Projects Im getting Married! Project 46 ford begins!

not the best picture but you get it

 

Nice Job Tim ,very nice.

 

120 mile round trip after work Wednesday night update:

Swapped the new correct starter in, didn't cause the noise to disappear. But it went on so ridiculously easy/fast that I wasn't to upset. Just one more new thing to not worry about later.

My friend Matt trouble shoots machinery every day all day at work so we set about figuring it out. Even pulled the belt to make sure it wasn't the water pump. Rolled it out side, put it up in stands and crawled all around using metal rod "stethoscopes" with out garage echoes etc.

I got under the car while it was running to make sure visually that the starter wasn't hitting anything and notice that from below I could tell that it was coming from the back of the passenger side head. Pulled the cover to confirm and also shortened the Allen bolts that hold the vc on to try and get them to seal better.

Felt silly chasing the noise around for days but glad I figured it out. Feel silly that it was a lifter haha.

Also tightened trans cooler lines and added additional clamps to them as I saw mokan wanted 2 per end. Hmm, what else, built a third member to support the alternator and get rid of some wiggling, drilled out my last rivit and replaced it with a bolt.

Got all jacked up on red bull to start in on brakes and found that the copper washers I got to seal up the caliper to rubber hose connection were a size to small so had to call it a night on the car. Stared at the ceiling for 3 hours after I got home lol I was ready to get brakes! Haha.

Upside the exhaust sounds just like I want and the more it runs the better it sounds. Must be clearing some cobwebs

 

quick update for my one day of work.

I got the new alternator bracket taken apart, painted and put back together with correct length bolts and lock nuts.

Swapped out a random bolt on the intake manifold that was obviously to long, not sure were that one came from to be honest.

put on some thicker valve cover gaskets as i was a little paranoid that the rockers could be rubbing a little on the end of the cover as the crown on the "new" covers is a little different than the squarer ones it had on it. this also seems to have stopped my leakage. the flange on the cover must not be as flat as id thought.

tightened the exhaust manifolds a good bit, i dont think ive found a bolt on this motor that was tight. makes me paranoid but ill knock on wood for now.

proper copper washers in hand i got the front rubber brake hoses sealed to the calipers, I then pumped the pedal a few times to check for leaks and found my wilwood residuals leaking like seives. i guess thats to be expected. just hopped id get some good ones. I have the correct adapter and everything on them. though i havnt locktite-d them or sylicon tapped them. you'd thing with a well known name they'd just make a product that you can use with out a bunch of band aids.

oh well, whatd i expect from speed way ill call ECI in the morning.

with no other leaks and a little bit of pedal pressure<-- tons of air but finaly getting something! i went ahead and cut up my new toe board to clear the new brake pedal. i made a card board template and checked it 3 or 4 times to be sure and what do ya know! seems to be right on the money and the slit i had to make isnt as gastly looking as id thought it might be.

i didnt get it screwed down because its a little easier getting to the mc with the toe board out but i did mock up my "problem solver" throttle pedal that i got from speedway as well. the cable supplied seems to be just the right length and everything looks good. the only problem i ran into with it is that its a firewall mount and it puts it about 4 inches to deep to realy reach it reasonably. i also notice with it mounted flush the slant of the toe board limits the pedals range of motion to about a half inch.

i didnt take any photos but what i ended up doing in building a mount for the gas pedal that spaces it out from the fire wall 4 inches out of about 1/4 thick steel. its pretty beefy and hopefully over kill but it should work spot on.

next weekend i hope to drill 2 more holes to install the pedal, bracket and all. swap residual valves and bleed the brakes, screw the floor in and go for a ride!

I noticed last week that i started this thread on aug 29th of last year while the car was being trailored to my working space so in the back of my head thats been the new goal date. i'll miss it by a couple days but lets blame it on the leap year?

