Work will continue on the engine as soon as I can get a day off or as soon as I can get motivated enough to get it done. I cannot wait to drive this thing. It's been a while. We should have had it done about a thousand dollars ago. Well in the end I will see a lot of recognition for our progress. Look for the next blog. Should be a more informative one....
Well it has been a while...We ran into a few modification complications so I haven't felt like talking about it until now. Nothing major but a few things need to be dealt with before we can proceed. For those who were thinking that it looks real easy...It's not! It is the hardest thing I have ever done I think. Everything should be well soon and I will be out driving the beast everywhere.
I just got back from working on the car a little. We actually got a lot done. We need simple things ike a "c" clamp and a tachometer to break the engine in. Everything looks awesome and it is only getting better. It should not be long before I can drive it. I will be getting my tags renewed and some customized insurance. Other than that I am ready to peel the tires off the rims....
Well it is coming together. We will be putting the rest together tonight when I get off work. That ought to be fun. I will laugh at all the problems we've had eventually. Just about every part for this car is brand new. I will probably paint the rest of the undercarriage so it will match and make the chrome stand out a little more. I should probably put some more chrome on the engine...yeah right!!! It's already enough to blind you. The whole project has been fun and it will continue for another year or so. There are some things I would like to see on the car that nobody has ever seen on an LTD. It will come together eventually. Hopefully we will post some pictures of our progress tonight so make sure you come back and check.
We will be working on the engine again on Saturday. Jason will start without me probably but I will help out after I get out of work. Until then, I will work for food or engine parts....
The project is going to pick back up in a day or two. Maybe even tonight. It sure was an educating experience. Next time I imagine I will know a little more about an engine swap before I come up with a bright idea to do it. I should get a lot of recognition for this car now that the engine is as pretty as it can get. Now I just have to get the rest of the car looking as nice as possible. That means I only need a paintjob with a little metal flake, some chrome rims with fatter tires, a POSITRAC rear end, vinyl top restored, bushings replaced, windows tinted, and the dual exhaust. I am sure if you gave me few seconds I would come up with more. That should be enough to get some eyes looking in my direction. We will probably buff it out as it is and drive it like it is when everything like the brackets and hoses are installed. Bushings are mandatory like the power steering leak in the steering column at the pitman arm. You think you've got a leak. If you could only see this one. My radiator should be in today so that will make the cooling system brand new. I have a chrome top radiator hose that is appealing to the eyes. I am always trying to get more chrome on that car. It sure makes it a lot easier to keep all the parts clean. Easier to polish. I imagine I will need to get it appraised so I will get what I put into it if something ever happened to it. It might be nice to personalized license plates too. GNE FSHN(gone fishin)..... and never came back.
HOORAY!!!!!!!!!! We got the engine in....just thought you'd like to know. You will also like to know that we are still alive and sane....well....Other than that all that is left is the small stuff. We may have a little trouble with the air conditioner but no big deal. I will never do this stuff again. Yeah right. It still might be a bit before we can start the engine due to lack of a radiator. I am so tired. Tomorrow is the last day of my 3 day weekend so I guess I will try to catch up on sleep. Sleeping is the only way I stay out of trouble......
I assume everybody has been waiting on the newest blog well here it is....DON'T EVER SWAP OUT ENGINES!!!!!!!!!!! There is no just swap an engine. Trust me it will not be fine. We have the engine mounts and the engine in the car.... WE HAVE THE WRONG MOUNTING PLATES!!!!!!!!!!!!! We have them now though. I am so glad that I am a sandwich short of a picnic basket because if I wasn't I would be there anyways after last night. And this morning. Oh yeah it took that long before we finally wanted to sleep. The next time any of you go to take your car to the shop feel blessed that YOU did not have to do the work. Paying for it is nothing compared to what you could be going through. Tonight we WILL install the engine. We have a lot of the carriage painted and I plan to do more. Keep watching it's almost done.....
