Build Thread '83 T-top Coupe - Welding Holes in My Rear

[02 281 GT]

Both the Oklahoma Sooners and the Iowa Hawkeyes won today, so I can't guarantee if i'll get much done on the engine tonight.....there's a slight chance I may have drank more beer than normal. This might cause me to remove two to three times the number of bolts than I should!

Boomer Sooner!

I apologize for confusing you for a pokes fan earlier.

 

[Davedacarpainter]

So the games are over and I could still be drinking, post game, so to speak. Lol.

Maybe i'll sneak out to the garage and pull an intake or something. I'll post pictures in a little bit. If they are as blurry as my vision is now I'll have a great day tomorrow on Craigslist selling the extra intakes, right?

 

[stangboy]

To add another interesting comment, right after I go through being a baby earlier the two older kids said they would help out!

They live very close to their grandma and volunteered to assist.

I snapped to judgement too early again, dumbass.

Their ears must have been burning when you were talking bad about them. So they sprung into action.

 

[Davedacarpainter]

Ok, I took my drunk butt out into the garage to work on the engine a little bit.

As a caveat here, how FREAKING GREAT is it that I can go to my garage and work on this engine!

I pulled the injector harness, the fuel lines/injectors and the intake manifold.

So, what did I find? I'll let you look. Look at the coolant passages at the front and rear of the left head. The front is completely blocked off from using a stop leak. Let this picture be a warning to y'all that might think that is a great temporary fix for a coolant leak. OMG, the front was completely blocked!

Beyond the completely blocked coolant passage it looks pretty nice in the valley.

 

[stangboy]

Dave, are you going to do a complete rebuild on this engine or were you hoping to just put new gaskets and go?

 

[90sickfox]

Didn't realize the SC had aluminum heads. Were the heads off the mustang aluminum, too ?

There's nothing like being able to walk out in to a garage and work on somethin'. Those few minutes really add up over time.

That engine looks pretty good inside. Can't wait to see the cylinder bores.

 

[Davedacarpainter]

Dave, are you going to do a complete rebuild on this engine or were you hoping to just put new gaskets and go?

It's getting a complete redo Craig. It will be quite the hot rod when I'm done. New rotating assembly, new heads, new cam, practically new super charger, new injectors, new wiring harness, yada yada.....

 

[Davedacarpainter]

Didn't realize the SC had aluminum heads. Were the heads off the mustang aluminum, too ?

There's nothing like being able to walk out in to a garage and work on somethin'. Those few minutes really add up over time.

That engine looks pretty good inside. Can't wait to see the cylinder bores.

My original heads were aluminum as well Scott. Ford started putting aluminum heads on the V6's in '83. The supercoupe heads have larger coolant passages in the heads and block (obviously pointless when the heads are completely plugged up with Stop Leak though).

I swear i've been giggling like a little girl every time I go in the garage and see the engine there

I'm interested in seeing the head gaskets tomorrow.

 

[Davedacarpainter]

BTW, what do y'all think if I paint the majority of the engine the same green that I did the GLX on the hood?

I'm thinking the block,valve covers, brackets, supercharger, sc tubes and other odds and ends.

I may do the pulleys in the accent grey color.

I want this engine to be beautiful to look at as well as mechanically cool too.

 

[90sickfox]

I'd say paint it body color but a touch brighter...the big accessories in the trim gray...with green as an accent color.

 

[Davedacarpainter]

I'd say paint it body color but a touch brighter...the big accessories in the trim gray...with green as an accent color.

I think that might be too much blue Scott. With the smoothing of the engine bay and all I don't want to be too blue, if that makes sense.

I really don't think I want any blue on the drivetrain itself at all.

Tell you what, this coming week I’ll shoot the valve covers the green and see what y’all think.

 

[95BlueStallion]

Personally, I think that green under the hood will look kinda cheesy. As an accent here and there, no problem. But used all around, I think it'll lose its appeal. Thats coming from someone who likes things more subdued though.

 

[Bossed]

Dave, how do you prep the rough casting on the block before painting. Just curious, in my younger days I just sprayed on some rattle can primer and paint. I see some of these tv car shows painting the engine and transmission with a spray gun and wonder if they smooth the casting any, or paint as is. One more question, I see they sometimes paint the engine and transmission the same color as the car, which is usually a custom color. Will regular auto paint withstand the heat, or is it a special paint ?

