Progress Thread Hoopty v2.0 - Back in action!

Well, I was hoping by this point in the year, my house would be done and I'd be on to other things, but here we are. Tile guys finished yesterday, now we wait on granite, and then we wait on shower glass. July is my month!

I have managed to sell enough lumber to scrape money together to rebuild the trans. Maybe I'll yank it out this weekend and send it off.

I've got $3-4k worth of lumber in the kiln now drying. It's taking forever but once it's sold, I'm going to dump it all in the car.

One day Ill have interesting things to post about...
 
  • Like
Reactions: 4 users
  • Sponsors (?)


Well, I was hoping by this point in the year, my house would be done and I'd be on to other things, but here we are. Tile guys finished yesterday, now we wait on granite, and then we wait on shower glass. July is my month!

I have managed to sell enough lumber to scrape money together to rebuild the trans. Maybe I'll yank it out this weekend and send it off.

I've got $3-4k worth of lumber in the kiln now drying. It's taking forever but once it's sold, I'm going to dump it all in the car.

One day Ill have interesting things to post about...
You don't even have to make anything out of the lumber to turn a profit these days.
 
You don't even have to make anything out of the lumber to turn a profit these days.
Well, that's the idea. I've got about 25-30 slabs of white, red, and blackjack oak Ill be selling as a raw material. I have $0 tied up in it, so whatever I get (hopefully $7/board foot @ about 600 BF) will be all profit.
 
  • Hell Yeah!
  • Like
Reactions: 1 users
Man! Has it really been since June that I was in here?! Sheesh.

I have done nothing to the car lately, except putt it around town. That was until two nights ago when I drove it about 40 minutes south to my brother-in-law's house to eat dinner.

On the way home, which is about 15 miles of long, straight, rural highway, some import thing comes running up on me. Me being the eternal 16 yo with a mustang, drop down into 4th at about 75 mph and wrap the tach around to 6k where the rev limiter is and then hit 5th to continue the party. Now, I don't know how fast I was going, but to hit the rev limiter in 4th gear and then keep going means it more than likely was a federal offense.

Eventually, rice rocket exits, and I dial it back to 80 or so to continue the last of the highway mileage before getting off on to the county roads. Once on the county roads, I'm following a car and it looks like they flick a cigarette out the window as an ash whizzes by my window. But then, two more ashes seem to exit the gap between the hood and fender.

47207928.jpg


Being that I am still in BFE with no street lights and the car is still running, I just coast the last couple of minutes back to the house.
I pull up in the shop and pop the hood, expecting a BBQ, but it isnt that bad.
fox.jpg


So what my finger is pointing at is the vacuum hose that went to the BOV. The A/C line is charred, as are a couple wires on the back of the alternator.... That's it. I say I got very lucky to not have any further consequences.

My thoughts are the alternator didn't agree with the sustained high RPM and got really hot. I may take it to Oreilly and have it tested also.

Outside of that, I still have the Promaxx heads and TFS-1 cam on the bench from a year ago. I've got some cash saved up for rockers, push rods, and head gaskets, just waiting on the right time. Wood working keeps me busy and I'm finally starting to get ahead it seems.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 4 users
I dunno. To me it doesn’t look like the alternator was the source. Brunt of the melting looks like it’s near the valve cover. Looks like the spark plug, oil fill next and some of the fuel rail got charrred

If the alternator got hot, I’d expect that accordion plastic on the radiator hose to be melted as well, and it’s not.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 user
I dunno. To me it doesn’t look like the alternator was the source. Brunt of the melting looks like it’s near the valve cover. Looks like the spark plug, oil fill next and some of the fuel rail got charrred

If the alternator got hot, I’d expect that accordion plastic on the radiator hose to be melted as well, and it’s not.
I agree with Mike probably a oil film off the breather, ignited by the header?
 
After looking at it a bit more, I see the melted Wires down by the alternator. Very weird.
Looks like those alternator wires were just charred from whatever cooked the AC line, which was most likely that vacuum line.
I think those wires would be worse if it was the alternator as the source. Either way...... lucky indeed!
 
I'm assuming it's 3G swapped? If so, what size fuse are you using for the alternator?

My bet would be that, if you have slightly too large of a fuse installed, the sustained high RPM run caused and overcharge that heated up the charge wire enough to ignite the insulation. The resulting fire burned long enough to do the damage in the picture before it put itself out.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 user
I'm assuming it's 3G swapped? If so, what size fuse are you using for the alternator?

My bet would be that, if you have slightly too large of a fuse installed, the sustained high RPM run caused and overcharge that heated up the charge wire enough to ignite the insulation. The resulting fire burned long enough to do the damage in the picture before it put itself out.
I'm not even sure as it was done before I bought it.
 
I think the oil fumes out of the breather igniting is probably a good theory to go with. Arcing spark plug wire is also a plausible source as well.

Can you fire the car up in the pitch black and see if the wires are arcing?
 
I think the oil fumes out of the breather igniting is probably a good theory to go with. Arcing spark plug wire is also a plausible source as well.

Can you fire the car up in the pitch black and see if the wires are arcing?
I need to try this also. Was gone all weekend hunting and just got back. One of the plug wires has a char on it, could be on to something there
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 user
I really try to be around here more, but I just dont have the time I used to. Following up on the car fire, I think the car backfired at high RPM at the same time I pushed the clutch in, activating the BOV and the vacuum line sucked in some flame. I assume it had oily residue in it and the rest is history.

Anyway, I've got a Summit gift card to burn and need a set of stud mount rocker arms. Excluding Proform, you can spend from $215 - $600.
What do you gain from spending more for the same thing? The cheaper ones are Comp Aluminum full roller pieces.

1639751682095.png


Follow up question - I'm going to buy a set of MLS head gaskets for my upcoming top end swap. A 9333PT-1 is .047" thick, a 1011-2 is .039" thick, which are both gaskets I've run in the past without issue. Cometic makes a .027" thick MLS gasket, is there any harm in going that thin on a stock shortblock? I don't know how far in the hole the pistons sit currently.
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: 1 user
I really try to be around here more, but I just dont have the time I used to. Following up on the car fire, I think the car backfired at high RPM at the same time I pushed the clutch in, activating the BOV and the vacuum line sucked in some flame. I assume it had oily residue in it and the rest is history.

Anyway, I've got a Summit gift card to burn and need a set of stud mount rocker arms. Excluding Proform, you can spend from $215 - $600.
What do you gain from spending more for the same thing? The cheaper ones are Comp Aluminum full roller pieces.

1639751682095.png


Follow up question - I'm going to buy a set of MLS head gaskets for my upcoming top end swap. A 9333PT-1 is .047" thick, a 1011-2 is .039" thick, which are both gaskets I've run in the past without issue. Cometic makes a .027" thick MLS gasket, is there any harm in going that thin on a stock shortblock? I don't know how far in the hole the pistons sit currently.
I bought a set of Comp Cams steel Pro Magnum roller rockers for my 5.0 and I’ve been pleased with them.