Tag: Holley

Unexpected Find

I have been asked a few times how do I tune my carb up. The simple answer is try not to. It’s a dark art that I have mentioned many times before in past posts. Over the course of last weekend I was looking for something that I have lost, last seen in the garage. It’s highly unusual for me to loose anything in the garage I must say. Through my rummaging and looking around I found a printed copy of the Holley ‘Classic’ series carb manual. This print out originally came from a PDF file that I had downloaded years ago and forgot all about when i got my Holley 600CFM carb. My first thought was this would make a good page for some official help with these carbs. Although I didn’t find what I was looking for, I did find something I wasn’t looking for. When I got back inside I scanned all my back up files on my PC and it wasn’t there. I delved deeper into archived drives and searched the back ups of my old mobile phones before they were wiped and traded in. There it was sitting in a download folder from about four devices ago with some other random stuff. I copied the file back to the blog storage and decided to convert the PDF into a page to be viewed on my blog here, or copy and paste this link below into your browser:

Holley Carb Classic Series Manual (onemanandhismustang.com)

The page article is quite long with lots of pictures and a step by step process to follow. It covers the initial installation, removal, adjustments, fine tuning and repairs should you need it. Here are a few screen dumps of the page itself. The original is about sixteen pages of PDF and these few small clips gives you an insight.

There are diagrams and how to install the ‘Classic’ series 600CFM on different makes of cars and setup. There is a wealth of information within the manual regardless of make and model. The Holley 600CFM carb is not proprietary to Mustangs, it can be fitted many makes and models and the variations are covered within the manual itself.

There are clear and easy to use diagrams which help with trouble shooting as well.

To make things easier I have also uploaded the the original PDF file that have re-found and downloaded at the time I got my carb. This can also be downloaded from the button below.

Holley Carb 2Download

Not all carbs are the same as they have different adjustments, chambers fittings and mountings. However the principle is the same, the fuel and air need to be mixed at idle, normal driving and heavy load or acceleration. The Holley manual gives a good overview of how they work. For basic carbs there are single, two barrel or twin valves and perform the mixing of the fuel and air for for the engine to work. Mostly this style of carbs either two or four barrels are common in standard older road cars, before the introduction of fuel injection processes that are considered to be more economical. What is the difference between the two and four barrels and do we really need another two barrels?

The primary differences between a Holley two barrel and a four barrel carburettor is their design, functionality and application, which will affect the air-fuel mixture delivery to the engine making it more efficient and delivering more fuel and air mix, in turn more power and or torque.

Holley Two Barrel Carburettor

  1. Number of Barrels: As the name suggests, a two barrel carburettor has two venturi or barrels through which air and fuel are mixed and delivered to the engine.
  2. Air-Fuel Flow: It has a simpler design with fewer moving parts and typically provides a lower volume of air and fuel mixture. This makes it suitable for engines that do not require high levels of fuel flow, like those in everyday street vehicles.
  3. Fuel Efficiency: Generally, two barrel carburettors are more fuel-efficient, as they deliver a steady and controlled amount of fuel suitable for normal driving conditions without excessive fuel consumption.
  4. Performance: They offer adequate performance for smaller or less powerful engines and are not designed for high-performance applications. They are often found in standard passenger vehicles, where fuel efficiency and drivability are prioritized.

Holley Four Barrel Carburettor

  1. Number of Barrels: A four barrel carburettor has four venturi, essentially doubling the potential air and fuel flow compared to a two barrel carburettor. This configuration includes two primary and two secondary barrels.
  2. Air-Fuel Flow: This type of carburettor can provide significantly more air and fuel to the engine, which is beneficial for high-performance applications where more power is required, such as in racing or muscle cars.
  3. Fuel Efficiency and Performance: While they can deliver more fuel, four barrel carburettors can also be more fuel-efficient under normal driving conditions because the secondary barrels only open when additional power is needed. This allows the engine to run on the primary barrels during light load conditions, conserving fuel.
  4. Application: Four barrel carburettors are designed for performance-oriented vehicles that require greater fuel flow to achieve higher power outputs. They are more complex, with additional components to manage the secondary barrels’ opening.

In summary, a single or two barrel carburettor is typically used in standard vehicles for everyday use, offering simplicity and fuel efficiency. In contrast, a four barrel carburettor is used in high-performance applications, providing the capability for greater power output and higher fuel flow when needed.

Drag racing cars use high CFM (Cubic Feet per Minute) carbs by default as they deliver more power due to the higher amounts of fuel that can be produced and mixed with more air. Various configurations of carbs on spacers or types of opening in the manifold will produce more low down torque or higher top speed. Drag racing crews often state that carbs use less fuel than EFI (Electronic Fuel Injection). During drag racing the carb valves are held wide open to give the maximum intake of fuel and air for combustion to give power and torque, the racing crews are not particularly worried about idle or general driving. The carb can also be paired with super chargers to compress even more fuel air mix into the engine giving even more power. That is whole nother story for another day.

