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Technical => Engine Tech => Topic started by: 85CougarCobra on July 30, 2019, 09:26:32 AM

Title: Front Accessory Drive Modifications
Post by: 85CougarCobra on July 30, 2019, 09:26:32 AM
I haven't had working A/C since swapping in the 5.0 a decade plus ago ... a lot of the parts have just remained as place holders.  I decided I was going to try to clean some stuff up and overhaul all of my front accessory drive components.  So, in no particular order:

-3G alternator upgrade
-Smog pump and associated values/plumbing deleted
-A/C delete and relocation of power steering pump
-Underdrive pullies
-Polish belt tensioner and swap idler pulley
-Electric fan
-Powder coat brackets

I went to a small local car show this past Saturday and then started the tear down when I got home.  I got just about everything removed from the car.  Modified the alternator bracket and test fit the 3G.
Title: Re: Front Accessory Drive Modifications
Post by: thunderjet302 on July 30, 2019, 04:27:23 PM
Nice project.

I went with a 95 amp 3G since I still have a clutch fan. Kept me from having to modify the alternator bracket, as the 95 amp has a smaller case.
Title: Re: Front Accessory Drive Modifications
Post by: 85CougarCobra on July 31, 2019, 09:28:40 AM
Nice project.

I went with a 95 amp 3G since I still have a clutch fan. Kept me from having to modify the alternator bracket, as the 95 amp has a smaller case.

The modification to the bracket is pretty minor ... just had to use a cut off wheel to take a small triangle shaped piece out of it, then tried to clean it up and blend it as nicely as I could.  Filed everything smooth and did some light sanding.  It's not really in a visible spot once it's on the car and any remaining imperfections will disappear when it's powder coated.
Title: Re: Front Accessory Drive Modifications
Post by: 88BlueBird on July 31, 2019, 06:56:06 PM
Looks good! I had the accessory brackets on my 5.0L engine powder coated in aluminum color about 10 years ago when I did the engine swap. The aluminum powder coat still looks new and is super easy to clean. Wish I would have powder coated the engine and trans mounts while I was at it...oh well  :nonchalance:
Title: Re: Front Accessory Drive Modifications
Post by: 85CougarCobra on August 02, 2019, 11:48:09 AM
Looks good! I had the accessory brackets on my 5.0L engine powder coated in aluminum color about 10 years ago when I did the engine swap. The aluminum powder coat still looks new and is super easy to clean. Wish I would have powder coated the engine and trans mounts while I was at it...oh well  :nonchalance:

Thanks.  I was heavily considering going with an aluminum color this go round, but am going to do black for all the brackets and then polished aluminum for all the pulleys.  I try to keep clean, but the black should help hide some dirt in the hard to reach places.  I hi-temp rattle can painted most of the stuff red years ago when I built the motor and put it in the car ... problem is ... most of the red on the engine has turned orange over the years due to the heat.  The accessory brackets have stayed red but the heads, block, timing cover, and water pump have all gone orange.
Title: Re: Front Accessory Drive Modifications
Post by: 85CougarCobra on August 02, 2019, 11:49:01 AM
Alternator bracket back from coating.
Title: Re: Front Accessory Drive Modifications
Post by: 88BlueBird on August 02, 2019, 03:58:05 PM
Looks good, did it cost much to have them powder coated?
Title: Re: Front Accessory Drive Modifications
Post by: Tbird232ci on August 04, 2019, 04:00:53 PM
I don't know why, but I thought you would have gone with the March setup or something like that.
Title: Re: Front Accessory Drive Modifications
Post by: 85CougarCobra on August 04, 2019, 11:27:16 PM
Looks good, did it cost much to have them powder coated?

I had 6 pieces painted for $50 ... I’ve got a place pretty close to me that is very reasonable.
Title: Re: Front Accessory Drive Modifications
Post by: 85CougarCobra on August 04, 2019, 11:30:03 PM
I don't know why, but I thought you would have gone with the March setup or something like that.

I considered it, just wanted to keep the stock belt tensioner for some reason.  Some of the pulleys will be March, just keeping the stock brackets, although converting to the Ford A/C delete brackets.
Title: Re: Front Accessory Drive Modifications
Post by: Tbird232ci on August 05, 2019, 05:14:58 AM
I considered it, just wanted to keep the stock belt tensioner for some reason.  Some of the pulleys will be March, just keeping the stock brackets, although converting to the Ford A/C delete brackets.

I don't blame you for wanting to keep the automatic tensioner. I don't miss the old days of hearing the belt squeal for a few days before you can get to it, or every time you change the oil having a laundry list of things to do.
Title: Re: Front Accessory Drive Modifications
Post by: 85CougarCobra on August 05, 2019, 11:59:01 AM
Speaking of tensioners ... I spent a good part of the weekend sanding and polishing mine up.  Replaced the idler pulley with a billet one from UPR.
Title: Re: Front Accessory Drive Modifications
Post by: thunderjet302 on August 06, 2019, 04:43:38 PM
Nice project.

I went with a 95 amp 3G since I still have a clutch fan. Kept me from having to modify the alternator bracket, as the 95 amp has a smaller case.

The modification to the bracket is pretty minor ... just had to use a cut off wheel to take a small triangle shaped piece out of it, then tried to clean it up and blend it as nicely as I could.  Filed everything smooth and did some light sanding.  It's not really in a visible spot once it's on the car and any remaining imperfections will disappear when it's powder coated.

