Boss 427 Build

[Boydster]

Thanks WIS89 and Scott. Both of you have helped me out.
I'm still busy in the few hours I have during the week. I'll do an update this weekend as a lot of little stuff I needed showed up.

Planning on installing the eng / trans at the of Memorial Day week...

[grluisi150]

Boyd
Give me a call and I'll give you a hand with the engine. I should have my car back from the tuner by then.

Gary

[Mark Reynolds]

Check pan depth. I seem to remember the rear sump version is 8" deep and you will need 7.5". The front sump version is 7.5" if I recall correctly. Better to check this now than find out after dropping the engine in.

[Boydster]

Check pan depth. I seem to remember the rear sump version is 8" deep and you will need 7.5". The front sump version is 7.5" if I recall correctly. Better to check this now than find out after dropping the engine in.

Thanks Mark. I was planning on measuring the pan. Hmmm, never heard there was a difference in the pan depths. And thanks for the great parts n pieces I've been buying from Breeze. Everything has been great so far.

[Boydster]

Boyd
Give me a call and I'll give you a hand with the engine. I should have my car back from the tuner by then.

Gary

Thanks Gary! Looks like it will be sometime to the end of the month. My brother will be coming up from Asheville to help, too.

[Boydster]

Check pan depth. I seem to remember the rear sump version is 8" deep and you will need 7.5". The front sump version is 7.5" if I recall correctly. Better to check this now than find out after dropping the engine in.

Worse than thought... 8.5 deep. Did some research on pans & kits, still found yours to be the best deal around. Order placed. Thanks.

[Mark Reynolds]

Boyd,

Oil pan is shipping from Breeze today. You should be able to re-use the existing 1-piece pan gasket by separating the original pan from the gasket carefully with a putty knife so the gasket stays attached to the block.

If you are running serpentine pulleys Breeze has a nice crank pulley that bolts direct to the HiPo Balancer without a spacer.
http://www.breezeautomotive.com/deta...p?prod_id=1130
http://www.breezeautomotive.com/details.php?prod_id=771

Note to others who may be watching this thread - this is an example of why it is good to check with forum vendors first - Had this engine been ordered from Breeze we would have had chance to recommend the engine with the correct pan, so avoiding the expense and time of the additional pan purchase, removal and replacement. The good news is that the engine is still out of the car where pan R&R is a whole lot easier.

[Boydster]

Thanks Mark. I'll keep the pullies in mind.

As a side note to Mark's note... I bought this engine on a price basis with free shipping (Jegs). Since the engine came from a known source (Ford), shopping quality was not an issue. The front sump engine was a 1-month wait, where the rear sump was on hand at the supplier and ready to ship. I read so much on these forums and made a thousand notes... and never heard that the pans were that different.

Sometimes the most inexpensive isn't really the most inexpensive. Mark is right... a review with a forum vendor would have saved me some bucks.

On to the next step!

Been working electrical, not much to report as it goes pretty slow. Should have an update soon...

[Boydster]

Electrical. Thats what I've been doing. Going pretty slow as I only get maybe 3 hours per day after a 10 hour work day.

Going full LED on the whole car. Here's the first step, replacing the 6 running / tail light bulbs. I'm going JDM Astars because of the great reviews and a nice price. And they are certainly bright. Here's a bench test...
LED light test.jpg

Then temp wired up all 6 lights, the headlight, ignition and turn signal switches to check out the trailer light unit I installed. Happy to say it all worked well. End result is 4 brake lights in the rear and when the TS is engaged, both lights on that side flash, over riding the brake light. Looks good, bright and will certainly get attention.

Moved on to the dash so I have somewhere to start hooking up wiring. Bought a blank dash and did my own layout. I like the way this works with the steering wheel and seat temp installed.
dash layout.jpg

Gauges will be Speedhut customs with a reverse, GPS speedo. Still on order.

