31 July 2018 - Headlight cover/grille mod

Yestereday I painted a couple coats of VHT chassis/rollbar black on the headlight door hinges and put them in the garage to dry for a day or two.

29 July 2018 - Headlight cover/grille mod

While browsing the web I found an interesting modification someone did to the grille of their 67' Cougar.  Here is an image of that car...

I contacted the individual and they provided their insights.  So I decided to do this mod to my car.  The process can be undone without damaging/destroying the grille, headlight cover.

Here is an image with a basic breakdown of the process...

I have "spare" driver side and passenger side headlight covers with headlight cover ornaments.  I have already removed the headlight cover ornaments from the headlight covers.  That is a PITA to carefully grind down the mounting tabs of the headlight cover ornaments.

I have cleaned up and painted the headlight cover hinges.  Tomorrow, weather permitting, I will topcoat the headlight cover hinges.  I have the mounting hardware that will mount the headlight cover ornaments to the headlight cover hinge.  The hardest part of all of this, to me, is removing the left and right radiator grilles so that these new mods can be installed.

Although the headlight cover ornament will only be fastened to the headlight cover hinge with three screws/fasteners, it is very secure.  To make sure nothing comes loose, I will be using threadlocker.  I

headlight cover hinges

Add caption

before the mod

before the mod

before the mod

pics of the headlight cover before removal

pics of the headlight cover before removal

13 July 2018 - 302 cylinder heads E7TE

I purchased another valve spring compressor tool and it is what I should have purchased the first time around.  This C Clamp style makes removal and installation of the valve train WAAAAAAY easier.

I completely removed all the valves/springs assemblies and put the parts in a valve train organizer tray.  Labeled ziplocks have worked well in the past but the tray makes it a bit easier to work on the cylinder heads.

So now that the cylinder heads are disassembled I can take them to the machine shop and get them checked/cleaned and reworked.  The end game for these E7TE heads is to install them on the 289 block.

This metric 16mm socket is just the right size to allow removing stubborn valve retainer

7 July 2018 - 302 cylinder heads E7TE

I purchased a valve spring compressor tool so that I could disassemble the valve train components of the cylinder heads.

The exhaust valve springs are pretty easy to remove with the above tool.  The spring retainer is a one piece style so when the spring is compressed the keepers pretty much fall out and the rest of the assembly comes apart.

The intake valve springs are not coming apart at all with this particular tool.  So I ordered a tool that should be able to make installation/removal ALOT easier.

Exhaust valve measurement

intake valve measurement

valve train tray...

I kinda beat the s!@t out of that retainer and keeper, so I will be buying replacements....

2 July 2018 - 302 Cylinder heads

I picked up a set of E7TE 302 cylinder heads from an 87 Mustang GT.  The heads need to be reworked but are useable.  I will be using those heads for the 289 engine build.

The E7TE cylinder heads use ASF-32C / Autolite 25 spark plugs