Mustang5l5's Progress Thread - Archived Progress thread '08-'20.

Ok. Had a few mins. Have I mention having a good collection of air tools and sockets has dramatically cut down time spent? I think I had this header off in 10 mins.

It is in fact solid, albeit light surface rust. Black mark is where I need to clearance for the shaft. Gonna work on that and test fit and then pull the other one to give to my buddy to blast.



Discovered I only had 7 header bolts. One was MIA. Also discovered I had used the Mr gasket gaskets long ago. Of course leak at the missing bolt



At that point, I started looking around. Engine has never been out of car and it shows. The original engine mount looks like trash. Oil leaks, rust, dirt, grease. Ugh!

Broken dipstick as well





At that point my OCD kicked in. I'll clean up what I can, and get car driveable again. Do the mass air swap, get my inspection sticker and enjoy a few months of driving...

Then engine coming out. I need to bring the engine and bay up to my standards.

How are those cheap harbor freight engine hoists btw?

Quiet AM. Got the PS lines hooked up. What a PITA doing that with rack installed.

Ran out of time before filling with fluid and hand purging. Off to Cape Cod for the night with the wife.


12"+ of snow forecast for Tue, so I'm sure I'll be home to work on adding the fluid and flushing and dimpling that header.

I'm done with snow.

Ok. Back home. Crawled under the car and finished all the lines and added some fluid. Purged maybe 1/2 quart through by hand. Still have some fluid to add but so far no leaks.

Took a ride to harbor freight and bought a stand. I also have a super coupon for their 1 ton hoist for $140. That's damn cheap for a hoist.

Unfortunately won't fit in the Taurus, so need to wait for a friend with truck available.

Next up, heat the header up with a torch and dimple it. Gonna save that for tue as I need something to do for the blizzard. Now they are saying 12-16"+. Wow

Great day to bash stuff with a hammer!

Clearanced the header and test fit. Gave me 1/2"+ of clearance which should be fine. Now to have my buddy blast it for me before I reinstall.


I finished hand purging my PS fluid. Got about 3/4 quart in. I'll finish when I can start the engine.

I was gonna change out my speedo gear and work on my window guide bushings and window seals...but I didn't. Oh well

These came today. 58cc versions. It has a buddy still in the box.



Now to start dialing in rest of combo. Just gonna focus on a weekend cruiser setup. Will never see the track. Down the road I would like to build a quality lower end for these heads. But for now..

Next up, have Tmoss port a spare gt40 lower intake I have. I'd like to stick with the 1993 Cobra upper for sentimental reasons....unless someone can talk me out of it. Should I be looking for a 70mm TB, or 65mm fine?

Just some more pics before I put them back in box. Figure I could look back on these years from now.


The TFS vs the GT40Ps I acquired years ago.


Checking my Fel Pro MS 95952's against the intake ports.

Perfect fit on the TFS.



But as you can see...need some improvement on the Cobra lower


I know someone out there is screaming at me not to use this intake on the heads. But like I said before. I really want to stick with this 1993 cobra intake for now. An intake swap down the road is easy.


Time to find a box for this and get it ported




In case you are wondering, I haven't picked my header up yet to reinstall and wrap up the steering rack project. I'm doing home projects this weekend. I now have a deadline to get some rooms done.

I think you guys recommended Comp Gold rockers? So I got some via Chuckman

Got blasted header back. Prepped and painted. You can really see how much I dimpled it in this pic

Will install as soon as I wrap up some house projects. Painting the kitchen and some recessed lighting today

I have had my eyes on a set of these for 20 years or so. Was hoping they would fit so I could finally buy them

Ok. So header on and leak free. Actually surprised about that. Plenty of clearance to the steering shaft. Started the motor, purged the PS lines and got smooth operation.

Before I dropped the car down, changed out the speedo gear to correct for the larger tires out back.


Got the car down, and decided to go around the block. Steering is definitely firmer, but I never got the car over 15mph so no feedback yet. Needed alignment, and I think it was toed out so it drove poorly.

The brakes...they are soft. I can stop the car fine, but 15mph isn't really a good test. I'm sure all the air is out, so I may need to change to a larger MC.

