Progress Thread Therapy Car-- Freshening Up the Lower Intake

There was nothing to slot. The part that goes over the axel was welded straight to the muffler at the bend. I added 1" of pipe to get it to the point that it will not hit anything, hopefully. I plan to replace all of this in the future. The old setup had the upper control arms all bent and cut up to clearance the exhaust. Maybe there was a better way but hopefully this will work for now.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 2Blue2
Well both exhaust tail pipes are in. Again not pretty but it'll do for now. Plan is to replace with new ASAP. The angles are all wrong. They hit the control arms even with the arms all mangled. My fingers are crossed that this will get by for a bit. I don't like smelling that much exhaust while driving around.

20200926_161202.webp

20200926_180625.webp
 
Drove the car to work today. The weather here in south Alabama is great. Low 60s this morning. Car ran great! It's amazing how much better the car drives with the upgraded suspension stuff. Hey, and the heater works! Not that you need it in the 60s, but I hadn't tried it since I changes the heater core a year or so ago.
 
No fun car stuff has been happening around my house for the past few month. Haven't lost interest. Just a time money thing. I drove the car back and forth to work for a about a week a couple of months ago because my truck was getting some body work done. Since then it has been parked outside the shop. My wife got the garage cleaned up over the weekend so that I could park it in the garage along with her car. I went to start the mustang to move it. It was dead. I guess I've got a slow draw on the system that pulls the battery down over time. Not really a big deal. I popped the hood to put the charger on it. This is what I'm greeted with.

Timing Chain Cover.webp

Anyone that has paid any attention to this rambling thread knows that the timing chain cover has been a thorn in my side for quite some time. I thought I had this issue beat several months ago. I had not had any trouble with it until now. I haven't even checked to see if any of the bolts are loose. They shouldn't be. Nor have I checked for coolant in the oil. This wont get fixed anytime soon, but it will get fixed.

I really hate having to take everything off of the front of the motor AGAIN. I'd love to just pull the motor and have it gone through or built, but I really dont have the money for that at the moment. It smokes pretty good. I do plan to do a compression test on it soon. I'm surprised I haven't done that already.
 
No fun car stuff has been happening around my house for the past few month. Haven't lost interest. Just a time money thing. I drove the car back and forth to work for a about a week a couple of months ago because my truck was getting some body work done. Since then it has been parked outside the shop. My wife got the garage cleaned up over the weekend so that I could park it in the garage along with her car. I went to start the mustang to move it. It was dead. I guess I've got a slow draw on the system that pulls the battery down over time. Not really a big deal. I popped the hood to put the charger on it. This is what I'm greeted with.

Timing Chain Cover.jpg

Anyone that has paid any attention to this rambling thread knows that the timing chain cover has been a thorn in my side for quite some time. I thought I had this issue beat several months ago. I had not had any trouble with it until now. I haven't even checked to see if any of the bolts are loose. They shouldn't be. Nor have I checked for coolant in the oil. This wont get fixed anytime soon, but it will get fixed.

I really hate having to take everything off of the front of the motor AGAIN. I'd love to just pull the motor and have it gone through or built, but I really dont have the money for that at the moment. It smokes pretty good. I do plan to do a compression test on it soon. I'm surprised I haven't done that already.
Is there coolant pooled on both right and left sides of the timing cover? I had similar issue, and my problem was the thermostat housing and gasket. Those are pretty cheap and easy, it would be easy to rule out as your problem.
 
@pats91 I didn't look at the other side. The thermostat, its housing, and the gasket are all new and they have not been the issue up to this point. Doesn't mean that it isn't now, so I'll give it a look. I've replaced timing chain cover gaskets on several other Winsor Fords and this is the first time one has handed me my ass.
 
Alright. The fox body is about to return to its throne in the garage and get some much needed love. First thing on the list is to address the leaking timing chain cover. Just to get an idea of what it will cost to replace the cover, if I decide to do that, I hopped on LMR and looked them up. They only have one option at the moment and it's the 5.0 Resto cover. Price is $69 and it comes with the needed gaskets. I also went to Rock Auto to see what they had. They have two options a Dorman for $127, comes with a gasket not the whole kit, and a Pioneer brand for $84 that comes with nothing. I was honestly surprised by the price differences. I would have bet money the LMR option would have been the more expansive unit. Does anyone have experience with any of these units? I might not have to change the cover, but I'm still curious.
 
Alright. The fox body is about to return to its throne in the garage and get some much needed love. First thing on the list is to address the leaking timing chain cover. Just to get an idea of what it will cost to replace the cover, if I decide to do that, I hopped on LMR and looked them up. They only have one option at the moment and it's the 5.0 Resto cover. Price is $69 and it comes with the needed gaskets. I also went to Rock Auto to see what they had. They have two options a Dorman for $127, comes with a gasket not the whole kit, and a Pioneer brand for $84 that comes with nothing. I was honestly surprised by the price differences. I would have bet money the LMR option would have been the more expansive unit. Does anyone have experience with any of these units? I might not have to change the cover, but I'm still curious.
Glad to see the Fox getting some love again!!! I’ve always been a little Leary of the 5.0 Resto stuff for critical things like that, but that cover seems to have all pretty solid reviews. Probably worth a shot.
 
It is typically pretty rare the cover itself has any issues, and you should be able to just replace the gaskets. I did this on the car before and do highly recommend lifting the engine to drop the oil pan down to put the cover on. Aligning the cover to the dowels with the pan in place still left me with leaks later down the road.
 
Is it possible to get thicker gaskets? This will be the third or forth time I've had to pull the cover for this issue. Thats why I'm questioning the cover at this point. The heads are aluminum and it always starts leaking on the same head. My worry there is someone getting carried away cleaning possibly using sand paper and creating a valley allowing the leak to develop. I feel like I'm making a mountain out of a mole hill because I haven't had this much trouble with a timing chain cover before.

I might try dropping the oil pan just to help with alignment. It wouldn't be that hard with the setup I have. I have a one piece FelPro gasket on the pan. That helps a little.
 
I think it may be a gasket issue as well. I have had to re-torque the water pump bolts a few times to stop small timing cover leaks. X3 on dropping the pan when you install the cover. But a $60, that LMR timing cover looks pretty temping. I'm surprised that the LMR is cheaper than rock auto, usually rock auto is cheaper if both carry the same part.
 
LMR has the 5.0 Resto cover. RA has Dorman and Pioneer. The LMR cover is tempting. I was just curious if anyone had luck with the 5.0 cover.

I wouldn’t be surprised if they are all the same cover made by the same casting foundry. It may not be a repackaged part, but it may be from the same source. I can’t imagine too many places are making these
 
  • Like
Reactions: 2Blue2