4.6 being installed now

[hiball3985]

No, all vehicles have EGR, the EGR system is used to cool down the combustion chamber to reduce NO2 emissions (left over from the days of "Global Cooling" and acid rain) while the car is running after it is warmed up.  The pipe gets the exhaust gas to the control valve, some makes use ports in the intake (mid 70s Fords used a plate under the carb and pulled gas from the heat cross over).  The entire system can be elininated with no ill effects to engine performance or drivability but the computer may need re-programming.  Kinda like removing the cats, no harm, no foul as long as the computer is tweeked.

Rich after thinking about this for a while....if it were me.....I would elininate the EGR, the cats, the purge system, the air injection system and have the computer programed so when the "check engine" light comes on you know you have a problem.

I'm glad to see someone else remembers when they tried selling us on Global Cooling 

[Tom S]

Rich, after looking at the mounting flange on that EGR valve here is another crazy thought for a cheap way to get out of reprograming the computer.
Maybe you could fabricate some sort of spacer for your ... "flying saucer"?  That's a definite maybe 'cause I don't know where the valve could fit.

[RICH MUISE]

Good idea....another method to consider.
I did call Ron Francis today, and talked to Scott....I think he's the head guy there now. The computer would have to be reprogramed if the egr is deleted, so it's gonna stay, one way or another. He didn't seem to think it would be a problem if I were able to fit an egr valve of a different shape in it's place as they all pretty much function the same as far as the computer is concerned. So, one way or another, I'll get it ironed out. Thanks again for the idea, that may work also if I can find an area close that has more room, or at least use it to reposition the way it's sitting.

[RICH MUISE]

Spent a few hours walking the salvage yard looking for ideas, actually came up with two, but decided Tom's flange extention would be the best route...however.....EGR issue is resolved. The valve is temporarily in with no mods whatsoever. I've just got to pull it to clean it up, new gasket. etc., and decide whether or not to replace the inlet tubes from the exhaust manifolds that were cut. Why did it become a non-issue? I woke up and remembered I had the tranny sitting temporarily on a spacer at what I thought would be a minimum spacer thickness @ 1 5/8 (yes, a 2 x 4). I jacked up the tranny rear to 2 1/4 which rotated the engine up and away from the firewall almost a 1/2". Engine angle will still be in good shape I think, and still have plenty of tunnel clearance.

Just some interesting info....one car at the yard had a Ford sticker on it saying the "alterations to the recirculating gases system was a ford authorized repair". Car had been stripped, so I couldn't see if it was the egr/exhaust man. tube I had found altered. One posible egr solution that I ended up not needing was  I found out the 97-8 Mviii's had a intake manifold with the throttle body in the center (on top of the middle of the motor). The continental front wheel drives have a similar intake to the Mviii, but the egr valve is on the right side, where I have more room. As I said..not something I have to worry about now.

[RICH MUISE]

A little follow up...did a bunch of reading on the Mark viii forumn regarding the egr valves, the flow sensor, and the tube that runs to the exhaust. It seems that the egr itself is rarely a problem, it is usually the sensor and the cracking of the tube, and split vacumn lines. I decided that being in a difficult place to get to once the car is assembled, I'm going to replace everything with new while I can get to it easily. The problem may be the tube..100 + from a Ford dealer according to 6 or 7 year old posts. They may not even still be available, and the adapter needed to attach them to the manifold was reported to be no longer available.

[RICH MUISE]

Got all new egr components ordered today. The good news I got was the connector tube is available from Ford as well as the adapter needed. They'll be in from Fort Worth tomorrow.
Next problem to solve is the tranny mount now that I know for sure what the height of the mount needs to be. My makeshift one I didn't feel comfortable with, so I ordered an '03 Crown Vic oem and I think I can adapt it to work...todays project.

[hiball3985]

Good decision to buy all new and get it in now rather then fighting it later. Just to back up a few posts, I forgot to ask about the drive shaft front yoke. What you are doing is using the OEM 57 yoke on the new drive shaft and that has the correct spline, ID/OD to fit the new style trans?

[RICH MUISE]

No, all the components are the Mark viii...engine, tranny and driveshaft. Driveshaft is unmodified except for the rear universal joint. The front yoke is original Mark viii except for new oem style u joint.
Was trying to figure out what I said that made you ask that, and it was probably that I called the piece on the differential the driveshaft bolts to , "the '57 yoke"...probably the wrong term for that piece.
Damn, both my keyboard and mouse are acting up now.

[hiball3985]

Thanks Rich, I think I just got confused looking at the picture, the front yoke looked old. The piece on the end of the differential is a companion flange in most Ford manuals but I always refer to it as the yoke also.

From a non computer guy, I've had issues like that and it's usually cured by taking it out in the garage and blowing it out, I live in a dusty area..

[RICH MUISE]

I had the low mileage mark viii driveshaft, but I gave it to the guy that bought the car after I pulled the engine. I thought I was giving him the high mileage one, but picked up the wrong one. I do have it all cleaned up now..looks much better. I used the autobody zinc phosphate to give the mating surfaces a good cleaning/rust removal and little bit of protection, new joint, and a little paint on the non mating surfaces of the yoke. Skotchbrited the driveshaft itself with aluminum wheel cleaner. LOL Just couldn't bring myself to putting all that dirty stuff on the car.

