Right now I am running REF headers, a Magnaflow X pipe, and Magnaflow Street-Series mufflers (straight thru design, not chambered).  I am considering some quieter mufflers, but I'm curious if this has any effect on the amount of perceivable header ping.  I'd really rather not have to change out those headers if I can avoid it.  It's louder at the engine bay than behind the tailpipes at idle.  Younger me wouldn't care, but older me needs something quieter so I don't feel guilty firing it up on a Saturday morning.   

I'm struggling to understand the sound dynamic difference between this and other cars I've built over the years.  I had a cammed GT500 with long tube headers and a similar exhaust setup, and the engine bay was quiet by comparison.  I imagine the wall thickness was greater on those Kooks headers than the REFs.  All of the sound was behind the car.  That's what I'd like on the Mach 1.

If I just swap out the mufflers for something quieter, do you think it'll get me what I'm looking for, or should I start looking for a different set of headers or exhaust manifolds? 

I'm starting on a new project car for my wife, and it'll be powered by a Ford 2.8l V6.  Since the Holley Sniper system worked out fantastic on our Mach 1 project, I figured it would be a good contender for TBI on a 2.8l, except I can't find a distributor that's compatible.  Holley makes a Hyperspark distributor for the Ford I6, but nothing specifically for the V6, and I do not know if they are interchangeable.  I would really like for the Holley unit to control timing, so running a standard distributor would be a last resort.

Any suggestions? 

The nearby city just put in a new sound ordinance bill, and now several surrounding towns are doing it too.  People in the local Mustang club have been reporting that first time offenders are getting $1,080 fines.  It's aimed at reducing hooning, which I understand, but some people are getting nailed even if they aren't hooning around.  It got me thinking...

How much of the perceived "noise" is truly coming from the tailpipes on cars like ours?  I've owned a few high-hp mod motors and coyotes with aggressive cams, and almost all of the volume was from the tailpipes (obviously all overhead cams...).  But, with big pushrod engines with aggressive cams, it seems split between the engine bay and the tailpipes.  I took a video of our Mach 1 just sitting there idling, and the tailpipes weren't that loud at idle but you could hear every pulse from the engine all around almost irrespective to exhaust.  It's just something that hasn't occurred to me to really investigate before. 

Changing out the cam in our FE is not something I really want to do at this time, but I am entertaining putting in quieter mufflers (2.5" Magnaflows right now), but I'm curious if it'll really have much of an effect.  Any thoughts?

I wasted the better part of Sunday chasing an issue.  We swapped in an Ididit tilt column (Ford direct fit) into our '69 Mach 1.  The steering wheel adapter bottomed out against the column while I was torquing the center nut, locking the assembly in place.  I took a few measurements to compare the original column vs the new one and could not find any major difference.  Basically, the adapter runs up on the tapered shaft too far and instead of wheel gap being set by the taper fit, it's just striking the column tube.  I could turn the adapter down to "cheat" the wheel gap with no real risk anywhere, but I was curious if anyone else has run into this and if there's something I'm overlooking.

I did get the wheel assembly together temporarily so we could move the car.  The horn relay triggers when applying torque to the wheel, or any in/out force.  The wheel itself is solid.  The pogo pins in the switch line up correctly with the two slip rings.  It's all brand new components and the wiring is correct.  Talk about infuriating.

Any ideas? 

We took the Mach 1 out for its maiden voyage yesterday.  All went well, no issues whatsoever.  I just drove it up to the nearby gas station to fill the tank, keeping an eye on every gauge.  When I fired it back up after filling the tank, I noticed the oil pressure was around 15psi at idle.  I believe idle is set to around 650rpm which I think is a bit low (engine smooths out nicely around 800, thinking about just leaving it there).  As soon as I put it in gear and started moving, it shot back up to between 45-55psi.  I do know that FEs are notorious for low hot idle oil pressure, but is this something I need to watch or be concerned with, or is it normal?  The other part to question is the Autometer sending unit's accuracy that low...

On a side note and somewhat related...  Let's talk cam and idle quality.  We all love the sound of a nice lopey cam, but the cause of that sound and behavior is essentially chaotic conditions in air and fuel volumes by valve motion not meant for low velocity.  There's very little load on anything at idle, and everything smooths out as load and rpm increase.  But, I have to wonder, is that aggressive cam behavior necessarily "bad" in the long run?  If I was asked that from an engineering perspective, I'd probably say "not by anything measurable," but I'd like to know your opinions. 

I have the TCP urethane motor mounts, which are pretty stiff, so the car shakes pretty violently at idle (part and parcel for having a big cam in a pony car).  However, I've had multiple other vehicles with big cams that didn't give me this sense of "everything is falling apart."  Is this just a perspective and something to get used to?  Rolling down the road at 45mph, the Mach 1 was surprisingly smooth and comfortable, but that idle is a bit wild...

The Mach 1 was fired up for the first time in over 2 years.  The whole car was stripped down to unibody last year and we did a complete rebuild from scratch (with the exception of the 428 block). 

The engine sounds downright nasty.  But, there are a few items I need to address:

1)  Starter is bogged down, voltage drops to 9v when cranking.  New solenoid and battery are in the trunk.  2ga cable runs to the starter through a post-style bulkhead.  I had it running through a large bus bar straight off the battery, but there must be some stupid amount of resistance along that circuit.  The ground was to frame.  The tech added a temporary 2ga cable ground from the starter back to the main ground lug from the battery, which seemed to help a little.  He said I should go with 0 gauge instead of 2 on the +12 running up to the starter.  The same starter and arrangement fired up the old engine no problem.  It's a Powermaster gear drive unit that we used to crank the old engine maybe 3-4 times total before we tore the whole car apart.  They can start the engine, it just doesn't turn over as fast as it should with that much voltage drop.  I don't think the engine is too tight or bound in any way.

2)  Cooling.  I have a single Spal pusher fan on a Northern 428 radiator.  The tech and tuner are concerned that it won't be enough.  I'd like to stay electric.  I love the look of this setup- does anyone have any experience with them?  Single big puller with a shroud:
https://speedcooling.com/product/1967-1970-mustang-aluminum-radiator-22-ds-outlet-3391/

If all goes well, we get the car back from the tuner tomorrow.  I then get to put our Halotron extinguisher in it and take it for some test drives up the street and back

This will be the 4th "new engine" break-in I've been a part of.  That's probably nothing compared to many of you veterans...

I understand pre-priming the oiling system by running the oil pump through the distributor port.  How much is too much?

The TFS heads were set up with a restrictor as recommended, but taking the valve covers off may not be much of an option here (engine is wedged in, spacers used for rocker clearance- any suggestions?

Oil recommendation?  Additives?  I always ran non-detergent conventional oil with zinc additive for break in.  I've read that Rotella 5w40 is great, but that gets into the synth vs conventional debate.  This is a roller setup, not flat tappet.

I had to fabricate a dipstick tube to work around the blower, it was a major pain.  I need to cut the cable (Lokar) to length to set 5qts nominal.  What is the wet vs dry fill for a typical FE?  I just need to know what would be safe to fill to for startup.  I figure once I drain it and re-fill, I can put 5qts in and mark it then since the oil system is "primed" at that point.

Any other tips/tricks? 

Is there a step in the dipstick port on FE blocks?  I have tried 3 different dipsticks (Lokar seems to fit the best) but the ID of the dipstick port seems unreasonably small.  I don't believe there is a tube snapped off in there, or it would be the cleanest break I've ever seen.  But, there is a pronounced step.

Does anyone have a picture or dimensions of what this should measure to?