Oh Lordy, I now own a Fordy (a Lincoln actually)..

[njsteve]

Naw, the engine is just backwards.

Look at where the sump is in the oil pan, combine that with the distributor location and it's a backwards 454.

[njsteve]

Picked up the transmission today. Total rebuild cost was $950. They also sent out the torque converter to be rebuilt since there was a lot of sludge in the transmission due to the fact that the seals were so petrified that the servos were not fully engaging and all the front clutches completely burned out. All the friction material wound up in the fluid and pan. Probably that last couple miles of driving did the most damage. Should be good to go for install this weekend. I have been cleaning, painting and trial fitting the brackets and accessories over the past week or so.

[njsteve]

Plopped the old 460 into place this afternoon. Rather uneventful when you don't have the transmission attached. It took, at the most, twenty minutes. I did have the take the wheels off and lower the nose down so the engine would fit over the front header panel without the hoist hitting the garage door.

After it was in place I used a floor jack to support the back of the block til I get the transmission installed tomorrow or Monday. I borrowed my buddy's truck jackstands so I can get the transmission and trans jack under the car.

[njsteve]

Got the transmission installed today. Boy that was not fun. The transmission jack's deck height is 10 inches off the floor and there is no way you can slide the trans under and into the tunnel area and then try to manhandle it onto the jack. Too darn heavy. So I put the car up onto the truck jack stands which are still not high enough. I ended up putting the trans on the jack and finagling it under the car by angling the base and dropping the bellhousing area and then moving it around between the right side brake rotor and the wheel well.

It then took four tries to get the transmission to bolt up to the engine. I thought I had the torque converter seated with two "clunks" but it turns out this one is supposed to clunk a third time to be fully seated into the front pump. (Things you learn when this is your first Ford project). Otherwise you get within 3/8" of bolting up and then no go. Very frustrating. But in the end I got it done by the time it was getting dark. I have a large railroad tie section holding up the rear of the trans till tomorrow when I can put in the crossmember and get it all into position, once and for all.

[big gear head]

Looks like it would be fairly easy to change the spark plugs.

[Canuck]

I think there should be a "Grandpa's" car section at MCACN next year.

[njsteve]

Success! She started and ran today. Once there was fuel up to the carb, she started right up.

Still up on the jackstands. I installed the Y-pipe without mufflers and she sounds like a monster truck (Didn't BigFoot have a 460 in it originally?).

I had a minor scare when I partially burnt the wiring harness ground by the voltage regulator due to one of the alternator leads being hooked to positive terminal on the back of the alternator instead of ground. Ugh! Should have reviewed my own photos better.

I also had to replace the leaking joint in the trans cooler line where a prior mechanic used a compression fitting to join two sections instead of correctly flaring the ends and using the correct flared adapter fitting. Luckily NAPA had the fitting in stock this time.

Drained the oil and the magnetic drain plug was totally clean. Refilled it with 5 quarts of 10W30 Pennzoil. The transmission shifts nicely and doesn't leak.

Tomorrow I will unwrap and fix the burnt harness wire. I will also pull out the rear seat to replace the center seat belt bolts with a couple of longer bolts that can pass through the rear bulkhead about an inch more, so they can be used for dual exhaust hanger mounting points. (I hate it when muffler shops just crank in a couple of monster-sized sheet metal screws into your floor to mount the mufflers from -Not gonna happen here).

[Jonesy]

That's gotta be a big relief getting all this stuff taken care of. Leaks are a big pain for cars that have sat a long time. I know this first hand. Every time I move a car there's a puddle.Cant wait to see how it performs vs the old setup. You gotta go burn some rubber

[njsteve]

I stopped in a local shop recommended by a friend and asked about exhaust. Hopefully by the end of the week we should be able to get it done. I also went to the local Fastenal store and ordered two 2-1/2 grade 8, 7/16x20 bolts for the seat belt/exhaust hanger duty. It was hard to find a bolt with a long threaded section that didn't have way too much unthreaded collar area. Wound up with a 12 point shouldered bolt. Hopefully this should work.

Also have to get that gigantic hood back on the car!

I haven't done anything with the air cleaner as the large circular decal is currently on backorder and has been for a while.

[njsteve]

Got the exhaust done today. Took it out for its maiden voyage 10 miles to the exhaust shop. Ran great - no issues at all (other than no hood and open Y-pipe). It took around 6 hours at the local shop. They really did a nice job. They used all existing factory frame holes for mounting points. Never needed to use the seat belt bolt holes as they decided to use the upper frame cross member which had bracket holes already.

They had some really ingenious methods of making mounts, such as the brackets they created that attached to the bottom bolts of the transmission mounts and went out laterally to reach the head pipes. They mated them nicely to the sections of the Y-pipe after it was dissected. The hard part was the over the axle tube creation. That took 3/4 of the time spent. Ended up using Magnaflow 12226 2-1/2"mufflers. Total price was $1,000 including tax - two mechanics working on it for over six hours and 30 feet of pipe, plus the mufflers.

It sounds nice and rumbly now. And much peppier too! Grampa would be happy. :-)