Old Bird, New Build

[truesteve]

Yes, but apparently they use a rare form of gold plated 3 in tubing cause they charge a lot. I can get a 10ft chunk of 3 in tubing from Napa for under $50, those folks selling the oval stuff want $50 for 2ft. Plus it's funner to make it (or try) myself. We were created therefore we must create.

[truesteve]

Picked up the engine yesterday. Right at 10:1 compression, balanced, line bored, square decked, chamfered and centered oil holes, enlarged oil holes at the filter mount, 275 dual energy cam, .030 over pistons (396 CI), high volume oil pump, windage tray. Ordered the Comtec gaskets .027 thickness with the 4.080 bore (way too expensive), and then I can check the push rod length...



Old piston with just over 81,000 miles on it. Cylinder bores were out of round, crank just needed polished



Changed my mind about using the edelbrock 600cfm and purchased a Holley 750..just doing my part to rid the earth of those pesky dead dinosaurs as quickly as possible



Transmission shop called and said my Cruis-O-matic out of my 63 parts bird was trashed/rusty and could not be saved (moment of silence)... so I have opted for the C6 swap. Picking it up tonight. Built C6 with a shift kit and 2500 stall convertor. I still have the COM in the 61 with receipts of a rebuild about 10 years and 10,000 miles ago, but when I'm looking at trying to push 400 hp through the stock COM...I get a little queefish... I'm trying to find a 66 Tbird to rob the mount and linkage off of....but if all else fails I'll modify the COM crossmember and linkage to work (I got 2 of each)

Ordered a set Ridler 17x8 chrome rims and 235/50 tires with lug nuts and locks for under $650 today...Amazon is evil...spending money faster than I can make it

[truesteve]

Tranny is home and doesn't seem confused on which bathroom to use. Builder (Dirty Dan's Trans) said it is a 66 model and from everything he could see was some sort of factory hop up, possibly behind a 428. He mentioned it contained a different than normal factory performance modulator and valve body. It is a green dot pattern and he beefed it up with internal goodies and a shift kit. An after market 10 inch TQ convertor with a 2500 to 2800 stall will put my add on plate cooler to the test around town.



We'll see how everything goes together during the next couple of weeks. Lots-O-parts sitting around begging to be installed.. need more time or more of me...I need to clone myself and start shaving my tongue...(Multiplicity)

[truesteve]

Ordered the 1 1/8 front and rear sway bars from Larry's today along with some new door scuff plates that were on sale. Larry's has a 10% off code through the 16th of Oct - code is - 1016-BIG-10 , it is limited to $49.99 discount, but at least that is $50 more bucks toward another Tbird item.

Still have to get my spare 9 inch out for a true lock and lower gearing upgrade. Either that or grab a F100 9 inch rear end that already has a true lock, 31 spline axles and is 2 inches narrower...probably the cheaper choice. Anyone swapped out a F100 rear end into the bulletbirds? Any idea on the spring and shock mount locations/modifications?

Starting to get a little disappointed at Classic Disc Brakes. I purchased a complete disc brake kit ($1549) through them on 4 Sept with a note on the receipt saying allow 10 to 14 days for delivery. Well I'm no mathematician, but according to my fingers and toes its been about 40 days and I still have no disc brakes.... I would hate to use a post on this forum with over 1500+ views to voice my disappointment and discourage future customers of that business, BUT.....

[truesteve]

Called Classic Disc Brakes this morning...40 days after order was placed...and the order was boxed up and at the door waiting for the fedex truck...yea right. Bob was very nice, and lucky for me...since the order was still in the building...I was able to upgrade the brake size, free of charge, as I am now going with 17 inch rims instead of the stock 14 inch rims. The rotors go from 11inch to 15 inch, and apparently the calipers are also larger. I guess it's a good thing they took soooooo long.

I totaled up the money I have spent on parts that I have been accumulating for this Big-O-Bird since May of 2012....scary...and I don't have a rebuilt rear end ($1100), no after market AC system ($1400), no body work or paint ($6000+) I feel like the idiot some of us have been, after the night at the gentleman's club, when you look in your wallet and wonder "Where did all the money go?". I have to keep it all in perspective...It will still be cheaper than a new car, have more cool points then anything built after 1972, and bigger Kugeln than most rides on the street.

[truesteve]

Couldn't find my oil filter mount ??? Engine builder couldn't find it either...so he gave me one from a 65 truck. Angled up and sticks the filter out sideways...should be easier to get off, but may have clearance problems when mounted in the car (power steering??). Looked online for a stock style and CJponyparts has a Scott Drake (Mustang) filter mount for $55, way cheaper then the few other places that have them. If this one won't work I'll have to get one from them. Fuel pump had to have the inlet/outlet rotated to not interfere with the oil filter mount.



Waiting on the Cometic head gaskets to install heads, check push rod length, and continue with assembly. I won't be able to use any spacer between the Edelbrock Performer RPM manifold and the Holley 750 carb due to the limited space under the bonnet. Had to get shorter manifold/carb studs. Trimmed the gaskets for the oil filter mount and carb for zero restrictions.