Bought all my switches from Ron Francis. They have some very nice products, namely switches that are rated for 20-50 amps @ 12vdc. No having to worry about anything burning out these switches. A bit costly, but I think worth it in the long run. You're looking at seat heaters, footbox fans, headlights, high beams, fog lights, windshield wipers, keyless ignition, heater fan, turn signals, hazards, eng fan over ride, etc. Everything I may use often is near me, rarely used and passenger use is away, with the turn signal in between so the passenger may turn it off if I miss it. Hi beam and turn signal indicators will be led, of course.
switch install.jpg

This is all temporary, of course, until I get everything fit and in place. Then I'll take it ll apart and cover the dash. I'll be using a light, or dove, grey leather with some 1/8" foam behind it. The same leather will cover the center console and my glovebox door on the rear bulkhead. Hopefully, it will be about the same grey as my stripes.

And here's a cute picture that has nothing to do with anything, except it's my partner in everything including roadster building, although I dont think she liked the rock n roll I had cranked up at that moment...
My helper.jpg

Might have more to update as soon as tomorrow...

[WIS89]

Boyd-

I like your all LED all the time decision. I think it will make a nice difference.

I think leather looks great on the dash, and really adds to the look of the interior.

Your build buddy is awesome. My two chocolate labs love being in the garage with me. They are never far from me whenever I am working.

Good luck with the rest of the electrical!

Regards,

Steve

[Boydster]

Found a local welder who was willing to come to my shop. His name's Bruce and he's a young guy, but took welding classes in high school, has been a professional welder for about 4 years and started his own company about 1.5 years ago. He loves welding and really likes to do work that he can be proud of. If you need a welder in the Baltimore area, let me know and I'll pass along his info.

Anyways, got my Breeze stainless roll bars welded up. Thanks to the Breeze design, they are easy to remove and install for the remainder of the build.
welding rollbars.jpg

While Bruce was doing that, I decided to work on the engine some. Installed the RPM Airgap intake, Pertronix distributor (on TDC #1)(yes, I know it will have to come out for pre-oiling), Canton billet water neck. Test fitted the Gas-N headers, but will have to do some hole stretching to get them completely bolted up. Got my Breeze / Canton oil pan last night, so that will be going on later today.
IMG_20170518_201546.jpg

I have some work to go do with the animal shelter today, so maybe I'll get some Roadster time in tomorrow. I'm hoping to be hanging the engine around the first weekend in June.

Boyd-

I like your all LED all the time decision. I think it will make a nice difference.

I think leather looks great on the dash, and really adds to the look of the interior.

Your build buddy is awesome. My two chocolate labs love being in the garage with me. They are never far from me whenever I am working.

Good luck with the rest of the electrical!

Regards,

Steve

Thanks Steve. Of course I'm still kinda figuring out what this thing will look like and what it will be when I'm done. Appreciate the feedback.

PS -> Dogs are awesome.

[M3ichael]

Really really like the Breeze Stainless Roll bars.

[Boydster]

Really really like the Breeze Stainless Roll bars.

Yeah, they do look really nice. I bought a Stainless polishing kit from Northern, gonna have a go at em one day...

[M3ichael]

Does the Breeze Stainless Roll Bars use the factory five cut outs, if you had them pre-cut?

[Straversi]

Does the Breeze Stainless Roll Bars use the factory five cut outs, if you had them pre-cut?

Mark told me that you need to enlarge the openings a little but the FFR cut outs are not a problem.

[Boydster]

Does the Breeze Stainless Roll Bars use the factory five cut outs, if you had them pre-cut?

I only had the drivers side precut, but a quick matchup does show the holes will need to be opened up just a bit. No big deal.

