Progress Thread Street/strip 427w In A Gt Hatch- Slow Progress

[Chuckman]

guess ill go grab a smallish piece from hd and see what happens. i just cleaned off about a 1/2-3/4" wide area on both sides of where i was welding and played with all the settings and cant get it to sound like that. if i could find the big memory card for my camera i'd take a vid so you can see what its doing. it does seem best though right about where the chart says it should be on a quick (about a one count) tack, but trying to actually run a bead or just make a little puddle its like the wire cant keep up and keeps breaking inside the tip? even does it with the feed maxed out? i dunno.

 

[RaggedGT]

A bit of the wire speed problem may be with your angle and how fast or slow you are moving, if you have some scrap steel laying around,try overlapping two pieces and weld them together

 

[Chuckman]

Alright, so I went and bought a piece of 22ga at HD to practice on. Used the chart-recommended voltage settings (still have no idea how these are set as far as actual voltage since there's no actual numbers on the switches), and just played with the wire speed some. Pics of the results:

I start with a speed setting of 6 (it goes 1-10), and crap. Went to 7, even crappier. Down to 5, meh, a little better. 4, OMG, it sounds PERFECT (well, at least as close to it as I think this machine can get), the HAZ looks right, and other than a bit of unevenness in my own hand speed, doesn't look too bad (at least to me). The rest of this side is just me having fun with it at that setting and seeing how well I handled it.

Just for chits and giggles, flipped it over and played with settings some more, this time at 3:

While it doesn't LOOK nearly as bad as the higher feeds, it definitely did NOT like it, puddle was way too cold and had to hold the torch in one spot way too long blowing through the upper piece.

Long story short, I think I found where it needs to be. Now I just gotta transfer what I learned to the car.

 

[RaggedGT]

Alright, so I went and bought a piece of 22ga at HD to practice on. Used the chart-recommended voltage settings (still have no idea how these are set as far as actual voltage since there's no actual numbers on the switches), and just played with the wire speed some. Pics of the results:

I start with a speed setting of 6 (it goes 1-10), and crap. Went to 7, even crappier. Down to 5, meh, a little better. 4, OMG, it sounds PERFECT (well, at least as close to it as I think this machine can get), the HAZ looks right, and other than a bit of unevenness in my own hand speed, doesn't look too bad (at least to me). The rest of this side is just me having fun with it at that setting and seeing how well I handled it.

Just for chits and giggles, flipped it over and played with settings some more, this time at 3:

While it doesn't LOOK nearly as bad as the higher feeds, it definitely did NOT like it, puddle was way too cold and had to hold the torch in one spot way too long blowing through the upper piece.

Long story short, I think I found where it needs to be. Now I just gotta transfer what I learned to the car.

Looks good buddy, I think you found the lincolns sweet spot lol

 

[Chuckman]

Well, I had it all dialed in Saturday night.

Got waaaay to distracted doing nothing yesterday to work on it.

Pop out there after work today, get about halfway around the passenger side rail cover before I realize.....out of gas. I had accidentally left it on Saturday night, and I'm guessing that, and the fact that it's a friggin tiny cylinder, conspired to rid me of my progress tonight

Oh well, I'll swing by the gas place after work and see if I can't trade up for a bigger cylinder.

 

[Chuckman]

So maybe at least @Davedacarpainter can answer this one.....

At the moment I'm lacking a compressor big enough to run a spray gun (and said gun) to prime all this new metal. That is a problem that will be remedied hopefully this winter, but till then, I need to cover up what I got (already getting spots of surface rust in places). My thinking is to throw a spray bomb of rustoleum or similar at it for now to keep it from going full on rust bucket, and then when I do get said compressor, strip it back down bare and then hit it with epoxy primer (same with the rest of the car in sections). Am I off in my thinking on this? And should filler go on before or after primer?

 

[Davedacarpainter]

So maybe at least @Davedacarpainter can answer this one.....

At the moment I'm lacking a compressor big enough to run a spray gun (and said gun) to prime all this new metal. That is a problem that will be remedied hopefully this winter, but till then, I need to cover up what I got (already getting spots of surface rust in places). My thinking is to throw a spray bomb of rustoleum or similar at it for now to keep it from going full on rust bucket, and then when I do get said compressor, strip it back down bare and then hit it with epoxy primer (same with the rest of the car in sections). Am I off in my thinking on this? And should filler go on before or after primer?

There you go,you've got the right idea. Just get it covered with a rattle can of etch primer.

