You know when things have finally quieted down,
and there's some time to reflect on how certain things have gone down?
You know the WTF moments?
Well that's happened alot lately - some big and some small.
Here's a mini-realization that happened while working on the green 40.
The backstory if you don't already know it...
(artsy photos by Luke pigpen Brown)
Our 1990 Lincoln was found at a tow yard for cheap.
$600 or so.
I had always wanted one of these but they were like $30K new.
The 1990 was the last year of the 302/5.0 engine with the AOD transmission,
perfect for our family car - luxury and mechanical simplicity.
I didn't know this but the reason the owner let it go to impound was every engine gasket leaked oil.
It ran great just liked to leave it's mark.
We moved from Ventura to San Diego a couple months after buying the old heap.
I thought it was going to be a temporary car to get back and forth through the transition stage,
then I could use the engine and transmission in a hot rod.
I didn't even fully register it thinking it was going to grenade on us,
piling on the red month temporaries as long as possible.
Before the smog check,
I decided to fix the oil leak which was basically the oil pan gasket.
The rubber used in the gasket material had dried up.
This was before the bitchin one piece silicone gaskets were standard.
It was only a 25 step process in the Haynes manual,
but it still took almost 2 weeks of off and on work.
Other things were cleaned or fixed up.
Dang this was one grease monkey of a job!
Unfortunately a small oil leak found it's way to annoy us rather quickly.
Everything would be fine until going uphill on the freeway,
then oil would drip out and go right onto the exhaust.
My thinking was that it was the rear upper rope seal on the main bearing cap.
A trickier job to fish out that rope seal with a sneaky pete or actually loosen the crankshaft.
This would mean pulling the engine again.
How did I miss that?
There was no way that engine was going to be removed again.
I jammed these oil diapers into the engine/tranny valley as a temporary fix.
The car somehow lasted 4 more years!
The body started disintegrating,
and it was time to let the old Lincoln go.
The engine was pulled and you know the story how it's going in the 40 coupe.
The only thing I needed to do was change out that rope seal.
I was all ready to get it on the engine stand and pop off the oil pan.
I looked in the manual and found out there was no rope seal in a windsor!
There is only a $4 one piece oil seal that wraps around the crank!
Holey Chit!
That means that instead of pulling the engine to drop the pan,
all I had to do was drop the transmission - easy job,
and pull the flexplate off.
A day or 2 job at the most.
If I researched 5 minutes on the internet even,
I would have found out that the rear main seals are notorious for leaking.
Using the screw method to remove the old seal,
the new one was replaced in a matter of minutes.
Guess I'm so used to the early flathead technology,
I didn't expect them to re-engineer that chitty old rope seal!
Doh...
TP
and there's some time to reflect on how certain things have gone down?
You know the WTF moments?
Well that's happened alot lately - some big and some small.
Here's a mini-realization that happened while working on the green 40.
The backstory if you don't already know it...
(artsy photos by Luke pigpen Brown)
 |
| 5.0 ford - 1990 lincoln town car - 2008 |
Our 1990 Lincoln was found at a tow yard for cheap.
$600 or so.
I had always wanted one of these but they were like $30K new.
The 1990 was the last year of the 302/5.0 engine with the AOD transmission,
perfect for our family car - luxury and mechanical simplicity.
I didn't know this but the reason the owner let it go to impound was every engine gasket leaked oil.
It ran great just liked to leave it's mark.
We moved from Ventura to San Diego a couple months after buying the old heap.
I thought it was going to be a temporary car to get back and forth through the transition stage,
then I could use the engine and transmission in a hot rod.
I didn't even fully register it thinking it was going to grenade on us,
piling on the red month temporaries as long as possible.
Before the smog check,
I decided to fix the oil leak which was basically the oil pan gasket.
The rubber used in the gasket material had dried up.
This was before the bitchin one piece silicone gaskets were standard.
It was only a 25 step process in the Haynes manual,
but it still took almost 2 weeks of off and on work.
Other things were cleaned or fixed up.
Dang this was one grease monkey of a job!
It was a 25 step process in the Haynes manual the other way too,
and I still am surprised it all got back together
 |
| 1990 lincoln town car |
Unfortunately a small oil leak found it's way to annoy us rather quickly.
Everything would be fine until going uphill on the freeway,
then oil would drip out and go right onto the exhaust.
My thinking was that it was the rear upper rope seal on the main bearing cap.
A trickier job to fish out that rope seal with a sneaky pete or actually loosen the crankshaft.
This would mean pulling the engine again.
How did I miss that?
There was no way that engine was going to be removed again.
I jammed these oil diapers into the engine/tranny valley as a temporary fix.
The car somehow lasted 4 more years!
The body started disintegrating,
and it was time to let the old Lincoln go.
The engine was pulled and you know the story how it's going in the 40 coupe.
 |
| 5.0 ford rear main seal |
The only thing I needed to do was change out that rope seal.
I was all ready to get it on the engine stand and pop off the oil pan.
I looked in the manual and found out there was no rope seal in a windsor!
 |
| removing rear main oil seal - 5.0 ford windsor 302 |
There is only a $4 one piece oil seal that wraps around the crank!
Holey Chit!
That means that instead of pulling the engine to drop the pan,
all I had to do was drop the transmission - easy job,
and pull the flexplate off.
A day or 2 job at the most.
 |
| removing rear main seal 302 ford windsor |
If I researched 5 minutes on the internet even,
I would have found out that the rear main seals are notorious for leaking.
 |
| hammering in new rear main oil seal - 5.0 ford windsor |
Using the screw method to remove the old seal,
the new one was replaced in a matter of minutes.
 |
| WTF |
Guess I'm so used to the early flathead technology,
I didn't expect them to re-engineer that chitty old rope seal!
Doh...
TP
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