Well, back from a great time in Reno! Passed lakes in the mountains still covered with ice!! Not so much ice on the way home though....5 days later!
One lone Mangusta showed up, so needless to say, I checked it out fairly well. Early car, #606, has a very unique "in-dash" AC unit as well as early round top side marker lamps. Was a conversion to an Edelbrock F4B many moons ago....as well as a set of Hall headers and cherry-bomb mufflers. Very sharp looking in red with black interior, took home the "most stock" award I believe. Only real noticeable deviation from stock is a set of aftermarket wheels. (Which the owner would love to replace with a set of stockers!)
Since returning home, not much progress on the Goose. Met with another local Goose owner, who lent me his jackshaft assy and pulleys to check out on my engine. His jackshaft bracket is an early version, with an extra mounting bolt in one of the center positions. If you look at the later ones, you will see a round area just behind the center bearing area where this was...
This version also had all three bearings held in place with snap rings, unlike the later version that I now have, where the front bearing is allowed to float.
I did pick up the new BCA1625 throw out bearing. Mine was new not that many miles ago...but since I'm in here, I'd rather spend the $30 and do it once! The old one can go in the tool box as a spare in case anyone needs one out on the road! I need to install it on the holder/carrier sleeve yet.
Have been a bit busy as I have detoured on a family car project.....getting the old family taxi running again. Blew a head gasket out of the blue....with only about 50-60K on it! (Replacement engine for the car...)
Here's a shot of what I've spent the last weekend and week nights doing!
Our son wants to head down to Monterey this fall to finish his business classes for college, but the idea of taking a pristine 68 XR7 Cougar down there isn't sitting well with him or the previous owner (me!)..... I remember driving a nice 62 Impala SS to college, only to return it home 3 months later due to numerous break-ins and attempts, getting hassled by the cops for out of state plates......not to mention driving it in the salt...!!!
So, the idea is to see if the new head gaskets hold up....and squeeze another 50-60K out of it! Should be ready for the scrapper after that!!! This is a late 97 4.6L SOHC engine that will go back into our 92 Touring Edition Crown Vic. Cleaned up all the surfaces, checked the #8 rod bearing for wear, found little to none, so it's getting 5 qts of fresh oil, a new filter for a few hundred miles, then another new filter and 1 qt of oil and it should be good to go!!! This picture was early last night, but later it had the front timing chain cover, oil pan, and valve covers on it. Tonight it got exhaust manifolds, intake manifold and most of the wiring. I don't have a metric 12mm harmonic balancer installer, so ordered up a special long bolt from Fastenal today and will turn it into an installer.....! But will need to finish that in the car as fully threaded bolts are not in stock anywhere around here! I believe it is coming from IL.... BUT, the important thing is that I can drop the motor in one of these evenings and then spend the weekend buttoning every thing up and plugging all of the wiring back in! Then one more project will be off my list, and back to the Goose!!!!!
OK, now for some GREAT news! While in Reno, I happened to ask Steve Wilkinson if he had any Mangusta front jackshaft pulleys.....he replied that he thought he had two of them! Called him up last Tues or Wed, and sure enough, he had two on the shelf! One had some brazing on the backside....and one looked like new... "I'll take the latter please...!"
Here is what showed up today!
It fits my shaft just fine, but I still need to deal with getting the bearings to fit a little better!!! A couple hours on a lathe and I should be good to go....make a few spacers and then start torquing down an intake manifold!!!
I think after that, it is carb and fuel line work to do, fab up some sort of throttle cable bracket, and then work on dropping the engine back into the car!!!!! WHOO HOOO!!!!
Steve
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