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5/2002
Whew! I had to start a page 2!! I didn't know there were any limits to how long a page was but it ceased working until I broke it up into this second page, sorry for any inconveniences my ignorance may have caused. I am still waiting to get the car back from my painter. the only thing painted on it as of now are the jambs I must say they look really good now if we can just get the rest of the car done like that! The car did get some badly needed new door hinges since the old ones were shot and allowed the door to droop a lot. I cant really do much without the car but a new windshield is in the works while it is stripped for paint. I'll be getting some newer paint progress pictures soon so watch picture page 7 for updates. I did purchase my TCI manual reverse valve body, and the rebuild kit should arrive shortly, then work can commence on the transmission. I also snagged a new transmission mount for the car off of Ebay, seems the seller bought some of the mounts in bulk therefore had a few to get rid of. I paid $15 and the mount is just a factory rubber piece, I didn't think I would really need a solid tranny mount, after all having the solid motor mounts doesn't let anything flex much anyway. Now that I have the transmission, the torque converter query is haunting me, I have a line on a good used one that I want but nothing's panned out as of yet. I hope I can score this deal because a new converter like I want is going to cost me big. I also still need to get a fuel pump, once I get a trans. in the car and a fuel pump it shouldn't be too long before I can fire the thing off! After all this I could use the inspiration of hearing it run! :)
6/2002
OK! The windshield is installed and can be seen on picture page 7. The rebuild kit for the transmission is also here along with new kevlar bands and steel plates. I have added pictures of these items on picture page 8 as well as the newest purchase which is the fuel pump. The pump is an Aeromotive piece which is said to support 700 horsepower of forced inducted air. The limit of a stock block is said to be around 550 horsepower so I don't think I'm going to be running out of fuel pump at least not before I run out of engine block! I know what a lot of people are going to say, "you don't need that much pump!" and I know I don't but I wanted to splurge and purposely go overboard on the fuel system. With overkill working on the fuel setup I can have room to grow if the need arises and I don't have to worry about any cases of not enough fuel at any given time if conditions should suddenly change (let's hope). I am also aware that a factory 5.0 roller block may be able to survive higher horsepower figures but that is only if the combination never sees detonation. I'm going to do my best to not detonate the thing but nobody is perfect and I'm sure I'll have at least some detonation until I get a handle on the tune. The last big item I need to get is the torque converter.
8/2002
Well it looks as if I missed a month as far as the updates go but just by a few days. I have recently moved into a bigger house with a 3 car garage which will aid in the Zephyr's rise to life. I have been working on the transmission for the car I have it disassembled and have begun cleaning parts. The good news is that nothing appears to be broken on the inside, I was told it worked when pulled but I just had to go in and see for myself what kind of shape it was in internally. To anyone out there that has never done an automatic transmission, the C4 is cake!! Now that I've said that I sure hope it works when I'm done! :) I heard from my painter that he could be spraying paint very soon so hopefully my patience here will pay off. I am so ready to get it back and get to working on it I have been feeling very motivated as of late so I need to take advantage of it. I still have a ton of little things to do but I am excited about getting more of the bigger stuff out of the way. I have my eye on a shifter so hopefully that will get purchased soon enough but I still don't have a torque converter.
9/2002
The car has been painted!!!
