It is now time. For a quick history, go here:
http://www.musclemustangfastfords.com/features/0410mm_ford_muscle_car_comparison/index.html
That was before my daughter was born (she's now in kindergarten), just after I broke my back, and the "girlfriend" mentioned in the article became my wife, then crazy wife and now crazy ex-wife. I have become a single full-time working dad - much has happened. Now that the dust is settling, I have decided its time to do what all good men in my position do - resurrect a project from the past. Some time ago, I put together a little video of the car's Eaton M90 legacy; it's here:
Best pass with the M90 - 11.43 @ 119 mph.
I had pulled the major pieces together about 5 years ago (special thanks to the guy who gave me the M112 from a Jag - you know who you are; and as promised, your identity remains a secret); they've been sitting around, along with discharge plate and adapter plate I cut out and the Terminator TB ever since (thanks to Brian Bossone, former owner of ELD Performance for the throttle body). I started this assembly process about a week and a half ago; the goal is to make an M112 boosted pass this season. So let's get on with how to hack together a bunch of junk to make another bunch of junk that much faster (note: the LTD's engine bay is virtually identical to a fox mustang's - and it's a 5.0 to boot).
Here's the first mockup:
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My brother, Mark, decided to come by and have some fun with my cheapie Harbor Freight flux-core mig:
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Here's a couple of shots of the tacked together mockup:
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A day or two later, I found some time to finish up the welds. Notice the exceptionally crappy weld at the front of the discharge - that was an attempt to fix one of 4 pinhole leaks. I've since abandoned the idea, and will do the grind/jb weld trick to make it look smooth. That should seal the leaks, and look better, too.
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Here's a better look at the discharge tube. Two notes: no comments about the sleeping bag that I'm using as my work surface, please. It belonged to the crazy ex when she was a kid; I've discovered it catches fire pretty easily. The other note: see the ugly weld along the bottom seam? I guess you win some and you lose some. The top was really nice. This one... well, not so nice.
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Moving on - things are starting to take shape! It rained the night before, and I left the stuff outside. It rusts fast, doesn't it?
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Let's take a closer look at that belt routing:
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Uh-oh. Hit a little snag. Did you notice the tensioner I'm using? It's an idler pulley from a 1990 Lincoln Town Car and a tensioner arm from some mystery junkyard car I had pulled years ago. The bearings in the pulley were shot. If I have to buy a new one, might as well get an 8 rib (as opposed to a 6). Well, looky here: an Econoline E350 with a 7.3L Diesel uses an 8 rib belt. I stopped at Autozone on my way home from work today and picked one up. Cost almost $30 - this is getting expensive (total target cost: no mare than $250 - this includes everything - expendables (grinding wheels, sanding drums, etc), tools (so far, an electric die grinder from Harbor Freight, some Lincoln welding wire, and one home-made deal you're about to see), the belt, supercharger oil; everything.
I put the thing together and realized I had to press the bearing about 1/8" further out to get it to clear. Made a really trick idler pulley bering press. It's the last picture below. I'll let you figure out how it works (if you really want to know, I'll tell you). I can say it works like a dream.
![Image]()
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Another little snag - since I had nothing to bolt the plates to while welding, they warped. I dug out a rusty old iron SBF head, found some holes that lined up with the holes in the plate, put in some old automotive bolts, stuck an impact socket between to the plate and the head (at the high spots) and tightened the bolts. Pulled the plates *almost* straight. Believe it or not, this amount of misalignment is enough to cause the rotors to just touch the case when the bolts are tightened:
![Image]()
I'll be off to Mark's house (he owns a large belt sander - should get the plates close enough to perfect). I've also made a temporary air filter setup (it's 30% undersized, according to K&N; and I'm in danger of "collapsing" the air filter - whatever that means). I've also completely finished the front plate - painted and everything. Looks surprisingly decent.
More to come soon...
http://www.musclemustangfastfords.com/features/0410mm_ford_muscle_car_comparison/index.html
That was before my daughter was born (she's now in kindergarten), just after I broke my back, and the "girlfriend" mentioned in the article became my wife, then crazy wife and now crazy ex-wife. I have become a single full-time working dad - much has happened. Now that the dust is settling, I have decided its time to do what all good men in my position do - resurrect a project from the past. Some time ago, I put together a little video of the car's Eaton M90 legacy; it's here:
Best pass with the M90 - 11.43 @ 119 mph.
I had pulled the major pieces together about 5 years ago (special thanks to the guy who gave me the M112 from a Jag - you know who you are; and as promised, your identity remains a secret); they've been sitting around, along with discharge plate and adapter plate I cut out and the Terminator TB ever since (thanks to Brian Bossone, former owner of ELD Performance for the throttle body). I started this assembly process about a week and a half ago; the goal is to make an M112 boosted pass this season. So let's get on with how to hack together a bunch of junk to make another bunch of junk that much faster (note: the LTD's engine bay is virtually identical to a fox mustang's - and it's a 5.0 to boot).
Here's the first mockup:
My brother, Mark, decided to come by and have some fun with my cheapie Harbor Freight flux-core mig:
Here's a couple of shots of the tacked together mockup:
A day or two later, I found some time to finish up the welds. Notice the exceptionally crappy weld at the front of the discharge - that was an attempt to fix one of 4 pinhole leaks. I've since abandoned the idea, and will do the grind/jb weld trick to make it look smooth. That should seal the leaks, and look better, too.
Here's a better look at the discharge tube. Two notes: no comments about the sleeping bag that I'm using as my work surface, please. It belonged to the crazy ex when she was a kid; I've discovered it catches fire pretty easily. The other note: see the ugly weld along the bottom seam? I guess you win some and you lose some. The top was really nice. This one... well, not so nice.
Moving on - things are starting to take shape! It rained the night before, and I left the stuff outside. It rusts fast, doesn't it?
Let's take a closer look at that belt routing:
Uh-oh. Hit a little snag. Did you notice the tensioner I'm using? It's an idler pulley from a 1990 Lincoln Town Car and a tensioner arm from some mystery junkyard car I had pulled years ago. The bearings in the pulley were shot. If I have to buy a new one, might as well get an 8 rib (as opposed to a 6). Well, looky here: an Econoline E350 with a 7.3L Diesel uses an 8 rib belt. I stopped at Autozone on my way home from work today and picked one up. Cost almost $30 - this is getting expensive (total target cost: no mare than $250 - this includes everything - expendables (grinding wheels, sanding drums, etc), tools (so far, an electric die grinder from Harbor Freight, some Lincoln welding wire, and one home-made deal you're about to see), the belt, supercharger oil; everything.
I put the thing together and realized I had to press the bearing about 1/8" further out to get it to clear. Made a really trick idler pulley bering press. It's the last picture below. I'll let you figure out how it works (if you really want to know, I'll tell you). I can say it works like a dream.
Another little snag - since I had nothing to bolt the plates to while welding, they warped. I dug out a rusty old iron SBF head, found some holes that lined up with the holes in the plate, put in some old automotive bolts, stuck an impact socket between to the plate and the head (at the high spots) and tightened the bolts. Pulled the plates *almost* straight. Believe it or not, this amount of misalignment is enough to cause the rotors to just touch the case when the bolts are tightened:
I'll be off to Mark's house (he owns a large belt sander - should get the plates close enough to perfect). I've also made a temporary air filter setup (it's 30% undersized, according to K&N; and I'm in danger of "collapsing" the air filter - whatever that means). I've also completely finished the front plate - painted and everything. Looks surprisingly decent.
More to come soon...