 

[Chuckman]

Judging from you other posts on the matter, I take it your a fan of etch over epoxy? Is there a specific reason for that? At this point I have no idea whose going to do the color painting (maybe me, but for all I know, I could haul the shell down to a Maaco), but the plan is to have it at least all body worked, blocked, and other than a final wipe down, cleaned before then.

 

[Davedacarpainter]

Judging from you other posts on the matter, I take it your a fan of etch over epoxy? Is there a specific reason for that? At this point I have no idea whose going to do the color painting (maybe me, but for all I know, I could haul the shell down to a Maaco), but the plan is to have it at least all body worked, blocked, and other than a final wipe down, cleaned before then.

Epoxies are fine, really. Most paint systems I use at work stopped using them a while ago, so I don't recommend them as much anymore because I'm not sure who offers them now.

You'll get what you pay for from macco. Be careful. They use the CHEAPEST paint lines in the business. If you plan to sell it right afterwards though, it'll make the car seem like it's worth more.

I'll talk you through the painting process when it comes time. PM me with your phone number whenever you decide you want some advice, I'll give you a call.

 

[Chuckman]

So I mentioned in @Davedacarpainter 's thread I went and bought myself a big-boy compressor. I found that getting the big 4 1/2" angle grinder in behind the strut towers without feeling like I was going to wreck something badly was not happening, and was thinking to myself "Man, it'd be great to be able to use one of the little 2" die grinders like I use at work all the damn time in here." Was hoping I could hold off on this rather substantial purchase ($500 for the compressor, about $150-200 for the electrical side, and another $100 for the air side) until AFTER tax time since I might owe taxes on the house I just sold, but I got the cash right now so meh.

Anyway, Dave wanted pics of the air setup I was building (which was fun, I've never soldered pipe before, wasn't actually too bad), so here goes.

The compressor itself is in the laundry/storage room. The garage is just above and on the other side of the wall here, and has a door closing it off from the rest of the basement, so hopefully if I forget to turn it off one day (it WILL happen, I know myself) it won't wake me or the neighbors up at 2am if it cycles. For electric I ran a new run of 10ga NM cable into a new 30amp breaker, the whip here joins it in a junction box on the other side of the joist.

Getting it down there actually wasn't too bad, my buddy who was helping me had the excellent idea of using a pair of furniture dollies and leapfrog two pieces of plywood to roll it down the hill (walkout basement ftw). The pipe and valve off the compressor are 3/4" ID with a reducer on the end to 1/2" NPT.

Here's the start of the copper pipe, 1/2" Type-L copper with another 1/2" NPT fitting on this end. Tomorrow I'll run up to O'reilly's and see if they can make up a section of line with 1/2" male NPT's on both ends to isolate the vibration from the compressor to the hard line.

Was trying to get it a little closer to the compressor, but like I said it was my first time running copper tube, and it was getting a bit too close to that electric box comfort. And hopefully one day I'll actually run a real dryer vent instead of the flex crap, previous owners left and it just hasn't made the priority list yet.

Anyway, here's how its routed once it gets into the garage (and a switch from the phone camera to my better digital)

Toolbox back in it's home (I need to clean this up again, I just put it all together in July and it's already a mess)

 

[Davedacarpainter]

So I mentioned in @Davedacarpainter 's thread I went and bought myself a big-boy compressor. I found that getting the big 4 1/2" angle grinder in behind the strut towers without feeling like I was going to wreck something badly was not happening, and was thinking to myself "Man, it'd be great to be able to use one of the little 2" die grinders like I use at work all the damn time in here." Was hoping I could hold off on this rather substantial purchase ($500 for the compressor, about $150-200 for the electrical side, and another $100 for the air side) until AFTER tax time since I might owe taxes on the house I just sold, but I got the cash right now so meh.

Anyway, Dave wanted pics of the air setup I was building (which was fun, I've never soldered pipe before, wasn't actually too bad), so here goes.

The compressor itself is in the laundry/storage room. The garage is just above and on the other side of the wall here, and has a door closing it off from the rest of the basement, so hopefully if I forget to turn it off one day (it WILL happen, I know myself) it won't wake me or the neighbors up at 2am if it cycles. For electric I ran a new run of 10ga NM cable into a new 30amp breaker, the whip here joins it in a junction box on the other side of the joist.

Getting it down there actually wasn't too bad, my buddy who was helping me had the excellent idea of using a pair of furniture dollies and leapfrog two pieces of plywood to roll it down the hill (walkout basement ftw). The pipe and valve off the compressor are 3/4" ID with a reducer on the end to 1/2" NPT.

