Head Coolant flow kit install and engine Dress up

[LeoVampire]

If you want to start planing your own project and pick and choose what you want to order for paint. Here is the link to VHT so you can start looking for part numbers to order and what is available.

http://www.vhtpaint.com/index.html

As most of you know I planed to dress up my engine and had a poll on one of the choices of colors to go with the main work. Just as a note for the one's that may ask, with out a break down of all the prices this project is costing me in parts and paint a little over $800.00.
Verses the $1,200.00 it would have cost me alone to have everything powder coated both the base color and the high gloss finish and still have to buy all of the gaskets cleaners and missalanius incidentals. So the $300.00 for the paint was a much better way to go cost wise and the electricity to cure the painting stages.

The main reason for starting this project was due to my putting in a rear head coolant flow kit in.

There were no surprises taking the top of the engine appart aside from 1. In the 2 rear intake ports you could obviously see that the stems of the intake valves were a little discolored from running on the hot side at times.
Looking at the valve stems in the next cylender up on both sides there was a noticable difference in color of the stems.

Now other than an occational show off here and there in the almost 40,000 miles my car has seen it has been well taken care of and not abused. So I was surprised to see this condition to say the least.

Anyways I plan to document the work and condition of things and show all of the before and after work as I promissed a few people on here. And also what it looked like before I started the work.

I will start off with what the engine looks like torn down and how much parts there are every where from the car and the stuff needed to do the work. So here are a few pictures now.

BTW as you can see from the cam's and valve area it is spotless so as others have said you can not beat how well the synthetic oil works on these engines.

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As I get a bit further in the project I will show you the end results of each part. So look for more pictures and info. As you can see in the last picture all of the parts both old and new as well as all of the high temp paint I am going to be using as well.

BTW I also got all brand new seals from Ford for this project nothing old is being reused what so ever including the sensors seeing it is all apart and out in the first place. So there will be no reason in the near future to deal with this stuff again. Also doing a new Thermostat and gasket as well.

A special note / sugestion. You have heard how much of a pain in the butt it is to take the Passenger side Cam cover off?! There is one more thing you can do to help make it a bit easier to take it off and put it back on. There is a wireing harness that wraps around the Cam Cover and gets inbetween the AC/Heating box and it. It is taped to a steal reinforcment bar that is held onto the back of the head with a single nut. Use a quarter inch drive wratchet and a 13mm socket and take that nut off it is brass in color. Then you can slip the steal bracket off of the stud and move that harness down below the cam cover and out of the way. Just remember to put it all back after putting the cam cover back onto the head.

[LeoVampire]

As I mentioned in the previous post about the intake valves I just snaped pictures so you can see the difference between the far rear and the next cylender up from it. Just the drivers side as it is the most noticable.

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Also wanted to note another reason for doing. The inside of the plenum and the inside of the throttle butterfly's were an absolute wreck as far as build up of deposits and oil sludge from the PCV system. Took almost 2 cans of throttle body safe cleaner to make it all look good again. And I don;t want to talk about the intake runners themselves beacause that took a lot more to clean believe me.

A special note due to what I found for nasty build up inside of the intake Plenum I think for now on I will be removing it every other year to do a serious cleaning because it had a lot more build up of **** inside of there than I ever would have figured. And I do use the sea foam once a year to help with the build up. Just what I found on the inside of the throttle buterfly's alone was shocking never mind the rest.

[LeoVampire]

Thanks Dennis Rinehart for the coolant kit and the welded cross over tube as well as for the info on the intake runner for pictures and info on what material needs to be removed on it for no problems with the coolant flow plugs. Here is the end result on mine.

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I also want to thank Blackened300A for his write up on doing the cam cover removal and install. Especialy his infor about grinding down the inside corners of the cam covers for easier removal the next time as well as easier install. Here is pics of mine after the work.


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[babbage]

Looking good. Make sure you get all of those metal flakes off of there!

I didn't think the rear cooling mod was that intense. You are painting your covers and doing a lot more right?

[LeoVampire]

Looking good. Make sure you get all of those metal flakes off of there!

I didn't think the rear cooling mod was that intense. You are painting your covers and doing a lot more right?

