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S550 The Albuquerque Stripper - Mustang Nosegrind 720 Kickflip Champion Build Thread Profile - S550 Mustangs

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PaddyPrix

If breakin' parts is cool, consider me Miles Davis
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San Diego
So with my tracking down of the inability to start with no codes thrown, I had pretty much replaced all of the fuel system components, so I'm definitely to blame for this in some fashion. I checked it before I loaded it up the night before, checked it all down after unloading it the morning of. I'll have to do an even better job putting stuff back together this time around, always something to take from a failure.

1625962543112.png

Lost the top nut holding it down, and looks like a nice lil 1/8" ish opening on the top. the rear fuel hardline that feeds it was also loose.

the fire from that likely caused the line feeding the rail to melt, and being oriented downward meant it was pouring straight onto the exhaust header.

1625962789443.png

right as I was finishing putting it out, I heard the vacuum actuator blow right around the same time as the heater hose burst off, and fired right at me and gave me a pretty sweet burn. much happier it was just hot water instead of fuel.

1625963223974.png

I'll get it up on my blocks tonight and take a better look at the situation, but all things considered, I escaped without bodily harm which was most important. I'm fortunate that many of the things damaged were on my to-do list anyhow. I'll be moving up to ST/TT1 next year, and now with much more room to operate, I can bypass/remove the evap core, kill that line, and cap it in the front. I was also considering changing out the Intake, so I'll be going with a Cobra Jet or perhaps porting the 2018 to get a little more upper rpm action.
 

PaddyPrix

If breakin' parts is cool, consider me Miles Davis
725
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Damn! How did you put it out? I've been looking at the onboard systems and now you got me thinking even more about them.
I had a 5# BC Dry Chemical extinguisher and fired it right at the open flame, which worked surprisingly well. I think I was just lucky to have gotten to it pretty quickly, although watching the video, I could have come off that much sooner. Not trying to overthink, but had I pulled over immediately, turned the car off, and sat in the car, how could things have gone? Guess we'll never know.

 

PaddyPrix

If breakin' parts is cool, consider me Miles Davis
725
1,081
Exp. Type
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San Diego
Is engine ok ? or will you also need a rebuild there ? This is scary video glad you are ok hope the car will survive as well.
I hope so, the engine dies out right as I hit it with the extinguisher which I hope is due to something like the fuel being cut, even though I then run around to it and turn the now dead engine off. I guess I can toss a scope in, and take a good look when I have the intake off, and see if I can get a hand crank in.

Some folks ask why I wear gloves and have a fire extinguisher in my car. It’s the difference between a repair and a full on carbeque.
Glad you got the fire out quickly.
Since I was going to get to the K-Member stuff, I guess it's not too much additional work to just drop it down a touch and roll it out too.
 

cholmes1

400lb Gorilla
350
216
Denver, CO
I had a 5# BC Dry Chemical extinguisher and fired it right at the open flame, which worked surprisingly well. I think I was just lucky to have gotten to it pretty quickly, although watching the video, I could have come off that much sooner. Not trying to overthink, but had I pulled over immediately, turned the car off, and sat in the car, how could things have gone? Guess we'll never know.

Very happy to hear/see you were not hurt. Scary stuff. Hopefully, all will go back together without too much having to be replaced
 

PaddyPrix

If breakin' parts is cool, consider me Miles Davis
725
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Thanks for the kind words everyone. The Albuquerque Stripper has had her fair share of ups and downs in her debut season, and while I saved the car from burning, unfortunately my wallet didn't survive the ordeal; Truly amazing as it wasn't even in the car with me. If you're a fan of irony, I metaphorically put out fires all weekend long, as work seemed to page me within 3-5 minues of every time I wheeled underneath the car, pulling me away for an hour here and there, and 2 days were over in what felt like 4 hours. I did throw a bunch of things away to make some more space on the sides of it so that I can extract the motor, and with the cherry picker, trying to plan out my next angle of attack, and something that I'll solicit expert advice on, since well, keeping up with tradition, I haven't done it, and have no real experience with.

Curious if I've got these steps in the right order --
  1. disconnect the electrical connectors from the PCM
  2. disconnect coolant hoses
  3. disconnect a/c lines (already deleted)
  4. disconnect heater hoses (one already melted off)
  5. disconnect fuel lines (one also already melted off, DOUBLE WORD SCORE)
  6. disconnect exhaust midpipe
  7. disconnect driveshaft
  8. disconnect shifter bracket
  9. disconnect steering rack bolt/pin
  10. remove wheels
  11. disconnect brake calipers (ziptie hang from body)
  12. disconnect struts, remove from strut tower
  13. reinstall wheels
  14. bolt cherry picker up to something solid like an exhaust manifold stud and maybe the alternator, and set the self-leveller
  15. raise car slightly and support with jack stands from the pinch welds closer to the front
  16. loosen K member bolts and trans support
  17. put wood or if possible trans jack under trans, continue loosening, and raising car from the sides with jacks and try wheeling engine/trans/k out and about
  18. (if necessary) remove front bumper, remove front crash beam
The last time I did an R+R, I was an alky and I believe in the previous millennium. My reason for wanting to wheel it out is that I can get some room and clean up the rest of the engine bay, and peel off whatever additional things may have melted, such as the rear plastic brace that is the inner wall of the battery box, which I don't believe to be structural.

I'd also look to tape or plate off the holes going into the cabin which started to smoke and annoy me, which were the former A/C holes, the stock airbox/sound tube, and my next victim, the heavy factory evaporator/heater core. I'll have to shave the edges of my dash off a touch, as I also had the cage installed around the dash, but I'd like to get the carpet/sound deadening off the back of that as well. When you have little to no driving talent, removing weight is your only real option.

