Blake's 1965 Mustang Project

[Cobranut]

Maybe a dumb question, but why not use AN for AC lines? pressures and temps are lower than what you'd see in an oil cooler line I think.

A/C high side pressures can significantly exceed 300psi, far above oil pressure.  Temps can get pretty high as well.
PTFE AN lines could handle it, but it's easier to use the stock fittings.

[Exidous]

Innnnnntersting.    Everything else in the car is already flammable, so.  Haha

My thoughts exactly. I ran it over the summer in San Antonio and my a/c never ran that cold. Easier on compressors and less hp to run to boot.

[Cobranut]

Forgot that I changed AC compressors, and need to build new lines.

In proper “I hate shopping things out” form, I bought a crimper so I can do it myself.    A friend has a vacuum pump/charge setup I’ll borrow when ready.   I’m amped to get AC working finally.

Take a look at ES-12A as a refrigerant. It's propane and butane based but more effective than R-12 and at lower pressures. Also needs no vacuum. It's recommended to fill at atmospheric. Also a large molecule and less likely to leak. It's just...flammable.
With R-134a I'd need over 20oz. ES-12a only needs about 9oz.

Does it have a distinctive smell that would alert you to a leak inside the vehicle?
It wouldn't take much to fill a car interior to an ignitable mixture, and plenty of switches, etc. to create a spark.  BOOM!!!

I just read this, and I'm not too sure I'd want that in a vehicle. 
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HC-12a

[Exidous]

I don't drive a bus with multiple pounds of the stuff in my car. It's used almost exclusively in agriculture. Granted accidents aren't overly likely then. Your car is full of flammable stuff. 9oz of gas won't last long.

[digitalsolo]

I'm not sure it's any more dangerous than having ethanol everywhere, but certainly if you hit the perfect combo in the interior, it could be bad news.

It won't help with a stoichiometric explosion or anything, but I am planning on an FIA fire suppression system in the car.

[digitalsolo]

Slow, plodding progress.    About 80% done with the charge pipe rework.    Then it should just be radiator shrouds and some cooling hoses to finish up fabrication in the engine bay.

[digitalsolo]

Still working on this thing...    I've been light on motivation lately, and large on fiddly bits.

Anyway, stuff completed recently:

The front springs were too short/light.  I had 8" 400# springs.   I swapped to 10" 450# springs, seems to sit much better now.   I forgot that I'd messed with the rear coilovers (one was set higher than the other to fix other suspension issues) and once I sorted that out, alignment is coming together better.   I still need to get the alignment proper and corner balance it.

Suspension work left:   Finish rough alignment, complete modifications to passenger swaybar endlinks (I'm shortening them), bolt check, cotter pins, bleed brakes, install front wheel speed sensor(s).

Then it's engine bay stuff.   Cooling system is mostly done, shrouds and such are in place, radiator is mounted and lower radiator tubing is done.   Upper hose needs shortened and I need to add upper radiator fan mounts.    A/C needs one more hose end crimped (I bought my own crimpers) then I can finalize all of that.   Radiator fan PWM controller is tested and chassis electrical is sorted out.   I dropped the nut for my passenger side mil-spec connector and it's gone into a weird cross-dimensional void.   I spent 1.5 hours looking for it.   I ordered a new one.   Actually, I ordered 2, just in case.

Electrical work left:  Mount passenger mil-spec connector, hook up engine electronics, build wideband to main harness adapters.

Outside of that stuff, I still need to:

Install/torque driveshaft bolts
Install shifter
Install interior
Build/install skidplates and under floor ducting
Oil
Coolant
Bleed clutch
Fix leaking driver side rear axle seal
Reinstall fuel system
Bolt check
Bleed/fill/test A/C system
Window tint
Cut/buff car

If I can stop getting distracted by small stuff (and losing important nuts into the abyss of nothingness) it should be ready to drive shortly.   Then I'll need to tweak the tune for the new ECU and start driving it and seeing how I like the new suspension/control systems.

[digitalsolo]

So.   Put the car back together.   Have a few things I don't love, mostly just that my charge pipes are merged into 2" for a little longer than I'd like.   I'll probably circle back to that at some point and figure out a way to make them merge up to 3" right where the 2" outlets from the turbos merge.   Anyway, not the end of the world, once it's under boost it won't matter a ton.

