Prudence, my 87 Town Car

[gadget73]

The holes are definitely threaded but most of them are so packed up with crap that you'll never get anything in there. Honestly unless you have the heads off or the engine pulled to get a tap in there to clean the crap out of the threads you're better off just chopping up the injector manifold and flipping those plates over for a block-off. I seriously doubt you'd ever get it cleaned out enough with the engine in the car.


Wonder if your rattle is a water pump or power steering pump. I've heard both make that sort of noise. Pulling belts and giving things the shake test might tell you something, or at least it will or won't make the noise stop for isolation reasons.

Possibly the AC belt will work better if you run the slack side over the tensioner instead of the tight side. Mine is that way but I also have an underdrive pulley on the crank and it makes things a little weird.

if the ac compressor clutch won't pull, try giving it a whack on the front to see if it grabs. if it does, fair bet the air gap is too wide and you need to re-shim it. Not very difficult, just pull the front plate off and remove one of the shim washers from the end of the compressor shaft. Often they stick inside the hub on the front plate.

[DerekTheGreat]

I had read that the holes are threaded, but I'll never know for sure with all the carbon in there...

...Yes, there are threads in the backs of the heads, on my 120k mile heads it took about a minute per hole honing with a metal bottle brush to be able to thread a bolt in.

That's what I've read too. Never had a reason to mess with any of it until this truck, so now I'm kicking around the idea of deleting all that stuff from my Lincoln too. Hopefully there is enough room to mess around back there with the engine in the truck. Truck's 351 has unknown mileage as it's not original to said truck. Lincoln has about 125k. Are these the plugs I'd need for either engine?:
Trick Flow Specialties TFS-51400265 Trick Flow® Small Block Ford Thermactor Inserts | Summit Racing

...based on the way the engine sounds and the fact that it's approaching 200,000 miles, I'm wondering whether I should be buying an Explorer engine in anticipation of a swap. Car-part shows a couple at a yard up in Gettysburg for $450, supposedly running, so that might not be so far fetched an idea.

All the 3G, intake, vacuum reservoir, etc stuff happened while I was still in California, probably over two years ago now. It's all added up to make the driver's side much cleaner. Removing the smog pump finally has done the same for the passenger side fender, or at least started the process.

Would be a great idea. If you're serious about it, start collecting parts now. Years ago I was pretty close, bought a donor Mark VII and then decided against the swap. How hard was the wiring change? That later style electrical box looks nice. Might just have to do that to my car.

[Arquemann]

Are these the plugs I'd need for either engine?:

Yes, or you could just get two 5/8" bolts from a hardware store for a fraction of the price. Or you could remove and flip the ends of the factory tube for free. You're not gonna see them anyways, so I'd leave any fancier options for an engine out / heads off situation.

[DerekTheGreat]

I'll probably just flip the factory things. What to seal 'em up with? Heard RTV won't cut it as there's too much heat.

[WagonMan]

Permatex "RED" works for exhaust flanges. It is a high heat RTV. WagonMan

[Arquemann]

I'll probably just flip the factory things. What to seal 'em up with? Heard RTV won't cut it as there's too much heat.

I didn't use anything and they sealed up fine. And I know this for sure as initially I had one clocked a bit off so it leaked. Felt back there by hand alot.

[gadget73]

There is a gasket back there in stock form. if it doesn't tear, you're good. If it does tear just buy new ones. usually they are so plugged with crap that a leak isn't really a concern.

[sly]

I used permatex copper RTV when I did it. Stuff is "high heat" rated (700F) and that spot never gets that hot. Not like being on actual exhaust since that's an air injection path. The only time exhaust comes out those ports is when the diverter check valves are blown/worn out or the crossover pipe has holes rusted in it.

[DerekTheGreat]

Thank you for the tips, fellas!

I haven't touched the truck since we brought it home some 3 or 4 weeks ago now. It's been a pretty red driveway ornament, yet someone has already flagged me down wanting to buy it. Which is to say I have no idea what's going on back there. The exhaust sounds like it has a leak, so I'm assuming the crossover pipe has holes in it. Surprised that whomever swapped the 351 in there didn't delete all this stuff before they stabbed it in.