GypsyR
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Posts posted by GypsyR
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Good street performance is most often satisfactorily found with a planned combination of many small things, rather than making one or two changes and expecting a fire breathing monster.
People have been porting these heads for many many years. Even after the aluminum heads became common they were still performance go-to heads in certain types of racing where choices were restricted to stock parts. Probably not really worth doing if you have to pay somebody full retail. If you want to do it yourself or can get a buddy deal on the labor, then do it. The recipes are out there to follow. Last I paid attention we weren't taking the "hump" all the way out. The guys with flow benches are saying to just reduce its height and give it a teardrop shape these days. If you plan to DIY you'd want to look all that up so as to have a good plan of attack. If you grind too much out of the wrong area you can literally turn a good head into unfixable scrap.
Though a Dremel and it's 1/8" tooling is great to have, it's really only good for the final polishing and detailing. You really need a high speed 1/4" grinder for porting cast iron. Seriously, that power drill you have WON'T do it. Carbide bits don't work well at all unless they are spinning a lot faster than a drill can go. So porting some heads requires investing in a bit of equipment along with the time.
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Part of this is why some people say old vehicles have "personality", you have to get to know what they "like" and "don't like". Sounds like you are on the way.
Another thought, when I feel like the engine is still pretty hot after stopping at the store or for a quick lunch I will take care not to tough the accelerator pedal at all, just turn the key. Most of the time it works best for me. If not then I will put the pedal down pretty far and hold it and continue cranking it like that. Three of my vehicles like this but a fourth does better if the throttle is cracked open just a bit.
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Kind of odd choices there. "Posi" is Chevrolet rear and "Danas" tend to be found under Dodges. What exactly do you want the car to do? What engine and transmission are in it (or will be in it?)
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Thanks. I have not noticed those during my recreational catalog browsings and didn't know they existed.
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I've seen the electric modification done here and there but never one with the turn signals too. Nice!
Is that a modified original glass, a trimmed other-brand glass or what?
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I have no doubt, many people report they like their Nu-Relics just fine. However "modern" GM window motor caught my eye and tickled me. That motor design GM started using way back in 1982. 37 years ago, modern indeed. :) No worries about the actual design, though. They are very robust and reliable motors. Very much more durable (and more compact) than the Ford motors of the same era.
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I see a lot of people adding coolers apparently because they think it's a good idea or they've read advertising from the people who sell add-on aftermarket coolers but I often wonder how many people actually have used a temperature gauges to determine that they actually need one. Not many I expect. Lots of people seem to be concerned with cooling but hardly any seem interested into taking into account that a transmission also needs to come up to operating temperature. Mostly because if it doesn't then the condensation buildup in it isn't vaporized. And moisture is a mortal enemy of clutch material.
If you insist on running a cooler without actually knowing whether you need one or not, at least install a thermostatic bypass. They essentially work the same as the engine coolant thermostat, only allowing cooling as needed. Bargain hunters can find them on 2000 up F150's and Taurus's (that I know of, probably others too.) If you can flare tubing, they are easy to fit.
Such bypasses work great on engine oil coolers too but I don't know of any OEM ones practical for retrofitting.
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I've been fooling with cars for a few years now. I've come to feel I'd very much prefer modification/repair work done by someone who actually CARES about what he is doing along with having the skills. There's a pretty big difference between a workman and a craftsman and their end products.
The reason factories do spot welding is that's it cheap and fast. Basically the minimum necessary to produce parts quickly. People that work in such situations tend to take the same mindset, don't do what's best, do what keeps the production numbers up and keeps the bosses happy with the least effort on their part.
Due to my unscientific and anecdotal observations of what happens in crashes and from taking stuff apart, I'm not personally terribly impressed by "factory spot welds".
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I kind of like to make my own but if I were going to buy some they'd be the Spintechs. They are the only ones that truly integrate into the unibody of the car and look like the factory might have done them to the uninformed eye. Never been a fan of the "piece of pipe stuck under the car" look.
https://spintechmufflers.com/mustang-1965-1970-sub-frame-connectors/
Mach1 Driver and mwye0627 reacted to this -
I've become sold on the teflon versions. Any engine I've had a chance to look at some time after installing one has been bone dry. Only a couple I've seen but one was a driver for a couple of years and that one alone was about enough to sell me on the things.Teflon rear seals seem to be mandatory on later diesel pickup engines for some reason. For whatever that's worth.
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I like what rwcstang has linked pictures to for race tow purposes. Many a late model vehicle these days has such an eyebolt that could be used, especially the Euro cars.
Properly inserted into the correct reinforced frame holes meant for their use, an issue with tearing a frame hole or even scratching frame paint is rare. The main problem is that lazy tow drivers don't bother with the Ford hooks and use the much easier and quicker mini j-hooks. THOSE can and do tear sheet metal, especially if the operator overly tightens the car down on the bed with the winch. And very much so when used in non reinforced holes and when not used in pairs.
