BlueCASVO's 85 1B Part two

[BlueCASVO]

So Lissa, my now Fiance, gets an email yesterday from 281 Mortorsports, advertising a three day event to support the Carroll Shelby Foundation. It's from 13-15 August, all Fords welcome. If you have gone to the BCMC Queen Mary show in Long Beach, you know 281 Motorsports is a big sponsor, and they are a great company with very cool people - just not for SVOs.

Anyway, Day 1 is a car show and Casino Cruise, day 2 is a wine country cruise, and day three is all racing at Fontana/Auto Club Speedway. We will have access to the oval, the road course, and a drag strip.

It looks like we won't be able to make the Queen Mary show again this year, so Lissa says, Let's just do this instead. How can I say no?!?!

One small problem. The 85 has been running for about two months, got it smogged a few weeks ago. However:

Pic 1: Found this last week. A leaky pinion seal. crap. The diff oil is black as tar, and when the diff gets hot, and you make a tight turn, it howls.

Pic 2: Transmission oil leaking out of where the VSS goes into the trans. Not big, most likely just an o-ring that needs replacing.

Pic 3: Engine compartment. Looks good, but not ready to race. First, I still don't have a boost controller, so I am stuck at 9 psi. Stock Air Box. The good news, in a straight line, this car is faster at 9 psi than my bone stock 86. The bad news, it's just barely faster. Need electronic boost control, CAI.

Pic 4: A perfectly good Moates J3. Sitting in the office, not on the car. Also in this box is a set of 55 lb injectors. They need to be in the car, not in a box.

Hmmmm. One month to get everything done, and get together a race kit - spare everything that could brake, and tools.

Sure, why not! So I registered. Sent a quick email to Eric/Forced 4 to see what he has in stock - time to start ordering! Have lots of little nitnoid things I need to do also, so I know where I will be every evening for the next few weeks...

[mallethead]

The big guy in the background is eyeballing the engine bay (that was the 2nd thing I noticed!) He has a look on his face that reads "What the hell? Where's the 5.0?"

[BlueCASVO]

Took the diff cover off, inspected the ring and pinion, and the diff. The ring and pinion look like they are new, the diff looks like original. There is some wear, but not too bad.

I replaced the seal, and put new fluid in it (the old fluid was BLACK), along with friction modifier.

This morning, the sounds coming from the rear are much reduced, but it still makes the grinding sounds with a hard turn.

Also, a vibration develops in the rear after 115mph. Comes on slow, but gets worse and worse when accelerating, and maintaining speed. The tires and driveshaft are well balanced, and the car has a spec stage 1 with 2k miles on it. So, I think I am going to have to have the diff worked on.

One last little annoyance, the door seals leak at that speed, sounds like a convertible. Not that I would really notice with a helmet on at the track, but annoying nonetheless.

Stock suspension with all poly bushings and lowering coils is very nice at that speed, car is really stable.

Waiting for CAI/flex hose kit from Forced4, then time to fine tune the engine...

[86-TC/SVO]

How are the axl bearings ? My Dad had the same problem with his 88' TC. Kept changing things but, never found it until we changed the gears from 3 55's to 3 73's. His bearings were bad on the drivers side.

[BlueCASVO]

I have kept the 7.5... Eric thinks he can get a new one for me in time, but was hoping to have it refreshed vice replacing it.

And tks, will check axle bearings too. Shaft end play is within spec, but I didn't check axle bearings...

[BlueCASVO]

New Stuff!!

So Eric (Forced4) hooked me up, got CAI and T3/T4 pipe, plus some other goodies, and went to work this weekend.

The CAI kit is pretty nice, I had to trim a small section of it where it was hitting the sway bar mount... other than that, it was basically a drop in.

Also Picked up a Gizzmo Boost controller to finally get the boost up where it belongs. Ripped out the old controller which was just occupying space, since it won't work with the LA3.

I have been going understated in the engine compartment, with everything powdercoated gloss black, so I went with that on the CAI as well. Not after a lot of bling, just after function, looks second.

Anyway, some pics of how it went...

[BlueCASVO]

I didn't get the BPV routed yet, and I don't have the recirc from the valve cover evacuation hooked in either yet, but I have to drive the car on Monday, so I didn't drill them out...Will do so later in the week. I also didn't get the Gizzmo hooked up completely, so it will have to wait till later in the week.

I also have solved two of my leaks, the seal on the VSS was bad, so I got a new o-ring for that, and the power steering return hose was cracking badly at the mounting point on the back of the pump, so I replaced that. Only three leaks to go!

Anyway, the Forced 4 CAI/pipe kit is awesome, fits really well, and looks great. Highly recommended!

[BlueCASVO]

So basically I suck at updating these build things...

But, am almost done with the car for the moment - meaning for today. I finally got to make some auto-x runs in the dry, started getting the hang of the car, and have decided the Dropzone springs need to go, and I need adjustable sway bars. I probably don't need them, but I WANT them. I put Whiteline adjustables on my EVO, having that ability is absolutely awesome.

But, even without the changes, the car is a lot of fun, and is amazingly fast. I can brake traction in 1st and 2nd at any moment as long as I am above 3500 rpm. I am going to try to get it on a dyno this spring, after I get a Quarter Horse installed and tuned properly with 52 lb injectors. I am not totally happy with the tune using the J3, and I like the real time feature of the QH. I am also thinking the Bo-port 1.9 cam is in the cards, but we'll see.

On the apperarance side, I cannot get the rear quarter trim pieces to stick at all, they keep curling and pulling away from the car. They are totally pissing me off, so they are still not on the car. I need to come up with some way to straighten them permanently. Last, I have a few touch-ups on the paint, and I need to lower the driver's seat, which I pulled a second set of seat tracks from the JY to play with.

Anyway, a few pics, more in my album!

[Ismythe]

I fixed my moldings by removing the silver backing and using 3m 1/5 inch trim double back tape. The only thing is that the old plastic shrinks a bit, but not much. The removal of the metal tape can be dangerous, think flexable razorblades, I got mine started with a blade then pulled it off with pliers, it helps to have someone pull the plastic while you hold the metal strip with pliers. One smooth long pull, slow and steady.

[BlueCASVO]

Thanks, I will give that a try - nothing else has worked.

[svono50]

+1 on removing the metal backing. Once the backing is bent/stretched it is almost impossible to get it to lay flat. Another removal method that I used was start the edge of the backing via the razorblade method, then I grabbed the flange with the side of a pair of needle nose pliers and just rolled the pliers to slowly coil the backing onto the pliers. No yanking or pulling required or stretching of the plastic either. Good luck.