May 23

But first the rest of the week.

I talked to Rob Weatherbie the other day, Nice guy! Again someone who knew my name. We talked a good hour about the fun these are and how he was enjoying reading my site. I asked a little advise about the wiring harness and hooking up the switches I got from Finish Line. He said he'd be glad to send me an E-mail about wiring in a couple of days! Too nice and helpful. Thanks Rob!

Also talked to FFR on Wednesday about the pulley problems I was having. The problem was the belt turned out to be 57". Problem is no one makes a 57" belt and 56 was too short and 60 was too long. So I called FFR to see if they knew were I could get a different size pulley to make up the difference. I was fortune enough to get a hold of Dave Smith who commented on the number of people who mention my site and the costs I have developed. Sounds like we are making quite a name for our selves! Dave pointed me at an old 4 cylinder turbo that used a different size pulley so I ran off to my local Ford. Unfortunately they could not get the pulley here in time for the weekend, so we decided to just pull the bracket off and drill another hole in the correct spot so to use 59.5 inch belt I found.

I talked again to Cartech on Friday, another excuse! This time the fittings were used on the their race car, and once the guy was back from welding it, he'd do mine. What a load of crap! I'm keeping my peace till I get it back from them, After that I'm going to let them know how bull @$!# that was!

So since we were sure we were ready to test fire the bad boy this weekend, I decided to find the old rusted fuel pickup in our bin of used parts, and put together a temporary fuel pump. I was going to wait and do it once I made sure we got to that point.

So Friday night I worked on the vacuum lines and installed the intake. Of  course a new problem popped up with throttle cable bracket. With the GT-40 intake, the bracket was too low to clear the the valve covers, so we might have to see about getting a spacer to raise the intake enough. I'll check around a bit tomorrow to see. But before we went to bed, we were determined to try the pre-oiling.  Not too bad, after finding an adapter long enough, we hooked up Mr. cordless and gave the oil pump a spin, of course after we filled her with oil. First it went smooth but it started to torque up. We figured that was good and we heard fluid movement,  so after taking the valve covers off,  we tried it again and saw it flowing quite nicely up from the push rods! Reason to party, but you know I had to try some thing, I was concerned that the oil line to the Vortech may not be 100% so I took the line off it and  with rag in hand, asked Dad to give it a little spin ... Well there went about a quart of oil! Had no idea that much would be going though that line! So looks like we got the ever so important oil to her. After cleaning up that mess, I worked a bit more on the intake and vacuum then called it a night.

Saturday was a bit uneventful. I ended up getting a camera, one with Zoom so I can get some close ups for a change. By saturday night I figured the only things missing were the Fuel lines and pump, finish the Vacuum lines, check the wiring again and finally hookup the starter wires.

Sunday, the day to remember, After Dad filled the radiator he started to work on the inlet of the super and Air meter. I started on the Fuel lines.  Didn't take too long to make all the lines, I'll try and take a few picts of it tomorrow. After that, I finished up the Vacuum lines and started to work on the wiring for the rear harness. Also made the fuel pump since it looked as if we might be starting her. Dad reinstalled the tank and Fuel pump with a couple gallons of  "go-go" juice. After a few ground checks and hookups, we pushed her outside.

First we took a picture of us, sitting on the car, just getting ready to try it's first start. Notice the ever ready fire extinguisher at hand! Engine looks pretty good I think. As you can tell we avoided the braided on the water lines to and from the Radiator, just seamed too much a hassle. First we tried the fuel pump, Relay click but no pump noise. A quick electrical test and proved it's not the wiring, out comes the pump. Luckily it was an easy fix, Ground wire to the pump came undone inside the pickup, and the tank pump was back in. Test again and the pump works. So now we try the on/off test a couple of times to see if the temporary fuel pressure gauge shows anything. I finally  came to my senses in a few try's with no reading that there must be air trapped so I disconnect the return line from the tank and put the end into a bucket. Try again and 10psi, again 25psi, again 45psi and a leak at the fake junction I made, re-tighten and try again this time we get all the way to 70psi, before another leaks pops up. Seams as if Jeff was in a bit of a rush to test start and forgot to tighten a few connections. By this  pint we had a little gas in the bucket so I hooked her back up.

