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Topic: 9 Years Later and Counting... (Read 18940 times) previous topic - next topic

9 Years Later and Counting...

Reply #30
Nice radiator and fab work.  Powder oat always makes for a clean looking and durable finish.  I had a friend of mine powder coat my valve covers (his Dad owns the Hi-lift Jack company and they powder coat their jacks).  They were done probably 10 yrs ago and still look good.
'88 'bird, 10.9:1 306 w/TFS top end, forged rods/pistons, T-5 swap & bunch of other stuff, 1-family owned, had it since ‘98, 5.0tbrd88 on Instagram and YouTube

9 Years Later and Counting...

Reply #31
I need to change the Title to "9 Years Later...".  Anyhow, I finally got some time to spend on the car and it was mostly remembering where I left off on everything.

One big thing was that I has the wrong MSD dizzy for the Edelbrock Victor Jr intake which was nobody's fault but my own so here is the low down on that.  I had P/N 8584 and what I needed was P/N 85805 so I will be putting the 8584 up for sale when I get some pictures of it (forgot to do that when I was working on the car).

I also has to order a new throttle cable as the 351 is wider and taller than a 302 so the cable was too short even though I had a 1" thick nitrous plate between the carb and the old 302W Victor Jr intake.  I also has to get a new throttle cable bracket as my old CSI bracket has the return springs running underneath it to the rear of the intake which is now taken up with the NX fogger system.  The new allows the springs to be run on top and to the front of the intake.  I got the valves run which took twice as I did not trust myself since it has been awhile since I have done it.

The Valvoline oil got drained out of the motor (sad as it was like brand new since the motor has yet to be fired) and replaced it with Brad Penn 10W40 (http://www.penngrade1.com/)as I have had excellent results with this oil on the new 331 that is in the Coupe.  Not cheap but with all the additives its so much better than regular off the shelf stuff.  You have to be careful though as from what I have heard this oil will not play friendly with coverters due to the zinc in it which is also why it is so good.  Got the trusty cordless drill out and primed the motor via the oil pump shaft but I it took me a minute to remember it is reverse rotation.  It was a good thing I did this as one of the push rods was completely plugged up with assembly lube so I blew that out.  My dad came over and saw all the green oil and asked me what I was using which prompted more questions and finally that statement that we would be using that on the stoker in his 69 Fastback... I love that guy!

I finally rewired the 3G alternator in that I never put a 4 ga wire on the back post over to the the starter solenoid on the inner fender.  I also used a 125A wafer fuse to protect the wire and mounted that in the nose of the car.  This will definitely help out with the lack of juice I was experiencing with the stereo.

I also had to extend the wiring for the WOT switch for the nitrous system, water temp sending unit, and the oil pressure sending unit as well as finish wiring in the keyed hot 12V+ and AC hot 12V+ to the fan controller for the Mark VIII fan.  Its the small stuff that takes up all my time but its getting there.

I pulled the wheels off and washed the inside of them which should have been done a loooong time ago.  Finally got the hood bolted back on the hinges and pushed the car out into the daylight for the first time in several years.  Washed it off and found all kinds of small micro scratches in the paint but it was never buffed out so all of those will go away when it goes back to the body shop for the TC lower bumper cover and the right fender replacement.  Never and I mean never get Certifit parts for these cars, they are junk.  I found a cherry fender off an 84 Cougar and that will be getting painted and put on in place of the no body line matching Certishiznit one that is on there now.  They are also going to fix some small paint chips and then wet sand and buff the whole car.  Should look like a new paint job when its done but that is months from now.

I missed firing or attempting to fire the motor by one heater hose fitting and the ignition coil being damaged down in the secondary tower (where the coil wire goes).  Somehow or another the metal piece that is down in the secondary tower got damaged where the new coil wire would not do down into it.  I removed it and it appeared to be old damage so who knows.  I got with MSD and they do not have that part to sell which is kind of shiznitty but I am going to see if one of the parts stores has a cheapo coil that I can use that part off of it.