I know it's not hard. I'm just lazy  :toothless: .
Title: Re: Front Accessory Drive Modifications
Post by: 85CougarCobra on August 07, 2019, 09:18:27 AM
Since a lot of stuff is out of the way at the moment, took the opportunity to replace my exhaust header gaskets.  I had the paper style ones in there from when we built the motor ... hind sight being 20/20 ... bad decision.  Several of the ports had developed leaks where the gasket had either split or burned out.  I don't put a ton of miles on the car, but it has had an annoying exhaust tick for quite some time.  Put in a set of nice copper gaskets last night, hopefully that corrects the problem going forward.  
Title: Re: Front Accessory Drive Modifications
Post by: 85CougarCobra on August 13, 2019, 09:07:36 AM
Not a ton of progress, but moving along.  Got the alternator bracket assembly all put back together and in the car.  Removed all the smog equipment and blocked the back of the heads ... working on the 3G wiring.
Title: Re: Front Accessory Drive Modifications
Post by: 85CougarCobra on August 13, 2019, 09:20:08 AM
So ... question for those that have done the 3G upgrade ... hoping you can help me.  I unplugged the two connectors from the stock alternator and then per the instructions, out of these two connectors, I cut off the black rectangular one.  I was going to clean up the wiring a little and upon removing some wire loom and electrical tape, I found that the two black/orange wires from this connector go back into a single black/orange wire.  The instructions want you to put ring terminals on each of these wires and then connect them to the back of the alternator.  I have enough length in the harness, so my question is ... can I just cut this wire before it splits into two and then put a single ring terminal to the back of the alternator?  I don't see how this would hurt anything, but figured I would ask in the event anyone has experience with this or has wired their 3G up the same way.
Title: Re: Front Accessory Drive Modifications
Post by: Haystack on August 13, 2019, 08:28:49 PM
When I did my 3g I did wire mine up this way, but along with another 6 gauge charge cable and a 175 amp factory style fuse.

You do not only want to use that single 10 gauge wire as the charge wire for a 3g alt. It will easily melt the wire or possibly burn up the car.
Title: Re: Front Accessory Drive Modifications
Post by: 85CougarCobra on August 13, 2019, 10:41:42 PM
When I did my 3g I did wire mine up this way, but along with another 6 gauge charge cable and a 175 amp factory style fuse.

You do not only want to use that single 10 gauge wire as the charge wire for a 3g alt. It will easily melt the wire or possibly burn up the car.

Yeah, I have the stand alone 4 ga fused power wire ... just looking to see if anyone else took these two black/orange wires down to one.  I ended up cutting before the "Y" to take it down to a single wire but I haven't finished the wiring up just yet.
Title: Re: Front Accessory Drive Modifications
Post by: Mikey97D on August 14, 2019, 09:06:29 AM
That looks great! 
Title: Re: Front Accessory Drive Modifications
Post by: thunderjet302 on August 15, 2019, 12:09:38 PM
So ... question for those that have done the 3G upgrade ... hoping you can help me.  I unplugged the two connectors from the stock alternator and then per the instructions, out of these two connectors, I cut off the black rectangular one.  I was going to clean up the wiring a little and upon removing some wire loom and electrical tape, I found that the two black/orange wires from this connector go back into a single black/orange wire.  The instructions want you to put ring terminals on each of these wires and then connect them to the back of the alternator.  I have enough length in the harness, so my question is ... can I just cut this wire before it splits into two and then put a single ring terminal to the back of the alternator?  I don't see how this would hurt anything, but figured I would ask in the event anyone has experience with this or has wired their 3G up the same way.

I don't see why you can't cut the two wires off where they merge into one and just put a ring terminal on that one wire. I did that when I swapped to a 3G without issue.
Title: Re: Front Accessory Drive Modifications
Post by: 85CougarCobra on August 15, 2019, 12:48:20 PM
So ... question for those that have done the 3G upgrade ... hoping you can help me.  I unplugged the two connectors from the stock alternator and then per the instructions, out of these two connectors, I cut off the black rectangular one.  I was going to clean up the wiring a little and upon removing some wire loom and electrical tape, I found that the two black/orange wires from this connector go back into a single black/orange wire.  The instructions want you to put ring terminals on each of these wires and then connect them to the back of the alternator.  I have enough length in the harness, so my question is ... can I just cut this wire before it splits into two and then put a single ring terminal to the back of the alternator?  I don't see how this would hurt anything, but figured I would ask in the event anyone has experience with this or has wired their 3G up the same way.

I don't see why you can't cut the two wires off where they merge into one and just put a ring terminal on that one wire. I did that when I swapped to a 3G without issue.

Thanks.  That's what I ended up doing ... just wanted to see if anyone else had done the same without issue.  I don't see how it could cause an issue, but I get a little nervous when dealing with the charging system and making modifications.  I still haven't finished the wiring, hoping to wrap that up this weekend and start her back up.
Title: Re: Front Accessory Drive Modifications
Post by: 85CougarCobra on September 10, 2019, 10:41:43 AM
Just got back from a vacation and working on buttoning things back up.  Just need to clean up the 3G wiring and attach the fan shroud ... it's just loosely sitting there in the photo and that's why it's right against the tensioner.  Decided on putting in a "Contour" electric fan (actually pulled one from a Cougar ... because why not?).  Putting the regular fan set up back in for the time being while I acquire the fan controller/relays/misc. and clean up the actual fan assembly itself.
Title: Re: Front Accessory Drive Modifications
Post by: mcb82gt on September 10, 2019, 11:56:58 AM
wow!  that sucker is CLEAN.