[Boydster]

Last few days:

Got my Breeze / Canton oil pan. Inside of this engine is a work of art.
inside the Boss.jpg

#3 rod is hitting the new pickup tube, so a stack of washers was in order. Ended up with about 1/8" clearance and still about 1/2" to the pan.
#3 rod strike.jpg #3 rod clear.jpg

Spent about 5 hours elongating bolt holes in 3/8 stainless to get the headers to fit. Gas-N headers, 6 bolt holes did not line up. Some required as much as 1/8". My best way was a Dremel with a straight carbide grinding bit and a large rat tail file. Finally got them all lined up and headers installed. Would have called them on this for a set to fit, but I have help traveling up next week for the engine install, so had to get these fitting right.
headers finally on.jpg

For the last 2 weeks, have been trying to find a set of concealed hinges that will work with a 1" lip for my bulkhead glove box door. Hours of google and a few wasted dollars. Finally decided to do an exposed stainless piano hinge. Notched the lower edge to clear the hinge and I think it will look pretty good. Door will be covered in interior-matching grey leather, bulkhead will be factory black carpet. Door will be secured with a 70's era VW bug locking knob. Might do some angle alum to reinforce the door.
glove box door.jpg glove box open.jpg

Have been working on the electric a bit, securing harness's, installing some grommets, running power wires for led lighting in the glovebox and trunk. Made some changes to my switch setup on the dash, ordered some Carolina Laser switch legend plates. Still waiting on custom Speedhut order. Prob start wiring up all the switches and the Watsons pushbutton ignition soon.

2 more boxes showed up today...
TKO600.jpg Jones box.jpg

On vacation next week, so hoping to get a lot more done.

[Boydster]

Still working on wiring and some small side projects, will update those soon.

My brother came up for a long weekend and to help install the eng & trans. We started getting all the driveline pieces installed and checked... and the 5/16-18 ARP pressure plate bolts (P/N 150-221)(as bought for a 351) would not thread into the Ford Racing M-6375-D302B billet steel flywheel. Some digging and discovered... it's metric. 8mmx1.25.

The ARP's I bought are rated at 180,000 psi yield, so I wanted some pretty strong stuff to replace them. I dont know metric yield measurements (Mpa?) so did some research and found a Class 12.9 has a yield of 1100mpa which equates about 160,000 psi. A grade 8 bolt has a yield of 130,000, so I think I'm good. Found some proper 8x1.25-25mm capscrew bolts at Ace, grade 12.9. Got that fixed.

Then realized in everything else I had gotten together, I didnt have any pressure plate dowels. Yes, you need em. Started looking everywhere online to see if I could get any NDA, no joy. Saturday afternoon and nobody ships until Monday. Except... your local Ford dealer. PN D1FZ-6397-B is an individual dowel, priced at $2.85 each. 2 hours later and I had 3 of em in my hands.

Ford Performance sells a pressure plate bolt kit M-6397-A302 that has the required 8mm bolts (120,000 psi yield) and 3 new dowel pins.

Only other issue so far has been the load leveler from HF. Had to buy extension chains because with the Air Gap intake installed, the chains would not reach the heads. No big deal, but it was another run to Ace.

Engine is going in today... update to follow!

clutch install.jpg

[awd-turbo]

I'm still stuck on wiring.... So I will be following close with you since we have a close setup... Hahaha so pick up the pace man!!!

[Boydster]

We got the engine in on Sunday with only minimal hiccups. Took some pretty good persuasion to get it to slide into the mounts, but it finally did.

One major stepback since the install... the drivers header is hitting the frame engine mount hard. Wont even let the header sit flat on the head. Prolly holding the header out about an inch down at the mount. Making a call to Georgie at Gas-N today. This is the same header that was hitting on the Energy Suspension engine mount when test fitted (ground the lip on the mount) and had to elongate the holes to get it to line up. No denting or grinding will fix it this time unless I cut the entire lip off the mount. Yeah, I dont think so.

Had to install about a 1" stack of washers to the tailshaft to get it to sit comfortably above the crossmember, but I know thats normal and temporary.

She looks good in there. Nice to see it home.
eng install 1.jpg

Finally.jpg

Boyd and Boss.jpg

Yep, thats me!

