Scratch Building a Coupe

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I did some more work on the Turbo manifold making a pad for a 2 barrel carburettor. Very tedious and time consuming work here. I milled off another 2 degrees as the carb pad was not level in static pos. Then I used a 4 barrel carb spacer from one of my Holley junk boxes. I had to machine , drill, counter sink and tap at 6 places to screw the spacer to the manifold. This now gives me a wide enough pad base to mount another carb adaptor that will allow me to go from 4 barrels to a 2 barrel carb All these parts from stuff i had. I spent most of the day doing this fussy work. But I did get all the holes drilled, and taped and they all line up good. I counter sunk the 1/4 inch by 20 thrds so the heads would not ruin the flat surface. I have it completed and it sets on the engine all dry fitted. I now have room for my brake master and other carb stuff. I still have to bolt everything down with gaskets and sealers etc. I also have to re-route the water that flows beneath the manifold to atomize the fuel. It originally came out of the manifold side and ran into an oil cooler. I will run it back to the radiator with a 5/8ts heater hose after I get the right nipple threaded in the exit hole. Ill try all this because I had the parts and no money to buy a used carb manifold for a 2.3. I have some photos....
 

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A few other minor notes I had to place the Carb in a different position than the stock one. It will not make a difference as the vacuum secondary will feed any of the 4 runners the way i milled it off. The throttle linkage is backwards so I will have to devise a bell crank to have it pull the linkage backwards to make it work. Plus it is on the outside of the engine close to the hood.I have room for all this plus a skimpy tunnel for my steering linkage it must fit beneath the manifold and the motor mounts. but I can make bearings to hold them all in line and placed where they have to be once all this other smaller stuff is located, Such as oil lines for my dual oil filter system. I also ordered a fuel pump for a 1975 Pinto engine that will back fit this engine. Then I have to do a little work on the electronic Distributor to get that going. When its all said and done Ill replace the electronic distributor with one that has points. I want something I can fix beside the road if I have a problem. I have a small list of things I must do before I crank this engine up such as Oil in transmission its empty. Prime the 2 Purolator oil filters and hoses for the dual oil filtration system. I have yet to make an exhaust box for the exhaust manifold. But I can start the engine without that for a minutes or so. The start up will just check out the ignition and fuel system before I place things permanently. like solenoids fuel lines. remember I have a home made gas tank, but i will use a jerry can the first initial start up just to check the systems. This engine was rebuilt completely and only has 24 K miles on it. My brother in law said it ran good but didn't have the kick of his older engine from another Merkur The lag was bad on the turbo. I will have lots of time to get it better after I get everything buttoned up and can move the car around on its own, I bought a hotter cam for this engine I will put it in after I figure out what else i need to get a little power from this engine. I figure this car will weigh less than the original Pinto car and I had 3 of them and was satisfied with the performance from each of them for their size and intended use. one automatic transmission and the other 2 were stick shifts. All of them could peg the speedo at 110 mph on a stretch. This car will have an overdrive with a 5 th gear which I didn't have in the Pintos It should be a nice ride cheap on gas and go the distance that's what I am hoping for. i can play around with different scenarios etc.Time will tell
 
I fooled around a little today I started a mount for the Alternator to keep the belt tension. i could not use the stock aluminium mount because it interferes with the frame and steering. All i need is a rod that is threaded to make it longer or shorter. The alternator is mounted rigid between 2 solid mounts on top. So my adjuster will be welded to the bolt on piece of steel in the photo. I drilled holes to line up with the holes on the engine. I will do some more tomorrow. I also started to modify the distributor a little just enough to by pass all the Computer nonsense wiring. Plus i fixed the oil dip stick which was broken. All little things to help towards starting the engine up.
 

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I hope it works okay i think it will when i get the proper distributor with the vacuum advance. I will get a Pinto point distributor when i am set. I finished my alternator bracket today. And took a few snaps of my Coupe so I have an uptodate photo of the Coupe as it is now with 95% of the sheet metal work done on the outside, except for the hood.
 

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More photos...
 

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Had to modify the tensioner it bound a little when all the way up. Now it is fixed for a 48 inch belt. Another thing out of the way.
 

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My fuel pump arrived I will install that when I get in that area again. I started to do some floor framing for my seat area and the transmission tunnel and console.. I think I have enough tubing to do the dash and everything inside that needs framing. I found that I can gain some more room in the back seat are by moving my shock mounts more vertical from where they are now.This operation gives me an inch or so more room to angle back the back rest on the seat frame maybe more and the work is nil so I will do this now before I cover them up. I have a few snaps
 
trying photos again
 

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I done more framing inside the seating area and dash/ console. I started a 4inch wide by 32.5 inches long dash top angled at 25 degrees away from the wind shield. I then connected 2 uprights from the tranny tunnel at a 13 degree angle going up to the new dash top. I will probably put gauges in this panel it is 8 inches wide by 18 inches tall. $$ permitting. The left and right of this console panel i will finish the dash with an 6 of 8 inches wide to connect to the steering post area and a similar piece on the passengers side, There will be room for goodies here also. I have some photos they are a pain to upload as my camera decided not to keep a memory of the date and time stamp for the photos. And all my programs want a stupid time stamp. So I had to go around the rules and down load the photos to my desk top then drag them onto this site.
 

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Did a little today I had to catch up on sheet metal pieces on the floor and firewall area so I can come forward with the tranny tunnel and console sheet metal.
 
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Small note here# I had to make the drivers side toe kick (asI call it) deeper because of my brake pedal travel didn't have enough room and i didn't want to do surgery on the pedal. I think it will be ok
 
A little more done today inside on the floors and tunnel. Slow going here in a cramped area.
 
photos..
 

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I nibbled away at the floor and tunnel i have it about finished, have some little things to do to it but I will move on and keep going with the sheet metal work until its gone. It all rusts pretty quick with all this high Humidity. Have some snaps
 

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Did a little bit more. i had to start the dash so I could get my steering centred and located beneath the dash.Plus I needed to cut out the dash metal now before the sheet got to small to get a dash piece all in one.. I was able to cut out a piece and bend it to where i needed it now I have to fabricate some locating tabs for some screws here and there.
 

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Note# In a few photos you will see defrost vents i hammered in the top edge of the dash facing the wind shield on the drivers and passengers sides.I added these just in case I decided to heat the inside I have ample room for a heater core etc we will see. in any case I have the defrost vents in place. I will run a 1,5 inch PVC pipe along the bottom of the dash and drill 1/4 inch holes where the defrost vents are to let the heat out and on the wind shield.
 

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