 

No progress last weekend over labor day weekend, i ordered the ECI bits hoping they would show up in time but no dice there. guess i'm just spoiled by speedway taking less then 24 hours to get stuff to my door.

either way stuff showed up thursday so hopefully saturday night ill get the valves swapped in leak free and get the brakes bleed, the gas pedal bolted down and along with the floor and finaly drive the dang thing!

if everything went perfect id thrash on it saturday night, drive it the 6 miles into town, sleep, wake up and drive it around town for a little bit and then hit the highway for another 50 miles to the empty garage thats been waiting for it for months!

keep ya posted

 

Cool its getting close!

 

UPDATE coming soon with lots of words.

but until i get a minute to sit down....



IT DRIVES!

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video proof!

 

Alright so an update with words

Sarah and I headed north saturday after we were off work and figured we would make the best of our 1.25 days of work time on the ford. When we stopped off at my parents I grabbed the new ECI residual valves to replace the garbage wilwood ones and right off the bat I was impressed by how much more solid they felt.

I had called and ordered them a little over a week ago and told them the size of the brake line I was using but when I looked at them only one side was set up for me to just screw it in and the other side was a different fitting so i had to crawl under and cut my old flare off, swap fittings, and re flare. Not that big of deal but it took a minute.

after making a new tiny line a tinny bit longer then the old one from the prop to the new residual valve for the back I had it all screwed together and looking good. the only issue i had was it leaking a little from the smaller side of the fittings but i loosened it and tightened it up and it seems to be holding now.

With Sarah maning the pedal I found and tightened up any leaks, only found 1 at the junction box fitting on the rear end were it goes from rubber back to hard lines. Got the backs bled, the front tightened up and bled and then we went for lunch and came back and did them again. I think I'm going to pick up a long length of clear tube and hit them one more time next weekend, the pedal feels like a rock and everything seems to work just fine but its sure hard to see if there are any bubbles in a black hose that doesnt quite reach your catch bucket.

after a few roll and stop tests we started in on putting the new toe board in, i had previously cut it and felt all proud at my templating " measure twice cut once".... until i realized i had lined everything up off the wrong reference point, a little trimming and we were good to go. i had to use a big hammer and a LOT of force on the panel as its got the bend in the correct place but its not as sharp as it needs to be so i had to push the panel down in the crease to pull it into position, the rearward edge was nearly 3 full inches off untill i push it all around while Sarah got screws started. We got about 3/4 of them in today and figured it was close enough for the day.

that done i stuck the brake pedal pad on and mocked up the throttle with thew new bracket i talked about last update. I had to make sure i wasn't in the way of the cowl vent handle. got that all drilled and the bolts just hardly clear everything, the one on top is pretty close to the HEI cap but it doesnt seem to be pushing into it so i think itll be ok.

Cut a longer cable by 1/2 inch and threaded it in the sheath that came with the pedal and got it all bolted in and went for a ride!

I was so nervous I thought I'd fall down or puke hah, but it was fun and after roughly a mile run down theblack top i found my next list of stuff to mess with before i go any further.

tighten lug nuts! as soon as i got back out of the car i realised i had my front lug nuts past finger tight but not by much :S totaly spaced on tightening them down once it hit the ground. no repercussions got lucky but need to remember to do it.

i need to change my throttle linkage. i ran a cable to the carb but need to buy one of those cheesy looking brackets to hold the plastic in place. right now the tube is pulling a little to the side which doesnt cause bind, but it DOES pull the throttle open just a little. bad news. I also need to buy a bunch of springs for a better throttle return set up what i had on today just isnt going to work.

figure out how i leaking oil. it seems to be coming from the valve cover base even after putting fat gaskets on it and cranking them down? i also notice that it pushed the oil dip stick out. granted the cheapy mr gasket part never really fit that tight but i must have a fair amount of crank case pressure if im still pushing oil out with out it having to much oil in it. It had a pcv set up on it before i swapped valve covers ill prolly buy the bits to install one this week and pop some holes in the covers this weekend as well as a different dipstick and see what happens.

brakes, i step on the pedal and maybe 3 or so inches of travel later im stoped. doesnt feel spongy or anything so ill bleed again and see what, if anything changes. I noticed that the brake lights weren't lighting up so maybe i've got an air bubble somewhere as its an inline pressure switch.

