Porting the Edelbrocks...Heads and Lower Intake

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Porting the Edelbrocks...Heads and Lower Intake

Reply #45 – December 26, 2018, 12:34:08 PM

Holy shiznit man, fortunately I spent the $$ on a dyno run after the motor was built so it should go in the hole once and that should be it. Glad you got it going and remember to spin that oil filter off and put a new one on with the break in oil in the motor. Change the oil completely at 500 miles and then again 1,000 miles later before going on your normal oil change routine. At least that is the way I have done all my motors and had good luck and it makes me feel better so that is worth the $10. Also, when you spin the oil filter off cut it apart and inspect it for any kind of metal or bearing material. You will get some very fine stuff but that is just break in so what I am talking about is flakes.

So I was gonna stab the motor this past weekend but ran into a couple snags that I should have caught and bought parts prior to doing to the work but I am in idiot. Evidently my clutch disc is done in that it has less than 1/16" of material left on it. I could have sworn it had less than 10,000 miles on it but when I did some investigating it is evidently the clutch I put in the car in 2007/2008...yeah, ten years man. Guessing it has about 30,000 miles on it and that is about all I get out of a clutch as I drive the car pretty hard. So a new RAM Powergrip Performance clutch set is on its way to the house and holy shiznit I forgot how much clutches cost.

I could have stabbed the motor in the hole and put the clutch on under the car but why. I like to put the motor in with the flywheel, clutch set, and bell housing on so all I have to do is stab the trans and install the trans cross member and the heavy lifting is over with. That an I am not on a deadline and its F'n cold here so its not like I am going to drive it much anyhow.

I did manage to pull the torque arm out and get it all cleaned up (leaking pinion seal). I then moved on to the culprit of the messy torque arm and that was not as bad as I thought it would be. Busted the pinion nut loose via impact and the pinion came off with hardly any effort from a couple of pry bars. One thing I did not know and wanted to pass on is that there is a plastic shield of some sort (guessing dust or debris protection) that can be removed by gently prying it off. This helped cleaning up the as it was kinda messy and had caked on dirt here and there. I also ran a tap down through all the holes and cleaned those up. You can see the grey plastic piece I am talking about here:

https://lmr.com/item/LRS-4851A/86-04-Mustang-Rear-Axle-To-Driveshaft-Pinion-

Installed the new seal (pain in the ass under the car with the cat back exhaust still in there), slid the cleaned up pinion back on and torqued the pinion nut to 125 ft-lb. I also have a Ratech solid pinion bearing spacer so no crush sleeve which makes this a lot easier.

Greased up the torque arm forward pivot assembly and started the process of reinstalling the torque arm. About the only thing that is difficult is getting the nose of the rear end back down to install the bolts that pass through the rear end where the old "dog bone" vibration damper mounted. I have no UCA's on the car as the torque arm and panhard bar control and locate the rear end. When you unbolt the torque arm the rear end rolls upward (always a little unnerving) so you have to rotate the nose back down to bolt it up which sets your pinion angle.

So basically that is where it sits...waiting on a clutch assembly that I should have known I needed and had ordered a month or so ago. I am going to call the guys that tuned it and see if they can flash the chip with the numbers off the engine dyno so I can drive it around and get 500-1,000 miles on it to break the clutch in before putting it on the chassis dyno and beating on it.

Happy New Years!!

Porting the Edelbrocks...Heads and Lower Intake

Reply #46 – January 02, 2019, 08:13:41 PM

Yours has been more of a challenge than mine has. Was that 5 years in between? I've got 30 weight in it for break-in and a Mobil 1 filter. When I hit 500 miles I'll change the oil back to Mobil 1 5-30 and Archoil friction modifier for another 500 miles. Thanks for the tip on the oil filter. Also thought about sending the oil in to be tested. The motor has 200 miles on it now.
Got my distributor back from MSD. Put it back in the motor last week. Car started fine, idles a little rough when shes cold. Got it up to 180* and suddenly the distributor made a left turn again, killed the motor. WTF!! Have it idling 850-900. Called MSD and they want pictures of it and the gear. Told them I would not put it back in my car. Pulled the distributor AGAIN. With the way I rack my wires this is a real pain. Put the stock one back in- now the car won't start! Maybe it's 180 out? Tried that and it didn't work so I pulled it out, turned the motor over and reinstalled it, didn't start. Slowly closed the hood, thought about the fire axe in my shed, went back in the house. How hard is it to replace a distributor?
A couple of days later a friend came over, brought his remote starter switch. Turned the key on and he hit the switch, car started immediately! Set the timing at 14*. Shut it off, started it with the key and she started right up. We did nothing to it but connect the switch. Went in the house, changed shirts, put a hat on, went back out to the car, put the key in and she started right up. That time of the month? At this time I haven't heard back from MSD. If you try and turn the shaft it binds in one area. If you push up on the shaft it binds immediately. This is when it's cold. Running and hot it must bind immediately.
I'm running the Ford Racing billet flywheel, Centerforce II clutch and pressure plate. Good clutches are not cheap. This one ran me a little over $400 from Summit. So far I like it. A little stiff but grabs hard. Got a new clutch cable because mine is making noise. Knew I should of changed it when I had it apart. One more thing?
While I was replacing parts I also changed the "U" joints. Installed MOOG/Precision 270. I still have the stock rear suspension but I replaced the upper and lower control arms with the CHE non-adjustable ones. The combination of those and the new frame connectors really stiffened up the ride. No lean and no wheel hop.
I'm a little disappointed in the gas tank I got from RockAuto. If it's got 1/2 a tank the fuel sloshes when you launch. My fuel gauge moves. (I'm using the Tanks Inc sending unit). Checked the old tank and the baffle around the pump is 3 times as large. The baffle in the Spectre tank looks like a bowl. Might see about getting the old tank boiled out and inside coated.
The shop I'm taking it to for the dyno just moved and haven't got the dyno set up yet. I want at least 500 miles on it before I take it in. The guy running it used to work for Shelby here in town so he should know what he's doing. I just want a good running car with good street manners. I added up my parts list on this rebuild- $11,395. Just parts, only labor is the machine shop.
Here's a picture of the Centerforce II pressure plate.

