Jayru 17 Report post Posted November 9, 2009 Hey All, So after a long tormenting process, that included an all new suspension, new trans, and 3 different motors (among other things), she is finally running!! (just in time for winter! Ha!) It was a beautiful day today, so i spent it in the garage getting all the final motor details together to get it started. I primed the oil pump put the distributor in and with a few cranks she fired right up and ran great! I've still got a lot to do (as you can see in the pic I've got a temp oil pressure gauge rigged up), but it's SO nice to be able to start/move the car around now! Hopefully all will be well with the motor this time around, but at least I'm off to a good start! I'll do a whole write up when i have some more time, but i was psyched so i thought I'd post now. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
rmarks 20 Report post Posted November 9, 2009 Congrats! Hope all continues to go well. So why 3 motors? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Jayru 17 Report post Posted November 9, 2009 So why 3 motors? Well, the short story is... The original motor in the car had a cracked block that the PO had masked by dumping radiator sealer in the car. When i flushed the system after purchase, i opened up a can of worms. I had a local machine shop build me an engine from a core i brought them, about a day after startup, it started pissing Antifreeze out the side of the block. The machine shop owned up to the issues and rebuilt another core i found/bought. So this is motor #2 from the machine shop and 3 total! Basically I've determined the guy i bought the car from spent a lot of time/money on the body, it's basically rust free and restored (it's no show car but nice overall), and must have ran out of money! So he slapped together a junkyard drivetrain to unload the car in running condition. And i'm the sucker who bought it! The entire car was basically a nightmare held togerther by bubble gum and duct tape. It's getting there though (about $15K above my purchace price at this point!) Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Protowrxs 111 Report post Posted November 12, 2009 Nice - that is a milestone that has to feel good to have it running again. I'm way off from that still. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Mike65 475 Report post Posted November 13, 2009 Congrats, I am so jealous I am so far from running my cars. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Jayru 17 Report post Posted November 13, 2009 Thanks guys for the kind words! You know, for the first time in almost 2 years I'm excited about this car! I can't wait to get home this weekend and play around in the garage :) Lot's to do though... I'll take some pics and write up a progress report this weekend! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
70mstang 11 Report post Posted November 13, 2009 Congrats! I'm looking forward to that feeling in quite a few months. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Jayru 17 Report post Posted November 16, 2009 Made some progress this weekend. - Got my battery box securely mounted in the trunk (the box is supposed to "float," being held by the strap which has mounting tabs under the box, but it was crazy lose and really didn't feel secure! So i mounted the box to the body with some bolts). - Got my Monte Carlo bar back in and secured. - Ran the line for the oil pressure gauge into the interior. - Started making sense of the wiring in the interior to put it all back together (it was a patched rat's nest from the PO! So I'm redoing most of it). The car sat all week and started up with 1 turn of the key! The oil had a little water vapor residue in it after startup, but it quickly evaporated after warm up. I've got to get my catch can and PCV valve hooked back up. The standard valve cover breathers just aren't getting the water vapor out of the crankcase. I also threw in a pic of my inner fender as well (i hid almost all the wires from the engine compartment to make it look cleaner under the hood!) Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
70mstang 11 Report post Posted November 17, 2009 Makes for a GREAT weekend when you can spend more than an hour in the garage Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Jayru 17 Report post Posted November 26, 2009 Had a little time to play around in the garage tonight... Installed my new Ford Motorsports tall valve covers. I had to remove the baffles on the chrome ones to clear the new roller rockers, but it caused oil to spit out the breathers, so i picked up these (they now clear the rockers and have baffles). No more oil all over the place! I also got my catch can reconfigured and installed (couldn't run it till i got the baffles back in the valve covers as it was sucking oil into the intake). I even put a clear filter in to monitor the condition of the air going back into the carb. Started the car and it works great. Best part is no more traces of water in the oil from condensation buildup! Have an appointment to get it aligned Friday afternoon (all new suspension), then I'll finally be able to drive it!! Also... Got my racing gas cap delivered from CJ Pony Parts. Pictures don't do it justice! It's truly a beautiful peice. Hopefully i'll get it on the car this weekend. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
MAD IN NC 21 Report post Posted November 26, 2009 Sounds like ya got her finally over the edge - Congrats! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
stangme428 33 Report post Posted November 26, 2009 nice!! that catch can setup looks good... what can is it ... i may duplicate your setup visible filter and all...:whistling: Had a little time to play around in the garage tonight... Installed my new Ford Motorsports tall valve covers. I had to remove the baffles on the chrome ones to clear the new roller rockers, but it caused oil to spit out the breathers, so i picked up these (they now clear the rockers and have baffles). No more oil all over the place! I also got my catch can reconfigured and installed (couldn't run it till i got the baffles back in the valve covers as it was sucking oil into the intake). I even put a clear filter in to monitor the condition of the air going back into the carb. Started the car and it works great. Best part is no more traces of water in the oil from condensation buildup! Have an appointment to get it aligned Friday afternoon (all new suspension), then I'll finally be able to drive it!! Also... Got my racing gas cap delivered from CJ Pony Parts. Pictures don't do it justice! It's truly a beautiful peice. Hopefully i'll get it on the car this weekend. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Jayru 17 Report post Posted November 27, 2009 It's just a plane jane summit catch can (i think it was like $10). It comes with/designed for an air filter for the top. Since i wanted it to recirculate, I went to NAPA and got the fittings to make the 90 return back to the carb. The filter is a fram fuel filter (part # G2 i believe). I also made the bracket to hold it to the radiator (just some galvanized steel i bent up). The hole setup cost me under $25 bucks and looks great! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Jayru 17 Report post Posted November 28, 2009 I've got an ear to ear grin tonight :biggrin: Drove the car to get aligned today! Man this motor pulls hard! 3/4 throttle breaks the tires lose in first on a roll (and I've only got a set of 300's in the rear)! The car pulls hard once it hit's about 2800 all the way to about 6K in every gear! The car wasn't far out of spec with my eyeballed alignment and had it set up with the Opentracker street specs. I've still got about a 1/2" play in the steering wheel (from the steering box), but the suspension feels tight! I think i need to invest in a rear sway bar though, the car feels so tight in the front that i can feel the back lifting/rolling through a turn. This is about a year and a half in the making... I'm super stoked! Thanks to everyone on the forum who lent a helping hand (of advice) the past year or so! Still odds n ends to do (install my tach/gas filler cap, finish wiring the interior, among other BS things like adjusting the windows etc, I'll post more pics when i get it all buttoned up! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
jkskinsfan 19 Report post Posted November 28, 2009 Congrats, Jayru. Be prepared to enjoy that "Super Stoked" feeling for a long time. After getting my '69 back on the road this summer, I still get that feeling every time I take her out for a ride. Hopefully it will never go away. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Grabber70Mach 107 Report post Posted December 1, 2009 Congrats on getting it together. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
70mstang 11 Report post Posted December 1, 2009 Great to hear! Congrats on driveability :tongue_smilie: Now tell me exactly what a catch can is and what is does? :001_huh: Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Jayru 17 Report post Posted December 7, 2009 Small progress this past weekend... Freezing my ass of in the garage... I started to tackle the interior/dash/horn wiring (PO hacked a bunch of stuff up/in: ignition, radio, horn/steering wheel, etc.), was able to get my Tach mounted/wired, as well as install the OEM E-Brake assembly i got from Racer-X (so much better than the re-pro unit i had in there). I'm real happy how the Tach worked out. I mounted it to the column with a worm gear clamp that i wrapped with shrinkable wire insulation. The screw of the clamp is hidden behind the mounting bracket. So when you look at the column, all you see is a smooth black strap holding the tach on! The shift light mounts underneath close to the column, it's almost unnoticeable. With the wheel straight i can see 3/4 of the tach through the spokes and angled it so 5200 was straight up (see the needle in my peripheral vision without ever looking down). The pic's a crappy one from my cell phone. I'll post a better one once it's all buttoned up. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Jayru 17 Report post Posted April 29, 2010 (edited) Figured I'd post a few pics of some things I've done recently! 1) Converted all my Z-bar linkage to spherical rod ends (and drilled a hole through the clutch fork/used a kneeled ball bearing to provide the pivot while allowing the clutch adjustment to lock in place!) No more spring/worry of the rod popping out under power shifting! My ends were all worn down over time and allowed a lot of slop, now it's all nice and tight! 2)3 Point Belt Conversion - Got the "kit" from CJ Pony Parts. It was supposed to be year specific. It really wasn't much of a "kit" as the directions were super vaigue and came literally with a bucket of parts/bolts. I had to switch a bunch of stuff (wrong bolt sizes in the roof loop), as well as fab up spacers to allow the floor belt harness to be spinable (the factory belts just bolted to the floor and would have left the outer belts imovable). The brackets provided were also bent in (for reasons i couldnt figure why), so i had to bend them out to mount the rear returns properly. Overall i think it came out well! 3)Locking Hood Pins! 4)Rear Del-A-Lum bushings from Global West. Made a huge difference in how the car rides and handles in the corners! No more body roll and the rear feels solid in the turns now. Unfortunately this threw my pinion angle all out of whack and gave me a nasty vibration under deceleration over 75 MPH... I shimmed the rear to get the pinion down some (from +3 to -1 degrees now), i'm hoping this fixes the issue. 5)Replaced the factory 3rd member (which turned out to be a posi 3:00 from the factory!) with a posi 3:55 unit. The gears work so much better with my 5-speed! Gives the car much better acceleration! (sorry no pics). Also installed an Aluminum Driveshaft. Enjoy the pics! Jay Edited April 29, 2010 by Jayru Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Jayru 17 Report post Posted April 29, 2010 I also finally hooked up my 220V Service and am now running an Air Compressor! It's so wonderful to be able to use air tools again! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Burn 14 Report post Posted April 29, 2010 Sweet Z-bar setup. Did you make most the parts or did you get them at the hardware store? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Jayru 17 Report post Posted May 2, 2010 Sweet Z-bar setup. Did you make most the parts or did you get them at the hardware store? I sourced the rod ends from NAPA, I had a local machine shop cut and tap the top Z rod to accept the ends. The trick is to use a 3/8th rod on the clutch pedal side (as the hole usualy isn't worn), but a 1/2" on the top and bottom of the Z bar as those holes get stretched over time. With a little reeming, the 1/2" slides right in. The bottom clutch rod/ball bearing is a custom piece I had the machine shop make up. It wasn't cheap and most likely overkill, but I like the way it came out. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Jayru 17 Report post Posted August 30, 2010 Test fit of the new gas cap. Have to enlarge the hole in the tail panel a bit so it will fit flush. I had my machinist machine off the outer mounting ring (with screw holes) to make it match up perfectly with the tail panel bump out (for the old screw on gas cap). He machined countersunk screw holes on the inside (how i will mount it to the tail panel), Looks good right?!? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Jayru 17 Report post Posted August 30, 2010 Test fit of the new gas cap. Have to enlarge the hole in the tail panel a bit so it will fit flush. I had my machinist machine off the outer mounting ring (with screw holes) to make it match up perfectly with the tail panel bump out (for the old screw on gas cap). He machined countersunk screw holes on the inside (how i will mount it to the tail panel), Looks good right?!? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Angel 24 Report post Posted August 30, 2010 looks good dude Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