After what seemed like an eternity the car is finally painted, the wait was worth it to me but I am very ready to get to throwing on all of the accumulated parts on it that I have. Check it out on the latest picture page. I missed out on the shifter, it was an ebay item and the seller had the reserve to high for my cheap self. The transmission is moving along I have begun assembly and thus far all is well, I was very close to getting the torque converter ordered but I had to finish paying my painter but don't worry its looking like its going to get ordered soon! I have also purchased a set of caster camber plates to go with my D&D suspension setup. They say that the coil over suspension can be used with stock plates and it can but it isn't pretty, if you are going to do the coil over thing to your car take the time and get the plates, it makes it so much easier. I have procured a pair of Lakewood 90/10 struts as well (thanks Forrest) in order to make the most of my coil over setup and to help with the weight transfer in the event I ever get this thing going and to the track. :)
10/2002
Lots of news this month, the torque converter is here! I have added a picture of it on the picture page. I now need a servo apply piston and a hardened input shaft and the transmission will be completely ready to install. I have also gotten the fuel pressure regulator mounted and the lines to the carburetor run as well as started on the return line. I got the brackets made for the fuel cell and the cell is now mounted in the spare tire well. I have begun wiring up my 130 amp alternator from a 95' Mustang, doesn't look to tough to switch from external regulated to internal but before I say it worked I'd better get it going then check it first. ;) The deal on the Lakewood struts went south on me, Forrest needed to decrease his overhead and liquidated a lot of his assets one of which was the car the struts were still on, oh well win some lose some. I have installed the D&D tubular cross member and a arms which were reported already on picture page 10. I also added the caster/camber plates in anticipation for the coil over setup as soon as I get some struts, that's if I don't just decide to go with stock Mustang units, I have two pair. The D&D suspension is lighter no doubt about that but the most amazing thing is how much more room there is under the car! I don't foresee anything being to terribly hard to get to if needed. I have the double hump transmission cross member installed. I have seen many people add this cross member to their Fairmont, Zephyr, or other early fox body car by cutting the mounting tubes then welding them back together, but on mine I just cut the tubes off flush then trimmed the metal sleeve inside the bushings to the correct length and boom it worked! Latest purchase has been made on a set of South Side Machine lift bars, I got them for $50! They cost $159 new so this was one of my better deals, I had my brother in law pick them up for me since they were in the Dallas/Fort Worth area and I'm still in Phoenix. I have the headlights and grille back on the car now as well, I ran the electrical wires inside the fenders to help keep them away from the heat of the turbochargers. I hope I didn't forget anything there's so much happening on the car now that I finally got it back! :)
11/2002
Progress is still moving swiftly on the car. I have the transmission installed in the car!! I only had to take it in/out about 3-4 times before I was happy with it but its finally in there. I wasn't having any luck finding an "H" servo apply piston in any of the local salvage yards so I broke down and purchased a TCI unit. I made a big decision in that I did not purchase a hardened input shaft for the car at this time for a few reasons. One, is its expensive and I'm not really ready to throw another $200 at a transmission that might work. Two, they are backordered everywhere and I am not playing the waiting game any longer. Three, the limit of a stock input shaft is around 450hp and I doubt I will make that much power right away. And lastly, if the car runs in the 11s I will get booted off of the track for not having a roll bar anyway so if I have to knock some et off of it, launching out of the hole is where to do it, this way I can see what kind of mph the car is capable of which of course is a measuring stick for horsepower. On the fuel system I have the return line ran and the feed is about two fittings away from being added as well. I have the battery mounted in the trunk and have begun to run the cables, I need to grab a battery cut off switch to be NHRA legal. Suspension wise I scored a good deal on a pair of uninstalled Lakewood drag struts off of The Corral. The struts were purchased but the owner decided he didn't want to commit to a drag oriented suspension so I took advantage of the opportunity and now have the coil over setup installed on them and the car now sits on all fours again! It Looked really good to see it on its own suspension again after being on the jack stands for a while, I was a little disappointed in the ride height not being any lower than it was. I'm not really into the rocker panel scraping scene but I thought I'd have more to work with, its not really much of a concern. My goal is to have this thing running by December on motor only and with Christmas coming I need to hurry. Pictures of the progress will be up soon.
12/02-1/03
The car has yet to be fired and progress slowed through the holidays as I knew it would, having to be out of town for a week in December/January kept me from my goal of firing the car before 2002 was over. Not to worry though as the car is now oh so close to being started. Naturally I had overlooked a few things that needed to be done anyway before the car can be started. I want to have fluid in the transmission before I crank it so that new tranny I built won't be dry. While I was away I took delivery of my South Side Machine lift bars that Cody was holding for me so that's a plus. I have recently ordered my Hurst Pro-matic shifter so I can be assured the car will stay in park when the time comes to start it. My biggest dilemma as of right now is a driveshaft, by moving the engine/tranny back an inch this helps balance and weight transfer but also wreaks havoc on the length from the transmission to rear axle. I'm going to have to figure something out there as that would be a big transmission leak without something in the tail shaft, the yoke I currently have won't fit either as it was designed for a 4 speed manual trans.I purchased an MSD6BTM for the car to simplify ignition wiring and operation, I am currently wiring it up and it should be finished very soon. I have already sold my old BTM on ebay and made most of my money back on the purchase of it the 2 step and rpm selector switch. I need to get some carpet to make the interior look better (it has none at all) and I am trying to decide whether or not to get a new manual rack and pinion or just put new inner and outer tie rods on the one I have. These are kind of hard to find at most parts stores but the real kicker seems to be that every time I find inner tie rods they are almost as much as a new rack and pinion! And I absolutely WILL NOT shell out $400 for a flaming river "chrome" manual rack! I think that is totally ridiculous in that it costs more than a power rack in most cases simply because its new and chrome. (ok enough of my whining and cheapness) I have totally finished the fuel system with the exception of plumbing the injector for added fuel under boost. I am happy to say that it works just as it should and that I only found one leak on the regulator where the psi gauge was tapped and I have since rendered that problem.I have been trying to tie up a bunch of small loose ends to get the car going such as plugging unused vacuum ports, finally getting a drive belt that fits, adding gas and oil, and rigging a throttle cable.
