Alright well I think I've got (almost) everything I need to plumb my fuel rails, although I still have to order a couple more fittings since apparently trick flow failed to mention it needs the O ring style fittings on the rails.

This is my first time assembling stainless hose and AN fittings ect. Let me see if I've got this right, no thread sealant on either regular AN or O-ring, and more or less just snug up the fittings? I picked up the shears, to make life alittle easier, but I'm not buying the AN specific wrenches. Any advice would be appreciated.

 

Hey Horspla,

You do know that Autozone and most likely Advance are Motorcraft remans as well? Just done by their company and not ford.

 

Yeah, seconds that didn't pass quality control. I think that in the 15 years that I have been an auto mechanic, that I have a little insight to parts.

 

Im not saying your dumb by any means, but alot of people seem to think autoparts stores carry their brands for remans. They dont put 2 and 2 together to figure out Reman generally means the stock part, sent off, and remanufactured for resale. I work at autozone and I will be the first to say that buying a reman from us is iffy. I have had some that work great and others that just wont be compatiable no matter what is done. I generally recommend spending a few extra $$ and just buy either a new one from that store or go back to dealership. I am not a huge fan of reman'd parts in general and thats saying alot because im "cheap" lol


I mean hell, they are reman'd in Mexico .......

 

As you said, they start off as OEM stuff but most of the name-brand auto parts stores won't rebuild the stuff to OEM specs or even w/ OEM parts. Even the new stuff is iffy. There is a reason why the old-farts usually get these parts from places like NAPA or CarQuest.

 

Agreed. The autozone cheapies use Ford cases/housings, yes, BUT what is in them is the problem.

 

Yea you need ORB Fittings for the Rails same with my MotoBlue Rails.

No thread sealant on either regular AN or O-ring, ONLY Pipe thread.

I did my Rails/Regulator,Fuel Pump,Fuel Filter,Gas Tank Sump etc...
with no Sealant only spot i used Teflon Tape was on the NPT Fittings that go into the Sump and the NPT fittings off the FPR.

I don't have the AN Specific wrenches either i used two adjustable wrenches, thought about using a cloth over the fittings while tightening them so i did not scratch the finish of the fittings but i ended up not doing so and there fine.

Shears will make things easier just remember to wrap the area our cutting with some electric tape or something similar so the SS Braids don't flare up then it becomes a pain in the A to work with.

And don't kill it when your getting things tight, just nice and snug.
You will feel it when you can't go any more.you will just have to do it to see for yourself its not to to hard.

 

Bada Bing....


P.S F Auto Zone

I worked there and it sucked...

 

I know where another is pm sent call me tomorrow and ill give you the guys number its in conroe area

 

i cut my springs and my shocks/struts suck now... ask anyone and they will tell u to upgrade ur shocks/struts if u lower ur car

 

No you cut your stock springs and the ride now sucks do to the stock spring now being shorter and the srpring rate has now changed for the worse.No so much the shocks fault.

And yea people will tell you to upgrade shocks/struts but on two of my previous cars with 2 inch drop springs (Eibach) the cars road just fine.Its when you chop your stockers you run into issues.

 

Great, now I am an old fart!! Autozone parts work great...........for holding the garbage can still in high winds

 

since the spring is cut, the shock/strut is "stretched" so it overcompensates for every little bump thinking its a huge pothole when it might just be a rock which kills the ride. im pretty sure stock springs are linear and not progressive.

 

Just FYI its not stretching the shock its compressing it. And no, it doesnt make a bit of difference. You didnt lower the car by 6 inches its like 1.5 to 2, which the stock shock/struts can handle.

Also guys got my heads back from porting...look sick;supposed to be a 'stage2.5ish' port job. MMR valves, custom cams and high lift springs.

Now just waiting on the MMR900 rotating assembly...

 

i just put in the 5.4 on my 96 stang and i was surprise when i tryed to close the hood. I thought that the hood would close if i use the adaptor plates. know i am force to buy a hood or cut mine. i need atleast 1 in. to clear the BBK inkake plenum.

 

u can probably cut some of the support out of the hood to make it fit, just an idea though im not really sure

 

Aight I'm atleast cutting 1 coil outt the front of these thing it will only be for a week or 2 and also maybe a half to a whole ouut the rear with these monsterous 335/35 18's she don't need much outta the rear for the proper stance I am starting my irs swap and full cobra brake swap as soon as I get done typing this. And ill try to get up some before and after pics!

 

cant wait for pics

 

the rear support on your hood is probably what's blocking the hood closing. Take some play-dough and place it on the highest spots of your motor, close the hood and see what has less than a quarter inch of clearance. Cut as needed. Please see www.54stangs.com for pictures with examples of how much typically needs cut.

i'd of course advise getting the HPS intake and solving that problem. you do NOT need to buy another hood.

