My '85 MGM, "Maisa"

[Arquemann]

I have never had any of those issues. any time I've put them on they just sit in place and stay there politely. Are these the FelPro ones?

Yeah, MS95952. The ends of the china wall rubbers have like a sawtooth pattern, whereas the intake gaskets have the little square notches that would match a cork china wall piece. Too wide to sit flat with the intake gaskets underneath the ends of the china walls, and too thick so the ends would push up on the intake gaskets if the china walls were underneath.

They stayed in place overnight, but I don't have high hopes on the corners of the intake sealing...

[DerekTheGreat]

Certain wheels want whitewalls, these are among them. RWL also looks good though. Hard to find a decent tire in either now, choices are either very cheap garbage or way too expensive and possibly garbage. I just want normal tires that arent a fortune or trash.

This. I wanted white walls for my Lincoln, but the options, and I use that word loosely, were awful. So black walls it was. I still haven't adjusted to them and it's been five or six years.

[friskyfrankie]

This. I wanted white walls for my Lincoln, but the options, and I use that word loosely, were awful. So black walls it was. I still haven't adjusted to them and it's been five or six years.

I believe Cooper still makes them and their tires (at least a few years ago) were still well made and performed well.

[kishy]

Yeah, MS95952. The ends of the china wall rubbers have like a sawtooth pattern, whereas the intake gaskets have the little square notches that would match a cork china wall piece. Too wide to sit flat with the intake gaskets underneath the ends of the china walls, and too thick so the ends would push up on the intake gaskets if the china walls were underneath.

They stayed in place overnight, but I don't have high hopes on the corners of the intake sealing...

I have shared this sentiment/concern in the past, but somehow, I have had them seal each time I've used them.

As we discussed a few months ago (or maybe more, idk), the pre-86 block doesn't have the one locating hole that does a lot for keeping the rear seal in position while dropping the intake on it.

I've used a generous gob of Permatex ultra black "max oil resistance" RTV in the corners and it seems like it's worked so far.

[Arquemann]

I have shared this sentiment/concern in the past, but somehow, I have had them seal each time I've used them.

As we discussed a few months ago (or maybe more, idk), the pre-86 block doesn't have the one locating hole that does a lot for keeping the rear seal in position while dropping the intake on it.

I've used a generous gob of Permatex ultra black "max oil resistance" RTV in the corners and it seems like it's worked so far.

I sure hope they seal, reinstalling the intake on the car is a bitch... I thought about using rtv in the corners, but opted for permatex no.3 instead, as I kinda needed the "glue" properties more and had hope towards the implied godlike properties of the rubber pieces. I cut off the nub from the rear seal, didn't have any issues with it staying in place, the front seal was the problem child.


Engine is back together, needs to come off the stand for the spacer and flex plate and off to plonk in back in the engine bay, hopefully tomorrow.
I have gone through every moving part from the damper to the flexplate and did not find anything wrong. (well except the piston rings but I doubt those would rattle like a diesel). Also spun the torque converter by hand, doesn't hit anything and makes some slushing and splurting sounds.

[Arquemann]

Engine is in, leaving the engine mount ears on the mounts themselves was definitely the easier way to reinstalling the engine. Engine can be lowered to almost the normal height before sliding onto the trans & TC.

Before having an extra pair of hands available, I fiddled around and got the passenger side fender splash shield done. Still need new push pins for them. Made from 3 or 4mm mud flap material. Pretty happy about the result.

[sly]

Nice. The splash flaps are pretty much dead on my 93 as well. I wish the early aeros had the lower rad support to crossmember splash panel like the whales do.

[Arquemann]

The DS dizzy I got for the roller cam has a huge vacuum advance pot, the mechanical advance seems very late (stiff springs) and it has more end play than the other one.
So I was going to swap gears onto the other DS dizzy with the iron gear, but nope.

The "newer" distributor with a steel gear is a reman in a motorcraft body, C9ZF. It ended up having the smaller diameter shaft. The previous DS dizzy I had with the factory flat tappet cam was a new chinese unit, iron gear with the larger diameter shaft.

So I was gonna pop open the new dizzy to take a look at the mechanical advance, but for some damn reason the reluctor wheel is staked onto the shaft...
What I'll do about it, I dunno. For now I'll just plonk it back in the engine and take a look at it again later if the engine hasn't blown.

[Tiggie]

That steel gear on the small shaft is an oddball. Zero factory applications used it. Had to use one of these for my 68 and it was a tough find.

[Arquemann]

That steel gear on the small shaft is an oddball. Zero factory applications used it. Had to use one of these for my 68 and it was a tough find.

You mean a DS2 dizzy with a steel gear? Shaft diameter shouldn't matter, right? (That's what she said)

Beepbooped an '84/'85 Mustang into RockAuto and the manual trans have steel or iron gear options, autos are TFI. New distributors and some remans cost peanuts.

[Tiggie]

You mean a DS2 dizzy with a steel gear? Shaft diameter shouldn't matter, right? (That's what she said)

Beepbooped an '84/'85 Mustang into RockAuto and the manual trans have steel or iron gear options, autos are TFI. New distributors and some remans cost peanuts.

In my case, I am using the old Autolite points distributor with the 0.467 gear. It's my understanding that all the original steel gear applications used the 0.531 shaft.

[Arquemann]

Hood is back on again, rains incoming. For some goddamn reason, it lines up almost perfectly this time, with little fuss. I couldn't get it to line up nearly as nice last time no matter how much I fiddled with it.

In my case, I am using the old Autolite points distributor with the 0.467 gear. It's my understanding that all the original steel gear applications used the 0.531 shaft.

Yeah that's probably the case, as the narrower shaft came before roller cams. Funny thing, the dizzy I have is stamped C9ZF, so it predates roller cams by 16 years and wasn't even an electronic ignition unit before remanufacturing, oddest thing is definitely Cardone finding a 0.467 steel gear to put on it.

[Arquemann]

Engine runs again, rattle is there still, maybe a bit quieter. But now I have what seems very much like a lifter tick. Maybe 5-10 minutes of run time. I'm gonna pop the valve cover tomorrow and make sure nothing is loose.

Differences from last time the engine ran:
- couple new gaskets
- shiny new bolts
- 20W50 instead of 10W30


A friend dropped off the air cleaner adapter he 3D-printed, first test print. Needed a little bit of filing to clear the secondary vacuum pot and I need a longer air cleaner stud, but the fit is very snug. He might do a second print with some adjusted measurements and with a more heat-resistant material.

[gadget73]

I really don't understand factory distributor curving. They always seem to have very stiff springs that bring the advance in late, but they also usually use the limiter plates that allow a ton of advance that would only ever show up at some stupid high RPM that it will never hit.

[Arquemann]

The loud-ish lifter tap that was present yesterday disappeared after running for a while today, in it's place was a somewhat quiet tick. I let it cool down for a couple hours and popped off the pass. valve cover, nothing wrong under there.
So I ran it more, drove up and down the street and the tick got quieter until it turned out to be an exhaust leak. I can't feel any leaks by hand, but I can now definitely hear one. Are these supposed to have donuts on the manifolds?

Still sounds like a school bus. Not any quieter, even though I wrote so yesterday.

Somehow the new motor mounts feel soft and firm at the same time, the engine moves around a lot at idle even though it runs smooth and yet there's a lot of vibrations coming through the chassis, obvious leaning onto the fenders, not too bad sitting inside but a bit annoying still. Garbage stuff, I wonder if I've already thrown out the old mounts...

I guess I'll button stuff up, fix the exhaust leak, adjust the TV cable and try to get this thing inspected again. If the engine doesn't blow before that.