I took this past weekend off but resumed work on the car Monday after work. I'd really like to finish up this project with the cooling system this week. I'm running low on time as I have five weeks to fix the windshield, check the A/C, and put some test miles on the car.
On Monday, I installed all the belts, the shroud and fan, radiator overflow, and then started work on cleaning up the fan controller wiring a little. The ignition wire which feeds the choke and the fan relay is really thin. I replaced it with a new wire and then began working on cleaning up the wiring for the fan controller. I didn't get to finish it up as I was missing a few crimp connectors.
On Tuesday, I primarily worked on the fan wiring and some new wiring I'll use for installing a Holley 46-74 AC solenoid that will hold the idle up when the A/C is on. Wiring always takes longer than I expect. It isn't the wiring itself but me being perfectionistic. I want all the wires the right length, wrapped, hidden, and then the associated relays well mounted. Unfortunately, I only have maybe half of that done.
On Wednesday, I didn't do much but I installed the upper radiator hose, filled the system with Coolant and WaterWetter, and then started zip tying some of the wiring that I've been working on the last few days. I also ordered a couple different colors of wire for the last of the fan and A/C solenoid wiring.
On Thursday, I received the new wiring, wired up the relays, and started running the wires from the relays out to the fan controller, ignition power, and A/C trigger. I'm going to convert the old voltage regulator box into a mounting point for the relays. Not much overall but it was a little progress.
On Saturday, I finished up wiring the fan control and most of the A/C solenoid. I'm going to save the rest of the A/C solenoid as I need to test for a negative trigger when the A/C is running. I then cleaned up, fixed a dent in the bottom, and painted the oil pan. I misted some paint (Duplicolor Universal Silver Metallic BUN0600) on the valve covers as they were showing a bit of wear and lightly sanded the letters to make them bare aluminum again.
On Sunday, I installed the valve covers on the Mustang with some Black Ultra VTV on the valve cover side of the gasket. I tightened them and checked them three times to ensure everything was snug. I checked the torque of the connecting rod nuts (20 ft/lbs.) and the main caps (70 ft/lbs.). I then cleaned the oil pan sealing surface of the block with mineral spirits, cleaned up the bolts, and then installed the pan with a new FelPro OS13260 gasket with some Black Ultra RTV.
I used the RTV in the corners of the oil pan gasket as normal but also along the back of the crank area. This is where it has always leaked in the past. This means it will likely rip apart if I try to take it apart but it did that anyway before when I did not use much RTV. Might as well make this time count and seal it up really well before trying to go on any road trips.
While I had the oil pan off, I also looked at the cylinder walls and up into the motor at the cam. The cross hatching is still apparent in all of the cylinders. The tips of the lobes of the cam are polished much more than the rest of the lobe. None of the cam lobes seemed to have any weird or especially worn look to them. I didn't expect anything to look off but figured it was worth a look.
Unfortunately, in the short period of time since installing the freshly painted transmission block off plate, oil ran down it enough to discolor all the paint. I managed to get a second coat on it while everything is in the car. This made the project take a little longer as I needed it to dry before the pan could be installed. Regardless, it is all back together now.
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