Build Thread Bird_dog0347's Frankenstang, sure is nice of us to build a car around the fuel filler door
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smokin joe
Founding Member
@bird_dog0347 Sorry to hear about the hail damage to your California Special. I actually live right down the road from you in The Colony. We're lucky we didn't see the softball size hail that people to the east got.
No kidding? My mother in law lives in the Colony and my wife grew up there and went to school there.
And yeah, lucky we didn't get hit harder but the car can be fixed so I'm not really concerned with it... at least it didn't break any glass.
Soooo, I tried to get the cam dowel out by putting it in the freezer over night and then yanking it out with vice grips with no luck. I've read others had similiar issues where they had to put the dowel in a vice, screw a bolt into the cam and then hit the bolt to get it out. Right now my issue is 1. if I do get it out is it ok to reuse the stock shorter length one? 2. if not where can I buy a short one (LMR only sells long one on it's own)? 3. should I just cut it off to the right size and leave it in there?
smokin joe
Founding Member
Glad to hear it can be fixed.
I have lived here for 19 year's now. My garage is in the back. My truck was under the carport while the mustang and non mustang were in the garage. I was a little worried about the tailgate, but it's fine.
So since I didn't get an answer about the cam dowel, I just cut it down to size and installed the cam, new timing set, then got interrupted by the family. Saturday however I plan to do a PTV check and pushrod length check and assuming that's all good and I have the right length pushrods I'll begin reassembly this weekend.
So no pics yet as I didn't have time today but I got my PTV clearance checked and I've got .090 on the intake and a country mile on the exhaust... seriously, like 1/8" or more. To the point I had to remeasure it like 6 times to be sure I didn't do it wrong. That's with a stock short block, a TFS1 cam, Scorpion 1.72 RR, and using the SVE PTV checking tool and the old head gasket. That's also after having .018" milled off the heads as well and Woody from SBF tech said anything over .080" on the intake is good and .100 on exhaust is good so I'm all set and also measured my pushrod length which seems spot on too. So I cleaned up my timing cover and painted it, got it reinstalled with new gaskets and seal... and now I'm done till later if I'm not too tired or drunk after watching the Stars game with buddies. More to come tomorrow.
Some pics to try and catch up.
Old chain was worn!
Where I left off last night after checking PTV and pushrod length.
Ready to install gaskets and heads.
Where I'm leaving off tonight.
I still need to torque the heads, rent the balancer installer tool and get that all the way on, finish installing the pushrods and then put on the rockers and get them set... then it's basic reassembly I think! Gotta stop for now as I've been called inside to be and adult and family man.
Old chain was worn!
Where I left off last night after checking PTV and pushrod length.
Ready to install gaskets and heads.
Where I'm leaving off tonight.
I still need to torque the heads, rent the balancer installer tool and get that all the way on, finish installing the pushrods and then put on the rockers and get them set... then it's basic reassembly I think! Gotta stop for now as I've been called inside to be and adult and family man.
Great progress bro! Looks like you should be back on the road in about a week or so
Thanks, I hope so, I'm taking my time for sure. I just pray I've done it right and it starts up for me.
Well, I'm a bit of an idiot, although it's not too bad. I need to pull the timing cover back off and put loctite on the cam bolt, I totally forgot to do that. I did torque it down but forgot the loctite and was reminded by another thread on corral this morning.
mikestang63
SN Certified Technician
Some pics to try and catch up.
Old chain was worn!
Where I left off last night after checking PTV and pushrod length.
Ready to install gaskets and heads.
Where I'm leaving off tonight.
I still need to torque the heads, rent the balancer installer tool and get that all the way on, finish installing the pushrods and then put on the rockers and get them set... then it's basic reassembly I think! Gotta stop for now as I've been called inside to be and adult and family man.
curious what balancer you're running? I hope its not a stocker........
I bought a new FMS balancer from LMR. I don't need anything too fancy with a stock short block.
Worked on the car for a few hours last night... would have made more progress but I had to take a @madmike1157 step backwards since I forgot to loctite the cam bolt. So off with the timing cover, and loctite on the bolt and torqued back to specs. Then I had to install the balancer using the tool I borrowed from Autozone that didn't have enough spacers to allow me to get a wrench on the nut, so another trip to lowes was necessary to buy a stack of washers to space the nut back with. Once I got that, it took like 15 seconds to get the balancer installed. Then I returned the tool, so a 15 second job took 3 trips to 2 stores and about an hour of my total time.
After all that was done, I got my heads torqued down, all the pushrods and lifters put on and the valves adjusted. For the valves, I got them set to 0 lash which as I understand it is no play on the rocker arm and the pushrod can just barely be twisted by hand under the rocker. Then I added 1/2 turn on the nut and locked down the allen screw on top. I made sure to do this on a completely closed valve with the opposite valve open.
That was about all I had time for last night, but now I think I'm ready to start putting back on the headers, front accessories, intake, etc.
Where I left off last night.
After all that was done, I got my heads torqued down, all the pushrods and lifters put on and the valves adjusted. For the valves, I got them set to 0 lash which as I understand it is no play on the rocker arm and the pushrod can just barely be twisted by hand under the rocker. Then I added 1/2 turn on the nut and locked down the allen screw on top. I made sure to do this on a completely closed valve with the opposite valve open.
That was about all I had time for last night, but now I think I'm ready to start putting back on the headers, front accessories, intake, etc.
Where I left off last night.
This would've been a great time to upgrade to long tubes if you don't already have'em 
I love mine 
I love mine
This would've been a great time to upgrade to long tubes if you don't already have'em
Yeah, I've had them for a few years now... I'll say this, the passenger side is MUCH easier to install from the top with the head off the motor. The drivers side wasn't that bad to begin with as it comes up from the bottom so I've left it off at the moment but it should go back on today.
Yep, driver side is simple, passenger side requires a lot of alcohol consumption..errr... I mean patience.
Over the lunch break I got the passenger side header bolted on, passenger side spark plugs installed, and the lower intake snugged into place but not yet torqued down. Hopefully will have the drivers side done the same tonight and stab the dizzy... then final assembly.
