Making of a V8 New Edge Mercury Cougar

Cleaning, Cleaning and More Cleaning

2009-06-09T21:04:00.006-06:00

Cleaning engine parts is a slow and laborious process. From scraping gaskets to wire brushing and painting bolts; cleaning is at least 50% of my time in this engine freshen up.

Take this timing cover. You can see what it looked like before when I was tearing the engine down. It wasn't pretty...
It's not so just for poser rights to have flat black bolts, but for rust protection too. I used High Heat Tremclad in Matt Black, like for your barbecue. Anything that comes in contact with the engine should be able to withstand high temps.

After painting you have to scrape any sealing surface and clean them up before adding the silicone and gaskets. For the timing cover I prepped all the bolts and installed the front seal. Oil up the timing chain and gears before you pop the cover on.I don't have a new water pump as I just haven't got around to going and buying one, so I will wait at this stage until the water pump is on so I can torque down and press the seal tight.

All in the Timing

2009-06-08T21:41:00.005-06:00

Tonight I got a few hours in on the engine again. Most of my time was spent cleaning, but I did get the torque wrench on the bottom end and got the cam, lifters and timing chain and sprockets on.

The camshaft and lifters got a generous shot of Lubriplate and the captive guide bars , aka "dogbones" set in place. The spider tray holds the dogbones bars down.

The cam thrust plate has two bolts that are torqued to 16 Nm (12 ft-lb) and the crank sprocket is tapped in the crankshaft with the #1 cylinder at TDC. You'll see the woodruff key on the top of the crankshaft, pointing toward the camshaft.

Slip the chain on and align the camshaft sproket so the dots on both sprockets face each other. Install the cam bolt and washer and torque. It was hard to keep the crank from turning, so I put the damper bolt back in the crank, gave it a quick rap with the impact and used that to hold the crank from turning.

Voila! Now to scrape clean the aluminum timing cover and remove the crusty gasket residue and grunge.

I have been dreaming, schemeing and brainstorming on the Cougar.

Pistons are Finally in

2009-06-05T21:48:00.005-06:00

I got home late from work today. I managed to pick up the valve stem seals from Prime. After I got to work in the garage I got into the swing of installing pistons.

Once again wipe the cylinder bore with a clean rag and apply a little lube. Set the bearings on the two halves of the connecting rod and position the ring ends. There are differing debates on how the ring openings should be placed and one manufacturer even suggest that they will rotate inside the bore when the engine runs, so why bother. Erring on the side of caution I went with the 9 o'clock oil ring with plus and minus 45 degrees for the top and bottom oil control rings, then set the compression rings at 12 o'clock and 6 o'clock. Not that this will make a lot of sense, but keeping the compression rings 180 degrees apart did make some sense to me.

Always make sure that the dot on the piston top is toward the front of the engine and that the connecting rod caps have the numbered faces that match. I put some pieces of rubber hose on the rod bolts to prevent them from scuffing the crank journal face when installing.

Adjust the crank so that the journal is near TDC position for the cylinder that is getting a piston. Then slip the piston into the hole, checking the ring orientation quickly before it goes in. Now set the ring compressor on the part of the piston that is above the deck and carefully crank the ring compressor down. I was able to lightly tap the piston in the centre with the wooden handle of a rubber mallet. Just tap lightly and the piston will fall down into the bore. Once in, the compressor band pops off. So easy.

Remove the rubber hoses and attach the other half of the rod cap and bearing. Finger tighten and torque them all down when all the pistons are in. Check that the crank turns after each piston install. I attached the damper pulley bolt and cranked it easily with a wrench.

It took about two hours to put all the pistons in and install the oil pump and its gaskets.

Tomorrow is the Show & Shine. Not alot going to be got done, I don't think. Maybe Sunday I can Get the timing chain and lifters in.

Ciao for now.

Crushed the Bearings

2009-06-04T21:44:00.007-06:00

Ok, that title sounds way worse that it is.

Tonight I managed to get some work done on the block. I did the Plastigage on the bearings to verify oil clearances. Everything looked good. They typical clearances were between .0015 and .002 of an inch which is within specification.

There are few things to mention here that I picked up reading my ASE textbook:

Buy the 'Green' Plastigage for checking oil clearance main and connecting rod bearings. Different colours of plastic are for different crush ranges.

Never touch the bearing surfaces with your fingers as you have natural acids on your skin that can affect the surface. (I would imagine that wouldn't be an issue if your finger was covered in assembly lube.)

Lay a strip of Plastigage 6mm (1/4") off the centre of the journal surface, not right on top. (see picture)

You should torque the cap bolts to specification then remove the caps to read the crush.

Once you are happy with all of the oil clearances, pop your crankshaft out and stand it up. You are not supposed to lay a crankshaft down on its counterweights as this can lead to distortion in the crank; which sounds great at a thrash metal concert, but not in your engine.

Apply a generous amount of assembly lube. I used Lubriplate 105 which comes highly recommended my some expert engine builder friends of mine. It's like mayonnaise! Coat both halves of the bearing surface. Do not put lube between the block and bearing or the cap and bearing. Just the bearing surfaces that mate with the journal surfaces.

Torque the cap bolts in sequence and to the torque specifications. I used the torque ranges found in the Haynes book. Once torqued, the crank should rotate smoothly and feel firm in the bearings. It's such a nice feeling to give it a rotate.

Put the plastic bag back on and go to bed! More work tomorrow if that is possible on a Friday night.

Lord of the Rings

2009-06-03T21:00:00.000-06:00

This evening I washed all the pistons in warm soapy water and dried them with the compressor and a clean rag. I lightly oiled the wristpin and installed the rings. After splashing some oil on the rings I wrapped them in plastic grocery bags and set them aside.

