1999 Mounty 5.0 aka My Great Bad Idea

[97Sandbox]

Can’t wait to see it all plated!! Jealous city

Sure do love driving our 5.0 5 speed trac it’s a hoot. I love the v8 and manual combo

They'll just be zinc plated -- I'm worried about corrosion protection over aesthetics for this.

I cannot wait to join the 5.0 5 speed club!

 

[97Sandbox]

Don't you love it when a plan comes together...

 

[97Sandbox]

Finished blasting and got the hardware wired together for plating!

The wire is primarily to hold them onto the plating rack so they don't fall off into a process tank.

Once plated, I'll bake everything all afternoon to release the hydrogen that gets introduced in the material during the acid dip -- don't want anything to snap under load (hydrogen embrittlement)!

Supposedly my new bushings arrived, I need to go check the receiving dock...

And for anyone who wants to restore their 4406 linkage, the trickiest part for me was popping out the grommets in the link bar. The method that worked well was soaking them in near-boiling-hot water and using two hose picks. One hose pick to collapse the grommet, and another to push it through the hole.

There was still a little tearing, but not enough for me to be worried about reusing them.

Obviously not everyone can get parts plated, but a new coat of paint or galvanizing compound will get you close enough.

 

[410Fortune]

Those bushings are a pita!!!!

Good work!

 

[97Sandbox]

I got the parts into the oven late this afternoon, so they'll sit in there overnight. At least my bushings arrived! Shift linkage reassembly will surely start tomorrow, then I can begin mocking up a custom lever to work with the 1354 boot.

 

[97Sandbox]

Just when I thought my 5.0 was healthy and I could get into the fun stuff, it goes and does this:


Seems to be coming from left side and it's a very metallic sound in person. You can feel it with your hand on the valve cover.

Odd thing is, the truck ran great over this past weekend I was using it around the farm. Shortly after I filmed that clip, I was trying to more closely pinpoint where the sound was coming from and it stopped completely. I'm guessing that means there's a lifter not getting oil at the cold start, but once it's a little warmer, the oil flows at least enough to quiet it down.

Should I just keep an eye on it and see if it goes away as I drive the truck more, or is this an urgent concern? There's no No glitter in the oil currently.

 

[410Fortune]

Put some marvel mystery oil in it
That sounds Ike a lifter pushrod issue for sure
The fact that it goes away means litter is not “pumping up” but eventually it does
Carbon in the passages or loss of oil pressure
Marvel will quickly bust up any carbon
Working on these we often knock carbon loose and it can get into the engine
Marvel / seafoam treatment and then run Mobil one forever there after

If it continues might want to check your oil pressure just to keep eye on it

 

[97Sandbox]

Sounds good. I did seafoam it (intake and crankcase) before the refresh, but I'm sure there's plenty of loose carbon crud that I wasn't able to vacuum out.

I'll try the Marvel, I've always been a seafoam guy, but I know you're not supposed to leave it in the oil full time (maybe same goes for marvel?). I have Valvoline synthetic in the truck now and plan to keep running synthetic going forward. Hopefully the detergent oil helps break the crust down further.

 

[410Fortune]

They are both safe to use in your crank case

I use marvel because it has been around soooo long and these old dudes that I work with swear by it,
Talking about how in wwii marvel was mandatory military issue because it was so good at keeping things clean and running

Sea foam is similar
Atf can do the same thing so can diesel oil. So pick your poison.
What you are after here is a concentrated dose like a full quart of marvel for the next one or two oil changes

Valvoline is fantastic
Mobil ones is fantastic
I have proven to myself that Mobil one breaks up sludge and will bust up carbon over time, and will restore oil pressure in engines effected by
Sludge
so Mobil is what we run in engines that need it. I switch back and forth between Mobil and valvoline in my rigs based on cost and availability

Here’s some reading about mmo
Is it snake oil? I don’t think so
Because we have actually seen it work. Engine has 0 oil pressure at warm idle
Several heavy treatments later oil pressure completely resorted, seen it with my own eyes more then once

Marvel Mystery Oil

This may sound like an odd question.. does anyone actually use this in their aircraft? I was talking with an owner of a '74 Beech C23 (180hp Lycoming) in Texas.. says he adds it to his fuel regularly and to oil at oil change every 50hrs. I'm very hesitant if not skeptical.. Any thoughts on this?

www.pilotsofamerica.com

The best oil is
Clean oil
These days you can hardly even buy conventional oil anymore, all of our modern oils are very good

 

[97Sandbox]

I hear ya. I've become a Valvoline guy because it seems about as good as Mobil 1 (or any quality full synthetic) and I'm always able to buy it with a sizeable rebate. Since I drive about 25k miles each year, I appreciate the balance of quality and affordability. Several years back when my wife and I were living a few states apart and I'd visit her every-other weekend, I put over 38k miles on my Civic in one year! Bought so much oil that Valvoline sent me a free lunchbox and a sticker pack haha.

I actually need to get some 0W-20 for my Civic tonight, so I'll grab a bottle of Marvel while I'm at O'Reilly. I suppose I should grab more 5W-30 too for whenever I change the Mounty oil next (don't think I'll be pushing it to 5000 miles for this next change).

In more fun news, I got my 4406M linkage from the oven this morning and it looks good! Loosely mocked up:

I'll assemble it with silicone lube around the nylon bushings and anti-seize on all the threads. One of my coworkers convinced me I should paint it black again to give this zinc longer life and he's honestly right. So I'll do that this weekend and delay my much-anticipated reassembly by a few days while the rustoleum cures. Oh well, I'm nowhere near installing the M5R2 anyhow.

If I find the time and the weather stays as nice as it is, I hope to start the front end refresh this weekend too!

