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

#521
*Sigh

As opposed to every other post I start this way, this time its because I'm tired.
I got a stupid amount of stuff done.

The tiny wheezer is mounted. He basically went right in place of the Chinee..I just had to tweak some of the clamps. I Dont know what you guys have to do to mount your turbo,, but I have to take the whole damn thing apart to get to all of the base mounting bolts.
The big issue was the down pipe. If I was gonna fix the exhaust, I had to start with the wonky V band flange at the bottom of the pipe

It always had a leak at the base flange, so this time around, I bought a male/female v band pair so it would seal better

And one that was done, I wrapped that down pipe, and put that dude back in place

It was this menagerie that I wanted to fix.

Obviously an after pic. The thing is full of wonky. The catalytic converter is hollow inside, there's pieces cut and sectioned. It's just a cobbled mess.
So..I fixed it.

That is what I had to do first so I could finally get around to mounting the crossmember...which you can see that Ive done that....but that torque arm wouldn't go into that thing from a radical angle.
I had to remove it, put the rear of the torque arm into its mount, and get forward enough so I could leg press the damn crossmember onto the male member.
Once its on,..it slides fairly smoothly.

Its a beast.

But, its all good, everything lined up, the bolts went in like they're supposed to.

Im calling the day a win..
On Sunday, I have the panhard mount ( still) the GPS speedo sender to wire in, and carpet to install...after that, I can put it back on the ground...
And beat it.
 
Reactions: 6 users
#523
Rdub6 said:
Kate’s away..... one too many whiskeys, and our updates are done!

Edit: Damn..... he beat me to it!
Click to expand...
No whiskey for me anytime soon. Last night was the second time in a week where i’m waking up with a blazing headache.
Typically, I drink a lot of water if i’m drinking whiskey to offset the dehydration so I won’t wake up with a headache. And I did that the last two times too..but maybe my liver ain’t liking the constant bombardment of alcohol, and it’s not working like it should.
Or maybe I just drank too much.

Either way...when Kate’s not here i typically don’t drink. At least not a lot anyways.
 
#524
The goofy lookin oil line is for two reasons.. One, turbo heat has just about ruined the fitting on the end of the line, figured I get it a little farther away from just sitting on there and cooking.Secondly, the turbo supplier wanted a non-restricted oil line going to the turbo, as opposed to the Chinee that had a fairly restricted fitting on it.
The concern here is the new closed loop “ oil pressure leak” that I’ve just created..Wondering how much total oil pressure this will drop me.
 
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#525
Thats odd, it does not matter what kind of turbo it is the seal will not hold pressure and will spew oil into the hot and cold side. its more about volume than pressure for a turbo [as I understand it] I am interested to see what happens.
 
#526
a91what said:
Thats odd, it does not matter what kind of turbo it is the seal will not hold pressure and will spew oil into the hot and cold side. its more about volume than pressure for a turbo [as I understand it] I am interested to see what happens.
Click to expand...
What little I know and read is that fancy ball bearing turbos can get away with and might need a feed line restrictor, but journal bearings can't have too much oil. And they can never have a big enough return line with minimal restrictions. My limited knowledge says that return line restrictions or being too small cause most oil problems in a turbo.

But the only turbo I've ever turned a wrench on is still sitting in a bag in a cabinet...so what do I really know.

 
Reactions: 1 users
#527
CarMichael Angelo said:
There isn’t a “vote“ for my carpet color poll,.....it’s a made decision. Saddle brown cut pile with no mass backing.
138.00...
No purple barnies....No gold lizards...Nothing but brown....
Click to expand...
ACC has had good quality carpets for my past projects. Thanks for letting us know how to get a good price.
I’ve been wanting to tell you your hood survey was flawed. It should have had a third option for “will do the hood more than once just because.” That’s the one I wanted to vote for.
 
Reactions: 1 user
#528
Well,...got the lower PH bar mount fabbed. The interesting side effect of remounting the coil overs at their old ride height adjustment revealed that the car was now was 2” too high. Before when the 4link was together, I had the adjusters screwed way up on the shock trying to get a ride height adjustment. Now that I don’t have the bind from the uppers in place and after adjusting the shocks down two full inches, the whole rear moves almost too easy.....As in I may have to get stiffer springs.
They still easily support the weight of the car..it’s just really soft now.

Im going from a ” Ride engineered by Mercury” to a “Couch cushion engineered by Mike”.
 