I need to buy some assembly lube. Maybe tomorrow after work I will stop by NAPA and get a bottle. Then I can start reassembling the beast.

Sorry no pictures. Camera battery is flat.

Checking Rings

2009-06-01T21:28:00.001-06:00

I picked up the rings on my way to work this morning. They are Perfect Circle brand, cast .020 oversized rings with chrome oil rings. There is a little instruction pamphlet with them that states the ring end gap to be .004 x per inch of bore diameter. Therefore with 4" pistons the minimum ring end gap should be around .016.

It is super important to note that rings expand when hot. If the ring end gap is too small the rings may bind in the cylinder when hot. Not good.

I pressed the top ring into the cylinder with a piston (in reverse) and set the ring about 10mm (3/8") from the top of the cylinder. Then slip the feeler gauge between the ring end gap. Then push the piston back in and move the ring to the bottom of the ring travel area. This was a little past where the piston skirt went below the top of the cylinder bore. The stroke is 3" so if you wanted to measure it would be about about 85mm or 3 3/8" down the cylinder.

This process was repeated eight times. These rings are going to fit fine.

I then wheeled the block outside and washed the whole thing with warm, soapy water. Then rinsed and blowed dry with the compressor. To keep from rusting I blasted WD-40 all over and wiped it down nicely.

Keeping everything clean is absolutely critical so I put a plastic bag around the block until I can get back to installing the pistons.

Freshen Up the Cylinders

2009-05-31T16:42:00.000-06:00

My ridge reamer arrived this morning and I started on the block this afternoon. This thing works really well. It has a three position cam that allow for setup in the bore and removal of the ridge in simple 1-2-3 type operation.

After I reamed all the ridges, I honed the cylinder walls with a glaze breaker/cylinder hone. I used some basic motor oil while honing as that is what the instructions suggested. I did have special honing oil, but I followed the guide that came with the hone. There is an art to getting the drill speed correct and the up and down motion to create a good 60 degree crosshatch. Some practise is all that is required though.

Once the honing is complete, I chamfered the top 1mm (1/32") or so to allow for easy access of the rings. If you are going to do this, get a good file. I bought this little Nicholson file and it behaved very well.
I did some additional scraping and wiped down the bores with oil as I cannot get to washing the block today. I still need a kettle to get some serious hot water going in the garage. I guess I could carry buckets from the house, but electric kettles are cheap and efficient.

Hopefully tomorrow, I have the rings and can get the pistons in. I have the plastigage for checking the bearing oil clearances.

Should be good tomorrow.

When is 5.0l not 5.0l?

2009-05-31T06:52:00.001-06:00

I have been thinking about the .020 oversized pistons and wondered what the true displacement of the police interceptor block was, so plugged the formula in:

v = hϖr2

This states that each cylinder's volume equals the height (stroke) multiplied by pi (3.1415), multiplied by the radius (1/2 of the bore) squared. This seems over convoluted for all we really need is a the bore, the stroke and a single constant.

Thus, our simplified equation is:

v = (Bore x Bore) x Stroke x 0.7854

So I put in the numbers for a stock 5.0l in inches:

v = (4x4) x 3 x 0.7854

Remember that little v is only for one cylinder and we have eight...

v= 37.699 x 8 cylinders

V8 = 301.5936 cubic inches

Some of us like metric so pop over to Google and use their calculator to covert cubic inches to cubic centimetres...

So the stock 5.0l engine displacement is actually 4.92l.

I am happy to know that a 5.0 litre engine with 20 over pistons is in fact:

304.61707584 (cubic inches) = 4 991.77952 cc

Now, I would round that up to 5000cc or 5.0 litres.

Working on the Pistons

2009-05-29T22:14:00.000-06:00

Tonight I stopped by the store and bought some tools to freshen up the engine. I bought a ridge reamer to take the ridge off the top of each cylinder bore. If I don't remove this the new rings will bang against the ridge.

I also bought a hone and valve lapping kit. On Monday my 0.020 ring set and valve seals will be in at Prime. This weekend I planned on reaming and honing the cylinders, then re-washing and oiling the block.

Reality says the Contour needs a new serp belt and an oil change so Friday evening was mostly spent doing that. I did manage to get four of the pistons clean. They are stock Ford E7ZE-6110-GA .020 forged pistons. The police interceptor engine must have had 20 over or they had it bored, but these are Ford pistons not aftermarket.

There is a fair bit of carbon on some of the pistons. I gently scraped away and buffed with Scotch-brite and washed them in a bit of clean Varsol and they come up nice. I took one of the broken rings and used it to clean the ring grooves of any deposits.

I am looking for an old kettle or coffee urn to make some serious hot water for washing. Hot was is the key to cleaning. I don't want to go super caustic and be splashing lye around. I have read that hot water and soap do the trick. Much more environmentally sound. Any garage sales on tomorrow?

Oil Pump and Other Bottom End Goodies

2009-05-27T06:24:00.001-06:00

After a cleanup-up in the garage, I cleaned the oil pickup tube, scraped the gasket material off and primed and checked the oil pump. Putting a little oil (or I have heard of using Vaseline) in the pump prior to assembly ensures that the pump will start to work right away and not starve your newly rebuilt engine of oil any longer than absolutely necessary. I was more interested in turning it over a few times and feeling how smooth it was going to work. Nice.

The pump comes with two gaskets; one for the connection to the block and the other for where the oil pickup tube bolts to the pump. You should also wash out the pickup tube and coat with oil so it doesn't rust. I used WD-40 for this.