Hang in there this thing will run yet!
1/2003
Double post for the month of January and it yields big news: The TT Zephyr lives!!! Well its not a "TT" yet but the darn thing runs. I finally got off my tail and got the wiring finished and fired the car up for the first time since I bought it! It fired up on the first hit of the key, I couldn't let it run long at first because I had no water in the engine. I didn't have a way to let it warm up and idle so that timing/fuel pressure could be checked but it sure felt good to hear it roar to life. The car was extremely loud in the garage with the exhaust just dumped right off the engine and pointing straight up. I haven't received an eviction notice as of yet and no neighbors were beating my door down so I think all is well. ;) Even though it was running the lifters have not pumped up yet and I was unable to keep it idling with no choke and no accelerator pedal (I haven't gotten a cable for it yet). Changes made leading up to the initial firing were the addition of a tranny cooler and lines, ignition system completed, and the oil pressure, water temp, and tachometer gauges have all been installed and hooked up, also after MANY trips to the parts store I managed to get a drive belt on that fits and works. Since then I have added water, fixed water leaks, mounted my fan and begun wiring in the honkin' 75 amp relay for it.
I finally got to work on the car about a week later, this time I had a friend watch fuel pressure and I had water in the engine this time so I was able to let it run and warm up to a point where it would idle all on its own which allowed me to confirm that my charging system is working, (woohoo) so that's another thumbs up. I couldn't let it run forever though as I haven't finished the wiring on the fan (seems its always something). However the lifters pumped up and the car sounded much better than it did the first time I started it and it ran nice and smooth to not have any exhaust on it, thanks in part to the stock roller cam. I have since ordered a few more parts recently, these include an EGT meter from Ken Lanham (thanks!), a new Hurst Pro-Matic 2 shifter, and an S&W racecars 8 point roll bar! I didn't think I'd go with a roll bar right away but they aren't terribly expensive and I figured it would be easier to install it before finishing the interior.
3/2003
OK still a lot going on with the car here lately. I installed the EGT meter, hooked up the fuel level gauge (found out I'm low on gas) and purchased and installed a master cylinder. I purchased a Painless Wiring auxiliary fuse block to help lighten the load on the original fuse block in the car but haven't made time to install it yet, most everything I've added to the car that requires electrical power will be re-wired to the new block. I also picked up some sub frame connectors from western motorsports racing out of Canada, I spoke with some other Fairmont/Zephyr enthusiasts and was told that these fit our cars nicely even though they say they are for Mustangs (as usual). I added a 150 amp fuse in line of the alternator to battery charge cable, it is recommended and I have no reason to doubt it. Now for the unexpected news, I had no luck getting my factory rack and pinion and steering shaft to fit the car with the engine moved back the way it is so (it kills me to say this) I had to buy a flaming river rack and pinion! My original rack used a steering shaft that utilized a large rag joint and it was hitting the engine mount which means it could not be turned. :( Also, the D&D cross member would not accept Fairmont/Zephyr rack bushings, it would only take the two piece Mustang pieces. So I got some Mustang polyurethane rack bushings and the rack went on nicely albeit it is now sitting slightly further forward than it had been which makes the steering shaft too short. Flaming River's rack and pinion uses two u-joints in place of the rag joint and the input shaft on their rack is almost 1 and 1/2 inches longer than my Ford unit. This combination should not only clear the motor mount due to its smaller size (1.5 in. compared to 3.25 in.) but the joint will also be moved further up towards the firewall. If this doesn't fix the problem I don't know what I'll do but I sure didn't want to spend this kind of dough on the steering. I guess with new parts it provides some peace of mind in an often overlooked area of building up a car.
4/2003
Well the install on the new rack and pinion went off without too much of a hitch. It did in fact fix my clearance problems with at least 1/4" of leeway! I did however, have to do a little bit of grinding on the rack itself and the cross member because they were touching in one spot. I didn't have to hack away much material but I was surprised at this since it could have very well been a Mustang and still have had these same problems and these parts were "designed" for a Mustang and we all know they won't work on a Zephyr!
