2015 Project Thread!

I'm hoping there is a noticeable change in the way it runs now with the new heads and the intake. it's got to pull a few more horses. you may find you have to take it to a tuner to get the most out of it. a guy at the dealership built a Honda motor and put a turbo on it, , when he took it to the tuner it ran like a rocket, and they guy put all the info on cd and also has a portion of the disc where he can do minor tunes on his own for different driving conditions, if he wants a full sack of balls or wants to go to Tucson, it's pretty cool. now that he's got it running correctly, he hardly drives it.
yeah both times I got chosen for specialist training when I worked at Toyota it was due to disputes between the manager and the prima-donna techs. I suppose I was just lucky for getting electrics and manual boxes. it was shaky at first and the older guys wanted to see me struggle or fail. both instructors were super cool and made sure you knew the deal, and left a contact # for advice.
I saw the other guy here in town with the Fairmont the other day, he has a lower engine knock that he's worried about. i'm going to see if anyone has a engine, but it doesn't look good, people just don't have them or let them go anymore. the 5.0 is a robust little engine, that in my opinion is far better than a chevy 350, I see blown 350's all the time, but rarely a blown-up 5.0. it has it's issues like the frt cover leaking coolant at the water pump bolts, however I don't see a 5.0 smoking unless it's got a ton of miles on it and just plain worn out....

Yeah, I'm expecting more kick in the pants for sure. stock for stock, the Cobras had 30 more horses than the GTs back then. I'm still planning on bringing it to the guy who did my heads next year to have him rebuild the shortblock, cam and tune it. We're looking at a custom cam, I guess. Sounds good to me, haha. And he will get one of those kits for tuning the EEC-IV ECM. It should be really cool. I thought about stowing my ECM now that I have more slack in the wiring to work with, but decided I should just leave it accessible until that's done. I'm thinking though, if I do a compression test and it comes out okay, I might just slap new rings and bearings in it myself, and skip his rebuild. We'll see.

Other Fairmont guy could always start trolling the junkyards for an Explorer engine. They're certainly plentiful up here!

it so funny how we think alike, year fresh rings fresh bearings/seals. why spend the money if it isnt needed. I love horsepower/torque and i dont always have the patience for a cloth job. The little 5.0 sure delivers. but on the other side of the coin, you gotta think about the future. I would love to drop some serious cash into an engine, but the rest of the car has to be ready to deliver as well, but I like to have fun, so which hand fills up first.......I've seen some pretty beasty engines built from crap that performed quite well, they may not spin @ 8000 rpm, but they do deliver satisfaction.
for the long run in my opinion, the 5.0 has the balls and durability it needs to last fo years, why would I need a forged crank etc, the only known problem with the 5.0 was the block splitting in the valley if they were switched over to a 347 & sprayed. I like a smoothish running engine that will lay down some rubber when called upon, I don't want a temperamental anorexic narcissist that's always menstruating.Hell; i'd be willing to hold the PCM if I had to.

Yeah, after it gets freshened next year, I see no reason at all why I should need to mess with the engine again for a long, long time. And maybe many years down the road, if the Zeph does get a Coyote, the old school 302 could go into something else like a white LTD wagon with green cloth interior. I may even revisit the IRS one day, who knows.

I spent a whole day doing stupid odds and ends on Tuesday. Masking and painting my GT40P heads, fixing my stupid power lock problem, installing my Explorer driveshaft and moving some fuel lines... I may get some time to FINALLY put the center console back in, along with all the crap that goes along with that today, and then I can start on the head swap this weekend.

i sent a set of heads off to the new machine shop the other day, they came back looking as good as new, they were so clean, I thought they were someone else's, except who would be working on a 20 year old engine but me?????/ I get stuck with the 3.8 engines because nobody else wants to do them if they have a leaking front cover because they tend to blow up if you don't get all the crud out and dont prime the oil pump properly.
I have no idea how they cleaned them, but they were spotless, however they were aluminum.
did the driveshaft fit ok?
i'm glad you are getting some stuff done. are you going to replace the frt cover timing chain gasket when you do the heads? seems like now is the time to do it while its down.

