U/SA 302 ffffford build

[goinbroke2]

So, the pan fill, 28oz, 157t transmission turned out to be...a case fill with a plug where the dipstick tube goes. Just wow.
But it gets better, got it installed and the shifter linkage on the tranny is different than the old one so I'm modifying that to work. Went to bolt on the starter, one hole is stripped in the bell housing. Was going to drill/tap and put a bigger bolt in but instead cleaned up the bell and used a nut and bolt.

Seriously getting tired of this. Spending the whole summer in the garage 8-12hr's a day and ignoring everything else. Wife even commented I haven't even taken the tire chains off the tractor yet! lol.

Funny part was, I told the wife about the underdog escort that is for sale in florida and she said :just go buy it and race that, then we can do other stuff this summer too". She's not wrong.

Anyway, tranny and converter are in as well as the valve body so now it's just finishing it all up and then get to work on the rear end.

[pmrphil]

Yup, column shift uses a different "arm" than a floor shift trans, but aftermarket shifter may change things.

[Larry Hill]

Hang in there

[goinbroke2]

Thanks Larry, I'm trying, but now I've got family coming from out of province and when they leave I'll have 3 days to do everything before the Open. I'm thinking it might not happen. The following weekend is another open 7hr's each way so I might try for that. Or...just go to my local track for a test and tune to sort the bugs all out before hitting any S/SS races.

Company coming wants to off road so I have 3 mud trucks to get ready before Monday now...and all my camera stuff and drone for my youtube channel as well....and of course we're on a lake so everyone will want to go in the boats.....busier now than before I retired, lol.

[Dave Gantz]

Originally Posted by goinbroke2

Or...just go to my local track for a test and tune to sort the bugs all out before hitting any S/SS races.

That's your ticket, Jim. Get some good, solid runs in before you go S/SS racing. No rush. Remember the old Pennsylvania Dutch saying, "The hurrieder I go, the behinder I get."

[goinbroke2]

Story of my life! Lol!!

[goinbroke2]

Can't get a break, lol...
Got the converter/transmission and valve body installed.
Got the 5.14's installed
Got header collectors fabbed up and installed

Fired it up and running like crap then quit. No gas in the tank? Whatever, filled it up and squirter is spraying weird. Pull carb and open it up and it is full of brown sludge from the gas tank...crap. Stripped carb and cleaned it, fired it back up, runs good again. (ordering a fuel cell over the winter)

Go through the gears, I have park/reverse/neutral/LOCKED UP/2nd/3rd.
Unhooked the shifter, maybe it's not "perfect"? Nope, same, it's the valve body or what I did or didn't do to it. It feels like a tranny brake, I gave it a bit of throttle and it was torquing against the converter. I ground out the 4 slots indicated and didn't grind the 2 for the tranny brake but maybe I screwed up?

So, once it cools, drain the tranny and pull the valve body to see what I did wrong. I also send a message to Broader performance to see if they can help diagnose it.

Unrelated but also a factor in getting this done, I was diagnosed with an "aggressive" cataract in my left eye and even had to go to emerg one day. Yesterday I found out my cousin (we are identical, everyone calls us twin cousins) has stage 4 cancer.

I always said I don't mind getting old, I just refuse to grow up. Well now, getting old is getting on my nerves too...