 

[Davedacarpainter]

Dave, how do you prep the rough casting on the block before painting. Just curious, in my younger days I just sprayed on some rattle can primer and paint. I see some of these tv car shows painting the engine and transmission with a spray gun and wonder if they smooth the casting any, or paint as is. One more question, I see they sometimes paint the engine and transmission the same color as the car, which is usually a custom color. Will regular auto paint withstand the heat, or is it a special paint ?

The block can be smoothed with a grinder using various grit discs. It really can be treated similar to an outer panels, even bondo will adhere to it. It just needs to be treated like any other bare metal prior to refinishing.

I don't know if i'm going to go that far with mine since it'll be almost completely invisible when built.

You don't need a special paint for the block, it doesn't get hot enough to damage most paints.

So after my block has been worked I'll just follow through with the usual, acid etch, primer, sand it, seal it, color and clear.

I can't say I'm 100% on my color selection yet. It still might be kona blue.

I'm thinking if I did kona on the engine (and the rest of the drivetrain for that matter) i would make it the same half an eggshell (let's call it HEG finish for short) that I used on the trim. That sounds pretty nice to me.

Personally, I think that green under the hood will look kinda cheesy. As an accent here and there, no problem. But used all around, I think it'll lose its appeal. Thats coming from someone who likes things more subdued though.

You got me thinking about it Nick, see above.

I won't do a gloss finish on it though, that would be too much to me. I want the engine to be set apart from all the rest of the shininess around it, but with the HEG finish, that could look pretty nice. I'm really liking this idea the more I think about it.

That gives me an idea for the valve covers as well......Hum.....I'll try something this week with them and show them to y'all.

 

[Mustang5L5]

Can that passage be cleared or do you need a new manifold?

 

[CarMichael Angelo]

Coming from one that had an engine painted body color, and hated it, I think that the engine needs to be completely seperate from the color palette on the car.
Blacks, silvers, greys....those are engine colors,...especially if you paint the bay Kona Blue
Take Scotts blacked out engine as an example. After he had all that powder coating done, that engine looked like a million bucks,..and that was with the surrounding sheet metal black as well.

It's just the nature of the beast,...there will be shiny stuff to offset the engine color. Chrome junk,stainless junk, and anodized junk are all gonna find their way into that bay as a matter of course..
I'm thinking a pewter like grey would compliment the blue, w/ black highlights maybe or vice/versa...

 

[droopie85gt]

Painting it green will hide that massive anti-freeze leak.

Sorry...just kidding, Dave. I had to say it though. What a crazy day of football. It looks like the SEC is going to do everyone a favor and put 2 teams in the playoff. Last time that happened in the BCS, we got this whimpy playoff. Now when it happens and everyone cries foul, maybe we will get a real 8 or 16 team playoff. Which needs to happen. Memphis or UCF can run the table and win the American, be close or in the top 10 and probably have to play in some ty Christmas week bowl.

And wait, do you mean if my car and 351w are in my garage....I am SUPPOSED to work on it? Dammit. I wish I had known that. I'd already have the heap up and running!!!!

Congrats to your Sooners even if they didn't bother playing defense in that game!

 

[Davedacarpainter]

Can that passage be cleared or do you need a new manifold?

It comes out fairly easy. I dug into it gently with a screw driver and it falls apart.

 

[Davedacarpainter]

Coming from one that had an engine painted body color, and hated it, I think that the engine needs to be completely seperate from the color palette on the car.
Blacks, silvers, greys....those are engine colors,...especially if you paint the bay Kona Blue
Take Scotts blacked out engine as an example. After he had all that powder coating done, that engine looked like a million bucks,..and that was with the surrounding sheet metal black as well.

It's just the nature of the beast,...there will be shiny stuff to offset the engine color. Chrome junk,stainless junk, and anodized junk are all gonna find their way into that bay as a matter of course..
I'm thinking a pewter like grey would compliment the blue, w/ black highlights maybe or vice/versa...

It's tougher to pick this color than anywhere else in the car. I can test out various choices on the valve covers.

Kona with the HEG finish seems interesting to me, if you remember when i was painting the front bumper I ran that idea by everyone. I think I'll test it out on one of the covers just to see.

The main parts of the engine to be painted are still a couple months off, so I have a little time.

 

[RaggedGT]

Paint the block/Valve covers / intake Doby Red