Well the time is her to pull the gal's heart and confirm what happened within. Once we will have the motor a part we will also finalize the direction of this project. A few of the items that we have already been decided upon are head work aka porting and polishing, full blue printing of the engine, an alternate long tube header exhaust system.
Here the clamshell is being removed as we begin the process. [ View Pictures ]
Now during this project there are several personal touch items that we will also be tending to. In this case the nose of the gal had a clear bra system installed when she was new however as the result of a warranty issue with the bonnet it was replaced as such the clear bra material needed to be reinstalled.
Here the clear bra is being installed on the gal's bonnet. [ View Pictures ]
Well the time is here; we are now undertaking the process of removing the transaxle and the gal's heart. We discussed and debated back and forth as to whether remove the assembly (the gal's heart and transaxle) as a single unit and in the end because it needs to be separated we felt that it will be easier separate and then remove two separate pieces. At this time we have the transaxle ready to be lifted out; everything is disconnected, all of the bolts removed, and everything tied back out of the way; all that we await are the OEM lift tools. Certainly we could make do with that which we have in the facility however for both the ease and the assurance that we have no issues during the process we elected to take this direction.
Here is the process of preparing the transaxle to be removed. Once everything was carefully masked off so no paint damage could occur the gal's rear screen was removed, the Penske reservoirs were removed and wrapped and tied to the side, the half shafts were disconnected from the transaxle, the back half of the exhaust was removed, the shifter cables were disconnected (a note to all the balls on which they are secured were dry; meaning lacking lubrication), the emergency brakes cables were disconnected (now these are a bit of a PITA), the starter wiring harness was disconnected and moved out of the way, the clutch slave cylinder's fluid line was disconnected and caped, and the 10 primary bolts that secure the transaxle to the gal's heart were removed. [ View Pictures ]
Now everything will inspected and those items found to be in question will be replaced with new and the remainder will be bagged and tagged so that during reassembly the process is akin to a well designed puzzle.
Now that we received several of the specialty tools as specified by Ford we will be removing the transaxle followed soon thereafter by her heart. The process is more mechanical when compared to difficult with the most significant issue in my opinion being the care taken during the process.
Here the transaxle has been separated from the gal's heart. It is soon after this point that we secure a strap to the bell housing because we need to both rotate the assembly and raise the bell housing so as to maintain sufficient clearances during the removal process. [ View Pictures ]
Here we have removed the transaxle in the manner described above. [ View Pictures ]
Here the drive train bay is now open and begging to have her heart removed next. [ View Pictures ]
Now we are in the process of removing the gal's heart. We are removing the polished Whipple supercharger so as to insure that no secondary damage occurs and then will methodically work through the process until her heart is out.
Here the Whipple supercharger has been removed and the removal process is well underway. [ View Pictures ]
Here have prepared all of the surface areas so as to protect them from any damage during the removal process. We have also removed the rear sway bar; during this process we had to remove the rear Penske shocks so that the sway bar could be snaked out. We have disconnected the fuel line as well as all hoses and wring as were accessible from the top side and will now be disconnecting the primary wiring harness from the PCM and then attaching the lifting device as we proceed forward with the final stages of this process. [ View Pictures ]
We have tended to the engine wiring harness by disconnecting it from the PCM, the secondary control modules, and grounds.
Here the gal's heart is finally ready for the lifting hardware. Once we have it suspended we will confirm which, if any of the secondary items have to be removed for proper clearance. Our goal is to remove the engine as a fully intact assembly if possible. [ View Pictures ]
Now we will be tending to the final details on the underside of the gal's heart and then removing it so that we can confirm what happened and then begin the ultimate GT massage therapy. Our original goal was to remove the heart with as few secondary pieces removed as possible however we ran into a slight delay waiting for a key piece of the lifting hardware as such we elected to disconnect and remove the dry sump tank and the exhaust manifolds knowing that it would afford a bit more clearance during the removal process. In the end we needed to remove the intake manifold so as to insure that no secondary damage occurred to the shifter cables because they are run in-between the intake manifold and the block, we also needed to remove the A/C compressor and the oil filter adapter from the block because the OEM lift bracket mounts where the oil filter housing is located and the primary coolant recovery tank for a bit more clearance. However we could have left the exhaust manifolds and the dry sump system intact because the engine simply needed to be moved back only slightly and then lifted straight up and then out rather than migrated through the rear shock uprights.
