Well, the time finally came for me to pull the motor out of my '93 ragtop and freshen it up to go into my other project. It was a good car. I've enjoyed cruising with the top down for the last 3 years. I originally bought it for $1500 and after I pulled the motor/trans, I sold the carcass for $1000 so I'm pretty happy, financially. It'll live on in my '54 Customline!
Lots of pics so I'll have to do multiple posts.
Here's the beast in question. I'll rebuild it as cheaply as possible and everything will be stock. 225hp will be more than enough for my '54 and besides, I can always add heads, valvetrain and induction later.
The Mustang's 5 digit odometer read 97K and at 28 years old I was expecting a well worn, 197K mile motor. Turns out, it really was owned by a little old lady who had only driven it 97K, serviced it regularly and was very gentle with it. Pulled the pan and heads and was greeted by this.....
No sludge build-up and barely any ridge at all. Had the bores mic'd and the worst one was .005 out which meant I could get by without boring it and buying new pistons! I pulled the rotating assembly and put fuel line over the rod bolts so as not to nick the crank journals.
Once it was down to a bare block, I chased all the threads.
Tip: Autozone and O'Reilly's tool loaner programs have thread chaser kits for free!
O'Reilly's tool loaner program - thread restorer set
Next, I went over the decks with 80g on a piece of exhaust tubing, in two directions, to check for low spots or any warping. The scratches were evenly distributed indicating a flat deck.
Lots of pics so I'll have to do multiple posts.
Here's the beast in question. I'll rebuild it as cheaply as possible and everything will be stock. 225hp will be more than enough for my '54 and besides, I can always add heads, valvetrain and induction later.
The Mustang's 5 digit odometer read 97K and at 28 years old I was expecting a well worn, 197K mile motor. Turns out, it really was owned by a little old lady who had only driven it 97K, serviced it regularly and was very gentle with it. Pulled the pan and heads and was greeted by this.....
No sludge build-up and barely any ridge at all. Had the bores mic'd and the worst one was .005 out which meant I could get by without boring it and buying new pistons! I pulled the rotating assembly and put fuel line over the rod bolts so as not to nick the crank journals.
Once it was down to a bare block, I chased all the threads.
Tip: Autozone and O'Reilly's tool loaner programs have thread chaser kits for free!
O'Reilly's tool loaner program - thread restorer set
Next, I went over the decks with 80g on a piece of exhaust tubing, in two directions, to check for low spots or any warping. The scratches were evenly distributed indicating a flat deck.