Thread: 39 Ford (Coast to Coast) Rebuild

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Originally Posted by daveS53

If the O-rings aren't going into the bore at the bottom, you'll never get a seal. The O-ring type worked for my flaming river rack, but it's brand new. An O-ring bore has to be smaller than the O-ring O.D. or it will not seal. Enlarging such a bore would be a tough job to do properly, without taking the rack out and putting it on a Bridgeport or similar small mill.

You'd better research the proper interference fit before any machining is done.

As I write this, the car has been on the road for about 2 weeks. (with no leaks) I'm going by memory now, so forgive my guesses when it come to the measurements. The fittings I used to finally seal the power steering were from a Dodge Omni rack. But I had to enlarge the bore below the threads by .010. Even then, it was a tight fit. I guess it's the price you pay when you use a Chevy pump, a Ford rack and Dodge fittings. No leaks, power assist seems good, does not seem over boosted, and like I said, no leaks. I'm happy. My wife drove it and approved.

When I finally got the leak fixed, I finally got to the tuning portion on the FI. After 13 hrs, it finally runs good. It took digging a old Windows XP laptop out of the closet, but I got it figured out. It seems Holley stopped upgrading the software for the Commander 950 PCM years ago. No more lean back fires or surging, it just goes.

From there it went up to my friends exhaust shop to fix the exhaust. The proper flanges were put on for the headers and I bent the proper pipes to fit the Super 10 series mufflers. It sounds good, exhaust doesn't hit the frame and doesn't leak. To me, that is a success.

I brought it home, charged the A/C, took it for a quick ride and the owners wife drove it away. I haven't seen it since. I wish I had some pictures, but towards the end it was a rush.

I will see the car back probably in the Fall, right now the owners wife is driving it everyday. It still needs a few things, but it's safe right now. It's not up to my standards, but you can't argue with the wife.

Like I said in the past. To make it right, the body needs to come off to fix a bunch of problems. To me, it's still a mess. But compared to how it was, it probably drives like a new car.

To make everyone happy, here is a video of my wife and daughter in the car. Thanks again for all of the advice. I'll be back soon.

http://s1273.photobucket.com/user/au...d50f5.mp4.html

I just wanted to add, without all of the advice I received from the people on this forum, this car would still be sitting up on jack-stands. After my wife drove the car, she wants me to build a rod for us. So expect a new build coming soon.....