My 1973 project daily driver

[PoFoMoCo]

WOW, that's legit.

 

[Steve McMahan]

That is very cool.

 

[JDuvall]

Was going to do the electric water pump and found my timing cover is pretty worn. So it will have to be replaced be fore I can do the swap. Also need another alternator bracket to modify to make work with the electric pump. So just a valve cover upgrade and outing int all back together for now. Need to enjoy some of this nice weather!

 

[Sheriff41]

Was going to do the electric water pump and found my timing cover is pretty worn. So it will have to be replaced be fore I can do the swap. Also need another alternator bracket to modify to make work with the electric pump. So just a valve cover upgrade and outing int all back together for now. Need to enjoy some of this nice weather!

Looks good. You may want to loosen those shock absorber nuts a bit so the bushings aren't all mashed.

 

[PoFoMoCo]

Nice Which valve cover gaskets did you decide to go with?

 

[JDuvall]

Nice Which valve cover gaskets did you decide to go with?

I did the felpro cork gasket.

 

[JDuvall]

Looks good. You may want to loosen those shock absorber nuts a bit so the bushings aren't all mashed.

They look that way due to the car being on jack stands and the suspension is fully extended. Good eye though!

 

[PoFoMoCo]

I did the felpro cork gasket.

Thank you

 

[JDuvall]

Also quick tip, with the aluminum valve cover and cork gasket I had to get new bolts for the valve covers due to the added thickness. Stock bolts are 1/4-20x 1/2”. They use a split lock collar. I ended up using 1/4-20 x 3/4 SS Allen headed bolts to make it work.

 

[JDuvall]

Still working on the mustang, but going slower than expected. Had a few things pop up that are new.
I found I have low compression on cylinder 8. Maybe the cause of my back fire .
My toploader pops out of second gear. I aM going to try and adjust the linkage and see if that fixes it.
If it doesn’t, I may be pulling the motor and trans for a rebuild.

 

[351c1971]

You might consider using a bore scope to check the valves in the weak cylinder. It might not be necessary to pull the motor,

 

[JDuvall]

I will put a bore scope to it tomorrow and see. Keep your fingers crossed!

 

[351c1971]

Odds are it is a bad valve. Good luck!

 

[JDuvall]

Well I couldn’t see anything with the bore scope. The leak down test showed blow by on the rings.
I decided to pull the intake and check everything out. Since I had the intake off I might as well change it out. There is a 29 pound difference in weight between intakes.
I have more questions now than before. It looks like my engine has been rebuilt. I have found blue silicone all most every where. Some of the push rods look brand new and some look original. Ports are clean. I guess this is part of the fun of owning an older car discovering its past.

 

[RacerX]

Well I couldn’t see anything with the bore scope. The leak down test showed blow by on the rings.
I decided to pull the intake and check everything out. Since I had the intake off I might as well change it out. There is a 29 pound difference in weight between intakes.
I have more questions now than before. It looks like my engine has been rebuilt. I have found blue silicone all most every where. Some of the push rods look brand new and some look original. Ports are clean. I guess this is part of the fun of owning an older car discovering its past.

That looks to be a 2 barrel intake with that port size mismatch on the gaskets, FYI.

 

[Paul M]

Is it too late to exchange that intake for a 4v? You'd get more performance out of it. You won't affect low end much, however high end is going to be limited. Are the replacement rods every other one? they probably needed to change the length. You say did a compression check and some pistons leaked one piston only? built up compression and slowly leaked out? have you performed any form of leak down, either cyl set at tdc compression the bad cyl or wet check w oil? could Tap the top of the valve with a brass drift. not forcibly just a tap. It probably wont do anything since you don't seem to have and carbon build up, however, something could be in the valve seat. Anyway, I have a cheap borescope myself, it depends on what you see in there. Most likely nothing. The pictures on the cheap ones leave much to be desired. It sounds like you are better off rebuilding it. As far as the top loader. The syncros are pretty reliable, you should be able to adjust the linkage. Make sure your equalizer bar is functioning correctly. Not loose or cocked effecting the linkage movement.

 

[JDuvall]

It’s a 3v intake, will work on 2v or 4v head. The intake has material at the bottom to make sure gaskets will seal. If it was a 2V intake will have a gap at the bottom due to port size difference.
The smaller intake runners are to help lower rpm velocities for more streetable power. When I rebuild the engine in the future it will be a single plane setup. There is enough material to port match to the 4V head see pictures, it would defeat the purpose but doable.
As for the compression test and leak down test I have cylinder 8 low and leaks down fast. With compression air on it it comes out the dipstick. I have not tried a wet test on the leak down. With it looking like a rebuild in maybe ring gap alignment issues.
#1. 104 psi
#2. 108 psi
#3. 109 psi
#4. 113 psi
#5. 101 psi
#6. 118 psi
#7. 120 psi
#8. 95 psi
As for the rods the passenger side looks like 5 replacements and the driver side 4, every other one.
I may pull the head and check the pistons and see if it’s been bored out. Haven’t decided yet on how much I want to do with the engine in the car.

 

[Paul M]

Kinda limited in the compression department. May as well run through it.

 

[1973 Mach-1]

Got my '73 to Daily Driver status. The nice part is, that once it is semi reliable, you can finesse the crap out of it until you're really happy. (just make sure your Classic Insurance has flat-bed towing!)

 

[JDuvall]

Well I am back at it again after traveling for work for almost a month.
I am pulling the heads and checking the cam now.
Car runs well at higher rpm, but at idle will backfires when you give it gas fast or will suddenly die if just left running. Once it is above 2500 it acts fine.
Just found that the exhaust headers didn’t have a gasket. So that is new.
Goal is to see how the pistons/cylinders look, the heads(valves leak), cam and lifters look and make decisions from there.
I do have a set of closed chamber heads that need refreshed that will be going on if the cylinders and pistons look good. That will take care of the low compression.