Body off

[diegokid]

Finally removed the body yesterday. Assembling the car in the gelcoat for about 800 miles has revealed a lot. Found several rub spots a few spots of melted convuluted tubing. I made several wiring changes so now I can incorporate this into the wiring harness ect, ect. Just mount everything else that requires holes before paint.

I hope to get the motor to the dyno within the next week or so. I was told that FEs leak but I've never seen anything leak like this before. The Clutch started slipping under load before I pulled the body so I'll check that before going to the dyno.

The painter, my brother is going to do most of the work here with me on the weekends so I will take our time with that, besides beer is cheaper than labor charges and I fix all his mechanical stuff.

The body buck turned out good too. I widened the bottom to match the top and it is very stable. I also raised it enough for me to get my keg through the framework to work and reroute from under the buck. One thing though I was wondering if everyone else noticed that the 2/4 that runs foward on the driver side is almost right against the driver footbox. This will make the alum install difficult so I may move it somewhere else. I'll check my measurments too to be sure the Land Sharks didn't have anything to do with it!
:BEER:

[robbinsshkr]

the foot box should sit on top of the 2x4 except for the dropped portion. the dropped portion doesn't get covered by the aluminum as does the main box area. you do still need to wrap it with the thermotech though. the 2x4 that is up against the dropped area are to be cut at a 45, but even with that, it is too tight. the 2x4's that surround the dropped foot box portion do mneed to be a bit wider and longer. the 2x4 under the main footbox will not interfear with the alum, as the alum is flush with the bottom of the box. i had to take a sawzaw to mine in a couple of places after the body was on it. if it is very tight, you built it correct to the plans and your measurments are correct, the plans are just off a bit.
Eddie

[diegokid]

It fits in the dropped section fine I put a generous radius on that area. The area I was talking about is where the 2/4 sitting on top of the centersection runs foward for the front support, shouldn't be hard to make a change. It sets about 1/2" away from the footbox on the same side as the header, on the drivers side.

[Aggressor]

Diego,

Common misconception on the FE's. I have almost 14000 miles on my FE without leaks.
I had my machinist installed my crank and mains. I don't know what seals/sealants/tecniques were used. I'll be seeing him soon so I'll ask. I understand some of the FE guys have very good results using seals from Ford Power Parts (FPP) with dabs of RTV on the join areas.

-Geary

Ford Power Parts
14504 S. Carmenita #C
Norwalk, CA 90650
(562) 921-5300

[diegokid]

Mine has several leaks, intake manifold front and rear, distrubutor, blows it out of the breathers in the valve covers ect. Its like the motor has too much blowback. Only thing I've ever had that leaked more was original british cars and motorcycles.

[Aggressor]

Intake manifold: I use a thin bead of Black RTV sealant on the front and rear engine surfaces. I also use a small amount to ring the intake and water ports on the head and intake gasket sides. Back to the engine front and rear surfaces, I use the cork end gaskets which are placed carefully into the RTV bead and then coated with another thin bead of sealant on the top surface. A small dab is placed on the area where the side and end gaskets meet. The intake is carefully lowered onto the gasket sufaces being careful not to shift the gaskets or displace the sealant.

Distributor: Use a fresh rubber gasket with a thin layer of grease. This should seal and the grease allows for easier future removal.

Blowby gasses: Unless your engine is worn or has problem areas they should not be excessive but will occur. Back in the day engines had a road draft tube venting blowby under the car. Use a correct pvc valve mounted in either valve cover. Plumb it into your intake with tubing to the carb base or vacuum port. Before adding the blowers I was using a vintage GT500 dual quad. I used -AN6 steel braided line plumbed directly into the center of the intake manifold. It looked good, performed great and made no perceivable diffence with the exception of polluting less.

Now that I am trying to do an exact replication of the original twin Paxton setup I did not originally add any pvc setup. Due to blowby gasses venting on the passenger side, I am now looking for a way to add one without leaning out either side of my intake charge. It's getting a bit complicated because I can't have positive boost pressure backfeeding into the crankcase past the pvc. My prior pvc setup is mounted in the breather cap on the drivers side valve cover as seen below.

-Geary

[diegokid]

Thanks for the info and I will remember it for the future use but there are other issues with this motor, it only has 800 miles on it, this is one reason its going to the dyno. I didn't build it, not being that knowledgeable about FE motors vs Chevy motors I had it built by someone else that is known for these motors.

[robbinsshkr]

Diego,

I now know the part of the body dolly you are referring to. I actually removed that front support section and used jack stands to support the very front. you'll spend so much time crawling in and out of that area, it makes it a lot easier to remove it, not to mention it will give you plenty of room to set a stool in that area.
thanks,
Eddie