2014 Projects Thread!

when I changed over to the AJE cross member, that's the way it comes, it's built that way. so far as the transmission mount is concerned, I used a thin mount out of an older Crown Vic but it had a rubber mounted transmission cross member similar to the one used on the fox body.
our local non genuine parts stores will not order a part unless you pay for it up front, then you have a receipt with an invoice #. I was changing the timing belt on my wife's Toyota last summer and I needed an oil pump seal, they said they had one and it was on the way, so I waited and waited, no call, then the said they didn't have it, so I put the car back together and drove it to the store to pre-pay, only to find it was on the shelf. excuse after excuse, I even gave them the part#.....I was livid, however I bought the seal and removed the belt again so I could change the oil seal. I must say that was an isolated incident, and as I know all of the people there; I will continue to utilize them. if it were to happen too often,sometimes it's best to vote with your feet and write the company under the " contact us" section. I don't have the time to "price shop" unless I think there MAY be a significant price difference, even then; most parts stores will price match.
I like the idea of ventilated rotors, they last and run true for a longer time. I think the cobra rotors will exchange with the standard GT rotors, but they use thinner pads.

Yeah, I don't take the time to price shop either. The main reason I ever use Rock Auto is because they carry Motorcraft, and for times when I don't need the part that quickly.

Yeah, I've heard that about Cobra rotors too. My Lincoln brakes were missing the plastic slide guide/seal things, and the anti-rattle spring. I really hope adding them back will make the pads wear evenly, and not try to pull the rotor off when I hit the brakes. I bought the "hardware kit" which came with that stuff, so I'm hopeful.

I was able to redo the Merc badge on the Mustang steering wheel now, and I'm pretty happy with how it turned out. So, I'm off the T-bird steering wheel thing for now, haha.

well done on the mercury badge! did you have to do any cutting? now you can get on with finishing the brakes.
I didn't know Rock did Motorcrap parts, I know that the Ford dealers do a 2 year warr on most parts, does Rock offer the same?
are you going over to your buds place to get the carb sorted out? a lot of folks are using the Edelbrocks now where it used to be Holley, and as there is a good difference in price, I'd go with the Edelbrock myself. over here we have a problem with dirt getting into the carbs as well as the elevation issues.
I'm hoping we can go out somewhere this weekend just to get away depending on the rain. I sold a bunch of radiators off for scrap, or I could wait till next week when I get rid of the wheels, intakes & valve covers. I like burning gasoline and seeing different things once in a while.

Brad, I have the Taurus fixed!!!!!!! I had to replace all the injectors!! took me 45 min.s including the 15 min test drive.

I order ALL my parts from RockAuto. Way cheaper and I usually plan ahead any how so waiting for the parts are not a big deal. They have great brake pads/rotors/and hardware kits for cheap. High performance ceramic pads and you can up grade to slotted and or cross drilled rotors for not much more. I have then on all my cars and truck.

I like NAPA.....but only the one in Faribault MN. ......the rest seem to have idiots with no knowledge whats so ever. Auto Zone owns Car Qwest, so they have a ware house in Lakeville Brad.

That's so awesome! You've been fighting with that Taurus for years, it seems like!

Yeah, I had to cut a round hole in the rubber for the Merc badge. It was hard! haha. Really no easy way to do that I know of. I don't think a hole saw would have worked in that case, haha.

When my new Motorcraft shock in the Aviator went bad, I contacted Rock, and they said something about a 1 year warranty. They sent me a new one no questions asked and postage to return the bad one. I couldn't complain!

Auto Zone may have a warehouse in Lakeville, but it doesn't help them get stuff any quicker. It's annoying. It's always the next day unless they're just getting it from the Bloomington store.

I got out to a car show at the local Ford store today, so that was fun. Didn't have to burn much gasoline to get there though, it was just down the street. I like touring around too though. I look forward to doing that in my Zeph with the whole family soon.

Aaaaaaaand my alternator crapped out. Went to roll the car out to show Eric, turned the key, and nothing.