Here's the start of the copper pipe, 1/2" Type-L copper with another 1/2" NPT fitting on this end. Tomorrow I'll run up to O'reilly's and see if they can make up a section of line with 1/2" male NPT's on both ends to isolate the vibration from the compressor to the hard line.

Was trying to get it a little closer to the compressor, but like I said it was my first time running copper tube, and it was getting a bit too close to that electric box comfort. And hopefully one day I'll actually run a real dryer vent instead of the flex crap, previous owners left and it just hasn't made the priority list yet.

Anyway, here's how its routed once it gets into the garage (and a switch from the phone camera to my better digital)

Toolbox back in it's home (I need to clean this up again, I just put it all together in July and it's already a mess)

Copper tubing is the best for running airlines. Nice job brother. have you thought of putting a bleed off valve there close to your coupler. Until you can have some sort of dryer system, it will help to bleed off the inevitable condensation that will develop in the lines. Just go over to it between coats of paint or once every fifteen minutes of continuous work to get rid of the water.

Without a dryer, I would even drop that down another foot just to have a "well" that can collect the condensation build up.

 

[FoxMustangLvr]

looks good so far but i have a couple tips. Go to Northern tool and order yourself a 3/4" flex line to connect to your shut off valve at your tank. You do not want the vibrations from your tank traveling through your air pipe. Another thing is you need to slope your pipe runs. Everything should be running up hill a little so your moisture can drain. Where the pipe turns up at your work bench there should be a 1/2" ball valve for draining water too.

 

[Chuckman]

Copper tubing is the best for running airlines. Nice job brother. have you thought of putting a bleed off valve there close to your coupler. Until you can have some sort of dryer system, it will help to bleed off the inevitable condensation that will develop in the lines. Just go over to it between coats of paint or once every fifteen minutes of continuous work to get rid of the water.

Without a dryer, I would even drop that down another foot just to have a "well" that can collect the condensation build up.

I did put a drain plug there with another 1/2" NPT, could easily just put another valve, don't really know why i didnt. i may also be able to do some kind of home-made drier too after the shutoff valve, might have to do some research on that. there is about 25' of copper there though, so it should help.

looks good so far but i have a couple tips. Go to Northern tool and order yourself a 3/4" flex line to connect to your shut off valve at your tank. You do not want the vibrations from your tank traveling through your air pipe. Another thing is you need to slope your pipe runs. Everything should be running up hill a little so your moisture can drain. Where the pipe turns up at your work bench there should be a 1/2" ball valve for draining water too.

I'm going to get a section of soft line made up between the main shut off and where the copper starts, I finished up what I had at about 8:15 tonight and just didnt have time today (and was tired of fighting mosquitoes)

the straight run in the basement and under the shelving do tilt back towards the tank (though there is a big sag in the long piece under the shelving, that tube was just kinda laying halfway through the wall for a week, don't know if it just sagged or if it was like that when i got it and i didnt notice). not really enough room to put another T and valve before it goes vertical without putting another vertical section in it somewhere down there, i'll have to look at it some more, see how this works, and i can modify as i go.

 

[RaggedGT]

I did put a drain plug there with another 1/2" NPT, could easily just put another valve, don't really know why i didnt. i may also be able to do some kind of home-made drier too after the shutoff valve, might have to do some research on that. there is about 25' of copper there though, so it should help.


I'm going to get a section of soft line made up between the main shut off and where the copper starts, I finished up what I had at about 8:15 tonight and just didnt have time today (and was tired of fighting mosquitoes)

the straight run in the basement and under the shelving do tilt back towards the tank (though there is a big sag in the long piece under the shelving, that tube was just kinda laying halfway through the wall for a week, don't know if it just sagged or if it was like that when i got it and i didnt notice). not really enough room to put another T and valve before it goes vertical without putting another vertical section in it somewhere down there, i'll have to look at it some more, see how this works, and i can modify as i go.

@jrichker had a pretty cool homemade dryer setup on his compressor-just don't remember where he had it posted lol

 

[Chuckman]

Welp, I'm amazed and proud to say all my solder joints are holding. Apparently my messy looking joints are actually pretty solid

Off to grab some die grinder discs, and maybe a hose reel, then we'll get back to actual car stuff.

 

[FoxMustangLvr]

Ideally you want about 50' of line for the air to cool and lose the moisture. I did a bunch of vertical runs with ball valves. There is more than one way to do it right but just wanted to give you some ideas.