Lately I've been favoring using tire straps to tie down with. With those used properly none of what's securing the car to the bed or trailer has to contact any painted surface.
Basically you can successfully pull, load, and tie a car down about any way mentioned in this thread as long as you do it with care and a bit of sense. IMHO.
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I'd be pissed if a truck driver slung j-hooks around my lower control arms. Default tow truck chains these days have "Ford" hooks like Grabber70mach illustrated above.
It's too easy to hook a pair of those into the oval holes in the frame and pull a car up on to the truck. If a car can drive itself onto the truck then all you need is the tire straps. When you use tire straps (correctly) no one has to worry about paint chips anywhere on their concours restored underside. OK mine is nothing like concours, restored, or even worth a crap but I still wouldn't use those big old hooks.
Here I'm using exactly those frame hooks to load and secure my alleged car. I didn't feel I needed to use those paint-saving tire straps at the time.
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Years ago the Ford additive from the dealership parts counter was considered so good in the '70's and '80's the GM and Dodge guys would slip in to buy it. Seriously. These days they now have their own additives that work very well. But I know of no others, period. The LubeGard stuff and/or whatever else is at the parts store is crap. Some oils say they have the additive added already. They probably do. But like two drops per 55 gallon drum or whatever the minimum is for them to not get charged with false advertising like they should be.
Rebuild a Trac-Lok rear. Add the fluid that has the additive already in it.(Flat out lie) Do figure eights. Enjoy the rear chirping the tires and chattering like nobody's business. Next. Try parts store additive. Repeat. Be annoyed. Add a second bottle. Try again and be disgusted at the wasted money. Wait for Monday when the dealer is open and score a bottle of Ford/Mopar/GM additive. Make a single figure eight and thereafter enjoy a chatter-free rear end.
That's what I did anyway. I kind of prefer the Ford stuff. Because I do Fords and it has a history of being the best. I've also used Mopar and GM bottles and found them to work just as well as far as I can tell.
If you just change the oil and your clutches already have a bunch of miles on them you can probably get away with using whatever, for a while at least. Rebuild with clutches a little on the snug side (like I prefer) and you'll shortly find out what does and does not work the same as I and many others have over the years.
I don't know if GM had an additive back in the '70's and '80's. But if they didn't that would help explain why the Camaro guys were in the Ford parts department all the time.
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If that's all that doesn't feel right, I'd say not. I've grown very fond of Sonnax's replacement "Boost valve kits" that help raise line pressure in older/high mileage transmissions. You want to be sure if you have a '76 and earlier unit or not and also make sure don't get the diesel version. They also sell an "elevated pressure regulator" spring that you might like. Both are drop-ins IIRC, requiring you only drop the pan to install. They also sell a pressure regulator valve that will tone up your 2-3 shift for sure but it requires you buy an ungodly high priced ream kit to install and it is no way worth it unless you know somebody who might already have the tools.
I suspect Superior or somebody may have that spring and valve included in one of their shift "improver" kits which would probably be easier to source and be a little easier on the wallet but I haven't looked into those myself.
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All the 1994 up F4TE 5.8's are roller cam engines. Ford chose not to equip their F150 Lightnings with roller cams and used flat cams in them instead. If you found one of those all you'd have to is swap in the roller cam bits. But actual Lightning engines for sale are such very rare birds we don't even have to think about them.
I got an F4TE as a "core" for almost nothing. Found it was freshly rebuilt but someone used a wrong or bad injector which leaked enough fuel the engine hydrolocked and cracked one cylinder. Pushed it to the side with an idea of using its good parts in another engine. Got around to scoring one from a PIck-n-pull on sale day for about $120. Out of a 1996 Econoline. After a bit of checking I decided it seemed to be a good engine. Freshened up a few gaskets and put it in my driver truck (pulled the 5.0). That was like three years ago and it it still runs so nicely I've stopped trying to blow it up.
Found another core, $50. This one got water in the oil. Wiped out some bearings but the pistons and cylinders are OK. Finally got to use that crank I've been sitting on so long. Assembling a "fun" engine for the '69 while it waits for its numbers-correct '69 351W (in progress).
If it were me and I were in Livemore I guess I'd hit up car-part.com and check out that engine at Manteca Dismantlers for $500. Or maybe that one at United for $325 but it has a lot of miles and they say a "lifter tick".
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Unsubstantiated internet rumor, it's all over the place and won't die. Such 5.0 blocks have less wear in the bores simply because they use "low tension" rings.
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On 4/28/2018 at 10:13 AM, Bob & Sue said:This type of relay is referred to as a Bosch or European style relay with dual #87 normally open N/O pins.Mostly used for powering a set of headlights etc.
