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

[big gear head]

The 460 looks like a small block under that hood.

[njsteve]

Ain't that the truth! Any time I can use a 12" extension on a spark plug socket and still not touch the inner fenders, now that's some livin' room, I tell ya!

[njsteve]

I couldn't leave well enough alone. And since none of the dealers have any idea when, or if ever a new batch of the "Continental 460 4V" decals will be produced again, I figured it was time to restore the air cleaner. I bead blasted the original paint off and the minor surface rust. Luckily the entire snorkel assembly is attached to the base with two screws and is easily removed. I then primed it, used some glazing putty on the pitted parts of the lid and then repainted it with the same Ford blue from the engine block. Came out nice if i do say so myself.

Got 50 miles on the new engine so far. And used a half a tank doing it!

[mockingbird812]

Yeah, that looks good! Nice job McGyver!!!

[njsteve]

I finally found the big, round, air cleaner lid decal at a Lincoln restoration shop out west. I located a used, unbroken, power steering pump dipstick on ebay for $20.

I repainted the radiator support and the large vacuum tank for the headlights. The hood latch assembly got the same treatment as the hood hinges: soaked in purple stuff for a few days and it came out great, with the original, green zinc plated finish untouched. Cleaned up the washer reservoir, as well. The inner fenders are gigantic pieces of black plastic about 1/4" thick, so they can't really be painted. Maybe some Armorall on them will shine them up nicely? Lots of other little details to attend to in the engine compartment to keep me busy.

[Jonesy]

I would just leave the fender wells. Armor all will just attract and adhere dust. Looks great

[njsteve]

I cleaned the driver's side inner fender with some diesel fuel on a rag. It cleaned off the old residue nicely and was glossy for a day and then it absorbed into the plastic and that is what you see now. I haven't cleaned the passenger side yet.

It's an odd engine compartment/hood hinge setup. If you look closely you can see that the passenger side hood hinge mounts inboard of the hood's underside frame structure by about 6 inches, while the driver's side hinge mounts outboard of it, directly to the inside of the fender. That is why there is that black section that is bolted to the upper inner area of the passenger fender.

[njsteve]

Today I tackled the front suspension. I pulled the upper and lower control arms out and the coil springs. Rather easy to remove everything. I did find some interesting stuff though. First, I was looking and looking for the passenger side shock absorber stud so I could remove the nut. All I found was the hole where it should have been. This is what I found when I unbolted it from the bottom of the control arm...

In examining the stud it appears that the dealer never bothered to install the upper bushings, washers, and nuts on it. The threads were untouched for the entire length of the threaded area. (other than the marks where it was banging around inside the coil spring). I never heard a thing while driving! Luckily, I have a new set of front shocks that were the ones that I got from Midas under the lifetime warranty for Gramma's Firebird several years back. It just so happens that they are the exact same part number for both cars! How's that for good Karma (Car-ma)?

[njsteve]

Everything came out without a single broken bolt! All four original riveted ball joints are nice and tight - just as tight as the brand new AC/Delco ball joints I bought three months ago. They are going to stay in their boxes. (Unfortunately it's too late to return them to rockauto).

The other oddball thing I found was that the passenger side upper control arm bushings were rotating in the upper control arm. I wondered why it was so easy to move the control arm up to free the spindle. And then I saw the problem. At least it made for removing the control arm pivot very easy. I just removed the outer nut and washer and popped them out with a screw driver. I checked the new bushings for fit and the are tight and need to be pressed in properly. The driver's side bushings will take an air chisel to get out.

Here's all the parts after cleaning in purple stuff. Got some masking of the ball joints to do, before I can sandblast and paint the parts.

[scuncio]

That passenger shock situation is crazy.