Build Thread 1978 Mercury Cyclone. The pig is in the pen.

stangboy said:

Wow Mike, if it ain't 1 thing it's something else. I guess that's par for the course when you're building a completely custom car...well, almost completely custom. The last one was COMPLETELY custom. About the radiator situation, it is so comforting knowing you're dealing with a company with great customer service. I feel the same way about LMR, they really took care of me with my transmission issue.

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The plans for this car will make even the red car seem average by comparison. Granted, I won't be grafting sheet metal from some other decade onto this body, but I will be having to deal w/ the tail lights, rear bumper/ valance and the front grille, bumper and hood to make them blend in more.

The interior will be the deal on this car. It should be pretty different once I can make what's in my head into something tangible.

**Sigh** More of the same.

Still waiting on Summit to exchange the Crower Roller rockers so I can get a pushrod length established.

The radiator that I ordered that was twisted got sent back and exchanged as well. Summit stepped up, sent out a new one, put in a call tag at UPS, and I got the replacement radiator on Mon-Tue of this week.

Actually was twisted so bad you could see it while it was still in the box.

They sent out another, issued another call tag. This time with instructions to the shipping dept to actually take the radiator out of the box, and lay it on the floor to be sure that it didn't rock.

The one that came today had a damaged box, the lower outlet was bent to hell, and the core was twisted.

Now I'm pis sed.

I call Summit and tell the Cust SVC dept mgr about the fiasco, and she says that she cannot believe that they are sending out bad radiators, and that it has to be happening in transit.

Three times in a row.

HA! NO PHUCKIN WAY!

I ask if she is doubting what I say, and she says no, that she was sure the radiator was bent, but believes that it's happening after it leaves their warehouse. Regardless, I tell her that I doubt that they have a straight radiator @159.00 left in their entire system, and that they should just refund me, and I'll buy one from Jegs.

She asks if there is another radiator that maybe we can substitute?

Well yes, there is this Howe radiator that'll fit the bill, but your website states that it's not in stock, and its 80.00 more money than the Summit brand I've been buying.
She discounts the Howe unit to 159.00 and says she'll call Howe on Monday to see about expediting it.

Again, a pain in the ass, but how can you argue with that?

I get the head back from the Machine shop yesterday, now drilled, and tapped for a 7/16th coarse screw-in studs in an attempt to straighten the mis-drilled stud bosses that they messed up.

I also have come to terms w/ my head gasket. I paid for an SCE copper piece, and that is what I'm gonna use. I just hope that the Hondabond sealant will do the job and seal the water and oil passages like they think it will.

Desperate to move forward, I decided to completely mock up the engine in the compartment to build the accessory brackets, and hang the power accessories.

I start by installing the HG in question:

I'm putting this thing on there dry just to mock up installed height for when the rockers finally get here so I can get the damn push rods sorted out.

I started by building the A/C bracket first.

I placed the alt on top of that, but wasn't sure as to whether or not the exhaust manifold was gonna hit, so that's why I installed the head.

Course, the head required the exhaust manifold. The exhaust manifold begets the turbo, the turbo begets the cold side piping, and finally, I throw the alt on top of the AC compressor.
I'm gonna fix the alt in a non-adjustable position, and make an adjustable idler to tension the belt.

Since there's no stinkin' radiator, I'll take advantage of the camera angle opportunity.
Next I installed the intake so I could get the Cobra PS pump located.
Clearly, I got no room to swing the alt anyway.

I then made the block off plate that covers the W/P opening. I'm using a SBC electric W/P that'll hang from the intake in line with the block.
The mock up wasn't w/o the usual drama though. The Intake will have to be cut up. I'm gonna have to put a 90 on the end, and orient the throttle body at 90 degrees to this pic.

For obvious reasons.

The valve cover is still raw, but it will get RD's fins, painted wrinkle black, then coated orange on top so I'll have wrinkle orange instead. The head gets the orange treatment too, and I'll probably change the header color to black to match the intake.

The fuel pressure reg will have to be mounted on the strut tower on the MC side of the engine bay.
The engine is sat so far back, I cannot get the head on w/ the studs in place, and I have to set the head, then screw in the studs. Because of that, the planned location for the regulator at the end of the fuel rail is a no-go.

The power steering pump in this pic is only held on w/ one bolt. I still have reinforcement brackets to make, as well as the mount to allow me to swing an idler pulley against the belt. I hope to get that done tomorrow.

One full week straight.

What did I get done after working one full week on the car?

It don't look like much.

I completed the serpentine system, now all I have to do is wait on the day that I actually need it.

After receiving the third Summit branded, Chinese radiator that was visibly twisted to hell, I exchanged that for a Griffin piece instead of the Howe.
The irony here, is that had I chose the Griffin in the first place, having to butcher up a perfectly good lower radiator saddle wouldn't have been necessary. In truth, to use the Griffin, I had to modify the "modified" mounts, and return them to their original locations.

I modified the intake manifold to accommodate the 90 degree turn that was required to allow the throttle body to fit.
I fabricated a plate and bracket system to support a SBC electric water pump, and hung it from the underside of that intake.

I hung the AC Condenser in front of the radiator, and hung the evap unit under the dash.

Before I hung that evaporator, I covered the firewall in the sound deadener junk I bought off of ebay.