I have made a steel plate to cover the original shifter's hole in the transmission tunnel and then doubled it, sealed it, and bolted it in place. I then drilled holes in it to allow my Pro-matic shifter to be installed. I must admit I've been slacking lately I am purchasing a house so car money is kind of low. I did manage to get some fluid in the transmission and test it today, my hard work seems to have paid off as it exhibited forward and reverse gears! I managed to rev it enough to make a 2nd gear shift but not 3rd, it was too stinkin' loud in the garage to rev it any higher and I can't afford to tick off the neighbors until its time to move. ;) All in all I'm happy that my first automatic rebuild thus far seems to be a success, maybe one of these days I'll dig into differential gear changes! haha. I'll post pictures of the rack and pinion and maybe the trans. tunnel plate I made, its not that pretty so its not a big concern.
5/2003
Not a ton of work done lately but I have got a few more parts off of the garage floor and on the car. I cleaned up and installed my Southside Machine lift bars. These bars are not at all very new because they indicate the company to still be in Ohio and the company is now located in Florida last I heard. They should do a better job than the original lower control arms at planting the tires when the time comes to launch the car for the first time. After getting the Southside's on I was finally able to install the rear stabilizer bar that came with the car.
I hope to be able to get this car registered and drive it on the street, Pro-hobby legislation (H.B. 2387) was introduced in the Arizona House of Representatives to exempt vehicles 25 years old and older from the state's mandatory emissions inspection and maintenance program. If this passes like it did in California then I may be in business! So I guess I can still plan on the car being a street car and with that I also installed some rear speakers in the car recently. I know that's sort of a useless thing to worry about but I already had them and figured what the heck and bolted them in, you gotta have tunes to cruise to right? I've also been sitting on an Alpine tuner/cassette player to finish out the audio system, it was free so why not?
6/2003
Not much at all done on the car here recently, house building is quite the cash vacuum. I have been starting the car and letting it run a bit off and on. I pulled the car outside for a few more pictures of it (see picture page 18) and its a good thing I did because I was quickly reminded that I didn't have enough transmission fluid in it yet. I managed to get the car in and out for the photos but it wasn't easy so I took the opportunity and got the fluid level up to where it's supposed to be. Once this was done the car acted much better as anyone would expect, however, my small tranny leak has become a slightly larger leak and will almost certainly need to be dealt with soon. Before nothing would get on the floor unless it sat for quite some time but now it gets on the floor in a noticeably quicker fashion. I'll have to fix that soon but most likely I'll put it off a while longer. :) I made a trip back to Texas not long ago and Cody (the owner of the Incon GT) and myself made a trip to the track to see what his car would do. I've posted a couple of pictures taken at the track and videos will be added before long as soon as I receive them. In a nutshell the car wouldn't hook up to save its life so the ETs weren't very good but the mph looked promising.
7/2003
Nothing done at all this month, I've been concentrating on our upcoming move but once that's done I'll be staying put for a while and the Zephyr will continue in full force. It will most likely be getting exhaust work done soon after we're settled that's when the turbos will be mounted and the fun really begins. One note of interest is I sold my carb bonnet to Andrew MacPherson a member of the JYturbo email list, he's one of those confused camaro guys, someday he'll realize that Ford is where it's at! I've been thinking about getting an intercooler for my project and I was afraid that my bonnet wouldn't quite be tall enough to turn it the direction it has to be turned for it to work. I've considered a couple of different bonnets one being the "extreme velocity" bonnet catchy name huh? The other being the carburetor solutions unlimited piece, both are taller than my original ATI hat.
I may be offline at home for a bit when it comes time to move at the beginning of August but I can still check email etc. from work so if the next update is missing or late you'll know why.
8/2003
I got moved. Its taking a little longer than I thought it would (as always) to get everything situated but I have not been totally neglecting the car. I did some A/C work for a buddy of mine on his car and he came up with the idea to just trade my labor for some of his welding skills. This means the Zephyr will getting the roll bar and sub frame connectors installed ahead of schedule! :) I have also ordered an intercooler from Jim Sheren through Mike Sitar's TooHighPSI Mall, if you haven't seen this site be sure and do so Mike and Jim are selling some top notch parts with excellent customer service to boot.
I'll post pictures galore when the roll bar/frame connector install happens and you can bet you'll be seeing pictures of the intercooler as soon as I get my hands on it. I also ordered and received a new fuel fitting for the rear of the car, seems my 90degree fitting from the cell to fuel filter was getting crusty with dry gas when the car would sit so when I ran the car out of gas I figured this would be an excellent time to swap that out.
