Mustang V6 Autocrosser named Mistress

Main Seal Install

The rear main seal was leaking for the last 50k miles (out of 180k). It lost an insignificant amount of oil but the oil got all over the underside of the car, collected dirt and so on. I wanted to make sure the new one is installed properly because the thing is damn hard to get to.

Ford has a special main seal install tool and my local auto parts places do not stock such a thing for rental. I looked at a variety of videos on the interblag of people tapping the things into place with various hammers, PVC pipe, etc. One guy actually finished his presentation stating “It’s not perfectly straight but it should be good enough.”

I believe that I do enough things poorly by accident that I do not need to do things poorly on purpose. I made a tool.

A trip to Menards showed that a 3” PVC coupling is a little too small for the job. However, it would make a good mandrel to fabricate a press ring. From the hardware I came home with a piece of flat stock 3/32” x 3/4” x 2’ long. In hindsight a 1/16” thick piece would have been better and require less finishing.

Using the PVC as a mandrel in a vice I wrapped the steel band around it and then “fussed” at it with the ball peen hammer for a while to get it to hug as round as possible.

I then clamped it as tightly as possible and cut it off at one loop. You can see the cut mark started below.

Next step was to square it on the tube and then use every vice grip I have to clamp it all around. A few tack weld later and the tube is burned a bit and I have a mostly round hoop.

I pressed it mostly flat between plates to help get it a little more square top to bottom.

This was followed by about 10 minutes of “sanding” on the garage floor to make both ends square and flat. That was followed by another 10 minutes of “fussing” on the PVC mandrel with the ball peen hammer. The thing was pretty round flat and true.

It was also slightly too big in diameter ( hence the comment above about going with 1/6” stock instead of 3/32”). I had to resolve this issue with several rounds of test fits and trips to the grinder. You can see all the grinding marks around the outside.

I also fabricated a plate with four bolt holes from a scrap 3/32” stock that would be used as a push plate.

The flexplate bolts are too short for this purpose. The local hardware does not stock 10mm x extra fine bolts. These are 10mm x 1mm thread (normal fine thread is 1.5mm). Bellmetric.com carries just about every kind of metric fastener you can think of and probably many you can’t. It is kind of fun just looking through the types of bolts they have (yea – Mechanical Engineer who doesn’t get out much). I ordered 4 each 35 mm hex head bolts. I think it was about $10 including shipping.

I lubed and set the seal on the end of the crank and used a little sealant on the rubber outer ring (probably not needed but won’t hurt either).

Here is a shot of the fixture in place about 3/4 pressed in. At this point the bolts bottomed out and I had to add some washers.

This worked very well. I was able to press the seal in squarely and without damage. I could easily measure as I went and make sure it stayed square all the way down. Careful- It would be easy to go too far and crush the thing.

In other news – I started gapping the rings this afternoon. The top rings are fine but all of my second rings and oil rings have too large a gap right out of the packet for the way this engine is used. They should have too small a gap so I can grind it to the proper size. I will be working with Wiseco tomorrow to get new rings.

Rings on her Pistons, Bells on her Toes, and a Bone in Her Nose… Ho! Ho!

After installing the rings I can say I am glad Mistress only has only 6 cylinders. Four rings per cylinder (counting both oil rails) make it 24 rings to fit. At 10 minutes per ring that comes to 2 hours checking, filing and installing rings. I think it actually took me about 3 hours. Additional 10 minutes to install each piston and that’s another hour.

As noted in the last post my rings had too big a gap right out of the box. The top ring was OK but the second and oil rings had too big a gap.

Aftermarket rings are not like stock rings. The materials are different and the gaps are larger than it says in the shop manual. Sizing for these Wiseco pistons and rings are based partly on how the car is expected to be used (See the chart below). This car would fall into the first category of “High-Perf. Street/Strip” except that I am leaving room to add a moderate supercharger someday. This entire design is set up to leave that possibility open. For example the dished pistons keep the compression ratio at about 9.5: 1 allowing for pump gas (93 octane) with the blower. So, to that end, I went with the next level of “Street-Moderate Turbo/Nitrous”. That engine will run slightly hotter in the combustion chamber requiring slightly larger gaps. I reviewed this decision with both Wiseco and Super Six. Also, that is not the Gap in the chart. It is a factor you multiply the bore by to get the gap.

