The 83GT

BigBlockRanger wrote:Made a new tune and it starts and runs great.  Accel enrichment is very heavy, but I can turn it down.

I tightened the fitting on the filter relocator and that fixed the leak.

I am really really happy with how this has turned out.

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/QilxSZf6_lc?si=3iml38z-pHZhc7QR



https://www.youtube.com/shorts/QXHmNuzmNOE?si=8CGXd6lNTbiYSgy3

Sounds good does the Air cleaner and Filter clear the hood when closed?

Well, it does because I have a 68 Hemi Dart scoop on the hood.

Took it for it's first few laps around the parking lot.  Oh boy, she's rowdy.  Started to do a burnout, but it almost ran out of gas.  I was lucky to get it back in the shop. Really reminds me of the original 545. Throttle response is NOW.

The oil filter adapter continues to drip, so I gotta take it off and fix it right.

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/b5XiEab-JBc?si=UFx0pyz4O7aidDBl

BigBlockRanger wrote:Took it for it's first few laps around the parking lot.  Oh boy, she's rowdy.  Started to do a burnout, but it almost ran out of gas.  I was lucky to get it back in the shop. Really reminds me of the original 545. Throttle response is NOW.

The oil filter adapter continues to drip, so I gotta take it off and fix it right.

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/b5XiEab-JBc?si=UFx0pyz4O7aidDBl

Sounds Good!!

GoPro vid of the first drive.

https://youtu.be/3pyeajJsVdY?si=6Mm2aypbd9GJNdti

like the motor mount setup you used instead of a full block plate i might do something similar . did you do a mid one as well.? also how did you attach the bent tubing to the aluinum plate behind the water pump? i should put some pics of as i am doing twin turbos in my maverick right now , almost done the turbo stuff just 4 bolted a dover block and getting ready to awap all my internals over to a 4 bolt block than i can put engine back in and get things hooked up .

BigBlockRanger wrote:Cardboard aided design version 2.0!

I looked at a bunch of 460 alternator mounts last night and It seems like every one of them was flat and used a bunch of spacers to move the bracket out to the alternator's mounting plane. I didn't particularly like any of them.

After I made the cardboard version, I cut this one out of a piece of flat steel with my bandsaw. Then I bent it in the vise with a big hammer. Kapow.

This one is not finished and I'm not sure if I'm going to leave the adjustment arm in that position, but you get the idea.

I didn't make a mid mount.
The plate bolts to the bar with 5 bolts. There is also 1 bolt on each side that goes into the heads. Those two are really there so I can remove the plate and timing cover without having to support the engine some other way.

thanks i see how you did it now good picture and plenty strong

BigBlockRanger wrote:I didn't make a mid mount.
The plate bolts to the bar with 5 bolts. There is also 1 bolt on each side that goes into the heads.  Those two are really there so I can remove the plate and timing cover without having to support the engine some other way.

I drove it on it's longest drive today. The tune is still garbage, but I data logged it and will be making changes. I am going to turn the target AFR table off because I believe it is jacking with me. I drove it long enough to get it out of warmup enrichments.

It's mostly garbage, but when you whack it and it hits a happy spot, it totally rips. REALLY excited about this version of this engine.

This thing has been straight up driving me bananas. I finally got the tune pretty decent, but also had odd issues. Thought it might be related to grounding.  Changed some of that up today.   Took it for a drive.  It ran super good at part throttle and moderate accel. I think the coil swap and dwell drop was a move in the right direction.  

WOT it was surge-y. It will rev to 5000 and then hit a wall like a soft rev limiter. Won't rev over 5k under load.  It will free rev to 6000, but seems to experience the same phenomenon.  Valve float has crossed my mind, but I am running a spring that is in spec with the spring recommended by COMP and 5000 seems low for float. 

Came back to the shop, swapped the alternator to the old one off the Turbo 302.  Looks like that helped clean up the battery voltage a bit.  

On a whim I though I might swap the TFI module to a genuine Motorcraft one (again from the Turbo 302).  Mind you, all I am using the TFI for is to provide a good signal to the Megasquirt. It is not controlling dwell or anything that like that, so it isn't subject to the heat failures TFI's are known for.  I swapped it on and....  Nothing.  Crank crank crank crank. Won't start.  Swapped back to the other module. Won't start.  Check for spark when cranking? Yep. It's good. 

