Winter projects

Ozz · Apr 10, 2012

Nothin' new there I expect things to go smoothly. I did just have the car running and idling fine before it went to the paint shop. Plus it seems the larger projects that I do, the less that goes wrong. Yet if I do one small thing, something breaks.

Ozz · Apr 11, 2012

No progress yesterday and not much planned for today unfortunately. Had to powder coat an intake and polish an AC compressor for someone, and have more to powder coat today, so my 'free' time has been outside of the garage these past 2 evenings. I will probably put the intake, etc. on tomorrow.

I did however finish wrapping the harnesses in the braided nylon hose, cleaned the upper intake from the dust and some dirt on the back, re-polish the IAC motor & EGR valve, and polished the upper intake port cover bolts. Somehow I never noticed but the damn things were all rusty

Ozz · Apr 12, 2012

Lots of wasted time today. I intended on installing the new dipstick tube and then the intake and blower, but as usual the simple things turn into much more. The end of the dipstick tube was too large to fit into the bore on the block, and of course I didn't notice this until I wasted at least 20 minutes screwing with it from under the car wondering why it wouldn't go in. I figured I had the angle just wrong. I finally compared it to the stock one and saw the size difference, so then I spent some time reshaping it so it would fit in. It finally did and that's all set.

Then 2 of my spark plug wires broke at the connectors (one boot completely ripped in half - wtf?) so I tried to salvage that and couldn't get them to acceptable results. I'm not interested in spending that much money again for them, so I ordered up the trusty ol' Ford Racing 9mm silicones in black like I used to have. I always kinda wanted to go back to them and I guess this is just as well.

The billet wire separators I have also gave me some trouble. They tighten with a tiny allen head bolt and one of them wouldn't budge so they were stuck together w/the plug wires I wanted to get out so I can reuse them when my new wires arrive. I had to do a few rounds of PB Blaster before it finally came out, the usual, but damn if I didn't need to waste more time today. Probably took about 20 minutes back and forth for that alone, which is ridiculous. I REALLY didn't want to strip that screw head or I would've been in trouble.

Amazingly, I DID install the water pump pulley without an episode The way things were going for me I wouldn't have been surprised to strip the threads or something somehow. I also powder coated the upper intake fittings and polished/cleared all the bolts for the plenum cover since they were rusty and ugly.

1990Coupe · Apr 12, 2012

I'm looking forward to seeing the car all put back together! Guaranteed you see another mag by the end of the Summer. Just sayin!

2vNotch · Apr 12, 2012

Ozz said:
Doing some sample work for the candy red powder for my lower intake:

This red topcoat is more of a tinted clear as opposed to a translucent color on its own, which makes it tougher to lay properly. It came out darker than I expected but overall looks great. Anyone who's familiar w/laying powder will know what I mean when I say that it flows out like a clear, making for a very smooth and slick piece. Only trouble w/that is the color kinda bleeds a little bit and results in a less uniform color. What I was hoping for was similar to this color below (Translucent Red, a separate see-through powder to be laid over chrome similar to this candy red topcoat) but a little darker:

It looks great with good light but in darker situations it, of course, looks darker. For the lower intake I'm thinking it'll be too dark. I'm going to mess around w/more samples to see if I can get this to lay smoother upon shooting the first layer, which should have it cure a little lighter/brighter. Failing that, or if that doesn't work anyway, I'll pick up some of that translucent red the valve covers are done in and see if I can lay it on a little thicker to see if it gives me the results I want.

Whatever I end up with, the PS reservoir will be painted to match. The one I have on there is leaking, and I'm sick of the dealing w/the spray-on chrome crap that's currently on it along with its downfalls.

Last year I replaced all the bolts on the blower head unit with chrome plated ones, except for the little allen-head bolts that hold those little slats in place (the ones that you loosen when rotating the blower head to a different configuration for the aftercooler or different discharge setup). Since they're not aluminum I powder coated them chrome and put 'em back on. Beats having to have them plated and wait a month+, and the chrome powder matches the polished blower head very well anyway.

Sell me those valve covers lol

Ozz · Apr 12, 2012

1990Coupe said:
I'm looking forward to seeing the car all put back together! Guaranteed you see another mag by the end of the Summer. Just sayin!

I don't know about that, I've made all the ones that really get around, except Fox Mustang Magazine but they might think my car is not "every-man" enough. That'd be a shame, I'm as every-man as they come except as pointed out I may be somewhat crazy But yea, I can't wait to HAVE it all back together just so I can free my mind!

