Build Thread 1978 Mercury Cyclone. The pig is in the pen.
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Well,...There is braided stuff where there was rubber stuff. Braided hose does NOT wanna go where the old junk was though. It is far less supple and refuses to bend. Originally I ordered all Summit branded junk, and they ended up back-ordering the hose on me.
Perfect,......I'll just pretend to change out the stuff. WTH do I need hoses ends for w/o the hose to put them on?
The next day (Cause I get all stuff from Summit in one day...I'm so close) I substitute the Summit branded hose for Russell. It got here yesterday.
It works,..but the Summit end goes together very tightly.
The Chinese oil cooler got hurt in the change out though...trying to thread the hose ends onto the junk chinee-aluminum -10 nipples while hanging from the bumper caused a cross thread incident on both ends of the cooler. After several attemps, and alot of "through gritted teeth" Mutley cussing
I get it to go on there.
Whether or not it's gonna seal,.........I'll leave that accessible until after I get it running again.
I'm puttin synthetic oil in it again,..this time a 10-40.Hopefully, that'll fix the oil pressure weirdness that happened when it got hot a couple of weeks ago.
I just need to install the six plugs, and fill it up to see what I have here,...but I also got a giant problem w/the roof to fix first. If there is anytime left over the next 3 days.
I thought you were bypassing the cooler and just leaving it there for the look?
on the house,....water has rotted an entire section of the roof along the drip edge of the dining room...gotta fix that before we can sell the house.
The 1st offer came in. The contingency is off and we are under contract. We do a back to back closing June 16.
Oh the joys of home ownership. Hope it goes smooth and allows you to move on to better things soon enough!
In car related news.. I got oil pressure. It rained, and it's going to rain. I stuffed the dip edge w/ some metal flashing I had to try and keep the water out of the soffit, not being able to work on the roof forced me to work in the garage.
I mean,........What was I to do?
W/the 10-40 wt oil in the engine, the oil pressure reads 70 p.s.i. at a cold fast idle. I checked my hose end seal, and it all seems good. So I started to put the thing back together. I'm gonna leave the grille off for my next test drive so I can look one final time at the oil cooler before I hide that perspective w/ the grille.
I also have got to do something w/ the connection that goes into the throttle body. The hose was back off the TB. THAT was probably the "pop" noise I head on my last outing. I'm gonna have to add another 1" to the elbow so that It freakin stays put. Now that there is 10+ p.s.i, clearly that is a weak link.
I mean,........What was I to do?
W/the 10-40 wt oil in the engine, the oil pressure reads 70 p.s.i. at a cold fast idle. I checked my hose end seal, and it all seems good. So I started to put the thing back together. I'm gonna leave the grille off for my next test drive so I can look one final time at the oil cooler before I hide that perspective w/ the grille.
I also have got to do something w/ the connection that goes into the throttle body. The hose was back off the TB. THAT was probably the "pop" noise I head on my last outing. I'm gonna have to add another 1" to the elbow so that It freakin stays put. Now that there is 10+ p.s.i, clearly that is a weak link.
Trying to figure out a way to put Noobz' missiles under my front bumper.....
Well me and the Monster are going to work today...Depending on whether or not it blows up after that 20 mile trip,..I'll take it another 15 miles up the road to another larger cruise-in. Then I'll have to dead head the thing back 35 miles at 9pm...
I hate the fact that I have to worry about driving a car 35 miles.....Wasn't I the one btchin about how stupid it was to build an unreliable, high horsepower project that you were always afraid to drive?...
It's the oil system,...It's the fact that the engine has ran dry, It's that freakin cheap assed Mallory/Summit/ MSD/Aeromotive clone fuel pump back there that starts out quiet, and after a 20+ minute drive, sounds like it swallowed a donkey dick...(I think it also ran dry......twice)..
Oil coolers are on stock junk,....It was a hose end that almost caused this engine to die,...now that's replaced. The fuel pump is on a short list to replace (again)....I just gotta get settled into the new house, But I am tired of dealing with that damn thing...I'm one step away from a Holley Dominator pump.