The original rings had large gaps that would fall into the “Blown Race Only” category. After a phone call to Wiseco they immediately shipped out a new set of rings for the next size larger. They warned me that I might have to mix and match between the sets a little. They were correct. The original top rings were fine but I had to do a lot of grinding on the new second and oil rings. The wavy ring was also from the first set.

Because the rings were for larger cylinders they took a lot of grinding. They actually overlapped.

I bought a hand powered ring grinder from Summit. Note – Several suppliers on Summit are selling ring grinders that are rebranded versions of the same thing. The prices vary dramatically for the same thing. Shop around within the website.

The grinder worked quite well. Directions indicate you grind only one side of the gap so that you have the other side for reference to keep it square. Good advice. If I put the rings on against both pins they would not grind square  I had to hold them at an angle, offset, to get a square grind. It is a little awkward to hold it.

I watched videos from Pete’s Hot Rod Garage (highly recommend his videos). I also watched a few others. Sometimes it is good to see what not to do. In one video a professional builder said he “just gaps them by eye”. Calibrated eyeballs notwithstanding, I don’t want that shop doing work for me.

The thin oil rails are fairly floppy to try and measure in the cylinder. I took an old top ring (scrap) and cut a 1/2" section out of it. This made a nice support for the lightweight oil rail while measuring. The oil rail is shown here picked up from the support ring for clarity.

I used an old piston with a ring in the second place as a guide to set the rings in the cylinders (it is in most of the videos).

It is really easy to overshoot the gap. Put on some good music (R&B for me) and work through the afternoon. If you hurry you will screw it up. If you don’t stay organized you will screw it up. Thankfully, a replacement package of rings is fairly inexpensive so if you do screw it up get new rings.

In the end I had six packets with all my ground rings ready to go. The next day before installing I did one last gap check of each ring in its respective cylinder and recorded the readings on a chart. This step only took about 30 minutes.

To protect the cylinder walls and pins on the crank I taped them up with medical tape. This worked very well as it offered a lot of padding and was easy to get off.

Then I installed them with a HF ring compressor and soft dead blow hammer. Those are a PVC pipe coupling and cap on the piston to give the hammer something to wrap against. You have to hold the ring compressor down tightly against the block or it will bounce and a ring will slip out. A little scary  but after the first six pistons you get the hang of it.

To clean the pins and bearings I used rubbing alcohol and little Lint Free wipes I bought on line. They were perfect for little spot cleaning jobs like this and only cost a few dollars.

For cleaning larger areas I used cotton painting rags from the hardware. They are nearly lint free and cheap. The material is what you might expect a cotton dress shirt to be made of. Red Shop rags are just lint makers and paper towels spew wood fiber all over – I learned that from Pete’s Hot Rod Garage.

If you look very closely at the photo below and you are very savvy on engines you might see something wrong with the pistons.

Piston #5 (center left on a Ford V6) is upside down. The cylinder heads are the same and interchangeable from side to side. That means the pistons – if they have valve reliefs cut into them – are not interchangeable from side to side. I have #1 (passenger side front) and #5 swapped. The valve reliefs are in the wrong place. I noticed the mistake while emailing this picture to a friend. Regretfully, I already had the heads on. One #$%@ pair of new head gaskets into the dumpster and a week lost waiting for them.

I expect that most mistakes and failures doing this are from getting parts crossed up, failure to keep everything sorted and organized and cleanliness. Makes me wonder what else I have missed.

Quick update. Pistons swapped (rings stayed with the cylinders they were gapped for). Heads back on (gaskets came in today). Oil pan back on. Now I am back to where I was last weekend.

Good catch on the wrong piston! I see they have valve relief cutouts...would it have touched valves if you didn't catch that?

In reply to maschinenbau :

Lucky catch actually! The stock form of this engine has clearance. Now it is an interference engine with the high lift cam, longer rockers and larger valves. In this case the reliefs are safety factor clearance if the timing is slightly off. If it did interfere I would have found it when barring the engine over while setting valve lash. Hopefully. Could have been bad.