Not sure if I'm yet ready to remove the whole front dash, although I have taken a look into the aftermarket and lightened steering shafts, and have friends ready and willing to help with the new beam running across to keep up the structural integrity, but I will also have a ton of the stock wiring likely just flopping all about instead of those fancy aftermarket ECU making things look all nice and clean. That, and I just can't trust the ASL App on the Amazon Fire HD, which freezes and locks up half the time, and while my track only car doesn't really need a speedometer, it's a nice to have when things go bad.

I could just do the traditional yank engine and trans, but I'm not sure if I can get the front end up high enough to get it and the trans out, especially with it being very front heavy, it might swing down and bust up something cool like the trans. plus, I'm concerned I'm going to do something stupid and bend the pressure plate forms or something. that, and I'd like to better check out the starter pump situation since it's somehow always coming loose.

I'll try to get the first prep steps down this week. I hope.
 
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PaddyPrix

If breakin' parts is cool, consider me Miles Davis
725
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For your proposed method of extracting the drivetrain, you don't have a lift do you? How would you get the car up high enough to wheel the drivetrain out without a lift?
I do not have a lift, just a cramped garage. I'm hoping that the larger 6 ton jackstands that have a max height of about 28" and my HF Daytona jack can get it high enough. If necessary, I'll probably remove the fenders, bumper, and crash support to roll it out that much easier. Although, thanks for bringing that up, because my acuity tends to falter after a long day, perhaps it'd be smarter to take the engine/trans out on its own, and then with that out, can drop the K-member afterwards, it's not like it weighs all that much.

Shock towers need to be unbolted.
Good call, and I had that in mind when I was removing the knuckles, but I'll edit that for clarity in case others are trying to play along with at home. Unless you mean a strut tower brace, which broke jerk GT's don't come with because Ford secretly hates each and every one of us :)
 
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73
122
Exp. Type
HPDE
Exp. Level
5-10 Years
Corona, Ca
I do not have a lift, just a cramped garage. I'm hoping that the larger 6 ton jackstands that have a max height of about 28" and my HF Daytona jack can get it high enough. If necessary, I'll probably remove the fenders, bumper, and crash support to roll it out that much easier. Although, thanks for bringing that up, because my acuity tends to falter after a long day, perhaps it'd be smarter to take the engine/trans out on its own, and then with that out, can drop the K-member afterwards, it's not like it weighs all that much.


Good call, and I had that in mind when I was removing the knuckles, but I'll edit that for clarity in case others are trying to play along with at home. Unless you mean a strut tower brace, which broke jerk GT's don't come with because Ford secretly hates each and every one of us :)
You are right, struts need to be unbolted from body!
 

PaddyPrix

If breakin' parts is cool, consider me Miles Davis
725
1,081
Exp. Type
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Under 3 Years
San Diego
So I'm about 1/3 of the way through, because I have neighbors that hate me and that doesn't work all that well with limited skill and even less ability.

I think I'm just about done in the engine bay, but noticed this being odd.

1627544712207.png

To those of you unfamiliar with stock s550 Mustangs (AND WHY SHOULD YOU) that's the lower half of the stock airbox, right above it is the air filter, the maf, and all those other engine thingies. Chatting with my buddy Hanno about it the other night, trying to figure out what that's worth. My thinking is that it doesn't show anything on a dyno, as we're not at speed, and it drawing in air from the engine bay isn't too bad. As we're at speed though, it losing some of that velocity as air would blow right through the lower pressure escape hole, and if not, it's going to suck up hot engine air instead of cooler ambient or slightly above ambient air. If it's bleeding air out left and right, then I guess that's the best option, because if not, it's sucking in 10-20 degree hotter air and helping aid the heat soak, which shouldn't be enough to change the air charge density too badly, but probably right around what a typical 3rd/4th dyno run would see with the heat soak, intake/CHT being 10-20 degrees higher than it was over the first run. I dunno, sounded smart at the time.

Disconnected the main electrical engine harness, the fuel lines, heater hoses, disconnected the radiator and its hoses, and even took the radiator out, and got to sit in the engine bay like a big shot. Made removing the intake manifold a little easier, and man, that extinguisher stuff got everywhere. Didn't help that the upper heater hose burst and helped it get into additional nooks and crannies.
1627543071596.png

Looking at the intake, this fella took the heat, and melted some of the harnesses on it, but if I can cleanly get that off, I think I could make some IMRC lockout.

1627543864100.png

had I led off with the lower intake manifold, you probably wouldn't have suspected anything even happened. #7 and #8 closest to it look just fine with no real signs of warping.

1627543986637.png

I ran out of shop towels, but I'll continue to clean some of that up as we get closer to the weekend. Hoping I can get time tomorrow night to get underneath it and do the exhaust, shifter, and start getting it up and out on the weekend.
 

PaddyPrix

If breakin' parts is cool, consider me Miles Davis
725
1,081
Exp. Type
Time Attack
Exp. Level
Under 3 Years
San Diego
A work in progress is better yours than mine....good fences make good neighbors.....all I got is bushes between me and next door..I guess that's enough............
Heh, depending on where you are in Fairfield County, you don't even know your neighbors. Sucks for Halloween, but great all the other days of the year.
 
I've been at the same house 37 yrs....I've seen neighbors come and go ...never had a bad one in all that tyme.....Halloween was a very special occasion when my Son was growing up...we walked for miles getting those tricks and treats..........those were the days.....................
 

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