9/2003
The intercooler arrived a couple of days ago and it looks as awesome as I expected, and I'm sure it will perform as well as it looks. I really need to learn how to do things like that. I got the roll bar and sub frame connectors installed! Finally these parts are on the car, if I knew how to weld the car would probably be finished by now, I'll have pictures up shortly.
I've ordered a new carburetor bonnet, I went with the carburetor solutions unlimited piece, I felt this product was a good value and I liked the height it incorporated in the design. I'm not going to say that the extreme velocity bonnet is not a good product I just felt more comfortable with the CSU bonnet because it seems to be more widely used and is more proven at this point.
The to get list is getting smaller but there are still things needed, seats, fuel pressure gauge, carpet, tires/wheels. I have decided to go with Mickey Thompson ET Streets for the rear tires and I'll most likely go with some sort of street legal skinny on the front. The wheel/tire combo has been one of the hardest decisions I've had to make, on one hand I'd like to go with big brakes and Cobra wheels but if I do this I'd be attached to 17 inch tires which ET Streets do not come in (nor would I want a pair this size). I've also been trying to decide whether or not to go with a 5 lug setup or not, Cobra wheels would require this. Even if I don't go with Cobra wheels I still like the look of the 5 lug wheels over the 4 lug. DOH! Well I guess I really haven't decided yet, one thing I know I want is the ET Street tires for the rear.
11/2003
I have mounted the intercooler in the car, it went in with little effort and looks great. I plan to insulate the bottom tank from the radiator support so it won't be rubbing against it, I'd hate to wear a hole in it! I tried to cut up my front valance I got at the local pick and pull's 50% off sale to make it look better but it was pointless, by the time I got it cut up enough to fit there wasn't much left so I'm not going to worry about it. I have begun installing the painless wiring fuse block to help alleviate some of the stress on the factory 25 year old fuse block, I'll have pictures of it up as soon as its done.
The CSU bonnet arrived and it looks pretty good, if you're very anal about how things look you may not be totally satisfied as there were some scratches etc. on it, but I'm more of a who cares how it looks just as long as it works kinda guy and I see no problem with functionality. I have finished painting the roll bar and it is a good match to the interior since I used the same paint :) Also on the parts list I bought a Holley jet assortment for when that fateful day of tuning arrives and I upped the rear jet in the carb to 91s and added jet extensions. The exhaust is a step closer thanks to the arrival of Dynomax mufflers.
I actually called my welder the other day to see about getting the exhaust done and turbos mounted but he said he won't be able to do anything until the first of next year! I was pretty bummed but this will give me a chance to do other stuff instead, plus I have another iron in the fire that may allow me to get this done after all. In the meantime I have been at it on ebay again, I purchased a transmission shield, and an SFI flexplate. I have an oil leak at the rear main and the trans has to come out for that anyway so when it does I'll fix the tranny leak, oil leak, and add the new parts. I'm also trying to acquire a hardened input shaft for the transmission as well, seems no one stocks it and its backordered everywhere.
12/2003
I have almost finished the wiring inside the car, its not something that instills a lot of excitement in me so I haven't been moving real quickly on it but its getting there. I purchased a fan controller from the local speed shop to help reduce any unwanted stress on the electrical system and am in the process of wiring that also so the fan won't have to run all the time.
I've purchased some 45 degree pipe elbows for turbo mounting along with a straight piece of pipe, I'm told that this is all I'll need to get it done, now I just have to cut and fabricate the pipe and have it welded. I have been told that it would be a necessary evil to remount my alternator to the other side of the engine to make room for the turbos, this was not what I wanted to hear since I've already wired, mounted and searched high and low for a belt to fit the darn thing! Not to mention I'll have to buy yet another water pump to allow the water pump to turn the other direction. :( Eric Meyer is doing a similar buildup and has been around enough twin turbo cars to know so I'll take his word for it. There have been several other setups like mine where these changes weren't necessary but since I'm running an intercooler it does look as if it will help make things easier in the long run.
Thanks to Eric I now have my hands on a TCI hardened input shaft for my transmission, so that should make for some good insurance when the first launch of the car arrives.
1-2/2004
Looks like I've been slacking as far as updates go, sorry about that. I have been working on the car, I had the transmission out for a few reasons. While it was out I installed my TCI hardened input shaft, fixed a leak at the tail shaft housing, installed my TCI trans shield, swap in my SFI approved flexplate, and change out the leaky rear main on the engine. There were several reasons to do this indeed and I'm glad I've got all of that done now.