Carb manufacturers often use similar terminology such as these:

Primary Valves

  1. Function: The primary valves are the main components for regular engine operation, handling most of the air-fuel mixture delivery during idle, cruising, and light acceleration.
  2. Components: They include throttle plates (butterflies) that open as the driver presses the accelerator, allowing more air to enter the engine. The fuel is mixed with this air in the venturi, a narrow section that increases the velocity of the air and helps atomize the fuel.
  3. Operation: These valves open gradually in response to the throttle position, providing a smooth and controlled fuel delivery for efficient engine performance.
  4. When a carb fitted car starts up they are usually running a ‘choke’ to give even more fuel (rich) mixture while the car warms up. This process is normally a mechanical or electrical plate that closes or partially closes the air intake on the primary valves

Secondary Valves

  1. Function: Secondary valves provide additional air-fuel mixture during heavy acceleration or when extra power is needed, such as during rapid acceleration or high-speed driving.
  2. Components: Like the primary side, the secondary side also has throttle plates, but these are typically larger to allow a greater volume of air and fuel mixture when open. Some carburettors use mechanical linkage, while others use a vacuum mechanism to control the opening of the secondary valves.
  3. Operation: The secondary valves open either mechanically (linked to the primary throttle plates via a cam) or via a vacuum system that senses engine load and demand for additional air and fuel. They remain closed during normal driving to conserve fuel.
  4. Secondary cams can be custom adjusted to come on earlier or later as required for the type of power delivery required.

Differences of primary and secondary valves

  1. Size and Flow: Secondary valves are usually larger than primary valves, allowing for increased air and fuel flow during high-demand situations.
  2. Control Mechanism: The primary valves are directly controlled by the accelerator pedal, while the secondary valves may use a mechanical linkage or vacuum actuation to open. This setup allows for a more progressive and efficient increase in power.
  3. Fuel Delivery: The primary circuit handles most of the fuel delivery, ensuring efficient operation under normal conditions, while the secondary circuit kicks in for performance situations, providing an extra boost of power.
  4. Under snap or sharp acceleration there are additional jets that squirt the primary and secondary valves to boost the initial fuel mixture. If this wasn’t the case when the valves open, the initial suck in of air would run to lean and not give enough power to the cylinders.

Manufacturers of Carbs

Holley and Edelbrock are two of the most popular brands of carburettors, especially in the aftermarket performance market. While both companies produce high-quality carburettors, there are distinct differences in their design, tuning, and performance characteristics. I will concentrate on these two manufacturers for now. There are many other specialist manufacturers of carbs for specific types of applications out there as well, but they tend to be much more specialised.

Holley Carburettors

Design and Features:

  • Modular Design: Holley carburettors are known for their modular design, which allows for extensive customization. They typically feature replaceable jets, power valves, and accelerator pumps, making them highly tunable.
  • Mechanical or Vacuum Secondaries: Holley offers models with both mechanical secondaries, which are linked directly to the throttle, and vacuum secondaries, which open based on engine demand.
  • Double Pumper Options: Holley’s double pumper models use dual accelerator pumps, providing an extra fuel shot for aggressive throttle applications.

Pros:

  1. Customization: Highly customizable due to the wide range of interchangeable parts, making them suitable for fine-tuning specific performance needs.
  2. Performance Focused: Holley carburettors are often favoured in racing and high-performance applications due to their tunability and ability to support significant horsepower.
  3. Availability of Parts: Extensive availability of aftermarket parts and tuning accessories.

Cons:

  1. Complexity: The high level of tunability can make them more complex to set up and adjust, which can be daunting for beginners.
  2. Maintenance: Requires more frequent maintenance and tuning to keep them running optimally, especially in high-performance environments.

Edelbrock Carburettors

Design and Features:

  • Simple Design: Edelbrock carburettors feature a simpler design with fewer parts compared to Holley, which can be advantageous for ease of use and reliability.
  • Mechanical Secondaries: Typically, Edelbrock carburettors use mechanical secondaries that are linked to the throttle position, providing a more straightforward operation.
  • Electric Choke: Many Edelbrock models come with an electric choke, which simplifies cold starts and improves drivability in various conditions.

Pros:

  1. Ease of Use: Generally easier to install and tune, making them more user-friendly, especially for less experienced users.
  2. Consistency: Known for their reliability and consistency in performance, with less frequent tuning needed.
  3. Fuel Efficiency: Often more fuel-efficient than Holley carburettors, making them a good choice for street-driven vehicles.

Cons:

  1. Limited Customization: Less tunable than Holley carburettors, which might limit their performance potential in highly customized or extreme performance applications.
  2. Parts Availability: While parts are available, there is a less extensive aftermarket for tuning components compared to Holley.

Summary

  • Holley carburettors are ideal for those seeking maximum performance and customization. They are well-suited for racing and high-performance applications but require more knowledge and maintenance.
  • Edelbrock carburettors are user-friendly and reliable, making them a good choice for enthusiasts looking for a straightforward installation and consistent performance, especially in daily drivers and lightly modified vehicles.
  • There is are parameters to the carb sizing. A to big a CFM will cause ‘bore wash’ where fuel is unburnt in the cylinders and washes the oil lubrications for the cylinders walls. This will also be wasteful of fuel as it’s just being unburnt. This could also cause the engine to flood and some very poor running.
  • If the carb is to small not enough fuel air mix is provided and will cause poor running even running hot.