Porting the Edelbrocks...Heads and Lower Intake

Reply #47 – January 02, 2019, 11:21:48 PM

The MSD distributors are known issues. Run a stock Motorcraft unit. It's fine. I still run the stock Motorcraft distributor in my car.

Porting the Edelbrocks...Heads and Lower Intake

Reply #48 – January 03, 2019, 10:42:23 AM

Clutch assembly came in over the New Years holiday and looks a lot better than the old one. Ended up searching for a SCT tuner closer than 11 hours from me and found on in the DFW area that is highly recommended so I called and talked to the tuner. Good guy and they pretty much keep a two to three week back log of tuning. He has several EEC-IV customers so he is very familiar with the platform. It will be a few weeks before I get the motor in as the Chili Bowl starts next week and that pretty much consumes my time for that week. Hopefully I will get time the weekend of the 19th to get it all put back together and fired up. Need to get 500-1000 miles on the clutch before I put it on a dyno.

Porting the Edelbrocks...Heads and Lower Intake

Reply #49 – January 03, 2019, 11:08:01 AM

Had my fill of them. Right now I'm running a stock distributor with no problems. I'll probably buy a new one and replace my 30yr old.

Quote from: thunderjet302;468396

The MSD distributors are known issues. Run a stock Motorcraft unit. It's fine. I still run the stock Motorcraft distributor in my car.

Porting the Edelbrocks...Heads and Lower Intake

Reply #50 – January 04, 2019, 08:48:43 PM

If I was going to replace my stock style distributor this would be the unit I would go with:

https://lmr.com/item/PDI-18457/1986-93-Mustang-50L-Billet-Distributor

Video on the distributor here that covers components and installation:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QLgJOlIUfCk

It is made by Performance Distributors and can be had from their site a little cheaper:

http://performancedistributors.com/product/ford-hot-forged-dui-distributors/

They used to make a stock unit with a oil impregnated bronze bushing which is what I have in my car now. I paid $200 for it back in 2007 but it appears they no longer make it and have moved to this newer style one which looks good in my opinion. My guess is the one I have will last until the car leaves my cold dead hands as its been flawless since day one. I do have a Motorcraft TFI module on it and noticed that LMR still sells them.

Porting the Edelbrocks...Heads and Lower Intake

Reply #51 – January 05, 2019, 04:06:53 PM

Thanks for the information. I'll see what they have. With mine being old just worried about high RPM issues. I'm not going back to MSD. Still haven't heard back from them.

Quote from: Aerocoupe;468425

If I was going to replace my stock style distributor this would be the unit I would go with:

https://lmr.com/item/PDI-18457/1986-93-Mustang-50L-Billet-Distributor

Video on the distributor here that covers components and installation:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QLgJOlIUfCk

It is made by Performance Distributors and can be had from their site a little cheaper:

http://performancedistributors.com/product/ford-hot-forged-dui-distributors/

They used to make a stock unit with a oil impregnated bronze bushing which is what I have in my car now. I paid $200 for it back in 2007 but it appears they no longer make it and have moved to this newer style one which looks good in my opinion. My guess is the one I have will last until the car leaves my cold dead hands as its been flawless since day one. I do have a Motorcraft TFI module on it and noticed that LMR still sells them.

Porting the Edelbrocks...Heads and Lower Intake

Reply #52 – January 15, 2019, 11:55:25 AM

Got the motor and trans back in the car and all of the accessory items back on the front of the motor. Lack the cooling system, installing the shifter boot, and putting the center console back together. Hoping to get back on it next weekend as this week is the Chili Bowl and it started last night and goes to Sat evening. Ahh the smell of methanol and dust in the air with a cold beer in my hand and 8 to 24 400+hp four cylinder mini sprints twisting 8 to 9 grand is bleeping awesome!

http://www.chilibowl.com

Porting the Edelbrocks...Heads and Lower Intake

Reply #53 – February 04, 2019, 10:43:38 AM

Buttoned the car up this weekend and the motor fired off on the first lick but that was expected being it was on an engine dyno at the engine builder's shop. Was way too far advanced (28 deg) so I bumped it down to 10 deg initial (SCT chip is set up for this) and let it heat up and cycle the coolant in the motor. No leaks and it sounds pretty healthy. Now to put some miles on the new clutch so I can get it to the dyno for tuning.

Porting the Edelbrocks...Heads and Lower Intake

Reply #54 – February 04, 2019, 06:57:49 PM

Can’t wait to see some chassis dyno numbers. Any predictions?

Porting the Edelbrocks...Heads and Lower Intake

Reply #55 – February 04, 2019, 08:05:08 PM

Post a video of the dyno run :D

Porting the Edelbrocks...Heads and Lower Intake

Reply #56 – February 05, 2019, 05:52:26 PM

Motor made 452 flywheel hp and was not 100% dialed in as we were borrowing a single plane intake and a Holley DP so there was no benefit in spending a lot of time tweaking. I am hoping for anything north of 400 rwhp with a big fat curve will work for me. A dyno video will be a definite. Will be couple months as the car is 3 hours from me at my dad's shop (no room at my house currently and the tuner is closer to my dad's than my house by two hours) and I need to put some miles on the new clutch before a dyno run.