Shockingly enough though, Auto Zone had it on the shelf!

sounds like rock auto has it's stuff together. so does AutoZone own all the car quest's or just in your area? we used to have a car quest, but they were bought out by Merles.
we had a small car show this year at our dealership sponsored by the local Mustang club, there were quite a few interesting cars from out of town, including a barn-find 64 1/2 mustang owned by a young lady. it made me shiver with it's generator and hub caps.....just like out of the show room.
sucks when something goes wrong and prevents you from going somewhere, when I first got the 4.6 running, it ran fine for a while, then various sensors started to drop out, O2's, IAT, canister flow sensors ect, then the speed control servo dumped out . I suppose that was because the car sat for so long, so far the alternator and starter have held up ok. I think I'm done for now. I kinda expected something to drop-out; but not that much! now I carry a cheapo code reader, I hated seeing the check eng light come on and not knowing what the problem was.so if you don't want ay problems with the check eng light, just carry a scanner, every since I started to carry it in the console, I haven't has a check eng light come on... I never really had any problems with the 5.0;other than resealing it before I put it in. only the lower intake gasket dumped. it came out of a running car.
how much time do you guys have left before you have to store them away for the winter?
haven't heard anything from FOX 81 lately, hope he made some progress, it should run like a rocket hen he's done.

I am not sure how much of Carquest's they own or how far out our region. I wouldnt dought Merles is the owner for ours too.....
Brad Im glad thats all it was. Nice easy fix. Would have been great to see it up close better or even for a ride. But I know how it goes.
I have not touched mine yet. Still busy but today I think I can pull the carb off. Just sucks being laid off...lots of time but no cash to spend.

Yeah, so far the battery is holding up, but I don't know if I trust it. Seems like once these Duralast batteries are drained like that, it's not long before they are toast. I'll get it load tested and see what happens. I might try and get my money back if it's bad.

I put my brakes together, but I still have a dragging caliper. SIGH. I'm going to try messing with the parking brake cables so they're not tugging quite so hard on the caliper. I'll bet that's what's causing it. These stupid Lincoln calipers have more freedom to float around than I would like.

Great you had to replace all those sensors. I'm sure that was fun. I'm sure I'll have mine "out" until there's snow on the ground and the roads have been salted. Some nut jobs put them away far earlier than that just in case, but I see no need for that. For me it'll probably be well into November.

Well i took the carb apart. I found a lot of crap in there do to the shitty fuel. I also found my floats way out ajustment. They were set from Edelbrock....guess i learned to check them if i ever buy a new carb from any one.
So i have my fuel issue fixed the fuel filter actually fills up now all the way like it should.
I believe i have the timing off by one tooth.I am getting back fire through the carb.So when i get back from camping i will check that.

It's cool you found evidence your suspicions were correct. I don't get that most of the time. I just take things apart and put them back together and hope for the best.

You're not talking about cam timing are you?

Right now I'm avoiding being frustrated by my STUPID brake problem by dreaming about swapping in LEDs, at least into my instrument cluster. I'm also considering doing the turn signals and brake lights. It bugs me that my turn signal clicker sounds "old". haha

Think my new distributor is off a tooth. So just need to make sure. Then see if i can tune it in.
Did you try any more on adjusting your parking brakes?

Yeah, I popped the cables out of the brackets attached to the calipers and they snapped back. Clearly tugging too hard on the caliper. I think I'll replace the rotor on the one side that got really hot, but try and let it ride with the same pads. Anyway, now, I need a new way to retain the brake cables adjacent to the calipers. I can't just leave them floating there. I'm thinking of trying to find some kind of metal sleeve (because that was so easy to do the last time... ), but that still wouldn't hold it in there. I think I have to make yet another custom bracket.

My life would be so much easier if I could weld and had a welder.

I have a welder! I maybe able to help.

Probably won't get the chance to do anything with it until this Friday. I may not need a welder for this job, but I WILL need one when the time comes to do the seat braces.

I'll keep you in the loop about the brake cable brackets. I may be able to do them in a way that I can bolt them on.