At this point, my patience is wearing very thin.  Runs great, sorta, restarts fine several times in the shop, then wont start to save it's life.  

Next move is to bolt on the Brawler 850 and just forget trying to control fuel for now.  The MS will still handle the spark, unless it acts up, then I am going to jam the old HEI distributor I used to run on the 545 in this thing and go have some simple fun.  

This car needs a rewire job bad, I just don't have time to do it before Raceweek.  

I've only bought 3 new carburetors in my life. This is number 3.

Looks like a nice part. Certainly for the price.

I de-choked it and clearanced the Dominator to 4150 adapter plate to clear the 50cc accelerator pump on the secondary side.

I have a feed line on the way to simplify plumbing and I need to connect the throttle cable.

With the exception of the carb feel line, everything is done.

I had to reroute the return line off the regulator and change up some wiring to accommodate it. I also removed the injector harness so it would not be cluttering up the engine bay.

I made a throttle cable mount and switched to the next channel on the coil igniter. It has 4 channels but I only use one because I only have a single coil. Might not be a problem, but won't hurt it to switch!

What kind of throttle cable is that?I just finished installing a Trick Flow Adjustable Throttle Bracket on my car.I'm not sure what Throttle Cable i have on it it's either from a 75 Lincoln or 78 LTDII that i had.I bought a throttle cable for a 85 GT Mustang with the 302 4 Barrel and it was too short!! For some reason in 2021 and now about a 2 months ago i had the throttle stick on me at an idle in reverse one time and the next time coming to a stop on the road in 1st gear talk about scary. Here's a 4 pictures of old and new bracket.

Sorry to Hi Jack your thread a couple more pictures!!

It is the cable off my 98GT.   It worked well with the LS throttlebody. It's pretty long. Maybe a little longer that I would like, but whatever. I cut the barrel thingy off the end and used a ball stud cable end I had leftover from a previous project.

I needed more clearance by the fuel line, so I picked up some shorty dummy injectors. They fit nice.

I was having trouble getting it to run. It would crank up and run, poorly, then would only give a few ka-chuffs.

I popped new plugs in and monkeyed with the TFI wiring and connector a bit. Turned the key and it lit right off. I dialed in some more idle air and some idle fuel and it idles nice. Drove it around a little and logged it. I didn't hammer on it, just made some laps. Seems to run gooood. Very smooth.

Pulled back int the shop and noticed fuel dripping from the regulator's vacuum port. lol

I hate cars.

New reg showed up. It's a Mr.Gasket. I have to laugh because people tell you to always buy name brand stuff and not that no-name China crap, but the name brand stuff is made in China too. haha.

I also nabbed a set of valve springs because I am still having a weird issue right around 5000 rpm.  The best I can figure is that it is valve float or some sort of harmonic. The current TFS 16514's (single spring) are a little lighter that what is spec'd by Comp. I am going to a Comp 925 dual spring. They are a little heavier on the seat and open than these. Comp recommends a 924 which is just a skosh lighter than the 925. I stepped up because I read that some folks find the 924 a little light for big block size valves and fast rate lobes like this XE cam has.

I swapped out the springs this evening, but it wasn't without drama. Haha. I learned an important lesson. You can't find something that isn't lost.

While working on cylinder 3, accidentally dropped the new springs and retainer in the engine bay. They played Plinko and eventually the big spring and retainer ended up on the floor. Ok, so where is the small spring??? I looked and looked. Under the car, in the engine bay, around the starter, I even jacked the dang car up and looked EVERYWHERE. Finally at my wits end, I grab the spring box off the roof of the car and there it was.....

I don't know how that sucker bounced all the way up there and landed back in the box.

Anyway, the old springs were installed at 1.85" when they were supposed to be at 1.8". That really dropped the seat and open pressures. Totally my fault. With light hyd flat tappet springs, I just didn't realize that small changes in IH mean big changes in seat and open pressures.

I had a set of +0 locks in the cabinet so I installed the 925's at the recommended 1.90" IH. I also managed to swap them all without having to bust out the air hold. Whoo hoo!

You can do this stuff for years and still learn new stuff every day.

My friends Ray Meyers and Ed Hohenberg both brought up how close to coil bind the springs are set up with. Too much and the springs can be subject to surge.

The TFS springs were 0.235" from coil bind. 1.85" - 0.575 - 1.04 = 0.235" This is likely waay too much, which is odd because these springs are recommended for a max of 0.540" lift at 1.80" IH. Which would be 0.22" from coil bind.

