Getting the big Fairlane back on the road.... Engine is finally in !!!!

[440]

Thanks    What started out as a quick out and in $3,500-$4,000 engine rebuild quickly snowballed out of control. It's still cheap compared to what many build but it suited my budget and needs. I just wish I went with a slightly bigger cam even though the engine builder talked me out of it.

I originally wanted the engine to appear fairly stock, finding a Bosch OEM electronic distributor to fit proved the hard bit. The MSD was almost at cheap as the second hand used Bosch unit so that's what set off the "aftermarket" appearance.

It's almost a shame to put in such a tatty car but will be a fun toy. I really hope I can also fit a ratchet shifter under the console without having to modify it.

Are you going to fix the steering?    It's on the wrong side of the car.   

I can put a fake steering wheel on the left side so you feel normal. Banging through the gears with my left hand will take some getting used to 

[440]

Well, I finally got the ratchet shifter mounted with the stock console. What a pain in the ass it was to fit, but we got there. I had to remove the stock shifter hump, cut a patch panel and bolt in place, raise console about 7/16" and mount it. Trying to get the stick lined up square in the middle of the slot on the console proved the most challenging as the tunnel had no flat surfaces. Luckily my patience paid off and all holes drilled perfectly.

[440]

While the interior was out I decided to waste money and install a stereo, why, I dont know really. The sub takes up too much trunk space and the weight of the extra gear isn't doing the car any good.

New head unit installed and amp's mounted on a board...

[440]

I cleaned the spare wheel well, painted the spare tire cover, put the trunk carpet in and ran new speaker cables. I'm not fussed about the room the audio equipment occupies but I don't have much choice. There are no "tidy" spots to fit it all, if the stupid LPG tank wasn't there it wiould be perfect.

[Bossman963]

Wow whats a standard 302 Cleveland

I never seen one of those animals !!!!

You cant interchange parts as the Windsor is a small block and the Cleveland is a big Block motor- Ford designed the 351C as a NASCAR Motor back in the day 1970

[440]

The cleveland is a good motor. The interesting thing is you can mix some windsor parts and cleveland parts to make a cleavor. These are known as "Boss" engines over here.

I bolted the passenger side engine mount together finally (RHD). Slowly getting there. I had to replace the u joints in my other Fairlane which was pretty tough. They were the original 40yo u joints, rusted, and one had failed. It required a lot of soaking with WD40, a vise, a hammer and a lot of patients.

[440]

I bought some nice Pioneer D series speakers for the package shelf and installed them. I've finally wired up my amplifiers except for power, still trying to figure out how I want to split it. I had upgraded the speaker wire that I first ran with 12awg wire. My OCD kicked in and I tidied up all the stereo wiring. I'm happy it's is all coming together nicely and nearly finished. I suck at car audio and learned a lot installing it. I made it harder on myself but if there is a next time should be a breeze.

All that's left is to buy a pair of speakers for the kick panel, buy a new starter, and do the engine swap.

And put the interior back in.....

[440]

I started putting the interior back in and all was going pretty well. I've got a bit of a rant though, finding the correct products here are a nightmare and quickly grind things to a halt.

I'm currently making and replacing the door vapor barriers and needed some non hardening butyl sealer, I thought for sure the major hardware store would have some, nope. I head to a major auto parts store, nope. Frustrating....

A similar thing happened trying to find some 3m super 77 to glue the insulation in my heater box, I ended up ringing 3m Australia asking where to find it only to find one place carried it. Said place was nearly a 2 hour round trip. Trying to find some high grade bolts, same thing, only place about 2hr round trip again. I think this will be a similar situation  


So much for my plans to get them finished and the door panels on tomorrow.

[440]

I found some non hardening mastic but again it's a 2 hour round trip to get and they wont ship it either  

I managed to get all the old mastic off the doors which was messy   I also cleaned up the inner doors and fish oiled them to hopefully prevent further rust. This isn't a "tidy" car by any means but more of a toy, a sleeper. I also managed to get the rear insulation, rear carpet, rear seats, rear trim panels and the sill plates installed.