Anyhow, here are a couple of pictures of the car to date in front of my dad's shop.  It was around 75 degrees that day so it was a great time to wash it up for the winter:

     

Going back down to work on it and hopefully get it started over the Thanksgiving week.  Hopefully I will hear the motor come to life and be able to drive it for the first time in over nine years.

Darren

83 351W TKO'd T-Bird on the bottle


93 331 Mustang Coupe - 368 rwhp

9 Years Later and Counting...

Reply #32
Looks really nice. Your patience is paying off. :)
'84 Mustang
'98 Explorer 5.0
'03 Focus, dropped a valve seat. yay. freakin' split port engines...
'06 Explorer EB 4.6

9 Years Later and Counting...

Reply #33
If patience is lack of time or when I have time lack of desire then it's been all about patience. I still need to test the fuel pumps since I put rebuild kits in them (Mallory Comp 140's) and the fuel lines for leaks being they are braided lines and have sat for all this time. I could have when Inwas down there last week but I kept distracting myself with other things to do. Will have to do it here in a couple of weeks.

Darren

83 351W TKO'd T-Bird on the bottle


93 331 Mustang Coupe - 368 rwhp

9 Years Later and Counting...

Reply #34
Looks good
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]:ford:87 Turbo Coupe through the floor sub frame connectors, 5.8 swap Ford racing heads Harland sharp 1.6 rockers BBK shorty swap headers 2 1/2 BBk X pipe magnaflow ler's. Megasquirt 2 with 36lbs injectors on hurricane intake with 4150 throttle body.Tremec TKO 600 Quicktime blowsheild spec stage 3 clutch. 3.73 gears and still not done

9 Years Later and Counting...

Reply #35
It looks beautiful man. I have the same "patience" problem with mine lately. I know what it needs to run now, so there's no drive to figure it out. I just have to do it.
1983 Tbird with '03 Split Port V6 motor swap done! Headers, dual exhaust, 500CFM Edelbrock, 3G upgrade, Electric fan. 3.73 Gears and an FRPP Limited Slip. Five lug complete! 5-Speed conversion complete! Standalone Fuel Injection in progress...

9 Years Later and Counting...

Reply #36
Gonna head back down to Lawton this weekend and get the fuel system pressured up and pray it does not have any leaks.  I've got the regulators capped off so with the AN-10 return it should be good to go and I can preset the fuel pressure to the Carb Shop modified Holley 750 that is now an 840.  Once that is proved out I can connect up the lines to the carb and the nitrous and test it again to make sure there are no leaks up to the solenoids and the rebuilt carb is good to go.  Once that is verified I can move on to setting the nitrous regulator under flowing conditions...kind of a pain in the ass but that is the way Mike at NX told me to do it years ago and its worked well.  If all that goes well then its on to the heater core lines, adding coolant, and then a quick trip to a Catholic church to get it blessed before I try to fire it up.

If it runs and everything looks good then I will move on to the brake line rerouting as the custom headers are just too close to the line that passes down and around the K-Member.  I am going to route them like they are on my Coupe and this will solve the problem.  From there is just some small stuff that I have noticed crawling under and over the car.  The biggest thing after all of this will be a custom instrument cluster with some Autometer Ultra Lite II gauges but that will most likely be another thread as that one is going to take some time with the 83-84 dash.

Darren

83 351W TKO'd T-Bird on the bottle


93 331 Mustang Coupe - 368 rwhp

9 Years Later and Counting...

Reply #37
Got the heater hoses installed so my $8 fitting from eBay worked well.  The fitting is the one that goes in the front of the intake which is a 1/2" NPT thread and I needed a 3/4" barbed hose fitting opposite of that on a 45 degree angle.  Moved on to the fuel pumps and gritted my teeth...hooked up the fuel pump relay and turned on the key.  The pumps fired right up which was a huge relief seeing how I replaced all the seal, bearings, and brushes.  The problem now is that they will not prime as they are higher than the fuel sump in my factory tank.  My dad and I did some basic trouble shooting and confirmed that I do have about 3/8 of fuel like my gauge was showing so that was nice.  He swears up and down we used the shop air and a rag stuffed in the filler neck to pressurize the tank to about 5-10 psig to force prime the pumps and filters the first time I built the car back in '98.  I am going to use an old gas cap and rig up a fitting on it so we don't have to use the rag this time.

