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Mail From: David Schwarze <(email redacted)>

A couple of weekends ago I posted a request for info about ox sensors.
Thanks for all of the responses! Following is an account of my adventure
putting my car back together this last weekend using some new parts and
other near new ones from my recently deceased 85 Capri. Those of you
intimately familiar with the clutch and exhaust of the Mustang may not
find much new here, but hopefully it will be of interest to some of you...

-David

________ Cut Here (long) ____________________________________________

Friday, Sept 16th, 1994

At this point, the transmission and H-pipe were out of the car, and the
clutch assembly had been removed.

Removed flywheel and replaced rear main seal with a Fel-Pro unit from
Napa. Cost was about $11. Subsequently read about double-lipped seals
being available. Oh well...

Pilot bearing didn't look so good, decided to replace it. Called Kragen,
part was in stock, $11. Thought about how to get the old bearing out.
Decided to just break it up. After hammering, prying, and sawing for close
to an hour, the bearing is out.

Go to pick up new bearing and it is a bushing, not a bearing. Called the
dealer, they wanted $21 for it. Napa had it for $10, so I bought it there.
"Gee that's a large box". Then it dawned on me. There is another bushing-
like piece that the bearing sits in that needed to be pulled out also. Ugh.
I did this 3 years ago but I guess my memory is not what it used to be.

Stopped by a tool store to get something to pull that bugger out. Decided
to try the cheapest route first and bought a metal tool with a little
protrusion at the end, and a knob where you hit it with a hammer. Hit that
sucker pretty hard, but the bushing didn't move. Drilled a few holes in the
bushing to soften it up and it came out. Hallelujiah! Tapped the new piece
gently into place.

Installed the flywheel, loctite on the bolts. Installed factory clutch and
pressure plate. Cleaned the bellhousing and installed new throwout bearing
and fork. Bolted bellhousing to the engine. Attached clutch cable inside
and out. Stepped on the clutch once to see how it felt (BIG mistake!).
Did I mention that I hate that G%$ Da&$*# self-adjusting clutch quadrant?

At this point, my prayers were answered and the UPS truck drove up and gave
me my headers. These were MAC unequal length shorties ordered from
Arlington Motorsports. Price was $130 (outstanding!) but...
I had ordered them on Wednesday the 7th, but Arlington Motorsports didn't
ship them until the following Monday. Thank God UPS delivered on schedule.
Arlington Motorsports also told me the headers had the "industrial finish"
but they turned out to be chromed (ugh). I guessed that paint wouldn't
stick to the chrome so I decided to just install them as is. I had planned
to paint them.

Installation of the headers was suprisingly straightforward. The only
problem I had was getting the drivers side header into position to mount.
Eventually had to remove the dipstick tube. The new gaskets were pretty
thin so I used them *plus* left in the old gaskets to hopefully provide
enough thickness to make a good seal. I was expecting horrible things
after hearing Scott Griffith's description of how bad his stock headers
were, but mine didn't appear to be that bad. The ports in the headers were
partially blocked by the inner welds, but only two (one on each side)
were very bad. I was suprised at how small the ports in the heads were!
The openings in the 1-5/8 inch MAC headers were much larger than the ports
in the heads. Oh well, maybe it will create an anti-reversion effect...

Saturday, Sept 17th, 1994

Held transmission vertically to drain out all of the old fluid. Attempted
to install it using the floor jack. Transmission stopped about an inch away
from mating and refused to go any further. Struggled with it for a couple
hours then finally looked into the bell housing and noticed that the disc
was not centered. Realized that pressing in the pedal had allowed the disc
to fall down and it was now clamped into place about 1/4 inch too low. Noted
that I had scuffed up the pilot bearing a little trying to wrestle the trans
in. Oh well, I'm not replacing it *again*. At least not *now*.
Got my roommate to press in the clutch while I attemped to position the disc
in the center. Got it pretty close. Was finally able to get the trans
installed, although I had to pull it in the last half inch with the bolts.
Once installed, checked that clutch was operational and nothing was binding.

Installed the 2-1/2" H-pipe from the wrecked '85 Capri. Had to have Midas
weld the Ox sensor bosses onto the pipe for installation in the '87
Mustang. They wanted $40 to do this at first, but after hearing my reaction
they decided $20 was a little more fair. After hanging the H-pipe from
the transmission, noticed that it was positioned abou 1.5 inches too far
back. No way it would attach to the headers. I guess there is a difference
between the 85 and 87 H-pipe-hanger-bracket. Decided to go ahead and install
the H-pipe without any supports, as I would have had to wait till Monday
to find someone to re-weld the hangar. Next, I found out that the trans-
mission support is NOT symmetrical. *groan*

Took a hacksaw to the old tailpipes behind the mufflers, and removed them.
Took some grease and lots of prodding to get the hangers out of those
little rubber supports. Removed stock mufflers. Installed the Dynomax
mufflers from the wrecked Capri.

