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

[Mustang5L5]

Its not a bad idea. My only concern is keeping the wheel balanced. Of course with the slots being close to axis of rotation it shouldn't hurt that much.

I actually have another idea. the area behind the balancer has a nice unmachined surface, and plenty of room. I'm gonna try something. The downside here is you lose ease of adjustment, but after the initial setup, not sure you ever need to touch the wheel. At that point you slide that crank sensor along a slotted mounting surface

 

[Mustang5L5]

So calling the intake done. Just need to reinstall my vac port fittings, then box it up and store it. Need somr hardware but I have the dimensions I need so I'll order soon. But after paint and seeing it in sunlight...it's perfect. Looks oem original

As for trigger wheel. Got an idea. I was thinking of mounting it behind the balancer. But instead of drilling into the rubber mounted balancer, I'll mount it to this unmachined hub area.

Now I was thinking of laser cutting to size and pressing it home. Downside is I get one shot to get it aligned sand sized correctly.

It should tuck up nicely and still give clearance.

Other option is to use and existing trigger wheel and machine up a spacer.

Explorer balancers are expensive for some reason on eBay, but Taurus 3.0 balancers can be had under $20. Look very similar and it's 6.5" in OD which is a usable dimension for the balancer.

Why use a factory wheel? It's probably balanced properly (notice the missing hole to add material where the missing tooth is) and more readily available. I'm pretty sure I can calculate dynamic balance on my cad software so I'll examine that aspect on my wheel design as well

Problem is cutting the necessary adapter ring, pressing it together, and then pressing it on the hub and getting it all sized properly so it doesn't slip at WOT.

It would be slick, but a more complex install.

Or method #3...drill tap some 6-32s into the inner portion of the balancer ring (inside the rubber) and bolt the ring to the backside with screws. Would allow for some adjustment, but you'd need to pull the balancer

I found a cheap timing cover on eBay. Going to model it up in CAD and use that to build a design for a crank sensor mount. I picked up a Taurus 3.0 crank sensor as well. trying to mimic something like this.

 

[90sickfox]

Those bolt holes for the pulley pass all the way through...correct ? Can you make grade 8 studs so the trigger could mount on the back and nuts could go on the front to secure the crank pulley ?

That bolt hole spacing dimension doesnt change between stock and aftermarket pullies. You could also use the trigger wheel youj mocked up....and it wiukd be adjustable. The biggest issue is how much clearance is available behind the balancer.

Im thinking the back part of the stud could be sleeved to act as a spacer for the trigger wheel.

The bolt holes in the balancer could also be reamed out to allow the use of long bolts through the trigger wheel, sleeves between trigger wheel and balancer, with nuts at the crank pulley.

 

[Mustang5L5]

Not a bad idea. The bolts aren tapped all the way thru, but I wonder if they can be tapped and used to mount the wheel on the backside. That way wheel is secure to the hub and not the actual rubber isolated balancers. Just a matter of figuring out how. Need to see how far the crank bolts actually go in and retap from the backside.

My concern is adding too much off balance weight as a unintended consequence

Spacing seem adequate. Crawled under my car to see how much room there is. Seems like ebough

As for the Taurus 3.0 wheel....I tiny bit too smal in OD.

Going to wait til I get the timing cover, model up that actual bolt mount points and balancer relation and make sure I can mount the crank sensor in a good spot as well



Here's a good question. Is it necessary to retain the factory timing pointer to set base timing? I'm thinking yes?

 

[a91what]

Yes you will need the pointer, the timing can be adjusted by either moving the trigger wheel or changing the offset in the megasquirt

 

[Mustang5L5]

@Mustang5L5 I mounted my wheel on the unmachined porting of the balancer. Took some grinding and fitting, but once I got it right, I welded it. It was a cheap-o balancer and wheel, so if it doesn't work, Im not out a whole lot.

So pretty much this?

I actually do prefer a press fit on that unmachined part as I don't want to add additional bolts if I can avoid it.

Just need a few small tweaks to the wheel design to lighten/balance it and make sure it doesn't hit the timing pointer and I'll cut an AL test part.

Going to make a mount for the crank sensor when my timing cover arrives.

Seems like I've spent a lot of time but really I probably have an hour of work into this

 

[Mustang5L5]

Disaster on the intake. Discovered that the top coat was actually lifting and flaking in areas. It's as if the paint didn't fully bond to the primer below.

The primer is secure, but the duplicolor paint can be flaked off in areas around details such as the crevices between the ports.

Took a wire wheel to it and was able to easily flake off a good chunk of the topcoat.

So, unsure if I'll just sand/wirewheel and retop coat, or apply the gel and strip it all off and start over.

Needless to say I have time, but frustrated I need to start over.

I'll test the Eastwood paint out.

 

[Mustang5L5]

I agree. Going to see how the Eastwood paint looks first, then strip it.

Odd thing is I sprayed the EGR spacer in the same manner and that paint is holding firm. In my online googling, it's suggested that I did too many coats too soon without letting it dry and the bottom layer didn't fully dry allowing it to lift.

