2014 Projects Thread!

don't loosen the rad cap!! it will lose pressure and the coolant will boil at a lower temp. the system needs pressure to maintain a higher boiling point. that was ok in the old days and a gasket was blown or another small leak, but it's really not advisable.
no fumes should escape into the trunk area, make sure the fuel filler cap actually fits the fuel filler neck and has a tight seal. I cant remember which tank your using, but on top of the tank there should be a vent valve, make sure it's not leaking and the hose is intact. I think the old Fairmont fuel filler pipe was a one piece pipe to the tank? wasn't it? I made my fuel filler from a Ranger fuel filler neck and some exhaust pipe, if the cap is sealed and the vent valve is not leaking, is there a possibility there may be a fuel tank leak or vapor line leak? if the canister or the purge valve is stuck it can cause smells, try disconnecting the canister & at the valve/solenoid and see if a lot of pressure escapes.

Yeah, I have an '82 Futura filler neck. It's one piece divided down the middle. I'm using the "F2C" LTD Wagon tank, with the one-piece sending unit/in-tank pump on top. I ended up finding a vent valve grommet new, so i'll be putting that on, as well as a new vent valve. That's a good idea checking for pressure at the purge valve! I'll do that as soon as I get everything back together and can run the engine.

Thinking about it now, I had some obvious spots where vapors could get into the trunk. I'm confident I'll have that part licked.

vapor leaks are hard to find with out a smoke machine, so just be patient. check all the soft lines as well.

Yeah, I'm "patiently" replacing just about everything and hoping for the best. haha

hope your getting on with your fuel smell resolution & seat cushion.
I had some issues this week with my mass air flow meter. the little girl was running rich at idle & would go lean at 1/2 to 3/4 throttle. as the engine sat for so long I didn't know where to start, turned out to be a dirty MAF, I cleaned it with some MAF cleaner, seems ok at the moment. I've been driving it every day for some time now, it's starting to get boring, but I don't have time to strip it down for another re-fit because of this BRONCO..........work all day 5/6 days a week, research, research, research fuel system, driveline, cooling system .......tick tock, tick tock.......the other guys seem to be having similar concerns, we've never done a truck or Bronco.....we are going to have to start all over due to more changes, but it will look good on the resume. we have got 12-15k worth of parts piled up on the table & floor, hopefully once we gat the 5.4 out, things will start to move along.
Hell; the Fairmont was soooo much easier. plan do it drive & tear it down again. I may do the Coyote engine in mine later if this Bronco turns out ok. after being around it more & more, it seems like a real possibility later on, but I'll have to chose another dash to match, or maybe a stock Fairmont dash.

So, you must work in an actual hot rod shop, now that I'm thinking about it? That would be awesome! I hated wrenching professionally, but I'm sure that has to be better. That would be a ton of work though, figuring out what all you need to do to make that work. At least with Fairmonts, people have already guessed people might want to put a Coyote in a Fox body, so they started making parts for it, haha. Tell the guy he should do a full-size Bronco instead. Probably be way easier. haha.
That engine is outrageously expensive to buy new, but there have to be some from wrecked cars and trucks out there. As for the dash, I've seen Foxes with '05-14 dashes in them... haha. You could have a touch screen in your Fairmont! If you did do the stock dash, you could always use custom gauges to simplify things though.
My gas tank surgery went pretty well, I think. There's enough spilled gas and stuff around the garage to still stink like it, so it's hard to tell if I've solved the vapor problem completely yet. I don't smell it in the trunk though, so that's something. I had a bit of a scare after having assembled everything. The gauge read "E" and I didn't feel that it should. Turns out, it does work though. I put more gas in it, and it moved. Haven't gotten to the cushion yet, or the intake. I still have to fix my little issue where the rear Mark VII rotors don't sit flush on the axle flanges. I figure I can stick some wheel spacers in there and solve the problem though. I just need to find out how thick they need to be.