I did not need to take the cam covers off for the cooling kit.
I removed everything because I am doing the cam covers and the intake runner in gold flake metalic.
And the Plenum in a bright silver metalic.
Also doing the heads and upper block in the bright silver metalic seeing it is all opend up and easy to get to. With the silver dress up stuff from Colex and Daniel the color combination should look awsome. I did a mock up on the PC first to see what the end results would look like and it should be pretty awsome when all is said and done.

No worries about the metal from the cutting and grinding though all of the parts today are being cleaned big time. Have done a lot of engine work over the years on many cars both street and drag cars.

But thanks for the heads up none the less nice of you to mention.

[LeoVampire]

Got all of the parts perfectly clean yesterday and did the primer today for all of them.

I cleaned all of the parts first with Duplicolor's VHT Strip Fast which removes grime and paint but make sure you use rubber gloves because it burns like a Mother F*C*ER. I used the scotch bright fine scuffing pads to scrub the nasty area's. Then you rinse it all down with a hose when done.

After the cleaning Duplicolor's VHT paint first needs a Ceramic base primer that is also an adhesion promotor for the paint that is to be used. It also fills in the metal to give it a really smooth surface finish so when the actual High temp paint goes on it is hitting a pretty smooth surface and sticks much better. Of course before I did the primer I taped every thing off I did not want painted. I used painters tape with a low stick yield so it leaves no residue on the parts.
I had to heat each of the primered parts in an electric oven to cure the primer base paint at a temperature of 200 deg. for an hour each.

Anyways here is pictures of the before and after primer work.

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I hope you like the up date info and the progress of the work being done incase someone would like to go this route as well sometime. I will give another update on the painted parts before I do the high temp clear coat as well. Including the Anodized Blue parts you guys voted on for me as well.

[LeoVampire]

The pics you will be looking at is the results of the Gold flake Paint on the Intake manifold and the cam covers and showing what it will look like with e Marauder Coil covers on them. And also the silver for the intake Plenum.
Also included is how the anodize Blue came out for the injector fuel rail.

Now keep in mind I still have the high gloss high temp non buff clear coat to put on all of these as well. So they will all shine up a lot more when that is done as well.

Anyways here are the pics to date. Right now they are in the oven one at a time to cure the high temp paint.

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BTW to tie all of this together better I also striped the coolant crossover pipe down to bare metal and just primer coated it to get it ready to also be a bright silver like the intake Plenum.
I have to admit there will be a lot of gold on the engine so I figured doing the cross over tube would help a lot to tie it all in together.
In the future I also plan to do the Vacume Booster for the brake's and have all of the pully's on the engine chrome plated as well.
I just have to go bit by bit as I build up the money to do these things.
And plan to use anodize blue connectors for all of the coolant hoses on the engine as well to work with the fuel rail and the plenum spacer.

[LANDY]

i really like what your doing there. i was thinking of doing my intake black this upcoming weekend with high temp spray paint any sugestions?

[LeoVampire]

i really like what your doing there. i was thinking of doing my intake black this upcoming weekend with high temp spray paint any sugestions?

Make sure the part is very very clean to start with no grime or anything.

Start off with a Primer coat that is also a Paint Adhesion Promotor that is high temp. And good one like I am useing will fill in a lot of imperfections in the metal for starters and also allows the color coat to stick a lot better. I did 4 coats of the primer

Fallow the directions the manufacture says on the can and or on their web site. Do a couple of light coats of the paint color you intend to use then do a medium wet coat for the final coat.

Don't forget to get a high temp clear coat that you don't have to buff to protect the work after it is all done.

Duplicolor's VHT paint says it is extreamly fuel and oil resistant and all you need to do is spray the engine down with water and use a soft cloth to clean the engine. Never need to use engine degreaser again according to them.

[LANDY]

thanks .
LANDY

[LeoVampire]

thanks .
LANDY

I forgot to mention when you paint anything you want to do it the same way you would normaly view the part on the car. So if your going to paint the Plenum, as it seemed like you intended, you put the part flat on a surface to paint not hanging in the air by a bolt hole. There is a slight difference in the look and effect.
Also make sure you use a painters type of tape for sealing off the area's you don't want paint to get into. Normal masking tape is too sticky and will leave a residue that you will have to remove. So you want a tape that has a low stick %. Most tapes are rated on how sticky they are.