So with everything in place we tried the starter, with out the ignition coil. Worked great. Next coil back on and lets see what happens. Turn over and nothing, Jeff again smacks himself and remembers he just placed the distributor in and did not set it up right. So a quick pull of the wires, turn of the starter and the distributor was aligned, or so I thought. After failure again, we pull the number 4 plug and test for spark. It does, so I remember again that the distributor can align on the 0 degree mark twice and that I probably have it wrong. Quick check and yes it is backwards! Too much of a rush Jeff.

By now our neighbor Doug has stopped by to see what was up and lended a hand. As you can see, I've gone for the timing light to see what we can see. Now funny thing to add is the  lack of pipes. Some times we'd build so much vapors, it would half catch and flames literally would come out, lasting for about 10 seconds each. Made for a few lost leg hairs the first couple of times!

By now the engine was almost catching, but not quite. So I have Dad give her just a bit of gas while she is cranking and ...

This time I was able to notice the timing was a bit off. So I loosen the distributor so I can adjust it once it starts. After startup, I make my adjustments to 10 degrees and she idles great. I have them shut it off, by the way it all has to be done with hand signals because I can't yell over the noise. We try a start again and nothing, won't start. Set the distributor back and starts fine. Well I'll get back to that ... So after a few more starts we notice its getting late and decide let me think it over a bit. Well it took until I started writing this that I realized I forgot to disable the computer during my testing/setting the distributor! You can see the little chip in place by the distributor. Soon as I realized this I was so happy to figure I was being a dunce again.

One side note to our little adventure, after I stripped all the wires the other day, I hooked up the Code scanner, and confirmed the codes, yet today when I was trying to figure my problem out, the computer came back with no codes at all! If memory serves me right it should atleast be getting a everything's OK code. Something I must investigate this week.

So this week a call to Steeda about a intake spacer, HPC about the missing pipes, a call to the radiator guy who plugged the radiator fill, which leaked like a sieve after startup, and another call to Cartech about my pumps, we should be moving into more wiring.

May 16
Lets see, we are still waiting for our Fuel pump back, Cartech is having problems getting the right fittings. However every time I call they mention how busy they have been because of the race. Not sure what race, but they are starting to tick me off. We are now all set for startup, just missing the pumps.  ERRR!

The radiator Hose setuup  we have worked out, we are just trying to work out the fake braided covering. Dad spent a good bit of time trying to get them to work today.

Since we were waiting on the stuff, I took apart the dash harness. What a mess. Took about a week of diagram following to figure what needed to stay and what could go. Then 2 days to remove the stuff. Not too bad. But I see why people send them off to be done by the pros!  So after today's testing, the verdict. It still works! Now the tough part is getting the Ford wiring to work with the Lucas switches we got form Enzo. Might need to talk to the Pros tomorrow about that one. I was very happy when I got ever thing hooked up. During the first install the Starter solenoid was not engaging at start. Looks like I fixed something during my strip down. I'll try and investigate why it now works, but then I'm not complaining!

We also got the radiator back from the shop after getting the reserve feed closed and the return line bent up a bit. Doesn't look to shabby!

Personal note: I'm starting my last week at my job Monday. I've been there for three years but it is time to move on, I'll miss those Guys and thanks for the support during our project!

May 10
Just wanted to update the Cobra costs. Since I am waiting for stuff, thought I'd try and find all the receipts. Decided not to get into the detail I was before. If anyone wants to know about something, I'd be happy to let you know.

May 9
Been too long! Well, I was wrong about the belt routing, I forgot the direction the water pump turns is Oh so important. So basically we are now running from the Crank, around the water pump, and up to the Idle pulley from FFR. What we have done is removed the smog pump on the Vortech setup and just using the Alternator.

