| Subject: Half way home |
Author:
Bill
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Date Posted: 11:34:01 12/15/04 Wed
Put the car up on 4 jackstands and get it level. The highest point of the outside fender well lips are even on all 4 corners, so you can measure from there to the ground. I placed the jackstands directly on the frame to take the suspension out of play.
Your going to see 2 rectangular steel brackets welded to the inside of the frame starting at 12" from the core support. I have no idea why Ford put those there, but they're in the way. There is one on each side and they're tach welded on. I used a Sawzall and cut them off (took about 15 minutes) I hear that you can heat them up with a torch and knock them off with an air chisel. If you choose to cut, just trim them back as close as you can without cutting into the frame. Don't get nervous, if you cut slightly into the frame, it's no big deal. It would be easier to take care of what's left now, but you can grind out the leftovers later if you want.
Time to set the motor and trans in. Keep in mind that while I was doing all of this, my motor and trans were bolted together and sitting on top of 2 floor jacks. If you want to leave your motor on the hoist and bolt up the trans under the car, or put it in as a unit, it's up to you. Get the assembly on to 2 floor jacks. I put a 12" x 12" x 1" piece of wood between the cup of the jack and the oil/tranny pans. This will give you more stability for movement and prevent the jack from crushing in the pan. You may also decide to leave the hoist on as well if room allows. This whole thing will weigh less than 850 lbs. You will not crush the pans, they are much stronger than that. Move the motor/trans around to where you have sufficient room to bolt on the headers. Bolt them up snug without gaskets because they will be coming back off. Next move the motor until you have room to install the steering shaft. I had 1/4" clearance between the shaft and header primary when I completed the install. Last install the distributor. There is a 1/2" protrusion coming from the firewall where it meets the cowl that may make dropping the distributor in tight. You can either cut a small section of this out, or live with the clearance issues. I chose to cut it out (pic below) It will not interfere with the distributor operation, only the install. Once you have the 4 points of clearance established (headers, steering shaft, oil pan to rack & distributor) find your happy medium. I wanted to set the motor as level as possible from front to back, but the header collector flange hit on the floorpans right after they turn under the car from the engine compartment. This is the only time I had to beat on the car. I took a 1 lb. hammer and knocked in the pans about 1 inch to give sufficient room for the flange. The collectors themselves never touched the pan. The point where you have to hit is actually under the car and cannot be seen from the engine compartment. You will need to remove the header and test fit as you "move" the pan in until the motor is at the angle you want. Do you follow me here? The clearance in the floorpan will effect the motor angle because the header which is bolted to the head won't allow it to tilt forward. Keep an eye on you steering shaft clearance as you work this. If the motor angle causes the shaft to become to close to the header, you can slide the motor back slightly to give it more room. I currently have 1" between the distributor and firewall without having had to dent it in, so there is plenty of room. Again, find the middle ground for all the clearances. It's really not that difficult. Take a deep breath, your half way home. On to the motor plate install.
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