I hear ya, Ryan! :)

Well, it looks as though the new engine will be ready to install by Thursday, although I am no where close to having the engine bay ready by then.

Kris found a rebuilt roller motor for sale at the machine shop he prefers using. It's a freshly rebuilt 5.0L with .030-over pistons, ported E7 heads, and a Comp Cams 266HR bumpstick. It was rebuilt to be a mild upgrade over a stock fuel injected motor. Kris will clean up my stock 85 intake and valve covers, and install a new water pump. Although I might have gone a little more to the wild side in terms of having a motor rebuilt, this one is ready to go. It will be a mild step up in performance but will still be reliable, have a smooth stock-sounding idle, and be fun to drive. Oh, and I forgot to mention that I got a SMOKIN' deal on the motor, too! :D

I will tie into the engine compartment this weekend, but it's not going to be a simple undertaking. There's some surface rust under the battery tray, and a lot of clutter from the 7 previous owners that needs to come out.

Teaser Photo
 

With temperatures in the 60's, I was able to work "under the hood" over the holiday weekend. As of yesterday, the engine bay is cleaned and sanded (60 --> 100 --> 150 --> 220 --> 320 --> 600 grit). I need to pick up some rust converter today for the few areas of surface rust. Then I will mask, prime and paint.

I've already posted up a "before" shot, so rather than post up a picture of the car in its raw state, I selected a seldom-seen picture -

http://images112.fotki.com/v386/phot...steners-vi.jpg


That's my box of bagged parts, which I learned to do when we took apart Mike's 85 FHP this past July. Every fastener that was removed went into a sandwich baggy marked with a Sharpie with details about where the contents came from. I took plenty of pictures as I went along with my phone so I would know which holes to use again. Not shown in the box are the small parts that will get repainted. My hands/fingers are feeling the effects of the hand sanding this morning, but it's coming together, albeit slowly.

Motivation for the rest of us Bill!! Thanks!

Here's an in-progress shot from today -

http://images44.fotki.com/v301/photo.../839503-vi.jpg



I doubt the car will win any MCA awards, but it sure looks a whole lot better now. Tomorrow I will remove the masked off areas and reassemble the components and wiring. Once that is done, the car will be picked up to install the fresh 5.0L.

:D

Looks Great Bill!:)

Looks a lot better than some of the DIY jobs I've seen on FEP:)
Great job Bill!

Excellent Bill. What type of paint are you using to do the detail work?

Thanks guys! I forgot how frustrating the prep stage can be. I paid a lot of attention to the top of the radiator support, since that what people's eyes tend to see. Just when I thought I had the surface smooth enough, I'd see something and have to sand & re-primer again. :)

Greg, I used Rust-Oleum Satin Black for the major surface areas. I knew not to use a gloss, semi-gloss, or flat black, as I was looking for a matte finish. I hope I do not regret not using a high temperature paint. Those shock towers can get hot down by the factory headers. A few pieces (like the bracket for the windshield wiper motor) will be painted in glass black. Once I have everything buttoned up, I will go back and touch up the fasteners in either satin or gloss black.

I'm not so sure I'll get much done today. Instead of working on the car, I'll be spending some family time with Jack on a Sporting Clays range in lower Delaware. :D

Jack & I buttoned up the final items under the hood, and Kris came by this afternoon to pick up the car -

http://images110.fotki.com/v565/phot.../839504-vi.jpg


Kris will install the fresh 5.0L in the next week or so. :D

Looking good! Very exciting.

Here's a blurry picture taken of the fresh 5.0L installed in the car -

http://images39.fotki.com/v1236/phot...95motor-vi.jpg


My apologies for the fuzzy picture, but it's all I have at the moment. Kris says that the wiring harness was so bad that I was lucky the car didn't catch on fire! There's still quite a ways to go, but progress is being made, with more (better) pictures to come.

:)

:eek: Shiny newness!

Looks much better than the old engine Bill:thumbsup:
Can't wait until my engine looks that nice:)

very nice!

Thanks guys!

I really struggled with my decision to farm out most of the work on the engine replacement. I have the ability, desire, tools, and facility to do this all myself, but I just haven't had the time. So in 2011 I neglected my SSP. :( I finally got to the point where I realized that things aren't going to get done until I bite the bullet and pay someone else to do the work. My nephew, Kris, is a hard-working mechanic who is trying to establish his new shop, so I am happy to help him out. The project is moving forward, and soon I will have the car back so I can finish working on the details to make my SSP even nicer. My plan is to maintain and enjoy my SSP while it's in my care, in an attempt to leave it in better condition that when I found it in 2008.

