My MAC shorties don’t have a common flange. I took one off and sure enough, wouldn’t go back on. I took about a 1/16 off two holes with the Dremel and it went right back.
Progress Thread Therapy Car-- Freshening Up the Lower Intake
- Thread starter Olivethefet
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My MAC shorties don’t have a common flange. I took one off and sure enough, wouldn’t go back on. I took about a 1/16 off two holes with the Dremel and it went right back.
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You didn't tighten the four bolts you were able to thread, did you? If so, I would back them out almost all the way, manipulate the header to get the rest in, then tighten them all down only once they're all started in the head with the header just hanging loosely.This is a little better pic of the floor. It looks good. It was a constant battle with bugs and the wind blowing leaves onto it. I'm not so sure what is so appealing about this floor/shop to granddaddy long legs spiders, but they are what ended up being the number one contaminate in the floor.
I had one mishap when I started the second coat on Saturday. Unbeknownst to me the material mix was much more aggressive in its setup time. I was planning on being able to trim out the section I was working on then pour the rest down and spread it out. I ended up with material rapidly starting to setup. Luckily I had the foresight to start the process in an area that I knew if a screwed up it would be in an area of the shop that would be less obvious. I ended up pouring some of the "hot mix" on a part of the floor that will eventually be the bathroom. I'm glad I did because it didn't get spread out much at all. I was only able to mix up about 5oz at a time to do the trim out. I got it all trimmed and the rest went pretty smooth.
The next step will be the clear then I'll let it sit for a few weeks before parking anything on it. The literature says to give it a minimum of a week to setup before parking vehicles on it. My thinking is if one week is good four is better. In the mean time I'll start putting up lights and running power outlets and suck.
I did get to work on the car a little. I was able to get the first four header bolts in without to much of an issue, but the last four wont start. They will but they are not straight, and the last thing I want to do is cross thread it and mess up the threads in the aluminum heads!
I bought a cheap bore-scope off of Amazon a couple of months back. $35, it was a deal! I used it to look into where the header flange meets the head. You can see that the header needs to move about 1/8" forward to allow the bolts to go in straight. I tried using a ratchet strap to pull on the header. I pulled as hard as I was comfortable and then backed off before I bent something. My plan is to jack up the car and loosen the collector bolts, if I can. This should allow me to slightly move the header to line up the bolts. The only issue I can come up with is that this will open up the opportunity for a new leak to develop at the collector. The car is currently in the grass and on just enough hill that I couldn't push it out of the yard and onto the concrete driveway. I'll get the misses to help with that this week. She loves working on the car......Not really but she will help me move it.
I used to get ahead of myself with header installs and start tightening things down. I'd always end up having to go back because tightening the bolts would make it impossible to start the others.
Yes, I did. I didn't torque them down, but at first I did tighten them up to try to use them to pull the header up into position. When I couldn't get the last four in I backed them off a bit to try to loosen things up to let the header move. I didn't loosen them as much as you described though. When I get back out there messing with it I'll try loosening them up as much as I can and see if that helps.
Do the headers have the single flange or individual flanges?
i've stuck a stud on one end to help hold things up but with headers you sometimes don't have room, mine did.
i've stuck a stud on one end to help hold things up but with headers you sometimes don't have room, mine did.
The header has one continuous flange. Pretty sure this is them.
lmr.com
Mine are old and not nearly so shiny!
Its the passenger side, so I have a bit of room to move it around.
Thanks for the advice from everyone. It's really appreciated!
BBK Mustang Long Tube Headers for Automatics - 1 5/8" Chrome (79-93) 1531
Fee up horsepower on your Fox Mustang AOD with these 79-93 Mustang Chrome 1 5/8" Long Tube Headers for Automatics!
lmr.com
Mine are old and not nearly so shiny!
Its the passenger side, so I have a bit of room to move it around.
Thanks for the advice from everyone. It's really appreciated!
You actually might want to avoid backing them out as much as I do. Not sure how much stress might be put on the threads in aluminum heads if you do it like that. I've only ever installed headers on cast iron heads.
Backed out the bolts yesterday afternoon and it didn't help. I'll get it loosened up at the collector and take the pressure off of it. My theory is that the rest of the exhaust system just has it in a bind.
