Covid Project - 80's Project T-Rod

Replaced a freeze plug...and got the engine block id on the 302. Appears to be a '71 Mustang 302 "Mexican Block". The left front of the block appears to have the "nodule" that Mexican blocks are known to have.

 

Got the shock/headlight mounts welded on...and ended up getting new pulleys to utilize a (1) V-belt system. For the alternator, I used my old alternator internals with a new chrome kit. I went ahead and replaced the bearings and brushes while it was torn apart. You can still purchase the bearing and brushes from Rock Auto (surprisingly).

 

Did a good scrubbing with "Deep Purple" degreaser and water. Just used a pan and scrubber brush. Overall, it cleaned up the tranny pretty nicely. Here's a before and after.

 

Trans looks great! Bring your stuff to my house! I’m buying the burgers!

 

Do most builders end up painting their tranny, or better to leave it as is?

 

Nice work, Randy. Your box looks like it hangs kinda low. Is it above the scrub line?

PS - I was dumb enough to polish my tranny (TH 350) but when assembled, you can't even see it! Just rattle-can it and forget it.

 

I’m thinking it’s ok. The pitman arm is sitting higher than the front solid axle and the oil pan. The pitman arm works nice and smoothly. The tie-rod move nicely in between the batwing clevises. I thought through this scenario pretty well.

 

Got around to sawing off the old "sleds" from the older Total Performance body.

 

Progress report . . . ?

 

Where were you able to locate the chrome kit for the alternator? That’s a good idea and I hadn’t considered that as an alternative. By the way, there’s a place in Texas that you can get alternator and starter parts from. I used them to rebuild my Astro alternator. They’re reasonably priced too.

 

It's been a few months, but I thought I would update my progress. I bought a brake pedal assembly and modified it to fit appropriately. I had to do the same for the mounting bracket. It was pretty close quarters with the shifting linkage installed. Once it was temporarily mounted, I ran the new rear brake lines. I had to fabricate a bracket off the frame for the proportioning valve.

 

Fabricated up a steering linkage mount using a piece of steel pipe and a 3/4" heim and welded it to the frame. Welded and mounted on the radiator lower mounts and the front brake line mounts.

 

Finally, I was able to clean and degrease the engine block and frame. I used rustoleum professional and brushed on the paint. Overall, it turned out ok. I know...it's not Ford Blue....I wanted it to stick out, so I went with the "sunset" red. The paint scheme with the final fiberglass body paint will look better. Ford blue wouldn't look near as good. I'll pull the valve covers and strip and polish them up at a later time.

 

I found the kit on Ebay...it looks like it's a product of "rodspeedracing". Here's a link to their store. rodspeedracing | eBay Stores

 

Thank you for the link. I'm going add them to my list. Seeing your progress makes me envious. Got a new position at work and now I'm too tired to do anything when I get home. I guess the iron in my blood is turning to lead in my ass... Thanks for the progress reports!

 

New position... Ben Dover further? Sorry, been years since I worked for other slave drivers besides myself. I still remember!

 

If that is copper line on the m/c I not sure that will work. I would not be comfortable with it.

 

Hopefully, those are ni/copp lines.

 

Copper might not hold the pressure .
Copper clad is good.

 

I purchased Nickel Copper line. Easy to work with and it doesn't corrode.