Bigger issue is that the coolant crossover mod I added from MMR makes it almost impossible to plug in the crank sensor.   Which means I bent a pin.   Which means the car can't start (which I discovered when I tried to start it).

Can't get the sensor out with the coolant crossover in.   Can't get the crossover out with the engine in.

So.   Engine back out, which means undo all the stuff I just finished re-doing.   Ugh.

[Venom13132]

oh man that stinks.  Especially for something so small!  At least you have that Aston to enjoy while its nice out.   Although it is great turbo weather this week.    I'll be in Ft. Wayne this weekend but unfortunately time to shoot meet up.  Going to my wife's uncle's funeral but staying over in Albion.

[digitalsolo]

Unfortunately the Aston is down, waiting on parts coming back for the interior.   They've been stuck in German customs for ~2 weeks.  Hopefully it gets here soon, it released customs today.

Sorry to hear about the funeral.

[Venom13132]

Unfortunately the Aston is down, waiting on parts coming back for the interior.   They've been stuck in German customs for ~2 weeks.  Hopefully it gets here soon, it released customs today.

Sorry to hear about the funeral.

oh bummer.  I just got some headlights from RHDJapan and they got stuck in Memphis for a week but eventually made it.   I have some 99 Spec spoiler bases in exposed CF coming from the Dominican Republic that are held up currently in the Dominican.

[digitalsolo]

I've been sorta busy, sorta slacking.   Plus the Aston is back together, which dulls my motivation a bit further.

With my martial arts stuff, I had a big tournament in Fort Wayne in early June, then I was off to Little Rock for ATA Team USA training, then the following week I was on vacation at my in-laws in Missouri, then back for less than a week, then off to Phoenix for ATA World Championships.   This means that 99% of my free time has been practice/training.  I also did a triatholon at the end of May which ate up half a day itself, then another day to recover.    Long story short, motivation/time has been short.

Beyond excuses, here's what's up/next:

1. Engine is almost all the way back out.  I'm going to see if I can get it out without pulling the exhaust manifolds, because they're a PITA to put in/out.
2. I bought a new crank sensor, and this one now has a DTM connector added/potted, and has been trimmed to better clearance.   I won't have the same issue with bending pins in the future.
3. Since I have to take the engine out anyway, I'm going to go ahead and clearance the subframe for the larger intercooler pipes.   I'm going to merge the 2x 2" outlets from the turbos directly to a 3" transition, vs. the 10-12" of 2" combined piping I had before, which I'm 100% sure was restrictive.
4. Since I have to redo some of the intercooler piping...  I'm going to get rid of all of the silicone couplers except the ones at the intercooler itself.   I'll put in the Pegasus "Wiggins style" clamps that I've used elsewhere at the turbos and intermediary pipe unions so that I don't have silicone couplers everywhere.
5. Since the drivetrain is out, I'll go ahead and fit my hydraulic handbrake as well.

I expect this will put the Mustang out of commission until fall at the earliest, next spring at the soonest, but I'd rather just get this stuff done properly now vs. itching to tear it all apart again next winter to fix stuff that isn't that hard to do "now".

I also need to get this thing reliable, because I might be planning to tear the drivetrain out of the Aston in the near-ish future.

[digitalsolo]

Engine out.  Sensor replaced.

Clearancing on the crossmember is 99% done.   I'll finish that up tomorrow and start putting it all back together.  Hopefully a weekend or two and I'll have the car running again.

[Venom13132]

nice!  Get some photos for us!!

[digitalsolo]

I'll get some as it goes back together.   I was laying in metal dust welding/grinding for 3 hours.  I didn't want to come near touching my phone in that state.  LOL

On the update front, the crossmember mods are done, and engine/trans are back in.   Using lessons learned, I flipped the engine mount bolts around to stop them from being a total PITA to remove.   That allows me to add in spacers/replace poly donuts in the mounts if I need to in the future, without having to pull the turbos/exhaust manifolds.

I have some cycles this weekend again, so I'm hoping to get a bunch put back together.   I'll have it drivable by the of September, if nothing goes catastrophically wrong (again).