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#529
When I looked and looked at the MM torque arm, they mentioned how much softer the ride would be without the quadra bind in the back.

It will be interesting to see how well the Engineered by Mike works especially with a faster spooling hair dryer.
 
#530
Mike, I do believe you mean "a better handling couch cushion." I'm loving the torque arm build, but again, it makes me look out into the garage and realize I have a welder and tools that would allow me to create things. Then I realize I get to watch you do it, then order parts from another window while catching up on your posts. I call that the best of both worlds...lol.
 
#531
droopie85gt said:
When I looked and looked at the MM torque arm, they mentioned how much softer the ride would be without the quadra bind in the back.

It will be interesting to see how well the Engineered by Mike works especially with a faster spooling hair dryer.
Click to expand...
I’ll know soon enough I guess..I’ll also find out if that front mount bushing is up to the task. With the rear dropped as far as I needed it to go to get the shocks off, the male part of the arm is pitched at a fairly steep angle downward. One concern is if it isn’t deforming that bushing, and/ or if it will go back to where it was when it’s back at ride height, then my bushing choice is up to the task. The other is the mount itself...how much twisting pressure is being applied to a 2” wide beam, when you stick a 4’ long 1” solid bar in one end, and put a 300+ lb weight on the other end I wonder?
When I get home tonight, I’m going straight downstairs so I can weld the PH bar mount to the rear, and get the shock back on so I can put the car back on its suspension.
 
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#536
7:30 AM after probably one of the worst nights of sleep I’ve had in a week. Since last Wednesday, i haven’t had even so much as a sniff of beer. So before anybody starts thinkin that “Whiskey Man“ is the new 3AMD,...dont.

Broccoli is.

Since i’m cooking for myself, and Kate is still away, I take these “ opportunities“ to make the kinda junk that I grew up on that she won’t eat. In this case,.....Trainer park tuna casserole.
1 can Campbell’s Cream of mushroom soup.
1 can of Tuna in spring water.
1 bag of wide egg noodles.
1 bag of frozen broccoli cuts.
1/2 cup of milk to add a sauce like consistency.
1/2 bag of cheddar cheese.

It all gets put together after the noodles are cooked in a 8x8 baking dish, topped with cheese, and then put in the oven for like 30 minutes..

Then it’s Viking feast time. Except this time the aftermath is strictly the stuff of Old white guy of Russian descent legend.

I find out ( to my discontent) when you eat half a pan of this stuff one night, and come back the next night and finish it off, the reputation that broccoli has for creating intestinal gas is not to be taken lightly. Only this stuff was trapped inside, too far down to get out either way it typically can. So....

Pain like giving birth to an alien out of your stomach ensues,....for about two hours.

So,..not only am I giving up drinking whiskey,...i ain’t never looking at a broccoli ever again.
 
Reactions: 2 users
#537
Now....now that my personal gastro-intestinal issues are ”behind me”, I’m waiting on home depot to open so that I can get the 5/8” bolts to bolt the rod ends to the bracketry that holds the PH bar together.
I figure, if I can get these bolts, before i start crawling around the car, I may have a prayer of actually getting the car back on the ground.

But that really don’t matter much...it’s gonna rain today.
 
#538
Substituting a drained can of peas or mixed vegetables makes this casserole easier to digest and still objectionable to the palate. Frozen veggies help, but kind of negate the name.
 
#539
Damn dude. That's a recipe for disaster or success. Should have just gone straight to the track, hung your ass out the window, and jet farted yourself to a 9 second quarter mile.

I have the same problem. My wife does not eat spaghetti or meatloaf. If she is away for the evening, I am eating one of those two things.

Kurt
 
Reactions: 1 users
#540
Excepting some missing hardware..this thing is finally done. The bolts that hold the PH bar aren’t long enough to get completely into the locknut, and one rod end is missing a jamnut that is now ordered,...but other than that..this cake is cooked.

This was by far one of the hardest things i have ever undertaken.The amount of work involved to get everything this way is probably close to 60 hours. Even swapping in the 2 j was less tedious.

But i gotta say, I think the thing looks pretty killer...and there is already a softer ride and way less binding than what was there before with the 4 link. So, if you’re gonna do one of these things, it comes down to:

$300.00 and about a bagillion hours of laying on your back, breathing welding fumes and grinding dust...or..
You pay 1000.00 to MM and still have to lay on your back.. just not as much time, way less welding fumes, and no grinding dust.
But you still get the softer ride, less binding, and a potentially better hooking car.
 

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