Good job on no fuel smells in the trunk,
Try cat litter and backing soda to get rid of the fumes, you don’t need that in the garage, especially if the hot water heater is there. Try getting a piece of 2x4 about 6-10 inches long, and grind the cat litter and baking soda into the concrete and sweep it up. Or you can use purple power cleaner and rinse it out with a hose.
No I actually work at a Ford Dealership, but we always have something going on, I call it the "Clandestine Motorsports Division". It can be fun, but when you have a customer’s car in, there's a hell of a lot of responsibility involved, not to mention deadlines and sometimes the dreaded "unrealized expectations". It can get really expensive, (sometimes unbelievably) and some people are reluctant to spend their hard earned cash.
for example, the coyote engine from the wrecking yard is almost as expensive as a new Ford unit, however the ford unit comes in a box with a 2 yr warr, and the junk yard has a 90 day warr with no knowledge of how it was treated or if it was properly maintained. So the obvious choice is NEW. It’s the same for transmissions etc .
Then the thing has to drive straight, stop on a nickel and render 12 cents change, have no drivetrain vibrations, exhaust has to have the correct note etc, yeah it’s fun at times, but I always like to see the tail lights getting smaller in the distance.
The best advice I can say is document every mod you make onto XL with part #’s, vendor, cost & warranty terms; and the invoice #, because when something fails, and it eventually will, you’ll need that info.
Some People think you just go to the junkyard, grab some heads and intake and slap them on and you’re done before lunch time. What’s a throttle body??????
Sometimes I wish I worked for the magazines or some of the television shows, everything fits first time, they are always done in a day and their hands don’t even get dirty and they go home in clean clothes.
I love my job, it’s definitely not boring, and we have a solid “corps of four”

I've used Purple Power. I like it, but I'm out right now. Gotta stock up, I guess.

I imagine somebody has to have pretty deep pockets to begin with to bring their car to the dealership to be hot-rodded! So then do they expect you to use mostly, if not all, Ford parts then?

We have one dealership in town here that has a dyno and hot-rodding specialist (I actually graduated school in the same class as him), but I don't know how much business they really do.

Another good cleaner is MOC Motor Degreaser, it’s good for cleaning engines, floors and even showers, I think it’s also used for cleaning restaurant kitchen floors. Did you manage to get the smell out of your garage?
You are correct; most people are happy with wheel & tires, lifts or lowering, cold air intakes & exhausts. Most people do their own mods. There are all kinds of kits out there and some are better than others. Most people just don’t have the cash to raise a family and have toys. That’s why I never laugh at some ones mods.
I would hate to work in a hot rod shop, so many things dependent on venders, does it fit, will it fit the car etc, etc. I would suppose the shop would have to do other things to survive. It’s got to be tough.
I always wonder how the some of the “kit cars” cars are emission tested, are they a 2014 or 1932 , or is there a special category.

I went to the local hardware store. All they had that was similar was Castrol Superclean concentrate. it didn't do much for the stains, but that area's been stained a LOT, so I don't have high hopes it'll ever look that good anyway. I remembered today, I also have my old gas tank in the garage (with rags stuffed in the openings), and the siphon I used to drain it. Two more potential sources of gas smell. Hopefully i'll get the chance to bring the gas tank to the junkyard tomorrow. I rinsed it out and stuff, but it's had gas sitting in it for 30 years, so probably no getting rid of the smell. Hopefully I at least took care of the dangerous fumes in it though.

I think kit cars do have their own category. My state hasn't been concerned with emissions since the early '90s though, so I don't have to care. haha

You may want to try hot water with the cleaning agent, then when it dries Try rubbing the kitty litter into the concrete with a piece of wood, then let the powder sit and sweep it up later, I get good results with it.
I’ve been driving the devil out of my Fairmont lately; however I’m kind of ignoring my “trademark” pick-up. I have to say I’m very pleased so far, but it’s starting to get boring as I’m taking it for granted, I’ve been using the excuse of using the A/C since it’s been hot. And since it’s been raining a lot, I’ve been doing a lot of “wet soak” driving. No problems so far.
I got a free transmission flush as part of a “LOF Warrior” competition when the skills of the LOF’ers (Lube Oil & Filter Technicians) are tested, it worked out pretty good, however I was a bit nervous letting someone else perform maintenance on my car, and as they try to upsell work, I expected a lot of faults to be found, but it actually faired-out ok.
Ford has come out with a “lifetime warranty” program on their pads, I’ll have to investigate it to find out more, as I use Ford pads anyway.
I have always had an interest in the kit cars, yeah they are expensive, but you can pretty much build a complete car with all the parts. This may be the only way the younger guys have an opportunity to build their own rides. Who is going to want to build/restore a modern day car; I just don’t see it happening there is just so much electrics packed into them. And everything is “integrated into the PCM”. Of course there are tuners out there, that can do magic with a lap top, but somehow that doesn’t appeal to me. Deep down I’ve always had a desire for a true “hot rod”. They were still plentiful when I was a kid, they were kind of pick & mix & get it in there so far as engines were concerned. Obviously they perished with the introduction of the muscle car. The muscle cars were cool when they were introduced and still popular today. I like the brute force and ignorance “rat rods”, you should see some of the ingenuity these guys put into the cars.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not against airbags, GPS, A/C, speed control & disc brakes etc, I just like a load of different styles of cars but I really don’t know where the Fairmont fits in, I just like the body style….each one is unique.