[Boydster]

Spoke with Georgie today, he says I'm the 3rd that has reported this exact issue. Sending detailed pics and header markups this evening. He says if I can hang in there for a few weeks, he will make sure I get a header that is perfect with no additional cost to me.

He said the others with this issue had been able to cope by either installing a spacer under the engine, raising the header above the mount, or by grinding away at the mount. I need the header to swing in about an inch at the lower tube, so I'm not sure a spacer would work. Or I'd have to grind away that inch from the engine mount. Not too happy with these ideas... But it does look like he's going to make it right otherwise.

Also have a small issue with my Jones Machine Racing accessories. The power steering attached reservoir hits the steering shaft, preventing anything near installation. Spoke with Jones today and they are exchanging my pump n reservoir for a remote mount unit. No charge. Also tossing in some -10AN braided line and fitting to feed from res to pump. Not their fault, but they are taking good care of me too.

Onward!

[Boydster]

I'm still stuck on wiring.... So I will be following close with you since we have a close setup... Hahaha so pick up the pace man!!!

I'm tryin, man, I'm trying!

I do still have quite a bit of wiring to do. My Speedhuts aren't even here yet. I took the opportunity to hang the engine since my brother was here and while not a pro, he's a pretty good mechanic... has a good head for it considering he's a software geek.

Having fun working in the garage. This is a dream come true.

[Boydster]

IMG_20170606_155701.jpg

IMG_20170606_162109.jpg

IMG_20170606_162211.jpg

[dmoran]

Hey Boyd,

I'm having the exact same issue as you with my Gas-n SS headers. Apparently we are 2 out of the 3 unlucky ones. Georgie has been great to work with, but it has been a bit frustrating. I went through all the same issues of raising the engine, moving it around etc. Almost started banging and grinding which seems to be standard practice with headers in these forums but I called Georgie first.

Pic2.png

PS fits perfect but DS is about 1/2 to 3/4 inch too close. I managed to do better on bolt holes, 6 out of 8 on PS side line up.

Georgie is having the jig modified to add 3/4" to the head side of the DS pipes and sending me a test set to try for fit, sometime in the next week. If it works, he's sending a new set afterwards. I'll reach out to him and see if I should have you try them too. Luckily I'm just down the road in Crownsville. In fact, I keep meaning to reach out to you. Tony gave me your info a few weeks back.

We are in about the same place in our builds except yours is going about 100 times faster! We should definitely hook up for cold beer and Cobra BS.

Doug

[Boydster]

Hey Boyd,

I'm having the exact same issue as you with my Gas-n SS headers. Apparently we are 2 out of the 3 unlucky ones. Georgie has been great to work with, but it has been a bit frustrating. I went through all the same issues of raising the engine, moving it around etc. Almost started banging and grinding which seems to be standard practice with headers in these forums but I called Georgie first.

Pic2.png

PS fits perfect but DS is about 1/2 to 3/4 inch too close. I managed to do better on bolt holes, 6 out of 8 on PS side line up.

Georgie is having the jig modified to add 3/4" to the head side of the DS pipes and sending me a test set to try for fit, sometime in the next week. If it works, he's sending a new set afterwards. I'll reach out to him and see if I should have you try them too. Luckily I'm just down the road in Crownsville. In fact, I keep meaning to reach out to you. Tony gave me your info a few weeks back.

We are in about the same place in our builds except yours is going about 100 times faster! We should definitely hook up for cold beer and Cobra BS.

Doug

Hey Doug, great to finally hook up! I was talking to Tony on Monday and he told me about your header woes... I told him I had the exact same issues!

Georgie did say he has a fix for it. We could certainly test it on both engines before confirming with him. Hope it works... I wasnt too crazy about the heavy motor mount grinding or installing spacers... my engine is going to be tall enough as it is.

Yeah, lets get together and compare notes soon. I'm available all weekend in the afternoon / evenings. I'll PM you my info.

[Boydster]

Electrical is boring.