There were some shortcomings during some of these changes, the trans shield did not allow the install of the shifter cable on the side of the transmission the way it belongs so I had to improvise, I was able to figure out a pretty darn good solution if I say so myself. I took the cable still on the bracket and mounted it to the bottom of the trans shield's lower plate, drilled holes for it and bolted on there which allowed the cable to pass through one of the existing holes in the plate to perfectly line up at the tranny's linkage, this also allows the cable to be adjusted easier to boot. The shifter cable wasn't the only problem I encountered while this wrenching session was going on, I also managed to break yet another torque converter stud while tightening it with a short hand wrench! This was an easy fix though after drilling the broken piece out I replaced the remaining two studs with grade 8 bolts and lock washers, voila problem solved!
I won an Ebay auction for a driveshaft loop, its just a cheap universal loop but it should get through tech one of these days when I get this car to the track. I also purchased a flexible transmission dipstick to ease trans removal in the future, with the engine/transmission moved back 2 inches the non flexible unit was really crowding things as it would hit against the firewall before enough clearance could be made to remove the tranny.
I haven't forgotten the wiring that needs to be done on the car, even though it isn't that fun doing it at this point. I managed to get the reverse lights and neutral safety switch wired up as well as rewire the alternator after successfully moving it to the other side of the engine.
Jim Sheren the creator of my bad to the bone intercooler has helped me out by cutting, rotating, and re welding my driver's side turbo's exhaust elbow to get it ready to install in its clocked position. Eric Meyer has been a huge help too in getting the elbow to Jim for me and for getting the holes in my water pump pulley slotted. When I switched to a forward rotation pump the holes didn't line up anymore so the existing ones had to be slotted to fit.
3/2004
I won an Ebay auction on a pair of 4 cylinder Mustang LX seats, which will of course bolt right in as if they belong. These are not near as heavy as the power Mustang GT seats. I was originally going to go with fiberglass race buckets but they would have required brackets to be custom fabricated in order to use the factory mount points and I didn't want to do that. The seats I found were already blue also so at least they'll match they will also be more comfortable I'm sure.
I acquired an SFI balancer recently from a local racer that cracked his block and decided to part his car out. It is a Ford Motorsport piece and is not only safer for racing purposes, it looks better and can be read easier while the engine is running. It was a steal for $100, with the spacer these parts are usually over $400 as listed by Ford!
After heaving the transmission back into the car I have ran the car only briefly and haven't had a chance to top off the transmission fluid but I am worrisome that a leak may still exist. I saw fluid running right down the bell housing the other day and it looked to be coming from in between the bell and case so I'm not sure what I'll do about this, the pan may be culprit as well. Hopefully I can pull the pan and reseal that and the majority of the leak will be fixed.
I had to search for another drive belt after relocating the alternator. This is always an ordeal in patience when dealing with local parts stores that don't understand why the item can't just be pulled up on the computer! There is a lot of lazy people in that profession but it seems as if there's always at least one guy that knows what he's doing, the trick is to find him.
4/2004
Turbo headers have been constructed, but unfortunately due my lack of thinking and planning the driver side ended up being too high and almost touches the hood when its closed. I foolishly forgot to flip the turbo over when holding it up to the driver side when the planning/fabbing of the header pipes was being done. The passenger side turned out quite well though and I have begun taking a look at charge pipe routing for that side, I also can begin fitment and sizing for the charge pipe to the carburetor too.
I finally got some wiring done, I managed to get the fan controller wired up and routed nicely in side the glove box, I don't know why I put it off so long I guess it just looked like a pain because there were a lot of wires I won't be using on it. The wires for the MSD6BTM are installed in a manner in which the car can be run but I have plans on a cleaner installation before I call it done.
The car is getting closer but every time I think I'm close to being finished something else comes up to keep it in the garage that I forgot about (typical huh?). I've gotten some emails from readers and really appreciate hearing all the nice compliments, a couple of you have really lit a fire under my backside to get more work done because you guys are starting to pass me by! ;) I've got to order carpet now.
5-6/2004
Not much done at all here lately between return trips to Texas, sick pets, and lack of work the cash flow isn't very good right now. I have managed to spend a little bit of money getting the garage more organized which should make working on the car easier, I've added better lighting, a cheap garage stereo (gotta have that), an attic stairway and an attic floor in order to store more things up there and get them off of my garage floor!