Yeah, I'll take another shot at cleaning those stains. The garage still smells kind of gasoliney to me, but now I'm not sure what the source is. It might still be the car, but we're just going to dismiss that possibility, haha.
You could try thinking of your Fairmont as a daily driver, and your truck as an "as needed" vehicle. I'm sure with the 4.6 and A/C it makes a great dd! What do the guys at your work think of it?
I'm well familiar with the term "LOF". It was my primary job when I was an intern at the Ford dealer. It was before they were doing Quick Lanes, so us regular guys got a shot at some of that gravy work.
I heard about that lifetime pad thing. The main catch for me is, you have to have the dealer install the first round. I don't wanna, haha. Plus... none of my cars need brakes.
Kit cars are cool. I'd probably go a different route though. My dream is to get one of those new '69 Mustang bodies and build it from scratch with modern suspension, crate engine and 6-speed. Not a cheap proposition, but probably about equivalent to a kit car...
I saw a rat rod at a show recently. It had a LOT of unique, creative stuff on it.
I hear you about how modern cars just aren't friendly to being modded. What gets me is these guys who buy a brand new Mustang, it's their only car, and they immediately start maxing out their credit cards building it into some kind of race car. That makes NO sense to me.

there's a young fella who works for us, he's moving to phoenix to live with his grand dad, they are going to make one of the fast five Cobra's. he's a good lad and I wish him the best, he's had it pretty tough, and is a good worker. he was a Chevy freak, but now he drives a Ranger!!!
I'm wondering if you kept the garage door open during the day-time and keep the car outside for a couple nights if it would air-out. I know that sheet rock can absorb smells. it may not be the car smelling at the moment, as you said about the old gas tank being in there with a rag, don't forget that the rag can act as a "wick", when it gets hot and humid it can cause smells to intensify. I wonder if a few big boxes of baking soda laid on their sides with the tops cut off would help??
your right about the credit card crowd, I'm not into really loud and raspy exhaust, I find it annoying and distracting.
Maybe they should buy a clunker and do it one piece at a time. It's not my place to tell people what to do, because maybe that's their way of expressing their creativity, they probably don't understand me wasting money and time on a Fairmont!!! every time I fill it up I triple the value of the car!!!
I remember some company who does the mustang in a box, the doors hood & trunk are hung and it comes in primer or electro etching, of course it would be expensive, but over the years, you could get it done exactly the way you want, it sounds good, and at least you can still have the parts you need. I just like modifying cars as a hobby, I'd love to do a Focus with a v-6, and have been giving it some thought lately. I've also been thinking of putting a 5.0 into my truck in place of the 4 cyl. I've always got more ideas, than money; that's why nothing gets done.

I decided to look in the magazines yesterday to see what was available for the new mustang, WOW; there is a boatload of stuff available. I was really impressed! I suppose if I had a new mustang, I would be tempted to have a good look myself. the car is still fairly new and there is quite a selection to choose from. at least you can have the newer car and the performance or appearance mods at the same time. it looks as they sell a lot of painted to match ready to install kits.

Thankfully, I got rid of that gas tank last week. I wouldn't be the least bit surprised if the sheetrock absorbed the smell. This is the hottest time of the year here. You open the door to the garage and the humidity just smacks you in the face. The smell is still noticeable to me, but my wife says she can't smell it. We have some vacation coming up. I'll give the Superclean another shot. I'll finally get the chance to fix my rear rotor to axle flange gap problem, and do the seat foam and give the Explorer intake some attention. Should be fun! Contractors are here right now installing our new deck. So, i'll have to spend some time staining that probably that week too.
Mustang in a box, that would be sweet! Like you say, not cheap though I'm sure.
For the first gen Focus, someone makes a V8 RWD conversion kit for it. I've often though, say an '05 Focus wagon with V8 conversion would make a sweet, unique family hauler. But I'd also love to have a Pinto, or maybe a '70 Torino wagon with a 429 and 4-speed.... more ideas than money.... I know how that goes.
Yeah, it's ridiculous what all you can get for the newer Mustangs. All really expensive too. And they already paid more than I can afford for the car itself!