I'll keep y'all posted... :)

EDIT: The way I ended that paragraph makes it sound like I may be getting rid of my SSP soon. That is not the case. I just know that the car will be around on this Earth long after I'm gone, so I want to do my best to preserve the car and enjoy all aspects of owning, restoring, and participating in this hobby.

looking good Bill. The wiring harnesses on the 4 eyed cars are an item with me. I have several cars that the harnesses are at a point of needing replaced. They can be taken apart and repaired but it is a fairly tedious, time consuming job for sure.

What kind of issues with the harnesses did you find Bill and Jim? Deterioration, chafing, both, other? Any tips for what and where I and others should direct our attention to?

It looks great! Wish my 85 was as nice in the engine bay.

And like you, I have figured out that I need to pay someone to get it done. And it's been a wise choice - allows me to enjoy the build/hobby and have time for family, etc. :)

Keep the pics coming.

Mainly wires becoming exposed because the insulation has dried, cracked, and come off.

This picture shows the wires going into the voltage regulator -

http://images12.fotki.com/v335/photo.../839507-vi.jpg


This plug is on the driver's side, which shows the bare wires -

http://images57.fotki.com/v300/photo.../839506-vi.jpg


This one is UGLY, and shows the main harness plug by the driver's side shock tower -

http://images57.fotki.com/v1354/phot.../839505-vi.jpg


Heat shrink is good stuff for repairing the original wiring, were possible. But the wires in some cases are so baked that heat shrink will not work. For those instances, Kris will be harvesting the correct color wires from a newer 5.0L Mustang harness to repair the damaged wires. It's a very tedious job!

Two questions came up yesterday when I was at Kris's shop. Assuming that the following item is a factory piece, does anyone have this part that they'd be willing to sell me?

http://images16.fotki.com/v258/photo.../839509-vi.jpg


It's located on the front of the intake manifold, and is for the heater hose. Kris ovaled it during removal, and it's not a part that's readily available.


The second item was more of a question. The following part is attached to the front of the driver's side shock tower, located above the DuraSpark -

http://images51.fotki.com/v303/photo.../839510-vi.jpg


What does this part do exactly?

And not wanting to leave you wanting for pictures, here is a shot of the engine bay taken yesterday -

http://images44.fotki.com/v301/photo.../839508-vi.jpg


Once the wiring issues are addressed, Kris will have to replace the needed vacuum lines/parts that have deteriorated. Then he'll button up the final engine assembly. :)

Looks great. Thanks for the pics of the wiring.

Engine looks great Bill! good luck with the project. :)

My SSP is back home! The motor installation is not finished, but it is a lot closer to being done than the last picture I posted -

http://images15.fotki.com/v587/photo.../839511-vi.jpg


The wiring issues were finally addressed. The vacuum lines, and some minor electrical stuff need to be finished. I need to prep and paint the windshield wiper motor. The air cleaner body/lid need to be re-done. It needs a new fan belt too. And of course the hood will go back on once we are done tinkering in the engine bay.

But it is so close to being back on the road, I can almost taste it! :cool:

Looks great Bill! The SSP will be back on the road in no time:cool:

It is just SAD that my SSP sat all summer while I worked on other things. I still haven't fired the engine, but I am much closer. I routed string around the pulleys to determine the correct belt length (855K6) since my smog pump was "accidentally" left in my collection of parts. The wiper motor and hood latch are now mounted. Quite a few of the vacuum lines were connected/capped, but there are a few more that need to be finished. Kris and I will re-prime the engine and fire it up this week. Stay tuned...

This post is so motivational. I have an 85 CHP and am working on it as I drive (see my post 85 Dream Car). I have a freshly built 306 that I will be installing in the next month or two. Of course, stock look with stock air cleaner etc. Love following the progress on this one. Keep up the good work and keep posting pics....very motivational......I am glad I have two sons, ages 5 and nine months....who will one day take over my beloved Mustangs and care for them as I do now....but that day can wait...lets drive em and enjoy em!!

Remember it's addiction.......... 8336 has been here 24 years now. :yes:

It...










...runs!









:D

No pics or video? What kind of site do you think this is?!?!




LOL Just Kidding. :D

I would like to hear it though. Congrats. :2thumbs:

Sorry Sam! No pictures or videos of the car running again. Soon though...

My nephew, Kris, came over last night and we buttoned up the few remaining things on the motor. With the radiator topped off, wiring connnected, vacuum lines attached/capped, Kris re-primed the engine and set the distributor. I got in and turned the key - CLICK! I had the battery on a charger, but it wasn't up to the task yet. So I pulled the battery out of the SMPV, and tried again. It cranked about 10 seconds and the motor sputtered briefly. Tried it again and she came to life. Kris adjusted the distributor while I tap-danced on the throttle. We shut it down to address a leaking fuel line at the pump, but then we ran it for a couple of minutes. We were not able to set the timing because the timing marks were not visible on the crank. It was close to 9pm anyway, so I didn't want to annoy the neighbors too much.

We will try again this next week to finish it up. We replaced the electric choke last night, and put the hood back on (it needs some minor adjustments still, but it latches closed). I need to get a battery hold-down for the new tray. We also need to put it up on jackstands so we can loosen the connection at the headers and h-pipe. There is a leak there, so I think we can tweak the h-pipe and tighten it back down. There are more little things to finish up, but it should be back on the road next week. :)

Oh, and I have decided to keep this car and the SMPV! :D

Sounds like what I was going through last week with my 1985 CHP...I have been driving it daily since Monday and after five days its like a new car....it defnitely looks like its been sitting since 1992 as I have not even dusted it off yet but I dont care since I will be tearing it down and rebuilding it....but I just needed to drive it! Keep the posts coming sir!

I'm loving all of these '85 CHP cars coming to the surface right now. Can't wait to see more on the SMPV Bill..

Progress has been pathetically slow. Life has been keeping me out of the garage for the most part, but I have had some successes and setbacks with the car. Kris came over to the house this past weekend, and he and I set the timing and tried working with the Holley 4180C carb. Here's a shot where you can see the car is running from all of the black smoke -

http://images20.fotki.com/v502/photo.../ItRuns-vi.jpg


That's Kris under the hood, and me at the wheel to keep it running and restart it as needed (with the garage door open - safety first!). The motor just wouldn't hold at idle, and that carb does not offer much in the way of adjustments. It was too late in the evening to keep working on the car (didn't want to upset the neighbors), so we called it a night. This week I plan to install the Holley from the SMPV to see if that helps or not. I may need to buy a new carb, but I would like to get the old gas out of the tank first (by driving it!). But it is getting CLOSER!

I know your anxious to get it rapped up so you can get started in the SMPV... LOL

Need to rebuild the carb if you haven't already. I had the same problem with mine.
Other than that, it's looking good!

We installed the carb from the SMPV, which improved things quite a bit. We could tell there was a vacuum leak, but it took a while to determine that the diaphragm in the distributor's vacuum advance was bad. Regardless, I was determined to get the car inspected. I ran it through our state inspection lane, and was not surprised when it failed the emissions sniffer. But having taken the car through the lanes, I was able to get a 30-day temporary tag for the car -

http://images61.fotki.com/v431/photo...adAgain-vi.jpg


Now I can break-in the motor with a fresh tank of 93, and continue sorting out the few things left to finish. :)

What a great looking car Bill!

Thanks Chris!

As an update, I installed an Edelbrock carb that was rebuilt to match the mild cam in my motor. Also replaced were: coil, coil harness plug, ignition wires, vacuum advance, cap, rotor, and plugs. The charcoal cannister was connected again, and all of the vacuum lines are connected/plugged. I ran the car through DMV inspection today and it failed again! :( The HC readings were no where close (10x the limit at idle!), but the CO levels were much closer to the required limits. I received another 30-day tag, and I now have to take the car to an approved Certified Emissions Repair Technician to see if they can bring it under the limits. If not, then I must obtain an emissions waiver if repairs are made greater than $810 (which I will be above after this next shop visit). I am not sure if the waiver is perpetual or not. The tags will only be good for 2 years, so I am not sure if I will need to apply for another waiver or not in 2015. Presently, the cut-off for the dual emissions checks is 1981 or newer, but they will likely adjust the cut-off as time passes. Presently, my 1966 Mustang does not need to pass any emissions because of its age.

My dad used to run a can of dry gas in his 69 Chevrolet to pass N.J. emissions back in the early 80's. He would pass every time..... not sure about today's tests.

The car looks good Bill !

Ugh, smog issues with stone-age carbs and controls. Been there, done that with my '84 SSP...that's why I sold it. Good luck sorting out your '85 Bill.