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

well i’ve decided, that there is really too much stuff in front of me to worry about trying to jam it into a couple of weeks.
The clutch pedal seems much better, and now that i’ve pumped the outer shaft full of grease, the little bit of slop i was feeling is gone. The outlet on the MC is still capped,and I have a dead firm pedal.

So,....yea me. That part is done.

Because I’m trying to sell the 4L80, and the 2jz/GM trans adapter, I decided that that stuff needed to come out.
And so it is.
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Behold, the Mammoth pig...With converter and shifter. This thing is full of fluid, I have gotten so good at removing the thing I was able to remove it w/o spilling a drop of fluid.
The Adapter was a bitch to get off the back of the engine..It fits so tight when you bolt it on the first time It almost becomes fused to the engine...But after some judicious smacking with a rubber mallet, and screw driver prying action, the thing finally came off.
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I’ll put it on Ebay tonight, and see if I can sell it for 650.00, which is 200.00 less than I paid for it.

Without a trans in place, there is no better time to finish putting the EPS back in, and get the steering shaft all sorted out,...Theres literally a big giant hole up in front of the car now.
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At the same time, I think I’ve found the rear oil leak that has been here since day one....Those bolt holes in the back of the crank are exposed to wet oil inside the engine...Every bolt I removed from the crank were soaked in oil...I think it’s getting past the threads, and leaking there over time.

Not anymore though..I’m gonna put thread sealant on those bolts next time around.

I’m thinking that since the 2jz bellhousing is so much smaller, I might go ahead and weld the removable piece of the forward tunnel back in place,....but I gotta admit, being able to zip out the transmission bolts from inside the car is way better than groping around with a 3’ extension, and a wobbly socket adapter..

Then again,.....Maybe I won’t.

But..the Many years, and many different configurations have taken their toll on the Monsters interior...he needs some reinforcements.
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At the very least, that rectangular cut in the top of the tunnel where the shifter sat recessed in will get a patch welded in.

Which brings me around to why it’s not important that I get the rear end to dude Saturday. I am making good progress, but there’s just too many things left to do before it can all go back together.

Ive got to get the six speed in there, and get the hole properly located. I gotta figure out how high it’ll stick through, and come up with some sort of rubber heat grommet thingy like a stock fox uses ( maybe i’ll use it too).
Ive gotta figure out where the shifter handle will protrude through the console mesh, and come up with a boot for that that don’t look like some BS bandaid to cover a “too big“ hole that typical of most aftermarket shifter boots.

Ill also have to redo the mesh on the console....no saving the old one.

The dash needs to be cut at the drop so that I can put the column in, and the dash can be installed around it without me taking the column apart in two pieces....Im pretty sure that It’s not exactly NHTSA standard right now the way it is.

The dash, and the console need to be sanded and repainted, or maybe even powder coated.

I need a new driveshaft..Among other things...

And now, there’s a truck out there that needs work too.
 
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I hope I have your energy when I get your age. Which is why I am doing what I am doing now, 15 years in your review mirror. I want to have this thing sorted by the time I am 60. But alas, I may not be finished with rust repair by then! I don't think I'll need knee replacements, but I am started to be concerned about the constant pain in my left hip, that I will need a hip replacement. I can remember the snow storm and the collision with the curb while being towed behind a 3 wheeler wide open in 3rd gear, that will lead to such replacement.
 
Well, it’s friday night...

The 4l80 is loaded on my truck, I gotta meet a guy in Steele Al..at 9am tomorro. He’s payin full price plus an extra 50 to meet him halfway.

Guess that means that there’s no going back to an auto if I end up hating the 6 speed. ( I won’t). But it does add back to ” Why did I change over to a six speed fund”.

I’m thinking i’m gonna attempt the rear main seal repair on the f150. I have all of the parts ( rear main seal, clutch, slave cylinder) ready to pick up at Oreilly’s at my convenienc. I’ve watched a few vids, it doesn’t appear any more difficult than Monster stuff ( actually it’s way easier).......but i’m still laying on my back fckin with a heavy ass transmission, in a driveway)

The seller said that the previous owner replaced the clutch “ recently”.
I’m just gonna say im not taking any chances.it’s 240.00 to replace everything.
 
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Well for the first time in a long time, I spent my Sunday working on something other than the Monster.

The F150..( aka F-1fiddycent) Needs some TLC to make it tolerable.

The dash mount on the passenger side has been broken for a long time..the lack of support there has caused the dash to stress and crack at the windshield...While that isn’t a real PITA, the fact that the freaking thing bounces and rattles while driving is.