in the video you can see me use my front blinker but the rear seems to not be working now, i think i snagged a wire messing with the floor and when it went back together maybe it didnt go to were it was supposed to or the connection isnt just right yet.

trans.

this ones two fold, its a supposedly fresh rebuild so that helps trouble shoot but im pretty sure i need more fluid. the dip stick said full but i think after running it threw the gears a bit it finaly pushed fluid into and threw the cooler and now its low, sounded like it was slipping some. a part of that could also be #2 fix it. my linkage from the stock shifter to the auto trans has some bugs for sure. when the car is parked on stands you can hear and feel the detents just fine and it stays in place but when driving it seems like it wants to come out of gear.

i think maybe this is in part because i didnt make the other lever on the colum locked out. my thinking was that i could put it in gear with the column shift and then let it drop back thus taking the weight of the shifter arm off the linkage and it would stay in gear with just the trans detents.

but i think when it drops back theres nothing realy keeping that lever in place and the vibration bounces it from spot to spot?

I'll have to hunt down a diagram of a 46 column shift set up and see what i need to do to isolate it to just the lever im using. i know ive seen one floating around online, hopefully that will put me back were i need to be as ive read of quite a few people running an auto with only the trans detents and no sort of column detent. im thinking part of the slipping pfeeling was it possible being bumped between detents/gears. guess ill put more fluid in and mess with it and find out.

over all nothing devastating, itll be alot easier to sort out driving it back and forth across the farm yard and once i get it to idle down via different throttle cable bracketing it should help alot. shifting into gear at a bit of high idle isnt good for anything.

oh, and i think ive got about 90% exhaust leak, in the video and towards the end of my farting around with it it seemed to be quiter but it feels like the flexpipe i used may as well be drilled with holes. another thing to play with i guess hah.

so other then aaaaaaaaaalll of that i got it to about 35/40 and seems to ride just fine even with the front shocks missing for the moment, stops more or less fine and other then a turning radius of a moving truck should be a fun car

seems like a totally different project now that im onto trouble shooting and tweaking more or less.

I think this weekend is 1 year since i started digging into the car as i spent the first few weeks just cleaning the whole thing out getting ready to take it all apart and for the Labor day Engagement photos. Doesn't seem like it was that long ago, weddings in October :S better keep with the progress i guess!

 

"Not that big a deal." - Not according to that text you sent me!

Congrats! Now get cranking on making it auto-cross ready.. Give them Omaha guys a run for their money.

 

Way to go buddy! Emily and I are sitting on the couch watching Hall and Oates videos on the iPad when I decided to check in to find this, ha! Congratulations!

 

Thanx Guys, and Matt after finding that the turn radius on this thing is pretty wide my ambitions of hairpins may be out of line. guess we'll find out, does ride nice though thus far.

 

and yeah "it took a minute" really means it took 3 hours, details details. haha

I'm buying a lift before I dick with putting another car together thats for dang sure.

 

So gathering parts and trouble shooting in my mind for next weekend. Grabbed some more trans fluid and put an order in for some throttle brackets and a lokar floor shift as well as a valve cover breather and stuff to set up a pcv set up.

I'd like to make the column shift work but for now it's just going to have to get shelved till I have more time to dick with it and build bits. Maybe over the winter... Maybe I just rig the column to do something else like empty the shine tank haha.

I'll keep you posted

 

Awesome to see the sedan chugging along. Can't wait to get up an close look.

 

Congrats!

 

I think chugging would have been less scary haha. The throttle cable was in a funny spot so it wouldn't let there be slack in the line so a little into my drive idle was more like high idle haha.

Man my heart still starts beating super fast and I get that woozy to much adrenaline feeling thinking about driving it. Got pretty fired up. Just what I needed

 

Ok a quick question for all you 46-8 guys. When the stock lever/hydro shocks are installed on the front of the car and you put the "dog bone" type link between the arm and the lower mount on the axle. At ride height is there any tension on the shock.

