Old Friends and Thoughts at Ninety-Five MPH
I have an old Mustang. It’s hard to say the actual age. I generalize by saying it’s a 2000-2004, it was built in '02, There are not many original parts left. My car thing goes back a long way, to my father and his brothers and brothers-in-law. Guys back then were defined by their brand loyalty. I became a Ford guy because my dad was a Ford guy. I try hard to rationalize that Henry Ford was not a man to be admired, I don’t care much either way about Henry, I grew up working on his cars with my dad. I wrote this (in my head) about two years ago after a particularly deep dive in my Ford’s engine. A rebuild of the entire top end. Mark, my friend, master editor and co-greaser and Carlos a friend of nearly thirty years participated in the chaos and final victory.
I'm driving the New York State Thruway at about 95 mph and 4000 rpm, the engine is as smooth as silk, I start to wonder if that driver’s side cam with that funky journal gets loose will it fly through the firewall like a missile coming for me, or just fly around under the hood and wreck my entire day? Next winter maybe new heads?
I think about the valves, and the valve springs, and seals, and retainers, and keepers. The cam and cam caps and the twenty-eight bolts that hold them down... did I torque each one to twenty-two foot pounds? I think I did, all twenty-two bolts, right? Those weird cam sprocket bolts, ninety-two-foot pounds and thirty degrees, what’s that about? Why not just one-hundred- and twenty-foot pounds?
That one cam follower I only got in with a bigger pry bar. That made me a little queasy. Both Mark and Carlos were there for that one. We got it right, right?
The timing must be right, did I get the timing chains right? What about the guides, and those weird tensioners? Carlos was so busy proving he was right about something, anything, everything, to Mark and me I might have forgotten to torque them. Nah, I checked them about 25 times before I put the timing cover back on, I think, I’m pretty sure, but did I tighten those fourteen cover bolts? I hope that gasket is in right, it was kind of weird, and I hope I put that main seal in right. It was different than the original. Thanks, Fel Pro, like I don’t have enough anxiety.
What about the spark plugs and those stupid three threads in the aluminum head? Mustang Forum guys with expert opinions, 14-foot pounds dry, Twenty-two foot pounds with Neverseize. Make up my mind! What about the one plug in the back on the passenger side. Why’d they angle that plug hole that way? Can you use a universal on a torque wrench?
What about the fuel lines and fuel rails and injectors. Did that one gas leak stop? Did that one leaky O-ring seal? I hope it’s not pumping 93 octane onto the hot head. That might be bad...
The coil packs must be ok, they’d not kill me anyway. The cold air intake, and the mass airflow sensor were good, right? Don’t want any unmetered air coming in. The valve covers and those funky grommets. I hope they don’t leak oil.
How the hell are you supposed to get that harmonic balancer bolt to one-hundred- and thirty-foot pounds when the entire car starts to move forward at ninety foot-pounds in gear with the brake on? That bolt is probably on good enough, right? It won’t come flying off, right? I should retighten that, and the goddamn spark plugs this weekend.
Why the hell didn’t I replace the water pump? The whole top end and front of the engine was torn apart; dude, it was right there! Five fricken bolts! And why didn’t you replace the radiator, it was out, dumbass. Never again will I try to go cheap on a power steering pulley tool. Three hours trying to put that damn thing back on, then two minutes with the right tool. Dumbass!
That new belt tensioner said it was from Ford, but it was awfully cheap. I hope it is from Ford. I didn’t see Motorcraft on it anywhere and what about those Amazon hoses? Yeah they are red, and look cool but will they blow two-hundred-degree water all over my face one day? That would suck.
Is that crankshaft position sensor, hidden behind the AC compressor, leaking oil? Why didn’t I just gut all that AC crap. It’s a convertible, man. You’ve never used it.
Anyway, this is what I think about at ninety-five miles per hour and four thousand RPMs...
Maybe I should install a new radio, and let the music distract me, but that seems like a lot of work, and I’d never hear that small block Ford rumble.
Like Neil Young said, “Long May You Run...”
Anyway, that’s all I have for this week. Here are some books to check out most are freebies. Don’t forget to click on the image to open the link.
Have a good week, stay safe, it’s getting weird out there!
Bill