tbone heller

Ford used to place 2 "coolant tabs" into the radiator of every new car coming down the assembly line to seal up those problem areas.

jrmotorsports55

Yeah you told me that a year ago when I have this problem, and I bought the bars leaks tablets, but thought it was fixed. Having a hard time using any of those stop leak products as I know what they can do with cooling passages/radiators. I'd rather fix it correctly. I'm gonna pull the lower head bolts one by one and reseal them, hopefully that fixes that. Going to pull the water pump, clean it up, and reassemble it with right stuff sealer, no gaskets. If there are any leaks after this round, I'll try the tablets. Just need it to warm up a bit, single digits out and I do not want to be working out in the garage when it's that cold out.

tbone heller

No worse for the system than a bunch of silicone sealer floating around in it.

jrmotorsports55

True, never thought about it that way. I'll pull and reseal the head bolts and water pump, and two of those tablets very well might go in at the same time as I do not want to have to do this again any time soon. Only plus is that I planned on pulling the radiator anyway to add some shrouding/adjust the fan setup.

jrmotorsports55

Sick of this extreme cold keeping me from working in the garage. Just ordered a radiant gas heater so I can keep working. Should be a fun install next weekend.

jrmotorsports55

Decided to return the radiant heater, read about too many moisture issues with ventless gas heaters. Looking into installing 7500 W electric unit.

Went out yesterday and drained cooling system and pulled the rad and fans. Planning on resealing the head bolts today. Think I'm going to leave the water pump along, as I looked and it is dry again, so any seeping is very minor and only extreme cold. I'll put the 2 tablets in once all is back together and sealed up. Going to trim and relocate one of my fans all of the way up as the original mounting left roughly 4 inches of cooling rows that did not have fan coverage for clearance issues. Trimming the fan shroud will let me move it up and cover all rows to help with temps. Also ordered CX Racing oil cooler/remote mount setup that should be here today. That will hopefully help with oil temps that were creeping up on hot days. More to come.

jrmotorsports55

Forgot to post update, I pulled the head bolts on the pass side, all pretty much sealant-less. Must have been sleeping that day of the rebuild. Resealed and retorqued all lower bolts one at a time in the correct torque order. Trimmed the fan and just need to pick up mount straps to reinstall it, then can put the cooling system back together.

jrmotorsports55

Replaced both header gaskets with new Ford Racing gaskets, reinstalled and re-torqued both headers. Cooling system back in and re-filled. Going to try to do a few other small things, and get the x pipe reinstalled then fire her back up and check for leaks. Also shortened the power steering feed hose that I had not gotten around to shortening yet.

jrmotorsports55

Quick update. Exhaust install complete. Both new FM sway bars with Improved Touring end links in (also installed RB blocks and bolts in front mounts to strengthen them up). Made bracket to move fuel filter a few inches away from exhaust and will install that today. Still have slight coolant leak, not as bad as it was, but leaved a few drops on floor. Thinking of draining/flushing, then using KW Block sealant or Iron Tite. Really don't want to pull heads and put in new gaskets, and no sign of coolant in oil or chambers, just slight seepage between head and block. Really frustrating as I checked both with straight edge and they were within spec. The to-do list is getting shorter, but still a dozen or so items to sort out before driving it. Next big hit is cold idle issue, as it won't idle when cold. Once up to temp, it fine. Going to reset ECU, reset idle/TPS, and see what happens. Something is screwing with the IAC. Could be vacuum leak or sensor, need to go through process of elimination. The joy of junkyard engines.

tbone heller

It will probably seal up once you start driving it. Mine has developed a slight weep after sitting for almost a year. Guess I should drive mine, too.

jrmotorsports55

jrmotorsports55

jrmotorsports55

Not much to update as I did not get much time with the car this weekend. Pulled back intake bolt and cleaned-re-sealed it. Hopefully that cures that coolant leak. Also tightened all header bolts. That's it, not very productive. More to come.

jrmotorsports55

Got out for a bit yesterday. Put two self tapping screws through the upper core support in to the front top lip of the radiator as a safety measure to make sure it does not move at all since it is so close to the water pump pulley. Good and solid in place now. Shortened the lower hose a bit so it is no longer rubbing the sway bar. Refilled coolant and fired it up. No fluid leaks so far. Also seemed to idle better after a minute of running since I pulled the battery cable and let it sit a week (been having cold start idle problems). Hoping the ECU just needed to be reset/relearn. I am getting a lot of strong exhaust fumes in the engine bay coming up from the headers, so something is not sealing right, not sure if it is the flange or maybe a pinhole in a weld. May have to spray the x pipe with primer and see if anything shows up.

