others.

 

[B67FSTB]

No no. The guy did buy the car and performed a restoration meaning painting the body and overhauling the engine.
Third partys did a horrible job.They didn't know anything about mustangs and or putting back an engine in it.

 

[Horseplay]

Going back and looking at those pictures that engine looks like something I would expect to see opening the hood of a car that sat in a barn for 20 years. How long ago was this supposed rebuild? This guy had better recognize just how lucky he is to have found you and for you to be willing to help him.

 

[B67FSTB]

One of the major fault they made was , they plugged both nippels (bypass and heater hose)on the waterpump .So when they rev the engine , alot of waterpressure was building up in the engine and the fact that the left cylinderbanks head gasket was mounted the wrong way , got the engine overheated.
They never could drive that car in this state so I guess by just changing the headgaskets and connect all waterhoses the right way , the problem could be solved.
Lets hope.

 

[msell66]

Nice job Bruno!


Mark

 

[B67FSTB]

Question: I dissambled the cylinderheads and saw that the left cylinderhead gasket was mounted the wrong way.
I checked both head gaskets but couldn't see anything that would cause air into the watercircuit.
Could it be that when you put in a headgasket the wrong way , air is trapped in the engine and builds up pressure when the engine gets its operating temps ?????

Meanwhile i put the engine back together and tuned it. I couldn't set the timing on the balancer (way off) so I tuned the dizzy to max vac in the intake.
Will take a vid after I freshen the cooling water and motoroil with filter.

 

[Horseplay]

Even if they had installed the head gaskets correctly they could still have failed to evacuate all the air in the system. With the one gasket backwards like that, preventing proper fluid flow, it would only seem logical it would be that much more prone to air entrapment/evacuation. Air in the system would absolutely lead to overheating issues.

 

[B67FSTB]

Meanwhile I have filled up the radiator/engine with coolant/antifreeze and changed the oil and oilfilter.
Rev the engine and everything looks/hear OK.
Don't hear any noise/gargle? of water/air finding its way in the engine.

 

[Horseplay]

I always start mine up a little low on coolant/water and fire them up and slowly add more after it gets warm enough for the thermostat to open. Never have had issue with air pockets. Make sure to also drill at least one small (1/8") bypass hole in the outer rim of the thermostat. Helps as well.

 

[Dne']

Isn't amazing how one thing leads to something else! You did some good diagnostics! Good job!!!
dne'

 

[B67FSTB]

I always start mine up a little low on coolant/water and fire them up and slowly add more after it gets warm enough for the thermostat to open. Never have had issue with air pockets. Make sure to also drill at least one small (1/8") bypass hole in the outer rim of the thermostat. Helps as well.

I did !!

ps : You don't have to dissamble an engine to look if the headgasket is mounted to wrong way !!!

You all know how ????

 

[watto]

I did !!

ps : You don't have to dissamble an engine to look if the headgasket is mounted to wrong way !!!

You all know how ????

Gasket tabs (If they haven't been trimmed off)

Sent from my SM-G950F using Tapatalk

 

[Horseplay]

Gasket tabs (If they haven't been trimmed off)

winner winner

 

[B67FSTB]

The gaskets tabs should be visible on the front side of the engine when proper installed.
Yes , you're right !

 

[B67FSTB]

Earlier this week I mounted 70 style p/s hoses cause the orignal hoses are routed between the engine and shocktower. This is standart with regular exhaust manifolds.But this car has hedmann headers so you have to reroute the p/s hoses beneath the LCA , thus longer hoses .
I also dissambled the NSS and cleaned it out , adjusted it on the trans and reconnect the wiring. So men can operate the starter only in the P and N position.