MAY 4th, 2009

Its been forever since my last update. I still have the car. The 74 302 motor is long gone at this point. I ran it a little harder than it wanted to be run, so the top end decided to fly in multiple directions.

Since then Ive picked up an 87 5.0 roller motor. This one is currently at the shop getting hot tanked and Im having the cam bearings changed. When I get it back I have a nice pile of internals which I will be assembling over the next couple weeks.

Ive been working with the body on and off and havent managed to finish anything so the car is currently in a frankenstein-like state, but i dont care. I'll upload some pics when i can.

MAY 10th, 2009

Its race season, which means the engine block is still tied up in the shop. Heres a few pics of the motor as i was tearing it down earlier:

Looks like a blown head gasket to me, but if you look closely, you can still see the cross hatch in the cylinder walls. It should clean up okay with some honing by hand.

And heres the car as it is now, in its usual backyard setting. That should change soon.

I have the 5 lug conversion complete on the front end. For the rear I have an axle assembly out of a '98 GT Mustang which is getting 4.10 gears and a full rebuild.

Heres the engine compartment, which I will be cleaning up and painting in prep for the engine install. Im trying to toss everything that isnt necessary in here, so if anyone has any tips, feel free to share.

MAY 23rd, 2009

The engine is starting to come back together at this point. Its back from the shop- nice and clean. I shot a coat of Ford blue on it while it was still fresh and clean. Here I am honing the cylinders... the old school way!

My girlfriend even sacrificed her freshly painted nails to help clean up the main bearing surfaces. then we put the new bearings in and dropped in the crank. Everything is torqued to spec and the endplay it had before is totally eliminated. Im doing everything I can to make sure this motor is nice and tight.

I would have had a rotating assembly by now, except this is a "paycheck to paycheck" project, so things are a bit slow. Within a week or so I should be able to pick up a set of 4340 forged rods from SCAT. I wasnt planning on getting this in-depth, but I figured I better do it right the first time. Stay tuned.

MAY 30th, 2009

Got a set of I beam rods from SCAT- weight matched and balanced 4340 steel. Pistons are Keith Black Hypereutectic aluminum. I spent all last night and this morning piecing everything together. By the way, Spiral locks are the devil.

Thats a .200" dome. I think my compression might be more than i planned on. I dont even want to guess.