Here we have removed the interior bulkhead access panel so that we could disconnect the intercooler hoses from the intake manifold and disconnect the strap that retains the shifter cables. [ View Pictures ]
Here we have removed all of the OEM urethane sealing material (what a mess) so that during the course of the project none finds its way onto interior surfaces such as the seats. [ View Pictures ]
Here the clutch is being removed per Ford's instructions however in retrospect it would have been easier to leave it in place because during the removal process the engine became nose heavy as such we had to use a strap to level it. [ View Pictures ]
Here the A/C compressor line manifold has been removed and sealed to insure that no debris finds its way into the system. We use a similar method with all of the lines that were disconnected on other systems such as the power steering, clutch slave cylinder, and dry sump. [ View Pictures ]
Here are the secondary systems that were removed. They were cleaned and inspected and then bagged and tagged so as to make the reassembly process painless. [ View Pictures ]
Here the gal's heart is out. During this process we used a significant amount of protective tape and other insulating materials such as work blankets thus insuring that no secondary damage was caused during this process. [ View Pictures ]
Here most of the protective wraps have been removed and the area inspected to confirm that no damage was caused. Now we will thoroughly clean the entire area and do any secondary detailing found to be needed prior to installing her heart so that once completed it will appear as if she was never touched. [ View Pictures ]
For your information; the actual process of removing the gal's heart was not difficult however it is a process best approached methodically and with a great patients because it would be easy to cause secondary damage and even more important; it would be easy for someone to get hurt because of the manner in which it is removed.
Now that the gal's heart has been removed and securely mounted to the engine stand the methodical process of disassembling and inspecting will begin.
Here the gal's heart remains ready to be massaged over the next few days. During this process we will carefully clean and inspect each component and then bag and tag the items deemed able to be reused and order replacements for those that do not. In order to place the engine on the stand we had to remove the rear oil slinger and the seal retaining plate because once the assembly was mounted on the stand access to these items is limited at best and they need to be removed in order to remove the crank. [ View Pictures ]
We are now ready to disassemble the gal's heart and see what is going on within. We know at this point that number 8 cylinder is far from happy however the root cause is yet to be determined.
Here the gal's heart is being made ready to be disassembled. We mask all of the pulleys during this process so as to insure that none of them become damaged or scratched. [ View Pictures ]
Here is the process of disassembling the front and top portion of the engine. We will be removing the heads at this time and then we will roll it over and begin the process of pushing pistons out of the block. Now during this process the only difficult encountered was the removing of the harmonic balancer crank bolt; it took time...heat...time...heat...time...heat...and an impact driver and nearly an hour later it finally broke loose. Once the bolt was out the harmonic balancer with the assistance of the OEM puller came off very easy. [ View Pictures ]
Here is the long block after the front and the heads were removed. Mechanically everything looked fine with the exception of number 8 cylinder. [ View Pictures ]
Here is everything that we removed already inspected and then tagged and bagged thus insuring that when the time to reassemble her heart comes it will go smoothly and all of the hardware will be easy to find. [ View Pictures ]
Here is what we found with number 8 cylinder. She lost a piston during which a piece of the upper ring became lodged under a valve. At this moment one can only speculate however there are several interesting things that we found with one being the significant amount of rust in the cylinder. [ View Pictures ]
Here the long block has been wrapped up until we begin the process of disassembling the remaining pieces. [ View Pictures ]
It has taken a little bit of time to allow a few folks to share their opinion as to what happened with this gal's heart; it was during this process that we wanted to leave it assembled so they could consider the possibilities based on the actual conditions as found once her head was removed. Now that this has been completed we will be disassembling the remainder of the gal's heart so we can proceed with various stages of pressure testing and machine work.
