1985 Mustang LX Coupe Project - Update

[JohnnyGMachine]

In the last 4-5 weeks a lot of work has been done. I disassembled everything off of the engine, bagged, boxed up, labeled and stored all the parts away until it's time to put the motor back in. Once I had the engine out, I also pulled the tranny, headers, and h-pipe. The early to mid 80's Mustangs are a breeze to work on especially cars with no A/C or any of the smog stuff is on it like mine.
With the help of my buddy John (who is also a Ford tech - great to have when I get to the stuff I'm not comfortable with doing by myself) we disassembled the motor down to the shortblock. I stripped all the old paint off, cleaned and prepped the front cover, block and intake manifold. The valve covers and heads will remain aluminum finish. Other polished aluminum parts such as the pulleys, pulley brackets, electric fuel pump, etc will keep their natural finish. Next I primed and painted the block. I went with graphite gray metallic on the block, front cover, and intake manifold. The polished stainless ARP engine bolt kit is beautiful and contrasts nicely off the dark gray metallic. Tomorrow I will be ordering my Canton oil pan kit and then I can paint it to match the block. The carb should be rebuilt and done soon - I'll leave that up to John since he's really good on carbs and settin' those up. The Tremek TKO should be OK but I will inspect it for any issues.
I still have to order the electric water pump, aluminum radiator, electric fan, and polished aluminum brackets for the alternator and steering pump. The rest is little odds and ends.

[JohnnyGMachine]

This pick shows the headers mocked up on the motor. We needed to do this to measure for clearance for the Canton oil pan. The headers are going to be sent over to Jet Hot for cleaning and a new polished coating.



I'm sure others have said it also but there's nothing more rewarding than getting down and dirty and doing the work yourself. I have absolutely had a ton of fun working on this with a little help from my buddy John. I can't wait until we can fire it up.

[XcYZ]

John, that looks sweet with the block and intake painted black. When do you think it's going to make noise?

[Hdesign]

Looks awesome John, congrats on being able get the time to work on your own car too!!! Beautiful AFR heads BTW!!!

[Bandit Ls-1]

the engine paint looks real good.

[ProTouring442]

Very nice! What other plans are in the works?

Shiny Side Up!
Bill
'72 442 "Inamorata"
'89 ASC/McLaren
www.FQuick.com/ProTouring442

[Sales@Dutchboys]

I love the colors on the engine!

Cant wait to see more.

[JohnnyGMachine]

LOL! The engine is Graphite gray! It looks dark in the pics. A few other people said black too. If you look at the pics with the rocker arms - the intake has a pretty good hot spot on it. The block, front cover, and intake are all the same gray metallic.
Once the drivetrain is in I need to get it ready for dyno testing and tuning. I may be doing an intake shootout on my engine for Muscle Mustangs and Fast Fords mag.
Other plans are 18x8 front and 18x9 rear. I have 2-3 I'm trying to decide between. Coilovers at all 4 corners is on the future mods list, along with either Bear brakes track kit or SSBC kit. I also wanted to do a K-member while I had the motor out but as most of you know especially the married-with-kids guys - money is already prioritized for many other things before it can trickle down to the project car LOL!

[XcYZ]

Originally Posted by JohnnyGMachine

LOL! The engine is Graphite gray! It looks dark in the pics. A few other people said black too. If you look at the pics with the rocker arms - the intake has a pretty good hot spot on it. The block, front cover, and intake are all the same gray metallic.

Oops, lol. Now that you say that, it's obviously dark grey. Not very observant, am I. Anyways, looks great!

[HRBS]

Looks Great John !
The stainless ARP hardware really "pops" off that color.
Glad it worked out.