I have found some videos of a carb working under loads. These videos show, start up, revving, initial fuel shot under revving, and full throttle. The second video has a whining sound in the background, this is probably due to a super charger. Regardless of the make, the principles of how they work are exactly the same.

Sound On!

Carb Calculations

To fit a carb you can replace the like for like of course, but to get more power you don’t just slap the biggest carb on the engine you can. To big a carb will cause very poor running and give you the exact opposite you wanted and make the car worse. To small a carb will starve the engine of the full power potential. There are various online calculators to work out the optimal CFM carb size you need for a particular engine size, speed and efficiency.

That formula can seem complicated for calculating the correct CFM for carb on a particular engine. Broken down with an example looks like this:

CFM (optimal) = Cubic Inches x RPM x Volumetric Efficiency ÷ 3456.

Any ordinary stock engine will have a volumetric efficiency of about 80%. Most rebuilt street engines with the usual average bolt-ons have a volumetric efficiency of about 85%, while race engines can range from 95% up to 110% efficiency.

Example: Using a 355 CID engine x 5,500 max rpm = 1,952,500

Take 1,952,500 x .85 = 1,659,625

Then 1,659,625 ÷ 3456 = 480 CFM

Even with about a 10% cushion, a 500 CFM carburettor will handle this engine great. If you try this formula yourself, be honest with how much rpm the engine will see. You’d be better off with a carb smaller than needed rather than something oversized that can lead to poor drivability and performance.

Higher Tuning

There are various ways to improve, or fine tune a carb to the exact requirements. This will be changing of ‘jets’ or ‘cams’ as required.

  1. Pilot Jet: Located in the float bowl, the pilot jet provides fuel for starting, idling, and the initial 20% of throttle range. It draws fuel through small holes as air flows through the carburetor.
  2. Main Jet: Larger and usually screwed into the needle jet, the main jet controls the air/fuel mixture from around 75% throttle to full open throttle (100%).
  3. Needle Jet: This critical component controls fuel flow between 20% and 75% throttle. It consists of the hollow needle jet and the jet needle, which adjusts fuel flow as you open or close the throttle.
  4. Air Screw: A small brass adjustment screw near the carburettor inlet, the air screw works with the pilot jet for starting, idling, and initial power delivery (up to 20%). It allows slight adjustments based on atmospheric conditions.

Cams: are a mechanical parts that will determine when (usually) the secondary valves open and close. The cams can be made to bring on the deployment of valves earlier, later, wider or smaller openings.

Float bowls: will determine when the idle reserves of fuel or secondary valves reserves of fuel, again critical for smooth running.

Tip:

More often than not, when playing with carb settings do little bits at a time to see what happens. Ask your self why do i need to adjust the carb, is it running poorly because of poor fuel? Then adjusting the carb to sort it out will all need undoing again when you put good fuel back in.

Don’t change everything in one go as you will be in for a whole heap of hurt chasing your tail finding out what is wrong. Adjusting mixtures can have a similar effect of changing jets. Different cams or adding spacers and altering timings, you won’t know if one item has had a negative effect or a combination of things if the car runs badly.

I have gone into the depths of carbs and how they work, pro’s and cons of spacers, four hole or open hole, EFI controlled versions all in this page here, or copy and paste the link to your browser below.

How A Carburettor Works

There is just so much you can talk about and to be honest, and it’s a bit of a dying art to tune these carbs up, screwdrivers, spanners, vacuum gauges, experience, feel of the response in the car and probably most importantly – by ear. Take a look at the page above to see the intricacies of a carburettor.

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Spring Doubles Up

I decided to make a little upgrade to the car to help with a very minor issue that I decided to rectify. The modification also added a little blink under the hood and something else to clean while I’m at it.

The issue was that on the odd occasion when lifting my foot of the throttle and stopping the idle would be a little too high. This could be cured by tapping the gas pedal and it would settle down again. On investigation it appeared to be the throttle return springs on the standard throttle rod didn’t strong enough to return the carb throttle body to it’s correct closed position every single time.

For a stock set up there is a single spring to return the angled throttle rod. Not very safe if the spring breaks or stretches as it could leave an open throttle. So the simple fix is to fit a secondary larger spring around the outside of the smaller spring. Although this configuration was fine the throttle feel was very light under foot.

I spoke to Adam who advised a rose joint billet throttle rod would help with the feel, but an alternative spring return would be needed if you swapped the rods out, more on that in bit. So I came home with a new throttle rod. I wasn’t to keen on the billet satin finish, so I spent a few hours sanding and polishing down to a shiny version which came out really well.

The first job was remove the old rod from the carb throttle body which was held in place by a lock nut. The two springs on the dog leg part of the old rod simply unhooked.

The second task was to remove the other end from the gas pedal bushing which is held in place by a split pin.

With the old rod removed I could compare the length of the original stup to the new rod which was also adjustable. The first pic shows the shine I managed to get on the billet rod.

These billet rods have a left hand thread and a right hand thread, so when twisting the rod in the middle it winds out both ends in or out for a synchronous adjustment. I set the rod to be the same length by default as the old one for now. The gas pedal needed to be a little higher inside the car for my liking as well, again more on that a little later.