Here is the inside of the engine's dry sump oil pan. [ View Pictures ]
Here you can see the crank's oil baffle; this keeps the oil from coming in contact with the spinning crank which would cause oil foaming as well as rob the engine of horsepower. [ View Pictures ]
Here we are finally able to begin removing the piston and rod assemblies. [ View Pictures ]
Here the first piston and rod assembly has been removed. There is no doubt that she was not happy however everything below the top ring land appeared fine; no collapsed piston or sticking rings. [ View Pictures ]
Here all of the pistons have been removed as such we are now able to remove her swinging arm aka crank. [ View Pictures ]
Here the crank has been removed and the main caps set back into their respective position as they will need to be torque into position during the various machining operations. If you look closely at the lowest portion of the cylinder bore you can see the significant relief cut in the block required for the gal's very amble "H" bean rods to clear as she is spinning her heart out. [ View Pictures ]
Now that her heart has been fully disassembled we found that the remaining 7 cylinders appeared perfect and then as we inspected both the rod and main bearing they appear perfect too. Next we will be pressure testing the block and heads because we did find that water had entered cylinder number 8 and in addition we will also be flow testing the injectors to confirm that we had no other contributing factors that caused the final outcome. Now while the block is being massaged the heads are going to be flowed and then based on the results a final direction will be determined.
When the gal's heart out being inspected and massaged we continue to move forward tending to the numerous personal touch tweaks. At this time we will be replacing a few pieces of the clear bra material that was installed at an earlier time that had begun to show wear and tear as the direct result of the time that this gal spends on the race track which is exactly what it is intended to do. We will also be installing the OEM appearing and operating 30 PSI (versus 15 PSI) vacuum and boost gauge that was created by Michael aka FreeFlyer and also Kip's very cool carbon fiber/leather center console cubby.
Here the final stages of the clear bra replacement is underway. Both the material on both rockers and that which was behind the rear wheels was replaced. [ View Pictures ]
Here the OEM gauge cluster is being removed so that we can install the new vacuum/boost gauge. During this process we use a large quantity of tape and other protective materials to insure that so damage is caused to any of the surfaces. [ View Pictures ]
Here is the new vacuum/boost gauge that appears and operates as OEM. It is a direct fit within the OEM gauge cluster and then a custom plug and play wiring harness is used during the integration process so that none of the OEM wiring needs to be altered. Once in place it will receive a signal from a standalone 3bar MAP sensor that will be mounted on a custom polished billet aluminum bracket secured to the supercharger. [ View Pictures ]
Here the OEM gauge panel has been installed with the new OEM appearing vacuum/boost gauge in place. All that remains is the installation of the small Torx screws that secure the panel into position. [ View Pictures ]
Here is the climate control switch assemble being repaired. We noticed that when we removed the OEM center console that something was rattling around within. Upon closer inspection we found that the large dial's rotating limiter/standoff had come loose and was the culprit causing the rattle. When we asked the gal's owner as to whether he ever noticed a noise he said yes however he said that as the exhaust got louder and louder he noticed is less and less. [ View Pictures ]
Here are preparing the OEM magnesium center console so that we can integrate Kip's very cool carbon fiber/leather cubby. Initially we outline the area of the material that we will be removing and then we very carefully and with liberal amounts of tape and other protective materials cover every portion of the center console except for the actual piece to be cut out. We do this so as to insure that no damage is caused to the center console during the integration process. Then in the case of this particular OEM center console there is a signature from Carol Shelby on it which likely cannot be replaced. Once completely covered with protective materials we then drill 4 corner holes and then begin the process of cutting the panel out with (as can be seen) a cut-off wheel. The process is not difficult however the risk of damage is high if one does not fully protect the center console. I suspect that we spend more time wrapping and unwrapping the OEM console when compared to the actual time that it takes to cut the panel out. [ View Pictures ]
Here the very cool carbon fiber/leather center console cubby has been completely integrated. Well is it worth all of the effort involved; in our opinion it is truly one of the nicest personal touch tweaks that can be completed on the interior of these gals. [ View Pictures ]
Here we have removed the OEM Macintosh stereo head unit so that we could get access to the audio inputs that are a part of the system as furnished by Ford so that in this case an IPod can be used without some sort of secondary device. The process to remove the OEM stereo head unit is not difficult with the proper tools. It takes a careful eye and lots of tape when first removing the side trim pieces and then a methodical and patient approach is needed so as not to cause any secondary damage; otherwise it is a simple task. [ View Pictures ]
Early in this gal's life her owner opted to remove the bulbous OEM Macintosh subwoofer that was located in-between the seats. During that time he elected to simple remove the subwoofer speaker all together and simply relocate the OEM amplifier behind the passenger seat. Well now that she is with us he asked that we integrate Shadowman's custom subwoofer enclosure so as to bring the system back to full operation. Because of the earlier relocation process we will initially have to return the OEM wiring harness back to its original condition because whomever did the earlier conversion cut and spliced many wires which is not something that we advocate; in fact the custom subwoofer relocation system as designed by Shadowman does not require any of the OEM wiring harness to be cut or altered.