Anyway, first outside pic with the wheels on. Pics don't show it but rear is higher since putting the taller tires. I'll adjust the adjustable LCAs down a tad



Next up...alignment

PS pump sounds as noisy as before. Haven't tried the vacuum pump trick just yet. I will soon

Used type F. This is my original pump, unless it was changed out prior to me getting the car at 40K miles. I'm hesitant to try a reman pump so I guess I can live with a little noise. If I wasn't trying to gather so many parts right now I'd buy a reman and just keep my pump and eat the core.


I need injectors and a MAF, and then all I need is gaskets, fluids, pushrods, lifters and other odds and ends for motor build. I think I am gonna run my TFS cam. I'll leave the 3.73s for now, and with the 255/45 out back, it actually gives me an effective ratio of 3.68, so I did gear down 1%.....meh. Maybe I'll snag some 3.55s.

So. Left work early to tackle alignment and managed to set the car to 0 toe. I know there is supposed to be a tad bit of toe in, but I found a bit of slop in the steering I need to address first.



Anyway, up to 40mph the car tracks straight with zero toe. It was rush hour so I didn't want to hit the highway, plus the brakes aren't bedded in.

About the brakes. After wearing off the zinc coating, they are much better and grab well. Double pumping doesn't bring the pedal up, so no air. Will need to evaluate if I need to change MC after the bed in, but I think they are good.

Anyway, steering slop. I have a video that I'll upload later. Need to address this before I can fully align

Video after I BBQ myself some steak

So source of the slop is indeed the firewall pinch bolt. I just snugged it up but I guess I really need to torque it down.

so as soon as I can figure out the right wrench size and method to attack it...I'll tighten it up, and then set my toe for good and call it a wrap.

Next up....MAF conversion

Ok 11/16 is the nut, 5/8" is the bolt.

Set up a unique combo of universals and extensions and sucked it down with my impact.

Slop is gone! Went for a quick ride and I love this steering setup now. No dead zone at all, you can feel the road inputs, but you still habe power assist. Just need to adjust toe a tad, but pretty much all set with this project.

Overall, that project was very worth it. The old sloppy fox steering was a major reason why I disliked driving the car. Now it has been addressed (specifically the huge dead spot, and finger ease of turning the wheel) and the car is now fun to drive again!

Brakes are bedding is well too. The more I stop, the better they grab. I haven't tested them fully yet, but typical 40-0 normal stops require very little pedal to do.

I still hate my 3.73 gears....but we will address that after the motor work

Next up...mass air swap. Yes, as perhaps the only fox owner to actually save motor work for last, I finally have a reason to go to mass air.

Since I'm gonna convert to an A9L, I need to address some of the wiring as well. Specifically the trans harness, and the o2 sensor harness.

Using this SN95 70mm MAF with adapter. Been on the car for 10+ years...never hooked up



And here's my new trans harness. AOD cars do not have the plug for the NSS, so I'll be swapping this one in.

Also shown is the IST mass air conversion harness, and a pair of A9Ls. Both were cheap junkyard finds I scored years ago. Given the cost of ECUs these days, I certainly don't mind a spare

So went for another quick drive tonight. Was gonna readjust my toe, but i was losing light.

But after puttinh a few miles on the setup on a curvy road, I gotta say I really enjoy this steering setup! It's not a night and day difference in the sense that the car handles or turns better, but it's just tighter. It feels fun to drive again and the solid shaft really does take all the slop out of the steering input...once you tighten all the bolts.

Then I got home and realized I never tightened the tie rod jam nuts. Oops.

Still haven't gone on the highway yet. I want to dial in the toe a bit better and put a few miles on the setup on slower roads to be sure nothing falls off.

Who knows....I might actually drive it over 100 miles this summer

Got my tmoss lower back. His son Matt actually does the porting these days.

Went for a port for my tfs170s, drill/tap the act and coolant bosses, and tank and paint. This lower actually started out as an early -BA explorer lower, with the larger baffle underneath

Before




And after





Also scored some 30# injectors. Already had 24s. Anyone recommend a MAF for these?