Next couple of Picts are Mike Mack's Headers, back from HPC coatings. They look great! Clearance on the passenger side was no problem. But then the drivers side was a different story. Pipe one was hitting the hoses going into the proportion valve. So we ditched the the bracket and moved the valve up a bit with a bit of struggling.
So after we got past that problem, we attacked a threading problem in the GT-40 Intake. The fitting we put in got a little cock-eyed and long story short, had to cut it out. What a mess.

Now the way we got the alternator up where the smog pump went, was a little destructive, but worked. First I went to Ford and asked about an adjustable Alternator bracket. It's a little hard to see, but it's black and just under the Alternator. It came from a 91 Crown Victoria. I could not get the one from a 79 Mustang, because they don't make it anymore. Next, we cut up the Vortech mount a bit so the Alternator would move freely around the length of the new bracket. A little shaving of the alternator bracket, because it was a huge piece, and we are all set. Now we don't have the stupid looking Ford Self Tensioner! Quite a bit of work, but I think it will pay off in the long run. And if you remember I had to do this because when the alternator was in it's place, it was sitting on our brake lines! As you can see in the first Picture, it is pretty close.

So here we are. Waiting for the fuel pump to come back from getting AN fittings installed. Also waiting for the radiator to come back from having the reserve fill closed off and bending up the return line to smoothen it's feeding. Order a few parts from Summit, So I can put braided lines on the Vortech oil lines, can't stop using it now!

We've been getting a bit of visitors over the past couple of weekends. Been slowing us up. It's just been too nice, people keep coming over to see our progress.

Side note, those wiring diagrams I got from Helm are great, I've gone though and marked off everything I don't want. I can't wait to tear it down once we've given the engine a test run.

Once we get the following done we should be ready test fire the Cobra! First Fuel pump back and installed, with Fuel lines completed. Radiator back and installed. Vortech oil lines installed. and Pre-oiling the engine. We will be ready  to test fire. We've pretty much guessed it won't be by next weekend, probably the weekend of the 22nd.

I'll try and keep you up to date more regularly as we get closer.

May 2
Not too much done this week. I sent the T-rex and Mustang In-tank Fuel pickup to Cartech in Texas, to get AN fittings put on. I had talked to several people about doing it, and they all pointed me to them. So first thing Tuesday I sent them the fittings next day. Hopefully I should be getting them back in a few short days!

We also got several recommendations on a radiator support from a couple of FFR owners. We plan on bringing the radiator down to a shop to have the reserve supply closed and see if they could bend the upper connection 45 degrees for easier install of the hose. "Don't like the angle of the fedangle." Sorry, had to quote my friend Sue! We are closing the supply line because the morasso T has a feed to it as well.

Friday I was pointed to a web site that showed in detail how to hook up the radiator hose with our Vortech and also fix a problem I discovered. When I went to put the Vortech bracket on the engine, I found the Alternator was sitting on the passenger brake line! I remembered a picture I had seen from an E-mail of someone installing a Vortech and was on a hunt to find the site. I found it from the Cobra Mailing list and it pointed me to www.alternativeauto.com They have two picts of the way they got around the problem. So Friday I went to Ford and ordered a adjustable alternator bracket and a CrownVic water pump pulley. If this works I will only have the Alternator, Water pump and Crank on Pulley! And since I know there are Electric water pumps! Just kidding, but it would be cool if there were only two things on pulleys, shame we have not designed the self charging battery yet, No pulleys would really open some horses up!

I had a friend in town this weekend so I spend most of it on Motorcycles and some street hockey, so if my sore muscles recoup, I hope to start up on finishing up the Fuel lines and put the lower intake on tomorrow.

Just want to step back and thank everyone who has responded to my E-mails for help and advise, I got to say you all have been a great help to my Father and I, and I could not have done all this with out all of you!