Tonight I also inspected all the main bearing caps, bolts, roller lifters and pushrods. Everything looks ok, but I have to consult my textbook on allowable movement on the roller itself. There is movement of the roller along the axel (side to side) but not up and down, or at least not anything noticeable.

I took the rings off the pistons. Two of the top compression rings were broken on #4 and #7. Only the #4 cylinder shows signs of mild scoring. Thinking about a bore out and new forged pistons. What will that cost? Find out soon I guess.

Just a side note: I am wondering if the Police Interceptor engine uses old 289 connecting rods. The reason is these rods are cast as C8AE which would imply they were a 1968 variety. The caps are circa 1972. Are these normal castings for a roller HO from 1992?

Cheers!

Considerations...Hmmm

2009-05-23T21:32:00.000-06:00

I've been thinking a lot today about fitting the V8 drivetrain into the Cougar. First is the very short engine bay on the Cougar. From the firewall to the electric fan is a mere 33 inches. I estimate with the 5.0l I need 32 if I take the fan off. It would not hurt to run the V6's radiator which has two fans similar to the Contour on the 5.0l HO. I know my brother is doing that exact same setup on his 55 Ford pickup hot rod. The positioning of the engine could prove to be the most interesting part of the conversion.

The rear end measures up well at 66 1/2" inches from the outside of the tires vs. the Mustang's 67 1/2". That is a 1/2" pushing out on either side. Acceptable. Now the rims can change to accommodate spacing so I am just using what I have as a reference.

I am happy to have crawled under the Cougar and took a good look at the way the exhaust is routed and the massive gas tank. There is room to put a driveshaft in there and run the exhaust pipes on either side. The gas tank and battery will be trunk dwellers I am afraid. Let's see.

Good fun underneath. There is one horribly engineered exhaust system in this car. Probably why it feels so gutless when I pinned it. I was expecting so much more. This car needs an injected V8 with true dual exhaust.

Ask and ye shall receive!

Cougar Arrives

2009-05-22T21:01:00.000-06:00

It never ceases to amaze me how when I think of something it jumps in front of me! The guy that had the Cougar for sale dropped by my work today at lunch time. Firstly, the car was green. I thought the ad said it was red. Secondly, there was no damage to the hood so to speak. When I asked him "you want $1000 for this" I realized I had emailed two different advertisers.

In the end I got the car for $1200 and $20 to have it driven to our place. The interior is good, but the body has some issues that I will have to address. The passenger side mirror has been broken off and there are some scratches and dents in her. Being dark green these bangs and scrapes really show.

For my application she is purrrrrfect!

Here are some photos. It's 2000 Mercury Cougar with a 2.5l Duratec V6, four wheel disc brakes and 215/50/r16 tires on alloy rims.

All she needs is some bodywork and a V8 conversion. Still thinking through the last part.

:-)

Exhaust Ports Done

2009-05-22T07:04:00.000-06:00

Last night I put a couple of hours in on the die grinder and ported the exhaust ports on one head.

My idea of the Cougar could become a reality as a guy is coming by my work today to show me his car that is for sale. It has a ding in the hood and cracked fender. I am studying plastic repair. Will know more when I see the car hopefully today.

Weekend is near!

Thinking of a Cougar

2009-05-19T13:20:00.000-06:00

I have spent the weekend pondering how a 5.0l HO would go into a 1999-2002 era Mercury Cougar. Lots of work I know, but the styling of the Cougar is just so much cooler than the ZX2. I know the Escort fans will be nay-saying but hey? Can it be done?

The Cougar's V6 is no slouch as it stands, but a torquey V8 would kill and sound great too. Trying to find critical specs.

See what happens when it's cold, snowing and we spend too much time indoors in May?

You think I can find one of this next month and get started?

Some more research to do. I went from an Escort to a Cougar. I hope people don't think I am some kind of pervert! :-)

Crank is Home

2009-05-13T22:01:00.000-06:00

This morning on the way to work I picked up the crank and parts. The crank is in a plastic bag and looks great. I see they stamped 020 and 020 on the counterweight closest to the rear of the engine. That is 20 thousandth off both the main and connecting rod journals.

I also got the gasket kit, timing gears and chain, oil/frost plugs, oil pump and main and rod bearings. The machinist told me I have to get a new bearing that couples the crank to the transmission, it's name escapes me.

In the garage I finished porting all the intakes on one head. Man that is a long job. Slow and steady is the best bet. I need some more stones. The diamond tipped burrs work great! The little ball tip is especially useful for shaping below the valve island. I am going to do the exhaust ports next as I can match gaskets to as I have the gasket set.

I took a look at the pistons and they are stamped E7ZE so they are Mustang pistons. The connecting rods are C7 (1967?) parts.

My Rolling Shelf

2009-05-11T21:27:00.000-06:00

Space, the final frontier...

Everyone needs space to store part when you are tearing down a car. I simply don't have enough places to keep things organised, so I got this idea to make a rolling parts shelf with box bins. I laid out the plan in my head and cranked up the welder. A shot of silver paint and zapped some castors on and voila!
I know we have a big shipment of crated 330kVA (~330,000 watt)transformers from Argentina coming in this week and the wood is really nice. I just may grab some with the Skil saw when I am at work and mitre it up to fit. Splash some paint and away we go. On wheels to boot!

Waiting to hear from Prime Engine Remanufacturing on my crank and parts. I asked for it this week sometime. Maybe a word comes by tomorrow.

Working Heads

2009-05-09T20:37:00.000-06:00

With a stone and burr in hand, I oiled up the die grinder and went to work on the #1 intake. It is tremendously noisy and dirty, but the results are satisfying. This is a before and after image:

This is a huge amount of work to do all 16 ports. I'll take my time and get to it when I can. In the meantime I am getting the brown LSC ready for sale.

