Canuck 289 scratch build

[old willy]

Hello all,

Time for yet another little update.

Progress has been somewhat slowed by the fact that COVID finally decided it was time to visit our home and let me tell ya, it’s not much fun. In fact that’s my official review, “not much fun”.

I believe we had / have the newfangled omicron version and it is apparently not as virulent, woohoo!
In fact 3 weeks ago I was saying to my coworkers that I was getting tired of the whole situation and I was willing to get it and get it over with……….wrong!

We are not exactly sure how we got it but I am fairly certain it came via our oldest daughter’s household to my beautiful bride then to me.
I am OK enough; I did not get the symptoms my wife did, in fact I was sure she had strep throat or tonsillitis after a couple of days of wicked sore throat and running a fairly decent fever, we went to have that checked into and the strep test came back negative but the covid one came back positive…..dammm.

A day or so later I was feeling it and my test came back positive too. And for the record we both have been vaccinated…twice. The other bummer is that is a slow time of year at work and I had booked the week off to get some roadster work done…..hmmm.
I called my manager on Saturday to let her know my test results and got told to take another week off work that I just spent feeling mostly crappy.

It’s a funny thing this covid, yes, I guess they are “flu like” symptoms, headache, fever, muscle pain, general lethargy but it’s that last one that is lingering. I am due to be back at work tomorrow but honestly I haven’t made it through a day without at least one long nap in over a week!

I did finally get out to the shop this afternoon and do some CAD but that’s been the thing of it, I just have no ambition to do anything, the walk to the shop looks daunting and it is easy to talk myself out of it…..”maybe tomorrow” I tell myself……. So like I said, I’m sleeping lots, and a lot of time sitting staring at some other hobby interests I have here in the house….as the kids say….”meh”



However before it all set in I did get a couple of things accomplished, I built the engine mounts and tacked them in, easy enough, straight off the drawings, as I am using the original style mount parts. This was always my plan as I figured it would put the engine in the correct location without too much fuss. It worked perfectly, no issues, I swapped the weirdly shaped late model oil pan and bolted the mounts onto the block and lifted it in place with my old custom Jet L-70 chain hoist.




So now on to the shifter question, and it’s time to make a real decision.

This did take some thinking and looking and measuring and walking away and thinking some more.
In the end I think I have a good solution and a few observations if anyone is interested. I am sure most of this info has been mentioned before but I never found it here so I will give you my notes if anyone is interested.

First up though, as for the question of engine angle I placed my digital level on the old F4B manifold and with it level I have just over a 3 degree drive line angle, and that seems to be about perfect based on the info you folks have provided. So I stopped worrying about that right away! Thanks friends.

I tried both transmission tail housings and shift lugs. Now at first I thought my eyes were deceiving me or my engine mounts were wrong. The shifter box looks cockeyed!
I checked the engine block and it’s pretty much level latterly, the trans mount looks about right but upon measuring it, the shifter box is tilted about 4 degrees to the left! I tried the s-10 tail housing and it’s the same WTF?

What is really going on is the bell housing is made to hold the whole transmission tilted to the left and the Mustang transmission mount is rotated back to the right to compensate but when you have the s-10 tail housing on the mount is now tilted to the left hmmmm, that sucks.

I did a bit of Google research and did find some references to it on other car forums but the info seems a bit wishy, washy as there are a lot of applications for the T5 and guys doing swaps are mixing and matching parts a bunch, Mustang, Camaro, Astro van, AMC, S-10 yikes!

What I do know is Ford designed this particular bell housing to tilt the shifter towards the driver ( I guess) and the tail housing is made to compensate for the tilt and swapping on a tail housing that is not made that way results in a wonky looking transmission mount. Not the end of the world but something to note.

Working things back and forth and playing with the pieces I made another discovery. You can use the S-10 shift lug in the Mustang tail housing…hmmmm.
I believe this is MDL’s little trick for their “front position” shifter housing as you can order the kit either rear shift using the Mustang lug or for a bit extra you get the front position kit. This also requires using one of their custom shifter mounts but more on that later.

So I started laying things out and even mocked up a platform so I could sort of sit in the correct-ish position and “check the feel” of the shift positions.




I marked up the mustang tailhousing so you could see how it the various options work out. Sorry it’s so dirty, I figured I wasn’t using it so why clean it.
So based on some CAD from the drawings the shifter would fall about 15 ish inches back from this bell housing.




The Mustang shifter is at about 19 ½ inches.

The yellow mark at the front is the S-10 location at 11 3/4 inches.