I did the passenger seat foam today. And Linda pitched in and fixed the ripped headrest upholstery! Productive day! The new seat foam really takes my interior up a notch. I'm pretty sure I need new carpet now, haha!

wowzer; you guys have been busy! get that carb back together, I need to hear some good news! I had some nasty jobs this week, F150 with a knocking cam drive system, the tensioners were bad, and the chain rubbed into the frt cover, somebody worked on it before and used cheapo parts, long story short, if you ever own one of the 3 valve F150, use genuine parts to fix it along with genuine oil & filter, or you can cause a lot of trouble. cheapo VCT solenoids don't wok properly & Thicker oil don't fix the problem! then I had a ranger with an evap problem that will hold .20 pressure for 1/2 hour or longer but not .20 vacuum for 30 seconds, thankfully we have a good smoke machine. still not fixed.
tank is full on the Fairmont, so I'm trying to find a good spot to go for a coffee and an ice cream, may go to Bisbee or somewhere further, I just want to get away; I need a break. I ran out of time to wash it yesterday, so we'll be traveling in "stealth mode". it would be nice just to get away, good coffee & ice cream is just about the same every where, but it always tastes better away from home even if it's the same brand.

Man, from what I've heard, I wouldn't own a 3-valve F150 anyway.

Nothing like a nice road trip. Sometimes I crave just staying in a hotel, just for a change of scenery, haha.

Gotta get my stupid brakes sorted out though, the car's still torn apart for that, and do some more testing to make sure the fuel system is okay. May need some injectors before we're done fighting with it. I've replaced just about everything else...

bingo, a hotel is always a great escape! whats wrong with the injectors, are you over/under-fueling?
yeah, 3 valves are ok, you just have to do regular maintenance; no cheap oil & filters.
I've given up on the idea of the chevy 350 engine swap; I'll do something else later, for sure, the Chevy eng & trans is in good shape, but i'm focusing on the Focus with a v-6 right now, I found an escape going cheap, needs a transmission, a guy at work has a sister who wants to let loose of it. I cant believe what people are asking for a focus.......I may have to go with a ranger, even those aren't cheap, only time will tell.

The carb is back on...just thinking time is off a touch.
Brad.....maybe its time to up grade them brakes....wink wink....for your families safety....wink wink.
Dad has that f 150 it needs a lot of work.

I think my air/fuel ratio is okay, but my fuel pressure always bleeds off after I turn the car off. I had just decided not to worry about that and focus on the smell. So I have to cycle the key a few times before I start it, I could live with that. The fuel pump is new and the regulator is used, but it's a quality brand, Aeromotive. Pressure can bleed off through a leaky injector and that can cause a fuel smell too. There's that, and the fact that I've never touched them. They are no doubt original, and this engine could have 154,000 miles on it or even 254,000, I don't know.

I like that my rear brakes have vented rotors. It's getting to the point though I think my life would be a whole lot easier if I went to an SN95 setup. No way I'm buying one of those crazy Wilwood or Baer setups. Those are outrageous expensive.

The car's been starting hard all year this year too. once I get fuel pressure up by cycling the key, it still takes a couple of attempts to get it going. It'll start, hiccup, and die. No reason that should be the case with EFI. I found some 24# injectors for cheap I'm going to go pick up tomorrow. I already have a C&L MAF set up for 24# injectors left over from when I first got the car. It just had it on there. I didn't even know it was there. I have a stock MAF on it now from when I was trying to solve my idle problem.

I also bought a big honkin' cable crimper. I bought an intermediate cable from an '81 Cougar XR7, the Fox body with the longest wheelbase. I'm assuming it will be too long, so now I can cut it down and crimp on a new end. Anyway, that should alleviate the pressure on the calipers and hopefully my stupid brakes just work the way they're supposed to after this. What a concept. I got a new cheapie rotor too to replace the one I cooked. I'll get good ones after these wear out, and I'm sure they're not going to get wrecked.