When getting the crank done, I ordered new bearings (main and rod), plus a full gasket set, oil pump and timing chain and new sprockets. I'd rather have all that in good shape before getting things back together. I am still looking for a cast iron ring kit. I have learnt that cast rings seat quicker and are more tolerant to out-of-round cylinders. Honing won't be perfect, but will accomplish what I want until it's time to bore over and get new pistons.

We went to a garage sale today and I snagged two full bottles of Meguairs wax/polish for $1 each. I also bought some MDF melamine shelves for $3. Tomorrow, I am building parts shelves for the garage.

Mystery Cam Identifed

2009-05-09T05:44:00.000-06:00

When I bought the Mustang there was a brand new camshaft behind the passenger's seat. I could only guess what or where it came from. The only clues were the cast numbers and a bearly legible stamped number on the end.

Here is everything that is on the cam:

Cast:
CWC
EPC
C2
F1
18

Stamped:
4062 M (or possibly 4962M, the 0/9 digit is uncertain)

Paint:
One violet streak.

In a rather circuitous way I found that the 'EPC' casting ID stands for Engine Power Components, Inc. EPC grinds camshafts for Crane, Edelbrock and the big OEM companies in the USA.

After finding EPC, I managed to search out the stamped number as EPC 4062M on Google. There is a PDF table by Edelbrock here that lists an OEM number correleating to the 4062M as Edelbrock's 31-3722. If I drop the 31 prefix and search on Summit I found the Edelbrock Performer 3722 Cam which is an torque cam for low-end and mid-range for small block Ford. Tame on the idle and better torque and throttle response.

Mystery solved!

Head Porting E7TE

2009-05-07T21:57:00.000-06:00

I popped the valves off the rocker heads tonight and started porting the intake on cylinder 1. I based the intake on the gasket marks left from the last build.

I started by clamping the valve springs with a valve clamp. Then I tapped the retainer with a hammer/screwdriver to crack them free. When the pieces mostly fell out, I put all the springs and clips in an egg carton and labelled the valve with tape.

The intake valves were easy. The exhaust valves don't compress like the intakes. They need a bit of a squeeze, then a whack with the hammer/screwdriver to pop the retainers free. Once all the valves are out and labelled, I wrote 1, 2, 3 & 4 on the heads for identification and started the die grinder up. This is #1 looking into the combustion chamber...

You can see the large land around the valve guide. This will become a smoother rounder island with the sharp edges taken off.

Of course I have to get a proper burr to do this any further. The stones that came with my die grinder kit are pretty poor. I will square it up and polish this weekend. Should be great fun! I am thanking the DIY Porting guy.

I am taking the crank to get ground tomorrow morning. It's going to cost $151.00. Bearings extra.

Cleaning the Block

2009-05-04T21:36:00.000-06:00

I took the pistons and crank out after work today and brushed all the heavy gunk off. I removed all the frost plugs, oil plugs and the block heater. The water jackets look all nice a greenish inside and there is no sign of corrosion in the cooling system.

I measured the crank and found the following in inches:

M1=2.240
1=2.116
5=2.114
M2=2.238
2=2.114
6=2.113
M3=2.239
3=2.113
7=2.114
M4=2.238
4=2.115
8=2.114
M5=2.239

I'll have to compare these to the specifications to see how far worn the crank is. The crank and cam bearings look good considering how many miles are on this engine.

I then put the block outside and hit it with the pressure washer.

Turned out good I think. I coated all the insides with motor oil so nothing rusts before I get back to it.
So next to check the cylinder bores for excessive wear and out of round. Hopefully I can just freshen this one up with a honing and new rings.

Block a Figuring Out

2009-05-03T19:56:00.000-06:00

Got the new block on the stand.

This is a proper Mustang HO engine .

After poking around with the new XXX roller block and comparing the cracked block's casting numbers to what I have found online, it seems the engine that came with the Mustang was from a Thunderbird or an Explorer.

The casting number reads F1SE BB. This is what I have found online to decipher this...

F is the Decade. C=60s, D=70's, E=80's, F=90's and so on.
1 is the year of the decade (from 0 to 9)
S is the letter code for Thunderbird.
Whaaa? Let's go over that last part...

A=Ford
D=Falcon
G=Comet, Montego, Cyclone
J=Marine & Industrial
M=Mercury
O=Fairlane, Torino
S=Thunderbird
T=Truck
V=Lincoln
W=Cougar
Z=Mustang

The last letter indicates the type of assembly where:
A=Chassis
B=Body
E=Engine

There is some word on forums that the Explorer also had the "S" engine.

Take a look at the difference in the Xs on top of the block above the lifters.

New 5.0l HO Roller Block

2009-05-02T20:56:00.000-06:00

After a little searching, I found a 5.0l HO long block to rebuild. It is from a 1992 LX Police Interceptor car. My brother and I brought it home today and I started to take it apart.

It is interesting as the bad block had three Xs on the inside of above the lifter guides that were spaced apart between the cylinders. The new block has all of the Xs together between cylinders 2 and 3 and again on the other side between cylinders 6 and 7. The old block had 5.0L cast into the top in the lifter valley. This new one has only SB and 2A there. Something is amiss there. Mind you, there is four years difference between the F1 and the E7 dates in the cast identification.

Tomorrow I should have some pictures of the new block and if I can manage to scrape up a ridge reamer to get the pistons out in good order.

Going to work on the LSC tomorrow and get it ready for sale.

Bad News on the Block

2009-04-29T06:43:00.000-06:00

Some bad news on the Mustang 5.0 roller block. There are cracks under the main bearing saddles on the 2 and 3 main bearings! The cracks run through the bolt holes and up the webbing toward the cam. The crack on #2 runs right through the bolt hole and about 3 inches up the back side of the webbing, while the crack on #3 is just across the bolt hole.

