Gotta get spark in this relationship

At this point, we are so close to drive-day it is ....driving me crazy.

Okay, dumb joke aside - IT'S CLOSE!  Let's go down a list of things I had to do:

• Air Cleaner that doesn't get smashed by my hood.

Boom.  Summit Air cleaner to the rescue.  It only has a net height of 2.5" from the carb.  It is so close that I have to use a small nut instead of the typical air cleaner housing nut to clear the hood. 

Unfortunately, I had to take the electric choke off my carb to do this.   I'm still not too clear on how much this is going to affect me.  We shall see.

• Exhaust - hook up my headers to the rest of my exhaust.  

So originally, I went to Summit and snagged some S-Pipes.  Of course I opened the box when I got all the way back to the shop to see that they are too small. (2" instead of 2.5" diameter)  Damn.

Well, we do have the left over exhaust we cut from the exhaust manifolds.....but I'm not good at cutting or welding.

But guess what, I have kickass friends that know how to weld!!! Jim to the rescue!  

PHOTO MONTAGE

Again, I'm in such a hurry to make Hot August Nights by registration day that I neglect to take pictures after the fact.  I'll remember to do so hopefully really soon. Pretend it looks rad and it works great.  Because it does.

• Leaky transmission cooler line.

I took a pipe cutter and cut a large section out then put on a rubber hose for a temporary fix.  And by temporary, I mean permanent until something gives.  Or I upgrade something.  Or both.  Whatever, I JUST WANT TO DRIVE THIS THING.

[Pretend there is a fantastic picture of that too]

• Fuel Pump

"Hey Mike, how is that electric pump going?"

'Going' in my storage box because I don't have enough time to pipe, wire everything. Instead, I will put the stupid Mechanical fuel pump back in.  Lucky for me, I have a Edelbrock 110gph pump that should feed the engine just fine.  

This is, I think, the 5th fuel pump I put in it.  I've battled with some odd issues in the beginning so I bought some cheapo carter pumps which never really fixed the situation.  Also, I swore up and down that one pump was straight up shot.  

Anyway, getting to the two bolts to get that thing to stick is the worst part.    I'm sure Ford made a special "Fuel Pump socket" at the time to fit.  Lucky for me, this 5th time, Mickey decided to show off his "fuel pump bolt placing" abilities and got the things threaded for me before he took off for the night.  Thanks Mickey!

Side Rant: I don't know about you guys but I never had the "right" bolt in front of me.  Looking back, I spend a solid hour of shop time just ******* LOOKING for a correct sized bolt, nut washer, rabbits foot, unicorn, whatever.  I have this "box of stuff" that contains old standard bolts, etc that I go digging through - that actually contained most of the bolts/nuts I've needed fortunately.   This is awful though because it is like a box of Legos;   "How bout this one, no?  This one?  Nope.  This one?  Damn it - almost" You sort, shove, slide your hand through the box, looking for that one, single, odd ball of a piece for ages until you rage quit, only to find it at the top of the pile on the next round through.   My garage I do have a bolt organizer, but I'm at my friend's shop, so I try to take up little space and just have a couple of "carts" full of my stupid junk.

• Fluids

20/50 Valveoline for the Engine.  Check.

Type-F for both the power steering and transmission. Check.
(I bought about 15 quarts worth of Type-F;  Two O'reillys visited)
A TON of coolant.  Check.

(Insert picture of me over filling the power steering pump and getting it everywhere)

All systems go - proceed with ignition!

Everything should be wired up!   Fuel is connected, all lines are secured.  Let's do this!

*Turns key*

*Engine begins to turn over*

"Sweet! At least I wired the starter right..."

*Engine still turning over...*

"Maybe it needs more gas?"

*Engine STILL TURNING OVER*

"...."

PRO CLICK: Source of the above gif.

DISAPPOINTED!  

Hmm, nothing.  Also the coil is burning hot too.  Something is wrong.  I double check everything. Even pour gas down the carb, the engine burns that off and just acts like there is zero spark.

So I double check everything.  Fuel was flowing, coil seemes to be outputting spark....but the coil itself was a zillion degrees.    Why? Everything is wired fine.  I checked voltages everywhere - why????

I can't tell you how much this destroyed my spirits.  So, I rested.  The next day....

Welp.  TIME TO THROW MONEY AT IT IN A HURRIED PANIC.  I ditched the old Motorcraft Duraspark ignition box and went to a MSD 6AL box.  With Jacob's assistance, we wired this thing up extremely quickly.  We didn't loom anything, we just zip tied everything together  -  we just want to see this thing come to life!!!

MOMENT OF TRUTH

I turn the key - after a moment or two of turning over -t he engine turns over in glorious fashion.  IT'S ALIVE!!!!  Fuel pressure is nominal at 5-6psi.  Oil pressure around 60, volts about 13-14 and vacuum was around 7-8hg inches.  LET'S GO DRIVE THIS ****.

This thing has power;  it breaks traction if I step on it.  Awesome!!! 

Minor things I immediately noticed:

• Slight lean patch during 2k-2.5k
• Accelerator plunger on the carb needs to be tweaked; it will die if I stab it during a standing start.
• Everything is awesome.
• It's alive.
• I'm driving the Beast again after half a year.
• The new engine I built is running.
• Wooooooohooooo!

I can't begin to describe how excited I am.   And thanks to my amazing buddies - this was all possible too.  

So I loomed everything up, tapped some holes for the MSD box on the fender and was ready to take the Beast back home!

"Hurr, it's upside down!"  - No it isn't; the rev limiter is easier to read and set from that direction as well as having the harness go the right way.

Tada!  Let's get this thing home!!

Next up:

Register it for Hot August Nights!