Hope this reaches you in time before you do your project.

[LeoVampire]

I had the President and Judge of the Auto Show I go to a lot in Bristol come over the house to take a look at my work.

He, like a few guys on here, sugested that the Anodize blue for the fuel injector rail and the plenum spacer would not look good or go well with what I am doing.

So needless to say I striped every thing off of those 2 parts and started from scratch on them. Instead like I did for the Intake Plenum and cross over tube I am doing an Anodized silver.

So the engine compartment will stay just Silver and Gold.

BTW I do have a sugestion for anyone who pulls the whole intake system off of the motor. Buy the heat reflective tape shielding from Summit Racing and wrap the big wiring harnes that sits between the intake runner and the egr tube to further protect them from becomming brittle or being burnt. Much cheaper than replacing it all if it get's damaged! $20.00 to save $100's and a lot of hours and heart ach in the future.

So to the guys on here that sugested the blue would not work in the first place you were right and sorry for doubting your judgment!

Will post update pictures of it all tomarrow.

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Here is the pictures of the before and after of the heat shield tape that I mentioned getting from Summit on the wiring bundle that runs inbetween the intake manifold and the EGR Tube.

Also the pictures show the new Coolant flow plugs installed and the hoses contected to them after I w***** the harness bundle.

BTW when you remove the freeze plugs in the upper back side of the heads. If at any time one of them is sliiping down instead of flipping over to grab with vice grips use a small chisel and hammer on the side of the freeze plug facing the front of the engine. The reason for the specific area is there is a lip on the inside of the heads that keeps anything like another cross over tube from going too deep into the head. If you use the chissel on the back side of the heads you may damage that lip and send metal inside of the coolant part of the engine or worse. The first freeze plug fliped just fine for me but the second one sliped down instead so had to make a hole in it to yank it out.

[LeoVampire]

This is a helpfull hint to anyone doing the cam covers on thier ownn car.
First I sugest getting these 2 items in the picture. Permatex Spray gasket sealer as well as RTV Black silicone adheasive because it is oil resistant.

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The Permatex sealer is for the round oil seals that go onto the cam covers to keep the oil out of the Spark plug wells. This serve's 2 purposes. One it keeps them on the cam cover when you are installing them onto the engine. Also it is a guarantee that there will be no oil leaks into the spark plug wells. Spray the around the spots on the Cam cover where the seals go then spray the inside of the seals themselves. This stuff gets tacky fast so right away press them each onto the cam covers until fully seated or use a small rubber mallet to seat them. In just a few minutes they are set up and ready to be put on the engine.

Also the rubber seal gaskets that go around the covers are side specific and may seemlike they are too long but they are not. Just take your time and with a little effert they will fit onto them with a nice tight seal all the way around.

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The reson for the Black RTV is there are 2 spots on the heads where the outer timming chain cover meats the heads that do not have a good flat surface to seal. So put a little bit of the RTV black where the heads and the timming cover meets before putting the cam covers onto the heads.

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I hope this info helps some of you guys out in the future with your project.

[LeoVampire]

Okay today I got the cam covers and the intake runner on the engine.

Today I clear coated the plenum, coolant cross over tube, plenum spacer and the fuel injector rail. So they have to sit and dry till tomarrow. Then I will be putting each of them in the oven in turn and cooking them at 200 Degree's for 1 Hour each to cure and harden the paint on them. So the Mistress should be running on Friday if all goes well.

Anyways here are the pic's of the Gold parts on the engine now. What do you guys think?

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[sd8683]

Can't wait to see it all together! Great thread by the way, I have something similar planned for the near future and this thread just may give me the confidence to it myself! Thanks

[LANDY]

wow! i really like the look.very very nice, would like to see it when done

[ImpalaSlayer]

looks pretty good, much better then i had thought it would look.

nice thread by the way. how much fun did you have pulling off the passenger side valve cover? :D

[LeoVampire]

looks pretty good, much better then i had thought it would look.

nice thread by the way. how much fun did you have pulling off the passenger side valve cover? :D

It was not too bad once I got that wrap around wiring harness out of the way. It is attached to a steal brace that is bolted to a stud on the back of the head. I took the single nut holding it on off and could then slip it underneath the cam cover so it could come off and go on much easier around the AC/Heating box without having to fight with the wire's as well.