[440]

No love for the Fairlane but here's another update.

Front padding, carpet and drivers seat are in. I glued in all the moisture barriers and mounted all the door panels. I also cut out larger kick panel holes and mounted some 6 3/4" speakers. I just need to make some brackets to mount the tweeters.

I've got an idea on how to make the factory indicator work, this was quite challenging as the shifter moves a total of 1 7/8" while the indicator light needs 4 1/8" of travel.

[440]

After a LOT of messing around I finally got the gear indicator working great with no modifications made to the console.

I'm glad to see the tail end of this little project.

[Patronus]

Don't think I've ever heard of a 302 Cleveland. But hey, I guess there's plenty of 440 hemi's out there too.

[440]

I managed to get this done today by myself, now the fun of scrubbing ,cleaning and degreasing. The complete front wiring harness will be replaced as well as the steering box. I should also replace the power steering hoses while it's apart but where do you draw the line?

Christmas makes this a year long project. I originally thought it would take no longer then 2 months when I started, a quick engine rebuild snowballed into something more.


At least I'm getting closer to getting my pos back on the road.....

[440]

I finally got a start on cleaning the engine bay. Under all the crap it appears to be in pretty good shape, surface rust in some spots but nothing rotted. I was hoping to get a bit more done today but it was too hot to work in the sun. I 2ill sand back and repaint the battery area as this is the worst spot.

[440]

This damn pitman arm is starting to piss me off. I'm about to go mental on it with the biggest hammer I can find.

[440]

I finally painted the engine bay, I'm starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel.

I still need to rust convert and paint the join at the firewall.

I'm also replacing the brake booster, master cylinder, and the high pressure power steering line.

[440]

New steering box installed with new coupler and power steering lines. The old coupler was quite scary actually    With all the new parts hopefully it drives like a new 38 year old car.

[440]

Since my last post I installed a new power booster and master cylinder, bled the brakes, mounted an Optima yellow top battery, wired up the engine bay and tested the light /horn circuits. Tomorrow I will test the ignition and starter circuit. If everything checks out I'll try to drop the engine in tomorrow or over the easter holidays.

Pretty cool to see the car come back to life after being dead for over a year, turning the car on and seeing the radio come to life, seeing the dash light up and the headlights and tail lights work, indicators etc.

We're getting close to terrorizing the streets......

[440]

My hooptie will be on the road soon.

The engine is in finally, and it didn't go in easily or smoothly. I also had to pull and move the transmission cross member and remove 30 years of grease, dirt and oil as it was set up for an FMX which has a different mounting location.

It lightly rained on and off so I didn't get as much done as I would have liked, plus I got a late start. Tomorrow I'll try to bolt up the drive shaft, torque converter nuts, splash sheild, exhaust, speedo cable, carb, throttle bracket, kickdown linkage, heater and fuel hoses, transmission lines and some of the accessories if I can.

Not far to go now... I've ordered a new power steering pump and just need to get a VPW trans cooler, overflow tank, make up some battery leads and lengthen the throttle cable.

[kokxville]

Looks great.

[Charger_Fan]

Looks great.

It sure does!
Won't be long now until you're firing that baby up! I love starting a new engine that first time.

[440]

Thanks guys, about one more days work and she'll be ready to start. Just gotta install radiator, power steering pump, hook up the B&M shifter cable and run vaccuum hoses.

The hood is now bolted on and there's about 1" or less of clearance between the air cleaner and hood.

[440]

Getting real close, not much to do now. Still need to mount power steering pump, run vac lines, modify the throttle cable and hook up a few wires...... Then vroooom...

[440]

I'm must say I'm pretty happy with how my modified throttle cable worked out. I was still able to utilize the factory cable for a fairly factory fit and finish. I was prepared to have take it to a cable joint and have them custom make something up. Originally these cars pull on the carb from the front being RHD, if you reroute the cable to pull from the back they tend to get stiff. I had a friend mill down one of the cable brackets that came with the throttle mount. I also had to pull apart and cut down the sheath 1 1/2". All in all it works fantastic and is nice and smooth.

[Charger_Fan]

Nice work, it looks great!