Guys, suspension is sorta my thing so here's my take on the struts: Get fox struts if you lower the car. Stock dampers are intended for use in a particular range of spring rates and are generally quickly damanged by sport springs and race springs. The damage is internal and just makes them uselsss in a short amount of time.

As for compressing them, well sorta that's the problem. Not only do you over-compress the stock sn95 units when lowering but you can see them heat up faster since they are intended for a longer stroke. Fox struts are a half inch shorter and they're intended for use with a narrower window of extend/compress. It's not mandatory to use fox dampers, hell I'd just as soon use aftermarket SN95 dampers but I would not use stock SN95 dampers with a lowered car and expect any kind of performance from it. You're underdamped with stockers anyway and they'll go bad quick so might as well spend the 2-3 hundred bucks and get some Tokico/Koni/Bilstein

 

on a side note, I got my balancer flange and lower boost pulley put on.

NOTE TO L SWAPPERS: The crank damper pulley has a little flange that bolts onto it if you're going to use the stock lightning or harley lower boost pulley. This part is not listed anywhere I can find it and DOES NOT come with replacement balancers. You may be better off getting metco's setup in the end.

I got a 2nd heat exchanger, the first one is 30 row plate and bar and is 11x9x2 at the core. The second one is a 16 row plate and bar that's 11x5x2. That gives me 303ci of cooling. The stock termy cobra HE is less than 200ci. I'm hoping that it's enough.

I can't figure out my methanol kit... the MAP sensor is delivering 12v to the progressive controller regardless of vacuum state. I've tried re-wiring it thinking I may have had it grounded wrong or something... nope not that I can tell. My VOM says 11.9. BUT at least now my battery is dead.

Gunna see about pulling the tank today and putting the fuel pump in or just hooking up the nitrous kit and setting the thing up to spray at the intercoolers.

I need to situate the upper radiator hose as well today. We'll see if I can get time to do that. Anybody in cali want to come over and help or observe is welcome. i'm getting unmotivated again at this taking so damned long and I'm right at the edge of my technical know-how so I'm having to learn a lot on the fly, which isn't such a big deal but someone else to bounce ideas off of would be bitchin. I'm about to fly myillwill out here and have him hook-a-brutha-up.

 

the metco interchangeable crank pulley is the sure way to go thats what im running,what else seems to be the problem red? did you splice the new end on the alternator harness wires yet?

 

The swap is complete!!! Looks awesome and rides great!!! I miss my flowmasters and so does the family!!! 3.55 gears are way better than my 4.10 although I miss the snappiness of the gear. The engine swap will take care of that though cobra brakes are awesome!!! There's a few hitches along the way but in all we did a total of 3 complete suspensions all the while doing my swap. Myself and two newb's and 2 other innocent bystanders lol!!! Ill go to moms and post up pics tomorrow. I guess from here there's nothing much else to do but the engine and a 6spd!!! Lol yeah right the mods have only begun!!!

 

Congratulations on getting it in. I hope it all continues to work out. I'll be in touch with you soon.

 

I have yet to find the correct end cap for the alternator connector. I spent like 4 hours trying to debug my MAP sensor/Methanol kit issue. I need to get off my **** and get 15 wires spliced this week. Still also need a throttle cable too (realized last night) and a intercooler pump. Money is hella tight though and since I can't seem to sell my nitrous kit I'm having to push the go-live date out to January. I was going to have it this month but pretty certain that's not happening.

I'm about |--| < that far from saying **** it but I have to at least get it running to get rid of it.

 

R3D, let me know if you need an extra pair of hands this week. I know there won't be much daylight after work, but maybe an hour here and there would help. Just let me know. I'm usually home by 4:30.

 

Any time you want to come by. I'm home usually around then. I'm having motivation issues at this point so just having someone around will help.

 

Sounds good, I'll send you a text when I hit livermore to see where you are at. I'll try and get you on track. I want to see this beast come alive.

 

Sweet when you find one I can help you out I was on fuqua and 45 doing all the work there so it ain't so far... you can feel the added weight for sure but nothing the up and coming powerplant won't cure! =)

 

R3D said: on a side note, I got my balancer flange and lower boost pulley put on.

NOTE TO L SWAPPERS: The crank damper pulley has a little flange that bolts onto it if you're going to use the stock lightning or harley lower boost pulley. This part is not listed anywhere I can find it and DOES NOT come with replacement balancers. You may be better off getting metco's setup in the end.


The Ford part number for this is XL3Z-6A329-AA It is the same for Lightnings and Harleys. List price is $109.75. This is the threaded crank pulley extension to thread the blower pulley onto. BTW I have a lower pulley for sale if anybody is interested.

 

well red i bought a lightning throttle cable and found out it was wasy to short so dont waste your time or money, i used a 1997 fl50 throttle cable works great, my cuz runs a junk yard if you cant find the end cap im sure i can get you one pretty cheap

heres a few pics of how i did my throttle cable

http://viewmorepics.myspace.com/inde...mageID=8311768

http://viewmorepics.myspace.com/inde...mageID=8311773