Another way of saying it: shock it bolted to the rail, tire is off and jack stand holds everything at roughly ride height. When you put the link on, if you bolt it into the axle first are you going to have to press the shock arm up to line it up with the link or should they line up with out moving anything?

The reason I ask is I've decided to give the stock ones a chance before I go threw more work than anticipated to swap to the tube shocks and with a 3 inch drop spring and maybe 1/2 inch longer shackles I think I'd have a good shot at the shocks being bottomed out using the stock link. So what I plan to do is order a link that is shorter then the stock link by roughly the amount of drop I put on the front suspension.

But before I go guessing link sizes and ordering things/having things made I wanted to bolt it all together minus the link and measure the gap from arm end to lower mount. And if there is supposed to be a certain amount/distance of upward pressure on the arm I need to know so I don't get an incorrect measurement.

All of this clear as mud? Let me know if that made since and if not I'll draw a picture that might be better then my rambling

 

Haha that's exactly how I handle the dilemma of nobody having a clue what I'm talking about too. Sadly I don't have an answer for you good luck though

 

Can you just set the shocks in the middle point of their travel and go from there???

 

I think that's we're they "auto set" to when nothing's connected so I guess I'll go with that line of thinking until something tells me it won't work

 

Supplies have arrived



hopefully ill get a few miles on it that feel good sunday early afternoon and then take on the hour drive home with it.

 

Go Man Go!

 

counting down to saturday night picked up a hole saw this morning to pop holes in the valve covers for the breather/ pcv. feeling good about it, curious how the floor shift will look. hopefully its not to tall. either way hopeing to drive it 6 miles into town sunday before noon and give it a few laps before headed for the longer stretch. im sure ill take pix/video

 

progresss!...incredibly hard fought progress



So with lofty goals of, you know, driving the car I snagged my friend Steven Saturday after work and we headed north to see what could be done by sunday night.

this is a quick bullet list of what got done

*tighten lug nuts
* go threw entire car looking for things that may of shook lose
* build a throttle cable bracket that also holds return springs and install those.
*adjust throttle cable and sleeve
* adjust and pad a fuel line that looked a little close to a metal edge for comfort
* remove the old linkage from trans to column shifter
* trouble shoot and get blinkers working again, ended up being a bad connection
* pop holes in my valve covers and installed a breather in one and a pcv set up in the
other and plumed it
* removed the toe board
* spent an insane amount of time installing lokar "nostalgia" 28" shifter
* cut toe board to clear shifter and re installed it.
* put more gas in it
* rounded up the lever shocks off the front to put back on later

at just before midnight the shifter and floor were back in and we pushed it outside and let it roll to see if the brakes still worked. I had noticed a slight dampness on the ECI valves but no real spongy feeling and it all seemed to work enough for a ride.

So after taking a loop around the farm yard I got all wound up and ballsy, i ran into the shop and put everything up on the tables and out of the way and locked up super fast wanting to drive before my guts ran out.

Steven jumped in the follow car and I headed into the darkness. 12 midnight in the middle of a corn field 5 miles from town and another to my parents house. We saw many deer but they played nice and stayed off the road.

I'm told that I kept it at a steady 55 mph and to the speed limit in town, I have no speedo in the car right now so Steven just paid attention while following me. I've been trying during the week so see how often i even look at the speedometer in my other cars, turns out not very often so i was happy i was lucky at gauging the speed last night

Made it to town with no issues other then my exhaust sounding non existant at anything other then an idle.

My list right now of things that need done are more trans fluid, it has enough to not be noticeably slipping but other things are giving it away. I have fluid it just didnt get done. I need to swap out some long bolts for shorter ones on the throttle pedal mount, and i need to move my return spring anchor point and the springs are stretched pretty good at idle and its making for a really stiff/odd pedal.

Then I figure I need to get the residuals to seal and bleed the system again before I can try for 50 miles to get it home. feels reasonable but it always does untill you 9 hours past your "goal time"

No photos as it was a full on thrash but it did get done thankfully.

