Getting the big Fairlane back on the road.... Going the whole 9 inches

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RC10th
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Re: Getting the big Fairlane back on the road.... It drives !!!!

Post by RC10th »

I picked up a performance K&N air filter today and while it's a tad small for my taste it's about the only thing that would fit. I guess I could have tried a 14" offset filter although I never really liked the idea. I think this one was a good choice though as the base is shaped like a small stack so airflow into the engine should be good, especially with the filter top.

According to K&N the filter is 3 1/2" tall and I measured 4" as my maximum. I think K&N is a bit off as it JUST squeaks under the hood. I taped a bit of aluminum foil to the hood mat and the stud touched it when I closed it. I was able to squeeze it down a smidge by using a lower profile nut and tightening the lid a little bit more than I like.

Luckily my engine mount is bolted together but I still think it will rub the hood mat when things start getting rowdy. I put it in drive and gave it a bit while on the brakes to torque the engine, luckily there were no marks on the mat from the nut digging in so it might be ok. Hopefully it at least gave me a pony or two.

Anything is an improvement over the LPG mixer. Basically depending what fuel you select a solenoid either cuts off or supplies engine vacuum to the diaphragm in the air cleaner housing. As you can see even if it were wide open it still looks fairly restrictive.


On another note I have to paint the MSD coil black (or yellow), it's a shame, but it is bugging me. The yellow top battery is bad enough but the coil is too much, stands out like dogs balls.


I've also hit a snag with the rear end which has put me off a bit and I'll elaborate a little later in another post. Soooo, in the meantime I'll concentrate on a few other engine dress up items. These are the Ford valve covers that I want to get and some Moroso tall T-nuts to go along. After these pointless non-performance items and a bit of stress relief can get back on the rear end. 
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RC10th
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Re: Getting the big Fairlane back on the road.... It drives !!!!

Post by RC10th »

Happy days..... I picked these up this morning and they are stunning. They were the cheapest set I found ($100 cheaper) and were the last pair they had so I jumped on them.

I'll put them on tomorrow provided the weather doesn't hold me off. It was 106 degrees today :(
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Re: Getting the big Fairlane back on the road.... It drives !!!!

Post by Incredible_Serious »

RC10th wrote: Thu Feb 09, 2017 3:04 amI'll put them on tomorrow provided the weather doesn't hold me off. It was 106 degrees today :(
106 degrees? Where the hell are you at, the fiery pits of Hades???? Was only 33 here today!!!

Oh, and loving the progress, keep up the good work!

Alex
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Re: Getting the big Fairlane back on the road.... It drives !!!!

Post by RC10th »

It was 41c today, was supposed to hit 42c. Just wait, it's headed your way :twisted: :lol:
Incredible_Serious wrote: Thu Feb 09, 2017 4:40 am
Oh, and loving the progress, keep up the good work!

Alex
Thanks. I wish I could work faster, unfortunately that thing called money is a hand brake, and paying twice what things are worth in the US doesn’t help :(
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Re: Getting the big Fairlane back on the road.... It drives !!!!

Post by RC10th »

I braved the heat today and installed the valve covers. I'm not digging the red K&N filter though. The picture showed a white filter with a tube of K&N oil, not red, so I'll have to find another push in style to replace it down the track.

I also painted the radiator filler panel as the blue was a contrast. This pretty much sums up the engine bay aside from the kickdown rod that I still haven't addressed.
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Re: Getting the big Fairlane back on the road.... Giving it the whole 9 inches

Post by RC10th »

Now for the fun with the rear.......

Tramp rods and u-bolts come in the mail, awesome, go to fit them and they don't fit... lovely

After a lengthy chat with tramp rod guy it turns out I have an earlier axle that has ever so slightly different back plates. I've been a bit worried that the backing plates from the Borg Warner diff wouldn't fit the 9" but thank god Ford used the same backing plates, axle flanges, bearings etc.

I've decided to rebuild the 9" with a new Eaton Truetrac, new carrier housing and new bearings/seal kit. The axle seal was hard and leaking.

I've got to decide now if I upgrade to a daytona pinion support and/or 31 spline axles. In Aus we only got small bearing housings in sedans. 31 spline axles in small bearing housings seems to be a bit hit or miss as some claim the bearings die after a short time, and others have over a decade of hard use without issues.
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Re: Getting the big Fairlane back on the road.... It drives

Post by romulus22 »

RC10th wrote: Sat Nov 26, 2016 5:45 am
Incredible_Serious wrote:
romulus22 wrote:Look how stubby mine is compared to RJ's :lol:
Is that what she said?

