'89 Stepside "Way Cool Jr."

[HotWheelsBurban]

For ford I think its a revenue from parts and labor thing. Im just amazed at how many people are ford loyal. That 04-14 5.4 3v cam phaser catastrophy was it for me.

Could be right about that! My uncle has a Marauder and a Tbird super coupe and a couple of trucks, and he's never had good luck with the Ford dealership in Albuquerque. And this is a guy that if I said anything about my Burb, his answer is "your first problem is, it's a Chevrolet ". This F150 we got from my boss's family, and I think he thought it was a wee bit more reliable than it's turned out to be. It's sat on the family ranch, and probably not had much in the way of maintenance.

 

[HotWheelsBurban]

But have you driven a Panther? I would have no problem doing a T5 swap in one and then dailying it. I wouldn't sell the Mustang to do it, but man, they are nice cars.

Closest I've been to one is uncle's Marauder, and it looks nice and he really likes it. I got to ride in his Tbird super coupe a couple times, and was pleasantly surprised by its performance. I know there's a lot of people who are fixing up the old cop cars and the Mercs are popular too. I guess if it's a 4.6 it's easier to work on.....that 5.4 design is like, you gotta be f#×ing kidding me.....

 

[Erik the Awful]

I think they're pretty much the same motor. I believe the 5.4 has a taller deck height, but less spark plug thread engagement. I won't disagree that Ford has some stupid engineering choices in places, but I think they manage their accountants better. Chevy has some decent engineering, but the accountants cheap everything out to the point of impending failure. My Mustang has been one of the best cars I've ever owned. 160,000 miles and it drives almost like new - I'm buying new rear suspension arms in the next week or so, and that'll bring it back to new spec.

 

[Erik the Awful]

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[Erik the Awful]

Always, always, always blueprint your engine, especially if you involve a machine shop. I was setting the gap on the rings for the low-buck rebuild of WCJr's original engine. Instead of the desired .016-.028" gap, I was getting .023-.032" gaps. Kinda weird, so I got out my calipers. My .030" over block is actually .040" over. Ugh. Fortunately the machine shop uses Sealed Power pistons for a lot of their builds, so hopefully they'll be willing to swap me. The whole point of building this engine is to use up my stock of extra parts, not to buy even more. Then I realized I'm short a few gaskets of building the engine, and a whole gasket set was cheaper than those gaskets. Doh!

The Chickasha Swap Meet is next week, and I'm planning on going just to see what it's like. I'm interested in what I can score for a cheap intake. I'm hoping for an Edelbrock C3B with a front oil filler tube.

I was torquing the main caps the other day, and one of them seated, but as I turned the torque wrench, it didn't tighten up. Uh oh. I stopped and pulled it out. I was reusing the stock main bolts, but the water damage wasn't limited to the head, one of the bolts is partially eaten through. Do I spend $20 on a set of no-name bolts from Summit, or do I nab some treasure yard bolts while I'm at Pull-A-Part looking for a rebuildable 193 head? Yeah, you know me. I think I'm also going to nab the remote filter setup from a Suburban so I can run an oil cooler on WCJr some day.

Speaking of heads, I practiced my porting on the head with the rusted out valve seat and realized it's not yet within my skill level to open up the combustion chamber around the intake valve. I tend to dig down into the head. I went ahead and ported the good head, just cleaning up the casting and a few other tweaks, and I think it looks decent. I shot it and the timing cover with some engine primer and gold VHT engine paint.

 

[HotWheelsBurban]

Always, always, always blueprint your engine, especially if you involve a machine shop. I was setting the gap on the rings for the low-buck rebuild of WCJr's original engine. Instead of the desired .016-.028" gap, I was getting .023-.032" gaps. Kinda weird, so I got out my calipers. My .030" over block is actually .040" over. Ugh. Fortunately the machine shop uses Sealed Power pistons for a lot of their builds, so hopefully they'll be willing to swap me. The whole point of building this engine is to use up my stock of extra parts, not to buy even more. Then I realized I'm short a few gaskets of building the engine, and a whole gasket set was cheaper than those gaskets. Doh!

The Chickasha Swap Meet is next week, and I'm planning on going just to see what it's like. I'm interested in what I can score for a cheap intake. I'm hoping for an Edelbrock C3B with a front oil filler tube.

