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Today's tasks were quite simple. I tackled exhaust leaks and the drain plug leak. One of the mufflers had tell tale black around the seams in 3 places. I have had both header pipes loose and only found one spot that needed attention. I bought a tube of Permatex high temp silicone and ran a small bead around the offending areas. The tube says to let it dry for 24 hours before putting into use. I let the truck set for several hours before starting it and driving to the shed. I'm cautiously optimistic about the outcome. While the truck was sitting in the air, I connected the shop vac to the oil fill tube on the engine and turned it on. I removed the drain plug and inserted a rubber plug in the hole. I removed the steel and copper washers on the plug and replaced them with a nylon unit. I replaced the plug and shut off the vacuum. It looks dry so far. The steel washer was a strato seal unit that the o ring had lost it's capacity to seal. I left it on because the copper washer I had didn't cover the entire flange of the drain plug. Tuned out that the leak was in between the strato and the other washer. The nylon unit seems to have rectified that problem. My mistake for reusing the original strato washer. When I put the truck in the shed, I noticed the dome light was still on. I found that the right side switch came a part, letting the dome light stay on all of the time. Another new reproduction part bit the dirt. I can order a different brand but they all look the same so you just have to get lucky and get a good unit. Nice. I'm using the same style as a Ford F1.

After I swapped the trans out, the stereo wasn't sounding right. A few days ago, I went looking and found that I had unplugged the sub woofer cables by accident when I thought I was going to have to pull the trans tunnel. I had plugged in the wrong plug out of a 3 plug cable. That left me with no sub. This was do to no memory again. When I started working on this over the weekend, I figured that out and corrected it. I still had distortion at low volumes like the amp wasn't working. I unplugged the amp and that shut the sound off completely. I changed a bunch of settings on the head unit and it didn't go away. I called Crutchfield's tech line yesterday and asked questions. The tech said I needed to set the gain on the amp. He told me the way they do it so today I went to work. Now, I'm pretty happy. But here's what I don't understand. Before I disconnected the battery for the trans swap, I thought it was fine. I haven't touched the 2 gain switches. I wonder if for some reason they could have vibrated and changed the settings? Maybe I'm just missing a little more brain power. I'll see what happens in the next few weeks to see if it goes to pot again. ??

O&S implemented his latest idea. LOL. The wiring mess in the pics is an 80 amp relay and the wiring to run it including a maxi fuse. The spade connectors can be swapped and run the fan in low speed on the 30 amp controller that is also used to trigger the 80 amp relay. Mind set is 1st: to have a backup in case the 80 amp relay quits and 2nd: if I get into a winter situation and just need the low speed, I can change it quickly. Might be a waste of time in doing that but I was going to try it before I went forward.

O&S had another day of exercise. I removed the alum. radiator and fan. I installed the 3 core copper radiator and then cut to fit and made brackets for the Ford Taurus fan. I have it running on the low speed right now and I can see that won't be enough. I will install the 70 amp relay and wiring the next time it's in the shop. The fan is quiet like the good oem units are.

The new radiator for the 48 arrived in good shape today. if I'm full of energy, I will tackle the changeover tomorrow. Most of the sheet metal has to come off the front to do that. I don't want to have a case of the stupids when doing that. I'm not sure how much fabrication will be involved in mounting the new fan. I have a plan but like all of my plans of the last several years, they may need a revision,,,, or two.

Phil and Tony, no to both. A friend came over to have me press axle bearings on for him. The 1st bearing we took out of the box fell apart. It's a tapered cone. I put it back together and spun it while holding the parts in my hand. It made some noise so he went to get another bearing. It was something I had never seen before. This was on a BOP 12 bolt rear. It has axle bearing retainers instead of c clips.

O&S modified the throttle pedal today in hopes of finding long hours comfort. I had the rear tires balanced. Things are smoother now.

After helping load the truck, I took the profits from that project and went to McDonald's and ate, on the dollar menu. LOL.

This is what happened today. The 72 is on it's way to a new owner.

As I pulled in the shed yesterday, I heard a strange noise. Turned out to be the electric fan. It was scheduled for replacement but maybe a little sooner. After thinking about this for most of the day, I ordered a copper radiator. I have run alum. radiators in most of the builds. I wasn't happy with the welding on the tank on the one in the 48. Rather than chance it, it's going to be replaced. I found a unit that is meant for the 5.0 conversion with the outlet on the correct side so the changeover won't be too terrible. The grille shell has to come off to change out the fan so it made sense to do it all at once and get it over. The new trans had a different speedo gear on it. I'm running down the road looking at the tach and speedo and see that there is a 10 mph difference from where it was. I had to dig out the instruction manual to relearn the setting procedure but it just takes the time to drive one mile.

O&S made some filler panels that go above the door frames to cover the ends on the headliner. I connected my vacuum gauge to the dipstick tube again and raised the vacuum to 3" in the crankcase. I went for a drive and the only thing leaking is the drain plug. I used a new copper washer but it seems to not be limber enough to seal. I have purchased some nylon washers so the next oil change that will be addressed. I ran the ac some and it's working as it should. The weather is about to change so the heater will be more important once again.

O&S had a day of exercise. I took a 4 hour job and completed it in a little over 8 hours. I'm tickled over that. Today was replace the rear main seal and transmission day. I got lucky with some things, somethings, not so much. I started off by thinking I would have to remove the console to get the trans out. I pulled the floor covering up and removed the shifter boot. I got to looking and decided that if I removed the shifter, I might be able to remove the trans without taking the console up. I had a piece of the original floor that I had to cut out with a saw that allowed the trans to slid back another 2". The trans weighs 75lbs. That's more than I can handle laying on my back so I used a floor jack to remove it knowing that going back in wouldn't be easy. I pulled the bellhousing and clutch and made sure the main seal was the culprit and not the rear of the pan. I removed the seal and examined it. I couldn't see anything wrong with it but I wasn't surprised at that. I installed a repair sleeve and a new Ford seal. I installed everything and let it run on jack stands for at least 5 minutes with the trans in gear. No oil ran out, yet. It's back in the shed and ready for the next task. I think I will be a little sore tomorrow.

O&S spent the afternoon working on the 48. The black inserts I installed behind the arm rests didn't quite line up with the line on the door panels. I removed them and trimmed them a little. I'm much happier now. In reading on a Mustang forum, some users reported having 2" of vacuum in the crankcase. I had none. I have an adjustable clamp on the fresh air side of the pcv system. I installed my vacuum gauge in the dip stick hole. I found out I could have 10" real quick by shutting off the fresh air side. I backed it off to 2" and went for a 30 mile drive at 70mph. When I got back to the shop and jacked up the truck, there is way less oil leaking from the crank seals??? It didn't run perfect but it is drivable. There is an occasional miss fire but better than before all of the messing with the pcv system. The setup is almost identical to the 32 except for the efi system. I'm wondering if the more powerful eec v is able to detect minor issues that the eec iv couldn't. I'm chasing ghosts but think I'm moving in the correct direction.

O&S is still working towards a solution on the intermittent miss. I think I have ruled out an electrical issue. There's something going on with the pcv system but I don't have an answer yet. Uncharted territory for me. I wasn't satisfied with how the door panels looked so I had another idea. I cut 2 panels from abs and installed them behind the arm rests. 

O&S installed mass air sensor no.3 this afternoon. The alley is to wet to go for a test drive but it sounds right. This unit came in an anti-static bag and had a qc. sheet. I hadn't seen those specs before. That might become useful in diagnostics.