Stripping the Dash Area

I worked on stripping the area behind the dash yesterday and today.  I used a few wire wheels and sheets of sand paper.  The job is really slow moving and hard to do thoroughly.  There are so small small areas where a drill does not fit and it is hard to do by hand with the sand paper. 

Once I had the underdash area as clean as possible, I wiped it down with mineral spirits and the put on a coat of Eastwoods Rust Converter on the underside.  This will help with the areas of rust in the corners I simplly can't reach.  I'll give that a few days to dry and then I'll top coat with Rust Encapsulator.  This might be overkill but there is a large amount of surface rust I do not want to remain active after I paint the panels.

I needed a break after all the sanding and finished the day by installing my new parking brake cables in the rear drums.  I'll need to wait to completely assemble the parking brake system until after the tranmission is installed.  However, this is one small project off the to-do list.

Once I finished behind the dash, I decided to go ahead and strip the front of the dash.  I stripped it using sand paper, paint stripper, and some wire wheels.  I sanded the entire front with 220 grit at the end to get it really smooth.  I then put on a coat of Eastoods Rust Encapsulator.  I'd like to go ahead and paint it but I'll need to wait until I have the area behind the dash finished up. 

For those of you wondering, I'd love to have taken off the dash pad.  However, it will not come off. Trust me, I've removed all the retaining nuts.  I searched the internet and found people were ripping them off because they end up stuck to the dash panels.

Unfortunately, the replacement dash pads do not look very good.  Since mine is original and in good condition (hard to tell with all the sanding dust on it).  My plan is just to leave it on and work around it.

Undercarriage Painted!

I finished all the undercarriage preparation yesterday and spent the day today painting the underside of the Mustang. 

I used Dupli-Color TR250 Bed Coating on all of the undercarriage.  The coating is very durable but is not as thick as most bed coatings.  There is texture but it is very faint.  I put a total of three coats on the underside of the car which was five 16 oz cans.

I touched up some areas on the firewall and then painted the toe boards.  The firewall is painted with the Krylon 1613 Semi-Flat Black paint.  I then used some tape before undercoating the toe boards where they angle back from the firewall.  You can faintly see where the toe boards were welded into place but you would really have to be looking for it to notice.   

Final Undercarriage Preparation

I spent today preparing the underside of the new floorboard for paint.  There were a large number of small things I needed to take care of which caused the task to take much longer than I expected. 

I started off at the rear of the floorboard by preping the rear floorboard seam and torque boxes.   I then sanded the underside of the entire floorbard with 220 grit sand paper.  The next step was to seam seal each of the points where two factory panels overlapped.  Once that was done, I sprayed the entire underside with a coat of Eastood's Rust Encapsulator.

The Rust Encapsulator is going to be dry and ready for a top coat in the morning.  I've six cans of some bed liner I've chosen to use on the underside of the Mustang.  The bed liner is much thinner than most and does not have as much texture.  I used it on the outer front fenderwells a few years back and it has held up well. 

I really wanted to use something other than spray cans.  However, I'd need to buy an air compressor and find a way to raise the Mustang high enough to get a paint gun under the car.  Additionally, I'd need to learn how to use a spray gun which might take a little while.  Since the spray can version I used before held up well, I decided to use it so this project does not drag longer.

While what I did this weekend can be summarized in one paragraph, it was a lot of work.  I should  be able to paint the underside of the undercarriage tomorrow.  This will then leave me with the followings items to finish up:

- Strip Underside of Dash
- Repair Cowl Hats
- Strip and Paint Front of Dash
- Install Sound Deadening
- Install Firewall Pad
- Install Dash Wiring
- Connect Electric Fan
- Install Pedal Assembly
- Install Clutch & Throttle Linkage
- Install Gauge Cluster
- Install Steering Column and Wheel
- Repaint Throttle Linkage

- Install Engine Mounts
- Reinstall Engine
- Install Transmission
- Install Driveshaft
- Install Exhaust
- Install Parking Brake
- Install Gas Line
- Install Interior

Toe Board Underside Clean-Up

I removed the engine to replace a bad motor mount and to reach the underside of the toe boards I welded into place earlier this year.  This weekend, I climbed into the engine compartment and worked on the underside of the toe boards.

There were a few spots where I did not have great weld penetration.  I welded the bottom side of these welds to make sure everything was solid.  I then ground down the welds and put a little filler to fix the small imperfections.  Most would consider this overkill but I know I'll be disappointed later if I don't do the best job I can while I have it apart.

