Messages

Thank you, Frank.

More sanding. I'm not attacking like I have in the past. Caution and less pain are the goals. I clamped the ps housing in the vise in the mill and used a boring bar to remove the rib that others thought were important. I have the pump assembled and am going to make an adapter to connect a pressure gauge to see if the results are good enough to install it and give it a try.

^^^^
 Definitely improved.

Day 2 of sanding. Not much progress. 2nd item. I'm using a Ford pump with a GM rack and pinion. The GM unit needs about 600psi more than a Ford unit to operate easily. This means that unless the engine is running around 1500 rpm, the power steering is not that good. On a Bronco forum, they had talked about using the explorer 5.0 engine for a conversion often. With 35" tires, the power steering wasn't good. Someone had mentioned using a 2004 power stroke diesel pump and swapping the internals with the explorer housing and doubling the capacity. Numerous people said they did this and most said it worked. I purchased an explorer pump and a power stroke pump. I have disassembled and measured and can't see any reason for it to work any different. The explorer housing has a support on both sides of the housing where the power stroke has one. Could that possibly make the difference between 1.5 and 3 gallon per minute??? All of my measuring shows the rotor and internals to be the same size. Even the pressure relief spring is the same length and wire diameter. Did I miss something??

Day 1 on the "who's idea was this" project. Not show quality, just better.

I jacked up the front of the 48 and removed the front wheels. I took a small wire brush, brake clean and a rag and scrubbed the road grim and scum of all of the accessible alum parts on the corvette suspension. I should have done that before I installed the front. Even though I didn't plan on cleaning this truck much, it needed to be cleaner to start.

Jaybee, 69" flange to flange is close.That was measuring inside of flange on the wheel to the other wheel and adding the wheel backspace.

Today, the 48 and I went to Garden City for memorial Day services. This is my most cherished holiday. Weather was good, services were good.

It's very close to the last gen of crown vic which means it's wide. If you need an exact measurement, I will go digging.

O&S had purchased a rebuilt hydroboost. When it came in, it was missing parts that you were supposed to have for an exchange. I was unaware of that. I purchased a used unit from a salvage yard from a high mileage mustang. They only used this for about 3 or 4 years and with v8's only so parts are very rare. I swapped the rebuilt unit today. It seems to work the same but I wasn't satisfied with the untouched high mileage unit on the truck. Time will tell if that was a good decision. While I was at it. I greased the bushings on the clutch pedal shaft. The nylon bushings looked good so that should be good for sometime.

How about some gratuitous pics of the mirrors installed. LOL.

O&S took advantage of 90 degree temps today and painted the outside mirrors. The pic is outside in the solar baking booth.

2 days ago, I installed the 3rd new starter on the 48. The 1st had no power when the engine was warm. The 2nd had solenoid click, sometimes 3 times before engaging. The good news is they are not difficult to replace. The last unit had a good warranty so I'm out some time and labor.

C.K., to the best of my knowledge, any AGM battery can be put in any position.
Matt, that's a good collection of pimples.

O&S put the 48 up in the air and checked for loose fasteners, rubbing anything, etc. I changed oil in the trans at 1268 miles. There was some metallic particles in the oil so after another 1000 miles, I may change it again. The total average fuel economy for yesterday was 20.2. 20 has been my bench mark on project vehicles so I guess I hit the mark. I had a tiny bit of freon left when I serviced the system. I emptied the rest of the can today. With the Taurus fan on, it get's cool in there quite rapidly. We'll see how it does when it gets to 110 at 70 mph. I gave it a bath so it's bug free for a bit.