Oops I'm doing it again....I lost my head...

Day 2.

I removed parts and pieces so that I can pull the intake and begin test fitting intakes.

First was removing the interior, seats and console to get to the front of the engine to disconnect various bits. I also started draining the cooling system and the oil.

I have installed seat belts from a mid 90's Thunderbird. Rear seats I believe. No shoulder belts. All attaching nuts were already welded to my chassis. I had to cut the holes in the console leather and I did have to shorten the Ford bolts, but the threads were a match! Picture shows bits and pieces with console still in car. I used a piece of leather to cushion the load on the console leather as it had shrunk and pulled away from the fiber glass, to prevent tearing.
 

Here is a shot backed off a bit.
 

Then things got real crazy when I found this. I had noticed my clutch slave hose was tight on the "ladder bar" that connects the two shock top mounts together...

 

NOT GOOD!!!

 

Front side view:
 

Here is a shot of what is left of my center jackshaft bearing. This went south on my way home from Vegas this year. Since I was planning on replacing this whole mess anyway, and since the other two bearings were fine, I didn't bother rushing to repair anything. This is with the jackshaft bracket was removed....and I found this residue hiding....

 

Magnet worked to retrieve the big parts!
 

The removed parts pile for the day.

 

Intake came off after I cleaned up all the metallic bits and blew it off with air and a vacuum to catch some.....

First test, Performer 289 Intake, 3/8" spacer (to help carb clear the jackshaft)and a 428 Ford air cleaner. OK fit! But I'd hate to cut up a $500 air cleaner base to do this!
 

Now the stock air cleaner. Interference at front panel and at rear air tube connections. Removing the spacer resulted in only a slight touching of the front panel. Rear was OK.
 

Here's a shot underneath showing no spacer.
 

Top View
 

Now I switch to the Edelbrock Performer RPM, carb and stock air cleaner. No carb spacer. Note interference at rear of the hole cut in the shield and the gap at the front caused by the air cleaner hitting the front panel. No way a spacer is going to work!
 

I tried the 428 air cleaner just for kicks... slight touching at front, ribs on shield would probably just touch the air cleaner top.
 

Now for the vintage F4B Edelbrock that supposedly fits! No spacer, no way! Note gap at front! Contact at rear of hole.

 

The 428 air cleaner had some touching at the front and probably at the rear again....

STOCK AIR INTAKE MANIFOLD...this has gotta fit, right???
 
NOPE!

This shot shows how the front panel doesn't fit down....
 

428 air cleaner actually fit well! Note the light you can see in the gaps!
 

OK, enough intake madness!!!

For those of you wondering how I can test regular intakes on a set of Boss 302 type heads, note in this shot that the two center bolt holes are in the same location! This is a shot of the Performer intake with extra metal added onto the top so that they would seal better to the heads! (RPM has this metal cast in place...)

 

 


Tomorrow, more discoveries!

Steve

Day three.

When I sent my original email out to my private Goose mailing list a few days back, regarding jackshaft bearings and my intake issues, Dana Hansen of Mangusta International fame answered back saying that his engine was out currently and that he could measure anything I needed...

So, I took him up on it. I measured from the top surface of my engine compartment to the top of the frame rails (at rear of engine/bellhousing parting point) . I also measured the height of the frame rails <2">, and the height from the bottom of the lower frame rail to the top of the engine mount bracket , typed it all up and mailed it off to Dana.

A matter of minutes later, (while I was removing a scad of other stuff to be listed later...) I got a note back from him with a picture full of blue masking tape and black numbers and arrows! Imagine my surprise when I noted that his dimension for the engine mount bracket was only 5"!!!!

Here is a view of the right hand mount, outside of the fame rail. Note the extra seams!!! Frankenmounts!!!
 

Left mount, again outside of frame rail.
 

At last!! I finally know what my problem is! The previous owners had to raise the Boss 302 to get the exhaust ports raised above the frame rails.... It was either raise the motor or lower the frame rails..... I guess raising the mounts was easier!

Some more shots dinking around....trying to fit my NEW jackshaft bracket and idler pulley bracket to the motor with a stock intake, to get a baseline to determine how far off a different intake would put stuff....


View of new bracket on engine. Note that the rear bearing is now a 52mm diameter where all earlier versions were 47mm!!! (I was able to find bearings easily to fit!)
 

Mismatch of idler bracket to front of J/S bracket. I will need to do some work on this...machining rear mounts of idler bracket and perhaps welding up the holes and redrilling in proper location.
 

