Engine Update

[Pakrat 1,043]

Well, I pretty much finished up my engine over the weekend so I thought I'd post a few progress pics. I still have a few details to finish and figure out but for the most part this is how it came out. I know not all of you will care for some of the style choices I made like say the old school white headers but once I get the rest of the red anodized fittings on I think it's going to have a nice patriotic look to it. I just threw one header on with two bolts for the picture as I figure it may be easier to install the engine without them on.

 

On the to do list still I think I am going to have to get a new set of unassembled spark plug wires I can cut to my own lengths since the way I am routing them now has a few of them running so tight that I can't even remove the cap without pulling a few off first. I also think I may paint the cap black or maybe even red because that Accel tan color just sticks out at me like a sore thumb with everything else co-ordinating. I've got to clean the surface rust off the alternator again, it keeps coming back so I guess I may have to paint it, maybe I'll use the cast grey on it or something. I have a few spots of paint to touch up from assembly scratches and I want to paint over the exposed edges of the gaskets on the timing cover and water pump too. (A neat little touch up tip, I swapped the typical nozzle from the spray can with one from a carb cleaner so I can put the little straw on the end and inject a very fine stream of paint in small areas with no overspray). I also still have to decide if I wan't to keep all that aluminum on the air cleaner lid and polish it up or paint the sides of it blue and leave just the ribs polished and I may still opt to paint the intake blue but for better or worse it has pretty much turned out like I pictured it for the most part.

[Pakrat 1,043]

Well, I pretty much finished up my engine over the weekend so I thought I'd post a few progress pics. I still have a few details to finish and figure out but for the most part this is how it came out. I know not all of you will care for some of the style choices I made like say the old school white headers but once I get the rest of the red anodized fittings on I think it's going to have a nice patriotic look to it. I just threw one header on with two bolts for the picture as I figure it may be easier to install the engine without them on.

 

On the to do list still I think I am going to have to get a new set of unassembled spark plug wires I can cut to my own lengths since the way I am routing them now has a few of them running so tight that I can't even remove the cap without pulling a few off first. I also think I may paint the cap black or maybe even red because that Accel tan color just sticks out at me like a sore thumb with everything else co-ordinating. I've got to clean the surface rust off the alternator again, it keeps coming back so I guess I may have to paint it, maybe I'll use the cast grey on it or something. I have a few spots of paint to touch up from assembly scratches and I want to paint over the exposed edges of the gaskets on the timing cover and water pump too. (A neat little touch up tip, I swapped the typical nozzle from the spray can with one from a carb cleaner so I can put the little straw on the end and inject a very fine stream of paint in small areas with no overspray). I also still have to decide if I wan't to keep all that aluminum on the air cleaner lid and polish it up or paint the sides of it blue and leave just the ribs polished and I may still opt to paint the intake blue but for better or worse it has pretty much turned out like I pictured it for the most part.

[Thesubhumans 10]

That sure looks good, i would leave the air cleaner lid chrome it looks good that way.

 

Any engine mods?

[Thesubhumans 10]

That sure looks good, i would leave the air cleaner lid chrome it looks good that way.

 

Any engine mods?

[Protowrxs 111]

Looks nice Pak. My first set of headers were white and I always liked what they looked like.. they just never stayed white more than a few minutes of run time from my experience and the paint I used. I also like the tan distributor cap because it reminds me of my old Accel dual point I guess.

 

What type of headers are they? They look like they might work with the Unisteer manual rack with the big opening in the middle of the tubes on that side. My old Headman's are all grouped together right where I think the shaft is going to have to be.

 

I think the air cleaner fins and the Cobra fins compliment each other nicely myself and the polish looks great.

 

-Stephen

[Protowrxs 111]

Looks nice Pak. My first set of headers were white and I always liked what they looked like.. they just never stayed white more than a few minutes of run time from my experience and the paint I used. I also like the tan distributor cap because it reminds me of my old Accel dual point I guess.

 

What type of headers are they? They look like they might work with the Unisteer manual rack with the big opening in the middle of the tubes on that side. My old Headman's are all grouped together right where I think the shaft is going to have to be.

 

I think the air cleaner fins and the Cobra fins compliment each other nicely myself and the polish looks great.

 

-Stephen

[69grandecj 0]

Nice work!

[69grandecj 0]

Nice work!

[bnickel 10,004]

looks good bro!!!! FYI, don't paint the cap...you can get a either a Blue Streak dist.cap which is ford blue or a motorcraft cap which is black and both are made from the same stuff as your Accel cap and both also brass contacts. i'm running a motorcraft cap on mine. paint the alternator to match the power steering pump bracket in the cast gray. they are both actually supposed to be natural cast aluminum but the cast gray looks good.