A relay with 1 #87 & 1 #87A is usually referred to as a common relay with #87 N/O & #87A N/C. When #30 triggers the relay #87A will change to N/O & 87 will change to N/C.
Wait what? No way. Bosch brand relays are my favored brand but I don't believe I've had any that weren't 87A's. Perhaps I just haven't noticed. It's been very rare when I've used that extra pin. What you said perfectly correlates with what my avionics friend was talking about though. I've gotta look into this. Always a good day when I learn something new! A quick look at one of my favored references shows the info was right there under my nose the whole time. They reference the fifth pin as 87B on those. They also call them "double output" relays. Don't think I can get one by that name in the parts store. More research. Later!
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Because they tend to do odd things in California? Most OEM's are using deionized water these days. Don't think you get that by reverse osmosis. Distilled tends to do OK by us rednecks.
Actually I've been looking into using the Asian style "phosphate" coolant. It's an easy way to get away from the old green "silicate" coolant and gain some long term durability. Like five year/100K mile durability. Silicates also tend to "fall out" in cars that sit for long periods of time. A big plus is you can backyard flush your cooling system and change over to it. Unlike if you wanted to go to an "extended life" Dex Cool type coolant where you REALLY want to flush everything out of the cooling system because every bit of the old silicate stuff left in there will react with the new coolant and make snot-like deposits that settle pretty much exactly where you don't want them. No such issue with the Asian stuff. Plus Zerex makes a nice blue version you can tell yourself is Ford blue. Leaks or service is no issue, more is available at any parts store at about the same price as the rest. Some of the Toyota specific stuff is pink and makes a nasty mud brown color when mixed with green, be careful of that.
Second on my list might be a propylene glycol like "Sierra". I don't see a whole lot more benefit for the money for me so I quit looking into that. It's said to even better for sitting is rated at up to 150K miles if you like to put off servicing your cooling system.
We have a lot of cars and for me I'm thinking the blue Zerex would be something I could keep and service all of them with it. If I can ever get my wife to sell that silly Buick she likes so much. Dex Cool isn't inherently bad (about all new Fords are using it), but aside from the mixing problems some people are seeing cavitation issues in antique water pumps with it. Cavitation makes me unhappy. Looking at all the white crunchy crap in the bottom of old radiators that is silicate that has settled out of old green coolant also makes me unhappy. And is basically what set me on a quest for something better, that and plugged up heater cores. Ask any radiator guy. The Asian radiators that run the correct coolant don't have all that crud in them and don't need "rodding out" because that type stuff just isn't in there.
Evans I wouldn't use if you gave it to me. A solution looking for a problem if you ask me. Might be really good in museum cars though.
I've never lived where running simply water with some additive was an option so offer no opinion on that.
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Just curious, why are there plugs in the water pump? Like where the bypass hose goes in particular?
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Ah, I see what you did. OK then. Incidentally, that illustration isn't quite correct. The inner connector is universally referred to as "87A" and the outer one as "87". Most relay setups commonly don't use 87A like you did or even use it at all. But you certainly can! When it is used, it's normal to hook the lighter of the two loads to 87A and the one that draws more to 87. Now that I mention that, I don't actually know why. An avionics guy once told me is what best to do it that way and I never questioned it. Or anything else he told me. If only I could remember half of it. Super smart guy.
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Not real clear on what you did there Bob. Are you saying you used a single relay to power both the choke AND your ignition? Petronix or something maybe? I can't picture that being a good idea. Have you measured your voltage at the ignition (module/distibutor/whatever) when the choke is also powered up? I feel like there will be a voltage drop but I'm also not real clear on what you are powering.
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I like to try different things sometimes. Once when I was removing the 5.0 from my '67 (in favor of a 351W) I wondered if I could pull it out without getting under the car. Turns out not only could I, I also didn't even jack up the car. Removed the starter and all the bellhousing bolts from the top. T5 and long tube headers that both stayed in the car, T5 resting on a floor jack. That was interesting.
Alternator case grounding.
in 1969-70 Technical Forum
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Over the years I've fixed a couple of Fords (and one Dodge) that no one else could with a store full of alternators by simply adding a ground wire from the case to the ground point where engine block ground strap is. Or is supposed to be. You'd think it would be grounded by the bolts and brackets but in at least a couple of cases it was not and I proved it. After the second one I fixed it became my habit to add a ground wire to every alternator I owned that didn't have one already.
The last one I caught I had since learned about voltage drop testing and was able to isolate the trouble area. Out of curiosity. It was between the case itself and the steel bracket. The aluminum case can develop a surface oxidation that apparently won't conduct electricity. Just like a coat of paint.
Do you NEED a ground? Probably not. I've seen hundreds of vehicles that didn't have or need one. But I've seen it be an issue a couple of times and ground straps are cheap. It's not going to ever be an issue on MY cars.