Spot facing of J/S bracket may be needed too. This is not a "snap together" project!
 

Enuf for now!
Steve

Day three and a half/four!

Here is a list of stuff that I worked on disconnecting etc on day three and into day four.

Jackshaft is already out, rh idler bracket, as is intake.

Water pump pulley
All belts
Coolant overflow tank
Heater hoses
Alternator
AC compressor mounts
Oil Temp sensor wire
Oil Pressure sensor wire
Fuel line
Oil lines (remote filter) and filter adapter
Starter wire and bolts (starter is held captive by pan and frame rails! Don't drop it!)
Bellhousing lower shield bolts (3)
Header bolts, and mufflers
Clutch slave cylinder
Speedo Cable
Shifter linkage roll pin

Loosened bellhousing bolts
Shock upper mount bolts
ZF crossmember bolts
Axle flange bolts (removed two each, left two in case I move the car, don't want axles flopping....)

Disconnect any coil or distributor wires, temp sensor wires. Throttle linkage.

Have ZF bolts to loosen yet, to bellhousing. Will do these just before removing ZF. I don't try to pull the whole thing out as one assembly.

Here are some shots of an intake manifold that would fit just fine!!! Don't think I'm not thinking about it!!!!
 

This is a modern "GT40" tubular intake for fuel injection. Jackshaft bracket would require modification to clear injectors...and I'm not quite ready to cut up my brand spanking new one just yet!!!
 

Plenty of clearance!
 

But, I need to find a place to hide the computer and wiring, add a high pressure pump and return lines...PLUS troubleshoot the whole danged thing.....before June....

Here is a shot of my current oil pan... that will be dropping down at the front by over 1.5".....note the bracket for the brake proportioning valve sticking down....it has lost some material on my driveway....!!! Oil pan will now be lower! ANGLED entry and exit from the driveway! No head-on moves!!!!

 


 

I guess I could shorten the pan....I believe it is a 9qt (with remote filter) capacity, and is fully baffled. If it were to be cut back to 7qts that wouldn't be a large deal I don't think...but perhaps taking a half inch to 3/4 inch out may be in order....

 

I also found this pic of the Right Hand mount, but picture from the inside of the frame rail. Note my 57 Chevy rubber biscuit, the Frankenmount welds, and the top of the brake proportioning valve.


 

Maybe I can come up with a stepped mount such that when I decide to put in the GT40 EFI manifold, I can easily raise the engine back up in the front?????

To date, she sits waiting for time to part the ZF and engine. Maybe Thurs eve....or the weekend... Did some calling and ordered jackshaft bearings from a local bearing house. Ordered spares.....for the traveling tool box.

Ciao!
Steve

Day Five/Six ish.

OK, finally got back into it this weekend. Took the ZF out, bellhousing/clutch, and eventually the motor. Took some engine compartment shots for "reference" to help me with what it looked like when it was still working......

NOTE: If you haven't recently checked the torque on your bolts that hold the axle shafts to the flanges, do it! Mine were replaced with new bolts/nuts about 20K miles ago, and I found a couple that were starting to loosen a tad. I will add this task to my "oil change" list....stuff to do to the car when you change the oil.....

Getting the engine out was interesting, since I had to remove the trans cross member and the ladder bar and due to my cracked shock mount, made that task all the more interesting, as any pressure in the form of weight on the LH wheel made the crack want to go BIGGER!

So, the LH frame rail found a jackstand holding it up....while the engine hoist went in over the RH tire on a diagonal course. The boom arm was not long enuf to come straight in from the rear.

Once the engine was out, I put a jackstand on the RH side of the frame too, but left the wheels on with blocks underneath....we are in earthquake country after all.

Trucked the LH hatch and spine down to the mini-storage for safe keeping while I clean up the chassis and ready the engine for installation. Cleaned up the ZF, bellhousing, and all the rest of the greasy parts that came out. Better to do it now....next time I touch them, they'll be clean! That ZF is one heavy piece of aluminum.....!

Good things: Clutch wear on the kevlar/kevlar disc looks fantastic! Wear on flywheel and pressure plate is non-existent! (No pic yet!).

I did think that I made a mistake in my pilot bearing though, by putting some grease in the hole before putting the trans in. This is a no-no, as grease will clog the holes in the sintered bronze and prevent oiling.... Oil is OK, but grease is not! Polished the ZF input shaft up with ultra fine wet/dry paper and parts cleaner solution. Looks great! May need a new pilot bushing....

OK, here are some pic's of the efforts.

