My '85 MGM, "Maisa"

[gadget73]

For the exhaust manifolds, black paint meant for wood stoves should do fine.

[Tiggie]

I used a graphite spray on the old manifolds of the Rustang. It looks good. Not sure how it holds up to weather.

[Arquemann]

Apparently my valve covers are pretty mangled, not just the topside I'm responsible for. Didn't leak a drop after I installed the felpro gaskets a couple years ago, but now that I've noticed that the flanges are garbage, they'll probably leak. I installed them to about 6 nm, as 10 felt too tight. Anyways.

Decided not to change out to coil to a barrel style, not worth the money currently. I'll have to wait until I can get the alternator in place before I can check if a barrel coil would fit where I want one. It's mostly the TFI coil bracket I find ugly. But I can help it a bit by mounting the coil sideways so the wires won't stick straight up. Shame I can't turn the coil towards the engine as the coil hits the bracket that way. Also painted the HEI module black and mounted it to the coil bracket, it just fits nicely there and doesn't stick out too bad. Slap on the alternator and top bracket and it'll blend in.



Onto the exhaust manifolds: Knowing that I'm not spending money to get them sandblasted, paints were kinda out of question. High temp paints for exhaust manifolds are kinda shit in general. I found graphite paste type stuff designed for cast iron stoves and such, but it was kinda fucken expensive.
So I ended up with a 13€ bottle of "stoveblack", whatever the fck it is. The ingredient list doesn't make any sense in finnish and even less translated to english.

Did the driver side manifold today, since it was dry and relatively clean, I thoroughly wire brushed it with a drill. The stuff is watery and gray with a slight bit of metallic in it, doesn't really dry, it kinda absorbs into the cast iron like an oil, doesn't really leave a coating to flake off atleast. I brushed it on with a stiff brush and "buffed" the rest off with a rag. Did that twice and the result is pretty nice. Left a bit of dark stains in my fingers after handling, but I suppose it'll probably have to dry for more than 20 minutes and get hot to really hold on.
Pass. side manifold took a bit of a bath in engine oil, so it'll need some more intensive cleaning first.

Heat resistance and longevity of the finish is complete mystery, but if it fails, I won't have lost much money (or time tbh).

[DerekTheGreat]

Hmm, that stuff does look good. That manifold came out looking like new. Might have to get some of that for my actual wood stove.

[gadget73]

valve covers are easy enough to fix, and if you're careful it won't even destroy the paint. Put a block of wood against the top painted side and use a hammer on the gasket side to gently tap them back flat. Don't want to beat on them and stretch the metal, just gentle massaging to push it back where it needs to be.

[Arquemann]

Manifolds are pretty now, still need to remove 2 of the flange studs from them. One was bent and the rest are rusty garbage. The nuts I threw away after removing them initially, they were that mangled.
The studs are not metric thread (RA says M12x1,75), nor does a 7/16 die fit. I dunno what who and why, but they are basically 7/16-14, but the threads are cut so shallow into the studs that I can't run a die on them without ruining or breaking things. Too hard to cut threads.
I'll be ordering new studs, just need to find ones long enough for the driver side.

Been painting pulleys and other bits since it's been warm enough to paint in the garage. Now it's getting colder again so probably another pause in painting. Water pump pulley is primed. The exhaust manifold bolts have been in Evaporust for 4 days and they still look the same, rusty. Moved the jar next to the heater to maybe speed things up a bit.

After I get the exhaust manifolds on, I can install the dipshit with a new bracket and mock up the fuel lines on the engine. Then I'm kinda out of things to do with the engine. Dunno if I'll bother installing the distributor before priming the oil closer to first fire up.

[gadget73]

if its not 7/16, M11 would be about the same size with different thread pitch. Unless its 7/16 fine, which I doubt.

round wire brush and see what you can get out of it. Worst case, I think those are through holes right? Drill it out and use a nut and bolt.

