Frankenstein T-5 Waggin' Chronicle (vast doesnt do it)

[Freshmeat]

Thanks, guys. I don't mind the arguing about which bar is better because that's good information, but when it gets personal, make your own thread.

I'm about to bring the little man back to the devil's advocate and when I get home I'll go see if these valve covers fit.

[LTDMan83]

Freshmeat - Nevermind on that PI front bar,yesterday I double checked my friends marq and he allready has the 1 1/8 front bar,I should have measured beforehand Sorry for any hassle you may have went through,thx anyway,and good luck with your build!

[Freshmeat]

No problem, man. I forgot all about it on my days off. I picked up a breather for one valve cover and needed a cap for the other... best I could do was use an expandable freeze plug to seal it off. It looks funky, but it'll do until I can find the right cap for a 1 1/8 to 1 1/4 opening.

I'm falling asleep. I'll catch you folks later.

[Freshmeat]

Wow

I've learned a lot tonight. I could go through and explain everything, but I don't feel like it, so I'll give you the Cliff notes.

1.) I have a dead lifter- there was no valvetrain contact on the covers.
2.) I need to upgrade this fuel pump. Big time.
3.) I should have known more about what I was doing when I built my throttle cable bracket. I'll elaborate on this one...

Finished the valve cover installation and cranked it up. Idling extremely high. Killed it, tinkered with the throttle cable assembly, freed up the cable. While I was playing with it I never took note of how wide the throttle blade opens. I had a local Mustang enthusiast (Nick) at the house with me keeping me company (he builds them, but who's counting?) while I did the work. His cousin was over, as well. I wanted to make sure the cable wouldn't jam again so I had Austin (the cousin) sit in the driver's seat and nail the throttle then let off just as quickly. It appeared to be fine. Too obsessed with how bad the throttle cables look, I never noticed that the blade doesn't close. Nick pointed it out to me, then had his cousin put the pedal to the floor. The cable bottoms out at roughly 60% open, at best. So, we tinkered with it and I started realizing just how bad off the throttle cable geometry really is. I'm stuck on it, now. We took it for a ride, anyway, to see. No power at all. It would appear that the header gaskets causing the attempted rich condition were actually allowing the proper (maybe SLIGHT overkill) amount of fuel to be pumped, but as it was, it seems to be running lean. Power flattened out at 4,300 RPMs. I shifted. Blah, blah, blah... doing 55mph and I took my foot off the accelerator... still doing 55mph. Throttle cable's stuck, again. Pulled into a well-lit parking lot... there's a cop there. Fawking lovely. No inspection sticker (at least the header gaskets DRAMATICALLY toned down the exhaust volume), but he didn't seem to even notice us. We got out, hit the cable brackets, and went back to the house.

So... I'm in the market for 24# injectors, 80mm MAF, A9L, better fuel pump, Gen 1 Lightning EGR spacer, another stock throttle cable bracket, and possibly new lifters. I'm so ready for this to be done.

Nevertheless...

[Freshmeat]

Can you guys please help me try to find a Gen 1 ('93-'95) Lightning EGR spacer? I stuck at searching.

[Lincolnmania]

NO MINE!!

[Freshmeat]

What did ya'll do? Is everyone running bored out stock spacers? Is anyone running a 65mm TB?

[turbo2256b]

What did ya'll do? Is everyone running bored out stock spacers? Is anyone running a 65mm TB?

Boreeing out a stock spacer to 65 would leave a very thin sealing land. I have a new 65mm TB somewere

[Freshmeat]

I'm running a 65mm TB and Mustang 65mm EGR spacer, but I want to be able to run the stock CV bracket so the linkage will line up right. I understand that boring out the stock spacer to 65mm would leave little material for a good seal... but what if I would fill the "guts" with more aluminum so it's a solid spacer, since I don't run the coolant lines to it, anyway?

I have lots of ideas running through my head and as you've probably come to learn, once one sticks I'm gonna run with it. If you have any good ideas, let me have 'em before I get myself into trouble, again.

[Archangel]

Freshmeat, just get a longer cable man, try something out of a T-bird - those have the TB on the passanger side of the engine (like the mustangs), but the inkage is towards the front of the engine which should require cables longer than the mustang ones - go to a junkyard and compare cables, trucks should also be an option. I run a Mark VII cables an the only one that gets on the tight side is the TV one for the AOD, others are just fine. I may try to add an extra spring on the TB side though, just to firm up the pedal a little.

[Mercmarquis]

I'm sure a lokar cable would work, and you can cut them to whatever length you need.

This might work: http://store.summitracing.com/partde...5&autoview=sku

[turbo2256b]

I'm running a 65mm TB and Mustang 65mm EGR spacer, but I want to be able to run the stock CV bracket so the linkage will line up right. I understand that boring out the stock spacer to 65mm would leave little material for a good seal... but what if I would fill the "guts" with more aluminum so it's a solid spacer, since I don't run the coolant lines to it, anyway

I have lots of ideas running through my head and as you've probably come to learn, once one sticks I'm gonna run with it. If you have any good ideas, let me have 'em before I get myself into trouble, again.

Do you use the EGR?

[Freshmeat]

Thunderbirds pull the TB open to the front? I may look into that.
I like that Lokar cable, but it doesn't look like it can be cut...
I'm not running EGR or EGR cooling lines. Just the spacer.

[turbo2256b]

Locar cables can be cut done it on plenty of vehicles

[Archangel]

Thunderbirds pull the TB open to the front?

Nope, the cable pulls on the TB from the side, but the linkage is still on the front side of the intake, here are some pics (the 3.8 naturally aspirated engine is what you need):