Pretty alum billet dual crank pulley I have (forget where I obtained it??) won't work as it won't fit inside the stock style balancer/pulley and holes didn't line up anyway...So I'm using the well aged stock dual pulley...guess I could have prepped and painted it prior to torquing it down...DUH

[62birdman]

Looking good, you have done a lot of work on the bird. Just a thought, you may have a figment issue with the oil filter and the inner fender well/ frame. If you can't find an original oil filter base, you may be able to use a remote filter adapter, and mount the filter on the inner fender well. Good luck and keep the pictures coming.

[Alan H. Tast]

That side-mount adapter won't work and it will be a mess to change filters. OEM used filter adapters/bases should be easy to come by. Heck, I have several lying around my building (but I'm not selling).

[ozbird]

If you cannot locate an old oil filter adapter, try http://stores.precisionoilpumps.com/fe- ... r-adaptor/

Mate - your engine is screaming for one of these babies!

Graeme

[truesteve]

Thanks to the replies from 62Birdman, Alan T., and ozbird...I was afraid that the truck filter mount would cause interference. You would think the stock type filter mounts would be available at any neighborhood parts store as they were put on a bazillion FoMoCo products for 20+ years. I can buy a whole tired FE for $75, but really don't need another chunk of beautiful iron hanging around the property. The one from POP looks promising...and a little pricy...It seems that fate has again allowed me the comfort of a time slip as the head bolts I had received from ARP...are wrong. One of the FE builders bibles states that all FE's from 58 to 60 use the 2 length head bolts, and after 61 use 9 long and 1 short on each side...NOT... my CAE1 heads will only accept 5 long and 5 short. So my semi trusted book and ARP must have been sampling the pot store products here in the NW. My Cometic head gaskets arrived last night and between helping store this years potato harvest, and watching the little ones wack golf balls around the yard, I was excited to install and torque down the heads and to finally measure my pushrods...NOOOOOooo, head bolts wrong...do I use old ones??? Nope, just be patient and order some edelbrock head bolts and HOPE for the best..



Should have 5 short and 5 long each side



Of course the now not so trusted book says I MUST use sealant on metal shim type head gaskets, but the recommendation from Cometic is to install dry. Barry R's FE book was silent on the matter...so dry it is...
On a semi happy note, the Ridler wheels came in 17X8's and looking great



And the following photo answers the question of "How can these great looking wheels only be $71 a piece?"



a little sad face and apologies to my fellow American workers. I guess I'll make a decision and order a stock configuration oil filter mount, or remote set up while I'm again waiting to install the heads. Plenty of other work to be done....

[truesteve]

Now that I look at my own photos, I realize that the head bolts from ARP say blue thunder right on the label....maybe my brain skipped right over that phrase...maybe I was thinking that ARP started naming its bolts cool names like ...Blue Thunder... Idiot....the very dim light in the upper floor just went on that maybe..just maybe that means blue thunder heads which are of a slightly different configuration than stock and probably take 9 long bolts and 1 short on each side. ARP actually has Ford FE head bolts PN 155-3601 which would probably be just the ticket to stop the verbal assaults on my poor dogs when stuff don't fit... Sorry puppies and ARP

[62birdman]

That is a real eye opener, about the Riddler wheels being made in China! I hope you don't have any problems with them.

[truesteve]

Ya, I was a little surprised, although I should have been able to subtract $100 from $170 and come up with the sum of China. The quality from the box looks great, but I guess it's the quality of performance that will tell the tale. They only have a load rating of 1600 lbs per wheel, I checked on similar Cragar wheels and they have a 1800lb rating. 200 per wheel doesn't sound like a lot, but when a 4200 lb car full of fuel and overweight Americans hits a dip or pothole in the road, those loads start meaning something. I wonder what a 1G cornering load does to the applied load on the rims on the outside of that turn??? Ok, maybe a .50G load. Hopefully the chroming process doesn't consist of a spray on silvering agent with a DI water rinse...

[62birdman]

I guess you never know until you drive them. I was talking to a dealer here, that said they quit carrying American Racing wheels because the chrome finish was no good, and would peel off. I wonder if they were made in China?

[truesteve]

Ordered the remote oil filter plate and remote filter mount, that way I can put the filter where my old lazy self wants to reach in and change it.. Went ahead and ordered a second remote filter mount to use inline with my fin and plate transmission cooler. Also took the opportunity to order the Taylor Battery box for the trunk mount battery.
Sway bars from Larry's TBird came in yesterday...Wow, they must have spent a whopping 5 minutes on the old Commodore 64 coming up with those installation instructions. I guarantee they spend more time on an email for an office potluck then they did on their customers experience. Probably won't be rushing to search their site for future purchases, or give them much of a recommendation. Sway bars (that they don't produce, just sell) look good!
Attached the tow bar to the front of the old Bird so I can get it positioned where and how I want to start installing all of the money sitting on the shelves. I have to wash off the "Barn Find" look before I start rubbing up against it.
Note to self, I must remember to install the wiring under the carpet for the bun warmers, and extend and re-drill the seat tracks to get that extra leg room.
Finding the time to commit to the project is by far the hardest part of this build. Even when I turn off the world and start any portion of the project, reality knocks, yells, or cries me back into pause mode. None of it is hard or rocket science, but it all takes a certain amount of dedicated, uninterrupted time, which seems to be the one thing I can't order online.
Wood stove installation in the garage almost complete so I cannot use the "It's too cold" excuse. Safety of fumes and flammables are being considered.