After I finished with the final installation I checked the piston to deck clearance. This is the measurement of the piston face above or below the deck surface of the block. Because the pistons are forged and have quite a bit of expansion built in (they get bigger as the engine heats up) they tend to 'rock' in the bore when cold. I was trying to get a true measurement (not just of height but also of volume), so I measured each piston at four corners with a depth gauge. After getting each measurement, I entered them into a spreadsheet to do the calculations for approximate deck clearance, volume, and static compression ratio.

I am glad I did this because I found a problem. Each bank of cylinders differed in deck clearance by slightly more than .006". Also, the cylinders on each bank had an inclusive variance of .003" in deck clearance. Basically what this meant was that each and every cylinder had a different compression ratio and, more importantly, a different quench height.

So what's the solution here? Well, I could strip the block down again and get it re-machined. I could also just not worry about it because these kinds of variances are still better than most stock applications (but this isn't a stock application.) I consulted with Ryan at the machine shop and offered running two different thickness head gaskets as a possible solution. He said that was fine, and the numbers on the spreadsheet show that the quench height values and compression ratios are within livable tolerances if I do that. You can see all the numbers in the spreadsheet. Everything is pretty self explanatory.

So, this means I will have to order a different thickness head gasket for each side of the engine, and not loose track of which is which. Fun.

This was all of my reusable parts I got back after cleaning. I had Ryan at John West Auto put them in his parts washer for me. Can't do this good of a job myself, and it only cost me $75.

Some of the parts I had to strip paint off, and rough up the surface of the steel before painting.

This is the new engine computer. I am using the 1992 Auto Trans Mustang GT computer code A9P. I got this at Advance Auto, Cardone part # 785611.

Here are the oil pan rails getting some paint. The paint I used was the Rustoleum Appliance Epoxy that you can pick up at Lowe's. The parts have to be scrupulously clean before painting, so I used acetone for a final rub-down. Three coats is all that is needed.

After the final coat of paint, I let the part sit for a day and then bake it in an oven at 200° F for two hours. That cures the paint and gives it a nice hard surface. The epoxy paint is so strong, doing this gives the part the appearance of being powder coated.

This is the timing cover being painted. I am using Dupli-Color ceramic engine paint. Clean the part, then primer, and finally the color. All of the paint has to go on within an hour.

Again, these parts get baked, the same as the epoxy painted parts.

Here are the harmonic balancer pulley (larger) and the water pump pully getting paint. They turned out really nice.

Now the water pump...

One of the improvements I wanted to make to the engine was adding two quarts to the capacity of the oil pan. This provides a margin of safety in case of leakage and can help keep the enging properly lubricated under heavy loads or hard driving.

I started by leveling the existing oil pan and filling it with a measured amount of water. I needed just enough to fill it above where I would be cutting, and 6 quarts did that much. I marked the water line in several places on the pan for reference later. You will see why later.

The next step was to mask off the area to be cut. Using tape to mark for a cut is better for several reasons: you can move the cut line easily; the line can't rub off by handling the part; and the line is easier to see and follow while cutting.

Once the cut was marked, I used a cut-off wheel on my die grinder to make the cut. The steel the pan is made out of is 18 ga, so it was pretty easy to cut.

I left the drain plug in place and made a dam out of tape on the open sides of the piece. I did this so that I could fill the pan cutout with water to see what it's volume was. I then subtracted the measured volume of the piece from the 6 quarts I filled the pan with, and found out how much I had cut away. The piece ended up holding exactly 3 quarts (that was pure lick) and I wanted to add 2 quarts to that. I could now do the math to figure out how big I needed to make the replacement piece so that it would hold a total of 5 quarts.

Here you can see that I have installed the oil pump and sump screen. This is necessary for modifying the oil pan...

...because you have to check clearance from the sump to the bottom of the oil pan. Here you can see that there is plenty of clearance, and this without any gasket in place. You want about 1/2" of clearance between the sump screen and the oil pan.

