My 1968 Mustang Rustang

[Tiggie]

I’m googling. Which is bad for engine building.

Google says cam timing doesn’t affect ignition timing.

Very much leaning towards the balancer being wrong.

[clutch47]

Is the balancer you're using the one that came with your engine, or is it a different/new one.?

[Tiggie]

Is the balancer you're using the one that came with your engine, or is it a different/new one.?

It’s a different one. I had to run an aftermarket to run the old pulleys on the 50oz engine.

I had my dad come over today and verify my work on spark timing. He agreed that everything was fine.

Pulled the timing cover. Reluctantly, but actually hoping to find something wrong. Found this:



Oops. Not sure how I got it that far off.

I hope that’s all that wrong. Fixing it... right this time...


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[Brown_Muscle]

Always good to find something obvious! Rather than finding nothing and scratching your head. I bet that’ll do it

[Tiggie]

Buttoned it back up.

Seems better. Likes normal timing. Still sounds aggressive at idle. Smoother with RPM.

I think I am expecting too much from a cold carbureted engine with an “off the shelf six years old this ran on a junk 302” carburetor. It’s just not gonna run smooth until it gets a little heat in it and then it may need some adjustment. I think it’s time to get the radiator in there so I can run it longer.

Very happy the engine seems healthy since it was a junkyard pull.

[massacre]

Awesome glad you got it sorted out

[Tiggie]

Figured out the alternator problem. Problem 1: I missed an insulator on the charge post. This caused the sparks when the battery was hooked up. I’m not sure this alternator had one. Upon reviewing the parts that came out of it, I found an o-ring. I am wondering if that’s what they used as an isolator. I pulled the correct one from the donor alternator.



Problem 2: there was continuity between the case and the stator terminal. Not sure what is at fault here a me or the poor quality remanufacturing process. The inner isolator was damaged but functional I think. Replaced from the donor. The bigger problem was a wire from the coil to the the stator decided to get friendly with the case.



On another note, the charge terminal, which is square inside and held by the brush holder, was metric and too small. Also pulled that from the donor.

All seems well. Gonna drop it off to get it tested before putting it on the car again. Too many unknowns and problems causing other problems at this point. This car has a nice original wiring harness and I don’t want to fry it. A friend of mine with the 67 Shelby clone has been fighting with his junk aftermarket wiring harness. Can’t beat OEM in good condition.


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[Tiggie]

My 1968 Mustang Rustang

Took the alternator to have it tested today. It passed with flying colors. Only had to take it apart 37 times before getting it right. No sparks when installing either!

Started installing the engine accessories. A power steering hose is wrong. Well... it works... but it basically touches the exhaust manifold so that’s a no. Also, apparently I got sent a 65-66 A/C brace. Not a big deal since the right one is available.

The mounting holes for the bottom A/C bracket on the drivers side head took a metric bolt. Was supposed to be a 3/8 but the threads were wrong.

Mocked up my belts I bought in 2014 (RockAuto closeout). All seem to fit (the tensioners are loose in the picture).

Driveshaft was shortened by a local shop.







I think it’s radiator time next.


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[Tiggie]

Today was to be cranking and run day with coolant!

I figured we had a problem when I tried my coolant system vacuum and couldn’t draw a vacuum at all.

The thermostat housing bolts were apparently just barely too long. So it leaked like crazy. Antifreeze everywhere.

Didn’t really want to use antifreeze at this point for this reason but it’s too close to freezing tonight to take a chance.

Got it cleaned up, shorter bolts, and buttoned up... again...

Tomorrow is crank and run day?

[87gtVIC]

You pressure test it after the shorter bolt put into the tstat housing or do you only do that will a fairly full system?

[Tiggie]

You pressure test it after the shorter bolt put into the tstat housing or do you only do that will a fairly full system?

I don’t have a pressure tester but I do have a vacuum. Second attempt at vacuum was successful. Found one slight leak at a hose clamp. Vacuumed the half-full system down and fed it the coolant. So far so good.

About 90% of the way done with power steering hoses. What a mess. Too much stuff in one area. I would not have power steering on this car if it wasn’t A.) already there and B.) needed for A/C bracket mounting and C.) mostly new when I got the car. It’s super numb on the road.

[Tiggie]

Wellll. Bah humbug.

Something is not right and/or the cam is too much.

Vacuum is 10-15” really jumpy at idle. Comes up to 18” kind of steady with rpm. If you ask me, it still sounds like we have a dead cylinder when cranking, verified by the jumpy idle vacuum. I checked compression on number 4 previously, but not the others.

Let it run up to temperature. Quite smoky. (New) Plugs look like crap. Possibly overloading combined with the dead cylinder. Adjusted the mixture in the ederlbrock and it responded but didn’t make it any happier with idle.

Threw my totally unknown Autolite 4100 on there and it liked it at first but the float stuck or needle valve stuck or something and the secondaries started dumping fuel (yay overloading again).

Next step is to check compression on all the cylinders. Diagnose from there. And rebuilt a carb since both are off the shelf of extended no use periods. Might as well get some new plugs since these look like a mess.

Bah humbug.

[87gtVIC]

I feel your pain.

I have a friend with an 87 mustang GT t top. He rebuilt an engine (i use rebuilt extremely loosely)...Bought engine from some guy...bought heads from some guy..he measured for push rod length, some off the shelf cam and put everything back together himself. He was quite confident all would be fine, I was not so much due to him not ever doing this before and the mass amounts of mix matched parts with unknown history. Tries to start car. Wont. He has silly equal length headers so he cannot even check compression in all cylinders. Some have zero and one or two have 90 lol. You are not the only one with engine troubles.

[Tiggie]

You crossed my mind today David with your troubles with the last engine stuff you did to yours. Sounds like your friend has some troubles to chase too.

It’s rarely a trouble free experience when I learn by experience.

[87gtVIC]

You crossed my mind today David with your troubles with the last engine stuff you did to yours. Sounds like your friend has some troubles to chase too.

It’s rarely a trouble free experience when I learn by experience.

Yeah. Nothing goes like it should. My friend is not going to have a good time at all. My guess is he will either get rid of the car or buy a complete motor to install. He does not have it in him to do the necessary troubleshooting.

My problems sucked, luckily I found out the upper intake mounting surface was causing a large vacuum leak. Then two head bolts breaking at different times on each head was annoying as well but things have been great the last few years now...Knock wood.

Hope you can salvage what you have and come out on top.

My dad recently installed a new blueprint motor in his 85 mustang. The damn harmonic balancer had a shoulder on it that ate the front main out and caused oil to sling all over. Hes been a mechanic sine the early 80's. Things just don't go right.