Build Thread My First Notch Build Thread - Remember me?!

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I did a little bit this morning. Nothing is torqued down because I didn't have a torque wrench on-hand. I still have to drill out a couple of rivets on the MLS head gaskets so I didn't want to torque them down anyway.

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Just set the intake up there for kicks. I don't have the intake gaskets yet.
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I thought I might need to get the intake port matched to the heads....I guess I was wrong. :banana: Remember this is with no intake gaskets so these ports might actually mate up close to perfectly. :cool:
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Not much to update because I haven't been able to touch my car all summer....I'm so P ISSED about that. Well my dad needs the 3.55 out of my rearend so that adds a little urgency to me doing something on the car. So maybe I'll get a chance to pull the rearend out, disassemble it and clean it sometime this week or next week so it'll be ready to be built. My dad wants to get the 3.55 installed in his car(95 GT) before Cruising The Coast in October so I gotta get to it.
 
I did a little bit this morning. Nothing is torqued down because I didn't have a torque wrench on-hand. I still have to drill out a couple of rivets on the MLS head gaskets so I didn't want to torque them down anyway.

20130712_105045_zpse3cc16ff.jpg

20130712_105212_zps4d7c6108.jpg

20130712_111241_zps7ef71a0d.jpg

Just set the intake up there for kicks. I don't have the intake gaskets yet.
20130712_113004_zps826377b9.jpg

I thought I might need to get the intake port matched to the heads....I guess I was wrong. :banana: Remember this is with no intake gaskets so these ports might actually mate up close to perfectly. :cool:
20130712_112743_zps253cba40.jpg
20130712_112818_zps473e8ff2.jpg


Ah.. I remember the days of having my parts inside my house before I got married.... good times. Somehow my car stuff kept getting pushed out more and more to the garage.
 
Ah.. I remember the days of having my parts inside my house before I got married.... good times. Somehow my car stuff kept getting pushed out more and more to the garage.
I'm married. My car doesn't even stay at my house. I keep at one of my dad's properies that's not in use. My car has its own house and the engine and the rest of the parts have their own room in that house! I'm just hoping to be finished with my car before my dad sells it. If I kept my car at my house it would NEVER get touched....EVER! A wife and 2 small kids is a recipe for NEVER being able to do what you want to do. :nonono:
 
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Well, its been a LOOOOONG time since I've been able to turn some wrenches on my car. The summer came and went and I haven't had a chance to touch it.....until today. I finally pulled the rearend out. I'm taking it to work tomorrow to hopefully take it apart and at least START cleaning it so I can bring it to the shop next week for it to get assembled with all the new stuff.

Here's what I did today.
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I also took a pic of how bad the UCA bushings look. It's an indication of how ALL the bushings on the car look.
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Ok so what's the trick to getting those bushings out? I think I read somewhere(probably here) that you have to drill through the rubber then beat the rest out. Is that the best/easiest way to do it?
 
Craigslist Score!!!
Yesterday I picked up a NEW UPR K-member with A-arms, coilover kit, and rear upper and lower control arms(non-adjustable). All for a grand total of $600. I couldn't pass it up. I sold my dad the LCAs and UCAs for $200 because I will be getting the adjustable ones. So getting the car started will be delayed a little because I used the money to buy all the knick knacks like sensors, coil, and other minor hardware. This purchase actually saved me from having to pull the motor out again to change the k-member later.

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Well, its been a LOOOOONG time since I've been able to turn some wrenches on my car. The summer came and went and I haven't had a chance to touch it.....until today. I finally pulled the rearend out. I'm taking it to work tomorrow to hopefully take it apart and at least START cleaning it so I can bring it to the shop next week for it to get assembled with all the new stuff.

Here's what I did today.
20130926_130547_zps2c043436.jpg

I also took a pic of how bad the UCA bushings look. It's an indication of how ALL the bushings on the car look.
20130926_130621_zpsda22523e.jpg

Ok so what's the trick to getting those bushings out? I think I read somewhere(probably here) that you have to drill through the rubber then beat the rest out. Is that the best/easiest way to do it?

It's probably too late,...but I'll offer it anyway since I just dealt w/ mine tonight. The drill method works sometimes. You just run a bit down into the old bushing, along the edge, and the bit will just walk around the inside of the shell. As bad as yours' are. I doubt that that'll be the case.

I chose the burn and beat method,..it took all of 5 minutes. Get a torch, and heat the bushing shell until you see that bushing start to ooze and push out (also on fire). Have a piece of tubing and a 2 lb mallet standing by so that after it starts burning, you can whack it. It takes about 3-5 good whacks, and the thing should start to come out. Once it does,.It's gonna come out the next whack.
 
It's probably too late,...but I'll offer it anyway since I just dealt w/ mine tonight. The drill method works sometimes. You just run a bit down into the old bushing, along the edge, and the bit will just walk around the inside of the shell. As bad as yours' are. I doubt that that'll be the case.

I chose the burn and beat method,..it took all of 5 minutes. Get a torch, and heat the bushing shell until you see that bushing start to ooze and push out (also on fire). Have a piece of tubing and a 2 lb mallet standing by so that after it starts burning, you can whack it. It takes about 3-5 good whacks, and the thing should start to come out. Once it does,.It's gonna come out the next whack.