[LeoVampire]

Can't wait to see it all together! Great thread by the way, I have something similar planned for the near future and this thread just may give me the confidence to it myself! Thanks

But I do sugest you read up on the info thread that Blackened300a wrote about and posted first. http://www.mercurymarauder.net/forums/showthread.php?t=50526&highlight=covers

I didn't write about any of the info he posted in his thread. So make sure you read that as well before trying to do it so it will be much easier for you.

[Embassy]

Looks like you're really putting that recycle bin to good use. :D

The colors look a lot better than I anticipated and I am looking forward to seeing it all buttoned up.

Thanks for posting all your steps and making such an in-depth thread.

[LeoVampire]

Looks like you're really putting that recycle bin to good use. :D

The colors look a lot better than I anticipated and I am looking forward to seeing it all buttoned up.

Thanks for posting all your steps and making such an in-depth thread.

I figured I would cover some of the fine points of the work and area's others havn't mentioned to make sure when the next guy does this they will have as much info as possable to go back to for any problems they might run into. And also wanted to help others avoid some problem points too.

[LeoVampire]

First I want to start off with a tech tip for anyone working with the intake and injectors.
Now you don't want to damage the tip o-ring seals on the injectors putting them back in and you want to make sure they seat in properly.
Obviously while they are out clean them up well or better yet soak them in some injector cleaning fluid while your doing all of this work and put new o-ring seals on the top and bottom of them before you reinstall.
As the picture shows use a little bit of dielectric greese on the end o-ring that goes into the intake just on the o-ring only. It will allow it to slip inside of the intake easily and make a nice water proof seal plus make it easier to pull it out again in the future.

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And now a picture of all of the anodize silver parts done with the oven. I let them sit over night to make sure the paint is totaly dry and set after the bakeing process. So they will be on the engine tomarrow. Not a good shot of them seeing it is indoors but at least it is a look before going on the engine.

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I Hope the tech part of this thread helps someone out as well.

[babbage]

The silver looks really good in that last shot. Like to see the silver parts installed. I think blue can work with silver as well, note that the FRPP cam covers come in blue. The gold however does look good.

Are you using an oil separator when you put it back together?

[LeoVampire]

The silver looks really good in that last shot. Like to see the silver parts installed. I think blue can work with silver as well, note that the FRPP cam covers come in blue. The gold however does look good.

Are you using an oil separator when you put it back together?

She should be back together tomarrow if all goes well. But I won't try to start her until the day after because I like to let the gaskets seat and rest after I teighten them down. So I go back and recheck them before I start the engine up or try to anyways LOL!!!

But I will be taking pictures of it together tomarrow and show them on here. I also have to use that Ceramic header polish I bought and clean them up to show the effect as well which I havn't done since I posted that thread a while back LOL!

But I was using my last bit of coin in the ashtray to buy the gasket sealers to do the cam covers. So needless to say I have to wait on the oil sep until my next check comes in. I hate being on a fixed income it sucks!!!
I had some neighbors ask if I would tune up their cars but still waiting for them to come over with the work for a few extra bucks to work with.

[cougar9150]

The gold would not fit what I am looking to do but looks absolutely phenomenal. It is all coming together really good and I can not wait to see the finished product.

I am thinking about something similar in the not to far future but was planning on getting everything powder coated in Silver and tungsten/pewter tones, w/a few small black and chrome pieces thrown in to break it up. What is the approximate time and cost of doing all of this yourself as I know the powder coating will not be that cost effective. While the cost of powder coating is an issue finding enough time would be probably be the biggest thing prohibiting me from trying this myself.

Kinda of wish I still lived up North as I would just bring my stuff to you and pay for your services. Not sure if I have the finesse necessary to do that nice of work.

[LeoVampire]

The gold would not fit what I am looking to do but looks absolutely phenomenal. It is all coming together really good and I can not wait to see the finished product.

I am thinking about something similar in the not to far future but was planning on getting everything powder coated in Silver and tungsten/pewter tones, w/a few small black and chrome pieces thrown in to break it up. What is the approximate time and cost of doing all of this yourself as I know the powder coating will not be that cost effective. While the cost of powder coating is an issue finding enough time would be probably be the biggest thing prohibiting me from trying this myself.

