FirstCoastCobraClub

Today Mike finished removing the rear clamshell so the engine could be redone after a distributor gear failure. While he's got it apart the fluid systems are also being revised. Go Mike!

I figured it’s time to give an update on my progress. Reconfiguring the cooling system, which was very much needed. Forward compartment looked like this as configured by PO…

Corrugated steel hose with S bends replaced with silicone hose and aluminum tubes with 3/8” NPT bungs for drain tap and heater provisions.

Fan shrouds were securely mounted, but they sat 1 1/8” away from the radiator. Crafted an aluminum air box for the fans and added 2 pin connectors so fans can easily be removed/replaced.

8AN hose at L/R top of radiator were routed to bulkhead fittings into upper cabin area connected to a very convoluted routing of heater plumbing, which I won’t try to explain. Suffice to say it was very convoluted, very wrong, and very inefficient. In place of the AN hose, i will run a 1/4” aluminum line from the passenger side fitting through the center tunnel with the cooling tubes and AC hoses, and plumb it into the top of the expansion tank to continually vent trapped air. The other side will get a Circle Seal pressure relief valve.

I’ve added an archive photo showing original GT40 cooling system plumbing that I will duplicate on my car.

That’s enough for now…

Well, as Tom can attest, the motor and transaxle are out and now the real work can begin…

Getting into the heart of the matter....good job to you both.

Ken,

Don’t blame me

I just showed up for the photo op. Mike did all the work!

Tom

Thx Ken, it feels good to be working on it again and getting a laundry list of things done to make the car right.

I separated the ZF from the motor. It’s got an AL flywheel with 164 tooth ring gear. Clutch is 11” dual friction disc. No branding on clutch or flywheel.

Found a bit of ugliness when I removed the water pump…

Fortunately, the crud is limited to the steel plate and the timing chain cover outside of the water path. WP is clean as a whistle internally and impeller rotates nicely but with some resistance from a snug seal, and all gasket surfaces are clean and smooth…well you know what I mean…

The plate and timing cover should clean up okay.

Oh, wanted to show the Ford Racing Technolgies ID tag glued to the block. M-6007-D392E is 392CI stroker based on 351W Sportsman block. 430hp/450tq and a bunch of good parts.

Plus, accessory brackets and pulleys are all Roush products…except for the AC compressor (already removed).

Dang software says my photo file (engine ID plate) is too large, what kind of cheap ass software is this Tom?

Mike,

You maybe found the reason to pull the engine. That crud had to have negatively affected cooling!

Have you any idea what the crud is? Kinda looks like some kind of stop-leak?

As to file size, you have put up some files nearly 4MB. Is that one bigger? I can increase the limit if you tell me the size you want.

Either way, looks like good progress!

Tom (from Louisiana)

Tom, I don’t think it had any effect on cooling as it’s in a captive area between the steel backing plate and the timing cover, not within the path of coolant. No idea how any corrosive fluids even got in there, but there is a weep hole at the very bottom of the cavity for any potential leaks. The internal pump itself and the coolant ports in the timing cover are spotless.

Not sure why some iPhone pictures are sized okay and others are inexplicably too large. I’ll try to crack the code on my phone.

Took another photo of the ID plate and the water pump in the .5X zoom mode and that produced smaller sized files. The camera was already set for efficiency mode, so no other way to reduce file size afaik. I’ll try cropping one of the oversized files and see if that works…it does.