Jim B in San Antonio 347 Mark IV Build Thread--Interior's done! (I think)

[Railroad]

I might have missed it, but did not see mention of replacing the filler neck to tank grommet with the Ford brand part.
Please save yourself some grief and use the Ford part. It is not the installation process that creates the issue, but the quality of the material.

[buttsjim]

I might have missed it, but did not see mention of replacing the filler neck to tank grommet with the Ford brand part.
Please save yourself some grief and use the Ford part. It is not the installation process that creates the issue, but the quality of the material.

Thanks for looking out for me! As a matter of fact, I did replace the FFR gasket with the Ford part. BTW, I thoroughly enjoyed reading through your build thread a couple of years back, and took notes on several of your ideas!

[buttsjim]

Well, my front end is complete. On separate days I received the flange nuts to attach my lower A-arms, and then my Koni shocks. I had opted to buy the Moog tie rod ends, rather than wait for the backordered FFR units, so now the front end is all together. At least for a day or two—I decided to replace my steering rack bushings with the Breeze offset bushings, so the power steering rack is coming back out. Also, after spilling a drop of red paint on my front calipers I decided that the paint looked pretty good, so I’m going to take the calipers off and disassemble and paint them a semi-gloss black. I’m kind of just kicking around at present, waiting for the supply chain to catch up with me, so this would be a very good time to do that.

A question: I have my Breeze offset bushings, but they’re too tight—I’d have to drive them in with a hammer, if they were to go in at all. This won’t work--they need to be tight, yet loose enough that I can rotate them to adjust the rack. I plan to clean the paint off the inside of the rack mounts, which may be all that’s needed, but the question is, is this common?

[TMartinLVNV]

I didn't have that issue. You are correct, they need to be able to rotate inside of the housing. Hopefully, just some sandpaper scrubbing inside of housing will be enough to clean it up.

[buttsjim]

I didn't have that issue. You are correct, they need to be able to rotate inside of the housing. Hopefully, just some sandpaper scrubbing inside of housing will be enough to clean it up.

Yep, it was the paint that needed to be cleaned off. I used a sanding drum with a die grinder, and it took about 5 minutes. The paint came right off without cutting into the metal. I had measured beforehand, and the hole was .035 smaller than the bushing--it was all paint. By the way, I enjoyed your visit, and I bought the offset bushings after your explanation of their purpose.