So; tuesday we started the car for the first time.
It was late at night so we waited until Wednesay to actually do a full warm up and burp the coolant/air
When we ran 20 mins has some minor issues
-First one of my spark plug wires split and frayed when it hit the header and grounded out...not sure why it did so much damage and if the damage caused it to ground, or if it grounding out caused the damage.
-So we used electrical tape around the wire to buy us another 10 mins because the thermostat had just opened up at the time.
-The temp then climbed to approx 210 degrees, which to me I think is hot for a 5.0.....but it quickly went back down after the thermostat opened; the guage could be off due to air near the sensor. But I did notice the fan never did come on.....we had a slight overflow of coolant because the cap wasn't on, so we closed the cap and basically decided to let it cool down again so we could start over and add more coolant again.
-We also noticed antifreeze in a strange place on the water pump...I recall a cracking noise when it was first bolted up (before torquing it) and thought I was nuts...but perhaps the pump does have a problem and leaking from the housing itself! It's very very small leak (doesn't even hit the ground, so I'll watch it and see what happens)
-We also noticed 5 drips of oil from the rear-main seal AREA....not 100% sure what's going on there yet.
I ordered new spark plug wires (ford racing) which won't be here until Friday, I am a panzy and don't want to run with the frayed wire because I sware that it's not firing as good as it was. (J think's I'm nuts)
So today I asked J to help me mount and re-ground the battery in the hatch...my ground sucked and we had it temporarily zip tied to the hatch latch to start the car the first time. So; it took a few hours to fully install the battery start to finish. We had to find a mounting point (there's a plug in the upper passenger side near the shock tower, which, when removed reveals a hole directly through the frame and fully accessible without touching the gas tank! how great is that!) So; after J hand-sanded the frame for the pole for the battery box, he used a nut and washers so we could also mount the grounding wire to the top side of the post next to the battery in the box itself. Everything worked great! I still need to mount a vent tube, but that shouldn't take long.
So; between tomorrow and saturday there's a few minor details before driving the car
-Vent for battery
-Tighten shifter cable
-Warm up the car again and make sure antifreeze level is good
-After warm up check and top off tranny fluid
-Adjust fan temp setting and make sure the fan is going to come on
-Install new spark plug wires
-Install new distributor top housing (it got busted and I had to buy another, its just the top plastic part)
-Try to re-secure trim around the powerpipe & fender hole...my hole is slightly too small and I'm having a hard time (I don't want to go larger on the hole because it's starting to go into the overlapped sheetmetal and it sucks to even get trim to fit over it)
-Re-install inner tire wells and put the front tires back on
....long story short: Drive the car sometime on Saturday to get a sticker and seat the rings.
new engine shot with the ford racing wires and other minor details