Pumping Oil

One concern in rebuilding an engine like this is starting it and finding out oil is not going where it should or is leaking somewhere. Better to find out before it is back in the car. I did not know you could do this until I saw a few videos somewhere on the interblag.  Then it was like – of course you can do this! Run the oil pump with a drill! Old news for sure but it had never occurred to me. Not something they put in the manual.

In preparation I first confirmed from the engine manual what the oil pressure range of my engine is. This one runs rather high compared to many ranging from about 40 psig to 120 psig. Normal hot running is about 80 psig or so.

Proper range for a pressure gauge is to try and always have it operating in the middle 1/3 of the scale. I bought a Canton Racing Accusump 24-500 gauge that has an operating range of 0 to 160 psig. It is a nice unit, liquid filled. Liquid filled gauges provide some dampening for vibrations and pulsations for the delicate clockwork that connects the bourdon tube to the needle. I got a nicer gauge because I might mount it under hood someday. $32 from Summit.

From the local Metals Supermarket I bought a 5/16” x 16” long piece of hex stock. $2.60. When installed temporarily it passes through a bushing that holds the normal oil pump drive shaft in alignment. I used some heat shrink tubing (seen in the middle of the shaft below) to protect the bushing. This connects a drill (running backward in this case) to the oil pump gears. 

Four quarts of fresh cheap oil was poured in. This will be changed out a few minutes after the engine is started. Just before placing the lifters in the block I ran the drill and flushed oil though those galleries. I had to then put in a few lifters in the front to flush the rear galleries. I have been paranoid about having any dirt/debris getting into the lifters. When the last lifter was dropped in pressure rose right up to 75 psig. Right about where it should be. No external leaks. After a a few moments oil started seeping out the top of each lifter on its way to the rods and rockers (if they had been present).

Video of this operation here:

Pumping Oil !

So it pumps oil! Good to know!  Next rods & rockers!

Great progress!

Out of curiosity, are you familiar with the relatively new channel called Warhorse Racing on You Tube? He is running a New Edge V6 as well.

That is the beauty of older American V engines; priming one is easy.  

Love your work.  I also love how described ring fitting.....  knowing this I always get a kick out of people whining about $500 labor to assemble an American V8.  It’s a bargain especially if the shop stands behind their work.

In reply to Tillerman :

Thanks for the tip. Watched his first 3 videos. Will watch 'em all. His overall philosophy is similar to mine. His path to getting there is different (of course it is) but I really like his analysis. More data points for me. Good tips on the brakes also. Very good.

In reply to AnthonyGS :

$500 to assemble a V8? Pthhhh! (sound of my head exploding). Really? Based on what I have seen it looks like a minimum of 1 days work IF all the parts are clean, all the right tools are present, and the mechanic is skilled. If the mechanic makes $45 per hour and has full benefits  his cost is roughly $60 to $70 per hour. Add shop costs, overhead, profit and you could easily be at $100/hr. One days work would be $800. Cleaning parts, ordering gaskets and such could add another 1/2 day. I would expect perhaps $1200 to $1600 to assemble an engine if all conditions are right. Or am I out in the weeds? Maybe that is why the guy in one of the videos says he "gaps them by eye". Can't take the time to do it right. If you are doing it out of your garage with no overhead and benefits $500 still sounds pretty cheap. 

In reply to KentF :

Sure thing. If interested, he has been extremely responsive and helpful to questions I have had about SN95 street setup for my 97 Cobra. He seems to have a lot of experience with Fox to New Edge Mustang setup for autoX.

Rods & Rockers & Distributors

This part I have done before. It is just a hell of a lot easier with the engine out of the car.

Everything is easier with the engine out of the car. It has gotten me thinking what modifications would be required to make engine removel/installation easier. Most connections are easy to access. The main problem is three or four impossible bolts between the engine and the trans. The fire wall is right in the way. But most of the issues are caused by a bunch of cabling passing through that area. The cabling could be re-routed making access easier….

There is a ton of information on the webbernet on how to do this. It is not hard. My lessons learned would be the following:

Rocker studs have very short hex flats. In past installations (working in the car) I did not get the socket perfectly flat and damaged the flats on two of my Comp Cams studs.