I unscrewed the carb end of the new rod which has a conical fixing to fit inside the larger carb throttle body nearer the top for a test fitting and to see how the rose joint fitting would locate. The fitting was bit loose and required a single washer to pack out the gap in order to pull the rose joint firmly into the throttle body without any lateral movement. The movement now all comes from the rose joint itself.

(Note the old satin finish here.)

We now leave the throttle rod fitting at this point as the new return springs had to be fitted next. This would also make life easier with everything out of the way.

The return springs are Holley kit upgrades with an additional bracket, a spring levelling ring body fitting bolts and a choice of springs.

The original return spring is on the left. Although it’s shorter and slightly fatter, it had less distance to cover. The other springs have a much bigger gap to span and they have a different stronger positive tension when stretched. You will also notice the double loop closed ring ends on the Holley springs where they simply can’t become detached from the brackets.

Depending on the combination of springs, it will determine the overall feel of the throttle. I decided that the stronger pair for a max return would be my choice. There are two holes on the carb fitting ring (left picture), and two on the bracket. I made the mistake of putting the springs on the ring first.

This made life very difficult while trying to attach the pair of springs to the bracket as there wasn’t enough movement to allow the second spring to attach without tangling the other spring. So I had to remove one of the springs in order fit to the bracket first then onto the throttle ring. The secret is to fit first spring to the ring as you normally would, then the second spring fitting needs to be twisted in reverse first to allow the open ring to untwist and end up where it should be. If you don’t the springs will tangle and be twisted once fully fitted. I won’t deny it, it took me a few attempts to get right, the air did turn the same colour as the car, very blue as the springs tangled up on the first couple of attempts.

Eventually I manged to connect both sections.

To fit the bracket it needs to locate over a corner stud with the bigger hole that holds the carb in place. If the stud was longer then a second nut would bolt the bracket down.

A second smaller bolt nearer to the front of the bracket that also holds the spring bracket in place and to stop the bracket twisting when the springs are under stress.

As I have a 1″ phonetic spacer the bolt that bolts the carb down sits at the top end of the stud. That means I couldn’t bolt it down without changing out the stud. However, the top of the stud was protruding enough to act as a locating pin to stop any twisting.

To make sure the single bolt holes the bracket in place I fitted a large washer. The down side was that the washer was overhanging the bracket and snagging on the throttle body. This meant that I had to grind two edges flat to align with the carb body and then finish at the bracket’s edge. You can just about see odd shape in this picture. A smaller washer would have been fine I just wanted max hold.

With the bracket held firmly in place the tricky task of fitting the spring ring to the carb throttle body. In an ideal situation you could do with a third hand to do it easily. You need to thread the screw through the rose joint, washer and the conical spring ring in that order.

With the cone in place and the ring under tension to the bracket, you need a larger washer to stop the spring ring coming of the end. I didn’t use provided lock nut, but I still wanted to lock the bolts in place. Nut number one labelled holds it all together, number two locks the two together.

From the pic above you will see that I found it easier to have the rod unscrewed to fit it all together. Below pics are from the back and front views.

Now I could thread the rod back onto the rose joint.

The other end was a simple case of push the bolt through the gas pedal bushing using the supplied washer and locking nut to hold in place.

Now all was connected up I could test the range of the movement and nothing was snagging. Of course I was now pumping fuel into the carb which probably wouldn’t start as it would be flooded.

I sat in the car to check the height of the pedal I wanted. I was quite low so it needed to be adjusted. This is a simple case of turning the rod which would pull the gas pedal towards the carb for a higher pedal, or towards the firewall for a lower pedal.

Hold the rod in place with a spanner on the flats and tighten the nuts to hold the set distance in place pointed with the arrow.

Last job was to grease the moving metal to metal parts and replace the air filter.

That’s it job done.

The test drive after was good and the throttle was much snappier and returned much quicker to idle. The result I was looking for, it remains to be seen if the strong springs are to much or not. But for now, they feel fine under my size twelve feet.

Bring on the first car show of 2021!

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Cover Up

My arrival at Mustang Maniac this week was a bit of a shock, as my car had gone. Not stolen or anything like that of course, but the car was not in the garage where it usually is. I had a wander around trying to find it, often interrupted with Adam or Yogi laughing while moving lorries around shouting “You found your car yet?” I knew it the was there somewhere due to the extra work they had been doing in my absence. I eventually found it in a workshop stored next to very well know celebrity’s car all covered up. I bought a cover for the car a couple of weeks ago from Adam to keep it clean rather than the static sheet. Now I’m not sure what the guys had been making their tea with but they were laughing at the “Enos” sticker stuck on the cover. I must explain that “Enos” is Adam’s budget range of parts. To see budget on my car just cracked me up and few words were uttered, but it was a very funny few moments.