 

i used Olsdmobile gold engine paint on the alternator fan and pulley on my car but krylon has those new metal cast colors that look like anodized aluminum sorta, the yellow one actually looks a lot like yellow zinc or gold cad plating and would be perfect on the alt. fan and pulley, it'll pretty much match the front of your clutch fan, which is the correct color for the alt fan and pulley. to get the best effect either use a chrome or silver base coat and then spray the metal cast paint or even better would be to get a chrome fan and pulley and then use the metal cast paint, but that would probably cost as much as buying the correct plated part from AMK, i'd just use a silver base paint. you could also just paint the fan and pulley black too though.

 

also another little detailing touch here, try to figure out a better routing for the PCV hose, it looks pretty out of place on the rest of the engine. use some 90 degree hoses to route it more cleanly under the air cleaner. are you using a carter or e'brock carb? for some reason i thought you had a holley, the reason i ask is i don't recall ever seeing a holley carb with the PCV fitting in the front, they are generally in the back of the carb unless you've got some wierd emissions carb or something. the carter and e'brock carbs have the PCV fitting in the front. the stock ford routing would also be at the rear of the carb, just FYI.

 

i still think you should do the air cleaner all blue with the polished fins. there really isn't anything else on the engine that's polished and the blue would flow better with the overall theme.

 

 

sorry to sound like i'm nitpicking your engine to death, i don't mean to really, i just want you to know all the options and if something looks out of place or not. just trying to be helpful

 

EDIT: now if you were to polish the alternator and power steering pump bracket and the intake the polished air cleaner would have some company.

[bnickel 10,004]

looks good bro!!!! FYI, don't paint the cap...you can get a either a Blue Streak dist.cap which is ford blue or a motorcraft cap which is black and both are made from the same stuff as your Accel cap and both also brass contacts. i'm running a motorcraft cap on mine. paint the alternator to match the power steering pump bracket in the cast gray. they are both actually supposed to be natural cast aluminum but the cast gray looks good.

 

i used Olsdmobile gold engine paint on the alternator fan and pulley on my car but krylon has those new metal cast colors that look like anodized aluminum sorta, the yellow one actually looks a lot like yellow zinc or gold cad plating and would be perfect on the alt. fan and pulley, it'll pretty much match the front of your clutch fan, which is the correct color for the alt fan and pulley. to get the best effect either use a chrome or silver base coat and then spray the metal cast paint or even better would be to get a chrome fan and pulley and then use the metal cast paint, but that would probably cost as much as buying the correct plated part from AMK, i'd just use a silver base paint. you could also just paint the fan and pulley black too though.

 

also another little detailing touch here, try to figure out a better routing for the PCV hose, it looks pretty out of place on the rest of the engine. use some 90 degree hoses to route it more cleanly under the air cleaner. are you using a carter or e'brock carb? for some reason i thought you had a holley, the reason i ask is i don't recall ever seeing a holley carb with the PCV fitting in the front, they are generally in the back of the carb unless you've got some wierd emissions carb or something. the carter and e'brock carbs have the PCV fitting in the front. the stock ford routing would also be at the rear of the carb, just FYI.

 

i still think you should do the air cleaner all blue with the polished fins. there really isn't anything else on the engine that's polished and the blue would flow better with the overall theme.

 

 

sorry to sound like i'm nitpicking your engine to death, i don't mean to really, i just want you to know all the options and if something looks out of place or not. just trying to be helpful

 

EDIT: now if you were to polish the alternator and power steering pump bracket and the intake the polished air cleaner would have some company.

[Pakrat 1,043]

Subhuman, most of the mods were done about 6 years ago like the Cam, Weind Intake, 4V carb etc... the basic upgrade package. I did add a true double roller timing chain but the bulk of this project was more about disassembly, cleaning and repainting and replacing all the gaskets and freeze plugs and stuff. Hopefully in a few years I'll either go stroker with it or just store this original engine and go with a crate.

 

Proto, Yeah it seems headers don't last no matter what you paint them really, jet hot or ceramics even tend to change color. I went with like a 1500* paint and then used that ceramic clear coat on them so hopefully they will look decent for at least a little while. Anything is better than the rusted to all hell look they had before and it cost like $20 to have them sand blasted becasue my home kit just couldn't cut through it so I can probably go a few years before refinishing them and do it all myself if I don't let them get too bad. BTW, that actually was a dual point accel, way better than single points. Pertronix told me I could not install their kit in it but I managed to fabricate some of the parts and not change out the bottom plate and got it to work just fine. I may eventually go back to a vaccumm advance dizzy but as long as this still works I won't replace it unless I run out of things to do, lol. I have no idea what type of headers they are, they were put on by the PO and have no markings and I have not seen another set quite like them. You are probably right about that opening though because even my stock power steering did not need the relocation bracket with them.

