4.6 being installed now

[RICH MUISE]

Got the which is which figured out. Nice to have a spare engine to look at the things I can't see when it's in the car. The bottom tube is the supply, and the top tube is the return. This was determined from the fact the bottom one comes out of the head, and has the water temp. sensor on it. The top one looks like it feeds under the intake to the front where the water pump is.

[RICH MUISE]

Nicely done Rich. The height of the radiator cap makes me nervous but I'm sure sure you calculated that..

Still makes me nervous...moving it back to it's original position will make the radiator hoses a real pain to refigure. If there is hood interference, I've figured out I'm going to alter the core support by shortening the height of the supports very bottom crosspiece. I'll have to cut out an inch or so, then weld in something to replace it, just lower. I'll have to figure out something shorter to replace that strange core support bolt, and redrill the radiator mounting holes. I can only lower the radiator that way another 3/4" inch without the lower radiator hose hitting the front crossmember.
Hopefully, that mod won't be needed. Next time I'll consider a different (shorter) radiator..probably a griffin.

[RICH MUISE]

While I'm waiting for ordered stuff to come in, I'm working on the tranny shifter. I've got that center console that was designed for a B & M shifter when I thought I was going to be using an AOD tranny. That shifter won't work with the 4R70W tranny. I am going to adapt the Mark viii shifter to my console. Another reason to do this is it gives me the built in overdrive on/off switch.
I took good pics of the linkage as it sat in the Mark, so I'd know where to cut the hole in the tranny tunnel, which is about 6" forward of the very end of the tranny. I could access the area I needed to cutout thru openings in the console, so I was able to get that done without pulling the console. I got the cable linkage cleaned up and temporarily hooked to the tranny. The cable is about 2 inches too short for my particular application, so I'm going to lengthen the cable, and fabricate a cable housing retainer. That's today's project. Once I get the shifter mounted in it's permanent home, I can work on a Bezel to fit the console/shifter together.

[RICH MUISE]

Also....I spent a while figuring out which Mustang off road pipes would be best for our application. Best, that is, with budget a strong consideration, since it's not 100% sure this would work. I almost ordered a set made by Pypes because they were stainless and an X crossover, and only $30 more than MAC's. I called the Pypes manufaturer, and found out even though the EBAY ads said they fit Cobras, they in fact don't. He told me Pypes did not manufacture anything that would mate with the Cobra OEM exhaust manifolds, regadless of what their distributors claimed. In the budget category, that left MAC's..which is what Al/DOHC57 has with his Mustang 4.6 drivetrain. Thanks for your input on that, Al. An email to the seller confirmed they will fit the Cobra OEM manifolds, and will fit the manual or automatic trannys. The only downside is they are not stainless, but aluminized steel. I had other options if I wanted to double or triple the 170. price I paid for the Mac's. They do have the 02 sensor bungs installed (4, I actually only need the front 2 on the Mark viii setup), and are not welded to the H pipe, so that's gonna help with trying to fit to the '57.
I am not sure if what I ordered is the same as what Al has...the difference being the H pipe...they make a more elaborate, and I assume better, crossover (not an X) than the simple H pipe I ordered. MAC's number I ordered is 43969.(could be the seller's stock number, not sure)
Anyway...I wanted to get the downpipes installed before I started running my other lines...fuel, A/C, electrical, etc.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/MAC-Ford-Mustang-GT-Cobra-4-6L-99-04-Off-Road-H-Pipe-to-Stock-43969-/300996248336?pt=Motors_Car_Truck_Parts_Accessories&fits=Year%3A2001%7CModel%3AMustang&hash=item4614c64310&vxp=mtr

[RICH MUISE]

Well, I gotta quote Edison again....I now know what isn't going to work. I extended the shifter cable 2 3/4 inches, and cut the leading edge of my spare shifter housing and welded it to the one being used, so I could add the same 2 3/4 to the cable housing suport. That 2 3/4 added let me move the shifter back to where it needed to be,however,the problem is, my console is too high, and therefore puts too much angle/bends on the cable, causing it to bind.
Tommorrows project.....I'm going to weld on a plate to the front of the housing so I can lower where the cable housing is attached by an inch or so. That will aim the cable more in the right direction. I'll probably have to lengthen the hole in the tranny tunnel that the cable passes thru to allow the cable to move in the right direction.
I don't think I'm going to be able to get the shifter up high enough to use gear position indicator. so I may end up with an aftermarket setup for that...or just glue a wooden stick to the console with P N D 1 2 next to the shift handle!

[Ford Blue blood]

Looking good, not able to give any suggestions on the issues other then look at the routing of the cable with the shifter up where you want it.

Wasp and hornet spray???

[RICH MUISE]

wasp and hornet spray....excellent for killing black widows on contact....killed three in my garage yesterday. This was a bad year for them. I got bit twice when I pulled that Irory Mark viii apart.
wasp spray =3 bucks a can, spider spray=8 bucks a can

[Ford Blue blood]

The car I got out of west Texas had a gazillion black widows and wolf spiders, sucked them up with the shop vac and those that stayed hidden got it with the presure washer!  We have them here as well, never been bitten that I know of.  We do have the brown recluse as well, not sure I have ever seen any of them....