Soon as it gets to my home I'll get new rear rubber put on, seat belts, gauges, lengthen some wires so i can tuck it all up under the dash, a battery disconnect switch and more or less get it put all the way back together with all the little bits. you know, the "fun stuff"

only real casualty was my toe board that got fairly hacked to get everything to clear. Im going to cover it with a scrap of super thick linoleum or something and a piece of carpet over that for the time being and build myself a nice one that fits like it should this winter when we get working on the interior. I'm glad that i wasnt at all impressed with MAC's toe board otherwise i'd feel more upset about hacking up a brand new $150 floor. oh well.

 

Part 2: The headache.

The only real issue we had with anything was installing the shifter. Every one I had talked to made it sound like an hour long job so of course I should have known it'd take forever.

What my main issue was more or less caused by is having my motor/trans installed and low and far back as I could manage. While the center of the X member makes for a handy improptu drive-shaft loop it also make for a steel cage around the tail housing.

as you can see here

http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=474129&highlight=lokar+th350+shifter

everything bolts to a central plate, the end of it has a bracket taht bolts onto the tail housing using the upper 2 bolts, they landed right under the 4 inch body brace and are nearly boxed in by the X member legs so i measured a dozen times and cut a mail slot big enough to get a wrachet in to the bolts in the trans hump behind the brace as to retain structure.

This let us bolt the onto the trans with out a huge fight, a big one though and let us onto the next issue which was the floor is to close to the trans to slide the main plate in between the two with out it being at an awkward angle that wont let the bits bolt together. some pry bars, leverage and grunting we got that all in place.

fast forward and after cursing who ever decided that this all needed to be fine thread holes, zero tapper tipped bolts and three plates of finicky steal we got it all together only to find that because we bolted the trans one step from all the way forward that the splined shifter arm hit both sides of the bracket that holds the drivers side of the main plate in place.

with heat and hammer the bracket moved out of the way and the lever moved up a bit, I think they sell a fancy bell crank to get around all this but I have no clue how thatd fit under the floor as its already realy right so heat works for me.

It realy makes me want to talking to the Chassi Eng guys and ask them what they run for shifter in these cars that they sell engine.trans mounts for because its just short of requiring you to pull the trans off to get that base plate all situated.

Either way it got all bolted together and looks great. I may adjust it later to get a little closer to the dash but with fat hands I didnt want to risk putting my knuckles into the dash. The double curve as seen in that link fits my dash/ bench seat PERFECT it literally looks like i bent the arm to fit perfectly around my dash while still watching out for my bench seat.

The knob is a little higher than i expected but it looks good and is easy to drive so im alright with it. rather it be a little tall then a little short and I have to reach for it.

If it helps visualize until i take photos the shift knob lands roughly center of my radio delete plate.

photos, video, and hopefully happy stories of progress and the road next sunday night/ monday afternoon

 

...I spent hours working on my Gennie, and thats after I bolted the bracket on to the trans before I even installed it. In retrospect I wasn't as difficult as I made it out to be but its a damn tight fit between my floor and trans. But its all worth it not having to reach way down any more!

 

Glad I'm not the only one haha. It's taller then expected, coulda gone with the 19 inch single bend. But like I said I'd rather risk it on the tall side than the short side.

I think I sat in 3 or 4 different chairs trying to guess we're my car seat lands height wise with a 26 inch long stick in my hand trying to guess where it'd land haha

 

Had some issues today check out more or less my update at this thread

http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?p=8191328#post8191328

where i explain my issues.

I took some decent video of the car and driving today as well that ill try to cut and paste together for you later tonight or tomorrow as well

 

Is that bumper crooked? It looks like it's got a smirk..

 

yeah, its all tweaked a bit over there. give him some attitude haha

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for matt

captions:
ok go this way
its alive!
ok lets go
here conor!<--the dog
haha ha
wooo

blub blub blub raaawwwwrrrr

blub blub blub

and for those of you that can here that grindy weird noise a couple times in the video its the crumpled front gravel pan and drivers side of the lowest grill bar trim shaking around.