It's time to find permanent home for the electrical components. Let's start with an easy one. It's also the biggest. The battery has been resting on a couple of the planks of wood at the front. It's where Mustang had it. My cobra needs it in the trunk. In fact under the trunk floor to save the trunk space. If you recall, I had a funky kit installed from ffmetal.com
It would seem that all I need to do is to actually move the battery to the rear and connect the two big wires. How hard can it get? How about if one of the wires is not provided as part of the kit. ;) Oh good ol' Factory Five. Well, I needed the battery posts relocation anyhow. Since the battery will be installed in a very hard to access compartment it would be priceless to have access for charging and cut off switch for safety. Of course, folks at Breeze Automotive know the troubles the builders go through and have a fix ready.
Now I have all the parts I need: the ground cables for the entire car, charging posts and the high current cut off switch.
The task becomes really straight forward. Clean up the powder coating and bolt up the cables with properly crimped ends. Here's an example
The battery is too big and does not fit inside the box. I will buy the correct size one later but till then it looks like this
I also got a couple of these
One set goes on top of the battery another covers the charging posts
This is the pretty side
And the last bit to complete the circuit is the switch. Remember that it has to go between the battery and the car but not the charging post. The idea is that you should be able to disconnect the battery for charging.
Here's how the switch looks like between the seats in the cabin.
Nothing to write home about. There is a face plate that goes under but I need to finish the carpet before installing it. The pretty side of the switch is the under side
My wife does not share my fascination with the internals looking cute. She claims that nobody would look or care to look at the internal component. She does have a higher level of education then me so I let these silly remarks slide occasionally.
Let's recap: engine and transmission are in and the rear axle has been bolted in for a while now. The missing link is the drive shaft. With that hint in mind, guess what I got for my birthday? Well, I dropped off the original mustang part at Pat's driveline for shortening since the cobra requires about a foot long drive shaft. My dad agreed to pick it up for me once it's done. When it arrived to my house it was wrapped in a box and a bow stuck on. Thanks! What a thoughtful gift. Just what I needed. :) For some reason I did not take a picture of it. Honestly, the drive shaft looks like a drive shaft.
However, this means that I was able to complete my puzzle. The drive line was finished. I filled up the transmission with Mobil 1 ATM fluid. The engine got filled with some dino oil filled with various cleansing agents. Topped with a K&N oil filter it made up my breakin setup. The thinking was to play around with this oil and filter combo and once the car is ready to roll to fill her up with proper oil and the standard white K&N filter. Of course, I took it to the next level but that's for later.
Now, let's get to the exciting part: does it run? After all, a lot of parts were touched by me and that does not always produces desired outcome. I pulled out the box of wires and started to wrap them around the frame. I this time I just wanted to make sure that the connectors click and there is current in the necessary circuits. It does not look pretty but it does not have to yet.
This is what I am looking for:
As my friend said to me: "this was my Christmas tree this year". He was right. I was just as glad and indeed this was last Christmas time. I am horrible at keeping my blog current.
If you expect to hear that the engine fired right up and there was fairy dust in the air I have a disappointment for you. In fact, it was very dead. The only signs of life I got was the cranking of the starter by manually supplying 12v to the trigger. To me that means that the starter is fine but that's about all. The reason for the silence in the garage was Ford's PATS(Passive Anti Theft System). I must have triggered it some how. That means I had sit on my hands until this arrived:
It may sound unexpected but I did not own a generic OBD2 scanner at that time. On the other side, I just got myself an X3. This usually bring up a bunch of questions. I'll try to nail as much as I can right of the bat. No, this thing does not come with canned tunes. Of course, I will be tuning this car. No, I do it myself using SCT's Pro Racer software. I may have Steeda guys or some other tuner look it over once I am done. Returning back to topic, this small scanner allowed me to reset PATS and present you with this video:
He he. I also expected an engine start. As you can see, nope, it did not happen. That's the time when I detected a faulty fuel line. I am glad I took those videos. It made me think more about safety. I am thankful to be report that everything is fine after the fact that the fuel was pouring down next to the sparkling loose wire on the starter. However, my wife made me buy one of this for my garage:
Moving on back to my non cooperating engine. I went on to seek the wisdom on the internet. As usually, ffcars guys helped me out. I did a lot of simple test but in the end I missed the crank position sensor. It was simply not plugged in. Once that connector clicked on I was able to film another video
This is when I reached the first but very fulfilling milestone. I think I'll go have another beer to re-celebrate this event. In retrospect, I think I had a bit too few that night.