I also wanted to see if it was feasable to build a windage tray into the oil pan itself, but as you can see in the pictures, there was really no good way to do that, so I decided to scrap that idea and just concentrate on adding to the volume of the pan.

Here you can see that I am fitting up the first side of the oil pan. I am just tacking the sides in place for fit-up, and will completely weld the pieces later when everything is fitted together. How do I cut the pieces to fit around those curves and such? I'll show you in a minute...

Here goes the bottom of the oil pan. Fit-up must be very clean and tight, with little or no gaps.

Looks like the size I chose will fit. You can see that the bottom of the pan slopes towards the sump screen. This is important to keep oil at the screen. I could have made this angle slightly more agressive, but this should be good enough to compensate for the angle of the engine once installed in the truck.

These side pieces ought to be interesting to fit up, not to mention the steel on the pan is thinnest here from the stamping operation. Lots of fun to weld...

You can see how I have a piece cut to the correct height for the side of the pan, and while I hold it in place for fitment, I just give the joint a shot of Krylon ultra-flat spray paint. This transfers the profile of the pan on to the piece I need to cut out. Why Krylon ultra-flat? It drys fastest.

The sides are tacked in place.

Now for the small pieces on the top side of the oil pan. Thes are the second hardest part to weld.

I added a oil temperature sender bung to one side of the oil pan. The oil temp sender will screw in here going to an Autometer gauge.

Make sure you weld this bung, as well as the oil drain plug bung, to the correct side of the plate that will make up the side of the oil pan.

I just reused the drain plub bung out of the original oil pan. it is only spot welded in place and is easily cut off.

This piece only needs tacked in place because the nylon washer on the drain plug is what seals this hole. For that reason you must make sure that the other side of the plate this is welded to has a very smooth surface, free of grinding or sanding gouges.

Well, here is the pan all welded and ready for it's first leak test.

Since the crankase runs under very little pressure (properly vented) all you have to do is fill it with water and wait. Make sure the drain plug and the oil temp sender are screwed in first. Again, I make sure that the pan is level, and I fill the pan with 8 quarts (6 + 2) to see where the water level is. The water came right to the original marks I made before I added the 2 additional quarts to the pan. Very good!

To check for leaks, I make sure the outside of the pan is bone dry, and then I place paper towel under the new part of the pan. After waiting for 15 minutes, if there are no wet spots on hte parer towels I can consider it leak free. It passed!

Now for the paint. I am using the same black appliance epoxy as I did on other parts of the engine. Most of the old factory epoxy has been removed, and every square inch of the pan has been sanded and meticulously cleaned with soap and water, dried, and had a final wipe down with acetone.

Here the pan has just had the final coat of paint and is ready for the oven.

The oil pan is finished and ready for installation now. This pan has rails that keep the pan from warping when bolted down, so I had to special order this ARP stud kit for this installation. It was kind of a pain to find this kit, and I had to special order the kit from ARP directly. Not cheap.

I am using a single piece Ford Racing oil pan gasket. I daon't like the four piece gaskets and since this was essentially a "new" engine I wanted to make sure this was done right. The gasket has a steel core.

Chasing all of the threads in a rebuilt engine block is never a bad idea. All studs get moly grease on the threads.

The studs are installed and ready for the gasket and pan.

The gasket...

This is a piece of plasticine modeling clay for checking pan to sump clearance. Just making absolutely sure before bolting it on for good.

The pan is in place and ready for the rails.

With the rails in, I place a grade 8 washer on each stud. These did not come with the stud kit, so I just picked them up at Ace hardware for a couple bucks.

The oil pan is bolted in place and torqued down.

The Engine

The Engine 2

 

Rocker arms were one of the ...

 

Close-Up

Ok, so I have been working for a while and have not had time to update the website. I have just posted all of the pictures to date, and will be slowly working on captions and organizing things much better. I have decided to break up the website into parts groups like, "Engine", "Paint", "Fuel", "Electronics"...you get the picture. So until I am done with that, sorry about the mess.