V6->V8 Engine Conversion
September/2004 - I decided to convert the V6 engine to the V8
This required some additional work to get all the things needed to go with a V8 engine, which meant lots of time walking junk yards.
- Brackets that bolt to the engine to hold the alternator, AC, steering pump, etc., Upper & Lower Air Intake
- New wire harness and computer
- Sensors, vacuum, and emissions tubes, fuel line rails
- Motor Mount brachets
The motor(Recon) and transmission (Accurate Transmissions) were ordered from Advanced Auto Parts
November/2004 - Engine/Transmission Install
With some good help from Andrew & Karl, we managed to get the new power train into the car.
I did try painting the engine bay with spray paint. But I made a bad choice in color, and the paint also had poor surface adhesion.
December/2004 - Hooking p stuff I made another choice that on reflection, I probably wouldn't do: color wire looms. Here is the wiring coming along (thew new harness). I used red for the fuel injector related wires, yellow for lighting, and blue everywhere else.
April/2005 - First Start
All wiring completed, timing set, time to move the car under its own power for the first time in over a year
June/2005 - The Smell of Gas & Rear Ends
After riding the car to work, for a while, I filled up the gas tank one day, and was later greeted with the smell of gas, along with a puddle under the gas tank.
- The ring seals holding the fuel pump had rust holes. With a full tank, gas would slosh out of them
- Since the gas tank was removed, I upgraded the 7.5" rear to a Thunderbird 8" Traction Lok unit.
August/2005 - Trouble brewing.....
The engine and transmission have been running fine, with several hundred miles on them. The upgrade to the rear end was definitely worth it just to obtain the traction lock, although it cam at an expense of having rear tires more inset to the car. However, there was a noticeable clunk coming from the front end of the car... Could never quite figure out what was causing it, until....
I turn into a parking space (really turned wheel all the way), suddenly there was a large bang and the entire front end of the car came down on the drivers side. The ball joit captive nut came off and the spindel was partially off the ball joint.
Thanks to Chuck, he pointed out a grevious error on my part, the new control arm ball joint did not provide enough threads with old Fox Mustang spindels (used for the 11" brake conversion).
