What did you do to your Maverick or Comet today

Same crappy tool i i used. That folk kept getting wedge in wrong place after releasing tension.

 

Got the passenger-side upper control arm installed. Whoo hoo! Two for two! This time the spring was a breeze, but everything else was ornery. Anybody else have a ball joint stud spin? In case anyone is wondering, I used a OTC Tools 7045B coil spring compressor. Once I started using the tool properly, it worked perfectly. I used the large plates. It worked smoothly and I was was fairly confident it wasn't going to kill me, probably. From yesterday's trial by error, I learned the spring needs to be compressed a slight bit more going back in than it was coming out (due to the totally thrashed old spring perch). I compressed the spring roughly an additional 3/4-inch (20mm if you're Canadian) from what it was when it came out of the car. I did the shortening on a bench, using a vice to hold the threaded shaft of the tool. (BTW, I just looked at the price of the tool and it has spiked 70 percent in the last couple months, maybe less.)

 

Wise advice whenever dealing with springs. Holding a compressed spring feels a lot like holding a fused artillery shell; don't drop it.

 

I considered it, as my car has that saggy leaf spring going.

 

Nothing exciting, replaced the thermostat housing gasket.

 

Took my hood to metal and put epoxy on it.

 

Very nice, I can’t believe that’s the same hood that had the TERRIBLY UGLY scoop on it.

 

I think hood turned out really well as well.

Seeing hood turned as it did my shot my motivation up a notch.

I still have lots more work to do on it.

 

You have worked some miracles on the old girl, can’t wait to see it when you’re done.

 

I got my plenum clipped back together. Recall from an earlier post I was having trouble getting the clips on. I pulled the front cover off and had a closer look. One thing I noticed is some of the glue squeezed out from under the new foam and formed hard “nodules” adjacent to the foam in some places, keeping it from reaching full compression. The other problem was that the metal piece inside the front over was displaced by a quarter inch. This is the piece that has the foam glued to it and has a metal plate at the end. There are two possible ways to mount it to the fibreglass case at the driver’s side of the plenum. The intuitive way in my incorrect opinion was with it resting in the larger lip. Turns out it rests on the thinner lip. What results is that when it’s mounted incorrectly the plate pokes up too far out of the front cover and keeps the two sides from meeting each other.

Lastly, I put the first clip on at the driver’s side upper corner and worked my way from there. Also, I pointed a heat gun into the passenger side of the plenum and warmed up the box. Make sure the flapper is set to allow heat all across the box and use the lowest setting on the gun. The foam will shrink if it gets too hot. Photo 1. Plate poking out too far. 2. Plate in correct position. Lastly, the last clip at the top right was hard to install so I placed the rubber coated handle of a hammer across it and rolled the clip into position while pushing down on the handle. Worked well. Onward to the hoses.

 

Got the new hoses installed. I completely drained the rad and removed the hose clamps from the hoses. I had to cut the water pump hose off the nipple. I had already cut off the hose off the intake manifold back when I did a bypass loop. I purchased 10 ft of Gates 5/8 “ hose ( made in USA). This is a 73 Maverick, so the holes in the firewall are one above the other. I ran one hose straight through the lower hole and connected directly with the driver’s side nipple on the heater core. This one I connected to the nipple on the intake manifold. The hose to the water pump went through the top hole, turned 90 degrees and connected with the other nipple of the heater core. Both nipples enter the heater core near the top of the actual heater core but this one exits straight up then turns 90 degrees, so it is the highest point on the heater core. This is on a V-8 with no A/C. I used new hose clamps to attach them. It was easy to install the clamps. The 10 ft of heater hose gave me about 2 ft to spare. Refilled the rad with the previously drained fluid. It all went in without backing up. I’ll fire it up tommorow, then top up.

 

Fired up the car and took it to the car wash. The hose connections are holding fine. Now to top up and then take care of some issues with the temp control cable.

 

Giving car a bath! Great way to end the day.

 

The Maverick has been getting neglected while I play with my '47 CJ2A.

Last week, I finally got her to the shop to get a proper alignment for Total Control front end. The initial set up was a bit too "twitchy" which made her needing constant attention as I drove. Plus, it was eating up my tires. With the aftermarket belly bar, bringing the ride height up about an inch and bring the rear end into alignment, it took four hours. Much more comfortable to drive and she still handles like a go-kart.

Yesterday, I plumbed in a Steeda oil separator.
https://www.steeda.com/steeda-mustang-black-anodized-oil-separator-5.0-logo-79-17.html

Micah

 

I topped up the radiator after the heater core job. Recall I was driving it around with the heater bypassed. After installing the heater core and new hoses, it needed an additional 1-1/2 quarts of coolant with the fluid about an inch below the radiator cap.