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

Finally,..a day that I spent doing something to the car. ( But again, nothing pic-worthy)

The block is in the back of my electric dork mobile. If they are open today, I’ll drop it at the machine shop to be decked and honed. The rods will get new ARP bolts, they’ll be checked, and resized if that causes any big end distortion. I got the GE flexplate modified to fit the crank bolt pattern,...I’m happy with it. I get my new ( stock) harmonic balancer on Friday. I’ll see if I can just have them spin the crank and balance that with the new balancer and flexplate.

On a whim, I decided to check my oil pan for leaks..( I should’ve said “oil sieve“) It leak(ed) in three places...One where I just completely forgot to weld. The lacquer thinner that I used as “ test fluid” streamed out that hole like mad. After a few trial and error rewelds, I think that is now fixed.( And I actually had that leaky bitch bolted on the engine)

I got the front new pump O-ring seal to go in without shearing any of it off ( 3rd one) It’s now complete.

I drilled a hole in my trans pan, and welded a threaded backer inside it so I can have a drain plug there.

Heres what I’m waiting for: When I get that engine back, and it’s balanced..........it’s done.

Day 2 spent working on the car/ in the garage.
I dropped the engine off at the same machine shop that resurfaced the head after a different machine shop put that head on a belt sander in an attempt to “surface” it after doing the valve job. The New shop will get to deck the block, hone the cylinders, and ck the rods. That work was quoted to be “about 100 bucks”. They’ll also get the rest of the necessary stuff to balance it.
That was quoted to be “between 200-250.00”

Simple math adds up to 350.00 more dollars to put this 2jz in my Ford.

I don’t even care anymore. I’m in it so deep now, it just doesn’t matter.

The header will be done tomorrow, I dropped it off to have it coated.......I think it was before Christmas? 200 more dollars chalked up to the “ services, and labor“ part of the build. On that note, while cleaning up the garage, I put the worthless 200.00 adapter that I had built while trying to adapt the 4R70 in a drawer. ( V1.0)....It took till V 4.0 to get that right.
Never to be seen, or heard from again.

The Brake pedal is mounted,...that had to go in and come back out several times too. The bolt I ground down to a taper that serves as a pushrod was getting stuck in the socket at the rear of the MC. Now it’s just a matter of bleeding the brakes, and fashioning some sort of lightweight spring mount to hold the brake pedal pushrod against the socket.

I think Sunday will be " take down the Christmas tree" day. After having these last two days completely dedicated to the monster, That will almost guarantee that I will not be working on the car for a week till next Saturday..too bad though,...im finally starting to move forward. As for this Saturday, I gotta work.

I’m back to doing the mad scientist sht that I thought I was done with when I decided to buy a “ mainstream” complete engine.
It seems no matter what I do, I’m gonna have to rig up something to make it work regardless of the engine I choose.

a 2jz uses a stupidly expensive IAC motor that bolts to the underside of the intake manifold.

As a direct Toyota replacement, it’s almost 300.00. From an alternative supplier,..about 100.00 less.

There are companies that are out there making adapter kits to mate a standard ford IAC motor onto the intake, but even then, it’s still 176.00 before shipping and tax.

One Seventy Six.....before shipping and tax....Seems to me, I have enough sht laying around in a freakin drawer that I can make this...
Let....
Me.....
See............
Yep!
* Before I show you this,..let’s all bow our heads, and have a moment of silence in memorial to the dead Monster engine, that was gracious enough to donate all of his reusable parts for the good of all the future little monster engines that may be less fortunate.

I had purchased the Ford IAC valve eons ago, so to me, this purchase is dead to me. The rest of the stuff was on the monster engine. The filter was one of the numerous ones I’ve went through trying to control the blow by, and the long tube was part of the oil return drain for the turbo. I’m quite sure the length of that thing will bug me, and I’ll go get a shorter one, but for the purposes of doing this with junk in a drawer....
Like I’m gonna spend 176.00 on a stupid little gizmo that can be made in the comfort of my own garage, using only a hammer and a pair of pliers...PFFFFFTTT!

I started mocking up the water recirculating system for the A2W inter cooler. This time I had to buy the reservoir, and I’ll have to buy the hoses again, ( cause I’ve cut the old ones up a dozen times using them as vent hoses for the huffin’,puffin’ till it blows itself apart old monster engine), but again,.....I got the rest of the junk just laying around.

in the pic, nothing is mounted, it’s all just laying there..The pump is one of two that I have that used to be what I used on V1 for engine cooling. I bought the red one after I fcked up the old black one when I tried modifying it, but the black one still works..
The dilemma when you use a stupid SBC water pump to pump water to the inter cooler is that it has 2 outlets..and there’s only one hose going to the inlet of the inter cooler. While I guess you could block one off, it just doesn’t make sense to me, especially
considering what’s in my drawer..

I mean, really.......who has so much -12 junk that you can take a standard dual outlet SBC pump, and make a merge to a single outlet?
No guesses?


Me.

There‘s irony in the whole A2W vs A2A thing here for me, considering I gotta find a place to mount the radiator that cools the water..You might question that if I have to go through all of this trouble to mount that radiator up front where I want to, wouldn’t it have been way easier to just mount an A2A unit up front instead...

Youd think.

But I’d have to ask you a question in return..
(stupid website only lets you attach 5 photos per reply)

Where do you put it Where it ain’t hangin out all stupid and sht?

especially when these two oil coolers are living in that center section as it is?


Those two oil coolers can be moved back behind the radiator saddle. I can turn them so that they are laying horizontal in the engine compartment ( provided there’s any room in front of the engine drive belt) If they fit, I can make angled scoops that will hang down under the center section to grab air off the road. That frees up the space in the shroud. All I’ll have to do there is make a mesh grille like what I have everywhere else in the interior. That leaves a protected place ( against road rash) for the single small radiator to mount..

or...maybe an A2A intercooler.

And that would be the topic of conversation then...Is the hassle of an A2W system worth it over the standard A2A?

Lastly,...I’d like to talk about my Big.........14”long....



Brake pedal.

Its been out so long, I don’t remember how high it was off the floor. It’s about 2” lower now, and about 1/2” over away from the gas pedal..I gotta remove it and paint the jinky-doo part where I sectioned it over...hell maybe I’ll even get all anal like @Mustang5L5 , and clean the pedal pad.