352 and 390 specials? As in Galaxie 500s and T-birds? I'd be willing to bet there's a couple sets of those sitting on a shelf somewhere.

 

Correct, thermactor was introduced in '66, so these castings preceded the smog requirement.

 

I finally got both head gaskets. They only had one in stock and the other was on back order. I made some progress on the engine after work today.

 

Nice! I'm following...nice Mach also.

Glen

 

Thanks! In the next pic I'll put the 6 piston Wilwood brakes and 13" rotors on the mach 1 for a nice back drop.

 

I haven't had much time to work on the engine as I'm trying to get my house ready for family coming into town for the 4th. I did manage to get the water pump on and get it painted. I bought the engine cradle thinking I would be able to install the flywheel and bell housing, but that's not going to happen without some modifications. As promised, I put the suspension and brakes on the Mach 1 for a nice back drop.

 

After the July 4th holiday I was finally able to get back to the engine build. I made some minor tweeks to the front brackets to make them fit better. The spacer I was using for the power steering to head bracket was too thick, although it was the thickness called out in the Master Parts Catalog. It made it nearly impossible to get the front bracket bolts in. So I installed it without the rear spacer to get a measurement on how thick it should be, then found a couple of thick washers that worked out perfectly.


Next up was the Mapco A/C mount and alternator bracket. First off, I elongated the hole on the bracket that attaches to the intake manifold so it wasn't in a bind. I also added a spacer between the A/C mount bracket and alternator adjustment bracket to make it line up better with the alternator.

I only had the alternator on to mock up the brackets and make sure everything was going to fit better than it did out of the box.

I installed a new billet steel flywheel because it was going to take too long to have the original resurfaced. I'll keep the original for a future project.

The pilot bushing was in excellent shape so I kept it.

I installed a new McLeod diaphragm style pressure plate and throw out bearing.

The clutch was practically brand new as I had to install a 26 spline disc when I installed the Tremec TKO, so I didn't need to replace it.

Then I installed the bell housing.


I mated the transmission to the engine and installed them together. My son is on leave from the Marines and gave me a hand getting them back in place.

So that's where I am now. Lots of things to reconnect and install before I can fire it up again, but with the engine and transmission back in I feel like I've turned a corner.