[RICH MUISE]

well, I guess nothing has got to be easy for me. I picked up the new Ford connecting tube for the egr to exhaust, and it's about 1 1/2 too short for my needs. Probably because of the Mustang exhaust manifolds. They also redesigned it, eliminating the weak accorian section that made it somewhat adjustable. I've got it reshaped and heading in the right direction, but as I said too short. One of the guys on the Mark viii forumn thought the fittings might be plumbing type, but no such luck, and that of course eliminated the hope of just stacking up some couplers or adapters to make the reach. I'm gonna look at salvaging a section of tubing off the old one to weld in the middle. I'll let you know how that goes.

[RICH MUISE]

Well that egr and tube chewed up my day..but it's in. I did end up using remnants of the original tube that was left to extend the new one. That was pretty easy, and would have been easier if I hadn't cut the wrong end off the new one and have to weld on new ends at both ends.
4 or 5 trial and errors and tweeking with heating and bending to reshape, but it's there and hopefully won't have to come back out. I got some kinks in the tube trying to reroute the original bends, but not enough to interfere with flow. It ain't real pretty, but I'm not going to worry about it. Had I had to do it over, I'd check to see if a hydraulics tube company could fab some from scratch. The kink there would be I think the fittings are metric threads.
The egr valve was easy to get in place, but getting to the bolts was another matter. The new egr valve, 2nd pic, is slightly different configuration than the original and is an even tighter fit. It's the round black thing with the vacumn line tube in the center.
The last pic, btw, is a better pic of my exhaust manifold to r & p clearance.

[RICH MUISE]

Didn't get very far today. I ended up relocating the new egr flow sensor to the firewall just above the valve cover as there was not enough room for the connector. Got the egr connector tube wrapped with heat shield, and everything related finished. I can finally scratch that off my list. I also got the throttle cable hooked up. Fit was a little tight, I thought it might bind the cable, but the gas pedal arrangement I cautiously played with a few months ago works smooth as silk. I read a few nightmare scenarios on the hamb about mickey moused throttle linkages and the results...didn't want that hapenning here.
Finally tommorrow I can pull the tranny crossmember out and get it modified to accept the '03 Crown Vic mount. There might be an interference problem with the 2 studs on the mount and the oem gussetts on the crossmember.

[RICH MUISE]

wow..almost a month since I updated. Haven't been working on the '57 too much though, hopefully back to it next week for a while anyways.
I mentioned in an earlier post that the 4.6 dohc in the f.w.d. Continentals had a rubber air intake to the throttle body. I went to the salvage yard and pulled one that was the shorter of the two I saw, both on '95's.  (Shorter where it comes up off the throttle body before turning 90*) As it turns out, the taller one might work, but with it turned from it's oem direction of going away from the engine, the shorter one won't clear the intake manifold on the Mark viii motor. The taller one that I left there may work. I'm going to go get it Monday. $5 each, so not too much lost. I'm still playing with the idea of running the air intake to the cowl and using that for the intake area rather than running it thru the wheel well near the headlight. The rubber will make it easier to fab components than the hard plastic that came on the Mark viii.
While I was there, I noticed they had a '97 continental with all the engine components intact. I came home and researched whether the valve covers would fit, and they will. I went back to the yard and started pulling the covers off, but couldn't get them out before the yard closed, so I'll go back on Monday and finish pulling them, along with the cop harness and covers. I almost bought a set on ebay for $109, but fortunatly didn't because these will only be 20.! (not sure if they meant 20 each or the pair, but still cheap). Anyway, this will allow me to convert the Mviii motor to coil on plugs, eliminating the coil packs and spark plug wires, thus cleaning up the engine compartment quite a bit. I won't do the conversion until after the motor is up and running, but I want to get them while I can cheaply, and it'll probably take a ton of hours to get them stripped and polished up anyways.
Al:...you home yet?
Cyclone:...any progress on the Roush setup?

[RICH MUISE]

Forgot to update on the install to date. As I had hoped, the engine and tranny went in once and done thanks to the mock up block and tranny. Best money I ever spent. I had to play with the tranny height abit to get everything fitting, but I knew that was going to be the case.
What I did/used, and what I ended up with:
the Mustang motor mounts worked great with having allowed for the mounting studs being at two different heights. I did discover the engine is offset to the passenger side the same 3/8" the oem tranny crossmember was. This gives me 7/8 inch clearance exhaust manifold to upper control arm bracket on the driver's side, but only 1/8 on the passenger side. I think I will go in and trim the passenger side control arm bracket a bit before I put the front end on, just to make sure. The 02 Cobra exhaust manifolds fit perfectly. I did have to remove the manifold mounting studs from the heads and use bolts in their place. The manifolds won't go on over the studs.
I modified the front sump Continental oil pan so I could move the motor back an additional 1/2". I now have 1/2" clearance from the bellhousing to the rack and pinion, 1/16 oil pan to engine crossmember. Up top, I have 1/4" clearance from the egr valve to firewall. I did have to relocate the egr's flow sensor to the firewall. I have 9 1/2" clearance from the crankcase pulley to the engine side of the core support, so there is plenty of room to adapt the Mark viii electric fans. The '03 crown vic tranny mount was the exact height I needed to get my egr clearance, and give me  1/4" clearance from the driveshaft to the floor brace above it. With the car sitting level, the engine is at about 4 1/2 to 5*, so when I get my ride height settled in with about a 2 1/2* rake, the engine should be within a few degrees of level.