The guys had taken the car off the ramps as they needed to get another car up there and my car also needed to have the steering and suspension geometry set up, so it was perfect timing to be fair. The guys managed to set up the geo up after a bit of work with the shims and drove it to the storage shed ready for my visit.

geo needed a bit of work

The guys contacted me during the week to say that they had tried to sort out the erratic running of the engine on idle which was pointing to the carb. They tweaked it as much as they could, but it was still not quite right for Adam’s liking. The guys took the old Holley apart and found there were some problems with corrosion and the seals. So the conversation wasa very short one and resulted in a new one, besides the new ones looks absolutely brilliant and better than my old one, a jewel in the crown as it were. This is the same capacity carb as my other one a 600cfm, but a more updated version of it.

airfilter7

The vacuum advance pipe was looking a bit of a mess, so Adam gave me a new one. I offered the pipe up in position and the pipe was going to hit the Monte Carlo bar unless I bent it in strange positions to make it fit.

vacuum3

The decision was to replace the vacuum advance with a ’66 version where a rubber hose connects to the carb and the distributor. The only trouble is that I would have to remove the old vacuum advance valve and fit a new one. That caused a problem with the Pertronix ignition sensor on top of the distributor palte as it overhung the vacuum actuator arm, so it all had to come apart.

With the new vacuum valve in place, the gap had to be reset for the Pertronix ignition. The new distributor cap and rotor arm were clipped back in place, finally push on the rubber hose to the carb and the other end to the vacuum valve. A much nicer looking job I must say.

vacuum4

With the engine now completed again except for the spark plug leads (which will be changed a little later), it was time to move on to something a little more bling.

airfilter9

The problem here is that the I have a left hand drive car in a left hand driving country, in other words i am sitting next to the pavement. Mirrors on the Mustangs at this time were fitted with inside rearview and the driver’s side, which wouldn’t give me much visibility on the roads here. There was of course an option to have the mirror on the right hand side too as an option when the car was ordered. I decided that I would need to have both sides to be safe, so Adam got me a couple of door mirrors out which he strangely had sitting on the side ready. I picked them up and took the to the car and opened the box. Inside was the “show quality” mirror and a paper template which was really nice touch for both sides. I cut the templates out and stuck them to the top of the door where they should go. The templates even had tiny cut outs to fit exactly where the front quarter vents were. I stuck the templates down and looked for the drill.

mirror2

The holes were marked out for the drill locations. I dummy fitted the mirror just to make sure the vent opened and closed without issue which it did of course. Two holes were drilled and I sprayed an anti rust primer down the holes and wiped the excess away.

holes made
primer sprayed

Between the door paintwork itself and the mirror is a rubber/plastic type gasket. I applied a very thin layer of gasket sealer around the gasket to stop water (if any) running into the whole and making them rust out. Pressing the gasket down over the holes allowed the mirror to be screwed into place which then squashed out the excess gasket sealer. A little Gibbs and a lint free cloth wiped away the excess to leave a nice sealed black gasket that nobody can tell has been sealed at all, if that makes sense? The other box was upside down, I turned it over to find another of the pesky “Enos” stickers on my mirror now. God knows what they have been on today, but it was funny. I would like to point out at this point they are not the “Enos range” here, they are the “Show Quality” versions!

The right hand side was repeated in exactly the same way and looked pretty cool with the mirrors on.

Double checking that the front quarter vents clear the mirrors nicely, it would be a bit late if they didn’t to be honest as I already had drilled the holes.

Inside was finished of by screwing in the rearview mirror which also houses the sun visor stops.

sunvisor2

The carpets were treated to some mats to stop the dirt from the yard, already that had started to do their job. They do look great with the pony logo embossed on them.

Last job of the day was to put the wheel centre caps in place. You have to take the wheel off, screw in a plate to th centre cap and refit the wheel. I went for the plain Mustang logo which matched the wheels. Of course I had to make sure the horses were all in line with the BFGoodrich White Lettering which I still haven’t cleaned up yet.

wheelcap3

All this work brought us to the end of the day where it was starting to get dark. Adam decided we should have an impromptu check of the lights. So I took a few pics with the park lights then the main headlights. I had a little play in Photoshop to make the effects look a little different. I was surprised to see just how much the rear LED’s illuminated the back of the workshop.

lights2

lights7

From a couple of weeks ago I posted “Eye Candy” which showed how to fit the GT Dash into the car’s main dash. I have had a request since then if I can do a walk through for the process. I have split the process out into removing and refitting, then sub sections for various gauges and the process to fit or remove them under the “How To…” menu. Click here for the quick link.

Over the years I have done a lot of work on the dash to get it looking how it should, so I have also got a link here on how to restore the dash gauge set and make an Ammeter to Voltmeter conversion.

Click here for the quick link.

While we are on the subject of requests I have been asked a number of times now about the Drum Brake Pliers I reviewed (Click here) from Sealey and how to use them. I decided to copy the usage diagrams and put them with the Tools Review menu. There are other tools out there that I would recommend over the Sealey tool but the Snap On tool is a lot more money. The majority of the general purpose Brake Spring Pliers look like this so I Hope it helps.

Click here for the diagrams quick link.

Quick links:

GT Dash & Gauges:  http://onemanandhismustang.com/removing-the-gauge-dash-gauges/

Drum Brake Pliers Reviews: http://onemanandhismustang.com/sealey-tools-vs035-brake-shoe-spring-pliers/

How to use Drum Brake Pliers: http://onemanandhismustang.com/how-to-use-brake-spring-pliers/

Next week there are a few more jobs to be done, I hope the main task is the seats. Toby the Trimmer is on the case and should be done with them very soon. Fingers crossed.