Filled the transmission with Redline MTL. Used a standard gear lube pump
to get it in. The Redline fluid looked like fruit punch and didn't smell
at all. Had to restrain myself from drinking it, it looked so good! Took
almost the whole 3 quarts.

Reattached the starter, reverse light switch, Ox sensor wires, speedo cable,
etc. and got cleaned up in order to take the car for a spin...

Started the car up. I had forgotten how loud the Dynomax mufflers were.
Sounded nice, though. Perhaps when I get the tailpipes installed tomorrow
it will be a little quieter. Does it feel any different? I'm not sure.
It feels like it pulls a little harder in the upper RPM range, but that
may just be a combination of the louder exhaust and driving the "other car"
(Celica) for the last two weeks. I smell burning rubber, but can't tell
where it's coming from. I think it's just the spark plug wires complaining
that the new headers are a little hotter than the old ones. Clutch felt
good, pedal effort not extreme, plenty of grip. Even though this clutch is
just a stock Ford unit, I feel no need for more clamping force. YMMV.

Monday, Sept 19th, 1994

Took the car into Midas again to have the new Dynomax tailpipes installed.
Bought the pipes from Pro-Power Performance in Florida for $79. They are
"aluminized", supposedly, but look like plain ole exhaust pipes to me. I
kinda wish I had spent the extra $80 for the Stainless Steel pipes. Oh well.
Midas balked at first, saying they didn't do "custom" work, but finally
agreed to install the pipes and move the H-pipe hanger for $75. No warranty,
of course. They turned out to be pretty nice, considering how much I
pestered them. Driving away, glad to find that the car is much quieter.
I didn't expect a few feet of hollow pipe to muffle it that much, but I am
pleased. Now the car seems noticably faster to me. Especially in the upper
RPM range, as expected. The rear wheels actually broke free for an instant
on full throttle acceleration in second gear. That never happened before!

Other things:

1. There is a slight vibration now at around 75 mph, with a frequency of
about 2 seconds. Not bad enough to worry about, but makes me wonder if
that weight on the differential actually did something after all. I will
re-install it to test. Oh, I was very careful to mark the flywheel and
drive shaft and install them as they were, so that couldn't be it.

2. Burning rubber smell persists, but has grown weaker.

3. At a stoplight, after driving the car on the freeway immediately after
all this work, turning on the A/C would kill the motor. Repeatedly. The
problem went away after a few minutes, though, and hasn't reoccured.

4. Re-torqued the header bolts. Passenger side ones were all tight, but
Drivers side were all slightly loose. Had noticed that NHV had increased
since the job, so I peeked at the engine mounts. They are toast! Having
the transmission out probably did them in. I will be replacing them with
the convertible mounts (thanks for the info, everyone, perfect timing!) as
soon as time permits.

PRICE and WEIGHT info...

New Part Source Price Weight Weight of
NOW Stock part

JBA 2.5 H-pipe w/cats Wrecked Capri - 24 30
Dynomax Mufflers Wrecked Capri - 20 22
Stock Clutch and PP Wrecked Capri - ?? same
Dynomax 2.5" pipes ProPower inc. 88 - -
Mac 1-5/8 Unequal Hdrs Arlington Motorsports 142 11 10
Throwout bearing Auto Parts Club 21
Rear Main Seal Fel-Pro (Napa) 11
Pilot Bearing Napa 10
(2) O2 sensor bosses Mac (Maximum Mspts) 22
(3) quarts Redline MTL Maximum Motorsports 28
Differential weight Ford - - 8
(2) Eng. Hoist brackets Ford - - 1.5
Drive Shaft Ford 17
Outside Labor Midas 95

Total $417 -16.5 lbs!

I didn't replace my drive shaft. Does anyone know how much the aluminum one
weighs?

Well, that's about it. I hope someone finds this interesting!

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David Schwarze '73 VW Safare Custom Camper (Da Boat)
SAIC Comsystems, San Diego '73 Capri GT 2800 (Da Beast)
(email redacted) '87 Mustang Lx 5.0 (Da Bruiser!)
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