That is all.


see the SBC pump just peeking out?


The inlet is almost a straight shot to the lower radiator outlet. I'll run two -12 lines out of the pump and plumb those into the block in 4 different locations, and split one to a -10 that feeds the heater core.


The whole evap case is a fraction of the size that stocker was. All of the mode doors are electrically actuated, so vacuum isn't a problem. I just dusted the sound deadener w/ bed coating so if by some chance the carpet doesn't cover, there wont be so silver beacon under the dash.

As big as the condenser is, I should have no problem w/ heat exchange.

Boring stuff,.....what isn't here is the fan, (a 100.00 Zirgo unit) and the shroud, (another 90 bucks). Why not you may ask?.......because it don't fit. There is not enough room to accommodate the two of them w/ that thick assed radiator now in front. This is one case that I will not be able to get Summit to take them back for exchange, as the fan was bought in November, and the box is long gone, and the shroud has been modified to accommodate that fan.
The best thing I can hope for out of this is to get a blank shroud, and cut the hole off center to allow the fan to sit high in the upper portion. I don't even know if that'll work yet.

More stuff for you all to ignore.

The valve cover is now behind me. (kinda)

Created @rdharper02 's fins. Glued them bitches on too. I tell ya, I don't know how long, or whether or not this thing'll even hold up considering the entire thing is glued together. After the fins were dry, I ran a router w/ a carbide round over bit to trim the edges down. While I was doing that, the bit snagged one of the outside edges of the last outside fin, and ripped the fin clean off the valve cover, sending it sailing across the driveway.

Now that did give me pause for concern about how well this thing will hold up, but I dismissed the thought.

CONCERN


(How many more times am I gonna have a router in the engine compartment, using it to mill edges of over hanging aluminum bar anyway?)

**Now I got to use the two new e-motes,.....scratch that off the list.


It's not bad, and it's not great either. But it is better than the raw original version I first built.
Two more days, spent building this thing that I won't have to scramble around as the end of the build nears.

hoopty5.0 said:

Im still lurking, just don't have much to add, other than it looks good!

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Thanks guys.

In other news, The pushrod dilemma has re-arisen. I got the 1.73 ratio Crowers yesterday, and it looks like the 9.750 pushrod that I thought I was gonna need (that I sent back) is no where near long enough. Now, it looks more likely that I'll need a pushrod closer to 10.250-10.500. I won't know that until the new adj pushrod gets here. (the one I had only extended to 10")

It also looks like my interference is back w/ said potential push rod. I called Crower yesterday, asking if it was acceptable to clearance their SS rockers, and he said I had to do what I had to do, just not get too crazy.

What I'll probably need is a push rod that tapers to 5/16 on the ends, and that means big, stupid money for something as simple as a pushrod.

(Hmmmm,....Seems to me I was just dogging spending stupid money on a drag car,...........How much smarter is it to spend the same stupid money on an engine that could blow up, and take all of the insane, one-off, custom built, Australian sourced junk right along with it?)

I soooo coulda had an LS-1 in there about 9 months ago.

What comes around goes around.

At least that seems to be the case w/ the stuff I bought, then sold, and now own again.

Bought back my tubing bender cause I'm gonna need it for the interior.
200.00 w/ an 1.250 4.5 radius die.


I paid 399 for the thing w/ the degree ring back in '08, plus about 200 for the die. Save for a little surface rust, the thing is virtually the same condition as when I sold it in '12.

gearheadboy said:

I'm thinking you can display the "Built not bought" sticker on the rear bumper if you so choose. Wait..will it have a bumper?

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Haven't decided on that yet.

Noobz347 said:

Marsh mellows, check
Graham crackers, check
Chocolate bars, check
Really long poker thing, check
Beers
Cell phone with 911 assigned to the big button
Goggles and ear plugs
Lawn chair and video camera
Check check check check

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Whaa?? A Camping list?
My Vacation list?

rdharper02 said:

Well Mike, I've got another Fairmont sitting here just dying to get a fuel injected V8 thrown in it. You finish yours and you can watch me throw a bone stock 5.0 in it and then go wrestle through the exciting process of getting it California Air Research Board approved. If that doesnt excite you, and you are still upset about your highly artistic one-off build, you can always chime in as I do exciting things like source a floor pan and other one-off parts. Otherwise, your going to get that rare moment where a man gets to see his creation come to life. The point where concept and actuality comes together is a rare thing and you've already seen it a few times over. So don't let it bother you and realize that every hurdle you hit is inspiring someone (except me) here. Besides, I love the look of custom "torpedo cigar" style push rods...lol

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RD, all it would take to push me off the end would be having to get a build like this one state certified to comply w/ some emission standard (which it would never do).

As far as you sourcing a floor pan, It's only a mustang away. I'm not sure what all is different, am I'm sure the additional WB is made up in inches in front of, and behind the driver, because there ain't any additional leg room designed in there. To reinforce that, there's a guy over on FEP that just replaced the entire floor in a Fairmont wagon using a floor from a 97, and it fits like factory.

But now that you mention it,......

How did you manage to buy a Cali car w/ rusted anything?

I'll be more than happy to point you in the right direction when you start, only I don't know how much help it would be.

I don't have a Fairmont.

I have a Cyclone.

Ford didn't even make a Cyclone.

in 1978.