the most common cause of fuel pressure bleeding off is a bad check valve inside the fuel pump itself, the leak-down times can be different, depending on how bad the leak is. this is usually caused by dirt, and you did have a dirty tank. have you ran injector cleaner thru your system?? it may not clean the pump, but usually cleans the pintles on the injectors.
The fuel injectors can leak down, but it would almost certainly cause a hydro-lock  or harsh single cylinder misfire if just one injector is bleeding down, if there are multiple injectors leaking the bleed-down time would certainly lessen, but would be unlikely.
Here’s a easy way to figure out if an injector is leaking into the cylinders. Get the engine good and warm, so all the plugs are dry & clean, take a drive, enjoy yourself, and blow the doors off a Camaroe or monte-carlowe with a loud exhaust and chrome wheels. Clean all the rubber from the rear quarter panels prior to returning home.  Next; ENJOY the evening with the family, and express you pleasure about reaping the fruits of your labor by dispatching the GM (Government Motors) examples. Just have some good old fun time. Secretly you’ll be letting the car cold-soak overnight.
After a good cold soak, crank the engine until it starts, no key cycling, just crank till it starts. Listen to the engine, due to low fuel pressure it will naturally misfire for a second or 2, however you’ll be listening for a steady/rhythmic misfire, this could certainly be related to a leaking injector, but could also be a bad plug, wire cap ETC. no steady misfire….no bad fuel smell: good. 30 seconds of idle running is long enough. Pull the plugs, look for black ones that smell like fuel.
With all the plugs out and a battery charger hooked to the car, hook up your fuel pressure gauge. Put your keys somewhere safe, because you do not want to cycle the ignition until later. Find the fuel pump relay, (green relay if its stock relay) remove this relay from the connector and short the fuel pump wires with a fused jumper  wire to fire off the fuel pump. Take a 10 minute break, this will leave the fuel pump in full pressure mode, all injectors are closed allowing the fuel pump regulator to do its job. Check the fuel pressure and make a note. Remove the fused jumper wire before crawling under the car or inspecting for leaks.
Visually inspect all the joints/connections in the fuel lines from the rear of the car all the way up to the fuel rails, look for dampness or smells. The tops of the injectors have the same seals as the lower part of the injectors; however the tops are where the pressure is contained. Any dampness noted? Any smells? As the plugs are removed; any injector leakage should be apparent.  No smells or dampness, good. Has the fuel pressure dropped on the guage? Remember the plugs are out so there should be a smell if an injector is leaking.
Sometimes a fuel injector may hold pressure under FULL pressure, but may weep at a LOWER pressure.generally speaking, a fuel injector will bleed off at a slow rate. The fuel pump check valve will bleed down faster.
No smells, no leaks, and if the pressure has dropped off to zero or very low, look at the pump itself.
Just a question: Is it possible Aeromotive got it’s AERO part of the name from “throwing it” I might be wrong.
Put the plugs and relay back in, and on the way back from buying a replacement fuel pump,  think about having a great day.
is there enough room to use a common bolt type cable clamp on the longer parking brake cable?
I was wondering if you could use the cable casing you already have with the longer cable core from the cougar? reason being it would be adjustable in case you make a mistake and get it too tight or loose before the final crimping.
good luck.

The reason I don't think it's the pump is, I've replaced it already. I know that's not a guarantee, but I replaced my original SEFI Mustang pump with a new one trying to address this very thing years ago, and it didn't make any damn difference. I put the Aeromotive regulator in for the same reason. I do still have my original one though.

But it's not impossible, depending on where exactly that check valve is, that I damaged it trying to fit it to the LTD sender body. I really really really don't want to pull the tank out again though, so we're trying injectors, haha. Also, I had been thinking for a while that getting some 24 pounders would be a nice complement to the Explorer intake. More air, more fuel. I won't be putting them in though until I get the intake cleaned up and ready to install, which it is not. Thanks for the test procedure. I'll do it if I get the chance.

That's a good idea though using a cable clamp, at the very least for mock-up. The one I'm replacing though doesn't have a casing, it's just a bare cable. It's the one that zig zags though that thing that pivots when you put the brake on.

sorry; I forgot you still have the pedal operated parking brake, I've changed my stuff out so many times, I forget what they came with. good luck on the bleed-down, however; pressurizing the fuel system to find s leak is your best bet, it wont hurt to let the pump run all day if needed, that's the purpose for the battery charger.

I thought I had a bleed down in my wife's Taurus. I even had the dealer tell me it was too.So I pulled them all out with fuel rails and zip tied them to stay in place. Then pressurized them and let them sit and sit and well....sit. Nothing ....
So I replaced all of them and it was fixed. I am guessing the electrical side of the injectors went bad.
The car would start great first thing in the morning. The rest of the day it would start like crap. You would even get a fuel smell and a rough idle until it woke up.
I replaced everything fuel related and I tried cycling the key to pressurize the injectors. Still did nothing.
Now with New injectors the car starts perfectly every time.