Zephyr Build

Oh yeah, I like it too. I'm not huge on a vinyl roof, but at least it's appropriate for the model.

I can't seem to shake the urge to take an under-appreciated model from my lifetime (born in '76) and hotrod it though, haha. How about a blacked out, de-vinyled Mark VI? Or '80-82 Thunderbird/Cougar? Ford never had a real contender against the Grand National. Slap an EcoBoost 3.5 in one of those and go hunting G-bodies! Anyway, you know those models would be far less appreciated than a Mark III. Having owned the Zephyr as long as I have, I've found that Fairmonts and Zephyrs are pretty common as unusual models go. Parts are pretty readily available, even exterior sheetmetal. The thing I have to remember is that you STILL never see them in the wild, outside of a Fairmont/Zephyr fan group. It's like I'm chasing that knowing reaction from a "real" fan that encounters the car at a random show. It's not about what other people like, it's about what I like. On the other hand, the Mark III and late-60s, early-'70s full size cars would probably garner about the same kind of reaction. I think that's why I'm so interested in them.

Oh yeah, if I got an '80s car that would be a whole different deal than a '60s one. A '60s car would be just to drive and enjoy, an '80s car would be a blank slate along the same lines as my Zephyr. I was just dreaming about other options that are even more unusual than a Zephyr, haha. That 6 would be gone the day it got home, haha. I HATE that engine. Bad power, bad fuel economy. The worst of both worlds!

Anyway, none of that is probably going to happen. I'd have to convince my dad to store it at their house, and that would be pretty unreasonable, haha. My brother takes advantage of their parking too much as it is.

I went to talk to the machinist at Napa today. He said there is no way to machine material off that spacer. He suggested trying to do it with washers, but I really don't think washers are going to fit inside the pulley on the bolts. Not well, anyway. I'd have to cut them. I think I'm going to try to make a second spacer out of sheet metal. It's worth a try, anyway. I have some on hand that's roughly half the thickness of the 1/16" spacer.

I'm still planning to start the throttle body and header gaskets job. I didn't get to it today though. I found the company that makes my air/fuel gauge makes a "heat sink bung extender" that's supposed to address your O2 sensor getting too hot. I think that's worth a try before I drill another hole in my exhaust. It's pricey enough I need to wait to buy it though.

I got another set of clips for the shifter bezel from Amazon today. They fit better, but still don't really do the job the way I need them to. I'm going to let this problem go for a while and come back to it.

So, I made my sheet metal spacer. The position of the belt on the pulley looks great, but the noise... remains. Ugh. I think I might try removing the lock washers I have on my water pump pulley. I originally put them on there in part to space them out a bit because they were sticking out the back too far for my comfort. The stock bolts are long gone, so these are estimated replacements. But now with the pulley spacers in there, I think it's probably okay. Anyway, I noticed the pulley wobbling when I first started the engine to test the spacer repair. You don't want that! I was able to tighten the bolts enough to make it not visibly wobble, but I feel like those washers might still be causing it to wobble enough that that's what's causing the noise. Like maybe their unevenness is making it so the pulley can't be properly tightened straight. I know the factory doesn't put lock washers there.



I started on the header gasket job yesterday. My collector bolts had worked their way loose on the passenger side again. I guess I need to put some lock washers on there. I hope that does the trick. Remove some, add some other places, haha. I'm skeptical that any sort of Locktite kind of thing can be used there with the exhaust heat. But, I guess I'm still not convinced the ball and socket fit together all the way at the header to h-pipe flange. Could be wrong; hope I am.

Up top, I started the throttle body transplant. Here's a dramatic before and after. The old one just never seemed to want to look nice despite my cleaning it up and painting it.



And then we have this new problem. The air will hit a wall once it reaches the intake. I had thought 65mm to 75mm wasn't that big of a step up, but apparently it is.



I had been thinking of trying my hand at porting if it was just a small change needed, but this is a LOT of solid aluminum that needs removing! I don't know what you'd even do, hole saw?! haha

After I finish the header gasket job, I'll have to think on what to do about the intake. We're low on funds right now, so any outsourced work or additional parts will need to wait until next year. That's okay; it snowed yesterday.

Well, I'm glad you like where you live. I like where I live too. It just means the pressure is off for me to get it put back together. Take one of your classics for a ride for me.

Had a little time for more yesterday. I pulled the plugs out the passenger side of the engine so I could get the header off. Here's what they look like. The farthest away here is cylinder #1. It looks pretty different from the others. I don't know anything about "reading" plugs though so I don't know what that means, if anything.

Probably less than 1000 miles.

Well, first new part of the year. This is a spacer/heatsink for my wideband O2 sensor. Hopefully it will make it so I don't get the overheating error.


My intake is done getting ported for the larger throttle body. Just have to get a time to go get it. It will need to be painted again after being hot-tanked to get all the shavings out if it. I'm still pretty uncertain as to how this season is going to go, but in theory, all I'll need is to get it tuned after that, and I'll be ready to go.