Got my Watson's Hot Dot and RFID systems all wired in, but they are not working with my 6amp battery charger power source. So now starting to build all my 4ga cables for power and ground.
Since I'm using a Breeze front battery box, I decided to run the ground to the RH suspension upright.
batt gnd 1.jpg

batt gnd 2.jpg

Everything else is run, correct ends installed and heatshrink applied. batt + to solenoid, Batt - to chassis, chassis to block. Also alternator + to battery and alternator ground to block. Just need some proper bolts and such and I'll have it finished up tomorrow.

Got away from electrical this last week and worked on my engine accessories. While I will have some polished stainless on the car, I'm not crazy about too much bling, so I decided to find something different than the normal billet shiny pieces. After some research during my spreadsheet phase, I found Jones Machine Racing. Expensive, but the looks and quality are exactly what I want. I bought their 1565-AR-CE kit for the SBF through Summit.

Well, you knew this wouldn't go smoothly... right? First the standoffs were wrong for the waterpump that came with my 427. They needed to be the same 3.5" but was supplied with staggered pieces for the 5.0 pump. A call to Jones took care of that really quick and they traded my parts for no cost. Then the power steering pump with integrated reservoir hit the steering shaft... nowhere near making it. Another call and the next day I had a new pump with remote reservoir and again they credited me my parts for no cost. Then the 351 deck height bit me... need a longer belt for the PS pump. Again they took care of me and even gave me a spare.
Jones PS setup.jpg

They are starting to recognize me on caller ID...

Last item was just a small trimming of the standoff for the alternator to line up the pullies. After that it was done and I can not only say I have a one-of-a-kind setup... I love it. Exactly the appearance and performance I was looking for.

Jones Racing Accessories.jpg

Tomorrow I'll finish up the heavy electrical, maybe build some power steering lines to close up that system. Hopefully I'll get power on and check the new ignition and security system. Will also post up details of my electrical mods when its all together, but there's nothing really earth shaking in there.

[Straversi]

Looking good!
-Steve

[Railroad]

That is a small pulley on the crank. Is that something that comes with the power steering and water pump set? Not saying it is not right, but would like to know more. Street engines seem to have an over drive ratio.

[Boydster]

That is a small pulley on the crank. Is that something that comes with the power steering and water pump set? Not saying it is not right, but would like to know more. Street engines seem to have an over drive ratio.

All of the pullies are as supplied in the Jones kit. I didn't change any pulley sizes.

[Railroad]

All of the pullies are as supplied in the Jones kit. I didn't change any pulley sizes.

Probably a proven kit. Should be some slow speeds on the accessories.

[Boydster]

Probably a proven kit. Should be some slow speeds on the accessories.

I was thinking the same thing. Decided to see how it goes and I can change up later if needed. Jones makes their own alternators and pumps in house, so I figured maybe they know a little more than me. We'll see!

[Boydster]

After 2 weeks of frustration, I've ditched the pushbutton start with RFID security. I know others have done it, but I could not make it work. I worked with the company and they were all about helping me, but in the end, it just didnt work in my car.
Every time I addressed one issue, another would pop up or something else would now not work correctly. I mean, the issues were changing as I progressed. Super good grounds and clean, stable power.

keyless.jpg
(Please no comments about wire nuts and ugly splices... it was a work in progress and those were temporary attempts to fix issues. It also looked a lot better in the car).

So I yanked it out and installed the stock F5 keyed ignition. In 15 minutes, I had the engine turning over and all of the electrical items installed so far are operating correctly.

Onward!!

Gauges.jpg

[awd-turbo]

Looking good Boyd...

[Boydster]

Looking good Boyd...

Thanks turbo. I dont like getting jammed on a single item like that. Sometimes ya gotta back up n rethink, then make a change and get it done with.

Cant wait to see those gauges on a medium / light gray leather dash...

[carlewms]

Thanks turbo. I dont like getting jammed on a single item like that. Sometimes ya gotta back up n rethink, then make a change and get it done with.