2vNotch said:
Sell me those valve covers lol

They were a customer's but I could do yours if you have a set

2vNotch · Apr 12, 2012

Ozz said:
I don't know about that, I've made all the ones that really get around, except Fox Mustang Magazine but they might think my car is not "every-man" enough. That'd be a shame, I'm as every-man as they come except as pointed out I may be somewhat crazy But yea, I can't wait to HAVE it all back together just so I can free my mind!

They were a customer's but I could do yours if you have a set

Ah...Mine are windsors, not romeo and ones cracked...Ill prob go with smthing fabricated

Ozz · Apr 12, 2012

Not a bad idea, some of those look really badass

2vNotch · Apr 12, 2012

Ozz said:
Not a bad idea, some of those look really badass

They ought to for 500 smacks! I jus thought theyd compliment my fabricated brake resevoir cover, fuse box cover, power steering resevoir, and coolant tank.

Ozz · Apr 12, 2012

Yikes! I'd say. That must look great though. Got any pics?

2vNotch · Apr 12, 2012

Ozz said:
Yikes! I'd say. That must look great though. Got any pics?

Im gonna post some new ones up as soon as I can get time to do everything at once

Ozz · Apr 14, 2012

Lost more time today when one of the fittings for the upper intake broke, and I had to drill it out and fix the problem. Then I had to run to the store to get a new fitting. Too bad I didn't notice I needed more vacuum hose, as one line is all that's not hooked up at this point. You can see the billet oil dipstick peeking out in this pic too. It doesn't show in this picture but the blower head is back on. I also polished/cleared some of the mounting bolts & washers for it since I noticed I hadn't done so already. All that plus some cleaning as I went along was my morning and early afternoon. A friend came over to drop off some stuff to be powder coated and we hung out a while and I lost all my available time. I'll get the coil and discharge tube back on tomorrow, and will probably get more of the vac hose that I need as well if I don't forget.

CarMichael Angelo · Apr 14, 2012

That looks great. I always remember as a kid just getting into cars that all that chrome had the same effect on me as diamonds do to women.Oooooooohhhhh.
There was a time when I was a little older that "chrome didn't go," so I shunned it. But now that I'm older (alot older) as opposed to goin' I'd rather be showin'.
So I can appreciate every inch of simachrome suckin, whenol wasting, Never dull using chrome under that hood

Ozz · Apr 14, 2012

Thanks MM. Chrome might not go, but all the performance parts do

Ozz · Apr 17, 2012

Decided not to put the discharge tube/bypass valve on until I can push it outside and do some cleaning on the lower areas that are all dirty so I can reach in to scrub it all clean. I might take some other parts from underneath off to paint them or otherwise neaten them up somehow.

In the meantime here's a picture of the Billet Specialties wire separators I just got. Naturally they are sized for 8mm wires and mine are 9mm, so I spent this afternoon grinding them out to fit and then re-polishing them. They looked nice to start with but the shine is a little deeper now

Ozz · Apr 23, 2012

Swapped the new PS res. today. Also powder coated the drain hose clamp and rebuffed the pump bracket. Put everything left back on and it's ready to rock. I will attempt to start it up and go from there.

I still prefer the chrome PS reservoir buuuut after the bad luck I had w/the materials I refuse to try it for a 3rd time. The color is brighter in person just like the powder coat and the other paint, FWIW.

RacEoHolic330 · Apr 23, 2012

Don't forget to leave a box of sunglasses next to the engine bay when you're at car shows.

Looks awesome Dave. You might have a hard time starting it without the battery though

Ozz · Apr 23, 2012

RacEoHolic330 said:
Looks awesome Dave. You might have a hard time starting it without the battery though

Thanks And I'm gonna see how well it works w/o the battery, then put it in if I need to. Who knows!

Ozz · Apr 24, 2012

It's alive! Scott, you were right. I had to put the battery in after all. Who knew :dunno:

Got some stuff burning off the headers so I didn't run it too long. I only had it running a couple minutes because my electric fan is out. I had to re-install the distributor so I needed to remove it for clearance in order to turn the crank. Didn't feel like putting it in before I knew it'd actually start up. So since it was out I cleaned it up and will put it back in tomorrow (busy the rest of the day/night now) and see if I can clean up those headers to eliminate the smoke before I start working on the idle. It was idling fine but a little high, I'm sure I'll have to reset the timing but I've got it pretty close.

Throughout the day I also started cleaning up the wires in the fender to get them the hell out of the way so I can put the fenderwell back in place. Also the washer fluid reservoir needs to be mounted back in there and I had to get some stuff out of the way. Hopefully we're good to go as is.

Ozz · Jun 5, 2012

Here's a pic from a show this weekend with real lighting and a real camera Didn't get a good one of the console unfortunately.

Winter projects

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my rearend will smell so minty fresh,

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