Project Celery Monster

[Formula Z]

cool cool man, im going to have to take a look at your ride when we get the fbody family together next. we are basically doing the same stuff, but my motor came all the way out. i ordered all my gaskets and bolts today, going to pick up my heads tomorrow from the machine shop and i should be able to start putting mine back together soon. keep up the good work man

[98blackbeauty]

Lookin good Vinnie, hope you get everything done in time. Mazda's apparently inherited FORDS stigma. Found On Road Dead. LOL

[Fbomb]

Thanks guys. Mike have you decided on a cam yet? And I hate that Mazda...Ford's ingenious engineers decided to put the motor in backwards so that the oil filter is facing the firewall, WAY up there. Even worse is that you can't get it from the top since the exhaust manifold is in the way. So every time I change the oil on it I end up taking an oil bath when I take the filter off since it positions your face just perfectly under it.

Going to pick up my heads in around an hour.

[Formula Z]

no decision on cam yet, lol. still paying for things already done. just picked up my heads from the machine shop with the new springs and seals. he also did a mild port/valve job. i cant wait much longer

[white97z28]

Lookin good Man. Shes really coming along!

[Fbomb]

Well I got quite a bit done today, still not as much as I wanted to get done because I had to start at 2pm after running around and picking up a new alternator for my mom's car...But I did however pickup my heads from Jeff, who I would like to give a huge thanks to. I probably couldn't have done this half of the project without his help getting the heads and holding them for me until I could get home.

Well, I almost have it down to the shortblock, except for one head. Pics soon, maybe an hour because I'm gonna go eat dinner now.

[Fbomb]

Pics:





Was a bit dirty:













I was very pleased to see this, keep in mind that my motor has 102,000 miles on it.

Yep, that's right! the marks from the original honing are still visible. I felt for a ridge in there too, it's very slight but still there. Makes me wonder if it's been rebuilt before but I doubt it.

And me:


Going to pull the other head off tomorrow and then do motor/trans mounts, cleaning, then pull the harmonic balancer and start the cam swap. Hopefully I get a lot done tomorrow and it's warm out. Sucks working in the cold.

[BP_Z28]

Great progress...really wish I had a motor to tear into.. Guess I'll have to wait till mi padres parts come in and take a trip to saginaw to lend a hand.

[Fbomb]

3pm update: I now have the deck surface completely clean and springs off of one of the new heads. I found out this morning that my overhead spring compressor will not work on the dual springs I got...the arms aren't long enough to hook on the second spring and I can't push down on it to compress it. So I ordered a new tool from Summit.

Next step is to clean threads, then motor mounts and trans mount. I think that will be it for the day but if I can do more I will.

[Fbomb]

Running into trouble removing the old mounts. The bolts that go into the block on the underside are a total PITA. Can't get them out. I'll have to try again tomorrow.

[Phantom409]

Nice progress!

[Fbomb]

Can I heat my ALUMINUM block with a propane torch around the bolt in the mount to expand the hole so I can remove the bolt or will that cause problems?

[Fbomb]

Well things keep on getting worse...just figured out that my new coil brackets are off a truck motor, so I'm gonna have to think up something for plug wires because the outlets on the coils are going to be facing forward in the car. Maybe I'll buy a build-it-yourself wire kit and piece it together.

[DETROITMUSCLE]

why not drill and tap a few new holes to mount the coils? that would be much easier

[Fbomb]

Where at though? There doesn't seem to be any space left on the brackets so the only other places I could think of would be under the cowl or against the firewall.

And the upper radiator hose in the Jeep just sprung a leak