That's what makes America great. loads of constructive ideas.
I've never performed the Lincoln axle rotor gig, what problems do you incur I heard you have to flip something over. I've also heard of people using ranger & Cadillac rear brakes, I took the easy way out and just used the 94-98 mustang axles and calipers so I could retain the parking brake.
Actually the Focus wagon is what I wanted!!! I had no idea about the V-8!
I do remember back in the 70's the stock Mustang II cobra and the pinto V-8 were around, when the competition were putting the s/b Chevy engines into their Vega's.

Well, part of the problem is, I didn't do the swap. I bought the axle complete with brakes. The axles must be from something else because they don't fit inside the rotors. I think I just need to put something inside there to fill that gap. I think the flip thing you're thinking of is if you want to use standard Fox-length axles. You can flip the caliper bracket around and everything still bolts up with SN95 or Mark VII brakes. The problem is, you have to cut a gap in the bracket, weakening it. I like my car's stance the way it is, so I won't be doing any flipping. And I do have a working parking brake, pedal and all.
I've become obsessed with swapping out the stock '89 Mustang steering wheel for one that would look better with a Mercury badge, like from an '89 Cougar, or '91 Tracer. Right now, my Mercury badge on the Mustang steering wheel looks cobbled together to me. I've spent so dang much money on the car this year though, I'm struggling with the idea of trying to get one more thing past the "committee" (wife). I found one for $60 on ebay, but she always gets this look on her face every time I bring up spending money on the car, haha. The junkyard near me doesn't have any of that vintage Cougar or Tracer, so it's probably the best deal i'll find for one.

Ask your local salvageable parts supplier if they have a “hotline” sometimes they can locate parts cheaper than Ebay. I’m not against Ebay, but there’s no outrageous “shipping charges” from the local yard.
I can’t remember all the steering wheels that interchange so far as the splined shafts are concerned, but I think they were pretty much all the same. Do you have a tilt column in your car, most of the old mustangs did. I think most of the older steering wheels with speed control switches have the same resistance values as the later transistorized speed control units. You may consider installing a newer style speed control to your car. It will fit behind the l/s frt fender and mounts to the A-pillar. Just make sure the slip rings on the replacement steering wheel are clean and lubricated. You’ll need to locate the VSS, BOO & CPP wiring. I’m as pleased as punch with my speed control.
I’m starting to gather all my scrap aluminum together, I need a new stereo, something that plays CD’s & USB,’s.

I suppose I could do that, call the salvage yard. I noticed that one of my old favorite haunts was bought up by a "recycled parts" conglomerate. I'll bet they don't even let you in the yard anymore, which to me means it's a rip-off. And this was the same place that used to give me trouble when I'd scoff at their price quote on a part I had pulled. "You know how much those cost new?". Well, this isn't new! It's from a 10 year old smashed up car! I liked the place because it was the closest one to where I lived, and it was neat/organized. The counter people were always a-holes though. Now I'm sure it's just that much worse. The last time I went to a place where they don't let you in the yard (which I didn't know), and I asked them about it, they practically laughed in my face. Jerks. The company that owns that very place now owns the other I've been talking about. Grrrreeeaaaattt. Like you say though, probably still a better price than ebay.
I sat in my car and re-evaluated my steering wheel idea. I really like the ergonomics the way they are now. I think if I end up with a steering wheel that's significantly closer to me, the shifter, which I spent a good deal of effort making it easy to reach, would be back out of my reach again. So, we're trying to make the Merc badge work on the '89 Mustang steering wheel again.
I'm pretty happy with the way the cruise works now. Sometimes you have to hold down the "Set" button a bit longer than I'm used to in my DDs, but I consider the fact that it works at all in my Zeph a win. haha
USB stereos are pretty common in the aftermarket now. You'd probably have a harder time finding one WITHOUT it, haha.

sorry about the scrappie, the idea of going to a salvage yard is to save you some cash by purchasing used parts, used parts are ok, but sometimes parts are cheaper from the from the local parts stores. I dont use our local yard anymore, too expensive, and they don't pay much for scrap, (but the guys from Tucson deliver twice daily)......the last time I went there they were down to two yardies, and were just crushing cars, that was a long time ago, maybe things have changed, I don't know. but I voted with my feet and haven't been back. they should had had good old customer service, which keeps you coming back, otherwise the stool they perch upon will become vacant...
yeah I went to Walmart to look at the stereos, most have usb's, but are for charging purposes, not for playing tunes, I like to throw a cd in once in a while, I-pods are nice also, but what I like about a usb is, it's cheap, and holds tons of tunes and if it gets lost, no big deal.