So new plan is bare min for coverage allowing more cute time

 

[Mustang5L5]

Here's shot of what happened. This is one of the better areas as I've already scuffed/sanded the intake. This is the underside

Paint on the runner surface is secure. But in the "seams" you can see where I scraped up the loose paint. In the bad areas I could do it with my fingernail. It's only loose in the creases. You can see the gray primer underneath. This is not loose...it needs to be sanded off.

 

[Davedacarpainter]

Here's shot of what happened. This is one of the better areas as I've already scuffed/sanded the intake. This is the underside

Paint on the runner surface is secure. But in the "seams" you can see where I scraped up the loose paint. In the bad areas I could do it with my fingernail. It's only loose in the creases. You can see the gray primer underneath. This is not loose...it needs to be sanded off.

Yeah Mike, that's just too much paint too fast. It will pool up in the crevices. It gets real thick and needs a bunch more time for the solvents to escape. When it gets another topcoat you start sealing in those solvents you want gone. Then the topmost layer dries and then when the lower layers start to lose solvents it tears the already dried top layer.Too bad you have the headache.

 

[Mustang5L5]

Eastwood paint showed up. Did a test spray before I strip this intake down again.

First, the duplicolor cast coat AL

And now the Eastwood paint

It's a touch darker, but has more depth. The duplicolor paint is basically light gray, where this looks like blast aluninum. There's some sparkle and texture in the paint. It looks gritty...almost like bare aluminum.

I want to see it in the sun tomorrow, then start stripping down the intake again to paint.

 

[Mustang5L5]

Another close up.

I'm thinking this paint color would be perfect for the timing cover, or accessory brackets. For this intake, in going to go with the cast coat AL from duplicolorz

 

[Mustang5L5]

Ok. Intake restripping has begun

Fresh jug of Citrustrip

Coat the hell out of the intake

Then wet the inside of a trash bag and slide intake in and fold it over. Goal is to keep it moist and let the stripper do it job. I'll check back in a day or two, clean with soap and water and reapply if needed. I'll power wash off this weekend, soap and water bath, and should be good for Rd 2

 

[Mustang5L5]

Speaking of timing cover, I picked this up cheap on eBay, and with a new timing pointer.

I'll model them up in CAD to use for my trigger wheel project, then paint up and store for install later. Saves me time since mine is far dirtier than this one

 

[Mustang5L5]

Not much else to do when rocking a baby.

Plus it helps me do things like this vs measure off my car.

 

[Mustang5L5]

So i figure some may want to see this for entertainment value. Spent a few mins this evening working on this.

Didn't like how close the trigger wheel came to water pump. It clears, but I might reduce the diameter to 6.0"

So I modeled up the timing cover...or more specifically modeled the 4 lower mounting points and relation to balancer center hole. You get the 10 minute job...I'm not going to waste time making the cover look more accurate. I did however model up the pointer.

What it does is allow me to throw out some ideas on mounting the Taurus 3.0 crank sensor in a good spot. I need to go under the car and decide if the passenger or drivers side is a better location to put it. I also need to measure on my car how far the balancer goes back into the timing cover so I can make that value accurate.

I've seen some examples online and though there are off the shelf kits (although expensive) but this sort of stuff is just fun to do.

 

[Mustang5L5]

I need some adjustment of the sensor.

I was thinking of doing something like the innovators west setup on the right side, but for the Taurus 3.0 VR sensor unless I find one that might fit a bit better.

In fact I already have an idea

Or I use an early f150 sensor and make s mount inside the pointer like the old f150z Just need to make sure the crank wheel is positioned right. I'd prob cut it with all 36 teeth, and then remove the one I need after the fact and adjust offset. Only question is does the VR sensor line up with where I need it to go?

Btw. Good read on timing cover interchanability

http://www.hotrod.com/articles/pit-stop-ford-small-block-v8-front-cover-water-pump-interchange/

 

[Mustang5L5]

Well, today is my Mustang birthday. According to my Marti Report, it was built 30 years ago today.

 

[Mustang5L5]

Some minor projects today. My power lumbar on my seat never worked, so I wanted to know why. Turns out the wire I though was for the SN95 seat belt warning light was s separate power wire for the lumbar. I never wired it in. Oops. Five min later I had functional power lumbar.

Took the time to clean and detail up the seat. They don't hold you worth s damn, but they do look nice with halos. What do you think @25thmustang? Still lookin good since I got these off you 10 years ago? Gonna weigh this before i put back in car tomorrow.

Also, installed my redlinegoods.con leather parking brake boot. Matches my shift boot. Thinking of getting their matching leather armrest cover.

 

[Mustang5L5]

Not sure if I would do a fox dash in leather, but maybe.

https://www.redlinegoods.com/Mustang8793shiftboot.php

Scroll down to dash pad cover.

I was debating this. You gotta pull the dash off to install it. Since I need to do that when I replace my EVAP core when I redo my A/C, I would do it then.

I have a spare black dash. I'd buy this in the matching black leather and give it a test fit and see how it looks. I might even do the door armrest covers, or perhaps by some matching material and recover the tweed cloth door panel inserts in the matching leather. They matched the OEM black tweed seats I had...but since those are gone, it doesn't make sense.

Some of the cars on there try to hard with the contrasting colors. Just give me solid black leather.