I realized part of the issue was that most sockets are chamfered on the inlet to make it easier to get them onto the bolt. This chamfer is significant to the height of the flats making it very easy to slip off and cause damage. Off to Autozone I went one evening to buy a cheap new long neck socket. I then promptly ground the tip off it to give it better purchase on these minimalist flats. This is my stud socket (sounds dirty somehow). It is the one on the right. It works perfectly.

When I first took the top of this engine apart a few years ago I read ahead in the manual and realized that the Cam Position Sensor has to be placed back at a very specific position: 54 degrees from the axis of the engine. Before that first removal I center punched a couple of divots in the sensor housing and the gear cover. These have served well making it very easy to re-install it and get it aligned each time.

Why such a weird angle? Remember this engine design dates to about 1980. This is where the distributor was mounted – No electronics whatsoever. The purpose of the distributor was to direct timing of when to spark and which plug got the spark. If you never worked on a car that old here is how it worked:

There was a six sided cam on the shaft and each lobe corresponded to a cylinder. Riding on the lobes was a little plastic follower that opened a small electrical contact (called the “points”) When that contact was closed 12 V current would flow to the primary side of a Tesla Coil (the “Coil”) somewhere in the engine compartment. When one of the six lobes passed by it would open the contact, current to the coil would stop and the collapsing magnetic field would generate very high voltage in the secondary windings of the Coil.

This was directed back to the center of the distributor where a rotating pointer (the “Rotor") on the end of the shaft would, just at that moment, be passing very near a contact that was connected to the spark plug wire connected to the intended spark plug. The high voltage current from the coil would jump from the Rotor to the contact, and then run up the wire to the plug. This happened just in time to ignite the fuel at the right moment. All mechanical/electrical - no electronics whatsoever.

There was a mechanism to “twist” the entire internal assembly a few degrees (“advance”) to allow for different engine speeds verses the constant speed of the flame front of gasoline (the fireball forms at the same speed every time so you have to set it off sooner if the engine is running faster).

The distributor was a maintenance item. You had to clean or change the points every 20k miles or so. The cap and rotor would wear out also (all that arcing and sparking).

For ease of access Ford would have put the whole arrangement on an angle with the points on the high side of the assembly.  Also the vacuum “advance” mechanism (sticking out of the side of the Distributor) had to fit somewhere and the only open space is at – well – right about 54 degrees.  Fast forward to a sensor and computer replacing all that hardware (except the coil) and we have the sensor at this funky angle.

So – I did the standard checks with a Sharpie on the top of a valve to look at the witness marks. They looked good. I used a connecting rod length checker and perhaps the rods could be a millimeter longer. Because I am a little gun shy about this I checked all 12 valves.

I kept the original rods. Checked them all for straightness (roll them on a table), blew them out and put them back. I will be monitoring for noise and wear very closely from now on.

Below is a little video of another oil test this time with the valve train complete.

Rockers Oiling

Timing Marks-TDC – And Seeing the Light

In the previous entry I noted how I marked the Cam Position Sensor mount so that it could easily be removed and replaced without losing alignment.  Part of that discussion is knowing that the engine is at Top Dead Center for #1 cylinder. This can be a bit of a pain when the engine is in the car and not taken apart.

Not anymore. Some time ago, I also marked the harmonic balancer with a center punch aligned with the key way so I could easily see when the crank is straight up. The problem is seeing what the camshaft is doing.  I realized during this rebuild that it is easy to remove the Cam Position Sensor, shine a light in there and see if the timing mark on the cam gear is present. At TDC for #1 the timing mark on the Cam Gear must be pointing down at the Crank Gear. See below.

If the punch mark on the harmonic balancer is on top AND I can see the mark inside on the Cam Gear then we are at the opposite of TDC for #1.

If the mark on the harmonic balancer is on top and I can NOT see the mark inside on the Cam Gear then we are at TDC for #1.

It takes less than 10 minutes to remove the Cam Position Sensor Mount (one bolt and a plug),  get the engine at TDC and then reinstall sensor mount  - Assuming you have already found the right sockets and the sensor alignment tool (that little black cap in the earlier post). That might take much longer.

The green light shining in there is one of those little clip on book lights for reading in the dark. I have a couple of them with AAA batteries. There are invaluable for shining some light in nooks, crannies and places you just can’t see. Every shop should have one along with a hair dryer.