Previously on "Engine goes in", just before the engine was mated to the tranny, I realized that my clutch is not worthy to be installed. After a ferocious search in my local parts counters, I realized the only things that are "available" are Chinese made OEM replacements. And it would be a 2 days special order. At 10 o'clock at night I threw my hands up and dropped the engine in as is. No tranny.
Two days later, the mail man dropped off this:
As usually, Summit has what I need in stock and will ship it now. Even if it means at 11:00 pm in the evening. This guys make Amazon look bad.
Now, in this episode of "Engine goes in": engine comes out, clutch slides on, tranny bolts on, and ... engine goes in. Let's begin.
Cast it in
and reel it out
Let's jump onto the clutch install. Don't forget the clutch alignment tool. Ford Racing clutch did not come with the tool so I had to buy ACT one separately.
The clutch slides on the alignment tool.
The pressure plate come on next and simply bolts up to flywheel.
As soon as you pull on the plastic ring on the alignment tool, the ring snaps and breaks off. After realizing why this tool is so cheap and pulling the rest of it out with pliers, replace the throw out bearing on the transmission shaft.
The mate the tranny to the motor
At this time, we are ready to go back into the engine bay
We are still missing the tranny mount. It actually needs some tender love and care. This is what Ford has made for Mustang.
And this is what it got transformed into
After a fresh coat of paint
The mount was installed with the special Factory Five frame that attaches to the main 4" tube frame. It was a long night but very productive.
Now, with the engine installed, there are a few odd jobs here and there that need to be done. First the fuel line need to be finished. With the engine in place, it's now apparent where it should lead to.
I actually liked the routing. It's far enough from the exhaust manifolds. My fuel is staying cold. However, this time I messed up my flare and caused a fuel leak. I had to buy a new line and a new hose barb. The repair resulted in even further damage:
The new line was pre-flared and the new fitting came in from www.thewrenchmonkey.ca. The result is similar to the above sans the leak.
The next task was to please everyone. My wife being a tree huger would never forgive me for not running all of the possible emissions control systems. On the other hand, any car person would agree that the engine bay should look "clean" and free of "useless junk". Naturally, the vapors purge valve needs to be hidden well.
This is actually the spot between the passenger foot box and the engine. It's very close to the bottom 4" frame. Obviously, it's well out of sight. I did however screw it up on the first go. The starter was too close to the valve for my comfort. I had to move it up about an inch and a bit and plug the holes.
One more thing I've noticed is the ground clearance of the oil pan.
Never-mind the hanging power steering bits but notice the silver oil pan hanging just bellow the frame. I could give up and forget about this but I would not be able to clear a speed bump without skipping a heartbeat later. This time again I had to deal with Jeff from Whitby Motorcars. They had the motor mount spacers in about the right height to raise the engine just enough. I send the payment in and after about two month the spacer were home. I was not really in a big rush to install them either. About two more month later, they were installed and in fact did their job. The parts are extremely simple to fabricate but I am glad I purchased them. The thickness of the spacers was spot on. If they were just a notch thicker the steering column would not clear the exhaust manifold. On the other hand, any thinner would leave the pan hanging lower 4" frame.
Summit as usually ensured that I don't sit still for long.
Seems like it's the time to yank the engine back out!!!
I realize that I am about 8 month behind on my writing now. However, I have a lot of progress and have taken pictures all along. Hopefully, I'll be able to catch up one day. In my defense, my wife and I just had our first baby. :) Now I have another "project" to work on too.
Alright, at this time, everything looks ready for the engine to go in. I have spray painted the motor mounts and bolted them on.
I also installed the AC delete idler pulley. I had to use Ford Racing part instead of the Factory Five supplied one.
The main reason was that I was missing the inserts that go into the engine block and are part of the AC compressor. Unfortunately, I did not know at the time of the donor tear down that I needed to pull those inserts out. Oh well, now I have a cool part. It looks much better than the Factory Five counter piece.
I think we are ready.
Up it goes
And down it goes
If you know what needs to be done between those picture you'd think that there's a transmission bolted up behind. Well, it was the plan but was not meant to be. As I was pulling parts off the self, I've noticed that the clutch was on its way out. It had some meat left but not enough to be installed. So this turned out to be a mock engine install. Summit Racing has my new clutch on the way.