- Jul 7, 2005
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Yeah you will need to for sure have them free floating to align everything back up bolt wise. Also make sure to tighten the bolts for the inside out for best sealing.
that is the only way you'll get it.
Sorry, I though that I had mentioned that awhile back. The only reason I haven't is because the car is currently sitting out in the yard. Being lowered and then settling into the new soft dirt its so low to the ground I cant get under it to do anything. I tried moving it by myself the other day, but I couldn't get it to move. It's also slightly going up hill. My in-laws are coming in today. I'll get my father-in-law out there to help push. Should be easy at that point.
Now getting those rusty old bolts loose..... Well that could be a challenge. Worst case I'll just cut the bolts and replace them with new ones.
Now getting those rusty old bolts loose..... Well that could be a challenge. Worst case I'll just cut the bolts and replace them with new ones.
Well I f'ed up. Apparently when I was mixing the paint for the shop floor the other day I skipped the step where you add the hardener at one point 
The floor is divided into 9 squares as it is, so I would only mix enough paint for one section at a time. It hardened way to fast to do it any other way, as noted in a previous post. So one section of the floor is still ever so sticky. I called the manufacture and they said the only option is to scrap it up 
Luckily I have enough material left over to recover the section once I get the old stuff removed. Scraping this stuff up really sucks. I'm just glad that I'm the one that did it and not someone else.
The pic sucks, the floor sucks, scraping sucks, it's just a sucky situation!
The floor is divided into 9 squares as it is, so I would only mix enough paint for one section at a time. It hardened way to fast to do it any other way, as noted in a previous post. So one section of the floor is still ever so sticky. I called the manufacture and they said the only option is to scrap it up Luckily I have enough material left over to recover the section once I get the old stuff removed. Scraping this stuff up really sucks. I'm just glad that I'm the one that did it and not someone else.The pic sucks, the floor sucks, scraping sucks, it's just a sucky situation!
- Jul 7, 2005
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Head up now, you only messed up one square, so I see that as a win in my opinion. I typically have to do things 3-5 times to get it right.
They really should call it trial and error...error...error...error...error
They really should call it trial and error...error...error...error...error
Well I f'ed up. Apparently when I was mixing the paint for the shop floor the other day I skipped the step where you add the hardener at one point
The pic sucks, the floor sucks, scraping sucks, it's just a sucky situation!
It sucks right now, but a year from now it’ll be a funny story to tell while you’re hanging out in an awesome shop!!
Thats right! It's not that big of a deal. Could have been worse. As a matter of fact if that's the worst thing that happens in that shop I'll take it!
Absolutely!
My floor was not without drama too. For some reason the last section of floor I did came out thin so I have to put another coat on it, I do have enough to do it over I just have to hit it with a sander to ruff it up but I'm waiting till I'm done with the attic space first.
I got the header loose from the collector and it bolted right up no problem. I fired it up to let it get hot in order to retighten the header. While it was running it was ticking away just like it was before. #4 cylinder. I'm going to tighten it again and hope for the best. If it doesn't go away I'll need some advice on what to do next.
Got the header loose on both ends, but it's going to take a lot more to get it out. The valve cover sticks out just enough to make it way to tight to get the header by. That really isn't an issue, removing the valve cover. However, the BBK intake makes it impossible to remove either valve cover without taking the upper half off. I've got an extra gasket at least.
I took a video of the car running. I'm hoping that the sound that it is making can be heard enough that you guys can give me some advice. No need to just take the intake out if I've got other issues. I'll post the video tomorrow at work.
Also, I noticed that all of the spark plugs had oil on them. The threads were all wet. The plugs looked ok though. I dont really have many miles on these, but this was the first time I had taken any of them out since they were put in.
The spark plugs are in the head at the moment just to keep stuff out of the head.
I took a video of the car running. I'm hoping that the sound that it is making can be heard enough that you guys can give me some advice. No need to just take the intake out if I've got other issues. I'll post the video tomorrow at work.
Also, I noticed that all of the spark plugs had oil on them. The threads were all wet. The plugs looked ok though. I dont really have many miles on these, but this was the first time I had taken any of them out since they were put in.
The spark plugs are in the head at the moment just to keep stuff out of the head.
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