Dread...
There is no feasible way of repairing these cracks. They are located in high stress areas and would cost a small fortune to weld cast iron. In the back of my mind I would always be wondering what is going on down there.

So now I look for an alternative. I could yank an engine from a Lincoln. I have also enquired about a 1993 5.0l HO long block for sale on Kijiji. Maybe we'll go have a look at that tomorrow.

Getting to the Bottom End

2009-04-26T12:42:00.000-06:00

It was freezing today, yes literally hovering just below freezing when I worked on the engine. I took off the coolant pump, engine mounts, dipstick, crank pulley and oil pan. I flipped the block upside down and had a look at the bottom end.

The crank is a stock Ford cast crank, which is okay. There is also a stock double chain timing setup. Nothing special here. For reference the casting numbers on the crank is: E7AE-AA. I should be able to work with this as it will be capable of handling the horsepower I plan to make with the finished engine.

Now if I can get a big enough socket to crack the damper off the crank I'd be a happy boy.

Note to self: Buy more solvent! There was a misfitting oil pan gasket and the dip stick tube entrance was leaking. Oily crud everywhere.

Taking Off the Heads

2009-04-25T06:38:00.000-06:00

After getting the pressure plate/clutch and flywheel off, I swung out ye olden engine stand. It's old and homemade, but works. The little V8 looks good there with the factory headers.

I took off the valve covers, accessory brackets, headers, fuel lines, intake manifold and eventually got down to the heads. I wanted to see what the valves and cylinder walls were like.

The heads look any other stock E7TE heads. Nothing special going on there. They can be cleaned up, or I can opt to splurge and buy aluminum heads. Now that I have two sets of E7TEs, I can do a port and polish to see how that works.

The valves on these heads are: intake valves 1.780" and exhaust valves are 1.450". This is good but certainly not ideal. A good porting and polishing coupled with some flowing headers will yield extra horsies that's for sure. Pretty satisfying DIY work I'd say, but there are inherent drawbacks in the E7TE heads. Aftermarket aluminum heads can add 75HP or more to a basic 5.0 HO engine. The cost is my issue. Aluminum heads are $600 to $1500 a pair! How much is a good die grinder?

By the way, there is an excellent site called DIY Porting that you must study if you are interesting porting your E7TE heads.

Borg-Warner World Class T5 Transmission

2009-04-24T20:09:00.000-06:00

I took the opportunity to dig in and record some information on the transmission. I pressure blasted it and took some pictures of the markings and tag.

This is in fact a 1352-199 Borg-Warner T5, common to stock Mustang HO cars. The WC stands for World Class. A side note, these transmissions take ONLY Automatic Transmission Fluid (ATF) and not gear oil like other manual transmissions.

The gearing ratios for this T-5 are:

1352-199 Ford 1990 Mustang 5.0L V8 WC 3.15 3.35 1.99 1.33 1.00 0.68

As a bonus, there really was a Pro 5.0 Power Tower short throw shifter! It features a solid aluminum billet construction. Hopefully the guts inside the T-5 are not ratched into shreds for the magnet to glom. I guess one day I will open it up and have an inspection.

This is the tag on the T5.

Some Other 'Luxury' Plans

2009-04-24T05:46:00.000-06:00

Some other cars in the 5.0l stable include two 1988 Lincoln Mark VIIs. One is a Bill Blass Designer Edition and the other is an LSC. Both are completely stock, both have 5.0 HOs in them and both need new brakes.

These things are loaded with features from 4-wheel anti-lock disc brakes to auto headlight dimming. Both feature alloy wheels, tons of comforts; A/C, trip computers, power seats, power moon-roof, power everything, and solid sound systems.

The engines are essentially the same. They are 1988 5.0 litre High Outputs with the pre-MAF (Speed Density) systems, which are factory 225HP/300ft.lbs. driving the AOD transmission into 8.8" rear ends featuring 3.26:1 gears. They both are well seasoned blocks with 198k on the BB and 305k on the LSC.

I know there is no volume discount for buying parts for three cars, but this presents an opportunity for me to make some cash to finance my other project. :-) I am thinking of building up the BB and parting the LSC. The LSC's engine would be a good candidate for overhaul. Hmmm, what could I do with the drive-train?

This weekend I should be able to tear down the Mustang 5.0 and see what is inside.

Mustang Gives Birth

2009-04-21T22:03:00.000-06:00

After getting the transmission crossmember down and speedometer and clutch cables out of the way it was ready to heave-ho and get the engine out. Luckily it went without much of a hitch. The rolling I-beam hoist was perfect.

We spilled a little transmission oil on the floor from where the drive shaft connects in, but nothing a little kitty litter didn't cure.

After rolling the car back and lowering the engine and transmission I took the starter motor off (bolt cross threaded?) and popped the transmission off.

All in a day's fun.

Ready to Pull

2009-04-20T21:54:00.000-06:00

After work today I managed to get the exhaust freed from its rusty bonds. I used the quick disconnects to disconnect the fuel line and connected the chain up to the engine lifting hooks. The hoist is in place and almost everything is loose. I am going to take the engine and the transmission, so I still need to remove the shifter and drop the transmission cross-member so the trans will drop down to clear the shifter. Of course the clutch cable has to come off, so another 20 minutes or so and we're good to go.

I drew up an EGR delete plate to cover up the holes where the EGR used to go. I am going to make these plates from 1/4" aluminum. I made a simple layout for these plates in AutoCAD. Here is a graphic...