I was torquing the main caps the other day, and one of them seated, but as I turned the torque wrench, it didn't tighten up. Uh oh. I stopped and pulled it out. I was reusing the stock main bolts, but the water damage wasn't limited to the head, one of the bolts is partially eaten through. Do I spend $20 on a set of no-name bolts from Summit, or do I nab some treasure yard bolts while I'm at Pull-A-Part looking for a rebuildable 193 head? Yeah, you know me. I think I'm also going to nab the remote filter setup from a Suburban so I can run an oil cooler on WCJr some day.

Speaking of heads, I practiced my porting on the head with the rusted out valve seat and realized it's not yet within my skill level to open up the combustion chamber around the intake valve. I tend to dig down into the head. I went ahead and ported the good head, just cleaning up the casting and a few other tweaks, and I think it looks decent. I shot it and the timing cover with some engine primer and gold VHT engine paint.

So the Chickasha swap meet is still going? I went to that one a few times. Sometimes just Dad and I went to vend, most times the whole family went. We first set up in the outside spaces, then after one year that the wind was terrible and tore our tent up, got a spot in the main building. The one that was like a castle, very neat place. One year, I think 1991, it was already cold when we left Houston. Got colder, the farther north we went. Ended up snowing on Saturday afternoon, was probably about 5 or 6 degrees above 0. Most years we went, we'd stay with some of Mom's family that has a farm outside of Chickasha (off 81 between there and Minco). That year though, they were in California for a family reunion. So we camped out in the 79 Burb and the building. That place was drafty and cold as hell! The truck had bad weatherstrip on the doors like all the square trucks did, and it was drafty too. I don't think I was warm until we got to Dallas on the way home! That's halfway.....
Last year we went was 95 or 96. The meet was usually good for us, but it was such a long trip, and one of our more local shows changed weekend so they conflicted date wise. Wanted to go again, but never have. Last 2 trips to Oklahoma were for family reunions, in 99 and 2011.

 

[Erik the Awful]

I've been wanting to go for a couple years now, but I always miss the date. I was really paying attention for the spring meet this year, but Covid, etc. They're still on track for next week, and I scheduled a couple days off - I have leave I have to use by the end of the year. Unfortunately swap meets are dying. Gen X (my generation) and younger just doesn't have that bartering gene. I'd love to get my stuff together and have a space at a swap meet, but nobody around here deals in obsolete rotary parts. There's also usually a pretty good circle track swap meet at the State Fairgrounds in December, but it usually falls on my Reserve duty weekend. There's a small swap meet in Norman in the spring, but the two times I went it was mostly crap vendors. Shawnee has a swap meet with better stuff - but it's so dinky that you're really lucky if they have what you're looking for.

 

[HotWheelsBurban]

I've been wanting to go for a couple years now, but I always miss the date. I was really paying attention for the spring meet this year, but Covid, etc. They're still on track for next week, and I scheduled a couple days off - I have leave I have to use by the end of the year. Unfortunately swap meets are dying. Gen X (my generation) and younger just doesn't have that bartering gene. I'd love to get my stuff together and have a space at a swap meet, but nobody around here deals in obsolete rotary parts. There's also usually a pretty good circle track swap meet at the State Fairgrounds in December, but it usually falls on my Reserve duty weekend. There's a small swap meet in Norman in the spring, but the two times I went it was mostly crap vendors. Shawnee has a swap meet with better stuff - but it's so dinky that you're really lucky if they have what you're looking for.

The young uns all use the internet as a swap meet. I've been going to them most of my life, and like so many other things, swap meets have changed a lot. Used to be one in Houston area at least once a month, more often in spring and fall. Summer too hot to be outside, but some were indoors. The people that put them on are getting older too, and not wanting or able to keep doing them. One promoter in Texas has taken over his dad's company, and runs several meets now. Unfortunately most are in DFW area, but he has one in Houston in the spring. That was my only gig for 3 months this year! The pandemic canceled both of the big hot rod and custom car shows I go to(my best gigs of the year usually) and the autorama at Thanksgiving weekend. Just a few local meets for the rest of this year.

 

[1ton-o-fun]

But have you driven a Panther? I would have no problem doing a T5 swap in one and then dailying it. I wouldn't sell the Mustang to do it, but man, they are nice cars.

We Panther platform (Crown Vic) fans call 'em 4-door Mustangs. I absolutely love mine. Some day will have either a F150 Coyote 5.0 or a 6.0 LS in mine.

 

[Aarong23]

But have you driven a Panther? I would have no problem doing a T5 swap in one and then dailying it. I wouldn't sell the Mustang to do it, but man, they are nice cars.

Ford does do some crazy stuff that makes working on them a PITA. But I have to agree about the panther platform. I love em. Lincoln, mercs, vics are all comfortable cars.