Neither of those two "bad dreams" have anything to do with high horsepower unreliability,..but they have happened...and I'm just gonna put my head down and push through it...Ever wonder what was meant when Farragut said "Damn the Torpedos....full speed ahead"?.....Well, In a couple of hours, I'll put on my little Admiral uniform,...and attempt my run at that blockade too.
I have to drive the damn thing to find this junk out right?....
I hate the fact that I have to worry about driving a car 35 miles.....Wasn't I the one btchin about how stupid it was to build an unreliable, high horsepower project that you were always afraid to drive?...
It's the oil system,...It's the fact that the engine has ran dry, It's that freakin cheap assed Mallory/Summit/ MSD/Aeromotive clone fuel pump back there that starts out quiet, and after a 20+ minute drive, sounds like it swallowed a donkey dick...(I think it also ran dry......twice)..
Oil coolers are on stock junk,....It was a hose end that almost caused this engine to die,...now that's replaced. The fuel pump is on a short list to replace (again)....I just gotta get settled into the new house, But I am tired of dealing with that damn thing...I'm one step away from a Holley Dominator pump.
Neither of those two "bad dreams" have anything to do with high horsepower unreliability,..but they have happened...and I'm just gonna put my head down and push through it...Ever wonder what was meant when Farragut said "Damn the Torpedos....full speed ahead"?.....Well, In a couple of hours, I'll put on my little Admiral uniform,...and attempt my run at that blockade too.
I have to drive the damn thing to find this junk out right?....
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Right, full boost ahead there skipper.
You didn't build a garage queen, drive it like you mean it!
It wouldn't be any fun if it didn't make small children pee their pants and old woman shake their bibles at you.
This may make you feel better mike
A customer of the ring brothers (I sure you know who they are) picked up his restomoded ride with a large contention of his family all lined up to cheer him on when a few feet from the shop door it sputtered, coughed and died. After thirty minutes of fiddling around with the hood up it was determined to be,
(wait for it)
OUT OF GAS!
You didn't build a garage queen, drive it like you mean it!
It wouldn't be any fun if it didn't make small children pee their pants and old woman shake their bibles at you.
This may make you feel better mike
A customer of the ring brothers (I sure you know who they are) picked up his restomoded ride with a large contention of his family all lined up to cheer him on when a few feet from the shop door it sputtered, coughed and died. After thirty minutes of fiddling around with the hood up it was determined to be,
(wait for it)
OUT OF GAS!
well got here w/o incident. (it likes 40wt oil,....60 p.s.i hot cruise) No leaks when I get to work...But...
It pings like mad if you try to hammer down in 4th gear...When it transitioned into boost at 70MPH in 4th gear, it just started to go, and rattled so bad I had to lift instantly. Clearly, that part of the map has got too much timing, and not enough fuel somewhere before it gets to full boost...I'm thinkin that water meth may be in this car's future at some near juncture as well.
It wasn't s'posed to rain today, but it sure looks like it's gonna. I don't care if the car is out in the rain, I just don't want to drive the thing IN the rain....(remember, there are big holes in my hood, right over and in front of all of the roasty parts of my exhaust system...) I also don't want to have to clean a car that was driven in the rain especially after going through all of the detailing that I did to get rid of the Exxon Valdeez oil spill that was the bottom of my car.
It pings like mad if you try to hammer down in 4th gear...When it transitioned into boost at 70MPH in 4th gear, it just started to go, and rattled so bad I had to lift instantly. Clearly, that part of the map has got too much timing, and not enough fuel somewhere before it gets to full boost...I'm thinkin that water meth may be in this car's future at some near juncture as well.
It wasn't s'posed to rain today, but it sure looks like it's gonna. I don't care if the car is out in the rain, I just don't want to drive the thing IN the rain....(remember, there are big holes in my hood, right over and in front of all of the roasty parts of my exhaust system...) I also don't want to have to clean a car that was driven in the rain especially after going through all of the detailing that I did to get rid of the Exxon Valdeez oil spill that was the bottom of my car.
Yeeahhhh,...scratch that. It's pinging in all parts of the map just as soon as it gets into the higher boost numbers in a higher gear. I'm thinkin' I'm just gonna roll that stupid boost controller back off and let it hit 7 p.s.i where it seemed to be happy.