They could be made of steel, aluminum or what have you. I considered using Acrylic is lightweight, durable and easy to work with, but Acrylic is not good around gasoline.

Update: April 25, 2009 - EGR Delete plates made.

Fits well on the 5.0.

Tomorrow, brother is coming over to do the pull. Hopefully the camera battery is better by then.

Saturday in the Garage

2009-04-18T21:42:00.000-06:00

I know that sounds awfully close to a song by Chicago.

Today I cleaned the intake and polished the throttle body. I used the pressure washer to clean the inside of the intake as it was caked with oily deposits. I took the throttle body apart and cleaned it up a bit. I tried several things but nothing worked very well on aluminum. I tried some gritty polishes, emery cloth (280 grit), steel wool and a wire brush. The wire brush was most effective but doesn't get into the nooks and crannies.

I sprayed the inside of the plenum with Gunk Engine Degreaser and brushed vigorously with a toothbrush, sloshed everything around and let soak for an hour. I then took it out in the yard and pressure washed it clean. Seems to have worked okay. The 5.0 HO badge/cover on the top was in pretty rough shape as you may remember. I cleaned it and painted it flat black with high-heat Tremclad. After 4 coats and day in the sun to dry, I brushed the aluminum to take the paint of the raised parts. Here's how it looked before and how it's going to look like later...

It's just pieced together. I will wrap it up until the engine gets put back togther.

I was waiting for the fuel line quick disconnect tools from my brother. Once they arrived, I was back at taking the engine out. I took the alternator off for convenience and managed to get both of the engine mount nuts off. Sadly the starter bolt head is nicely rounded by someone earlier and I don't have a 16mm deep socket for breaking the rusty exhast bolts free. Have to borrow a socket tomorrow and maybe I can Vise-Grip the starter bolt loose.

I decided that I will take the transmission out at the same time, so I unbolted the two mount bolts to the cross member and removed the drive shaft. Remember 12mm 12 point wrench. There was lock-tite on those bolts, or at least it felt like it.

One day I will measure up for a cover plate to replace the EGR valve and make a resistor divider to signal the computer that the EGR is there still.

Starting the Tear Out

2009-04-15T21:15:00.000-06:00

This evening I got the serpentine belt off, the power steering pump off, the fan, shroud and radiator out. I soaked the exhaust header flange bolts/nuts so I can get at them tomorrow. I also cleaned up the throttle body.

Looking at EGR delete mod and polishing the throttle body and intake plenum.

Top End Peek

2009-04-14T21:35:00.000-06:00

Tonight after work I started to pop the top end off the 5.0. I hauled the battery out, pulled the intake off and go the passenger side valve cover off. As suspected, Crane Energizer 44746-16 roller rockers were hiding under there.

The heads look stock from the outside, so we wont know what's been done until the engine is pulled and we have a look.

I drained the oil, ripped the filter out and drained the anti-freeze. Unfortunately, there wasn't much of either left in the engine. Too bad. I found the intake to be crud soaked and very oily. I am guessing it was coming from the EGR off the valve cover. I'll chuck some Varsol at it and see what the intake comes out like after a polish.

The plug wires are nice 8.5mm MSD units going with the 6AL coil. All seems well, but a bit greasy. A nice $300 touch if I bought them new.

More tomorrow...

Busy Weekend

2009-04-13T20:37:00.000-06:00

It's been a busy weekend here. Spring cleaning, relatives, Easter dinner and all that jazz. Brother and I got both of the Lincolns running this weekend. It seems the blue one has a leak in one of the air bladders (no uncommon for these cars). We pressure washed the Mustang engine with the gas powered pressure washer.

In the need to get organized, I started building a tool crib on Saturday. I finally got the time to finish it up today with some old things hiding around the garage. Ok, the green wasn't my first choice but there was a can of Tremclad just sitting there. I can't imagine using that colour on anything that leaves the shop. :-)

This is in progress...

And now loading up with tools...
I did manage to get some work done on the 5.0 litre. Killing the inertia switch and running the car dead is to get the fuel pressure down before starting the tear down. In the rear panel, driver's side by the tail light, give that little switch a bump or two until the button pops up. This will kill the fuel pump. Now run the engine until she it out of gas.

Then I took the hood off, cold air kit (which was absolutely filthy!), removed the strut tower brace and started to get the intake plenum off. As I work on the V8, I have been researching the EEC-IV, sensors and actuators at the Ford Fuel Injection site. This site is a great resource for anyone that wants to better understand EFI systems.

I hope to get the engine out this week!

Getting Ready

2009-04-09T21:36:00.000-06:00

I have been using my spare time to get the Tempo ready for sale. I did a big clean up, changed the oil & filter and repaired the taillight lens with some red silicone.

As for the ZX2 project, I have managed to start to disassemble the cold air intake and get some parts bins and boxes ready. I think assorted cardboard boxes would work well as I can put smaller boxes into bigger ones as needed.

Dad is coming over for the Easter weekend and will give me a hand pulling the engine. Lots of fun still to come.

I saw another 1999 ZX2, red, 5 speed for sale...this one is only $1500. If it's still around on payday, I may scoop it up and keep my nicer ZX2 on the road as a daily. I have been driving it back and forth to work and really like the sporty handling. Then maybe not.

Got to clean the garage and move the hoist into position. Also need to get a 240V plug for the compressor. When I plugged the welder in I stole the compressor's connection.

More posts on the weekend.

Making Space for Dissection

2009-04-07T06:39:00.000-06:00

My goal in the next few days is to make space and get some parts bins organised for the 5 litre tear down. I have some old pallets from work that I can mangle in the table saw and make some sort of durable shelving. Toss in some old coffee cans, plastic buckets and away we go!