As I have gotten older I have found my eyes do not have the contrast they used to. The garage has six double LED tube lights for area lighting. Also there are four wall mounted incandescent flood lights (THERE ARE FOUR LIGHTS!!) shining into the engine bay on a separate switch. My wife says it is like walking on the sun in there. Still can’t see down in the nether regions of the car. That's where the little lights come in. There is even a song about little shining lights.

Some Minor Oil Fitting Updates

Something I hae not liked about the PCV canister I added a while ago is that it was difficult to open the drain plug and drain it. It never collected much oil which is not surprising. But to drain it would cause a mess because the plug is on the bottom and unseen.

So before re-installing it I added a brass street ell and plug.  I never could figure out what thread the plug was tapped with. None of my metric or SAE dies would fit it. I tried hydraulic fittings, etc. Nothing worked. So I just re-tapped it for 1/4” pipe fitting. Worked fine. Should be a lot easier to drain now whenever that is needed.

Another pet peeve is that the oil pressure instrument on the dash is basically a go/no go switch. It is an idiot light disguised as a gauge. Many cars are like this. There is also an actual idiot light so I want to keep the original sender and circuit intact. But sooner or later I will add an actual gauge. Already picked it out and put it on my wish list at Summit.

In preparation I added a brass Tee and elbow to the connection. Then I can add a new sender in parallel with the original when I get around to it.

Still working out where to mount the gauge. Not sure I like the “A” pillar pods. Seems like this would be a distraction during an autocross run having it right in my line of sight.  The slowest thing in the car is still me and I don’t need any help going slower.  Still thinking…

1 MM is .039, that is not alot little when we are talking engine measurements.

I'm sure you looked up how to measure your rods (you have been very detailed otherwise), if you think they should be 1 mm longer, than you should get new ones that are 1 mm longer. if I am understanding your post right?

I just like seeing something not normal being built and would hate to see it drop another valve through those nice pistons.

In reply to FunkyCricket :

You are right I have been very detailed and careful but I am also not experienced. There appears to be a little art with the science on this.

Both the existing rods from Comp Cams and the rod length checker gave the same witness marks on the valve tips with the with the length checker being set a skosh longer. I could not tell if there was really any difference. Looking at the side profile did not tell me anything either (experience).

The photo below is full compression with the existing Comp Cams Rods:

This photo is the same cylinder at full compression with the slightly longer length checker:

I cant see any difference but I am not sure what I am looking for. If you see one as better than the other please let me know.

Also I have changed lifters which could affect the situation. It is easy to change rods on this engine through the heads with the rocker covers off. After some thought and more research I decided to finish the assembly and watch it closely and worked out a plan.

If the top of the engine is noisy I will shut down, pull the rocker covers and give up to another 1/4 turn on the rocker caps. If that does not work the rockers will come off and I will inspect the the valve tips for witness marks. If I don't like what I see, Or perhaps even if I do - I still have the rod length checker set from when I did the set up tests. I will order the next size longer rods and re-set the thing.

If the engine is quiet the rocker covers are coming off for a full inspection when the break in oil is changed. I have also worked out how I can make a sheet metal splash shield that is open at the top. Or I might buy an aftermarket cover and cut it open for observations with it running. 

I also plan to have the oil tested periodically for good measure.  Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Thanks.

Putting the Engine Back In

Getting the engine properly back in the car is harder than taking it out. Of course it is.  In the plus column is that everything is clean. Bolts fit in holes nicely. Nothing is covered with years of oil and dirt… You can see what you are doing!

On the minus side everything has to fit, bolts that were taken out nine months ago have to find the right holes again. I did not believe it would take nine months.

On a side note -The red lift bracket (2 each) in the photo is 3/8" plate cut and drilled to match up with the exhaust manifold holes. Three holes across the top (to adjust for balance) for the chain link. A 20 degree bend to increase clearance. Made them last December while waiting for parts.

The “order of work” becomes very important. Very important indeed! The Ford manual tries to guide you through but it is making assumptions that are not consistent with the situation. What it doesn’t tell you is as important as what it does.

