Not much. How is $50 plus a cheap 6 pack? I'm local to you so we can meet somewhere for exchange.
These are a Lokar universal parking brake cable kit that was supplied with my rear brake swap kit. Components are very nicely made.
Yes! Oil pan arrived today from Kevko. T-sump with flapper doors and extra capacity. Now with 100% less chrome than the cheap0 installed by the PO. Unfortunately bell housing and clutch hydraulics won't be here until next Tuesday. Plenty of time to tear out the Zbar and remove the rest of the OEM clutch bits for PilotBraden.
I wasn’t familiar with them when I went searching for oil pans. 351 C stuff isn’t offered now as much as it was years back as Ford stopped US use in 1975. I had a number of back and forth discussions with the Kevko team and was happy with their responses. Price was very attractive compared to their competitors and they had it in stock. Bam! I need to source a rear main seal and see what else I need after pulling the bellhousing and clutch I envision a bunch of “while I’m in there” coming my way.
The parking brake pedal ratcheting mechanism stopped working a while back so I’ve been looking at a replacement. With the Cougar being Mustang’s hot cousin, a new replacement is 30 minutes away at my local NPD warehouse for about $90. Today, while rolling thru a Cougar forum I noticed a local parting a ‘70 Cougar. I reached out to the owner, and after discussions about his impressive and extensive collection of Ford muscle cars, we agreed on a price of 2 quarts of ATF for the part. A bath in Evaporust, a few passes with the wire brush and a coat or paint and it’s going in.
ROAD TRIP!
Today I cleaned out the garage a bit and rounded up these ATF bottles
I got this OEM parking brake pedal assembly in exchange for them.
The seller had an IMPRESSIVE collection of 1960's Ford muscle cars including three 427 powered Mercury's. Nice!
I'm interested how the hydraulic clutch mounting goes for you. Mine came with zero instructions and haven't yet attempted the install.
I’ll document it here Brent. It’s scheduled to arrive Wednesday. I’m on the fence on the flywheel and clutch still though I did pick up a used system Saturday. Ran clutch and pressure plate and Ford Motorsport flywheel. I still plan on buying the new Ram clutch and aluminum flywheel but will have the steel Motorsports piece as a back-up.
Bellhousing, hydraulic clutch bits, and oil pan arrived Tuesday. Clutch, flywheel, TOB, and pilot bearing due here Saturday.
Just re-read this from the beginning, so much good stuff going into your car! The Street or Track stuff alone is making me jealous. Keep up the good work!
One question I have is about the rear springs. Like you I can’t raid the Mustang catalog for performance leaf springs (and multilink rear suspension looks appealing but makes my wallet run for the hills) so I’ve also considered composite springs for the wagon. I had been looking at Calvert Racing split mono leaf springs up to now, but I’m curious what brought you to the Flex-Form springs? They had not been on my radar previously but the look pretty stout in the pics you’ve shared so far.
I’ll definitely be curious to see how they work out for you once you get on the road again, with regard to both ride quality and how they handle. Do you plan to run a panhard bar as well?
Thanks Jerry.
I found a reference to Flex-Form on a Cougar forum and reached out to them about my car and suspension plans. They had a spring offering on the shelf and ready to go. Like you, I love the idea of the multi link rear suspensions but couldn’t justify that cost and the welding requirements. While my car isn’t a special (Eliminator or even an XR 7) I wanted to keep mods as close to bolt on as possible. These fit that plan and we’re over 20 lbs per side lighter. The spring rates are much higher (can’t recall value now though) but the Bilstein shocks work well with them. They are rigid enough that they didn’t think I would need a panhard bar. I have put a few hundred miles on them and would agree so far. I expect more shenanigans this summer with the revised gearing and limited slip and may have to rethink that. Shaun at Street or Track has a nice panhard bar system if I want to go down that path.
Yeah, the 70's are good, I prefer '69.
So parts cannon broadside came rolling in recently. With kids birthdays and round the house stuff I'm finally getting back out to the garage tonight to dig back in.
I have never tried any of the rust removing products but decided to on the crusty parking brake pedal assembly I showed above. The Evaporust worked very well but I only bought a quart and it wasn't enough to submerge the whole assembly. The Motor Klean stuff I bought at Home Depot was cheaper but no where near as effective. After about two days total immersion time I'm left with this.
Yeah, I'm sold. I no longer have my blast cabinet and I was afraid of using one on this to avoid filling the works with grit.
Incoming salvo from the parts cannon!
Fox body bell, clutch fork and pilot bearing
351 C hot oil bath tub
Flywheels, parts un und deux
New clutch
Various bits and pieces
Not pictures are oil pan bolts, valve cover fasteners, gaskets for pan and rear main seal. I'm grabbing my buddy's trans jack tomorrow afternoon to start lifting the TKO in to position this weekend.
Happy Mother's Day to all you mothers.
I'm told that as I'm using a Ford bellhousing this isn't something I need to do. Not so sure about that and I'm a bit apprehensive about the process but I've done things on this car that I've never attempted before and I'm happy with the results by and large. I'll keep pushing and learning and not stopping till I'm satisfied. Then, when I learn more, I'll go back and revise jobs I'd done within my prior skill set and capabilities. It's just an old car, right?
Bell housing, pressure plate, clutch, flywheel, front anti-sway bar, oil pan, oil pump off. It appears that the pan at the rear radius was the leak point not the rear main as I had feared. It’s not leaking though I’ve got the gasket. Should this be a “while I’m in there” event or leave it alone? My plan is to get the new oil pump pick-up installed and chemically clean oil pan flange before installing the new pan with new fasteners.
As I tear this down I keep finding a mix of crappy old fasteners installed by previous owners. Clutch had no dowel pins and a mix of OEM, hardware store grade 5, and non-graded bolts. No thread lock on flywheel bolts and they’ve been out and back in. Flywheel is OEM with Ford C7 casting and C9 stamped part numbers (1967 and 1969 respectively). As Ford uses a motor plate between block and bell housing the clutch was clean and dry. I may hold on to these stock pieces after cleaning them up. I’ve pitched or sold most other OEM bits and I’m selling the trans. Hmmm...
Thanks for the vote. It was installed when the motor was rebuilt in 2015 and has less than 3000 miles on it. It's not leaking that I can tell. I'm going to review some Cleveland reference stuff I have tonight and then make the call.
in the neat trick category I used bread to pop the pilot bushing out of the crank. I ripped up pieces of bread and kept stuffing them into the cavity thru the pilot bearing hole. I used a close fit drift in the hole and hammered on the bread until it fully packed the cavity behind the bearing and lifted it out of the crank. It was pretty sweet and now the engine smells like sourdough.
TurnerX19 said:In reply to wawazat :
Wait till the mice invade your new bell housing looking for the crumbs
Ha! Cleaned out the hole and swept up the floor. Spring time in Michigan and they're headed outside now though we did have snow yesterday and today
Thanks Brent! How are you doing with your car?
With MI extending stay at home order until 5/28 I've got time to work on the car. I need to capitalize on it and get her road worthy again. I've not installed a clutch before and as I have parts from a variety of suppliers-Ram (clutch, flywheel, pressure plate), D&D (trans, shifter, crossmember), Summit (clutch fork) Modern Drive Line (bell housing, clutch hydraulics), and NPD (pedal bearings) I'm thinking about challenges of making it all work together. I just need to push through and not screw it up!
This set of changes-trans and rear end+rear brakes-should be pretty transformative in how the car drives and that has me excited for sure.
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