 

[CDW6212R]

That noise is strong and loud. What lifters are in that, the mileage and storage, and do you have stock rockers on it? If it's got roller rockers, that's what I would be worried to check very soon. Roller rockers on studs are more tricky to get to be somewhat quiet, and reliable. I prefer stock rockers until the lift gets above .500" and the rpm's plus springs are greater too.

 

[97Sandbox]

That noise is strong and loud. What lifters are in that, the mileage and storage, and do you have stock rockers on it? If it's got roller rockers, that's what I would be worried to check very soon. Roller rockers on studs are more tricky to get to be somewhat quiet, and reliable. I prefer stock rockers until the lift gets above .500" and the rpm's plus springs are greater too.

Stock everything in the Valvetrain, engine has 190k miles. I replaced the valve stem seals, but returned each pushrod, spring, and rocker where it came from after some light cleaning.

I started it up this afternoon and it was tapping again. I added the Marvel and it quieted down as it warmed up again. I'll have to see tomorrow of the Marvel worked it's magic.

 

[donalds]

. I'll have to see tomorrow of the Marvel worked it's magic

Marvel almost always works but it usually takes time
May take a few runs for it to work

 

[97Sandbox]

The fact that the engine ran fine before and immediately after the refresh gives me hope there's just some dislodged crust restricting the oil flow somewhere and once it gets broken down it'll run fine.

 

[97Sandbox]

Quick update: I haven't done much on the Mounty because I've been busy with family things and it's been unbelievably windy here. Brief tangent: until I moved to Nebraska, I never understood how "wind" could be used to describe a day's weather in the same sense of "rain" or "snow." But when there's steady 20-30 mph wind and gusts of 40-50 mph, you'd better believe it affects your day-to-day.

I did start the truck and run it for a bit yesterday and there was no more lifter tick at the cold start -- it seems the Marvel has worked its magic.

I have everything together for my front end refresh, I've just been trying to find a good block of time and some nicer weather. I don't think either are in my immediate future, so I'll just try to dive in tonight and deal with the cold/wind and work in short increments over the coming weeks.

I did stumble upon a gem posted by @MrQ in @gmanpaint Black Hole thread I've been browsing:

I didn't get the dual shifter trans tunnel cover with the boot/bezel I bought, so I'm making one out of another I picked up in a salvage yard. I was expecting to have to guess where to orient the screw holes and cut the tcase shifter hole, but now I don't have to!

So needless to say, I'm moving slow, but still inching forward to the manual swap. A little work each day and I'll get there eventually, right?

 

[410Fortune]

Wind sucks! I don’t miss it. Colorado front range is always soooo windy. Hardly any windy days here in North Idaho!

The lifter must have finally “pumped up” and the carbon bits moved onwards….that is good news!

 

[DintDobbs]

@97Sandbox I stopped to get some thing out of the road that fell of somebody's truck the other day, and I actually started blowing away. Had to get down on two feet and a hand a few times in order to keep moving towards it.

Gave me a healthy respect for weather reporters...

 

[97Sandbox]

Glad I'm not the only one haha!

Last night I hosed the dirt off the front suspension and tonight I might actually swap a UCA or two. I've got new camber bolts too -- figured it'd be good to throw them in with the new UCAs for later use if I do a torsion twist lift.

Replacing tie rod ends shouldn't be bad. The current ones aren't even as worn as the BJs, but I figured I'd go a head and replace them while I'm there. I also have some lightly used Moog sway bar links to swap in.

Does anybody have tips for replacing lower BJs with the LCAs on the vehicle? When I did them on my Sport, I just took off the LCAs and used a hydraulic press to drive the LBJs out/in. But that was only because I was replacing all the bushings and doing a torsion bar delete (coilover conversion) at the same time. This time around, I'll be outside using my ball joint press, not to mention working around a CV shaft that I never had to contend with previously.

While I was inside avoiding wind last night, I updated the screw hole locations in my trans tunnel cover and made the hole for the tcase lever too.

Now I just need to figure out the approximate height it sits off the trans and I can start making my custom lever.

 

[Turdle]

I'm also curious to ask, how hot do these 5.0s normally run?

I put in a new Motorcraft thermostat that's supposedly a 192 deg unit and I've been surprised to see ECT up to 212 before the thermostat opens and temps drop back to mid-to-high 180s. The thermostat is clearly opening and closing, but 210+ seems kind of hot to me considering where the thermostat should open.

There is a code which will set if operating temp gets too high. My rig on interstate 75 mph , roof rack , ac on max had hit 226, no codes pending or set. Made me nervous so I stuck a 97 radiator in,

These run hot. My 193 thermostat opens first time 202-206. Never really settles in to 193 degrees. 197 degrees on highway, 60 degree day no ac or heat is normal.

I've noticed also, more accurate temp readings with heat and floor selected. Allowing coolant flow thru HVAC box also allows more coolant flow across the ECT. Check this yourself.

 

[allmyEXes]

@97Sandbox Trace the floor plate just in case someone needs a pattern. It looks like it would take a legal length piece of paper, 8.5 x 17" for it to fit. Then a copy shop could run a few copies. Surely a pattern would be worth $2- to have one, including stamp, etc. I like the plating. I have a brand new timing cover, aluminum, that I would like coated with something. Maybe crinkle black?
BTW, I used a loner tool from Advance Auto Parts to press out my lower ball joints. Somewhere in my threads is a thread where I did this to my '97 Explorer ~ 2018?
ADDED:Gen II lower balljoint R&R
@Rick This would be a good how to. Maybe it's worth a few "Elite" points.
@Turdle Are you using a stand alone sending unit and gauge to get the water temp?