Mismatch in the ZF cross member area, RH side. Tension on the frame.
 

I had to rig a tie-down strap to release some of the pressure, in order to get the bolt out...
 

Missing the pic's but basically used the engine hoist to lift the ZF while maneuvering it out. Sort of a counter clockwise rotation of it worked, until it could be lowered out the opening just aft of the axles. The top ears fit thru the tailpipe slot in the rear valance area, so I didn't need to lift the car up any further.
 

Here is what is left......
 

What I found when I pulled the bellhousing off, and the pressure plate. Guess I will be using some different lock washers.......
 

The discard pile for the day!
 

Out comes the engine. One less stressed mechanic when the engine got this far... Getting the hoist in there is a puzzle of sorts....and easy does it moving it up and out...over the charged AC line!
 

That was it....plus cleaning up greasy parts. Loaded the engine onto my trusty shopping cart just for moving such things and moved it out on the side of the garage for storage, and eventual stripping of Goose bits from it, pulleys, idlers, pilot bushing adapter, and oil pan.

Steve

Day 7.
Thanks guys!!!

I had forgotten how much fun it is to climb in and out of a Mangusta chassis.... Now that the hatches are off, it is the only way to do things, if you don't want to lay on your back and work, although some of that is required too whether you want or not! Kicked one blade of my AC condensor fan with my timberline and sent half of it flying.....ugh. Put it on the list...

Was going to start washing down the frame rails with solvent tonite, but it got to late to be stinking up the place....so settled for popping off the motor mount brackets (the 57 Chevy fix..) and the LH shock and wheel so that I can get at stuff. Also pulled the axle shafts for cleaning and inspection again.

Motor mount brackets: When you drill and tap 1/2" steel for threads, be sure to used anti-seize or something on the threads. If you don't, PB Blaster (or similar) is your friend!

Axle shafts: Said this before, if you haven't checked your nuts for proper tightness.......do it! Found a couple that were....not exactly tight. May have one u-joint going south, saw just a little play in a cup. Need to check clocking on shaft too. Was 90 degrees out, which I think is ok. Run them at 90 or 180 out, but not anything in between....

Shocks: Pleased to report that the QA1 shocks and springs I used out back are holding up nicely. They have a nice thin coating of road dirt and engine oil/gas film on them that has yellowed the finish a tad....a nice patina! I've told others that I am not a fan of chrome on springs. Great on a hot rod where they are out in the open and you can get to them....not so much on a street car where they are buried. The powdercoated silver is a better surface. It won't rust. Not sure how much chrome polish I want to invest here..... Have cracks to weld!! One good thing is that the ball ends on these shocks seem to be holding up well! Upper on the one shock I removed is just a tad loose, bottom one still feels tight. (Non-lube versions. I think I have 17-18K on them.

Will hope to clean these parts up real quick Tues and take some pictures! Start washing down the grime, and get ready to strip some paint near the cracked area.

Here is something I need feedback on. Not sure if this is a factory modification or an owner mod. Here are pictures of the ladder bar (upper shock mount frame brace/spreader for lack of better description!) and the RH upper mount from car #1134, also getting an engine-dectomy at this time.

 
Note that it has 4 thru holes for bolts. On mine, you will find only two mounting holes. (See two pics up into days 5/6 to see mine.) Note the inboard holes on the one above, and the absense in my bracket. They correspond with the extra "tube" welded on to the top of the mount as seen in this pic.

 

Compare this pic above to the 3rd pic of mine, in day 2 way back up top!

I'm gonna guess that all four holes in the ladder bar are not just thru holes, but have inserts welded into them for support. Then it was chromed, similar to mine, but not from the factory. My car is #878 (March-April 69 build-window dates) so did the factory have problems with cracking mounts in late 69??? I do know that much later cars had yet different upper shock mounts that tied into the rear sheetmetal.... Have an old photo somewhere of a Goose that showed up my first year in Vegas. I think it was #1254 or so, and this area of the chassis was markedly different in design!

How many of you have a four bolt ladder design or something different??? Would be nice to know! Perhaps there is a fix or mod that more of us can use?

Mark,

First let me say that no, I was hoping to see the top of that piece with the hole punched in it, top left in your last pic! To see how it attaches to the body and provides any support for the shock and frame, to keep it from flexing.

Secondly, that is one god awful job of welding on the bottom of that piece, where it joins the shock mount!!! (look just above the top of the shock) I hope it is grease and not welding!

Third, check out the top of the shock mount where it meets that welded piece. Is that a crack going horizontally about an inch??????? You need to check that out!