Once the filler was dry, I sanded it down and top coated it with two coats of Eastwood's Rust Encapsulator.  I'll wait to prep the rest of the undercarriage for paint before doing anything further with the toe boards.

I took care of a few small projects while waiting for the paint to dry.  I stripped the driver side torque box in preparation for paint.  I welded on the passenger side brake bracket which I forgot to weld before putting the floorpan in the Mustang.  I also cut out the hole for the parking brake cable in the driver side toe board.

While it may not sound like much, this was the majority of what I was able to accomplish this weekend.

...

This is a picture of the toe boards after I put down a coat of filler.  I put down a heavier coat than needed.  I don't know how many times I have to do this and sand like mad before I realize how little is actually needed.

This is a picture immediately after I painted the bottom with Rust Encapsulator.  The paint dries somewhat fast.  The sheen is actually flat but you can see the parts which are still a little wet as they are have more sheen. 

Checking Engine Condition and Specs

I've wanted to replace the camshaft in the Mustang for a while now.  Since the engine is out of the Mustang, now is as good of time as any to change it out.  I've a set of '69 351 heads as well I'd like to install.  Before starting this project, I decided I would go through the engine and check the condition.

Crank & Rod Bearings

I started by removing the oil pan to check the condition of the cranshaft and rod bearings.  I can tell they are a little worn so I've considered replacing them.  I asked about it on SBFTech and VMF but both suggested I just leave it alone based on the oil pressure readings I recorded about a year ago.

Camshaft
I checked the specs on the cam before removing the heads and cam.  The intake had .230 lift at the cam (.368 at the valve) and .237 exhaust life (.380 at the valve).  After removing the heads and cam, I found the number 560 stamped on the end of the cam. 

A few internet searches revealed it is a Sealed Power 560 cam which is a stock replacement cam.  The specifications on Summit match up to the stock cam grind referenced in Tom Monroe's book on SBF engines.


Intake Duration at 050 inch Lift: 184
Exhaust Duration at 050 inch Lift: 189
Duration at 050 inch Lift: 184 int./189 exh.
Advertised Intake Duration: 292
Advertised Exhaust Duration: 265
Advertised Duration: 292 int./265 exh.

Lifters

The lifters seem to be in excellent shape.  There are no strange marks on the face which rode on the cam lobes.  They slid easily in and out of the lifter bores.  I took them out and put them in an old container in the proper order in case I ever need to inspect the lifter which came out of a particular bore.

Pistons
I noticed the bottom of each piston has the number 1157 cast into the skirt.  I searched the Internet and found these are Keith Black Silv-O-Lite pistons.  They are dish pistons but I could find no cc measurement of the dish size on the Internet.  I emailed the company and they responded stating the dish is 12 cc. 

I measured the bore with a dial caliper and it is bored 040 over.  Once I cleaned off the tops of the pistons, I could make out a 40 stamped into the top of each of the pistons.  I checked how far in the hole the pistons are at TDC. I used a gauge to get the piston to TDC. I then slid a feeler gauge under a piece of metal laid across the top of the piston. The measurement is rather large at .035.

I later learned this is because these pistons have a compression height of 1.585.  Many pistons for a 289 have a compression height of 1.605.  This would change the amount the piston is in the bore from .035 to .015.  This paired with the dished piston gives me a current compression ratio of 8.17:1 which is shamefully low.  Switching to any aftermarket head with a 60 cc chamber (or even the '69 351 heads) is going to drop compression even lower (to 7.74:1 with current parts).

The head gasket they used was a Fel-Pro 8548PT-2.  It has a compressed thickness of .047.

Timing Chain

This isn't the best picture but the engine has single roller timing chain installed.  The chain has seen better days as it seems to be a little stretched.  I chose this picture as you can see the extent of the stretching on the far side of the chain. 

Heads

I took several measurements of the 351 heads to make sure I order the correct valve springs.  I removed all the valve springs with a tool I rented from O'Reilly.  I noticed the valves seem a little loose in the guides.  I also tested with water to find three valves which leak slightly. 

I decided to check the 289 heads I took off and found they have four leaky valves.  I took off a couple of springs and the valve guides seem a little tighter.  A strange oddity is that the 289 heads do not have the bump in the exhaust port but the 351 heads do. 
I've learned a fair amount about the condition of the motor.  I'm not sure what I'm going to do with it at this point.  There is the desire to have it rebuilt but there is also the concern that since it is already bored 040 over that that might not be an option.  I think I'll take it to a local machine shop and let them evaluate what I'm working with an give me some suggestions.