It's ALIVE - again.

YOU GUYS, it's happening!

Okay okay, let's start from where I left off last.

FUEL FUN: RETURN LINE

I had to finish plumbing in the return line - I got 3/8" stainless steel line...kind of straightened it out and installed under my car.  After that, I put some EFI rubber hose leading up to the gas tank's filler neck.

So, now the story of the filler neck - well, I took that out, cut about 3" out of it and installed the below kit in there from Moroso.

Here is an action shot of me putting those things on:

Okay, the clamps aren't tightened yet, they are just hanging there in the picture...but it's in. I also replaced the rubber grommet seal on the gas tank too before installing the filler neck again.  Trust me, it fits and works great.

FUEL FUN: THE FUEL TANK

Well, obviously I put that in before I did all that filler neck stuff; there wasn't too much too this.  Jim and Jacob were the muscle and held the tank in place while I proceeded to tighten the fuel tank straps.
WEAR EYE PROTECTION PEOPLE.  I can't stress this enough.  My eyeballs were a landing pad for a pile of rust and dirt while cranking away at the fuel strap bolts.

Track Bar/Panhard bar

So remember this?

Remember how I was going to attempt to find replacement bushings for this?  Well,  recently, a company by the name of...Rare Parts started selling a bushing kit for my panhard bar.  (Or track bar - depending on what side of the Earth you're on, Moon rotation in effect, age range of the person you ask, whatever, it's a panhard bar for the sake of this conversation!)

Well, with a name like...Rare Parts... you know that (A), it will fit your car and (B), it will be a goddanged robbery.

Proudly made in America and proudly taking my $140.  Well whatever, I didn't want to go through the trouble of smashing Strut bar bushings on there, I'll let someone else blaze that fun trail.   Plus, perfect fit and they seem like high quality stuff, so there is that!

I burned out the old bushings with the help of a blowtorch...which was oddly therapeutic.  Once you set fire to it, you just watch it burn away, slowly.  A nice way to listen to NFL Redzone while holding a torch in the other.

Here is the before and after:

Nice.  Well, because I'm terrible at taking pictures - imagine brand NEW bushings put in place and they fit and LOOK AMAZING GUYS.

Here is a shot of the panhard bar put back in place...(sorry you can't see how amazing the bushings look though)

It's the thing with the little cone cap on it and it is extending away from you - that bar like thing.

Tada!

Also, shout out to the ol' Dorman nuts n' bolts value pack;  yes, I do keep several bins full of bolts, nuts and the like but sometimes having a quick, clean organized pack at the ready comes in handy.  Looking for old bolts in a bucket bin is like looking for that "one piece" in your old lego chest as a kid;  you'll end up dumping the thing out and spreading everything out looking for it but it only pops up after you've stopped looking for it.

Side note: 

This lil' guy had an 12am emergency visit to the vet over the Christmas weekend; UTI scare. He's alright though, no crystals or anything, just a bad infection.  Two weeks of feeding this fat cat some medicine incoming!

 

Dexter is almost 17 pounds.  Muey Gordo.

Now for the BIG stuff.

EXHAUST TIME

We already ripped the old exhaust out.  It is time to start coming up with new exhaust.

DISCLAIMER:

I have ZERO fabrication skills.  The only reason why this was done in-house is because both Jim and Jacob are super rad friends and they actually like doing things like welding and what not.

The Setup:

I opted to snag this from summit:  Flowmaster American Thunder Exhaust Systems (Super 44s).

This comes all disassembled and in theory, we can cut/weld pieces to make a complete and custom exhaust system for The Beast.  This brings out the old school Konnector sets magic.  This is the kind of stuff a lot of us did as a kid.

Well, let me tell you, it is a bit more involved than that.   We took the exhaust flanges off of the original exhaust since it matches the header connection.  By we, I mean Jacob.  The things I did here were help measure and then used the bandsaw to cut everything to measurements.

So it turns out, we had some spare 2.5" exhaust that came out of a 2015 Mustang... This was handy because we cut that up and used the already bent pieces from that exhaust to mix and match pieces until they met up with where we wanted the H-pipe section.   Once we were happy with the placement, we welded a few spots just to stick it in place.

