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

There is a drip and small puddle that has formed under the rear sump, directly around the most recent attempt to fix the oil leak the last time. Either i didn’t get the area clean enough when I last tried to fix it with epoxy, or didn’t get it completely covered regardless, it’s leaking. I figure i’ll let it go until break in oil change time, and when the pan is completely drained I’ll clean off the old epoxy and apply a larger patch.

A Toyota factory rear sump pan won’t fit this K member, ( 1978 Factory 6 banger K), and I’m not gonna convert over to a lightweight version and have to remake the mounts to allow me to use one ( The rear sump pans don’t look like a rear sump anyway),

they look like they’ll be a pain in my ass to make fit, So i gotta get my pan fixed properly.

HotFox said:

What....did the pan up to light to find the pin holes not work

Click to expand...

Quiet you.. it was the thermostat housing that i put through the light test. ( it doesn’t leak)

I “old school“ filled that pan with solvent to check it for leaks.. Clearly, it didn’t pass THAT test.

Seems I can’t help myself. I used to think it was “having“ the cool car that attracted me to the hobby, and that the build/modification process to get it there was a necessary evil.
After having several of them, it soon became apparent to me that I actually preferred the build phase more than actually owning them. And to this day, that is still mostly accurate.
But as some diseases can be treated with Antibiotics, an increasing amount of them that could once be vanquished with a strong dose of Amoxicillin, have find a way to mutate and become resistant to the cure, forcing the doctors and scientists to become even more vigilant in how they treat them. The fear that one day, the disease will become untreatable.

I have that disease.

The car is down there in the garage in running condition. I’ve only driven the thing for 15 minutes since being able to actually drive the thing. The tach has an hour meter on it displaying a grand total of 33 hours of actual run time.

I got those gauges 2 years ago.

Youd think that having struggled through these last 9 months to get this thing converted and running, that I’d be jonesing to get in it and drive......

Nope. I’m looking for more places to spend money on it....

So my disease has mutated,....While I use to live for the build so I could get it done, now it seems I live to have to “keep“ building it.
By buying more junk to keep it unfinished.

Truly a strain of Munchausens disease. An untreatable version.

I sit and obsess....I don’t like the exhaust, I’m worried about the trans, specifically my mad scientist adapter/ coupler. I’m concerned about the cast pistons,...... the engine sounds too tame, ......the list goes on and on. On one hand, I want to be able to drive it the way I typically drive ( read: I expect to be able to absolutely shred the rear tires) But i’m tempered by the “ what if’s.
( I fully blame the 3AMD for this)

If the piston fails, the damage is usually catastrophic. And if that happens, i’m done for a long time. Actually may even have to start completely over with a new engine.
Who knows what’ll happen if I shear the bolts off that bolt the bell housing to the transmission.

The muffler/ exhaust....meh,......that’s just a matter of swapping things out. The all too stock exhaust note will require camshafts and springs to change that. And that will also affect the muffler choice.

I think it’s a simple character flaw that requires an expensive solution:

I get bored really quickly.