Day Eight.

Not much major today. Received two samples of window channel weatherstripping, #21 and #22 from JC Whitney to try out. They are not a good fit IMO, so am going to ask for a sample of #24. It is the last hope of what they offer, to work. The #24 is 1/2" wide but the channel is .650" wide, yet the wider stuff was too tall and stuck out of the channel too much.... IT is also a little shorter, so I hope that it will work out. Worst case, some adhesive should hold it in place nicely. Their listed dimensions are more like estimates.... or suggestions! We'll see....

I cleaned up the parts that I removed yesterday and tweeked on the half shafts since I found one of them clocked out 90. BossWrench confirmed that they should be in phase with each other and NOT 90 degrees out.

So, I took them apart and cleaned everything up real nice, then realized that I need new cork seals in them. Anyone??

Here are the bits I removed yesterday. This is after a bath in parts solvent. Got the greasy stuff off, but left a fine yellow tint...of burned dino oil....? I'm not going to get into polishing stuff to a bright sheen only to have it garpy the first puddle I hit, or the first long drive behind a bunch of Panteras....oozing unburned hydrocarbons all over the place...

Clean is good. It will match the rest of the car better! I just want to be able to tell when something is leaking or amiss easily without wondering if it was from last years disaster..or the year before...or...!

The shock is a Carerra (Now QA1) chrome economy model, fixed 60/40 valving with 400# spring. (I would do a painted shock body and silver powder coated springs in the future, paint the shock green to sorta mimmick the original deCarbon....
Motor mounts are 57 Chevy rubber biscuits with a thru bolt and a custom "non-rotating" overkillmaximus nut thingy.... I may shave some weight and substitute a washer and a nylock here....

On the half shafts, notice where the one on the right does not have both center shaft u-joint cups facing up at you like the LH one does!

 

NOTE: I now have PROPER MANGUSTA replacement motor mounts available for your cars!!! I did not show them at the time I was doing this portion of the swap... they might show up towards the end of this thread!! So what you are seeing here is simply historical stuff from my car! If not, I have them posted over in the For Sale section of this site. Steve

Here is a shot of the motor insulator affair. It is a design that came with the car and I simply carried it forward since it was working. Once I lower my frame mount brackets, I can afford to use the correct style mounts that were located recently by another Gooser. If I need more clearance still, I can put something like these back in easily.

 

Closeup of my maximusantirotating nut thingy.... big chunk-o-steel shaped to fit the recess of the aluminum mount, drilled and threaded! It works. I didn't realize that you can't pull the motor out with these mounts affixed to the motor. You need to install these first to the frame, then you can drop the engine down on top of them. My idea was that with these things, you could swap the biscuits without much effort! Good thinking, but not needed!
 

Here is an exploded half shaft. Made by Spicer Hardy. Pretty simple. I marked the u-joint cups with a grease pencil so that I could get them back together the same orientation. Threaded round cover on the RH side has a tin retainer and a cork seal. Loosening this threaded cover allows you to slide the two pieces apart.

 

Here is a closeup of the cork gaskets. Gonna see if I can find them locally tomorrow or Thurs at Motion Industries.
(3-18-09 OK, MI doesn't carry these Spicer Parts. The cork seal part number is #3-16-53. Now to find a dealer that will sell a small qty! (2))

The bent tin piece (washer is what they call it) is actually deformed from taking it off of the shaft. It is soft metal and forms back in shape easily. The ends of the cork piece are actually tapered so that they nest in each other once installed! Nice detail! One of the threaded caps was not going on very far, and the threads are very fine. I show my "thread file" (#1) that is an extremely handy tool! Seems that these threads are a standard thread and are a 24 per inch type! Lo and behold, the thread file had a #24 section on it, so I sat and cleaned and reshaped threads until I could get the cap threaded on far enough so that it would compress the cork ever so slightly. There was paint in the threads and a couple of tiny dings. These files serve to realign material and will not remove much at all if you take your time and get the "feel" of when you are in the groove....and not cutting new threads!!

 

Took these pics, and then gave the rear of my chassis a towel bath with a solvent soaked wash rag, and a clean light colored towel. Clean with the rag, and then polish with the light color rag! IF you get dirt, you missed..... re-solvent, re-towel.... At least next time, I can climb into the rear with a solvent pan and I can wash down the rear lower (greasy!) cross member and the front frame rails, without getting all full of crap! Maybe a little, but not a grimy disaster! Work clean weedhopper!

Steve