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| Another one installed! |
I got that damn flu that's going around, which messed up Valentine's Day and any semblance of progress on the Mustang last week. I hear cardinals twittering outside my window, which makes me feel like the early arrival of warmer weather is an early spring. It felt good to get back in the garage and back at it. Where were we? Ah yeah, installing some pistons. I was having some trouble, but with some new tools and coaxing, I got it squared away.
Are you too good for your home?!?
I'd never installed pistons before, so I went through some tools and techniques while I figured it out. Let's just say they didn't seem too inclined to go willingly. In the end, all went well once I got the right combination of tools, materials, and technique (which turned out to be "spring compression wrench/sleeve + loads of assembly lube + tap with a wooden handle"). Pretty happy with the result!
This went so good, I'm thinking about tomorrow, when I might just install the heads and/or the oil pump, depending on what strikes my fancy. But for now, enjoy some pics from today.
EDIT: While torquing down the connecting rod bolts on Sunday, I mistakenly looked up the torque specs for the Hi-Po 289, which has a much higher torque rating, and promptly twisted off one of the bolts on number 8. I have ordered new hardware, but I may need to disassemble the entire engine and send to the machine shop again (!), since it looks like putting in new hardware necessitates the need for ensuring the connecting rods/bearing openings are not out-of-round with the new hardware. *sigh* Well, I learned something anyway.
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| Prepping one with some assembly lube |
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| Give it a tappy! |
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| That was a good one! |
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| Bringing the piston home, |
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| Crank all buttered up, connecting rod cap studs taped to prevent scratching |
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| Pistons all done |
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| And the bottom |
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