The engine is almost ready to go in but there are some small details to take care of. One of those is the EGR tube. This engine has EGR system and, therefore, has a metal tube going from the exhaust to the intake. If I were to flip the exhaust manifolds 180 deg to make them point forward, the original EGR tube would not be aligned with its fitting any more. The simple way out would be to remove the EGR system all together and forget about its existence. However, after some reading on Wikipedia, I learned that EGR system has its place in my car. Mainly, I'll try to reduce the fuel consumption whenever possible. EGR allows to inject some of the exhaust gas back into the intake charge. At low loads this translates into a smaller effective engine size. Sounds good if you ask me.
Let's start with the hard part: how do I extend the EGR tubing. The original tube is stainless steel. I would need to get more tubing and bend it into the shape to run along the head. Then, it would need to be flared for the compression fitting. Sounds easy enough but I cannot weld SS and have no means for bending and flaring. The other thought would be to relocate the fitting. If i were to relocate it closer to the tube's end I would have less fabrication to do. I wanted to weld on the fitting right to the header in the desired location but was told that the cast iron might crack later. Threading a new hole also did not promise much durability since the walls of the headers are thin and would not provide enough threaded surface. Also finding the 18mm tap would be a fun hunt on it's own. So I have resorted to maintaining the current positions of all the involved parts and running the flexible tubing.
This is 5/8 ID stainless steel flexible tubing that I got from B & B Specialties. Originally I thought it could be welded right on to the current tube. The trick would be to use a thick enough washer that would fit around the thin tubing and would allow for the proper weld to form. I even got myself a few of the large size lock washers. However, my friend was not confident in the weld being quality to have a proper seal. He offered to braze it with brass. I have never heard of the technique but he assured me that it's the best quality seal and will withstand the heat of exhaust gases.
This is how the finished product looks like. Mean while I had a chance to spray paint the headers too.
They look absolutely horrible but are not so bad parts. Apparently they flow as good as some of the shorties out there. In addition, I did some work to port them. But the reality is, since I am sticking to cats, my entire exhaust looks like ... ( i could only put a "bad" word here). Let's make it's best.
I did the same for the cats too.
After all was done, the parts went back onto the motor. Here's the shot of the head with the original bracket holding holding the tube in place.
The routing of the tube was a bit hard. I could not find enough space to make it clear everything.
So now the oil filter is in the way. Oh well, I was planning on relocating it anyways. Note that it's not necessary and FactoryFive does not relocate the oil filters on 4.6 motors. I am doing so because I want to and I have some cheesy excuses too: EGR tube is touching it, easier access for oil changes, relocation kit looks cool, blah blah blah.
For now I left the tube unsupported but I will be using steel wire to secure it to the exhaust header. Later I am planing to wrap the exhaust blanket around all this ugly to ensure that (a) I never have to see it again and (b) to keep the heat from slow roasting our legs in the foot boxes. I got these from Jegs in the mail.
The original oil pan that is used on the engine is flawless but does not work for my cobra. The reason being is that it's too tall. The engine sits much lower in cobra and the tall oil pan protrudes way too low. The risk of puncturing the oil pan and loosing all the oil is unacceptably high. Therefore the oil pan needs to be replaced with something that works for my application. The Factory Five was supposed to include the oil pan with my kit but they choose not too. Shame on them. After long arguments with them I did not get the part nor the money. I am disappointed how they handled this but what can you do. Luckily, there are other sources. I placed an order with North Racecars and got a Camp oil pan. It's supposed to be great in almost every condition: street, strip or circle track. To save on shipping I sent my parts to CBI. Now that I had a trip to US in my future, I decided to make it worth while. After some time on Summit Racing and Jegs a rather noticeable dent was made on my credit card. A few weeks later, I got the fruits of my investment.
So onto the oil pan replacement. Flip the engine.
Grab a wrench and take the original off. So we have this
This is not the end yet, the oil pick up must go too. This one is designed for the deeper original pan.
You can see how much shorter the right side is on the one on the top. The original is the bottom one on the picture.
The new oil pick up in place. It's probably safe to reuse the old gasket. It's a well made gasket with rubber insert. However, I wanted to go extra mile and got new one by Fel-Pro. Remember to apply bead of gasket maker on the spots where block joins with various covers.
At last, the oil pan comes on. I had to shorten the mounting bolts a bit so they fit. The new oil pan design does no allow the bolts to go in some locations.
It's very important for the uniform seal to follow Ford's instruction on the tightening order of the bolts.
Flip the engine over, pull the deep stick out. It too needs to be adjusted. Measure and clip the end off to ensure it fits the new oil pan. The markings on the deep stick are correct but the length is a bit too long. The new pan is 8 quarts in capacity. Fill up the engine with oil and have a beer. :)