I am looking at converting an old stainless steel sink into a parts washer. I've seen some plans on the Mother Earth News web site. I could break up a lid and put it on a hinge to reduce evaporation and act as an extinguisher if there ever was a fire. We're going to need some serious degreasing. I could start with the original 5.0 heads and soak and brush them up to test everything out.

Also I have been doing a little research...

Check this page out!

This is 'Mario's' ZX2 V8 conversion. It's very cleanly done. I understand he is a mechanic at a Ford dealership. Nice to have a hoist in your garage at home eh?

Donor Arrived Safely

2009-04-04T20:42:00.000-06:00

Ahhh Saturdays!

Went with brother and nephew today with their trailer to get the Mustang LX 5.0. All went pretty well. We had to give her a boost to get it started but she stayed running until whomping the inertia switch when booting her up the ramps on to the trailer!

Unloaded ok and she starts on command. It smells a bit rich, but I wouldn't be surprised as the air filter is absolutely clogged. It's probably choking right out of range.

The gears in the transmission work and there appears to be nothing major wrong with the drive-train overall. There was a tub of parts which include the factory heads, rockers and cam, plus a bunch of broken transmission gears. Youch!

The tires are in good shape. The backs are Falken 245/50/R16 and the fronts are Michelin 215/50/R16. There are new Tokico struts on the front and Tokico springs and shocks on the back.

We were going to give her a good pressure wash at the local coin-op wand wash, but there were two massive motorhomes lined up to get the big bay, so we passed.

I checked the roller rockers and they are Crane's Energizer 44746-16 with a ratio of 1.7:1. We noticed the head gasket is not factory and the exhaust manifiold gasket is also not factory. I am going to guess that someone rebuilt this thing at some point, but who knows how long ago. The seller had absoultely no idea about what had been done other than a bunch of cartons with labels and removed parts in them.

I jacked her up and took a look at the clutch cable. It goes into gear but the clutch pedal has to be right to the floor. Nothing I could see to adjust as the cable has a crimp stop at each end. Maybe when the guy that installed the Pro 5.0 short throw shifter, he buggered something.

Anyways, tomorrow is another day. And guess what else showed up today?

Another Lincoln LSC. This one in brown. I am going to be busy eh?

Got Donor!

2009-04-02T20:38:00.000-06:00

I went after work today and looked at a 1992 Mustang LX with a 5.0l HO and 5 speed transmission. The seller doesn't really know much about cars but when he bought the car it had new heads, roller rockers, "lumpy" cam, cold air intake, short-throw shifter, cold air kit, MSD coil, new struts and strut tower brace and a bunch of other stuff done to it. Not to mention four nearly new tires on the stock five-spoke alloy pony rims.

There are a huge pile of parts to go with her, heads, cam, rockers. I'd guess almost all the upgraded parts have their originals in a big rubber tub.

The only bad thing is the clutch is gone. We should be able to get it up on the trailer, but there is a fair amount of ice and snow in the alley behind the garage where she sits.

The car's body is a little rough, but the engine starts, roars and the interior is acceptable. It is a 1000 miles better than the last Mustang I looked at last weekend. There is even a stereo in it!

So anyways, I bought the LX Hatchback for $2100 with all the parts to go. It's a little more than I was planning, but all in all I should be able to part out a lot of it and get all my money back and still have the engine, transmission and rear end that I much need..

So now to get a trailer and get this baby home to dissect it!

Planning for Rear End

2009-03-30T20:40:00.000-06:00

Planning: Rear End Options
Over the past week or two I have been researching different V8 conversion I've found on the Internet. Unfortunately, there are very few pieces of information that deal specifically with the ZX2 or even with Escorts in general.

I do know that the Ford 8.8" rear end that is found in the Mustang GT and 5 litre LX cars is reputed to be 58 1/2 to 58 3/4" from drum to drum. I popped under the ZX2 and did a very quick measure up.
This is crude a best, but will give an indication that level of fuss in custom shortening axles will be lower than first though.

Luckily, I have access to an 8.8" from a Mustang LX 5.0. Just got to go yank it from a car in the mud! Thanks bro!

Last night I took a battery out and got the blue Lincoln Mark VII LSC running in the snow. It runs ok for 198,000 km on it. The engine started in about 2 seconds of cranking, but had a little trouble idling at first. I guess the computer is learning after having been without power. I am still thinking about the LSC drivetrain, but have my reservations about the non-MAF 1988 5.0l HO and the automatic transmission. I understand the computer is different on this car with auto and anti-lock breaks, air suspension and just about every option imaginable. We'll have to wait and see. I posted an ad online for Wanted 5.0L and transmission.

Still looking for donor and ideas.

Engine Bay Day

2009-03-29T18:21:00.000-06:00

Ahh Sunday! Sunshine, snow blind and still cold. I managed to do a number on the Zetec and surrounds. This will keep me happy until I can work on a V8 to go in there.

We went and looked at a 1990 Mustang GT that was for sale (private). It was so thoroughly ratched. Nothing was good about that car. $1000 was way steep. In saying that, it did run, but smoked about a litre of oil in the two minutes it was running. The interior was trashed, a giant hole where the stereo was and door panels and seats had tears in them. The owner says the engine has burnt rings and overheats. He wouldn't recommend driving it home. Maybe it was worth $500 for the transmission and rear end + the 1990 MAF and computer. I'll keep looking thanks.

Here is the Zetec 2.0l engine before and after. Click the image for a bigger one.

I also put new wiper blades on and re-did the pin striping in silver. Looks smart!

Now I am happy with the sporty car, I can go hunting for some HO drivetrain components.