:lol: :lol: :lol:
His is also more expensive. You get more bang for buck with mine :mrgreen:
I had to go back and find this. :wink:

These little issues are the reasons I went the route I did. It's the little things that pop up that can quickly turn that inexpensive upgrade into a pricey little adventure. Hope it works out for you before you're into it too much.

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Re: Getting the big Fairlane back on the road.... Going the whole 9 inches

Post by RC10th »

Any time you buy something used you take that risk. I could just change the axle seals and call it done but decided since I had to take it apart to just rebuild it the way I wanted.

Clutch type posi units have a usable life anyways and since the history is unknown why not buy a new clutchless limited slip unit for a few bucks more? You said yourself your all about driving instead of fixing so what better time then now :D Yeah it will put me back a while but I'll end up with a much better unit built how I want. If I didn't need to pull it apart I probably would have just left it as is.

I'm still on the fence about a new aftermarket carrier housing. I've never seen a stock carrier break but hear lots of stories of cracked carriers. Just the carrier housing alone is about $600 for either iorn or alloy plus your overhaul kit and new Truetrac etc, expensive but still cheaper than a new custom axle.

It's not happening in a hurry so I have time to weigh up my options and reasearch.
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Re: Getting the big Fairlane back on the road.... Going the whole 9 inches

Post by romulus22 »

Not knocking your decision. Kinda just stating why I went with a custom. I don't have the patience to do the proper research. So I end up buying the more expensive brand parts cause they are the first to pop up on google search. And sometimes I'm buying the same parts twice cause of my lack of knowledge and impatience. I buy parts that aren't compatible with each other.

And yeah, I'd definitely be changing seals if it were me.

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Re: Getting the big Fairlane back on the road.... Going the whole 9 inches

Post by RC10th »

I'm going to make a few calls Monday to weigh up the cost of having a shop doing it vs doing it myself. If there's not much in it I'll just drop it off for them. I'm sort of excited to gear up to do it myself though, means more shop tools and another skill that I can fix it or change gear ratios etc myself. The Ford 9" looks fairly easy and extremely modular, I couldn't believe how easy it was to remove the axles etc. Being a perfectionist I have the patience to fiddle around with the shimming and gear set up, I'm also liking the crush sleeve eliminator for a number of reasons. I've been looking at a 20 ton shop press which will come in handy for other jobs too. If I can buy all tools for the cost of shop labor alone it's definately worth it.
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Re: Getting the big Fairlane back on the road.... Going the whole 9 inches

Post by RC10th »

I wasn't planning on this when I started out on this project :( but at the end of day it will be a much stronger unit :D I managed to find a later housing which is an odd mix of 9" parts as they use the heavy duty truck center sections with the smaller lighter duty mustang axle tubes and flanges.

It isn't in as good of shape as mine was but should clean up well, plus I can recoup my money when I sell my earlier housing. The dilema is to powdercoat it or POR-15 again


Now we can start moving forward............ again
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Re: Getting the big Fairlane back on the road.... Going the whole 9 inches

Post by romulus22 »

RC10th wrote: Thu Mar 09, 2017 11:33 pm The dilema is to powdercoat it or POR-15 again
:D



Image


Since I don't know much about 9"ers. I thought yours looked kinda long and skinny. Now you've got some more girth in the middle it looks stubbier.

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Re: Getting the big Fairlane back on the road.... Going the whole 9 inches

Post by RC10th »

While the old housing probably would have been plenty strong it should be pretty bullet proof now with this housing. It definately looks chunkier with the truck center section. The diff guys said they have seen the skinnier housings crack at the inner tube welds when repeatedly beat on at the track.

I think I got a pretty good deal so I'm happy. Next on the list is to order some Moser billet 31 spline axles.

My 400ci F150 has basically the same diff (stock) and I've absolutely hammered the crap out of it on 33" tires without any issues. I used to destroy at least one Spicer U-joint a year from giving it a hard time. :D
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Re: Getting the big Fairlane back on the road.... Going the whole 9 inches

Post by slotcarrod »

Your engine bay looks sweet! Not sure why you ever thought a K&N filter would not be red after oiling? :roll: :lol: I think it looks great in there though! :wink:

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Re: Getting the big Fairlane back on the road.... Going the whole 9 inches

Post by klavy69 »

If you are having an issue with the red color of the K&N filters you can always pick up a different color prefilter. Outerwears makes like 4+ different colors of prefilter wraps. I know I've seen yellow, red, blue, black and I think they have a couple different colors. I use 'em on all my K&N filters but because I hate cleaning those things...

Todd
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