 

B, nit pick away my friend, I want outside opinions, that's the only way to improve and finess things. I looked at a bunch of different caps at Autozone and nothing but another tan accel seemed to be the right size?!?! Why wouldn't you just paint it? Krylon has a new plastic fusion paint I was going to try. Yeah I had the PS pump bracket in the aluminum and it just didn't look that great. I loved the way that that cast grey came out on my hinges though so decided to use it there as well. I think I am going to just use that and some black to balance out the pump perfectly, correct or not I think it will be the best move visually for the alternator. I did plan to reroute the PCV hose also, I just wanted to get all the parts out of the boxs and on the engine but when I took the pic I could see it was an eye sore. I do have a holley and I am pretty sure I hooked it up right. I don't recall any ports in the back, just three up front, one for this and two blocked off ones for the stock type dizzy. The carb is another one of those PO things I have not been able to ID, there isn't a single identifiable Holley number on it that I can place and based on the vaccumm secondaries I have alwasy just assumed it was an old 4160. All I know is runs great so it's ne of those things I leave alone and don't question til it craps out. I may end up adding a little more polished in the end too but I don't want to overdo it either and make it too blingy. I thought between the VC's, wire looms, dipstick and bolt caps that I finally had just about enough to balance off the lid. I will be adding a polished push on filter to the VC also. Remember that there will be a tall gasket on the top of the base eventually to seal the ram air so the lid won't be as visable and glaring once in the car. I'm going to wait until it's all in place before I make the final call on that though.

[Pakrat 1,043]

Subhuman, most of the mods were done about 6 years ago like the Cam, Weind Intake, 4V carb etc... the basic upgrade package. I did add a true double roller timing chain but the bulk of this project was more about disassembly, cleaning and repainting and replacing all the gaskets and freeze plugs and stuff. Hopefully in a few years I'll either go stroker with it or just store this original engine and go with a crate.

 

Proto, Yeah it seems headers don't last no matter what you paint them really, jet hot or ceramics even tend to change color. I went with like a 1500* paint and then used that ceramic clear coat on them so hopefully they will look decent for at least a little while. Anything is better than the rusted to all hell look they had before and it cost like $20 to have them sand blasted becasue my home kit just couldn't cut through it so I can probably go a few years before refinishing them and do it all myself if I don't let them get too bad. BTW, that actually was a dual point accel, way better than single points. Pertronix told me I could not install their kit in it but I managed to fabricate some of the parts and not change out the bottom plate and got it to work just fine. I may eventually go back to a vaccumm advance dizzy but as long as this still works I won't replace it unless I run out of things to do, lol. I have no idea what type of headers they are, they were put on by the PO and have no markings and I have not seen another set quite like them. You are probably right about that opening though because even my stock power steering did not need the relocation bracket with them.

 

B, nit pick away my friend, I want outside opinions, that's the only way to improve and finess things. I looked at a bunch of different caps at Autozone and nothing but another tan accel seemed to be the right size?!?! Why wouldn't you just paint it? Krylon has a new plastic fusion paint I was going to try. Yeah I had the PS pump bracket in the aluminum and it just didn't look that great. I loved the way that that cast grey came out on my hinges though so decided to use it there as well. I think I am going to just use that and some black to balance out the pump perfectly, correct or not I think it will be the best move visually for the alternator. I did plan to reroute the PCV hose also, I just wanted to get all the parts out of the boxs and on the engine but when I took the pic I could see it was an eye sore. I do have a holley and I am pretty sure I hooked it up right. I don't recall any ports in the back, just three up front, one for this and two blocked off ones for the stock type dizzy. The carb is another one of those PO things I have not been able to ID, there isn't a single identifiable Holley number on it that I can place and based on the vaccumm secondaries I have alwasy just assumed it was an old 4160. All I know is runs great so it's ne of those things I leave alone and don't question til it craps out. I may end up adding a little more polished in the end too but I don't want to overdo it either and make it too blingy. I thought between the VC's, wire looms, dipstick and bolt caps that I finally had just about enough to balance off the lid. I will be adding a polished push on filter to the VC also. Remember that there will be a tall gasket on the top of the base eventually to seal the ram air so the lid won't be as visable and glaring once in the car. I'm going to wait until it's all in place before I make the final call on that though.