jrmotorsports55

Nothing much to update as I have had stuff to do on other cars. I put the wheels back on the Miata and put it back on the ground to let the suspension settle. No signs of any leaks under the car, so I think those issues may be resolved. Next on list is to get the tach calibrated, work on the idle and any ECU codes that may be present, pull of the hood and trim it/install the vent kit I got/install the hood lift struts, and chase down any exhaust leaks. Also have to pull the PS pump and re-seal it as I noticed it is starting to seep at the back plate (only has 155,000 miles on it, not surprised, just did the same thing with my STI over the weekend).

jrmotorsports55

Ran it yesterday, cold idle issue still there after adjusting TPS/timing/idle. Went ahead and ordered idle plate from Ford which seems to be the go-to route to fix these issued when ppl with heads/cam have idle problems as the stock IAC can't keep up. Hoping that resolves the issue. Also have to tweak the driver side tailpipe a bit as it is too close to the rear ladder brace and bangs ever so slightly.

One day this thing will be done.

jrmotorsports55

Cut and adjusted the left tailpipe yesterday, much better clearance to that brace (and I like the tip location in the bumper better, was a little low and to the left before). Also shimmed down the ladder brace in the back a bit to add a little extra clearance where the pipes go between it and the rear housing.

Ford5.0

I used one of those idle plates and am happy with the results. I was having issues with not being able to get the TPS voltage low enough at idle. Now with the throttle plate basically closed and the idle being adjusted with the plate, everything is good. The only downside I noticed is at idle there is a noticeable noise that almost sounds like a carbureted engine running without an air filter. The noise is actually coming from my air filter so I'm assuming that its the air running through the idle plate that's causing it.

jrmotorsports55

Thanks. Seems the idle issues are very common with H/C/I cars, and this seems to be the way to go when it is not resolved with adjusting everything already on the car. I have my TPS voltage set in the range, and once the car warms up, it is fine. Just won't idle cold, lots of surging/stalling.

tbone heller

I had one of those idle plate things on my car. It was the first thing that the turner dude took off of the car before doing a custom tune.

jrmotorsports55

Yeah, it's a total Band-Aid fix, but I don't plan on getting a custom tune any time soon, so it appears the only option to get this thing running correctly for the time being.

Update on conversion progress, installed the FM hood strut kit and removed the prop rod since there is no where for it to fold to with the new engine/radiator setup. I should get the idle plate today via UPS, so hoping to install that tomorrow and praying that the idle issues will be resolved and I can move on to the next item on my list. Also picked up the power steering re-seal kit from AZ, so I can pull the pump and rebuild it now.

jrmotorsports55

Well, I started the car yesterday, no change when it's cold. Time to start going through the cold start system and check the involved sensors. Did key on engine off code pull, only code is 67 for clutch switch. Engine was pulled from a junkyard, so could be air temp or coolant temp sensor as they were not replaced and are part of that system. Fun times. Once it reaches a certain temp, it's like a switch is flipped and it's fine, so it's definitely related to the cold start system.

jrmotorsports55

So I messed with it some yesterday. The car still has idle issues and is running really rich all of the time. I was figuring the exhaust smelled since the cats are so small, but am now thinking it is a tune issue which would also cause the idle problems (I have not driven it yet to see if it is loading up or not). I have 24 lb injectors and BBK 24 lb MAS. Found a used Pro M for 24 lb injectors and bought that hoping that might be my problem. We'll see.

jrmotorsports55

Been travelling a lot of work, and finally got some garage time yesterday. Pulled the upper intake and re-torqued the lower, zip tied all vacuum lines, replaced the BAP sensor that was on the firewall behind the upper, and replaced the BBK MAF with a Pro M MAF. Fired it up, idle was wonky, but not running as rich as it has been. got it warmed up[ and reset the idle per BBK instructions after removing the idle plate I installed previously. Have to try to start it again this coming weekend when I am back in town and see if it idles cold. Fingers crossed, as it was running much better once warmed up. If not, next on list is the air temp sensor as that impacts cold start running (one of the last few sensors on my list to replace).

jrmotorsports55

So, for the first time in over 3 years, she left my garage yesterday for a much needed bath. Still not running right, so I have some more research and testing to do for the EFI. I pulled the codes, and the only stored code I have is the clutch switch. Because this code exists, I can't pull the running codes. The idle is pretty crappy and when I was backing out/pulling in to my garage, the power was really surging (was cold). I'm pretty sure it is all cold start mode related. I have a TFS Stg 2 cam, so it is lopey, but I think it is a sensor. Traveling again this week, so I'll be doing some research and putting together a checklist of things to replace/test/check.