Haha, I wouldn't want to mess with one of those 3.8s either. I'd go back to the customer and say junk the thing, hahaha. AXODs either. I always cringe when I see a post about someone having a problem with a Windstar or Taurus from that era.

Yeah, the driveshaft fits good! I think the shaft itself is pretty much the same length as the one I took out. It is fatter though. Do you think the driveshaft will move side to side at all? The fuel lines are still pretty close to it farther down. I just moved them from where they would touch with up and down motion. I did the best I could without re-doing the whole mess from scratch.

I'm not going to "open up" more than I have to. I'm always worried I'm going to put it back together worse than when I started, haha. The short block will be getting some attention next year anyway.

Well, compression test failed with flying colors, haha. Cylinders 6 and 7 are not pulling their weight, both having readings in the 50s. The rest were in the 120-130 range though, so not bad otherwise (I think).

That may explain why it never seems to run that well, no matter what I do, and always starts hard. I think in light of these new findings, I'm going to have the thing professionally rebuilt next year. I'd hate to miss something like a cracked block or something. Oh well. I'm looking forwards to it purring like a kitten when it's all said and done though!

I did the tear down today. Heads removed and everything. I'll start the re-assembly tomorrow.

i'm hoping that the low compression numbers were with the old heads.....cracked blocks are usually associated with water in the coolant & smokey exhaust.

Yeah, that could be. I hope so too, haha.

My work was stalled yesterday because it turned out the head bolts are torque to yield and need to be replaced. I didn't know they started doing that so early on. I thought it was something that came along when they started doing aluminum heads, like with the 4.6. Guess not though. So, now we wait for new head bolts to show up. And it had also turned out that I had only ordered one head gasket, so I had to go back and do that. And then today, I was looking at the online description for the head bolts I had ordered (since I don't have them yet), and they only package enough to do one head! So I had to do a rush order for a second box! Stupid. Who only does one head at a time?!

So now we wait until I'll have more time on Thursday. The show I want to make it to is Sunday. It just wouldn't be right if I wasn't down to the wire, I guess.

that is kinda weird, 1 head gasket & 1 set of bolts, I didn't think they came that way. that must be what they call "baiting" when they offer lower prices and give you less than you need.

Yeah, that sounds about right. Next day I'll have some time is Thursday. So, I'm sitting here biting my nails wanting to get out there, haha.

did you try using the carborundum stone and WD40. if you did , did  you notice how smooth the block became after using it.
I hate working against the clock, so I know how you feel. but I also know how it would feel to pull up at the car show listening to some cool music.
I wanted to cruise to the company picnic in the red one a couple of years back, but we were too far behind due to the weather.
i wish you luck in achieving your goal for the weekend, but there are plenty of cars shows you can participate in when you are up & running.
my friend has three nationally recognised 65 mustangs, two are enclosed in a trailer and one in a garage, he does his mustang shows and does judging. you should see what he pays for an oil filter!
it's funny really, these cars are allowed to have small leaks, because once the engine is disturbed it goes down in grading.
it's amazing how much difference the color of a valve cover can affect rartings & worth.
I joke with him when I say that I always see mustangs as parts cars.

Yeah, I used that stone, but I didn't get too aggressive with it. It knocked the rust off below where the head sits, and I think did a bit more. The surface seems pretty nice and smooth.

I'm hoping I have enough time. I actually have about 2 and a half days as things stand now to do it. Someone who knows what they're doing could do what I need to do in just a few hours, but it's my first time, so I'm allowing plenty of time. I really hope I don't hit any roadblocks, but I should have the time to address them. That is, unless I need parts.

All my GT40 stuff has been painted and prettied up, so I can't wait to see it all together. My engine bay should look awesome when it's done. But not too awesome, no chrome or after markety looking things, haha. My shorties are even black so they look stock.