After a bit, Jacob had a solid/well fitting exhaust mock-up.  Check it:

The golden looking parts of the pipe is what came from the Mustang.  Amazing right?  The Beast has a bit of actual modern Ford Motor Company exhaust magic in it.

And there it is in full view - pretty awesome job if you ask me.

Pictured in the background are the two back pieces (muffler and tailpipe parts) - they go up-and-around the rear axle.  This is the reason why I have all my wires and fuel hoses wrapped up in that heat shielding.

!!! WARNING !!!

Dear lord people - HEED THIS WARNING.  When mocking all your exhaust up, do NOT tighten the muffler clamps onto the exhaust.

We did this because we wanted to make sure everything stayed in place while we got the tail pipe situation figured out.

Well, it sure stayed in place alright; it took cutting relief slits into the muffler pipe that went over the exhaust to get it back off.  Along with a LOT of hammering....and bashing....and twisting...yelling and of course, cursing.

Hey! I already hear someone scoffing and rolling their eyes at this; 'Durr Well, duh Mike,  why would you crush metal together before you were ready?' - "well...I'M LEARNING SO LAY OFF JEEZ"

With everything all mocked up, it is time to take it out of the car and get it all welded together.  Time to take it to Uncle Jim's Exhaust Shop to get it done!  And by take it to the shop, I mean lay it right on the floor and ask Jim to work his magic on it because if I would probably burn down the building if I attempted to do this.

Jim reassured me that he actually likes welding because that is his therapeutic escape.  Makes sense; we all have something like that.  Mine can be anything from cutting vegetables when helping my wife make dinner, tightening bolts down, to doing yard work on a warm summer day.   It isn't that it is mindless as much as it is that it captures your full attention.  No matter what has been stressing you out during that day, it melts way because all you are thinking is -

"Crap, this knife is sharp.... Hmm...that last piece wasn't as big as the others...I'll bet I can make more uniform cuts if I do this...I wonder if they make chainsaw knives, or a handle with multiple knives coming out so you can just make one chopping motion?  I wonder what the little jingle would be...I should make one....I need to learn how to play the piano.."

You get the picture.  Anyway, Jim took time out of his day and got everything welded up nicely.

'Nioce'!

Jake and I came in today and put it all together.

Nice - That's the stuff.

Hook it all up

Everything is wired up.   I did a fuel leak test by priming the pump without starting the engine - no leaks.  I adjusted the fuel pressure to be 44psi and locked into place.

The old kickdown won't work so that will stay disconnected for now until I get around to getting a Lokar replacement.  (No worries though, it's only 3 gears guys, if I have to down shift while heavily accelerating, I can do it myself for now.)

The throttle cable is in place and tightened down.

The old air cleaner won't fit but fortunately I have an Edelbrock one that clears everything....(except the hood...shh, let's not worry about that yet)

We got the handheld hooked up. It has a nice little wizard you go through before firing it up.
'DO YOU WANT IT TO SOUND LIKE A ROBOT DRAGON ROARING ON REV: [ YES ]    NO

Turned the key to 'on',  fuel pump kicked in for a second and hear the injectors fire off a few times; ignition system is primed.

Then, we started the engine; it starts without any gas pedal interaction.  Vroooom!

I still need to go through the tuning process again but we did get to rev the engine and hear Jim and Jacob's exhaust handy work:

The video doesn't do it justice.  It is LOUD.  It also sounds amazing.  I can't freakin' wait to get this back on the road.

Not done yet!!

• Exhaust:
• We spotted a few leaks that we need to patch up. The engine burning off the condensation provided an easy way to spot them.
• I need to attach to rear hangers for a bit more support.
• Air Cleaner clearance:
• Well, it has finally come to this.   The time has come to fully embrace the hood scoop.   I will plan it out and hopefully with Jake's help, we will get it done this next weekend.
• Final tune/FAST setup:
• Once everything is in place - let's friggin DRIVE THIS THING!!!

Okay, enough words.  Here is hoping there are more updates later this week or weekend!