The next yellow mark back is option 3 that I don’t currently have, MDL’s custom tail housing in the rear position at about 13 ¼ inches.

The next mark back is about where the shifter should be give or take, 15 ½ inches based on my calculation and where folks say the original t-10 shifter was about 16 inches.

Then on the shifter housing cover there are a couple of small marks ahead of the shifter mount and that is about where it would be with the stock mustang location with one of MDL’s 2 inch forward offset T5 shifters.

The other mark at the front of the cover is a bit of a hybrid idea I have come up with.

This I like …..From my sit experiments I quickly discovered that the S-10 tail housing was just way too far forward for my tastes, I guess I have weird short arms or something.
I am kind of sorry I worried about finding one in the first place but somebody told me that was the trick setup to have so I found one.

The stock Mustang location is passable but you will be reaching back a bit more than I like, let’s just say awkward.
I could go with the MDL housing but again it’s forward. Now sure, I could add a 2 inch rear offset shifter but that really starts to add up, the housing kit is like $795 and the offset shifter is $275 ++.

If I had to I would, But I think there is another way and that is using the stock Mustang tail housing with the S-10 lug kit( it’s about 1 ½ shorter), that takes it to about 18 inches back and then off set 2 inches to the front is 16 inches . Yes I will need to buy the MDL “front position” offset shifter but I can pass the S-10 tail housing and shift parts along to some other hot rod builder as it is a popular swap option it seems.

The other thing I like is the transmission mounting point. The MDL housing has the mount in the S-10 position which is about another 1 1/2 inches further rearward from the Mustang location and that is already 1 ¾ inches too far back, never mind the funky 4 degree angle.
I am sure I could make an offset transmission mount of some sort but if I don’t need to why would I.

I am slightly worried about the overall height with the offset shifter but I figure I can move the top of the tunnel up a bit if I need too and no one but me will notice.

So are you still with me?

Having settled on that it was time to make a transmission mount, the original is very simple; I have the rubber piece already, a nice old school Ford part. After measuring things up and checking the plans I went with a slightly modified original style mounting with a ½ inch aluminum spacer between the rubber and transmission. If I need to adjust the engine angle in the future I can just vary the thickness of the spacer so it’s a good compromise I think.




The only thing I did not like was I needed to move the cross member back 1 ¾ inches. However the only thing this looks to interfere with is the brake handle mounting bracket and I have noted that on my drawing set.

Then I moved on to some preliminary work to mount the differential. I gutted and cleaned the alloy case I have as it is lighter to work with right now.



I think the cast one all up is about 80 pounds and getting it in and out of position and trying work out the finer mounting details will just be easier the lighter it is.
Honestly I don’t know if this will be the case I use in the end. I have both options and I have been told the real weight is in the gears, the difference between just the cases is about 12 pounds. If I was racing, 12 pounds is a lot, if you are looking to shed weight but for a road car, it’s not that big a deal, might even improve the balance, who knows. The original had a big cast iron lump back there.

I know some builders really want the alloy case but I am told they are a bit trickier to set up as the case needs to be stretched open to set the side load, I had to do it to even get the carrier out. When it’s time to build up the differential for real I will give it more thought.

So that’s about it, the case physically fits in the space as I thought it would, it’s tight but it fits.



With my rear mounting plate stack up I might need to switch to a stamped steel rear cover but until it’s really mounted up solid I won’t know for sure but at least I have the option.

Hopefully next time I will have more to report about all that.

Stay well and happy my friends!


Hudson




.

[1795]

Hudson,

That is a lot of work accomplished post Covid! It has been a consistent theme among people that I know who have had it, no energy for a long time before it comes back. The weather is warming up, so that should help. Take care, and keep plugging along.

I will start working on packaging that windshield and getting a shipping estimate for you.

Jim

[MAStuart]

Hudson I measured my Galaxie T10 4 speed. 15 1/2 inches from bellhousing to shifter pivot bolt (Hurst shifter). Keep in mind your bellhousing is deeper than an earlier bellhousing. If you could put my trans on your bellhousing the shifter would be more to the rear, by whatever the difference in the bellhousing hights would be.

[old willy]

Hey gang!

Though I would post a little update, I still feel like I am dragging my ass around post covid but it’s getting better.

The snow is melting and I have done a little bit more work but first I wanted to talk about that sexy topic……Shop Safety!

Ok. Ok , not sexy, but important, sorry but this will not feature any graphic pictures of some recent injury or anything like that….