Through the trouble shooting on the fuel pumps I discovered that I completely hosed the internal pressure bypasses when I first installed the pumps.  When using a Mallory return style regulator with a Mallory Comp 140 pump the installation instructions suggest that the pump pressure bypass be modified.  This basically consists of removing the spring portion of the bypass and installing a spacer in its place.  The spacer only comes with the Mallory regulators which I think they should include them with the pumps.  I just removed the spring in each pump and never installed the spacer and could not find the spacers.  So I got online and found a couple of threads on forums where guys just made their own as the Mallory spacer measures 0.311" in diamter and 0.377" in length.  They all used a 1/4" brass or aluminum round rod and cut it to 0.375" long.  So I found some round rod and made the spacers and have them installed as well.  With the spring removed and no spacer it was like having the pressure bypass wide open where as with the spacer installed it would allow the pumps to build their maximum pressure of 14 psig but with the return style regulator they cannot push over 7 psig at the regulator as long as the return line is sized adequately.  The regulator installation instructions have all the info on return line sizing and how to test to make sure you have an adequate return.  If you are curious the instructions are here:

http://www.jegs.com/InstallationInstructions/600/650/650-4309.pdf

Anyhow, that is all I got done today.  Hoping to prime the pumps tomorrow and possibly get it started.  Then it will be on to the custom instrument cluster.

Darren

83 351W TKO'd T-Bird on the bottle


93 331 Mustang Coupe - 368 rwhp

9 Years Later and Counting...

Reply #38
Well I finally got the fuel pumps to prime only to find out all of my stainless steel braided fuel line was in bad shape.  I tore all of the tank to pump, pump to filter, filter to rear distribution block, rear dist block to front dist block, front dist block to bulk heads, and bulk heads to regulators fuel lines out along with the return line.  I ended up having to drive about two hours round trip to a speed shop that had the fuel line I needed (AN-08 and AN-10). I got back around 3:00 today and was able to build and install the line from the rear dist block to the front dist block and the return line (both are about 15' long), got the fuel tank back in, and clean up the shop floor under my car.  Had to air the shop out from all the flashing fuel from the old lines.  I should be able to build all the other lines and get them installed tomorrow so hopefully I can get fuel to the carb and get this  thing started after T-Day.

The fuel lines were about 15 years old and once I saw the leaks I was just kicking myself in the ass.  I knew I should have just bit the bullet and replaced them earlier but its done now and I have a piece of mind.  I'll take some pics of the fuel system when its done and the new line and cleaned up fittings look purty.

Darren

83 351W TKO'd T-Bird on the bottle


93 331 Mustang Coupe - 368 rwhp

9 Years Later and Counting...

Reply #39
Well I got the rest of the lines built yesterday in time to go eat some charred cow at a buddy's house at 7:00.  Here are the pictures and some description on what you are looking at.  Hope to get the pumps primed and fuel to the carb tomorrow.

This is looking down at the front right corner of the engine bay.  There are three lines coming up through the inner fender via two bulk heads one of which is a 90 degree elbow that feeds the carb regulator which is a return style and the other is a Tee that feeds the nitrous regulators which are Holley not return style per NX:


This is looking from the front of the engine back to the firewall.  These are the three lines from the bulk heads to the regulators:


This is looking down on the passenger strut tower at the regulators:


This is looking at the back of the passenger strut tower at the carb regulator which is the one that has the AN-10 return line:


This is looking into the passenger wheel well to the front.  This is the AN-08 feed line to the front Y block that splits the feel to the two bulk heads (sorry for the fuzzy pic):


This is looking into the passenger wheel well to the rear.  This is the AN-08 feed line, the AN-10 return line, and you can see the battery lead coming from the trunk:


This is looking up from the rear bottom of the passenger wheel well to the rear of the car:


This is still looking up but behind the passenger door to the rear of the car:


Again looking up but at the rear axle area:


This is looking down the passenger tail pipe toward the rear tire.  You can see where the AN-10 return line crosses over and is fed through the fuel tank bracket as it connects to a bulk head on the top of the tank.  You can also see the AN-08 feed line continuing back to the rear of the car:


This is where the AN-08 feed line starts at the rear Y block and the two Mallory Comp 140 pumps outlet lines connect to the Y block.  This is basically where the rear bumper cover meets up with the rear quarter panel:


This is a shot of the Comp 140 pumps, the Mallory fuel filters, the sump, and the Y block at the far bottom just above the passenger tail pipe:


This is looking up from the floor of the shop at the sump, pumps, filters, and exhaust tail pipes:


After that I called it a day and went to my buddy's house to eat some steak and kill a few cold ones.  Overall it was not too bad rebuilding all of the lines since I already had the old ones to go by but it still sucked parting with the $$$ and the time it took to clean up the fittings as they were all reused.

Darren

83 351W TKO'd T-Bird on the bottle


93 331 Mustang Coupe - 368 rwhp

9 Years Later and Counting...

Reply #40
Well some success but a huge step back.  I got the pumps primed and fuel up to the carb, float levels on the carb set, got fuel pressure set to 7 psig, and got it filled with coolant on Friday.  Went to start it and the starter solenoid just clicked so I immediately put the battery charger on the Optima and the fuel pumps went from a light hum to woke up so I decided to let the battery charge.  Come to find out that after swapping batteries on Saturday morning the solenoid did the same thing.  I figured the starter was hosed so I get the car up on the lift and find a puddle of coolant on the floor.  Long story short cylinders #2 & #3 have water in them so now it is tear down time which sucks as the motor has never been fired.  The head however was repaired after the 306 sucked a valve down into #7 so my guess is this is that repaired head that was not completely repaired.

Gonna take a couple days away from it and get back after it.  I drained the coolant out of the cylinders and pulled it off the oil in the pan which was only about a half gallon so hopefully its the head and not a bad block.

Darren

83 351W TKO'd T-Bird on the bottle


93 331 Mustang Coupe - 368 rwhp

9 Years Later and Counting...

Reply #41
One step forward, two steps back. That sucks. So it sounds like it wouldn't crank because the cylinders were that full of coolant?

9 Years Later and Counting...

Reply #42
Hydraulically locked up.  Fortunately the battery was not fully charged and the engine could not turn over so no harm no foul.  I got the head off and sure enough it was the one that got damaged when it was on the old 306 motor.  I am taking the head up to Folk's Automotive Machine in Norman, OK tomorrow morning and Charlie is going to test the head to see what is going on.  I think I see the puncture mark in the #2 combustion chamber that might be causing it but that does not explain how liquids ended up in #3.  Hopefully he can fix it up and I can get back to putting the motor together.

Darren

83 351W TKO'd T-Bird on the bottle


93 331 Mustang Coupe - 368 rwhp

9 Years Later and Counting...

Reply #43
Quote
Long story short cylinders #2 & #3 have water in them so now it is tear down time which sucks as the motor has never been fired

THIS.

SUX!

So frustrating....
Hope it goes back together smoothly and you get it up and running soon.
-- 05 Mustang GT-Whipplecharged !!
--87 5.0 Trick Flow Heads & Intake - Custom Cam - Many other goodies...3100Lbs...Low12's!

9 Years Later and Counting...

Reply #44
I think the puncture mark I found is the issue in the #2 cylinder and the machinist agrees. He is going to pressure check the head today or early tomorrow and see where it is leaking. As for the #3 cylinder we think what happened is when I was slowly turning the motor over by hand the anti-freeze pushed up into the EGR passage which is common to all of the exhaust chambers. The overlap in the cam allowed anti freeze to flow into the #3 cylinder. With a 351W firing order if #2 is on the exhaust stroke then #3 is on the intake stroke it is a possibility this is what caused the anti-freeze to get into #3 if we cannot find a crack or pinhole in the #3.

Darren

83 351W TKO'd T-Bird on the bottle


93 331 Mustang Coupe - 368 rwhp