My 1987 Two Door Crown Victoria AKA THE BROWN BLOB

[87gtVIC]

It is an aftermarket fox body ford racing dipstick on a stock fox body carbureted dipstick tube. It was never a tight fit. That dipstick fit snuggly in the provided Mustang dipstick tube but the bends were all wrong so I did not use it. I think hotdog down hallway situation as well.

I cut and heated a piece of heat shrink around the sealing surface to try and "beef" up the tubes OD so the dipstick would fit snuggly.

I went for a leisurely 180 mile drive this morning and no dipstick blew out. Now the next test will be under WOT. Hopefully it still stays put. I said leisurely so there were no WOT runs on this jaunt.




Interesting info on the vent tube supplying air that the PCV removed.

I did some reading on supercharged and turbo applications were they say that this vent tube between the valve cover and throttle body MUST be removed because of the amount of positive pressure in the throttle body. It would just cause more crankcase pressure with it in place and under boost.

[87gtVIC]

Did some more reading. My catch can idea between the valve cover fill tube and throttle body was nice in theory, but once you add some actual facts to the mix it looks like I wasted time and money. lol

I put over 300 miles on this new set up (catch can in line between valve cover fill tube and throttle body) and not a drop of oil was captured...and all the while I was depriving the crank case of fresh air as the catch can has a direction of flow......

If everything is working properly then air "should" only be flowing from the throttle body to the valve covers and no oil "should" be sucked up in the opposite direction.

I think I will remove the newly installed catch can (despite how much I like how it looks ) and reinstall the stock line between valve cover and TB. I will also not reinstall the scrubbing pad and monitor the cleanliness of the TB from time to time.

[gadget73]

The crankcase can be under slight vacuum. That can actually be a good thing in terms of oil control. I doubt having the catch can there vs not is going to do all that much either way. Even if it is a bit of a restriction, its probably not significant enough to screw anything up.

[87gtVIC]

The catch can has an arrow for normal direction of flow so the inbound oil saturated air goes through a filter and then exits less oily. I guess it would be work checking if I can blow through the catch can from throttle body side. If it is completely blocked off or severely restricted out it comes.

[His Royal Ghostliness]

You know how to weld, so make yourself a bi-directional catch can.

[87gtVIC]

care to elaborate. I am intrigued.

[rellik god]

http://mustangpartstech.com/PCVOilControl.html

[His Royal Ghostliness]

care to elaborate. I am intrigued.

Rectangular can with a baffle in the middle from the top to say 3/4 down towards the bottom. Add vacuum ports on the top side, and a drain on the bottom right under the baffle. Fill each chamber of the now divided can with steel wool. The height of the baffle from the can's bottom more or less determines how much oil you can collect in the can. Not super-effective setup, but cheap and better than nothing. If you're really ambitious you can use three baffles instead - one in the middle from the bottom to 3/4 up the wall diving the can into two half-volume chambers, and then each of those chamber gets another divider from the top to 3/4 down towards the bottom. Obviously gonna need two drains then, one for each half-volume chamber. Vacuum ports go in the very end quarter-volume chambers, top-side again. The more time oily vapors spend in the can the more oil will drop off, making the vapors zig-zag up and down under and over the baffle accomplishes that.

On a second thought, that may not be quite as effective as running two catch cans in parallel but in opposite directions. Install a check valve in each can's intake manifold vacuum port to ensure oil vapors only flow in one direction. Not sure if you actually can justify something that complicated and expensive tho...

Oh and keep in mind catch cans work best when vapors can cool off as they travel thru the steel wool. Thus attaching the can to the engine itself where it can get nice and hot is less than ideal.

[87gtVIC]

On a second thought, that may not be quite as effective as running two catch cans in parallel but in opposite directions. Install a check valve in each can's intake manifold vacuum port to ensure oil vapors only flow in one direction. Not sure if you actually can justify something that complicated and expensive tho...

My thoughts....