Mike, for years I've used the drill method, a torch. air chisel, and then a few years back bought the tool from MM. I kicked myself in the ass for not getting it sooner the first time I used it, as it made the job so much easier. Problem is I loaned it to a buddy a while back and now he can't find it.....:dammit:

Forgot my Rule #1. Never loan your tools.

That rule ranks up there with never let anyone drive your Mustang. I let my girlfriend after asking and asking to drive my supercharged Mustang, and to this day I cannot believe I said "give it some gas", .... three donuts, two cracked rims, bent contro arms, and a busted axle later..................:doh:
 
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Mike, for years I've used the drill method, a torch. air chisel, and then a few years back bought the tool from MM. I kicked myself in the ass for not getting it sooner the first time I used it, as it made the job so much easier. Problem is I loaned it to a buddy a while back and now he can't find it.....:dammit:

Forgot my Rule #1. Never loan your tools.

That rule ranks up there with never let anyone drive your Mustang. I let my girlfriend after asking and asking to drive my supercharged Mustang, and to this day I cannot believe I said "give it some gas", .... three donuts, two cracked rims, bent contro arms, and a busted axle later..................:doh:

Sorry to hear that.

I don't know how much your bushing removal tool cost you, but I'd be calling dude that has it, and letting him know how much it cost to replace it.

You must replace a lot more of those things than I do to justify "a tool" to do it. Seems it's about every 5 years or so that I go through the new car old bushing thing. Unless that tool is cheap, or amazing,.....I'll use my torch.

I've gotta friend that wants badly for me to drive for him at the drag strip in his 7.0 car. I keep telling him no, that I don't want to be at the wheel if something goes wrong and it ends up against a guard rail.
 
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Sorry to hear that.

I don't know how much your bushing removal tool cost you, but I'd be calling dude that has it, and letting him know how much it cost to replace it.

You must replace a lot more of those things than I do to justify "a tool" to do it. Seems it's about every 5 years or so that I go through the new car old bushing thing. Unless that tool is cheap, or amazing,.....I'll use my torch.

I've gotta friend that wants badly for me to drive for him at the drag strip in his 7.0 car. I keep telling him no, that I don't want to be at the wheel if something goes wrong and it ends up against a guard rail.

It's like $30.... The reason I mentioned it is because I'm getting ready to change my rear controls arms, shocks, springs and I remembered who had that tool.
 
It's probably too late,...but I'll offer it anyway since I just dealt w/ mine tonight. The drill method works sometimes. You just run a bit down into the old bushing, along the edge, and the bit will just walk around the inside of the shell. As bad as yours' are. I doubt that that'll be the case.

I chose the burn and beat method,..it took all of 5 minutes. Get a torch, and heat the bushing shell until you see that bushing start to ooze and push out (also on fire). Have a piece of tubing and a 2 lb mallet standing by so that after it starts burning, you can whack it. It takes about 3-5 good whacks, and the thing should start to come out. Once it does,.It's gonna come out the next whack.

No Mike, it's not too late. I haven't been able to take it apart yet. I brought it to work 3 tours in a row and we ended up being really busy all three tours. I'm a firefighter at one of the busiest firehouses in New Orleans. What was I think when I thought I would have time to do anything I WANTED to do at work? :doh: Anyway, I'm on vacation from work right now and I STILL haven't had the time to tackle it. Maybe I'll get to it Monday or Tuesday because its Fall break at school AND I'll still be on vacation from work. :banana:

As for doing the burn and/or drill method, sounds good to me because I don't have time to order that tool and still have to wait for it to arrive.
 
***UPDATE***
Hey guys! Remember me?! Well, I'm at it again. I'm buying parts and starting to get some stuff done...finally. Let me catch you up a little. I sold my brand new, still in the box Tremec TKO600. What happened was a my buddy that has a 90 hatch with a Fordstrokers 427 unknowingly bought a Chevy version of a TKO600 slightly used and found out the hard way. I don't know why the red flag didn't go up when the bolt holes didn't line up good and he had to elongate them to bolt the tranny in. But the tranny ended up tearing up the motor because the input shaft never went far enough into the pilot bearing and it kinda jammed behind it and kept the crank from having the play it needed and it ate up the thrust bearing. and messed up the crank. ANYWAY, he's getting a new crank and he asked to buy my tranny. I thought he was joking at first...and I laughed....but he didn't. He was serious. So he agreed to buy it for what I paid for it. The deal was made and I ordered another TKO600 but I bought it from American Powertrain with the "Sure Shift" upgrade so it will shift good at high rpms. I also order the installation kit that comes with driveshaft, tranny mount, crossmember, speedo cable, seedo gear, reverse plug, and pilot bearing. That grand total was $3395. I also brought my rearend to the shop to get it built including getting the axle tubes welded. That should be ready tomorrow or Monday. I also ordered a bunch of knick-knack parts needed to finish buttoning the top of the motor up. I still have to order my clutch and shifter and I will be ordering my fuel system from HighFlow Performance in about a week or so. Pics will come when I start turning wrenches soon.
 
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