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Well, here's an update. Been building the motor and have run into a challenge or two. Thought I was all ready to put the top end together when the Manton 11/32 pushrods showed up, but they don't clear most of the pushrod holes, so I popped the heads off and we are going to machine the holes. These are 799 heads. Could've gone 5/16 PRs but with this combo 11/32 is the better choice.
Used a 1/2" tapered reamer by hand to expand the pushrod holes. It took maybe a minute per hole. Should be enough, but we'll see when I mock it up again.
I ended up going with the L33 block and BTR pistons and rods. The 799 heads I sent to Texas Speed for the stage 2.5 porting and valve upgrade. BTR cam, Johnson link bar short travel lifters. I gapped the rings for 20+ psi of boost, though I won't be running that much with this motor. Probably be around 13-15 psi.
Finished putting the motor together and now have the whole works back in the car. Still have some fabrication stuff to do, so it will be a little while before I get running.
i have made a lot of progress on the Mustang. Decided to make an access door for the transmission and the cooler lines and overflow line. It is possible to attach the cooler lines after putting a rather significant dent in the tunnel, but it is so much easier with having the access door. Also had to modify the shifter cable transmission bracket quite a bit for the cable to clear the floor and tunnel and to have a straight shot to the shift lever on the transmission and the bracket. It worked out really well.
Another issue was with with the 9" rear end, I had to get a different upper control arm that's made for a 9" in a S197 mustang.
Here are pics of the access panel. Used rivnuts and then studs with an allen key in the end of them. Love those rivnuts. We use them all the time.
Next step is weighing the car so that I can order the struts from Kelltrac. Then we will set pinion angle and measure for the driveshaft. After that just just have to align front end and add all the fluids. Here is a pic of the car in our shop. Figured I'd include the 55 in there too, since this site has a lot of Chevy lovers.
Right now the Mustang is sitting too low. The 4" downpipe only has 2.75" of ground clearance. The struts I am getting are height adjustable so going to add another 1.50" which will put it at 4.25" which will work.
Front and rear coilovers from KellTrac. These are the Viking Berserkers. Did have to grind the brackets on the Moser 9" for them to fit. The stock 8.8 brackets would have worked, however.
Kelly at KellTrac has excellent customer service and is highly knowledge. Amazing to work with. Yesterday I sent him a text Saturday about the clearance issue and he called me right back.
Here are the struts and the bracket mods we made. Going to make some step washer for the top mount/bolt so it is centered in the hole, too.
Well, the car is basically done. I still need to wire the relay for the transmission cooler fan and I am swapping a manual oil pressure gauge for the electric one that's in it now. Going to break the engine in for 100 miles or so, and then get it on a dyno and get a few tunes, a daily driver, 100 octane, and 104. looking to make 15-18 psi of boost with this setup. Should be enough for 6.40s at 5000 DA. I did have to add a remote vacuum pump for the brakes. It's mounted but I still need to wire and plumb it. Drove the car last weekend and it ran great. Just using the stock LS1 tune that came with the MSD LS controller I am running. The car fires right up and idles like a champ, and runs great. I cruised it around some taking it up to 4500-5000 rpms several times, and very smooth. I didn't have touch the carb. Kevin at CSU is the master. Looking foward to getting it tuned in April or May. Will post a few final pics of the project later this week.
So decided to cut the downpipe in half so that we could access spark plugs easily. It was impossible to get it out due to the crossover. Also modified the hanger bracket on the back of the head to make it easier to install the the lower half of the downpipe.
Here is the final engine pic. Car's done except for the dyno tune, which won't be for a couple of months.It tunred out okay. I don't really like all the wires in that passenger side corner, but I originally did it that way because I wanted it to be easy to access rather than stuffing it all under the dash. I plan to make some kind of cover for that corner so that will really clean it up. Other than that, I like how it all fit together, and it was a fun project.
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