My 427 SOHC Build..... Finally the time has come!

[cobracammer]

Yeah!! Small victory... 1/4" of clearance between pan and pickup  all sealed up and drying until tomorrow

[turbohunter]

How'd you get there Jason?
Congrats

[cobracammer]

Small amount of heating and finagling. Lol
Time to install clutch, flywheel, bellhousing and spacer and reinstall !!

[cobracammer]

progress!  Installed the billet Fly wheel, backing plate, pilot bushing, clutch ( actually found out its a mcleod twin clutch!) and the bell housing. Then was able to get the engine back into the car!  Tomorrow i will be measuring for throw out bearing clearance and installing the EFI throttle bodies and hood!

[My427stang]

Nice work Jason, incredible car!

[cobracammer]

EFI anyone?  Lol. Looks big, but just clears the stock hood!  Sorry for the 1st pictures "Fuzziness", but I take these photos with my phone.  Anyway, not in these pictures are the aircleaners hold down knobs.  They also fit under the stock hood, but touch the thermal matting attached to the underside of the hood.  Also, the aircleaner is a bit long, so I had to take a cresent shape out of the cowl lip (plastic and thin metal).  Only about 1 inch so the cleaner would not interfere.  Also when I bolt up the transmission, the engine will rotate forward slightly too, so I should be set with clearance!

[cobracammer]

Another bump...  Now that the radiator is in, Stock fan and shroud do not fit. Unfortunately, power steering resevoir and coolant overflow tank mount to it.  Long story short, i think i will cut off the top of the fan shroud and attach that, and install a 16" low profile fan?  Hopefully this should solve the problem.  I was also thinking I can get a reversible fan, and mount it to the grill side of the radiator.  I think I will only go that route if I run into clearance issues with a low profile/ slim fan.

[cobracammer]

OK, so have been thinking and thinking about the hydraulic throw out bearing for this project.  I was just going to swap over the OEM unit from the Tremec 3630 I took out of the saleen, but I will  need shims (for sure) and its got like 75,000 miles on it already, and its one of those annoying compression fittings .....  Whatever.

I decided to bite the bullet (sort of speak) and get a RAM hydraulic clutch unit.  The package I purchased comes with a shim kit (as well as a ship plate of 1.00") that may or may not be needed.  I figure that I can measure, shim and install all at one time rather than have to find or make shims for an OEM unit.  This unit also has a bleeder fitting which should make bleeding the system a snap.

So, finally, once this arrives and I get it measured up and installed, I am going to order the driveshaft..... and have the car brought to an exhaust shop so they can build me a set of headers.

THEN DONE!  easily said, but I still need to get it running (for which I will need the headers)

[turbohunter]

Careful about that, "THEN DONE" Jason.
Getting everything together is usually the easy part.
The details are what nip you in the budd.

[cobracammer]

Yea I know  LOL  "Then done" encompasses running a fuel return line, setting up fuel regulator, lengthening some of the wires in the stock wiring harness to reach the new locations of the Senders/sensors, wrapping up all of the unused pigtails in electrical tape (ones like refrigerant sensors, Cam sensors, 8 separate feul injectors, etc......

Also, since I went with a stock set of MSD plug wires with the boots already installed (as you can see from the pictures), I have a birds nest of plug wires due to the extra length....  I will want to get those in some sort of order.....

so..... "Then done".... means for today I guess  LOL

[cobracammer]

OK small update.  I didn't want anyone to think I lost interest and just gave up  LOL

In order to measure for the throw out bearing clearance, there were a few measurements that were needed (there are a few websites, including RAM clutches, that show you which measurements are needed.  After reading them, I almost (ALMOST) pooped a little.  One of the measurements was from the block surface to the mounting surface of the crankshaft  (where the flywheel bolts on)....  Well after getting everything including the bell housing torqued to spec...  I thought I was going to have to crawl under the car and pull everything off again to measure.  Fortunately, while doing a little internet sleuthing, I came across Speedwaymotors tool section and found a nifty little gadget.  I attached a picture below, but its as simple as measuring down from the back of the bell housing, and then measuring from the trans to the surface of the bearing (compressed).....  Should arrive by Friday.  Also, USPS says the Ram throw out bearing kit is arriving today and should be there when I get home  !

[cobracammer]

OK boys!  Back from vacation and ready to get moving.  The Friday before I left, I got my throw out bearing fitment tool from speedway motorsports (Pictured above) as well as the RAM throw out bearing kit with all of the accessories that should make this a 1 stop shopping kind of install.  Car is back up on the 12 ton jack stands, and the transmission is out of the box (Cant wait to throw out that huge box and wooden pallet its sitting on.... space sucker in a 2 car garage.

Tonight I am going to bolt on the aluminum custom spacer to the bell housing using their supplied bolts as well as try and clean and re-grease the throw out bearing so I can be sure the O-rings are nice and lubed.  hopefully I can snap a few photos from the underside  :0)

Good to be back!

[cobracammer]

Just purchased all the fittings to get the fuel line hooked up.  Ford has this funky fuel injection fuel line disconnect (the one that needs the special tool to disconnect... much like the AC line fittings).  Luckily Jegs sells the same fittings that will connect to a 3/8 in hose.  I didn't know which one was which... supply side or return side, so I purchased both (as I assume I will use both since the FAST EFI needs a return line run.  I also got about 25' of fuel line hose (incase I need to redo the supply side in addition to the return).  Wanted to get these items on their way to me as I work on the transmission.

[cobracammer]

Not a huge update, but went ahead and purchased the FAST EFI fuel pressure regulator with the FAST Fuel pressure gauge.  EFI system says that the Fuel pressure needs to be set at 45 psi.  Will Probably end up mounting it on the passenger side fire wall (somewhere near the "Saleen" manufacturer plate.  Then Run a return line back to the fuel tank.  Not sure if the Saleen fuel pump will be able to handle the cammer, but I will try it out.  May end up replacing it anyway, as I don't believe the Saleen's EFI was set up for a return fuel line......  Have to do some research (in addition to not seeing a return line when I took the OEM engine out!

[cobracammer]

OK  LOL  research done.  2005 Saleen S281 had a returnless fuel system.  What it looks like is I will need to go with a direct replacement rather than something fancy from Jegs since I want the stock wiring harness to work.  I found one that looks perfect, but it looks like I will need 2 new fuel pumps as well as I don't think swapping the OEM ones will be able to keep up with the horsepower ( In my head I am thinking like 600 - 625 HP since I didn't port the heads and manifold....  )

http://www.livernoismotorsports.com/products/DivisonX-S197-Dual-Pump-Return-Style-Fuel-Hat-Manifold.html