2 steps forward, 1 step back

I had to correct a mistake today. I neglected to acquire and mount a "block plate", also called a mid-plate or separator plate, before installing the flexplate on the engine. Basically, the block plate does 2 things--it helps align the starter motor for mounting, and it prevents too much damage being done if the tranny ever gives up the ghost. Some cars can go without, but being a safety feature, I figured I should do it.

I was worried that the flexplate would not come off easily. I had used blue Loctite which is supposed to help seal the threads on the bolts mating the flexplate to the engine crankshaft. To my surprise, the bolts came out very easily. Now that has me worried the other way. Oh well. I will just keep following the directions from the manufacturers and keep the faith.

I did order the block plate from JEGS today. Since I was ordering anyway, I bought the stuff I need to finish the fuel system, and some other miscellaneous stuff. Total damage today was over $250 :(

I also got around to painting my headers with the high temp paint I bought a while back. The gases exhausted from the engine after combustion can get up to 2000 degrees F. They get expelled out the headers and eventually the side pipes. The headers can be over 700 degrees and the side pipes over 400 degrees. Many people get the piping ceramic coated, but that is pretty expensive and may need to be done multiple times if there are fitting issues with the side pipes later in the build. So I am keeping it simple and cheap with good high temp flat black paint. I may end up getting special covers for the side pipes once the car is finished, but for now, this seems a good solution. Here are some before and after pics.

Transmission cleanup

I did a little work at cleaning up the old transmission that I bought a couple of weeks ago. First I spent a good deal of timing using a wire wheel on my drill and air die grinder to clean off all of the grime on the transmission mount. It was pretty grimy, but after an hour or so it looked good and I even gave it a quick shot of paint to make it look nice. Then I decided to test fit it and I found that it won't work. DOH!!! The studs were too far apart to fit into the frame. I did some research and figured out that I needed a different mount, from an older Mustang rather than the F-150 truck it came out of. So a trip to Advance Auto Parts and $10 or so later I had a brand new one that fits perfectly. The one on the right in the following picture is the new one and you can see that the studs are about 1/4" closer than with the one I worked to get so clean. Oh well, it was good practice.


The next step was to clean the case. That came out reasonably well, but I did not figure it was worth spending too much time on that task given that the tranny may be just a short-term solution anyway. Grinding with a wire wheel and hand washing with a good degreaser seems to work okay, but I got covered with flying flecks of grime.

Good thing I wore goggles!


Next, I took off the tranny oil pan to expose its filter. I went back to Advance and spent another $10 on a new filter and gasket kit, which will go on tomorrow. Here is a pic of the tranny's innards.

No car work

I did not do anything this week on the car. Instead I did my income taxes and prepared for my baseball league draft. I still have to do my mom's taxes, then it will be back to the car by the middle of next week.

Transmission

Finally! I have bought my transmission. I saw an ad on Craigslist for a used AOD that turned out to be from a guy just a mile or two from my house. And it turns out that we knew a bunch of the same people from bowling at Sunset. Anyway, here are a couple of pictures of the tranny itself and the torque converter. I also got a mount, cable, and dipstick. All for $175. Most important, Ken was knowledgable about the inspection issues and I got the needed title copy and notarized bill of sale. Ken said the transmission works fine and doesn't leak, but that I should get a new seal and put it in anyway. That and a little cleanup and it should go in next week.

Weekend - Power steering completed

This past weekend, I decided to buy a fancy hose kit to connect the power steering rack to the power steering pump. The kit, made by a company called Gotta Show, was $150 at Old Dog off of Dorsett. Here is the kit...


When the engine is turning, fluid is pumped under very high pressure out of the pump to the rack. Hence the need for these special hoses with a teflon lining inside and braided stainless steel on the outside. Here are the pics of the pump and rack before connecting the hoses...



And after connecting the supply and return lines.


That system should now basically be complete. I still need to add fluid and test for leaks. But for that, I think I want to wait until the engine is ready to drive the pump.

I also did some test fitting of the exhaust headers. These are the pipes that connect to the engine block for the burnt gases to escape the block after combustion. Here are a couple of pics of the headers.


The headers bolt up to the engine block to the exhaust ports of the heads, covered up in this picture by the yellow tape.

The other end of the headers will bolt up to long pipes that run on the outside of the body under the door. Naturally they are called side pipes. Often, the headers have not lined up very well with the cutout holes on the body to make their exit to the outside. In my case, I did a little bit of checking things, and I think I may be okay.

Now I have removed them and will have to paint both the headers and the side pipes with some very high temperature paint. The temperatures of the headers can get over 1000 degrees F, and the side pipes get very hot too. Passengers will have to be very careful getting in and out of the Cobra once these pipes are in place or else they can get very badly scalded. I may end up putting some protective shields over the side pipes so that the risk of burning calves is lower.

So painting the exhaust system is next, plus continued looking for a transmission. I also want to order the kit to finish off the fuel delivery system. But things will probably slow down a bit as there is a lot of other stuff coming up--taxes, baseball draft, bowling league secretary duties for the end of the year, etc.

Just a little more work done

Did some easy stuff today. First, I attached the flexplate to the engine block. Here are 2 before pics. The rear of the engine...

And the flexplate itself...


The plate fits onto the engine with 6 bolts that connect it to the end of the crankshaft. It looked like the 6 bolt holes were evenly spaced, but not quite, and the directions I saw on the web (since none really came with the plate itself) never mentioned that. So I started with 3 bolts all going in fine complete with the blue thread locker, only to find that the next one would not match up quite perfectly with the hole. I ended up rotating the shaft and trying again, 3 more times until I stumbled onto the correct matchup. Other than that, it went very smooth. Here is the final outcome.


Next, I took off the engine lift plate and set the carburetor in place. I am missing part of the stuff I will need to get it to link up with the transmission, so I am just sort of setting it in place for now.



While I continue working on acquiring the transmission, I can now plumb the rest of the fuel system. I need to connect the dual carburetor bowls to the mechanical fuel pump I installed in the engine months ago. And I still need to connect the fuel pump to the hard fuel line running from the tank. I think I may end up buying a special kit, probably from JEGS, that will come with almost everything I need.

Back to Work on the Car

With spring just around the corner, I decided to go ahead and start cranking out some work on the car. Last week I took care of the rusty steering stuff from a couple of posts ago. I used a little oil and some scotch brite pads and then painted with a rattle can of black paint. Turned out okay, but I may still touch them up some more later and will post pics when it comes time to install them. I also painted the power steering pump bracket that Jerry and I modified to fit in the engine bay.

I also noticed that the front brake rotors had a bit of surface rust too. I will have to hit them with the same oil/scotch brite solution as the steering shaft. Here you can probably see a little of what I am looking at...


Today, I removed the engine from its stand and dropped it into place on the frame. Here are the pics, before...


and after...


Also, here is a picture of the new clearance that has been created for the power steering pump. You can see that it no longer makes contact with the driver side control arms.


Next up, I will probably remove the engine lift plate and put in the carburetor. I should also be able to install the flexplate. That piece is similar to a flywheel, but for an automatic transmission. Basically, it is a huge toothed wheel plate that attaches to the engine between it and the transmission. It functions to turn the engine over when you turn the key. The starter motor moves an arm into place and engages the teeth on the flexplate to get it going. Think of the old movies of cars being started. Sort of replaces the guy in the front of the car with the big bar turning the engine over as it gets started.