Oh and keep in mind catch cans work best when vapors can cool off as they travel thru the steel wool. Thus attaching the can to the engine itself where it can get nice and hot is less than ideal.

Sure! Both of them are right above the engine lol. One directly behind it (working like a champ BTW...connected in line with the PCV valve) and one right off the egr spacer.

[87gtVIC]

Looks as if the "hot dog down hallway" theory on the dipstick and tube is correct. The single piece of heatshrink I put over the tube now makes the dipstick stay put.


Other problems....that I have been noticing over the last few months involve the cooling system.

Car starts and temp gradually goes up to 180 and never fluctuates from 180 whatsoever. I do not suspect a gauge issue.

90 TC overflow bottle coolant level barely moves. Will be around full cold level when cold and barely raise after a 3 hour drive.

Between last saturday and this saturday I had to add coolant to the radiator as it was low a couple about an inch yet there was coolant in the overflow bottle. Why did that not get sucked in. Noticed if I run a 19lb cap instead of the 16lb cap i get more coolant in the overflow. When I say more its basically negligible to an inch more/above the full cool when HOT after a 3 hour drive.

Some coolant in goo form squeezed out between the thermostat housing and lower intake and congealed there. Very tiny but in two spots.

Coolant in goo form appears to be coming out between the separator plate and the water pump and congealing there.

Somehow coolant is getting dropped onto the harmonic balancer and thus flinging it onto the battery, air box and backwards onto the k member etc etc leaving everything with ugly white dried coolant spots.

Maybe this goo is just the congealed coolant. I don;t suspect gooey coolant in the cooling system. lol

Heat works like a boss!

I have a 190 motorcraft thermostat, duralast HD water pump, spectra 3 core radiator.


I don't know what the hell is going on but will be investigating.

[Bobcat]

Looks good, Chief. Glad to see the ole brown nose is still coming a long. Hopefully I can get another vehicle to drive so that I can start being super anal about everything on my car and not feel like it's a rolling piece of shit, all the time. Since I like to perfect things and make them look perfect, but I don't have time to take everything apart if I need to use the car everyday.

I think you should accent those rims with some plasti dip and see how it looks.

Good work as always, may be a lonely world when you tell women:
"I've got to go work on my project car"
-"Oh really?! What is it? I love carss"
"It's an 87' Vic."
-"Oh. My grandpa had one of those, now he's got a Buick."

But hey, atleast you'll always have GMN!

Waiting on burnouts.

[87gtVIC]

I am pretty particular about something and yet at the same time don;t want to be bothered with others.

Just to give an example:

I ordered a couple brass 1/4 mpt to 3/8 barb 45 degree adapters for the latest catch can as I was not happy with the bends of the straight and 90 degree fittings which shows how I can be picky.

Now I also have this stupid oil pressure gauge doing all sorts of things on its own that I fail to do anything about.

[87gtVIC]

Planning on pulling the pump and thermostat housing and resealing everything with new gasket and making sure everything and I MEAN everything is tight. I did this whole motor to torque specs and had to chase down leaks all over the motor.

Ordered new plate to block and pump to plate seals, thermostat housing seals as well as a water pump and thermostat just in case.

[87gtVIC]

here are a couple other gas calculations for tripminder talk on Mass Air equipped vehicles:


Total Miles on tripminder =305

Tripminder gallons used= 16.8

Tripminder MPG= 18.3

Gas needed to refill= 16.825 gallons

Actual MPG= 18.15


AND

Total miles on tripminder= 287.9

Tripminder gallons used=15.5

Tripminder MPG= 18.2

Gas needed to refill=15.866

Actual MPG= 18.14

[gadget73]

I'd call that accurate enough.

How does it's odometer compare with the analog one in the cluster? I realize no trip odometer, but you've got a regular one.



Might want to confirmate that temperature gauge if its got a 190 thermostat in there. Hit it with a hair drier just to see if it will actually go over 180. I've had analog gauges get stuck before and not go past a certain point.