Goodnight my little lady – see you next week. 🙂

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She’s Alive

What an epic day down at Mustang Maniac yesterday, I was so chuffed I can’t put it into words. OK, that’s not strictly true as I’m gonna tell you all about it. So I knew this weekend was going to be a day where it could be possible to start my car in theory. I was going try to start the wiring up again in order to turn her over on the key. Adam just looked at Yogi and laughed with “don’t worry about that, it will start!” Slightly confused, I sort of guessed what was going to happen when Yogi got out his little box of tricks and made up a lead while I fitted my Replica Autolite Group 24 Battery to the tray. They said that I would need some fuel for the car and I was packed off with an old school Jerry can and my wallet. I guess I had better get used to this filling the Muzzy up lark! I was given directions on how to get to the petrol station which was only a couple of miles away, it didn’t go in so I asked again, to which Yogi just laughed. So of I went, found it after over shooting the turning. Now I am not saying this place is old school, but there was a hut between two pumps and the sign said “Service fill only.” The bloke came out and got the diesel nozzle out, “No mate – fill this up unleaded” as I gave him the loaned Jerry can. With the can filled up and returned back to the yard, all without a SatNav. Yes, I admit it – I’m useless with directions, so much so that the very first thing my wife bought for me years ago when we got together was a TomTom. To which she said to me “Now I know you’re going get home,” Yep, she can have that one,  as I have genuinely got lost going home before now. Anyway, we got a funnel in the filler pipe of my car and poured some fuel in. We sloshed it around a bit by rocking the car and then lifted the car back up in the air and drained it out into a clear container to check the fuel. It was fine, clear with no debris in there. The fuel poured back into the tank. At the front of the car Yogi had now created his “Hot Wire” scenario and was ready to turn the car over. Now I could tell you how to start a car bypassing all the electrics on the car, but I won’t for obvious reasons, but it’s clever. Adam and I joined Yogi and he done his thing, the car turned over for a while until Adam and Yogi where happy there was no bad news noises on turn over. This was a very wise check to make sure the crank was not going to shatter or valves dropped on pistons etc. Adam now under the car turned the engine over by hand with a large ratchet to line up the TDC on the timing mark. Yogi then set the distributor shaft itself to where it should be, based on experience at this point of course. He then set up the wires to produce a spark and Adam pumped a little fuel in the carb and Adam now got to the front and was ready to adjust the timing on the distributor, Yogi spun the car over. The car turned over for a few seconds, she coughed and spluttered and fired up after a few seconds. The timing was adjusted by Adam and they wedged opened the butterfly on the choke to slow the engine down. She lives! The engine was shut down after a minute or so and a blur of hands worked over the engine to adjust things and tighten things up. Like watching synchronised swimming, but this was two guys saying only a few words and flurry of well rehearsed activity. The movement stopped, and the car turned over and she started up pretty instantly. This time the engine was getting quitter and was smooth, but that was the exact opposite of what was going on at the exhaust end. The burble and noise from those Flowmasters was fantastic as I now stood at the back listening to duet of exhaust notes and thunderous air vibration. The unique tone of my car was now heard for the first time, trying to take in the sounds played around my ears was incredible. The throttle was now starting to be pulsed by the guys, the exhaust note changing rapidly into a throaty bark. The timing light was now out and some very fine tuning was coming into play. Yogi was tweaking the carb and Adam was checking the fluid levels and making sure there were no leaks. The engine now slowed to an unmistakable throb of the 289 v8. Three blokes looked well chuffed as John and Chris popped over to see the action. The engine now stopped and quiet except for the ticking of the cooling engine filled the air, all I couldn’t say anything. I was ecstatic that the car fired up one step closer to driving her, and relief that my  and the guys hard work so far hadn’t gone to waste. The road test will need to be done obviously, but for now – I was a little gob smacked and overwhelmed with excitement a milestone had been reached. So far so good.

The fitting of the last part of the fuel line to the carb was the “banjo”, this turns the direction of the pipe ninety degrees  and an adjustable to the main fuel line. Yogi had set up the rubber hose ready for the fitting of the part. The filter from the carb was fitted into the end of the banjo.

banjo fitting
with filter

The complete fitting was carefully lined up and tightened up to the carb, the angle of the pipe matched to the fuel hose. The hose was pushed on and tightened up.

filter and fitting
in place
fitting the fuel hose

Previously in the week the export brace had been fitted to the bulk head and the shock towers. Adam tells me that they used their custom-made conical fit bolts for the export brace, without having to file the holes square to make them fit. The bolts used are dome headed and stainless, not the nut and bolt of the original fitting and how they were then. These conical bolts fit into the standard holes and the tightening of the nut pulls the bolt into the brace tighter wedging them in so they don’t move. The result is pretty instant to look at and makes a big difference to the feel of the car. There is a common fault with fitting the export brace to a unstrengthened bulk head. The original export cars had a reinforced plate welded in place, this can be seen clearly on my car here too. The good news it that the brace fitted without need for cutting and adjusting to make it fit as some cars need. The reason is that those cars could have been in a little knock or “fender bender” and distorted the chassis. The work the guys had done on the jig was just perfect as always.

brace1

Export brace bolts

The guys left me to get on with the rest of the jobs under the hood, that was now to fit the wires to the oil sender, water temperature, electric choke and the ignition feeds to the coil, all can now be routed where I wanted them. But that was to be after a cup of tea, a few cakes and a bottle of chilled Dr Pepper. All these little jobs took longer than I thought they would, but who cares? My little lady is alive again and I still had that silly grin on my face. I have just got to say a big “Thanks” to Adam and Yogi for starting her up with me and showing me how to hot wire my car, just in case of emergencies of course. 😉

What an AMAZING day, thanks Mustang Maniac.  

