Build Thread 1978 Fairmont. I bet somebody back home’s thinkin’…I wonder why he don’t write..?

Well you fooled me, I really believed you lost your mind. I got about a quarter of the story and gave up and started feeling bad for you.
It's good to hear it was just your alter ego " I've gone batsman".
 
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Getting closer to being done with this..
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Big Woody did his job,...the intercooler basically went right where it was mocked up to go. The real estate in front of the engine, and behind the radiator is completely used up. Getting stuff all wiggled in so that couplers would go on was a bitch though.
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I still gotta plumb the water lines and reinstall the BOV, put on clamps, etc, etc...but i’m close to test mode. The fender aprons are a disaster,...The front passenger side has three large holes in it, and the driver side has one. I’m thinking Scott Rod Aluminum panels are destined to be the next mod.

The whole engine compartmeant has fallen into a state of “ less than“ for me. I need to spend some serious time reassessing what needs to be done to bring up the standard to where i’m happy with it.
 
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Getting closer to being done with this..
20210417_193239.jpg

Big Woody did his job,...the intercooler basically went right where it was mocked up to go. The real estate in front of the engine, and behind the radiator is completely used up. Getting stuff all wiggled in so that couplers would go on was a bitch though.
20210417_193201.jpg
20210417_193219.jpg

I still gotta plumb the water lines and reinstall the BOV, put on clamps, etc, etc...but i’m close to test mode. The fender aprons are a disaster,...The front passenger side has three large holes in it, and the driver side has one. I’m thinking Scott Rod Aluminum panels are destined to be the next mod.

The whole engine compartmeant has fallen into a state of “ less than“ for me. I need to spend some serious time reassessing what needs to be done to bring up the standard to where i’m happy with it.
Good choice on placement, it looks like it's meant to be there. I like this better as the install looks cleaner imo.
 
Done..
Its a good day when you install a completely different intercooler, in a completely different place, and can reuse the expensive assed -12 braided lines with nothing more than having to change one of the hose ends.
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The path from the turbo to the throttle body is shorter, has less 90* turns ( 3 instead of 6). The intercooler itself has a smaller core, and i’ll be curious to see how that affects the cooling potential of the thing given that air will pass through the thing so quickly.
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One things for sure....The tire ain’t gonna hit sht except the frame rail.
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I wish there was a better solution for the oil cooler line so that it doesn’t have to run like it does, but the top of that adapter is a pain in the ass to get to, and I ain’t changing that this time around.
I should be able to get the front end aligned this Wednesday, and maybe be able to get it to go to the first Saturday night cruise-in ive been to in over a year.
 
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Testing has revealed that water don’t flow.

The water pump will pressurize the hoses in and out of the rear mount radiators to where they are so hard you can’t pinch them, but by the first bulkhead fitting everything just stops like there is something plugging it up. ( can’t imagine how that could be happening)
So tomorrow instead of focusing on getting the front end aligned, i gotta figure out why water isn’t flowing past that first bulkhead fitting.
 
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There’s nothing plugged that I can see..
What I can see is that that pump won’t pump.

This may be sheer coincidence that i’m discovering this now...i have no earthly clue if the old pump was moving water, as it has been quite a while since i’ve actually looked to see. I figured with what little i’m asking of it compared to pumping 220* boiling assed engine coolant through it at 16 psi, as opposed to no pressure water at barely above ambient, it should be happy.
But,....it is a Summit branded SBC pump....or maybe i just got a piece of sht, or maybe there’s nothing wrong with it...IDK anymore.
What I do know is that it won’t do what it used to do....pump water...instead, it pisses water like an old man with prostrate issues.

That leaves me in a quandary.

A summit/Proform pump is 170.00, a Mezier/CVR pump is twice that..Given that the Summit pump didn’t make ( i can’t even say “years”...it’s only been hours between the old Monster turbo combo, and this engine.)

I haven’t become a “ Spend more and get better” convert.

I look back and think:

I replaced my Chinee turbo with a Domestic that cost 3 times as much...I was disappointed.
I replaced that with another that cost the same as the last,...and again i think the Chinee was already there.

I replaced the 250.00 Ebay sourced Turbosmart WG 50 wastegate with a Turbosmart sourced WG 50 wastegate that cost twice that...I still had to dick with it to get it to seal...
Blah-blah-blah...
None of that don’t change the fact that water in the back isnt making it to the front, and back.

So...fck me....

I'm gonna give that Summit brand pump another chance..another 200.00 thrown into the pit of despair. At the same time that kills another weekend...unless.

I take this thing to the alignment shop tomorrow and get that done....to do that i gotta drive it easy, and keep it out of big boost. (Tough for me I know..( If you felt this boost, it’d be tough for you too))
I get it aligned.

The Electric WP would be here Friday...It’d be a bolt in.
If water pumps,...i’m driving it Saturday.
 
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Its gonna rain Saturday..( figures) No reason to worry about going anywhere this weekend, so I’ll just wait till the pump gets here, and fix that before I take the thing out to get it aligned.