I have been working on the turbo headers trying to clean out the globs of welds on the inside of the pipe and that has been going really slowly. I haven't been able to fix the driver side yet either, I have decided that the best and easiest way to fix it would be to heat the pipe up and bend it downward angling the driver side turbo, the oil drain on the turbo can be rotated to allow this.
I sold my extra set of Fairmont taillights in order to generate some revenue and clean up the garage. Hopefully I can get something done that is more worthy to report in the future.
7-8/2004
Looks like my monthly updates have become bi-monthly here lately I'll try to step things up more. I ended up having really good luck with cleaning the inside of my headers out where the welds built up on the inside so the headers are back on the car now after a lengthy fight on the passenger side. I've re run the fuel lines from the regulator to carburetor to make sure they will be out of the way of the main charge pipe, they lay much flatter now than any of the current pictures show. I'll update the picture page eventually but I'll need more time to get enough pictures together for that.
The garage is done and things are organized much better now. This made me install a few miscellaneous parts onto the car that were lying about the place in order to help find everything a new place in the garage.
I still haven't gotten the real work done of heating the driver side pipe or making the charge piping but things have been hectic lately. I did get some tubing purchased in order to start making the charge piping, I also picked up a few more small miscellaneous parts from the salvage yard on the cheap. I have recently started a welding class that should aid in any future welding/heating tasks that will arise.
I've got a fuel leak at the filter and I've had a lot of trouble getting the correct part to fix it but I think I have it on its way now that I finally got the part number. I have a few prospects for more part purchases going that are exhaust, turbo hose, and interior related, I'll keep you posted.
9/2004
I got a few more things done, not really big significant things but something to report at least. I scored a pair of Mustang four cylinder rear springs from the salvage yard to take the place of my factory springs. I wanted to cure the altitude problem the rear of the car had and was told that the Mustang springs were slightly shorter. Once I removed the Zephyr spring a quick comparison showed that the height was the same but the coil thickness was less on the Mustang part so it did indeed appear to correct my problem with what seems to be a lower spring rate.
I purchased my silicone hose couplers that are to be used in attaching the piping to and from the turbos and intercooler thanks to Jim Sheren the intercooler guru. I have also been acquiring more and more tubing to be used as charge piping.
My car hasn't been started in a few months, mainly because I have been trying to get the correct parts to repair a fuel leak at the filter. The part turned out to be tough to find but even after I got the part number it was out of stock everywhere or backordered, I got tired of the runaround real quick and took care of it. I rounded up a few items to sell on ebay and once I got paid on those items I bought myself an Aeromotive fuel filter to replace the leak prone Earls unit. I think I had to shell a dollar of my own money to get the filter and fittings to hook it up. I wanted to go this route originally but the price was too steep for a fuel filter in my book but now I realize you get what you pay for! I'll have it hooked up in a day or two and hopefully I can get some gas and fire this thing up again, I need to top off the transmission fluid when this takes place as well.
10-12/2004
I've been slacking on the car and the website here lately, things have been slow at work and the holidays are upon us. I did finally fire the car up and let it run for a bit, it did good I was a little afraid that it might run poorly since it had been a while since it was started. I am also happy to report that it looks as if the fuel leak is a thing of the past with the new filter in place!
I added more transmission fluid, but didn't check to see where it was at on the dipstick and I wasn't able to run it long enough to test my fan controller. It was still in the garage when all of this was happening so it was very loud and I didn't want to annoy the neighbors.
I have been trying to fabricate the charge piping and have had some success (not a lot but some). The outlet pipe from the intercooler now reaches into the fender where I plan to connect a second piece via a silicone hose before it enters the engine bay. I'll then need to figure out how I will make the connection from the turbo on that side to the intercooler inlet, it's crowded right there as you may imagine. As far as the driver side goes I still (yeah I know STILL) have not heated and bent the pipe in order to reposition the turbo over there. Until this gets done I won't be able to do much more to the car. I'm hoping to score a gas torch setup for Christmas so I can heat the pipe, but we'll have to wait and see on that one.
1-5/2005
Wow, I can't believe its been five months since I updated the website! Thankfully it hasn't been that long since I worked on the car although I never seem to get as much done as I'd like. Some other real life endeavors have kept me busy lately, including the terrible tax man, refinancing my house, and I was even involved in an auto accident that totaled my truck. Thankfully everyone was OK in the accident but just a warning to everyone out there, watch out for 19 year old girls behind the wheel on cell phones! All of this is just about behind me so I can start to focus on the car and website again.