For example – On this car with his motor you have to install the dip stick tube before the engine goes in the car. You really have to (notice it is not present in the photos above). It is physically impossible to connect it with that little hole down there once the engine is bolted in. The block, engine mount and master brake cylinder assure it is not happening. The manual does not offer this little tidbit of information up for consideration.

After an hour or so of upside down struggle I modified the dipstick tube by shortening it slightly at the bottom and then tapering the bottom end so that it could, with much effort, be forced in the hole and secured.  “Modify” – One of my favorite words. Makes my wife cringe.

Another little tidbit is that things go much easier on this layer cake of connections if the upper manifold is not present until nearly the end. That is in the manual but I missed it. Had to take it back off to connect some plugs and get wire management set up properly. Luckily it comes off/on pretty easily.

It was two long weekends to get the engine back in the car. My hands were covered with small cuts and scrapes. Sore and tired.

For some reason the passenger side header was rubbing on the transmission pan (only a few millimeters clearance anyway). I had to remove the H-Pipe cut and re-weld it. Don’t know why.

Here is a summary of a couple of things not in the manual:

• Put the Dipstick tube in first (I hate that thing).
• Leave the upper intake and EGR tube off until almost last.
• Leave individual “anti-disaster” sticky notes on the instrument cluster – anytime you take it apart - as final reminders. It is easy to get excited (after nine months) and forget something. My notes this time were: Engine oil, Trans Oil, Insurance, Battery
• Take photos of everything when it is coming apart – Even if you think you know what you are doing. Nine months - did not expect that.
• Mark/trace/call out bolt lengths in the manual when it is coming apart – especially on items with many bolts/studs like the front cover/water pump or upper intake. Still nine months…
• Keep everything sorted – of course – But label the baggies/bins/boxes. Label well. Whole words. Legible print. Really.
• Patience – method – Easy to get excited and take short cuts. I was dying to drive this car again. No short cuts.
• Much easier with two people. If you are on your own you have to get creative, make tools, etc.
• The rental spreader bar from the local hardware was too short. But the longer model carried at HF worked just fine ($30).
• The MM K-Member makes it a hell of a lot easier to work on the bottom of the engine compared to the OEM unit.
• If you tip the hood back too far the driver side windshield wiper will chip the paint on the hood ($%&#@).

Enough – Here is some engine porn:

It makes one feel all tingly!

Next – Start up…

The Moment of Truth

 A few moments after the car rumbled to life my wife came to the garage door and called out “Why didn’t you call me?”  “Because I’m terrified” was the answer. I was running from one side of the engine bay to the other – Watching - Listening. Mistress had been running for about 20 seconds but the exhaust did not sound quite right. Then it backfired with a low “BOOF”. Then again.

By the time I got to the key I already knew what was wrong. I had crossed up a couple of ignition wires on the driver side at the last moment. Dumb- They are actually labeled.  With #4 and #6 connected properly the car rumbled to life again.

Everything sounded good but valve train was noisy. Not like before with a symphony of clacking noises – just a few now – one or two on each side. I let it warm up to operating temperature – no change - and shut it down. 

A little disappointing but – HEY – It Runs! A completely rebuilt engine and it runs! (I Have Made Fire!) No weird grinding or banging. No smoke or oil smell from the exhaust. Started on the first try.  Just a noisy valve train… again. As I have stated in an earlier post I had a plan for this.

After a lot of research I have come to find that the 1/2 rocker keeper nut turn rule, while a very good starting point, is more of a guideline (like the Pirates Code).  I reached this conclusion after a lot of online research and discussions with my two resident experts (Tom at Super Six and my friend and fellow autocrosser Bill Schirtzinger).

Tom I have talked about before. Bill has been building engines for a large part of his life. He is currently planning to take his replica movie Tow Mater truck on the Hot Rod Power Tour next month.

Both these gentlemen indicated that sometimes you need a little more then 1/2 turn on the rocker keeper nut. Sometimes you have to finalize the process by ear with the engine running.  I have heard this online also: You watch enough videos on how to set up a valve train and eventually you will hear someone (usually an older mechanic) note that sometimes more adjustment is needed. The trick there is to make sure the valve actually closes when both hot and cold. Otherwise you will have a burned valve.

Bill actually has little plastic spring loaded plugs that will plug the oil outlet on each rocker tip to keep oil from flying about while doing this. Cool!