Nope,...I'm just trying to drive the thing today.I made a statement before you replied,..I'll just stay out of boost today (for the rest of the day at least.)
I do not know sam I am,.....I do not have my computer hooked up to the car...Stuff has seemingly changed,..The last time out it seemed that it was tolerating the higher boost number w/I the tune, and the datalog seemed happy.
No pics,....yet.
I did get it there and back,...And it was the most interesting exhibition by far,.... so far.
I wasn't as fully attended as this one gets by mid-summer, because of the threat of rain I'd imagine. When I got there it was probably 5:30 PM,...Couldn't find a space that wasn't taken, saved, or completely out of the venue...
What was I to do?
I took inspiration from my experience in retail merchandising,......
I "endcapped" the car.
I parked it in the street at the head of the rows of attendees divided by the curb that marked the parking lot.
Nothing says "Ohh Look" quite like the merchandise that's on the end of the aisle.
I'm such an ego maniac.
30 times..........I'll bet I got asked 30 times what the engine was. 30 times the exact same reply, sometimes while the guy that just asked that question the last time was still standing there.... "The bottom half is a 250 six cylinder out of a 1978 Maverick,..the top half is an Australian Crossflow head off a Australian 250 in a 1980 Ford Falcon. The rest of it can't be bought anywhere".
This young guy shows up w/ a digital camera and starts taking pictures. He hangs around and starts asking me questions in between the questions the other's are asking. I learn that he's got a web page/blog, and he messes around w/ his homemade version of automotive journalism through that website. He asks for permission to do a write-up on the car, and I give it.... He said that he was gonna read up on this build here and include the pics in his website....So,...I got that going for me.....which is nice.
I'm such an ego maniac.
After about 90 minutes the crowd started to thin,...the sky was still threatening to open up, so at 7:00 I decided to make the 30 mile drive back home, which It obviously made. By the time I get the car home, I can hear the pump howling it's ass off over the open window wind noise,..over the noisy ass engine, over the noisy assed exhaust.
I get in the garage and see if the pump is producing the fuel pressure that I set it at. 43.5 p.s.i.....dead steady. I shut the thing off,....I figured that the pump had to be hot, so I laid down under the car and touched it......
I wouldn't say it was "hot",...but it was significantly warm. No more than I'd expect it to be.
So,...WTF?......You read all of the disclaimers out there on Summit's website that fuel pumps have now, and it looks like the fuel itself is what is getting hot because of the recirculation...my 200.00 pump evidently doesn't like that. All of Holley's fuel pumps have this disclaimer..
Like this one:
Looks like it should work,....It's expensive enough..
Until you read this junk..
Pump gas compatible for intermittent use, or under 90 degree ambient temperature use? 80 p.s.i at 18.5 VOLTS!!!! What do I have to do,...carry a mini reactor to run the pump?
It's ALWAYS gonna have pump gas in it, and it'll ALWAYS be over 90 degrees ambient temperature....where the hell do they expect you'll use this pump then......Alaska?
I'll be calling manufacturers on Tuesday,..The pump I buy to replace the MSD turd that is currently under the car needs to be rated for use in a daily driver,..and compatible w/ E85. I think I'm converting over after this.
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..... just use a regular efi pump.....
You can get a e85 sensor and install it in the tank, then simply set it up in tuner studio to switch tables automatically..... then you can use any fuel you want.
You can get a e85 sensor and install it in the tank, then simply set it up in tuner studio to switch tables automatically..... then you can use any fuel you want.
Like what pump are you talkin about?...The pump has to live on the outside of the tank. And the sensor?.....it'll switch the tune automatically between what I'll (we'll) have to build for E85, and what is currently in the ECU for the pump premium?
I think that the chamber in these heads are too "open" for even this much potential compression..I swear, I was hearing the engine ping the whole way home...Hopefully I can get the thing out today w/ the computer hooked up so I can see where the things are that causing me this grief...I do like the current boost level,..but that's provided that it's still at the 10 p.s.i. it was the last time....maybe before I fixed the elbow the went into the throttle body I had a boost leak that I don't have now????
Maybe the engine is seeing waay more than 10 p.s.i....????
I need to take my auto hypochondriac medicine now,.....I'll be right back.
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