So,..I had to make a bracket that bolts through the plastic frame, and tied it back to a solid mount surface on the passenger side under the kick panel.
The dash pad has a really bad crack...i removed it, and ground out a valley for some kind of goop I’m gonna put there, but that didn’t get finished.
The original Pioneer radio that was in the Monster was/is a little short chassis “ streaming unit”. I removed it from the Monster when I upgraded him to a flip out touch screen, so that left this thing on a shelf.
I removed the ancient Sony AM/FM/CD player that was there, and reinstalled the Pioneer unit. It gives me the ability to wirelessly sync my phone for XM/ Spotify, and have hands free calling/ texting through siri.
The headliner is sagging...The old one is out,...hopefully I’ll be able to redo that on Wednesday.

I dumped in that sht that swells/softens the rear main seal. Hopefully, that fixes the leak for a while..From what I read, my situation is right to try this junk...and I certainly don’t care that much about a 100k mile 300 I6, as long as it stops freakin dripping.

The interior is pretty much out of the thing except the dash...But It doesn’t move no more...Hopefully the engine don’t leak oil no more..and when you call me while i’m driving, I ain’t holding the freakin phone up to my head no more either.
 
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I’m thinking i’m gonna attempt the rear main seal repair on the f150. I have all of the parts ( rear main seal, clutch, slave cylinder) ready to pick up at Oreilly’s at my convenienc. I’ve watched a few vids, it doesn’t appear any more difficult than Monster stuff ( actually it’s way easier).......but i’m still laying on my back fckin with a heavy ass transmission, in a driveway)

The seller said that the previous owner replaced the clutch “ recently”.
I’m just gonna say im not taking any chances.it’s 240.00 to replace everything.

Well,.......since you are going to drop the F150 transmission anyway,......You might want to check into a few other things while you are at it. You may already be familiar with the M5OD R2. I'm no expert but learned a little but about them recently.

  1. Open the top of the M5OD R2 and check the wear on the shift forks. They don't cost that much and access is easy while the trans is out. A very common wear item.
  2. The 3 rubber plugs on the top of the M5OD R2 are notorious for leakage. Replace with small freeze plugs if yours are leaking.
  3. Shifter bushings, or #5 below.
  4. If you take the top plate off and replace either of the shift forks take a few extra minutes to polish the shafts that the forks are attached to on a buffer. This made a noticeable difference in shifter smoothness when I did it to mine recently.
  5. Consider replacing the shifter with a Core / Hurst shifter. https://core-shifters.com/collections/shifters-for-f150 Looks like they are currently sold out.
I replaced both shift forks, polished the shafts, replaced the shifter with a Core / Hurst shifter, and will refill with Amsoil when it goes back in.

A source for M5OD parts:
 
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If kate’ll let me, this Sunday I’ll get back to the Monster. Now that it’s no secret that I floated the car out on FB marketplace just to see what ( if anything) that it’ll bring, I know now that if I get serious, somewhere between 17-20k is all that this car will bring when it finally meets its new future owner.

If you’re the type that believes in bad karma/luck/omens, I just did to the Monster what I’ve done to every other car that has eventually ended up sold shortly afterwards..

I ordered a personalized plate for it.

I’ve had about 40 cars in my life, and only 3 of them have had a personalized plate. In every instance, no sooner did I put the plate on the car, the car was gone before I could renew that plate. It’s never my intent to put the plate on the car thinking I’m gonna sell it, it just happens to work out that way.

F1fiddycent is done enough to make him a tolerable daily driver, excepting the rear main seal leak. I replaced exterior mirrors, the interior mirror, the car stereo, fixed the broken dash, the split dash pad. Put a new headliner in, and new dew wipes on both the inside and outside of the doors. New headlights will be the last thing I’ll do to it for a while to come.

The auto trans and the 2jz/GM adapter is gone. The proceeds bringing in 2050.00 to help offset the 5000.00+ that the 6 speed will end up costing by the time it’s all said and done.

If Kate’ll let me, I’ll see if I can get back on it Sunday, but she has been a real pain in the ass about spending the entire Sunday in the garage, so maybe I will, and maybe I won’t.
 
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That's pretty amateur not to know what a BS40620 is. It's the Felpro standard Ford rear main seal for both pushrod and modular engines. You should have googled it. I have a tendancy to overstock on basic Ford gaskets and seals.

Kurt
i don’t know if you’ve noticed, i have a tendency to not use ford engines in my project car. And,... the last ford engine that was there was built long before ford started using one piece rear main seals.

So,....Other than Google, how exactly would i know this?
 
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