Well it's about time I got a break from work. I am coming up on a three day work break. Three days!!!!!!! When Monday comes I should be able to pick up the motor mounts,power steering pump, and some hoses. I will pick up the sandblaster tonight and tomorrow I will buy sand. I have two people interested in the 400 engine so be sure to tell me if you are also interested. Really people, it's a steal!!!! Everything works. We probably won't be able to work on the car tonight. Tomorrow is another story though. I just can't wait for everything to be done on this car. I guess I will be waiting for a while because it never ends. After the engine is put in I need to put the dual exhaust on. Two FlowTech Afterburners. Then I need to replace the bushings. All of them. That gets very expensive. The parts are cheap though. I also need to have the original paint restored. Oh yeah and the PosiTrac rear end.... It never ends...
Tonight I plan to flatbed the LTD to the workstation so we can begin the installation of the new engine. We still have the 400 to deal with. Remember that I will sell it for $100.00 total. The engine already has Edelbrock Signature Series valve covers so you already have a head start for some chrome. The engine never once gave me a problem. I will even throw in the FMX transmission for an extra $50.00. It works fine also and was recently rebuilt. I have to go pick up a sandblaster so I can clean the frame and wheelwells. The project is only starting believe me. We will post pictures of our progress as usual so make sure you come back and see what's new....
I really enjoyed all the work we did on the engine last night. Basically, it is finished. The power steering pump should be in today. We need belts and hoses but that's it....Well, motor mounts too. It never ends. Take it from me. I plan on getting a flatbed truck to haul my car to a friends house to do all finishing touches and install the new engine. That will hopefully happen in a day or two. More to come when I am not so lazy...
We found a lot of what we really need last night. Turns out the parts car I gave up is right up the road and I got the chance to take some more stuff off of it and retrieve what we didn't realize what we'd left. Everything worked out great as far as I know. All thats left for the car is a POSITRAC rear end, radiator, tinted windows, bigger tires, chrome rims maybe moon caps for now, cobalt tachometer, dual exhaust, whoa!!!!!!!!! I guess i will leave you guessing what's next. Welcome to my world where it never ends....
I went and bought a K&N crankcase filter last night. It sure is nice. We found a lot of the things that we thought we were missing. Now just about everything is accounted for. We are waiting on a power steering pump to come in. It should be here by the end of the week. We might end up painting that too so it stands out from other pumps. The engine is ready to be installed just about but i have to get rid of a 400 CID. If anyone is interested please submit a request with an e-mail address and I will reply within the day it is received. I am only asking $100.00 TOTAL. Only few parts have been removed. It has about 122,000 original miles. Runs great... Needs an owner so if anyone wants it then come get it....
We did a lot more work on the engine last night. We put a lot of knick-knacks on that we absolutely could not do without. I could have bought a lot of Starbucks Coffee for what I spent on this engine. My wishlist is still being added to everyday almost. Eventually everything will be over....Yeah Right!!!!
The engine is looking very professional so far. Only minor set-backs. Hopefully we will be able to find a nice set of rims and tires that are wider yet still fit the car. If anyone reading this has any ideas about how to go about that we are listening. There are a lot of little things that I purchased for under the hood which have yet to be seen on [Vorhaben.net]. Soon enough it will all come together and everyone will never know it was the same car or engine we started with. All of your comments on our project are appreciated so send them in and keep watching for the never-ending battle we call FUN....
Photos of the Ford LTD will be posted in a day or two so make sure you come back and visit VORHABEN.NET for the never-ending project.....
This is a test of the emergency broadcast system.
Well, I thought it would be courteous to submit my own little blog since I am the owner of the 460 engine. My name is Mark,but you can call me whatever feels comfortable at the time.I feel really proud to be able to work on such a beautiful piece of history in order to see it flourish in the future. This work on the 460 is NOT easy. It is however very fascinating how it all seems to go together. If you have ever accomplished an engine rebuild with such precision then my hat's off to you. I never realized how much you can learn from something like this. My buddy who is the mastermind behind the website and the engine specs probably doesn't realize how much i appreciate his help when he has a new child to care for and a family to live for. Obviously there are priorities, but he always seems to get them done so he can help me even just for an hour. Friends are very hard to come by and if you are not blind to your REAL friends then you too can feel the way I do. Again, thanks to everyone who has made this website a continuing success......Thanks Jason!