Yeah, I don't really understand the appeal of having a concours type car. You'd be afraid to touch it let alone DRIVE the thing! Just seems like a waste. Especially a super-common car like a '65 Mustang. Call me crazy, but I like my cars for driving.

Your comment about seeing Mustangs as parts cars really make me laugh though. Hahahahaha!!

Don't keep worrying about putting your heads on. All you will be doing is bolting them down, and torqueing them and if required torque to yield. They are john-proof, in fact I did a set a couple of weeks ago, and they still didn't fall off. Just make sure you lay the gaskets down with the front facing forward.
Then you lay the intake gaskets down against the heads, get shod of those crappy cork gaskets for the lower intake & throw a good bead of sealer across the block in the frt & back and follow the torque sequence for the lower intake. You’ll be done with these two operations in less than 2 hrs even if you go at a snails pace.
Think of all the mods you have done in the past, now some of that was HARD……this is just work that would be done by an apprentice. You have nothing to fear, just think if it was my car, you’d probly have it done in 45 mins. You can do this even in a stupor. You really can’t mess this up unless you forget to lay the head gaskets on the block before you put the heads down…..once this beast of labor & love is throwing shreds of rubber onto the quarter panels, you’ll have forgotten about this task and will be looking forward to a real challenge.
I think ol’ mike is holding on to these cars for his retirement, they really are incredible, however at the end of the day what purpose other than “ownership” do they serve. I’d burn the f>>>ing tires off these one tire fire bar-stewards have a few photos taken and ship’em off to a good home, buy a coyote and fit it into the red one. Now a 67 mustang with a 4 valve 4.6…….I like the 67, but the 4.6 4 valve would fit nice & snug between the Fairmont’s shock towers. He’s lucky to have these cars really, and they are documented, but why??????
Back in the day we had summer engines, beat the hell out of them all summer, and then redo them in the winter, pull the heads. Lay them on the floor, pistons on a paper bag, crank in the trunk etc. they were always breaking or wearing out, over revved missed shifts etc nowadays the, oil is much better (and thinner), fuel injection makes them last longer, bearings are better, they have rev limiters, so in reality they last longer and burn less oil.
I love the sound of an 8 cylinder symphony, if it blows, I really don’t care, I may get pissed, but at least I was having a blast.
You’ll be just fine when you find that posi unit still works………

Yeah, I think I'm feeling pretty good about doing the job. I've had plenty of time to get used to the idea of doing something new.

Summer engines, that's funny. People spend so much money on performance parts these days it's hard to imagine.

That traction lok had better still work! It's brand new! haha

i don't like doing some jobs, but other guys think they are gravy & vice versa. you'll be just fine. if you want to have some real stress, try to put the SN95 dash in your car with no engine to use as a reference for making the steering shaft fit!!!!!! I cant remember how many times I wanted to just quit.

Yeah, this isn't really a job where you need to solve problems like that, I suppose. I've done plenty of things on my Zeph too where I needed to do that. I remember back when I had my '87 Mustang and I went to swap pedals for the first time. That must've taken me MONTHS because it was just such a pain. I'd fight with it for a while, and then wouldn't touch it for like a week, haha.

I got my heads on. I did have a few issues. First one of the head gaskets was a little bent from shipping. The metal insert that goes around the combustion chamber needed to be hammered flat. I really hope that'll be okay. There is a crapload of clamping force on it though, I guess. Next was doing the whole torque to yield thing. The replacement bolts I got are stock replacement, so I needed to do that. I wasn't really happy with it at that moment, wondering whether the bolts were evenly tight or not, but I'm feeling a bit better about it today.

I SHOULD be able to finish today, I think. Once I get the intake on, I should be all in familiar territory, so it should go quickly from there.

well it certainly looks clean! are you going to do the cover now or wait. don't forget to use sealer instaed of those crappy cork or rubber intake gaskets on the end pieces of the block, about 1/4 in bead should do it just fine. Will never leak.