I hate it when this happens and I have found that I just have to find away to walk away from it or, like you said, come up with another solution.

Looking good ...

Carl

[Boydster]

Been a while, hasn't it.

While working electrical, I kept putting off the courtesy lights because I knew it was going to be a project and wasn't sure how to do it. Finally time to do it.
Decided to do some upgrading by replacing the strip led light with 2 small pods from superbright. Wired those into the courtesy light / grounding circuit on the headlight switch and they look and work great. They installed with some double sided foam tape that may need an upgrade later, but for now it's stuck on there pretty good.
footwells.jpg

I then soldered into the courtesy light power wire and ran a wire back to the rear of the car. I had 2 small wired micro switches that I was using. The first went with 2 more of the pods in the Breeze glovebox behind the seats. The switch is bracket mounted just inside the door I made.
Breeze Compartment lights.jpg

And the next switch is mounted in the trunk going to a full width weatherproof led light strip mounted under the trunk hoop.
trunk lights.jpg

Of course, the reflections of the trunk leds will go away once the carpet is in.
I think it looks pretty cool. Looks better in person than in the pic...
all interior lights.jpg

[Boydster]

Installed my radiator this weekend. Used upgraded stuff, of course, all from Breeze. Upper and lower radiator mounts, silver ceramic powder coated tubes and fan shroud.
cooling 1.jpg

Bolted my FiTech in place after a visit to the Ace Hardware down the road. Installed a double spring holder with it. I'll be working on the wiring and throttle linkage this week.
fitech install.jpg

I know its been a topic of many discussions on these forums, but I decided to install footbox fans. I just know I'd like some moving air in there on these humid, nasty 90 - 100* days we get here on the Delmarva peninsula. And I'd rather do it now than later. Built a 3" system using Atwood fans, some butterfly valves I made, aircraft CEET tubing, Spectre 3" duct mount and some 20 amp switches. The butterly valves will be controlled by cables under the dash. You'll be able to simply open it for a bit of air, or then kick on the fan for more. These Atwoods move a pretty good amount of air.
paassenger fan.jpg drivers fan.jpg

Power steering: since I got the front accessories all figured out, time to hook em up. I made my P/S lines using Breeze stuff. easy to make and work with. But... I'm not crazy about my routing. I'll most likely be re-routing it all, perhaps picking up more fittings to make it neater. One thing I love about doing this myself... if I dont like it, I can take the time and effort to do it so I am happy. The whole looping line thing makes me kind of nuts.
power steering.jpg

I met another local Roadster Captain near me, Doug Moran. We hung out and had a beer last weekend and talked cars for about 2 hours. Great to meet another builder and share thoughts and ideas. He is having the same issue that I am with the Gas-N headers. Georgie is working primarily with Doug, as he reported the issues first, but we are both looking forward to the solution. It looks like the problems may be solved soon.

So here's how it sits so far. Getting there... bit at a time
today.jpg

[GoDadGo]

You're Making Great Progress!

[wareaglescott]

Looking great! Cant wait for some video of this thing coming to life in the near future!
I like you footbox fan setup. I had 8 family members in town yesterday and everyone needed a ride. It was the first time I have driven mid day in truly hot conditions. Im not gonna lie...I could have used some footbox ventilation. Keep up the great work.

[Boydster]

Thanks guys. Working on this power steering hose routing issue. If anyone has any ideas...

I've thought about a different tank with the return fitting facing front. That would get rid of 1 loop.

Thought about a -6AN 180* hardline, b-nut to b-nut https://www.summitracing.com/parts/ear-918106erl. Doesn't get rid of the loop, but it keeps the hose straight.

I might try running both lines under the X-member, but I don't think there's room for 2 of the 90* fittings and lines in there.

Might run the return line outside of the F panel, but not crazy about having fluid lines in the wheel well.

Ideas? cant move the reservoir too much...