My car may well be at the Enfield Pageant of Motoring this coming weekend with Mustang Maniac’s other cars. It’s a great show so wander over and have a chat with guys. The details can be found at this link:

http://www.whitewebbsmuseum.co.uk/html/body_enfield_pageant.html

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Lots Of New Parts

I intended to post this last night as normal on a Sunday, but the time I got half way through it all it was getting late. So it has been delayed until today, but I think it will be worth the wait.

So the weekend just gone I knew what my tasks were going to be at Mustang Maniac, not cleaning up this time, but adding the last bits of pipe work and connections to the engine. I arrived and found Adam moving a load of new orders around in the offices and stock rooms where we discussed the plan of action for the day. I was given a collection of parts and made my way to the workshop.

bits

As I opened the door and found my new Magnum 500 wheels fitted with their tyres, one was already partly on the car, the guys thought that I would like to fit them on myself, which of course I did. The wheels were a special shipping order by Adam (as the last set were sold early last week), they arrived within the week ready to be fitted with tyres and balanced. All I can say is OMG they look awesome on the car. Thanks Adam for getting them so quickly. The protective paint over the white lettering will be left on for now until in the mean time of working on the car so they don’t get scuffed.

As I was looking under the car Adam arrived with even more parts which were going to be fitted. Adam showed me the exhaust pipes that Yogi had fabricated as a custom fit from the oversized headers. As the main pipes was slightly smaller than the three-inch header bores the step down was made to fit. As these headers sit low under the car, care was taken to clamp them up to give as much clearance as possible. At this point there is no H-pipe crossover as I wanted to hear what the engine note was like without it. This will be a mod that Yogi can do at a later date (but he don’t know it yet) if I don’t like it. Due to the larger exhaust pipes the standard hand brake lever will catch the pipes and so had to be modified to be out-of-the-way of the exhaust. Yogi worked his magic and redesigned the part which now has a gentle S-curve to it. You can just make it out after the white headers on the right hand side in these pics.

I was told to take my carb back off again as I hadn’t put the correct gaskets in place. Adam spotted it on my blog and thought I had the correct ones. The gaskets would have worked what I had on there, but not how it should have been and could have caused engine running issues or not as smooth as it should be. So here is the correct sequence with the 4v gaskets and not the open style that I had previously had a half and half mixture of.

intake ports
carb bottom

Yogi has also been busy fitting the transmission cooling lines to the radiator which are made of Copper-Nickel. They look like copper to start with but are much tougher, harder to bend and will dull down and weather to look like the stock steel pipes. The fittings at the radiator are unique to Mustang Maniac as they were designed by them and have them made in batches. These hand crafted pipes are designed to follow the original route at the front but take a more custom line due to the headers and the starter motor.

To get the starter motor in is a simple job, two bolts one top and one bottom, however, due to the space that is taken up by the headers this is no easy feat to achieve. In order to get the starter in place I had to remove the idle arm link and massage the transmission pipes out-of-the-way to fit it in place.

idle arm link in place
removed idle arm link

The transmission pipes will come up behind the starter and be joined by the starter motor power lead when that gets added next week. You can see the mounting hole for the starter and then it’s a case of wiggle it in place and get a bolt in. The starter is a heavy bit of metal and the ideal scenario is to get it fitted in quick as possible before your arms start to ache.

Starter motor space
starter in
clearance to pipes

With the starter in place it was back on with the suspension linkage. Now it was time to let the car back down again and work on the top of the engine. While I was under the engine I fitted the new oil filter ready to be filled up. Adam disappeared for a few minutes and turned back up with my rocker covers that I had been aching to fit. The black “289 Powered by Ford” set with their new gaskets. He laid them on my now ever decreasing parts boxes and said “I have been saving these for you.”

outside
inside

We removed the old rocker covers that were just resting in place, fitted the new gaskets to the new covers and started to fit the new covers in place.

fitting

With the left side bank cover going on we then added some quality oil into the car to allow it to settle down to a level while we work on other bits.

rockcov4

The transmission oil was added to the gearbox about half to start with then that was allowed to settle.

fluid3

While that was settling the front fan and power steering pump belts were added and tensioned correctly.

It got busy with the battery tray and drilled the back location hole and tightened it all up ready for the Autolite battery to be put in place week.

batTray

The PCV pipe was added to the right bank rocker cover and the carb spacer, brake booster pipe fitted to the back of the engine block, the ignition coil was added where I custom fitted the wires to fit their new location to look neat. Water was added to the radiator and the satisfactory gurgle and bubbling of the engine block was like a music to my ears. Just for now that is most of the pipe work and fluids added to the car. Of course the levels will be checked and topped up again after it has been fired up.

rockcov8

Yet again the day was a long one yet I didn’t notice as time flies when you’re having fun, which I certainly was.