I recently upgraded some of my gear but it has been a long journey of learning.

As a kid my father had commercial construction companies, shops and employees but it was the 70’s and workplace safety was not something that I really witnessed first hand. It existed for sure ,
there is a picture of me as a little boy in one of my dad’s shops using a jigsaw and wearing a rather large goofy pair of safety glasses so I guess some thought was being given to it but not much.

Now people want to put hearing protection on their kids if they want to use a cordless drill in the next room! I think there are extremes, but I digress…..

As indestructible teenager I never thought about it, now I did start wearing glasses for distance when I was 14 so, safety glasses I guess? But anything else…naaaa…..cuts, burns, scrapes .

But I learned…slowly….My buddy’s dad owned the local body shop and the first time I bought some car paint that had hardener in it he took me aside and gave me a talking to about wearing a proper respirator and why, cyanide derivative! Yikes!

In my late teens I had a very memorable experience ARC welding in nylon topped running shoes, yes you can guess what happened, the old guys in the shop had a good laugh watching me hop around trying to get that shoe off but I have never forgotten and never had nylon topped runners since!

When I started working around aircraft I started understanding about hearing protection, I mean I wore them at the shooting range, and if you have never been to one, it’s nothing like TV and the movies a .45ACP is deafening !!
But hanging around turbo props like Mitsubishi MU-2’s is equally painfully loud, so you learn, quickly.

Later when we were drag racing I discovered these newfangled form fitting little glove things at our local race shop, they were Ringers Resource gloves, nice, they made a lot of sense trying to work on a hot engine, checking plugs and such,( hearing protection is also a good idea around those things too).
However I started wearing those gloves in the shop as well, cutting and grinding, for a while I was going through about a pair a month, expensive? Yes, but boy does it save your hands from cuts and burns.

Honestly, I have been very lucky, I have never hurt myself badly, cuts and scrapes sure, perhaps a couple of close calls I guess, but no big gashes or broken stuff and I can still hear OK too.

That part surprises me to be honest as I also use to attend a lot of loud concerts and played a bunch of loud electric guitar myself years ago and unlike the safety conscious kids today, nobody wore earplugs….if it’s too loud, your too dam old! And yet I can still pretty much hear a pin drop….strange….

OK, OK. I know, nice story guy, but where the hell is he going with this??

However I have always had a habit of breathing in all the dusty crap, no lung issues yet that I know of, but since I have been back at this cutting and grinding thing more I seem to be more aware of it.
Every time I come back in the house I tend to blow a lot of “black stuff” out of my nose.
My wife has also rightfully been on my case about it, as I also sometimes have that Droopy Dog look with a big dark area below my nose or just everywhere my safety glasses were not protecting.

So after all that rambling ….. you all did want something to read, right?

My issue is always the stack up, if I wear a respirator or good N95 dust mask it pushes my safety glasses up rendering them mostly useless, if I put on the full face shield I can’t wear my ear defenders, yes I know…. but I don’t really like ear plugs. So would I rather be deaf or blind?

After a recent session cutting some 3/16 plate I blew my nose and went and started looking for better options, I know about positive air systems and there are some amazing full face setups with fans and filters, but I don’t want anything with a hose to trip over or too bulky or too expensive, I am only going to use it when I am cutting and grinding, then back to regular safety glasses.

This was the best option I found……..



The company is GVS and it is their elipse integra series model SPR550. My size is medium / large and no, I have no connection to them, I bought it fair and square.

The goggle is attached to the respirator and the respirator area is very slim for better visibility. Also the goggle is ANZI Z87.1 rated so it is a real safety goggle, not just for dust and it is vented so it doesn’t fog up either.

I really like these, when they arrived I was just going to quickly test them out but ended up doing an extended cutting session, they are very comfortable, my ear defenders fit normally, I really like these.
So what I am saying here is if you are looking for something good and you don’t mind looking a bit goofy in the shop they are excellent!



And honestly, saying this as your friend, if you are still blowing black dust out of your nose…GROW UP! Get some protection man!


I did get a bit of work done too, I laid out and fit up the rear mounting plate for the diff and after a couple of test fits and my new goggle thing arrived I cut out the center and trimmed up the sides, so far, so good, my diff mounting plan is working.




Next up I will work on the front diff mounts. I am waiting on a polyurethane set but I have the original rubber ones for mock up purposes in the meantime.

I hope to post more soon.

And as always I have a question for the group.

Hey you there, you with the 289…..what diameter is your driveshaft?

Cheers,

Hudson




.