Wow you two been busy!
I just caught up with reading on the last 3 pages. I been busy as well, working on the house from the past winters damages and having a wedding. I been laid off from work for the last two weeks and still off for the next two. So that puts a pinch on spending.
I have gotten a butt load of projects done with my time off. I have a couple more to do and then hoping I can mess with the Futura.
I have a new set of injectors coming for her Taurus and that will take me less then an hour to swap in. The other, finish another phase of my landscaping project....one to three days worth of work depending on how it goes and how far I take it.
I want to pull my carb off and clean it inside and out.Hoping thats my issue. I have it running but after it gets warmed up it acts like its running out of fuel. One side of the Edelbrock carb I cant adjust....like a float is stuck.
I want to get back to my car soooooo bad!

sorry to hear you've been laid-off, any chance you'll be going back, or are you looking for another job. yeah its nice to have the time off to get things done, but it must be playing on your mind.
do they still make the carb cleaner that you can dip the carb in? hopefuly it's just dirt. I think Edelbrock has one of the better carbs out there now, you see so many out there on all sorts of hot rods.
I can't remember this much rain here in years, then you have the knot-heads driving thru the puddles to make the water splash, I'm leaving mine at work till the rain stops, it's to old to find parts for, and I don't want to take any chances. it rained so hard the other day I stayed till almost 6:45,till it was safe to go home.

I guess I hadn't thought of the fact that the USB for many of them is just for charging. The USB on my Kenwood stereo in the Aviator will play music from my Ipod, but it won't from my phone. Weird. It will play music from my phone over Bluetooth, but the sound quality is crap, so I don't generally do it.

Eric, we'll have to get together soon! Maybe I can give you a hand with the Fairmont. And then we can find somewhere to cruise once she's all dialed in. Or we could put our heads together on the Taurus, if you need.

We're having a good amount of rain here too. Yesterday there was 0% chance in the forecast, but it still rained. I've decided it's because I want to put sealer on my deck. It has to be rain free after you apply it for 48 hours, and that's probably not going to happen anytime soon. Sounds like you've got it worse there though. Pretty bad when you have to wait for hours for the downpour to clear up so you can drive! I've certainly also found that other drivers are pretty unsympathetic when you're driving something you want to keep nice.

Yesterday, I bought some new rotors and pads for my Mark VII rear. They asked me for a model year, and I picked '92 out of the air. Wrong. I opened the pads box, and they were totally different. Turns out Ford changed the rear brakes on the Mark VII in '91 so there were two different styles, and I just so happened to pick wrong. Even the rotors are apparently different. So, it all had to go back, and now I'm waiting a couple of days for the new parts to come.

we are having the monsoons now, and it has been raining been raining at night, but it started at about 4:45 that evening, some place near phoenix got 8 inches the other day!
I know it happens and it can never be a "right time" I also hate the early/late build mid year crud.
are your rotors ventilated? mine are just the cheapie 97 mustang non ventilated jobs. I was very happy the rotors had low mileage and were able to be skimmed. where do you guys purchase most of your parts from? I try to buy most stuff from Ford, but a lot of stuff is "obsolete" so I go to NAPA, I had a friend who used Rock Auto a lot for his pick-up's & suburban, he'd save a bundle of cash and get a box load of parts now & then.
I'm pretty happy so far, but I really dislike the solid motor & transmission mounts. when the car is in drive, A/C on, he car vibrates. i'm wondering if I shouldn't have used a "trimmed" stock SN95 K-member, but no, I had to be different and use the tubular style.
hope all goes well for you guys with the brakes & carbs, just keep those odometer's spinning.

Wow, 8 inches!

Yeah, the rotors are ventilated. I've been buying Motorcraft stuff from Rock Auto for the Lincoln, but I went with Duralast from Auto Zone for the Zeph. At least they're consumable parts, and I can go back to Ford parts next time if I want. I used to feel loyalty to Auto Zone because the manager there used to hook me up occasionally. That manager has since moved on, so I guess the only reason I still go there is because it's the closest auto parts store. The vast majority of the time they don't have what I need on the shelf. O'Reilly is actually better for that because if they don't have it, they can usually get it the same day. Never happens with Auto Zone. The problem with O'Reilly though is, they have a habit of losing orders when I need something they have to get from the factory or a more regional warehouse. I'll call and ask what's going on with my part, and they'll have no record that I ever ordered it. Awesome. I do like Napa, but they ticked me off recently too for some reason I can't remember now, haha.

Why did you use solid mounts? Isn't that generally a race car thing? I steered clear of solid or urethane where I could and stuck with rubber.