[Arquemann]

They are 7/16-14, nothing else. I have thread combs and stuff. The threads in the manifolds are fine.
Here's a visualisation of the nonsense, top is a regular, dirty 7/16-14 bolt, one of the exhaust studs on the bottom. The threads on the stud are shallow.
That's why I was unable to run a die over the studs. Today I filed a cut into the threads of a regular 7/16 nut and ran it up and down the long ends of the studs on full tilt with an impact gun.
I'd consider the studs usable now, atleast an unmolested 7/16 nut goes on and off them now.
I'll be replacing one of the studs with a bolt or a new stud if I can find one cheaply. And new nuts.

M11x1,75 doesn't really exist.

[Arquemann]

Manifolds are on, old crappy hardware spruced up and reused. New nuts and one stud ordered for the collectors.
The dominant tone in exhaust-related parts is no longer _b r i g h t _ b r o w n.

Evapo-Rust is garbage, the exhaust bolts and studs were submerged in the stuff for a week straight. Almost 3 days of that week the container was sitting on top of a radiator, nice and hot. Still came out crusty and rusty.
After going through them with a die and wire brush, I dipped them in the stoveblack iron conditioner stuff, after it dried I wire brushed them lightly.

As I was tightening the driver side manifold bots, one of them suddenly got loose, and stayed loose for another turn. The captive lock washer crumbled under torque. So everything was actually fine, except me. I got such a sinking feeling and huge scare out of that so after a moment I got some chest pain. So of course I get a heart attack scare, I'm young but y'know hereditary stuff and I'm not particularly athletic either... It ended up mostly passing after relaxing properly for a while. The scare got my diaphragm muscle so tensed up that my chest got tight. As it started relaxing, I noticed the tenseness was mostly lower abdomen, phew.

Pics of crusty crap, with and without makeup:

[87gtVIC]

That stove black stuff you are using makes things look so damn good.

Bummer about the evaporust. I personally have had good experiences with it in the past.

[Arquemann]

Bummer about the evaporust. I personally have had good experiences with it in the past.

Yeah I have heard good things about it, but I figure it might not be quite the same as in the US. EU consumer chemical restrictions and stuff.
Going back to using Annitrol, which is has always worked fine. Its active component is phosphoric acid aswell, so I dunno what's the deal.

[sly]

Probably a concentration difference.

[Arquemann]

Got my bits I ordered, a new stud for the passenger exhaust manifold, new locknuts for all the studs and plug wire holders! Found that the shop has those too, a bunch to choose from. Most were kinda expensive so I picked these ones for 2,5€ a piece. They are supposedly for '74- GMs, but they fit snugly on the factory valve cover studs. Dunno which way is supposed to be up though

Doing odds and ends in garage since I'm pretty much done with the engine and all the bits I have at hand. Installed the dipshit tube with RTV and with a pipe clamp instead of the wobbly sheetmetal bracket. Lubricated the carb linkages, still need to scrub the whole thing clean. Shortened the fuel line for the carb and happened to find a tube of metal polish I haven't seen in probably 6 months. I have no idea what I needed it for, but I was a bit bored so I used it on the fuel line and the ac compressor bracket.

A couple questions:
- Is the oil cap / pcv valve base supposed to have what kind of seal / gasket between it and the valve cover?
- How on earth can I remove the pcv grommets off the oil cap and the other valve cover? They are original and I'm not sure if I can remove one off the valve cover without destroying the pcv hose elbow...

[gadget73]

There is supposed to be a gasket between the cap and cover. Its just a gasket paper donut.

[Arquemann]

Wall art / spare part storage is in place, shitty ikea shelf hasn't come crashing down yet.
Overall was a quick miniproject, I washed it, quick smoothing with scuffing pad, 4,5€ can of satin black. Shined up the bezels and grille with metal polish and a bit of dressing silicone on the headlight and turn signal lenses. Has a broom stick under it so it sits upright and isn't under tension as the shelf is a bit narrow.
Still need a Ford emblem and a headlight bucket. For the life of me I can't remember if I still have a couple spare buckets somewhere.
Smells like garage, but hopefully the smell is not stuck to the fresh paint and will fade soon. I did spray the whole thing with solvent wash before painting.