Last weeks homework:

That was all about my old spare wheel. The wheel was filthy dirty and needed some work.

The wheel was given a proper clean inside and out to see what needed to be done in way of repairs. The result wasn’t to bad at all under the gunge. The rough bits of paint and rust were removed with wire wool and thoroughly degreased again.

The tyre was in pretty good shape and was masked up and given a couple of light layers of red oxide primer and allowed to dry in the sun. before adding the last coats of the full painted oxide.

light coats inside
light coats outside
fully coated inside
fully coated outside

The gloss black was applied after an hour or so once the red oxide had fully dried. This again was added in light layers and built up to give the final look.

gloss first coats inside
gloss first coat outside
final coats

The masking was removed and the white wall cleaned along with the rubber tyre. The final result is a good a new spare wheel which will go into the trunk later on.

inside

Another large post I know but we got so much done and I hope it was worth the wait.  Will we turn the key next week? I’m not so sure as there is a little more to be done on the wiring, connecting and tidying up etc and I have ordered a part for the carb to make the fuel line look neater. But it won’t be far away at all now. 🙂

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A Burning Question

Today I was in the man cave as I had a few ideas of what I wanted to do this week. One was to treat the back of the headlight doors and remove the stone chips from the front. The other job was to repair the old air filter pan that I had with the car. This particular does not fit my Holley 600cfm carburetor as I suspect it was for the original two barrel Autolite that came with the car. The air pan has been beaten up, dented, rusted up a bit and generally neglected. As I am not able to use it for myself I thought I could do it u, prepare it for sale to make a little extra money, well that’s the plan anyway. The trouble was there was so much old paint that I would need to remove it all and get down to basic bare metal and fill the dents etc. I used a product called POR-Strip, this is a product to remove old paintwork from the makers of POR15. As I rate their paint very highly and thought I would try this product out. It’s great stuff and I have done a review of the product under my consumable menu and also loaded a YouTube video of it as well. It’s not like watching paint dry but rather the opposite! Anyway, the point is that nowhere does it say wear gloves on the tin, it does say avoid contact with skin and eyes and now I know why, it burns like hell. Why didn’t they say wear gloves on the tin? It just amazes me that it’s not on there or wear goggles either. I have a few photo’s here but they are just of the stripper doing its job on the paint after I knocked the dents out. I will post more on the air filter pan work as I go along in the Photo Menu – Under the Hood – Air Filter Pan.

I did have a load of great titles I could have used for this post, but as this is a family rated blog I thought better of using them. Lets just say its a paint stripper, and I will let you think of the permutations possible for it. Not that any of them crossed my mind at all. After all, I do want Santa to call don’t I?

dented outside
dent removed before the paint removed
inside close up dent
close up inside
lid outside
lid stripped
inside stripped
underside stripped

Quick Links:

The you tube video link for the review, click on the YouTube logo   

Photo Menu – Under The Hood – Air Filter Pan click here

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Issues On Tap

This weekend has definitely not turned out how I expected it to that’s for sure. Saturday lunchtime was a good time as I wend to visit Adam at Mustang Maniac to catch up on the hot news from SEMA 2013 that he went to, I have seen some nice stuff he has bought some samples back of and I dare say he will post them in due course. I was given a nice new Scott Drake Catalogue by Adam and was going to enjoy reading that when I get home. But while I was on the way home the wife informs me that “the tap has gone”, like you mean it gone walkies? It turns out the replacement kitchen tap of the same design I replaced about a year ago is worse than the one it replaced that lasted four years. I knew the tap was leaking a little bit from the bottom, but when I got back there was a stream of water that was flowing around the back of the sink onto the work top only to be mopped up by a pile of wet towels and dish cloths. If any local law enforcement officers are reading this I was going quickly but all within the speed limit. The small leak had turned into big leak. First job turn the water off and open the tap to let out the pressure. The rest of Saturday afternoon was now spoken for, as I was now going to be spending time replacing a knackered kitchen tap. It goes without saying that I would need to re-plumb some connections as they were different to the existing fittings, why would I want it to be easy for me for a change? So I was not in the best of moods as I wanted sit down, read my  Drake Catalogue, after which I was going to start marking a few items off ready for my Christmas list. So the conclusion is that the little bleeder gremlin that had stolen my brake flaring die has now ventured into the house and causing me agro, because of this little herbert I have not managed to do what I wanted on the car today.

The job that I wanted to do most was treat the inside roof metal as I have no headliner at the moment. This would stop the rust and get ready for the paint shop. The other job is to clean up the inside panels that have bits of torn headliner stuck to them. That will now have to wait for next weekend now. Instead I have done a little tidying up under the hood on the Holley carburetor with the Gibbs Brand. It has taken some tarnish off and bought it back to nicer colour but still the shiny lustre is missing. Shall I or shan’t I repaint it? That is my new dilemma at the moment. There will be a large chrome pancake air filter that will sit on top of this 600cfm so you wont see much at all. Any ideas for now, leave it well alone till it breaks or do it now ready for that first day out?

holley

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