[buening 63]

Well if we are critiquing your engine, then i'll throw in my 0.02

 

First off, if you are wanting a different color dizzy cap the buy one that color. Even the plastic paint is hard to get right and even when it is painted you can tell it has been painted. If you want blue, then get this one:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/NIB-NOS-FORD-289-302-Standard-distributor-cap-dist-cap_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQcategoryZ33688QQhashZitem280056796657QQihZ018QQitemZ280056796657QQrdZ1QQsspagenameZWDVW

 

or in black

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/67-73-FORD-MUSTANG-DISTRIBUTOR-CAP_W0QQitemZ130056170210QQihZ003QQcategoryZ34202QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

 

well you get the idea.

 

 

As far as things that stick out at me, take that glass fuel filter and throw it far far into the trash. You will have more carb problems than you will know what to do with if you keep that on there. Those little plastic mesh filters couldn't filter sand if you dumped it in the gas tank. Mine lasted about 2 weeks and i ended taking the carb apart twice because of the junk getting into the idle circuit passages. Also, i'd lose the braided covers on the fuel line. The rest of your hoses are all rubber, so they don't fit in too well

 

I'd also not use the red radiator hose ends for the top and blue on the bottom, but i'm sure those are just temporary :tongue_smilie:

 

I'm not a fan of the aluminum intake with the blue thermostat housing/waterneck. If it were my engine, i'd look for a 5.0 aluminum thermostat housing or paint my stock one aluminum to match the intake. You get into the aluminum/blue/black combination when you add the radiator hoses. Or aluminum/blue/red/black if you keep those hose ends on there :lol:

 

Also, are those bolt caps on a few of the bolts at the water pump and timing cover? Make sure you are consistent with them and not have them randomly placed.

 

Don't forget your alternator bolt spacer between the head bracket and the alternator. You can make one out of aluminum pipe or even steel pipe and paint it, assuming you can't find your original one. I'd definitely touch up the alternator and pulley, as it looks like you just took a wire wheel to it but now i'm just getting picky :tongue: Engine looks damn good though, good job!!

[buening 63]

Well if we are critiquing your engine, then i'll throw in my 0.02

 

First off, if you are wanting a different color dizzy cap the buy one that color. Even the plastic paint is hard to get right and even when it is painted you can tell it has been painted. If you want blue, then get this one:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/NIB-NOS-FORD-289-302-Standard-distributor-cap-dist-cap_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQcategoryZ33688QQhashZitem280056796657QQihZ018QQitemZ280056796657QQrdZ1QQsspagenameZWDVW

 

or in black

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/67-73-FORD-MUSTANG-DISTRIBUTOR-CAP_W0QQitemZ130056170210QQihZ003QQcategoryZ34202QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

 

well you get the idea.

 

 

As far as things that stick out at me, take that glass fuel filter and throw it far far into the trash. You will have more carb problems than you will know what to do with if you keep that on there. Those little plastic mesh filters couldn't filter sand if you dumped it in the gas tank. Mine lasted about 2 weeks and i ended taking the carb apart twice because of the junk getting into the idle circuit passages. Also, i'd lose the braided covers on the fuel line. The rest of your hoses are all rubber, so they don't fit in too well

 

I'd also not use the red radiator hose ends for the top and blue on the bottom, but i'm sure those are just temporary :tongue_smilie:

 

I'm not a fan of the aluminum intake with the blue thermostat housing/waterneck. If it were my engine, i'd look for a 5.0 aluminum thermostat housing or paint my stock one aluminum to match the intake. You get into the aluminum/blue/black combination when you add the radiator hoses. Or aluminum/blue/red/black if you keep those hose ends on there :lol:

 

Also, are those bolt caps on a few of the bolts at the water pump and timing cover? Make sure you are consistent with them and not have them randomly placed.

 

Don't forget your alternator bolt spacer between the head bracket and the alternator. You can make one out of aluminum pipe or even steel pipe and paint it, assuming you can't find your original one. I'd definitely touch up the alternator and pulley, as it looks like you just took a wire wheel to it but now i'm just getting picky :tongue: Engine looks damn good though, good job!!

[Pakrat 1,043]

Those stock dizzy caps are not the same size as my accel one, if you have a link to one that will fit an accel model that would be great as I can't find anything but the tan as I mentioned.