After that initial start up I took the upper intake and rocker covers off. I used the drill and oil pump tool to pressurize the engine and lifters (it had been sitting a while).  I put the Cam position sensor back in place (it drives the oil pump) and used a jumper wire to crank the engine in the car. We installed this jumper two years ago when an electrical short in the starter interlock system kept the engine from cranking. Got us home from a long distance autocross.

While the engine cranking I used a mechanics stethoscope to listen to each rocker. This worked better than I thought it might. I could hear two of them tapping (one on each side) slightly. They got an extra 1/8 turn and were then quiet.  Granted this is not full speed idle but it moving a lot faster than I can turn it by hand. It took a while to do this because I wanted to make sure the starter did not over heat.

After all that cranking I checked a couple of valve tips for signs of wear from the short start up run.  I put marker on a few, cranked and checked again.

After some more fussing, witnessing, and listening I ended up with all 12 set about 210 to 225 degrees instead of the “normal” 180 degrees.

It might be that my “touch” when rattling the push rod is just too light and I am missing the proper starting point. There is a little art to this science. 

I put it back together. Started it up. Much quieter. Ran it over to Bills place across town.  Bill says it sounds perfect. Just a little bit of ticking and tapping. Both gentlemen have indicated it will never be truly quiet like a production car. I needed Bill’s calibrated ear to be sure. I will still take the covers off and re-inspect later this summer. Might try out those rocker oil plugs.

After 50 miles – oil change. Then running regular 5W20 at about 300 miles now. I will switch to synthetic in another week or so. Keeping RPMs under 4500 during this break in period. It is harder to do than you might think – The car pulls like a son of a gun. Very easy to break free in first or second. Much better torque at all speeds.

The most common noise in the cabin besides the engine is maniacal laughing every time I hit the gas. I had forgotten how visceral it is to drive this thing.

First event – June 9 – Milwaukee Region at the Road America Motorplex. This is a motorcycle/cart track with a lot of twisting winding curves. It is set into a hill with a 50 foot rise from one end to the other. Speeds are low but it is a real kick to drive. Good shake out event.

Later in June I will be at the Continental Tire Test Facility in Brimley Michigan. Eighteen acres of smooth asphalt with no light poles or obstacles except cones.  This is the “Yooper Cup”. An event pitting SCCA Central Division against Great Lakes Division. Summer is almost here!

I never thought a Mustang V6 could be categorized as "engine porn" until now. Extremely nice work!

In reply to maschinenbau :

Thanks maschinenbau. It is heartening to hear that. This has been a little scary this spring starting this up and breaking it in. So far, so good.

Shake Out Event – Road America Motorplex             

As I have discussed before I am blessed with having one of the premiere American  road tracks about an hour away from where I live.  Road America – A hilly 4.2 miles with 14 turns. Watching races there is wonderful. I have driven the track a few times but not at speed... not yet.  My “shake out” event this spring was last weekend on the small Motorplex track at RA. This is a go-cart/motorcycle track on a hill inside the “carousel” of the main track. It rises about 55 feet from end to end with serious on/off camber curves (10 to 15 degrees or so either way). It is not fast but it is a kick to drive. It is difficult to drive well.

The Milwaukee Region of SCCA has had a difficult spring. First the management of Miller Stadium decided they would have no more motorsport events this year after about 40 years or so. As far as I know this was not due to anything the club did (new management/lawyers or something). They have been scrambling to find new venues. So far they have one at RA with only two events scheduled.  It is an example of how important it is to keep autocross venue owners happy because it is so difficult to find new ones.  

Then their autocross trailer caught fire. The damage is not severe and they used the blackened stinky trailer last weekend with equipment borrowed from another club.  They will recover. It is a very good club.

So – Break in oil removed and Mistress now lubricated with Mobil 1 I drove down for a shake out before the bigger events to come. In spite of the adversity (damaged trailer, borrowed equipment, new venue) the Milwaukee Region put on a superb event. You would not know there were problems but for the blackened interior of the trailer.

