Giantpune's 73 mach 1 project thread

[tony-muscle]

I got my filter and gasket in. With the pan back on it, I took a stab at the linkage. The driver's side of my exhaust is in the way of lokar's bracket. I cut it and welded it back together in a way that cleared my exhaust cause I wasn't in the mood to redo that yet. I attached the shifter to the other end and all the detents on the shifter seem like they make the selector lever on the other end land in the right spot.

I rigged up a funnel and a tube like I was in the frat house and got some fluid in it. And I pulled out the wiring diagram and sorted out what wires are for the brake lights and NSS starter circuit. The shifter comes with switches for both of those. Reading up on the docs for the holley computer, it also has pass through circuits for those. I presume using the switch on the side of the transmission. I'm thinking I'd rather use the switch on the transmission itself instead of the shifter.

Next up, I think I'm gonna get the shifter bolted down, Then try to get it fired up to see it idles fine without leaking.

Nice. I assume you are planning on shielding the cable where it goes so close to the exhaust. You can use something like the DEI split wire loom.

 

[giantpune]

Nice. I assume you are planning on shielding the cable where it goes so close to the exhaust. You can use something like the DEI split wire loom.

I've got a bunch of this stuff. Figured I'd run the thing and see if heat is an issue. The old shifter cable spent lots of miles even closer to the exhaust than this one and is still fine. The only place its hurt is the outer rubber where it came in direct contact with the exhaust. It melted, but the inside of the cable is still good.

 

[tony-muscle]

I am a fanatic of shielding cables, tubes and wires next to exhaust or hot spots so I always do as an added measure. Materials today are not as good as the old days!

 

[giantpune]

I made some more progress. The shifter is now attached to the floor and to the transmission.
I fired it up to listen for noises and check for leaks. The new transmission seems like its fine so far. Unfortunately, I saw water spraying out of the lower radiator hose. I reckon I tweaked the hose a bit too much when I was replacing the motor mounts. So that turned into a whole thing.

I was already planning to retire these old macguyvered accessory pulleys and brackets after the debacle with the balancer falling off. In the process of putting that back on, I saw that the crank pulley and my balancer are not actually compatible. So new set of pulleys and brackets ordered. In the process if pulling that stuff off, I broke a bolt off in the water pump. I took that as a sign to replace that, too.

I have everything pulled off the front of the motor and cleaned up. While I was at it, I took the opportunity to put on a new timing pointer. I verified TDC with a camera down the spark plug hole, then painted a line on the balancer.

 

[giantpune]

My box of pulleys and brackets came in. Water pump is on. And I have most of the rest of it figured out. The AC bracket is still in the box for when I'm ready to add that.

There is apparently a spacer that goes with this balancer that helps index the crank pulley. I never had one of those, and the pulley was relying on the bolts to keep it aligned. I'll have to come up with something for that.

 

[giantpune]

I got the driveshaft shortened today. For the 4R70W with the long tailshaft housing like the one I got, and the stock 9", I ended up needing 48.75" between the center of the u-joints. Local shop cut mine down. It ended up being $238 to shorten this one and have it built back with the new yoke and new u-joints.

I got it up in the car. And I got some metal strap to make up a bracket to hold the shifter cable clear of the drive shaft and the exhaust. With the thing back on the ground, it can move under its own power now. I have forwards and reverse. There's no computer yet, so it'll just go fast enough to go-kart around the yard and neighborhood.

Special guest star in the background of the photo. I managed to score a fastback roof. It has some decent A pillars and the metal around the rear window. It also came with a back window, the rear trim, and some of the interior pieces. When we get around to the body work, this will come in handy. Until then, my dog has the coolest dog house on the block.

 

[giantpune]

I got the radiator shroud and fans back in. Had to redo some of that wiring. The pack of terminals and wiring I got off amazon turned out to be cheap chinese crap. It held up for a couple years. Then after this winter, its been failing in all the cars I used it in.

Anyways, I got the cooling fans both back working. And I've been driving it around the block to get some heat cycles in it to see how everything holds up. So far, so good. With my 2.75:1 rear end, it cruises at 30mph in 1st gear at 2000 rpm. The stock 4.2L E150 converter I have has a slightly higher stall speed than with the V8 model; 1800-2200. The online calculators say with that rear end and my new 0.70:1 overdrive, it's good for 2000 mph at 5000 rpm. One of these days I'll get around to doing the rear end and looking at something between 3.73 - 4.11.

Timeline is looking like maybe working on the brakes next week. And next month throwing down for the fuel system and EFI and computer stuff. I've always had a gremlin or two in the brakes. I'll take a stab at straightening them out a bit.