About the only thing left for me to do to this car ( other than completely change it up) is to start focusing on the cosmetic appearance issues that are becoming more and more noticeable.
I got online an ordered a set of Natural aluminum Scott Rod fender aprons last week..I called today because I didn’t think I actually ordered them. Turns out, they are 3 weeks out on order completion..and they are in fact “ordered”

I want them raw aluminum. Originally I thought I wanted them powdercoated satin black to blend in, but now I’m thinkin I want the contrast, so while i was talking with them confirming the order, I changed it.

Chips in the paint are everywhere..I blame it on the constant change the car goes through. Much like a drag car that requires that you constantly are working on it, so too is the status of the monster..
And he has the little nicks, and chips to show for it. The front spoiler catch air hoses, welding cables, the garden hose, and extension cords..and after pulling on them when they end up short It’s about that time that I discover that they are now rubbing on that paint..Bottom line, the spoiler needs some love.

Now that the charge tube doesn’t run in front of the radiator saddle, ( which effectively hid said radiator saddle from view), Its now out there for all to see..I need to come up with some sort of Cosmetic cover for those two sides.

I think Noobz will finally get his wish.

Cooking in the back of my head is my plan for my repaint..( Only I’m not going to repaint it) I’m gonna have it wrapped.
And if it looks right after I take it to the place I’ve talked to, I’m gonna have it look like a aluminum skinned WWII warbird.
Specifically, a P47 Thunderbolt. It was Big, and very powerful..And...it was Officially called a “Thunderbolt” A name already in use in the Ford lineage for a car my size..
( The nickname for the plane was Jug, because of the way it looked when it was airborne, again, a fitting name for the monster considering that the whole car is such a jug........fck.)
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This is Probably how I’ll do it though..An Olive drab hood/roof/trunk with the rest of the wrap simulating the riveted aluminum skin that make up an air frame. I don’t know right now if I want a contrasting tail color, or the USAF markings, I’ll have to wait and see what the rendition looks like when I take the car to the dude. The places up front that I got to figure out what to do to cover up the radiator saddle will have 3 stubbed out tubes to simulate the .050 cal machine guns in the wings...and the Wheels....I got no clue what I’m gonna do with those right now. They quoted me vetween 3-3500.00 to do it which is a damn sight cheaper than a regular repaint, and if I want to change it back, the old paint will still be underneath.

The problem with this whole Lame-Brain idea is that while it works on a plane,.....it don’t look right on a car.
That theme has been done before on a 4th gen, a Fox Mustang, and now on a S550 body,... but every time I look at it, It didn’t really work. The mustang body is too short, and each time they try to jam all of the various color changes, lettering, insignia, and stuff off of a plane that was probably over 30’ long onto a car a little over 1/3rd of that.
If I do this I’ll have keep it uncluttered if it’s gonna work..the only thing my cars body has going for it is the long quarter panel..

Still a “Work in progress” in my head at this point, and something to talk about.
 
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If you pull this off it will be very cool. If you don't get it right, you'll tear $3500 of vinyl off and throw in the trash.
No, this one won’t be a “see if you like it” before I commit. They take pics of the car, and use it to create a rendering before saying yes. It’s half of what a “good“ paint job would cost, and 3-5 days in a shop instead of 3-5 months, a real easy yes for me.

Im not there yet though..I like the current Vibe. I’m thinking one more season, and after I come back from the MS cruisin the coast thing in October...i’ll focus on the wrap thing real seriously.
 
I'm vaguely familiar with the process. I did it for 4 years. Well not the art...I'm not artistic. But I spent a lot of time with our graphic artist wrapping a :poo: load of a/c company box trucks and a bunch of work vans and trucks.
 
I think that F body works, but for every one that does, there is more than one that doesn’t.
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Ford is behind this tribute. It’s paying homage to the “Old Crow”, P 51.
It don’t work. there’s just too many colors/ graphics, and not enough room for it all.
This kinda does...But it’s paint not wrapped. the rivets don’t look real.
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And a Lamborghini looks like it could fly already.

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Uhhhhh...no.
And there are even more fails than wins out there when you look.

Admittedly, there are huge challenges trying to pull this off..I figured Id put it out there as a sounding board, and to hear myself think.
 

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Since it sounds like you're looking for opinions on the wrap idea, I have to say I'm not a big fan of many of them. But if you do go that route, less is more. I think you already realize that, but that's how I look at it. :shrug:
 
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Since it sounds like you're looking for opinions on the wrap idea, I have to say I'm not a big fan of many of them. But if you do go that route, less is more. I think you already realize that, but that's how I look at it. :shrug:
I think you’re probably right. But as with all of the ideas that pop into my head, some float ( Putting BMW throttle bodies on the side of an Aussie Ford Crossflow head), and some Sink....(Getting rid of the turbo in favor of that.)

Ill not give up the current theme in favor of a wrap that doesn’t improve the overall package. If I’m listening to the little dude in my head, he’ll steer me in the right direction. It’s that Skitso 3AMD that I have to worry about,...He’s the one that comes up with all the stupid sht.
 
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