Since the last update I have got the charge pipe from the intercooler to reach the carb just about completed now, it will be finished as soon as I weld on the auxiliary injector adapter and paint it. I spent sometime designing the adapter and in the end the fit came out better than I expected albeit the adapter itself is kind of bulky but I'll mount it on the backside of the charge pipe so it won't be so noticeable.
I've actually been working on the driver side turbo mounting situation! I reached the decision that heating and bending wouldn't quite give me what I needed in terms of clearance and distance in order to work so I chopped the current pipe off and have come up with a new design that looks like it will work. I was clocking the turbo for the new design the other night and it appears that I may have to buy a 90° aluminum el in order to make the charge piping from that side work but that's no big deal.
I sold my Apex-i blow off valve on ebay in order to finance a pair of bosch blow off valves, I decided I wanted a quiet BOV instead of the loud "hey I've got a turbo" style for a sleeper like the Zephyr. I have recently done some more ebay shopping and won a pair of 94-95 Mustang spindle/hub assemblies and a pair of dual piston PBR calipers from a '99 Mustang. I hope to convert the car over to 5 lug eventually and I'll use these big brakes when I do. I have also been slowly procuring some (hold your breath) EFI parts! I've recently collected a throttle body with EGR spacer, and a wiring harness w/computer. I've been gathering stock EFI parts just in case I can't get the carb to work with boost but even if it does I think somewhere in the future I'd enjoy going EFI for the sake of driveability, reliability, and cleaner air (hey if I can make power and not pollute as much why not).
6-7/2005
The charge pipe is completely finished, I welded on the injector adapter and even thought the fit was nice my welding skills still aren't quite up to par for just about anything. I did though manage to stick it on the pipe then in order to help seal it and hide my lack of welding skill I JB welded it as well. I have painted and attached the pipe to the bonnet and joined it to the other charge pipe so it is done. I'm a little worried that the injector may leak but hopefully it won't and if it does I still have options. I mounted the injector on the backside of the pipe and upside down to try and hide it somewhat.
I have been heating and bending a new header for the turbo mounting for the driver side. I just need to get it welded now then the other turbo will be on hopefully for good.
8-9/2005
The driver side turbo header is finally finished, took me long enough on that one huh?! I had to decide how to go about correcting the problem and it took a little longer than it should have, I wanted to try and use at least some of the original design so that it would hopefully be easier than starting from scratch, in the end I don't think it would have mattered. I was able to salvage one of the original weld els and add to it with two newer ones thus changing the angle of the entire turbo assembly since I knew the oil feed/return portion of the turbo could be turned within the cartridge. Bill Watson was extremely helpful in helping getting this done as he took time out and performed the final welds for me.
Currently the turbos are loosely bolted onto the new header so that fit and clearance could be checked, it looks like it will work fine this time. Also the oil feed lines are installed though I may need to adjust some of the routing on one of them but that's no big deal, I'll have to finish up the oil drain lines as well but again that's a small task. I have already decided on how to route the charge pipes from the turbos to the intercooler since in the past I had been a little undecided about that, and it looks like I'll have to spend some more money in order to get the parts I need to make it work but hey isn't that how it always goes?
I hate to be premature but I am a little encouraged that a test drive before the end of the year could be possible, (that's when the real learning curve happens, while tuning) of course if I had worked on it harder and more often it wouldn't have taken five years to build now would it?!
10/2005-3/2006
Well its been a longtime since an update because I've been slacking on the car a lot mainly because I've been more broke than usual these last few months. I have managed to get a few things done but nothing that's going to set the world on fire. I was bummed that I didn't get to test drive it before 2005 ended too.
Some of the things that did get done are, the turbos are now securely mounted hopefully for a longtime, the oil feed lines have been run and routed, the drain tubes are in, and the air filters are now installed and tucked neatly inside the fenders. I've even tacked the exhaust's X pipe together and acquired some freebie 2.5" tailpipes, the downside to this is while doing mockup work I noticed the fuel pump will need to be relocated and my mufflers have the wrong offset. :( Oh well that's how it goes most of the time, now you know why this thing is taking forever!
The main thing that is the holdup now is the charge pipes from the turbos to intercooler and of course finishing the exhaust system. I picked up a pair of 2" els from Turbonetics in order to route the charge pipes to the cooler, Jim Sheren tig welded them to my factory adapters that bolt onto the turbos so of course they look great.
My house is currently for sale so the project has not gotten much attention due to this but once it sells and I get back home to Texas it will not only pick up again but with help from friends and family progress will go quicker.