Tank drain extension from Home Depot

3/4"x3ft flex line from northerntool.com

 

[Chuckman]

Ideally you want about 50' of line for the air to cool and lose the moisture. I did a bunch of vertical runs with ball valves. There is more than one way to do it right but just wanted to give you some ideas.

Tank drain extension from Home Depot

3/4"x3ft flex line from northerntool.com

I was debating iron (actually galvinized since I didn't want the possibility of rust flakes) pipe like that, but A) I don't have the tools to thread it myself and B) the heat dissipation out of copper is better. The local HD's pipe threader was broken anyway, made it an easy choice.

I'll have to see if I can find that pipe drain, would make life easier. I'll put a valve on the drain section I've got, should have got one on my last trip to the hardware store but forgot

I did run my el-cheapo harbor freight die grinder for about an hour trying to blend some ty welding, I don't know how many times it cycled since I can't hear it out in the garage, but it was running for about 10 seconds when I walked in the house. Hopefully that's a good sign that it wont piss the neighbors off. That grinder on the other hand.....let's just say that the chicago pneumatic I've got at work is half as loud and has half the vibration, my hand is numb and my ears feel like they've been on a jetliner, so I'll be looking for a new here shortly.

 

[Davedacarpainter]

I was debating iron (actually galvinized since I didn't want the possibility of rust flakes) pipe like that, but A) I don't have the tools to thread it myself and B) the heat dissipation out of copper is better. The local HD's pipe threader was broken anyway, made it an easy choice.

I'll have to see if I can find that pipe drain, would make life easier. I'll put a valve on the drain section I've got, should have got one on my last trip to the hardware store but forgot

I did run my el-cheapo harbor freight die grinder for about an hour trying to blend some ****ty welding, I don't know how many times it cycled since I can't hear it out in the garage, but it was running for about 10 seconds when I walked in the house. Hopefully that's a good sign that it wont **** the neighbors off. That grinder on the other hand.....let's just say that the chicago pneumatic I've got at work is half as loud and has half the vibration, my hand is numb and my ears feel like they've been on a jetliner, so I'll be looking for a new here shortly.

Copper is the best for air.

 

[hoopty5.0]

Welp, I'm amazed and proud to say all my solder joints are holding. Apparently my messy looking joints are actually pretty solid

Off to grab some die grinder discs, and maybe a hose reel, then we'll get back to actual car stuff.

I have a HF hose reel. Very happy with it, when they go on sale, you can get them for $60 +/-

 

[Rjaaaaaa]

New to the Fox body scene, bought a fair looking 88 GT that I am currently working on. I'm doing the engine bay now but mine doesn't look as clean after I'm done as yours did before you started. Bummer !!! I'm still happy with mine it's just going to be my cruiser. Engine is 30 over, cam, heads and intake, nothing wild just fun to drive and turn a few heads.

The time had come I guess to start a new build log on this since the old one is no longer relevant. This is now going to be a very long-term project vs the continual improvements I was doing before.

After the lifters in the 302 took a giant dump, I took some time to do a bit of soul searching, money saving, and plan making. I got tired of throwing money at a stock bottom end, and since the plan was to build something like what I'm going to do now anyway (just in smaller steps), I decided to say eff it all and just get it over and done with.

So here's the plan as of now:
Dart-blocked 427w from Fordstrokers (sent the down payment two weeks ago)
TEA Highports (either 225 or 240cc, not exactly for sure yet)
~11:1 compression for 93 octane pump gas
Custom cam from Fordstrokers/Comp
Going to "guinea-pig" the new TFS carb-style efi intake
Holley HP EFI
Either reuse my current TKO (faceplated if i do) or switch to an Astro A5
TeamZ suspension
Rewire the whole car (looking the new American Autowire kit)
Paint/body/interior resto.

End goal of this is to be able to have a car that can drive to the track, run a 10.0 or faster, then drive home, with the capability to do a long cruise that weekend (some of the stlmustangs cruises can last 100+ miles). Might even do some true street events, maybe some drag week, a grudge match here and there, etc. as well as the occasional drive to work, grocery store, car show, whatever (i.e., not afraid to drive it).

So here's where I left off before:





Turned the roller to the tune of 330hp/340tq and was running 1.7/12.4/110 1/4 miles

After missing a shift at the track and hearing a really bad noise, I pulled the intake to find this (the spider had let the front 2 dogbones slip out for this to happen):

Topend was pulled off the car and sold:

The old, but till now trusty, explorer 302 was removed last week

Started pulling the interior a couple weeks ago:

How it sits after a few hours today: