Posts by billh_old

billh_old · Timing Cover Restoration billh_old April 3, 2011 at 11:04 PM

There are a number of ways to do this. Super Clean, (Walmart) works great to cut the grease, just don't leave it on the cover for too long. Simple green also works and is harmless. A shop that does carburetor cleaning usually has a cold tank that will make it look like new. Careful glass beading, a new seal and a coat of paint and you should be good to go.

billh_old · Street Cam Selection billh_old March 23, 2011 at 6:05 PM

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Lift is .512, Duration 242 Intake and 252 Exhaust at .050 lift.

How much lift can you go with stock pistons and valve size? Assuming heads have not been milled.

Total valve lift has an effect on clearance but duration and lobe center have an equal role. Clearance issues come into play during the overlap cycle at the end of the exhaust stroke. The piston is approaching top dead center, the exhaust valve is closing while the intake valve is starting to open. If the cam is ground on a short lobe center, 102 to 106 degrees, the piston is chasing the exhaust valve that is open quite a bit further than it would be if the cam was ground in a 108 to 112 lobe center. Usually you are OK with lifts in the .450 to .525 range as long as they are ground on a 108 degree lobe center. (This is not to be confused with the method of dialing a cam in using the intake lobe centerline). On one of our old race cars, we used a stick that had .567 lift and 245 degrees duration ground on a 108 lobe center that cleared. Thinking that we could improve things, we had it ground on a 106 centerline. Luckily, we checked everything and in this case the valves hit the pistons. When deviating from stock, you never want to take anything for granted. Check, check and re-check.

billh_old · Street Cam Selection billh_old March 22, 2011 at 9:36 PM

A great camshaft for the 289 HiPo is a camshaft that was originally a Crower grind. It was recommended to me by Dave Bliss, a highly respected small block Ford engine builder in the Seattle area. The camshaft is based on the 15302 Crower stick only ground on a 108 degree lobe center. Lift is .512, Duration 242 Intake and 252 Exhaust at .050 lift. This cam is considerably better than the stock HiPo cam. Not as radical as the lemans camshaft. I installed this one in my car May of last year. It has excellent bottom end power and will run easily to 6500 RPM. They are available at a very reasonable price thru Delta camshafts in Tacoma Washington.

billh_old · Alternator question billh_old October 18, 2010 at 4:07 PM

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I am also looking for an alternator for a December 64 HiPo. So far, I have been told that the correct one is a 42 AMP standard unit. No stamped numbers or date code. The fan and pulley are the only unique parts. The fan should be a six blade, equal spaced fins painted semi-gloss black. The pulley is the large diameter (Approx 4.5") steel unit also painted black.

Also, the boss for the tensioner bracked has a rounded end, not the milled, squared off end that the higher amp alernators had. I scouted around some auto parts stores and found a lot of 42 amp alternators but they were all stamped mid 70's

billh_old · Alternator question billh_old October 18, 2010 at 4:04 PM

I am also looking for an alternator for a December 64 HiPo. So far, I have been told that the correct one is a 42 AMP standard unit. No stamped numbers or date code. The fan and pulley are the only unique parts. The fan should be a six blade, equal spaced fins painted semi-gloss black. The pulley is the large diameter (Approx 4.5") steel unit also painted black.

billh_old · Body Work Question billh_old June 21, 2010 at 4:33 PM

Everything is now on the car and, with one exception, fits perfect. The exception is with the bumper. It sits about 1/2 to 3/4 inch too high. There is 1/2 inch gap between the bottom of the bumper and the top of the guards. It looks like it sits too far forward also. There is about 3/4 to 1" gap from the back of the bumper to the front lip of the stoneguard. Problem is, there is no adjustment in the bracket location to correct this. The only option I can see is to file/grind out the slots in the bumper bracket where it bolts to the sub frame. I thought I read an article about this years ago but I can't find it now. Anyone had anything similar? The car has never been in an accident.

Thanks

billh_old · Body Work Question billh_old June 7, 2010 at 6:40 PM

Yea, that's going to be a problem. The parts were originally on the car, but the valance needed to be straightened. Finding a guy who actually straightens metal instead of just filling was a challenge.

Hopefully it will be close enough, but the paint is on now.

Thanks for responding.

billh_old · Body Work Question billh_old June 7, 2010 at 1:30 PM

When I got my car, it had a Shelby R-Model front apron. That was over 30 years ago. I have decided to replace that with the stock Mustang stone guard and valance panel along with a NOS bumper. I have finally collected the all stuff but since I have never done this, I was wondering what order the parts should go back on the car.

After I remove the R-model apron, I was going to install the stone guard first, then the bumper brackets, then the valance panel and then mount the bumper. Everything is Ford branded, either NOS or original with the exception of the bolts, which are AMK. Any tips on doing this would be much appreciated.

Thanks

billh_old · Sheet Metal (Bumper) Date Codes billh_old June 27, 2009 at 7:31 PM

My car (65 Shelby) was built on December 21, 1964. Early in its sordid career, someone replaced the front sheet metal, (Splash pan, bumper etc.) with an R-Model apron. Apparently when the car changed hands, as it did numerous times, they thoughtfully included the front end sheet metal. Wanting to put it back to stock, I dug the stuff out today. Question; How do you read the sheet metal stamping date codes? The bumper is stamped 12 1 M5 The 12 1 seems to be correct, what does the M5 stand for? I received three bumpers when I got the car, 30 years ago and the one that caught my eye still had some Guardsman blue over spray on the inside. (car was a factory LeMans stripe car)

Thanks

Bill

billh_old · Barrett Jackson billh_old January 16, 2009 at 4:54 PM

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(I personally don't like the Cobra valve covers either)

I like them only on the cars they were intended for.

billh_old · Rarest of Mustangs billh_old January 13, 2009 at 5:28 PM

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There are probably lots of subsets within these rare cars that could be included in the discussion. The first 252 66 GT350's, the so-called carry over cars, are a good example. You could argue the ones that came with a rear package tray (about 80 or so) are more heavily modified than a 65 GT350 since they have the 65 mods plus the quarter windows and brake cooling scoops.

That is absolutely correct and addresses one of my theories that the 65 Shelby was so close to being a street legal race car that sales suffered due to the lack of options and the severity of the ride and the noise. I was told that a surprising number of 65 Shelby's were re-sold within 90 days of original purchase because they were so noisy and, for a woman, hard to drive.

A group of us recently took a little trip from Seattle to Portland to look over SFM5005, which is one of the prototype cars. Looking at this unmolested very early 65 Shelby was a real eye opener for us, a number of items that went on the production cars was either left off of this car, or installed entirely differently.

Edited by - billh on 01/13/2009 17:29:46

billh_old · Rarest of Mustangs billh_old January 13, 2009 at 12:33 PM

From 1965 to 1967, Ford produced approximately 1.8 million Mustangs. Of these, approximately 13,000 were HiPo’s. That’s a lot of cars, but really only .75% of the total number of Mustangs made. The later model Boss 429’s were 1359 built. Shelby’s production numbers were 562 1965’s. which included R-Models, and prototypes. In 1966 there were 2380 cars produced. I don’t have the number for the 1967’s.

You can make any argument for which car series is the rarest, I have had “Discussions” about each;

Some, including me, consider the 1965 Shelby’s as the gold standard as these were among the fewest produced and the most heavily modified cars with the most extensive racing heritage. (They ARE Mustangs, delivered as running cars by Ford and finished by Shelby. They are titled as GT-350 Mustangs). The 1966's and 1967's were no where near as heavily modified as the 65's.

Some consider the 1971 Boss 351 Mustang as the most unique as they were the only Mustang models produced for one year only. (no matter what you hear, there were NO 1972 Boss 351’s).

Some consider the Boss 429’s as the Gold Standard as these cars, although offered in two model years, were the fewest produced and required extensive modification. They were, however a huge disappointment in the horespower department.

If not for the fact that Ford produced 13,000 HiPo Mustangs there would not be anywhere near the interest that there is today. Example; I owned a car that was so unique but produced in such few numbers that they are pretty much all but forgotten today. It was a 1967 410 H.P. 427 Fairlane 500 XL. Ford built 7 of these cars.

All Performance Mustangs are Unique, take your pick.

billh_old · 2008, Another Great for HiPoMustang.com billh_old January 7, 2009 at 6:15 PM

This has been an invaluable site for HiPo Mustangs, Shelby's, Tigers and Cobra's. I have recognized a number of real Cobra owners here.

Thanks and keep up the good work!

billh_old · Fuel pump rebuilding billh_old December 5, 2008 at 1:41 PM

Fred

Got my pumps back and I am impressed, they look beautiful.

In reading what you had to go through to get this done, it has to be the classic example of Murphy's law;

No good deed goes unpunished!

Thank you for a job well done.

Bill

billh_old · Fresh Engine Failure billh_old October 9, 2008 at 10:55 PM

Correct, but remember, it is a tapered thread. Unlike straight thread, its interference fit. My book says .502 max, diameter hole size, but there is still a ton of fudge room. When tapping oil galleys, the hole that the soft plug fits into was way too shallow to clear the end of the tap. Drilling the galley with a 7/16 drill seems to work best. There is a tapered reamer for pipe threads and I have actually used them. (Aircraft use, not automotive).

I talked to a friend who has a T-50 Mustang. He had an engine built in Seattle by a shop that has a stellar reputation. Shortly after getting it running he noticed a sudden drop in oil pressure. Pulled the pan and found a press in oil galley plug stuck to the magnet in the bottom of the pan. Since it was one of the lifter galleys, it didn’t starve the bottom end for oil, so no damage.

I have seen this happen a number of times. From my experience dating back to 1969 when I built my first small block Ford, I wouldn’t trust press in plugs. There are a lot of them out there that never fail, but it only takes one time.

Edited by - billh on 10/09/2008 22:57:43

billh_old · Fresh Engine Failure billh_old October 9, 2008 at 4:53 PM

I have had work done by Dave Bliss for 30+ years and I can tell you he is a real craftsman. We used to haul our Super Stock Eliminator engines 140+ miles so Dave could do the machine work. In the past, I have seen many many engines ruined by incompetent machinists. I have lots of horror stories. Sometimes I have to wonder if the machinist either didn’t know how to read a micrometer or if he just didn’t care.

When choosing an engine builder/machine shop, there are a number of steps to take;

1)Decide just what you are capable of doing yourself and what you are going to have to have the shop do. Do you have the expertise and tools to final cleaning and assembly? You need to decide before you start looking.

2)Ask for a tour of the shop. Most engine builders would have no problem showing you around. How clean is the shop? How does the equipment look? Everything should be fairly clean, the tools should be arranged neatly and put away. There should be no piles of machining chips or debris on the floor. Does the shop have a room that is just used for assembly? There is no such thing as being too clean when it comes to engine assembly.

3)Get references, but be careful about getting references from the shop owner, as he will only send you to people who he is sure that will give him a glowing recommendation. Ask the local racers, Drag, Circle Track, or Sports Car. Check with the local Better Business Bureau. Find out who does a lot of engine repair locally and ask them. When soliciting references, be sure to ask to the level of work you want the shop to do. I remember one shop that did competent machine work but their assembly practices left much to be desired.

The oil galley plugs should be ¼” NPT. (National Pipe Thread). 3/8 plugs will not fit.

Sorry for your loss, it’s tough to bring yourself to trust a shop again after something like this happens, epically if the shop owner had the “Don’t give a s**t attitude”

billh_old · Fuel pump rebuilding billh_old August 5, 2008 at 8:25 PM

I realize I am probalby too late to get in on this, but I do have three button top cores. One 3939, (Not available) and two non-HiPo cores that I could be talked out of.

billh_old · Fuel pump rebuilding billh_old January 9, 2008 at 5:31 PM

I have two units I would like to have rebuilt. One HiPo, and one button top pump that looks identical.

Thanks

Bill

billh_old · Hipo fuel pump billh_old December 18, 2007 at 12:25 PM

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If you search old threads you will see that someone does indeed rebuild the crimped pumps.

What old tread mentions a source that rebuilds crimped pumps?

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This thread does.

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I followed up on that lead awhile ago, the person who answered the phone said they closed the business.

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That's too bad. I had called and talked to Claude about rebuilding a few pumps for me a while back.

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That must be why they aren't answering their phone.

billh_old · Hipo fuel pump billh_old December 16, 2007 at 8:06 PM

Aby news on re-building these?