I got a pretty nice Felpro set that has rubber end seals that attach pretty well. The front one did still move on me though, somehow. Oh well. It's put together now, haha. I'm going to wait on the front cover seal. It will come off for the cam swap next year either way.

I had to really wrestle with my off road h-pipe. it's 3" I think, so it doesn't fit very well past the aftermarket k-member. I'd forgotten you really need to unbolt it everywhere and position the passenger side flange to the header FIRST, and then work from there. Then you have to try and position it so that it's not touching the k-member. Ugh. I think I might try to find a smaller one that fits better. The rest of my exhaust is only 2 1/2" anyway. I only have that h-pipe because I got a good deal on it, haha. May not have been worth it. Anyway, so that took up way too big a chunk of my day yesterday. I got the lower intake on, and most of what goes along with that. I should be able to finish today. I HOPE. that show I want to make is tomorrow.

good, sounds like a lot of progress. you may as well get the battery charger doing its job so when you are ready to crank the engine over, you wont have to wait
what oil do you use, I use Valvoline in everything except the red one, which I use Motorcraft oil. I always use OEM oil filters, they seem to go longer without leaking, I don't use the "F" filters on anything.
I hope you burn some gasoline today.

Haha well, the engine is pretty much assembled now. I tried cranking it, but I'm pretty sure I totally messed up where the distributor belongs, so I need to start over with that. But by that point, I'd been working on the thing for like 7 hours with no break and no meals, so I was done for the day, haha. It'll miss that show today, but the really important one isn't until NEXT weekend, and I'll have some time off in between, so it should work out fine.

I always use the ol' FL1A, and then whatever oil is cheap. It's Duralast this time. Maybe I'll be more particular after the rebuild.

I discovered the legendary plug fitment problems with GT40P heads. I had the wife pick up some plugs for me (since they are different than HO plugs), and she had the good sense to get Motorcraft. Even with the nice fitting Ford Racing shorty headers, you cannot get any kind of tool on the #4 plug. I'll need to cut open a plug socket to be able to get on it or something. She got platinum plugs, so I'd rather use all of them since they are not cheap, and they will last a long time. Some guys get shorty plugs just for the problem cylinders.

I'm going out of town tonight for a few days. It'll probably be a good thing to take a break from the car. I've been going hard on it for 3 days in a row.

Well, I got it to run yesterday. I've got a lot of trouble shooting left to do though. it idles like crap, and the timing is way off.

No signs of major leaks or problems like that yet though.

that was a quick vacation...... anyway get the timing set and don't forget that the coolant has to circulate around the coolant temp sensor, also now that you are running all 8 cyls, it may take a few mins to relearn, all vacuum hoses intact/plug wiring correct/egr not leaking/airflow meter hooked up to air filter.......

Yeah, I'm going to mess with the timing today and see what I can do with it. Right now it seems to run best with it set at like 50 or 60 degrees BTDC.

I discovered though that the calibration tube in my C&L MAF is wrong for my 24# injectors, so that mostly explains why it's running like crap. Then I found out, that C&L and their great customer service has gone under. Fortunately, it looks like MAC makes calibration tubes that will work in C&L MAFs, and they're not that expensive. I've found some shaky evidence though that the tube I think I need, isn't the one I need. They could just be mistakes or accidental omissions, but that scares me a little. Things just can't be easy, can they?

how did it run with the upper intake before you replaced the heads.
i'm pretty certain you pulled the spout connector out before you set the timing. are you sure all the vacuum lines are intact, especially the fuel pressure regulator. remember the pressure regulator should have vacuum at idle. you may also want to check the canister purge valve to make sure it is not leaking and drawing a vacuum. I had a bad fuel pressure regulator that was drawing fuel thru the vacuum line, and it ran rather poorly.
ive never heard of a vacuum tune in the MAF causing a problem, disconnect the sensor wiring and see what happens.