Build Thread Finally! 89 Notch 2v Swap Progress Thread Project: 89mach1

The holes are actually epoxied. But the epoxy sagged. I was afraid that if I added anymore, it would droop. It's not really a big deal, The Vinyl paint is actually lacquer, it wipes right off w/ acetone. I was just anxious to get it done. I'll mess w/ it more over winter.

striker911 said:

That is the coolest. Id say one more nice touch would be to hide the cd player and dummy mount a old twist knob radio. Thats it though. Your week of work looks well worth it. Nice job.

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Thank you. I appreciate the comments, but the shaft style radio is gonna have to stay in the 60's. But now that you mention it, Maybe I could hang an under-dash Craig 8 track player and go rummage me one of my dads' steppin wolf 8 track tapes w/ the familiar track change "cha-chunk" at the end of "born to be wild"

95BlueStallion said:

That cluster and the Mach wheels are totally going to complete the theme of your car. Im excited to see more progress.

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No Mach 1 wheels. Chose a different set that look kinda like a billet Keystone Klassic. You must've missed the wheel dilemma thread.

Thanks, my brutha's from different muthas

A more labor intensive H/C/I swap.

Well typical for me I have decided to tackle the head change over at this point. For those of you that don't know, I was comp'd a set of Patriot Performance heads, cams, and T/C's in exchange for advertising their products during my 5.0 photo shoot.

The engine swap was the very first thing I did to this car, and at the time, had no idea that it would end up like it did. So, needless to say I did not spend alot of time detailing the engine compartment. I spent a fair amount modifying the K member to accommodate the swap, and I filled some of the holes, but other than that I just whipped out the rattle can, and sprayed the whole thing in gloss black engine enamel.Then I stuffed the engine in it, and that was that.

It has always been a sore spot ever since. So despite the fact that the heads were off, and I had a pretty good amount of access to the bay, I decided that the extra hour to finish pulling the engine to get a better end result was warranted. I'll also be able to get a better result when installing the heads out of the car, so there's that too.

So for the next week or so, I'll spend some time smoothing, filling, and painting the thing Satin black. .....pics







Almost waited too long to fix this:


You can kinda make out the goofy "tubular K member" I made, so as to have access to the stupid under the tube header bolts. It works, kinda.

Also, you can see that I've filled the A/C evap hole in the firewall. Don't need it, my A/C system will be in the trunk.
I've already ordered the adapters that will allow me to change over the heater core to AN. I'll use braided -10 for my heater hoses. I think I'll have a pretty clean overall solution to dealing w/ damn hoses to keep me cool in the summer and warm in the cold months.

* On a side note: I have never done it before, as I've always had automatics, but can you reinstall the engine w/ the 5 speed trans in place? If its not the thing to do, I don't wanna take a chance of bending something.

Maybe somebody can clue me in.

P.S. The other reason I pulled the engine was to be able to get it painted completely, since I'm gonna paint it red. The same as body color.

Th-th-th- that's all folks!

I'll have to post more detailed pictures so that you can sleep tonight.

There is nothing "frightening" about my K member. Three pieces of 1.250"
.125 wall mild steel tubing triangulated starting just above the factory LCA pivot point.



Tied into the factory upper and plug welded:








The central span is a piece of 1.750" .134 wall tubing.

If I planned to do what you do, then No Crane, I probably would want some more reinforcement for keeping everything bolstered even better. But for going straight through traffic to the local grocery store, I don't see any reason it wont work just fine.

No, No, No!! I'm taking about leaving the transmission in the tunnel, and reinstalling the engine w/ the trans in the tunnel. NOT attached to the engine like pictured above.