Engine bay resto help

Real Remon or Mellow Yellow? Actually, I think Ferrari or Lotus used yellow on their engines. You're in the classy range. We've got a good week to get her done.

 

Dear Diary...

THANKS to StorminNormy, progress was made today on my little project.
With a combination of his seemingly boundless energy and optimism, and my bad attitude, we were able to accomplish a few tasks.

When I pulled the tranny crossmember I saw that the mount was all distorted, which I assumed was from me yanking the transmission around.
Of course trying to find a replacement locally proved impossible, so we were faced with the task of removing the practically brand new one from the parts car. What fun!

One of the crossmember bolts was totally seized, and after struggling with it for quite some time it was introduced to my grinder. Oh and one of the other bolts holding the mount to the tranny was frozen too. Rounded that one pretty well, so we had to make a trip to the supply shop. Got there 5min to closing.

OK fine so we're putting the new mount in and thanks to Norm's attention to detail he hands the crossmember from the parts car. I say's "what this?" and he says, "well the one from this car is whacked". Oh? OK. Really? Yup.

Apparently in a previous life this car must've got perched up on something somewhere offroading. Anyways at that point we had to remove a bushing from the newer crossmember and put it on the one from the parts car. My goodness what a pain in the butt that was.
Finally, with the help of Mr. Grinder and some R&R, that task was accomplished.

Crossmember installed, now hopefully we can get this engine place...

 

We're a good team, eh? I had fun. Can't wait till tomorrow!

 

Found some tranny crossmembers for early mustangs (1965 to 66) for $149 US, plus frt. Then I found this 1979 to 1993 Mustang article about rebuilding the floor and they sell crossmembers for them!
http://www.globalwest.net/1996_Mustang_subframe_install_and_repair.htm

More info on parts:
http://www.globalwest.net/index.html

 

Stormin Normin does house calls? And stuck bolts too? I have a feeling his phone is going to be ringing real soon.

 

Andy's about 10 blocks away. You're SOOL (Sh!t Out Of Luck).

The rubberised cyclinder mount in his tranny crossmember broke away from it's steel shield, and the xmember itself was all warped, so we looked at removing this insert from this bad member and reuse it the good one. It worked!

So I did a search for Mustang crossmembers (they fit from 1979 to 1993) in other Fox-bodied cars from 1978 to 1989, including TBirds and Capris, with variations for the type of Auto trans, especially the AOD trans. But this worked, so why wait weeks and pay almost $200, for a replacement?

 

Everyone should be so lucky to have a car buddy like Norm!

 

Easy man! My head has to get out the door. Thanks Andy.

 

Moving right along...

 

Too pretty to use! You should really pinstripe the valve cover at least, unless the gasket is blue or white.

Another great day's progress! I'd need a stool to take pictures at those angles.

 

Here's a crossmember and bushing source Andy, for future reference:
http://www.dallasmustang.com/home.p...=1979&brand=&category=92&subcategory=105&text=

 

The bushings look like they don't have the metal collar we had to grind through.

 

I noticed that too. Maybe the Aftermarket Xmember has them alrealy pressed in? But they do show the metal bolt stiffener that keeps everything apart properly.

 

Norm and I got the head on today!

 

Lookin good. You see that square fitting in the water jacket towards the front of the head? Well you did it right. I found out that it's impossible to install with the PVS in the fitting. I learn by doing everything twice.