To Do This Week...
Inquire about the blue Lincoln Mark VII LSC in the field here. It is about a 1988 I think.
Measure up the rear end on the ZX2 and compare to 8.8" rear ends out there. Check Lincoln, Cougar, T-Bird, Mustang and Explorer. All use a similar 8.8" rear end, but are in slightly different flavours. The older Lincoln and T-Bird Thunder Coupes have rear disc brakes. Hmmm, thinking.

A Day of Cleaning

2009-03-28T21:54:00.000-06:00

I've been super busy at work and haven't had much time to even look at the car until today. I got insurance and registration on it this week, but left it in the garage the whole week. The weather has been the shite here so it's best to have something on the road that doesn't spin out all the time.

Saturday morning: I got up early about 6:00AM and did some research online and then put on my insulated overalls and started cleaning the car. I washed and used some Scratch-X (Meguire's) to polish out some small scratches. I went to Canadian Tire and bought some touch-up paint in Toreador Red. I also grabbed some Brasso as I have heard that headlights can be polished to like-new state with patience.

I stripped the tint off the driver's and passenger door windows (illegal here). This was a bit of a hassle. Anyways, no harm done. The tint film comes off and leaves the glue on the glass. I sprayed Windex and scrapped with a razor blade. Worked ok and kept me warm while the sun was still low in the sky. I now know the correct way was to steam or heat-gun while pulling the old tint off. It's pretty cold in the mornings still.

I also picked up the Haynes Repair Manual for Escort/Tracer 1991 - 2000.

Here is what she looks like now after 6 hours of rubbing.

Tomorrow I will work on cleaning the interior and engine up a bit.

The Host Car

2009-03-28T21:28:00.000-06:00

After some scanning through the online classifieds and looking at Ford Focus V8 conversion kits, I ran across a guy from Quebec that has put a 5.0l HO in an Escort ZX2.

On March 23, my brother and I went to pick up the host car. It is a 1998 Ford Escort ZX2 with 167,000 km on the clock. Everything works and it is straight and tidy inside. The engine looks like a dirt storm went straight under the hood. It smells like dog and has some scratches on it. The car drives remarkably well and everything feels tight in the front end. There is no body rust and there was a 6 Pack CD with 150 watt subwoofer setup in the trunk, alloy wheels, pwr door locks, pwr windows, cruise control, 5 speed and pretty good rubber on it still. All this for $2,600.

In the big scheme of things, the car being drivable is a good thing while I build up the drivetrain. I can use it to go to work or just go cruisin' on the weekends. It is a great little car to drive and quite peppy and nimble. It was a Zetec 2 litre I4 with 125Hp from the factory. The five speed transmission is a bit odd as the gap between 2nd and 3rd seems too large. I guess we will have to fix that, but we can take our time and get the engine, trans and rear end in order. I can do all the measuring up right here in the garage and plan everything out in AutoCAD before I start cutting anything.

Overview of Project

2009-03-28T20:58:00.000-06:00

In my youth friends we're building V8 Vegas and V8 Mavericks. Great fun little project cars that could sit and roast 'em up. Why? Because it is fun to make stuff from other stuff. This is why Lego is still popular after all these years!

In the past few months of looking out the window with 2 feet of snow in the yard, I've been thinking of something to start as a summer project car.

In May of 1990, I got sick of fixing my old truck. After running through the junkyard mud with my brother trying to grab some suspension pieces I said "enough of this crap" and walked into the nearby Ford dealership and bought a brand spanking new Mustang GT Cobra. What a blast! What a great sounding exhaust. What a great ratio in the transmission transmission. It was truly fun to drive. Five years of payments was another thing. I never drove it in the winter months and took really great care of it. I sold the car for about 1/2 of what I paid for it five years later.

More recently I drove a Toyota Sprinter (Japanese version) with the famous 4AGE 20 valve engine with a 5 speed gearbox. Another great fun car to drive, but lacked that "kicking torque" that the bigger displacement 5litre had.

Now I am older and wiser. I like power and grunty exhaust notes, but I also enjoy the engineering and fabrication aspects of working on cars. My goal is to do this...

Buy a smaller front wheel drive car
build up a 5.0l HO
Connect engine into car, thus making a rear-wheel drive car with several hundred horsepower.

Of course I would like to do this with as much though and cost savings as possible. I am not going to make a $60,000 sports car or drag racer here. In fact a somewhat mild mannered "sporty" looking car, that idles nicely and goes "GRRRR" when you punch it is what I am looking for.

Budget
I have a new MIG/Wirefeed welder, double bay garage, engine hoist, air compressor and lots of ingenuity, but I don't have endless amounts of cash to throw into this project.

Here is my initial budget. (subject to get whacked out sometime along the way)

Car (small and decent), not new, say 1996 to 2002. Sporty looks is good. Prefer 2-door.
Let's go with $3000 here.
Engine - 5.0l HO. Prefer MAF, post 1989 model. If it needs honing and mechanical cleanup, that's ok. It's got to have all the wiring harness, computer and so on. Going to say about $1000 to $1500.
Transmission and rear end. I should be able to get these from a wrecked Mustang. As long as they are ok in working order, should be sweet. Guessing $800 for both. Need to research this.
Suspension mods. No FWD car will enjoy a V8 sitting on its struts and the 8.8" rear end will have no home in the back to settle in. Therefor, I am going to have to do some serious cutting and welding to get this to work. So, for modifying the suspension, I'll throw a number out there like: $2000.
Miscellanous - tires, tubs, steel, paint, gas tank and so on I'd guess another $2000.

The rest will be my time and electricity bills.

I really don't know how accurate my budget will turn out to be, but I am planning on bargain hunting and hitting the junk yards for a lot of bits and pieces. The v8 machine for under $10,000. Sound doable?

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