Mistress performed very well and I was pretty well on my game for first runs of the season. We won CAM-C class by a second. In PAX we came in 53 percentile out of 139 entries. Usually that has been 60 to 75 percentile. I am pleased. It was a blast. The car has much more torque than before. It is similar to a V8 machine but with better weight distribution.  The CAM-C class was populated with drivers with less experience than me and I am not sure if anyone of them had run this course before (In other words – big fish/small pond). Video of last run below:

Road America Motorplex - Run 62019

Next week my wife and I trailer Mistress up to Sault St. Marie Michigan for the Yooper Cup. This is a joint event between Saginaw Valley Region and Lake Superior Region.  It is a team event between the Yoopers (from the Upper Peninsula and all parts west) and the Trolls (they live below the bridge and all parts east). In other words – Central Division against Great Lakes Division.

After a two year hiatus for repaving this is held at one of the best venues in the country (I am not kidding) -  About 20 acres of wide open smooth asphalt at Continental Tire Testing Facility in Brimley Michigan.  At this event will be several national champs in various classes (including CAM-C). It is a great gang to run with.  This will be a much better test to see how well Mistress and I are doing. I am excited!

This is awesome! I love a good tuned V6, especially one like the "underdog" Essex.

We haven't heard from you in a long time, can you give us an update on your season?

Hi Mustang50  - Thanks for giving me a push. 

Summers go by way too quickly up here in the Great White North (or “Nort” as some locals would say). We have been gone almost as many weekends as home either Autocrossing or visiting family or both.

I don’t think I mentioned this but last spring I bought a 2012 F-150 to tow Mistress to far away events. Mistress has broken down at an event twice. Once we had to rent a car to get home (dropped valve last summer).

My wife usually comes with me on the longer trips but she no longer accepts the risk of relying on an old hand built race car constructed entirely from aftermarket parts that has just been flogged on an autocross course.  She can’t wear a helmet due to an old neck injury so she usually hangs out at the hotel and knits. It is sort of a vacation for her. This summer she also worked security at the access gate at K.I. Sawyer airport for our events.

And the truck is in a different league when it comes to comfort. It is now our favorite vehicle for long trips even above her much newer Fusion.

The truck changes everything on the trip. I can bring stuff. Lots of stuff I might need. We arrive with all our fillings intact. We can often leave the car at the site and not worry about scraping bottom over steep driveways at hotels/restaurants.

I do not have a trailer yet so I have to rent an auto transport from U-haul which adds $250 to $300 per trip. I also don’t have a place to store a trailer. Thinking about that…

After some trial and error I found the best way to get Mistress on the trailer was to use my shop jack to tilt the trailer (and truck) so that the trailer is nearly aligned with the ramps. With a few 1 1/4” thick pad made from OSB board strategically placed the car drives right on.

My grand kids in Mistress (still on the trailer but with the engine running). I stopped by there on the way back from Peru.  I think we annoyed the neighbors a little (vroom, vroom)

So my season so far:

One event at the Road America Motorplex with Milwaukee Region noted above. Won CAM C out of a small field of entrants (yea!).  Engine climbed that hill like never before. Spent a good amount of time at that event helping several novices get going -  which is always fun.

Two events at K.I Sawyer. -  The second event a bolt came loose on the front sway bar causing the rod end to get hit and break. I cobbled together a new linkage which broke a few runs later. I had been messing with it at the T&T at the CAM National event in Peru the week before.  Apparently I did not get it tight enough. There is a story here about proper checks before an event and how I have (hopefully) fixed that problem so those fasteners never come loose again.

The CAM National event in Peru, IN was my first national level event. It was a blast. I will likely do it again. It was an eye opener on many levels. I will have an article, or two, about that. I did not come in last…   More tires. More power…   More!    And perhaps back to some driving school…

Last event is up at the old Kinross AFB (Chippewa County Airport) in two weeks. It is at the east end of Michigan’s U.P. about five hours from here. It is about 19 acres of old air base concrete in very good shape. I believe I am running ninth overall in the Lake Superior Region at the moment.  Must go faster.

Below is a photo of Mistress with my sponsor: Discount Tire of Green Bay, WI. I stopped by  to distract them from their work on my way to the CAM event. Great bunch of guys.

So I have lots of photos and things to write about again. I will get on it. After Kinross...

Great update!  Wish I lived closer to get a ride.  Hope I get the time and $$$ to update my 97 over the winter for next season.