Stanger

[DanStokes]

Not too much pic-worthy today but a couple of shots anyway:

The rear end all resealed and filled. Kinda looks like before only clean. If you look closely you'll see a little line of grey around the girdle where the RTV shows.



And the trans all clean and with a new filter and gasket/RTV. It had been oozing pretty much all the way around but given how long it has been since it ran it might just be AFT working its way thru the gasket - this DID have a gasket unlike the diff. I haven't refilled the trans yet but I checked Lentech's website and he recommends Mercon V or synthetic equivalent so I think I'll go with the Mobil 1 ATF.




That's all for today

Dan

[DanStokes]

Drained the engine and then added fresh Mobil 1 oil as well as several quarts of Mobil 1 ATF to the trans so nothing will be dry when I first turn the key.

Then on to the fuel tank, a job I haven't been looking forward to. I know it was parked with some amount of fuel but really no idea of how much and as I mentioned it smelled skunky. It wasn't too difficult to unhook the lines and electrical though the high pressure line was melted at the filter end and I had to cut the line. I'll have to renew that line when I reinstall the tank but it sure made an easy job a PITA. Here's a pic of the molten connector:



So the tank is now out of the body but I'll have to siphon the fuel out before I move it. Seems to be about half full. I tried to take a shot inside the tank thru the filler hole so y'all could see how funky it is but this is as good as I could get it. The fuzzy looking stuff inside is all rust.



So I'll need a tank, fuel pump assembly, level sender, roll over valve, and all the gaskets, etc. Pricey but a lot cheaper than sorting this out if I'd tried to run it this way.

Dan

[DanStokes]

Tanks out and drained and I have a price coming from Foxresto.com (I think I have the name right) in Locust NC, close enough to go pick up the parts. His prices look reasonable and he's easy to deal with. He'll shoot me a price early next week.


Here's the stuff that came out of the tank. Nasty, no? The only thing that looks like it MIGHT be usable is the pump itself and I'm going to a Walbro 255 so I won't use it anyhow.



And a better look inside the tank with the sender and pump assembly out:



SO glad that I pulled this tank out!

Dan

[Beagle]

My fuel lines were filled with the same spooge... to the point where I waited for replacement lines which only cost me a few years because no forward motion. I did put a blow gun on the lines at one point out of curiosity, and they shot nastiness all over the just cleaned engine compartment. That may have dampened my spirits (read: halted my efforts). From what I can tell the supply line is okay sized for a return line when you put bigger supply lines in it for when you twin turbo later.

Late Model Restoration has been decent enough to get stuff from over the years too. My original tank is ***STILL*** stinking up the back yard and it's been empty for several years now.

[Beagle]

Sorry, I've been kind of "off the grid" or "off my meds" or whatever and missed a lot of this thread. Why would you put an LS in there when you can 153.00 Ebay turbo that 351? Heck, you could go 700hp with a stock HO Mustang roller cam and it would idle like a kitten.

What kind of junk is inside that mill? Heads? I saw enough exhaust pipe to think it's got shorties right? Perfect turbo fodder. Compress the door gaps. lol.

[DanStokes]

NO LS!!!! The current plan is to retune the 5.8 and drive and enjoy it. The last time on the dyno (MANY years ago) it made 300 at the wheels with a very conservative tune so I think we can step it up a bit w/o major changes. Edelbrock heads, Comp X-Treme Energy cam, Trick Flow intake with Accufab throttle body, big MAF (can't remember the maker), and other bits and pieces along with chassis bits from Max Motorsports and other vendors. It's a very pleasant car to drive.

Dan

[DanStokes]

Nothing significant as I await a new fuel tank and supporting stuff. My big breakthru was blasting the fuel filter bracket in the blast cabinet, painting it Rustoleum gray, and reinstalling it. Not too exciting but it was SOMETHING.

Dan

[Red_Kitty]

NO LS!!!! The current plan is to retune the 5.8 and drive and enjoy it.

LS motors have their place - under my hood is fine!



Just back from the tuner to see what he could do to improve idle and low speed driving, since the previous owner put an aluminium flywheel on it.

[DanStokes]

Nice! Not sayin' they don't make power just not my cup of tea. And I like my 5.8.

Did they change the tune any? If so, how many HP gain? I plan to take Stanger in to Randy at Carolina Dyno for a retune when I have him back on the road. He's right at 300 wheel HP following the initial build and that was a very conservative tune so I know there's lots more in there.

Dan

[Red_Kitty]

Hi Dan

The primary goal of the tuning was to improve low speed drivability and stalling - the car is cammed and has a lightweight flywheel, so as the engine comes off cold start it occasionally cuts out as I back out of my driveway onto the street if the idle speed dips too low. The tuner took out a little excess fuel and added timing <2000 rpm to help this.

Otherwise, compared to the dyno test I did in September the tune picked up single digit HP and about 20 lb ft torque.



He looked at a few options, some of which made more power at slightly higher RPM but were beginning to knock, so he backed it off for the final version.

He thinks that there could be another 30-40hp available with a flexfuel conversion and E85, which I will probably do over the winter ready for next season.

Coincidentally, I'm buying an Edelbrock heads/ intake / cam/ carb kit for a 351 for a friend in Germany for his '70 Torino at the moment.

Andy

[DanStokes]

I have the Edelbrock heads but a Trick Flow intake. The reason for the Trick Flow intake was fiscal. The two seem to play well together but I might have bought a TF top end kit if I did it again but I wasn't going to use their cam so I did it the way I did.

Dan

[Beagle]

I have the Edelbrock heads but a Trick Flow intake. The reason for the Trick Flow intake was fiscal. The two seem to play well together but I might have bought a TF top end kit if I did it again but I wasn't going to use their cam so I did it the way I did.

Dan

As I remember it, the Twisted Wedge heads with much of a cam need specific valve reliefs in the pistons... DSS and Probe / Coast High Performance shipped a lot of shortblocks with both reliefs cut in them.

[DanStokes]

Well, THAT'S a relief!

My shortblock is as Ford made it so that might have been a consideration. I put this together a long time ago so I don't remember all of the decision-making processes. Dang, that must have been 20+ years ago!

Dan

[DanStokes]

I've been waiting for parts, some of which showed up today. Having not worked on the ol' boy in at least 10 years I was surprised to find that you can no longer run up to AdvanceZone and score whatever you need. They can't even order things like brake calipers and similar common stuff so it's mail order given that the shop near Charlottle let me down - radio silence. CJ Pony Parts had much of it and NPD had the rest so away I go.

Boxes came from CJ today so I got started fitting out the tank.

Here's the BBK (actually a Walbro) 225 LPH pump in place on the new pump support. In following pics you'll see that the big hose clamp is gone as it wouldn't fit thru the hole. I wanted to clamp it because the pump could move up and down a bit.



And the pump/support assembly installed. It took a little fiddling but all in all both the tank (from Canada) and the pump support seemed to be pretty decent quality. I opted up for the "better" tank hoping it has better rustproofing.



And a shot of the inside of the tank w/pump assembly installed. The hole in the side (see above) is where the filler neck comes in but for now it makes a good photography port. It reassuring to know that everything looks OK in there. Notice that I substituted a tie wrap for the hose clamp. I tightened the hose clamp so the tie wrap would be extra tight then installed the tie wrap and removed the clamp which worked great.



Dan

[Dan Barlow]

I'm glad to see this car being gotten back on the road . I couldn't believe people parked perfectly running cars !