[RICH MUISE]

I think I moved a little in the right direction today...didn't work on the shifter much, too busy being lazy. I did cut off the extension I welded on in the previous pics, and blacksmithed a new one longer and lower, and welded it on. It took alot of the kinks out of the cable and allowed me to position the shifter up to the top of the console. I now need to go back and relengthen the cable about another 1 1/4 or so, and clamp the shifter in place before I can check it for binding. Just sitting in a free state, the cable is now aimed right at the place it needs to hook up to, just too short again. It does not appear that I am coming off the "pusher" at too great of an angle to cause binding.

[RICH MUISE]

Even with the cold, I had to have a look-see at the Mac's Cobra downpipes to try and at least get a feel for whether or not it's gonna work. I will need to drop the tranny crossmember to get them in, but at this point it looks like they're gonna be darn near perfect.
The bigger question mark for me at this point is whether or not the H-pipe is gonna work. If the downpipe clears the crossmember, and the floorpan, without having to tweak the pipes, the h-pipe would have to fit (under the driveshaft) wouldn't it?
BTW, I ordered two oxegen sensors today. O'Reilly's price was 49. each, plus tax. RockAuto's price 45. total, delivered, for the pair. Same brand.

[hiball3985]

Sorry Rich, off topic but my garage and back yard has always been a haven for black widows and I won't even try to guess how many times I've been bit. I drive the 57 90% of the time and take my truck and mustang out once a week to keep them running. When I grab the keys and the wife asks where am I going I reply with "taking the spiders for a ride" 

[RICH MUISE]

Cobra downpipes.....they're gonna be far from a perfect fit as I had originaly thought, but I'm gonna give a shot at making them work, as I think the alternative is some very expensive custom exhaust work. Originally, eyeballing them with the tranny crossmember in place, it looked like they were going to pull up pretty close to the floorboards. I dropped the crossmember and got them bolted up, and they are 2 1/2 " below the floorboards, putting them right where the crossmember is. In that position, the h-pipe easily clears everything, but of course they can't be left in that position. Also, the h-pipe comes back so it is underneath the driveshaft.
The fix...I hope....I measured the angle the downpipes are at between the flange and the horizontal portion, and calculated a dim. of 3.88 to cut out and weld back together. This will raise the horizontal leg by 2 1/2", putting it next to the floorboards. It will also move forward the horizontal legs, so the h-pipe is moved frontwards almost 3". This is good because it may move it far enough frontwards for the h-pipe to be under the tranny tailshaft, which is a smaller dia than the driveshaft. At this point I'm not even sure if I can adapt/use the h-pipe because it may interfere with the emergency brake cable. I think at the very least, I may have to relocate the emergency brake cable bracket from the top of the crossmember to the bottom.

[RICH MUISE]

Got the passenger side downpipe redone. I cut out 3.88 from the sloped leg. The horizontal area of the pipe is now sitting, or will be, about 1/8" above the crossmember and 1/2 below floorpan..leaving some room for some heat shield if needed. The pipe welded fantastic...love that sizzlin' sound when things are cooking just right. The hardest part was figuring out how to scribe some accurate cutting lines on the pipe!...which turned out to be quite simple. While the Dykem was drying, I cut about a 10" strip of chipboard 3.88 wide, and just wrapped and taped it around the pipe. The chipboard is thin enough to wrap smoothly, but thick enough for a good edge to guide the scriber. Fortunatly I thought to also scibe a line thru the cut marks that I could line up before welding to keep the timing of the bends in the right plane. Looks like we got some warmer weather headed this way in another day, so maybe I can get the driver's side done and the crossmember reinstalled so I can see what, if anything, I need to do to the emergency brake cable, and if I can use the h-pipe.

[rlibew]

Does anyone know if the dip stick from a 97  Lincoln mark V111 is a front sump pan. Unable to try on car as it is back in paint shop, second time should be a charm, paint.
My car is now 95% complete mechanically, I have driven it a few blocks with no windows, hood or trunk, loud but ran great with trans, clutch working great. Next is the other 5 % mechanical ( head and tail lights AC grills etc etc.) than headliner and window interior and stainless.
There have been many issues since the fast start , relocate alternator, eliminate oil cooler for clearance, rack an pinion ect ect. and paint.

Anyway I need a front sump dip stick for my 4-6 cobra 

[RICH MUISE]

All mark viii's were rear sump oil pans. I still have to "play" with mine, but what previous members have done(with the Mark viii motors) was to keep the dip stick that came with it and just shorten it a little so it doesn't hit the what-is-now-the-shallow end of the pan, remarking the "full" position.  The one in the '95 I'm using is a cable type dip stick rather than the regular thin flat strip, I don't know if they are all like that. The spare '94 engine I have is that type also.
I haven't shortened mine as I said, but even if I push the dipstick in hard, I cannot hear or feel it hitting the oil pan. It really just feels like a normal dipstick all the way to the bottom. I figured when time came to put oil in, I'd put in the exact amount to fill it per specs, then see what the dipstick reading looks like.
All that said, I don't know what the Mustang has for a dipstick setup, so don't know if anything I said is of any help.
Hope you have gotten resolved whatever issues you had with the car having to back to the paint shop. You mentioned your car was loud...no exhaust yet or just loud exhaust? speaking of which.....