Its certainly not the worst I've seen. My buddy's 79 F250 had half the (buss) fuses replaced with cut bolts or jumped with wires by the previous owner, and they had also run power for the gauges by wrapping wires around the bolts then putting them into the fuse block. It had a bunch of wires going nowhere as well just hanging live under the dash as well.
I've seen a winrar! My mates sisters bf had a 56 belaire. He did the mechanical on it. (including the 6-71 blower) He did the body work and paint job as well. Did a really nice job. Unfortunately he got his friend to do the wiring because he admitted he knew fuckall about electrics.
Anyways! I get this call to come over & have a look @ it because it wont start. I discover it has no spark through his leads. Hot wire the coil & the spark is there but nothing @ the ignition. Crawl under the dash to find a wall of nothing but red wire, of all the same size, connected to fucking everything. I asked him why is there only one wire size and color. His answer was "Because my mate only had one big roll & nothing else. :facepalm:
At some point I'm probably going to redo the motor mounts and alternator bracket in black. I'm not liking the blue so much anymore (plus, its the wrong shade of Ford Blue for my model), and also install the chrome Ford Racing valve cover as well.
She's looking sweet mate! Engine enamel is pretty hardy just needs a good prep and it normally lasts ages. If your after some ideas on ford motors and shit have a look on xfalcons.com it's an Aussie forum and man are there some crazy fords on there. Keep us posted on progress mate
That's a fine looking machine you've got there. Unfortunately, I don't know much about cars, but I do like the look of 'em! I hope it's going well for you man.
Another year gone and I'm not finished. Long days at work (peak time really wears on ya) are taking up the free time I had to work on this. One more week, and I'll have some time to work on all the projects piling up around here. The only thing I've had time to do was detail the interior about a month ago (dirt and dust everywhere, looked like the car had been sitting for 5 years), and I still didn't have time to do it well.
Somehow I managed to miss this thread entirely... But god damn it, I want that car. I've always been a fan of Mustangs, that exhaust you slapped on looks incredible. I really hope you get the time to get this project finished, such a nice looking car!
Wow, Ive been gone for like 2 years. Work is busy... Anyway, Updates: I got the car painted last year, installed the chrome valve cover, and last week I overheated the engine a little and popped the headgasket waiting to get into a car show, so the new head is finally going on (I didn't want to pull apart a perfectly running engine) and that should be finished by next weekend. I still haven't gotten the bumpers on yet but hopefully soon!
A couple pics
FuckMe!!!! That looks a lot different than the first post. :impressed: < We really need an emoticon for that shit! ...... TDR!! Emoticon management required. :cool:
Hmm... "Emotify " don't give us the option of choice. Perhaps they need to be changed through ftp. That would seem like a purdy dumb alternative for a forum. Even simplemachines bbs give you more control than that. :S
Thanks. The car is has been back up and running for a couple weeks. I also pulled off the alternator bracket and timing belt cover and repainted them too I think the black paint I used on the bracket is a little too shiny. What do you all think?
The engine bay is filthy right now but what did you have in mind / want a closer look at? These are the only other recent pics I have, from the same day as the engine bay pic above.
I just wanted to see how much space & clutter you had in there. Me personally! I would relocate most of the wiring, solenoid, spark module, etc behind the inner and outer gaurds.(Washer bottle& overflow if you can.) Lose the fan and fan shroud and replace it with a thinner aftermarket electric unit. (They're quite cheap.). Those old skool radiators also clean and polish up quite nicely with fine sandpaper and a bit of metal polish. Spray it with 2K clear and you're good to go. Some will say this increases heat under the bonnet but no more than chrome does. I'd also consider an electric 12v unit for the alternator, PS and waterpump because I hate lag on the crank. .... Unfortunately all of this takes a step away from it's classic & original state which I also happen to appreciate very muchly.
If you relocate the battery to the boot you could have a aluminium bottle in its place with the windscreen washer and coolant catch bottle combined. Would look very tidy
If you relocate the battery to the boot you could have a aluminium bottle in its place with the windscreen washer and coolant catch bottle combined. Would look very tidy
I got a update via email out of the blue haha thought this place was gone!
Gone, this place will never go away, even after I am ded, (I will make sure to have the transfer in place, place I got two dedicated guys that can continue running it) This is our home made, our little island on the big bad Internet. Family can always come back.
If you relocate the battery to the boot you could have a aluminium bottle in its place with the windscreen washer and coolant catch bottle combined. Would look very tidy
Wow, things look different here! The one thing I really want to clean up under the hood is the wiring. The wire looms are cracking and brittle, faded, and just plain ugly to look at. I can also apparently get rid of the voltage regulator altogether if I change to a 1 wire 3G alternator, and I have an MSD 6AL ignition box and distributor to still install (to match the coil and wires) so that would take care of the Duraspark module. I recently replaced the alternator with another stock rebuilt unit as the old one was only putting out 10 volts, but a 60 amp 1G alternator is a little on the low side for power output.. I need to check a wiring diagram and see what needs to be modified as there's a lot of weird lower voltage stuff (for instance the stock electric choke feed only puts out 8 volts and I had to run a separate wire to power the 12V choke on the 4160) that I have to ensure won't get burned out from the higher output of a 3G alternator. When I do finally go to paint the engine bay I'm going to plug weld all the unused holes, and change the layout of everything at that point.