Kinda of wish I still lived up North as I would just bring my stuff to you and pay for your services. Not sure if I have the finesse necessary to do that nice of work.

As far as the time involved today make's day 8 for me so seeing I will have her done tomarrow and out for a drive it will be 9 days total for me and about 6 hours a day work average. I made sure I had everything I needed basicly which helped to cut time down for me.
But thanks for your final compliments on the work I have done!

[LeoVampire]

Just about everything is on and done. I just need to run to the dealer because I lost one of those stupid body clips that are also nuts for the piece that hold's the wiper system in place. Checked every thing else and have no extra parts left over and what is left is what fit's the final piece that goes over the wiper system and aginst the windshield.

BTW guys zip tie's are your best friend on a project like this to keep stuff from being messed up. Anything you can see that can, will or might rub a spot on your finished work find a way to zip tie it in a way were it will not happen. I added a total for 12 new zip ties that was not there before makeing sure nothig rubs the new painted parts.

Here are the most recient pictures.
First what I started with before the work.

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And now the finished work after 8 days to date.

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I hope we have some sun tomarrow so I can aim her into it and take some good pictures both close up and normal.

I did pull the fuel pump fuse today and crank her over a bit to get oil flowing. Then put the air system on and started her up to pull the Mistress out of the garage so I can start the clean up precess in there before the landlord flips out LOL!!!

I left both the Radiator over flow cap off as well as the cap for the crossover tube and filled the engine up through the cross over tube only. I left her warm up and get the thermostat to open and kept the cap on the cross over slightly open till there was no air inside of it. Seemed to be fine the temp stayed steady and the fan came on and off like normal. Just will double check it again tomarrow to make sure all air is out of the system.

I still have to polish the coil covers and other covers and the headers but it should go okay with the new polish and the Mothers power ball LOL!!

[sd8683]

Wow that's a night and day difference! great job! :up:

[LeoVampire]

Wow that's a night and day difference! great job! :up:

She is all done and running like a charm. Now

Here are two shots of it facing the sun out in the open.

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I will be hitting the car show tomarrow and I hope she impresses the others there as well.
Just have a few hours worth of detailing the Mistress on the outside first before I head there LOL!! She has collected a lot of dust sitting in the garage for over a week.
There is a big show on the 4th of October where I have a chance at a trophy so here is to keeping my fingers crossed for that one.

Anyways I want to thank everyone for watching and commenting on this thread!

[ImpalaSlayer]

so when is the timing cover and the alt getting done?

[LeoVampire]

so when is the timing cover and the alt getting done?

I have plan's on having all of the pully's chromed so while they are off being done I will be doing the front of the engine.

Over the winter I will be picking up a few odd's and end's I want to put on the car for next year anyway's so I will have a couple of add on's to enhance her more.

I want that trunk liner with the Marauder name and god's head on it and I want the door sill's and a trunk organizer.

Plus I have plan's in the works to have a duel scoop all steal hood made with a functional ram air set up.

[ImpalaSlayer]

nice man. i was debaiting pulling the timing cover off while im doing the eaton but i needed to get done by the OC meet

[LeoVampire]

nice man. I was debaiting pulling the timing cover off while im doing the eaton but i needed to get done by the OC meet

When I had the cam covers off I noticed a little slack on the passenger side Driver chain going to the crank. So depending on what I find I might change the chains and gears out to double roller one's.

It might not need it with only an easy going 40,000 on her maybe there is just an adjustment that can be made on the tensioners it ride's on.

But I figure why not look and see and then do the cover with the pully's.

[FordNut]

So depending on what I find I might change the chains and gears out to double roller one's.


There is no such thing.

[LeoVampire]

There is no such thing.

I inquired about it at Ford Racing and they said there is a set of double roller chains and gears available for the engine.

[FordNut]

OK. Got any part numbers?

[LeoVampire]

OK. Got any part numbers?

I recalled them up and the new guy I talked to said John miss spoke info to me. He said it is something they are looking into and it is not ready yet for production so they guy was not supose to say anything in the first place.

So I guess I will be stuck with stock replacment timming gears and chains if I have to do it.

At the time I had called them I was just looking into the options I had and wanted to know what was available for the engine.

So just went by what I was told at the time.

