Oil Pan Bolts

DomMc

Member
Oct 17, 2015
58
8
18
Frisco, Tx
This idiot friend of mine (ok, it was me...) has misplaced the sandwich bag with all the bolts for the oil pan on my 1974 mustang ii 2.8 V6.
I know there are 24 of them... and I'm quite sure they are size M10.
But I don't know the length.

Anyone know if this information would be available anywhere?
 
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I can't answer specifically, but industry standard says that thread engagement should be 1-1/2 times the thread diameter. So a 10mm bolt should have 15mm thread engagement. You can give yourself another 5mm for the pan and pan gasket and probably be alright with 20mm bolts. Of course you should always double check your measurement just to be certain!
 
Thanks!
Am sure there is a bit of play in terms of the bolts that can be used.
I couldn't find the details in my maintenance manual or online so far.
Probably most people are more careful with their hardware than me.........

Thanks for the info. Will maybe try to get a back of both sizes from Fastenal and see how I get on.
 
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Oil pan back on. Engine put together and got dropped in to the car on Saturday.
It now turns over but won't fire....

Checked spark and it's good. Compression I assume is ok, unless I managed to mess up all 6 pistons somehow!
Can see that fuel is getting to the carb, but the plugs are dry in the cylinder.

Any ideas why fuel wouldn't make it through the carb? Does it just need an overhaul, or am I perhaps missing something simple?
 
Check to make sure you see fuel squirting into the carb when you pull the throttle, you should see two nice, clear streams into each venturi. If not the accelerator pump diaphragm, or the rubber check-valve inside the bowl, may have gone bad -- or the nozzles are clogged. In my case it was both. If that's happening, you can pour some fuel down the carb and see if you can get it to fire. Once it's running, vacuum will pull fuel fuel from the idle circuit, but you need that priming squirt from the accelerator pump to get it started.

Rebuild kits can be had for cheap, and it's pretty easy to do (good YouTube videos out there). Failures like this sometimes happen after the carb is allowed to dry out, that's the last straw for some of the submerged-in-fuel rubber and paper parts.
 
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Thanks for the tips!
I tried basically bypassing the carb last night. Squirting some starter fluid in to see if it would catch at all.
Nothing.

I'm thinking I've the timing set wrong.
Don't suppose you'd have a diagram or link to how the distributor should be set at TDC?
There is a mark on the rim that I'm using, which I assumed was correct - but I could be way off.

Gonna pick up a pressure tool to check the compression too but I honestly think that is ok.
 
When the #1 piston is at TDC (on the balancer) on the compression stroke (after intake valve opens or check for air forcefully blowing out of the spark plug hole while manually cranking the engine) the rotor should be pointing roughly at the #1 plug wire. You can also have someone crank the car and check timing with a light to get it perfect, it works while cranking too and verifies you have spark.
 
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Ok, so I had the timing all wrong for starters. There was a huge mark on the pulley that I thought was TDC but was way off. I then found the marks with the degrees on it.
Distributor was off too.

It still won't fire, but I'm getting closer.
Used a compression tester yesterday and two of the cylinders have zero compression.
The other 4 are around 140/150 which I assume is good.

My thinking is that one of the valves isn't closing for those two cylinders, so gonna pull the cover off this evening check what's going on. (A friend thinks I may have the bolts too tight which would make sense)
 
It was the valves! - and last night it fired up!!!!
Am so happy. Was great to hear her come back to life.

Had to change the ignition coil too.
Could see spark when I grounded the spark plug, but I picked up and $8 spark tester from auto zone and it wouldn't light up.
Swapped the coil and tester worked.

One step closer to being back on the road.. :) :)
 
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Definitely one of the coolest little motors out there, doesn't get nearly enough credit. Sure it was underpowered, but only a few horses shy of the v8 at the time and considerably lighter. And with a 4-bbl carb on there it will rev to the moon. Solid lifters, gear-driven cam made it so. The sequential firing order and neighboring exhaust ports made it sound like a nice, lumpy-cammed v8. I love mine, and with the home-made turbo it's a blast to drive too. Make sure to add some zinc to the oil at some point, your cam will thank you.
 
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Thanks. It's far from finished yet.
Am battling water leaks around the timing cover.
Fixed one side, now the other is leaking.... but where would the fun be if this all went without issues, right? :)
 
Are you leaking near the thermostat or the other side? You can still get the rear thermostat housing if you find the threads are too corroded / stripped to tighten it down properly. 4-seasons part number 84878. New bolts are good too, M6-70 and M6-90's.
 
The thermostat had some rusty bolts but doesnt seem to be leaking.
Originally it was the other side that was leaking, now it's just above the thermostat.

Hope to pull the timing cover tomorrow and fit it more neatly.

Another question... this is?
mustang_part.jpg


Am guessing oil pressure switch but could be way off...
Any help for what it is, and where is should go, much appreciated!!!!
 
I'm 99% certain that is the oil pressure sensor. As for where it's located on the V6, I can't say. On the 302 it was near the timing cover on the driver side if memory serves.