If you relocate the battery to the boot you could have a aluminium bottle in its place with the windscreen washer and coolant catch bottle combined. Would look very tidy
I was actutally thinking about that! I'm not sure a battery box will fit without more modification though and my trunk still leaks a bit so I have to fix that first. As for aluminum fluid tanks those are pretty pricey and would be icing on the cake type stuff after the engine bay is restored. I could maybe relocate the washer fluid tank over to where the battery is but the coolant tank needs to be closer to the radiator.
Yep, engine bay needs some loving, a paint job would do wonders especially considering I can see rust.
A lot of the rust on the battery/passenger side is from when a battery boiled over and corroded everything. It actually needs a lot of work as the battery itself is hiding a ton of rust (another reason why I haven't tried relocating it yet, it looks horrendous underneath it)
An update: I finally installed the MSD Ignition system (coil, box and a recurved MSD distributor, I had an MSD coil already but it was the duraspark model and I had a new standard MSD coil id been trying to sell without any luck so I just swapped them) I've had put away for 2 or 3 years.. At the same time I also replaced the exhaust (with 2.5 inch all the way back, and we also added an O2 bung near the collector) as it had finally rusted out beyond simple repair. The engine ran incredibly lean afterwards(im thinking due to a weak stock ignition box as well as a restrictive exhaust the issue was masked a bit, and looking up inside the header it also showed discoloration consistent with 1500+ degree exhaust temperatures) so over a couple weeks Ive jetted it up 5 sizes and it runs better than ever! It still feels off a little bit so I need to hook up an air fuel ratio gauge to it and see exactly where how far off I am but Im pretty close to being satisfied with the tune, although I have a 4160 on it so Ive only been jetting up the primary side. the metering plates I need are obsolete from Holley so I essentially need to do a 4150 metering block conversion if I want to do anything on the secondary side which it seems I need to do as I smell a little on the rich side at idle/just off idle.
No, its a 390CFM (Holley list 6299-1) It was designed for 4 cylinder applications, and as such came stock with smaller (#50) jets on the primary side (currently #55), and a metering plate that is roughly the equivalent of #52 jets.
My current specs are a ford 2.3, block bored .050 or 060 over, aforementioned Holley 390CFM carb, Offenhauser dual port 4bbl intake, Boport stage 1.5 cam (no exact duration specs available but it is .436 lift, rpm range 3000 to 6500+) iron head with "big" 1.89" intake and 1.59 exhaust valves with double springs and a little smoothing done in the runners as well as unshrouding the valves. Exhaust ports are bored out from the bottom up to 1 5/16" . The header is from Speedway motors and has 1 5/8" to 1 3/4" stepped primaries into a 3" collector that is reduced down to 2 1/2" all the way to the muffler
Ignition is an MSD 40th anniversary 6AL box with 7000RPM rev limit, with Pro Billet distributor set at 18* initial and 36* total. Light blue advance springs for all timing in by 3000 RPM. Spark plug gap is set at .040
Hey! I remember the 390. We ran 2 of them in my mates 360ci because he was to tight assed to buy 2 new 4b for his tunnel ram. Now that ran lean! The throat note at idle from that direct connection cam of his sounded like, WTF,WTF,WTF,WTF.....
Fuck me! You've come a long way on that engine of yours dude. Nice ...
Comments
Anyways! I get this call to come over & have a look @ it because it wont start. I discover it has no spark through his leads. Hot wire the coil & the spark is there but nothing @ the ignition. Crawl under the dash to find a wall of nothing but red wire, of all the same size, connected to fucking everything. I asked him why is there only one wire size and color. His answer was "Because my mate only had one big roll & nothing else. :facepalm:
I just got a new header for the II. It has 1-5/8" to 1-3/4" stepped primaries with a 4 to 1 3" collector. This should really help with the top end!!!
Liking it so far. :thumbsup:
A couple pics
When I do finally go to paint the engine bay I'm going to plug weld all the unused holes, and change the layout of everything at that point.
I was actutally thinking about that! I'm not sure a battery box will fit without more modification though and my trunk still leaks a bit so I have to fix that first. As for aluminum fluid tanks those are pretty pricey and would be icing on the cake type stuff after the engine bay is restored. I could maybe relocate the washer fluid tank over to where the battery is but the coolant tank needs to be closer to the radiator. A lot of the rust on the battery/passenger side is from when a battery boiled over and corroded everything. It actually needs a lot of work as the battery itself is hiding a ton of rust (another reason why I haven't tried relocating it yet, it looks horrendous underneath it)
My current specs are a ford 2.3, block bored .050 or 060 over, aforementioned Holley 390CFM carb, Offenhauser dual port 4bbl intake, Boport stage 1.5 cam (no exact duration specs available but it is .436 lift, rpm range 3000 to 6500+) iron head with "big" 1.89" intake and 1.59 exhaust valves with double springs and a little smoothing done in the runners as well as unshrouding the valves. Exhaust ports are bored out from the bottom up to 1 5/16" . The header is from Speedway motors and has 1 5/8" to 1 3/4" stepped primaries into a 3" collector that is reduced down to 2 1/2" all the way to the muffler
Ignition is an MSD 40th anniversary 6AL box with 7000RPM rev limit, with Pro Billet distributor set at 18* initial and 36* total. Light blue advance springs for all timing in by 3000 RPM. Spark plug gap is set at .040
Fuck me! You've come a long way on that engine of yours dude. Nice ...
http://i86.photobucket.com/albums/k113/Mark_Taylor87/Car Pictures/Tech/11792138_10207397116225124_1625640290886786086_o_zpsgam5hmbb.jpg