[Blackened300a]

Looks great. The gold worked nicely. Reminds me of the Oldsmobile rocket engines.

[LeoVampire]

Looks great. The gold worked nicely. Reminds me of the Oldsmobile rocket engines.

I knew it was more of a GM color set up for the old's but then blew it off because of the silver work that is done and that I also plan for the timming cover as well in the future.

I wanted to to the top of the block and the inside facing part of the heads with the main intake off but I didn't have the money for the paper at the time to mask off the entire area to protect from spray dust so did not want to risk screwing up the paint on the body and engine compartment.

Better safe than sorry I always say when it comes to things like that.

Anyways at the car show I went to yesterday, Saturday, a lot of people were looking at my work and were blown away when they found out it was paint. I made some prints of the parts before during and after work to show them I tore the engine down to do it.

So they asked me to bring her to the MUM festival car show next Sunday where I have a shot at a trophy or two with the Marauder. So wish me luck there.

[FordNut]

The gold does look good. I recall some early Fords had gold valve covers, maybe the 292/312 or 260?

[LeoVampire]

The gold does look good. I recall some early Fords had gold valve covers, maybe the 292/312 or 260?

I have seen some guys that had it done on their engine's with powder coating but never saw a set stock that came that way personaly so I will take your word for it on that one.

All I know is at the car show I went to Saturday everyone was impressed with how it all looked especialy when the sun hit the engine compartment that anodize silver I used on the cross over tube and the intake plenum stood out big time with the gold flake on the other parts.

I am happy with the end look so I supose that is what matters after all the time and money.

The only thing I did notice is that the engine is running cooler since I did the rear head cooling kit and it hit's the normal temp a lot sooner than before with the added circulation in the heads so a lot of noticable gratification with the entire job in my eye's.

[Joe Walsh]

The gold does look good. I recall some early Fords had gold valve covers, maybe the 292/312 or 260?

1960s Ford Thunderbirds with FE engines had gold valve covers and a gold air cleaner assembly.

http://www.lovefords.org/63ford/power.htm

[LeoVampire]

1960s Ford Thunderbirds with FE engines had gold valve covers and a gold air cleaner assembly.

http://www.lovefords.org/63ford/power.htm

Most people who bought the T-Birds back then got the Factory Chrome kit on the engine so I guess that is why I never saw one with the gold color on it.
But I always did love that engine a nice power house to say the least. I had put one in the 1964 Ford dump truck I use to have and it was awsome for plowing and towing. Rebuilt it first of course LOL!
But thanks for the post and the link to a picture of it.

[massacre]

Awesome work. The only crappy thing is it makes the timing cover look pale in comparison...lol

[LeoVampire]

Awesome work. The only crappy thing is it makes the timing cover look pale in comparison...lol

Unfortunatly I had a limited amount of time the Landlord wanted to store 2 boats in the Garage and I was already over budget.

Besides I want to have the pully's chromed so until I am ready to do them did not see a point in taking them off at the time.

So little by little and bit by bit I will do more and more work to her.

Next year I am sure more will get done if all goes well.

[massacre]

The slack that you see in the chain(s) is more likely the tensioner itself, and not the chain. The tensioners are activated by oil pressure. With no oil pressure in the motor, they can bleed down, causing this slack. If it were me I'd change the tensioner if it bothers you that much, these chains last for a long time if the motor is taken care of.
And the "double-roller chain" is more likely a 302 part, as cam-in-block motors will use a double-roller. I have never seen a modular motor with double-roller chains.

[LeoVampire]

The slack that you see in the chain(s) is more likely the tensioner itself, and not the chain. The tensioners are activated by oil pressure. With no oil pressure in the motor, they can bleed down, causing this slack. If it were me I'd change the tensioner if it bothers you that much, these chains last for a long time if the motor is taken care of.
And the "double-roller chain" is more likely a 302 part, as cam-in-block motors will use a double-roller. I have never seen a modular motor with double-roller chains.

I will find out next year one way or the other when I pull off the timming cover to do the silver work on it as well. Plus having the chrome work done on the pully's. I doubt there is a problem as well because I take good care of the motor and tranny.

But I did not know about the oil pressure making the tensioners work so that it is interesting info thanks. The Driver's side was tight as hell it was just the passenger side that had some slack in it.