Whatever. Maybe this engine just does not like those springs. Haha.

The Comp springs are closer to their coil bind, (0.15") so that combined with the additional rate, hopefully will clear up the problem.

I finished up today. It fired right up but I didn't have time to test drive. Maybe tomorrow if it isn't raining.

Well you needed to break that Comp Butter Stick in with dinky single springs anyway, before you put the dual springs on.

Fix one problem, find a new one.

I fired up the car and took it for a quick drive the other day. Good news is I think the spring surge problem is fixed. I rolled into the throttle like I did before and it revved smoothly right up to 5000. On a slow roll, it used to start having problems just beyond 4000. So that is good. The new problem is that right at 5000, I think something is causing the MS to reset because it literally just shuts the motor off. I wasn't logging or I would know for sure, but that is what it acts like.

It's like turning the key off. Sometimes it will recover, sometimes not.

I rerouted the coil (+) wire the other day, so I am going to undo that and see if that is what is causing the reset.

****************
Saturday:
Hot wired the coil back to what it used to be. It no longer shuts off but it still wasn't working right. One time it would rev fine, the next not.

Clipped the wire to the factory tach and shift light. No change.

I logged it this time and something is causing resets in the MS.

Tomorrow I am going to poke the HEI in and see how it acts. I am also going to check the rocker adjustment. I have had one on the driver's side that is a ticker since I swapped springs.

****************
Sunday

Holy cow this thing is like a rollercoaster ride.

I swapped in the HEI distributor and it immediately started up. Set the base timing and it was very happy. Revs perfectly. Then, I look down and there is very little oil pressure. Not zero, but not much. Yikes.

I pulled the distributor back out and spun the pump with the drill. Made about 12 psi on the drill. I figured something must be leaking internally. I was right. The No. 4 intake lifter had popped up in its bore creating a big leak. The lifter snap ring got damaged a little and the rocker got beat up a little around the pushrod cup. The pushrod looks perfect. I stole a snap ring off an old lifter and put it all back together. Waiting on intake gaskets now.

How did it happen? I don't think I got it adjusted correctly or I didn't get the set screw locked down tight. The polylock was loose and backed way off and the only way the rocker would get beat up is if the pushrod was still in the lifter. Once the rocker backed far enough off, the pushrod popped out and the lifter popped up. You'd think it would have made an awful noise, but it really didn't.

I just hope I didn't hurt anything else in the motor with the low oil pressure. It really wasn't making any weird noises, but the front exit exhaust really makes it hard to hear stuff.

I'm going to drain the oil, pop off the filter and open it up. Hopefully there are no surprises. I hate cars.

I know how you feel. Seems like I worked on mine for 3 day to be right where I started. But some progress was made. Gonna eat this elephant one bite at a time.

I put the drill back on it and spun the pump for a bit. Really to circulate oil into the filter more than anything. I almost shot oil out of the rockers like geysers. Haha.

Pulled the filter and cut it open. That filter cutter worked awesome. There were a few random flakes in there, but nothing that really caused me to worry. I have not drained the oil, but what I dumped out of the filter wasn't gritty and didn't seem glittery so maybe it is ok.

It's fine. Everything is fine. Nothing to see here.

Truth is, I put a billet timing set in it before I knew they really should be used with a bronze cam thrust plate. Since the car is down I figured I would eliminate that lingering worry. Btw, the thrust plate looked fine.

It's a good thing I did it though, because the crank bolt was loose!

I have a Cloyes set I am going to swap in. The intent was for a quick swap. Pop off the upper sprocket, leave the lower in place and go on my merry way. The lower is hard to get on/off and there is usually just enough slack that you can eek the upper sprocket on. Well, that did not work as the chains are a slightly different pitch. It's probably for the best though, not mixing parts and all.

In addition, the chain on the not-name-brand billet set really didn't give me warm fuzzy feelings.

Onward!!

Going back together.

The chain in this new set seems to be a lot tighter than the other one. Definitely puts my worrisome mind at ease. Haha.

I'll finish it up tomorrow. It took me quite a while to pull the old lower off the crank. This crank is a little fat right where the lower sprocket rides so they go on rather snuggly. You nearly always have to rig up a puller to get them off which is hard because of how long the snout is on a BBF crank. Maybe some day I will make a tool.