 

I have run that same fuel filter and another one just like it before the fuel pump for 4 years now without an issue so it's your advice going into the trash on that one.:tt2: I was thinking of loosing the braided lines though, those were left over from when my father in law surprised me by putting them on all my hoses and I didn't like them very much.

 

I see blue and red anodized mixed all the time, one on top of the other even but yes the red ones are new and the blue are old left overs fromt he top was, I usually never bothered to put any on the bottom. I do agree about the thermostat housing though, the layer cake affect has been bugging me. The bolt caps aren't random, I only had the half inch size on hand. I do have the alternator bolt spacer I just didn't put it on because I knew I was taking it off to refinish it anyway as the rust just keep scoming back.

[Pakrat 1,043]

Those stock dizzy caps are not the same size as my accel one, if you have a link to one that will fit an accel model that would be great as I can't find anything but the tan as I mentioned.

 

I have run that same fuel filter and another one just like it before the fuel pump for 4 years now without an issue so it's your advice going into the trash on that one.:tt2: I was thinking of loosing the braided lines though, those were left over from when my father in law surprised me by putting them on all my hoses and I didn't like them very much.

 

I see blue and red anodized mixed all the time, one on top of the other even but yes the red ones are new and the blue are old left overs fromt he top was, I usually never bothered to put any on the bottom. I do agree about the thermostat housing though, the layer cake affect has been bugging me. The bolt caps aren't random, I only had the half inch size on hand. I do have the alternator bolt spacer I just didn't put it on because I knew I was taking it off to refinish it anyway as the rust just keep scoming back.

[buening 63]

I have run that same fuel filter and another one just like it before the fuel pump for 4 years now without an issue so it's your advice going into the trash on that one.:tt2:

 

Hey if they work for you then cool. I've read and seen many of them break and/or leak due to the glass design and have read many people complain about gunk getting through the plastic filters and plugging up their carb. I figured they were full of it until i put one on my car. But if it works for you then keep it on there. I hid a paper element one under the powersteering pump and is not visible unless you crawl under the car and stare near the fuel pump.

[buening 63]

I have run that same fuel filter and another one just like it before the fuel pump for 4 years now without an issue so it's your advice going into the trash on that one.:tt2:

 

Hey if they work for you then cool. I've read and seen many of them break and/or leak due to the glass design and have read many people complain about gunk getting through the plastic filters and plugging up their carb. I figured they were full of it until i put one on my car. But if it works for you then keep it on there. I hid a paper element one under the powersteering pump and is not visible unless you crawl under the car and stare near the fuel pump.

[bnickel 10,004]

Those stock dizzy caps are not the same size as my accel one, if you have a link to one that will fit an accel model that would be great as I can't find anything but the tan as I mentioned.

 

I have run that same fuel filter and another one just like it before the fuel pump for 4 years now without an issue so it's your advice going into the trash on that one.:tt2: I was thinking of loosing the braided lines though, those were left over from when my father in law surprised me by putting them on all my hoses and I didn't like them very much.

 

I see blue and red anodized mixed all the time, one on top of the other even but yes the red ones are new and the blue are old left overs fromt he top was, I usually never bothered to put any on the bottom. I do agree about the thermostat housing though, the layer cake affect has been bugging me. The bolt caps aren't random, I only had the half inch size on hand. I do have the alternator bolt spacer I just didn't put it on because I knew I was taking it off to refinish it anyway as the rust just keep scoming back.

 

i still think you should get either black, blue or polished Python hose end clamps. they are more modern looking and they are actually the clamp not just a cover.

[bnickel 10,004]

Those stock dizzy caps are not the same size as my accel one, if you have a link to one that will fit an accel model that would be great as I can't find anything but the tan as I mentioned.

 

I have run that same fuel filter and another one just like it before the fuel pump for 4 years now without an issue so it's your advice going into the trash on that one.:tt2: I was thinking of loosing the braided lines though, those were left over from when my father in law surprised me by putting them on all my hoses and I didn't like them very much.

 

I see blue and red anodized mixed all the time, one on top of the other even but yes the red ones are new and the blue are old left overs fromt he top was, I usually never bothered to put any on the bottom. I do agree about the thermostat housing though, the layer cake affect has been bugging me. The bolt caps aren't random, I only had the half inch size on hand. I do have the alternator bolt spacer I just didn't put it on because I knew I was taking it off to refinish it anyway as the rust just keep scoming back.

 

i still think you should get either black, blue or polished Python hose end clamps. they are more modern looking and they are actually the clamp not just a cover.

[Cheo69GT 1]

Looking good, nice work!

[Cheo69GT 1]

Looking good, nice work!