August 22, 2006

Update 2: Sacramental Mustang

With ease and care, the engine came together. This part was especially hard, because it was oily and everything had to be lined up just right.

This is an amazing improvement over how horrible it looked when I cracked it open. No more crust!!!

The oil pump and timing chain went on next. Also, I put the Trick Flow Cam, stage 1 in it.

Everything finally lined up after several hours of working with the bearing and caps, and also the rod caps. It took a while, but after I realized what I had done wrong, it was an easy fix.



You can see in the pic on the right, I got the water pump installed, then went to work on the ARP head studs. In this pic the head gasket is on wrong, but luckily I got that before any thing was final.

Next, It was time to put the heads on, test for clearance, take them back off. I used good old Orbit gum to test clearances.





The heads are a much improvement over the stock E7's. These are the Edelbrock Performer RPM's, with 1.6 FMS rocker arms. It took a bit of elbow grease to get the bolts down to spec, but these jokers shouldn't be going anywhere.

Next, I had to bolt on the intake and get some higher valve covers to clear the rockers.











The covers will add a cool effect inside the engine bay. Maybe after it's running for a while, I'll paint the upper plenum to match.

Before I could bolt up the transmission, I decided to look inside and make sure there was no build up or excessive wear. Also, I wanted to change the speedo gear to help with the 3.73's in the rear end. Unfortunately, I took it apart and put it together 3 times. It took a while to diagnosis the problem, but I fix it after a call to a T5 expert.
This little yellow gear on the back is what drives the speedo cable. with the change it should be a lot more closer than it would have been.





Finally, I got the tranny and started bolted onto the engine. I also decided to go with a Ram HD clutch, new throw-out bearing, and pilot bearing.


I got my wife to help push in the car, as i guided and put the engine in the bay. It was a little difficult putting it in with the tranny attached, but much easier than it would have been to go underneath with the tranny.





After much manipulation and my wife's pushing the car, we got the engine in.

Last night I put fluid in the engine and tranny, plugged in some things, and bolted down the engine. Now all that's left is bolting on what I can of the exhaust (the driving it without mufflers to a shop to get them welded on), bolt in the shifter and center console (I'll get some interior pic's up later), and plug in a few more wires. Oh yeah, then there's the whole deal of getting insurance, registrations, and passing inspection...the emphasis being on passing...or maybe the emphasis should be on getting it running period.

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