Here is the modified OEM harness that we will be returning to its original condition as we move forward with the subwoofer relocation process. [ View Pictures ]
Now we will be completing the hardware integration process of Shadowman's subwoofer relocation system and also integrating an iPod cable to the OEM Macintosh head unit.
Here the custom aluminum panel for the driver's side was drilled and pre-fit prior to be upholstered and then mounting the OEM Macintosh Amp was completed. We will be installing this as an assembly that requires no modifications to the interior of the gal because we will be securing the panel with 2 OEM Torx screws that thread into 2 OEM installed Nutsert's at the base of the bulkhead which means that should one ever want to return her back to her true OEM condition it can be accomplished quickly and easily. [ View Pictures ]
Here the custom aluminum panel has been pre-fit with all holes drilled and the upholstery installed. This finished panel will be installed on the passenger side and then once in place Shadowman's custom subwoofer enclosure will be set into position and then secured using two 10mm bolts that will go through the subwoofer enclose and the custom panel into 2 OEM bulkhead Nutsert's so there will be no interior modifications required during this conversion process. [ View Pictures ]
Here is what the driver's side appears as in OEM trim; meaning before the conversion has been initiated. [ View Pictures ]
Here is the driver's side now that the conversion has been completed. The seat will slide as recline as OEM with no interference caused from the AMP's new location. [ View Pictures ]
Here is what the passenger side appears as in OEM trim; meaning what it appears like prior to Shadowman's subwoofer enclosure being installed. [ View Pictures ]
Here is the passenger side as the integration of Shadowman's subwoofer enclosure is completed. Once in place the seat will slide and recline as OEM. [ View Pictures ]
Shadowman's subwoofer relocation system not only looks better but also brings the Macintosh stereo system alive and is able to be completed with "NO" modifications to the gal. Now instead of having the subwoofer positioned at or new your ear residing in-between the 2 occupants it is discretely located as it should be and operates as a subwoofer is intended too. Now that this has been completed it is time to install the iPod interface cable so that the maximum benefit can be derived from this system.
Here is the iPod interface cable as received from Mac World. Being bright white it appears a bit to generic for us as such we will encase the cable with OEM black mesh as used throughout the gal so that once in place it will appear as if there as an intended option from day one. [ View Pictures ]
Here we have encased the iPod interface cable with the black OEM mesh and are now ready to integrate it into the gal's audio system. [ View Pictures ]
Here were are routing the interface cable. Even with the OEM Macintosh head unit removed there is still a very limited area to work in and the only open channel that will allow this cable to be successfully routed out near the passenger foot well is not much larger than the mini din end of the interface cable as such a bit of patience is required. [ View Pictures ]
Here the iPod interface cable's integration has been completed and the OEM Macintosh head unit has been reinstalled along with the secondary trim panels. [ View Pictures ]
Now we are able to reinstall the OEM magnesium center console with Kip's very cool carbon fiber/leather cubby as it was installed earlier in this project however we are not able to connect the OEM wiring harness to the Amp as of yet because after evaluating the previously modified wiring harness we deemed it necessary to replace the Molex connects and pins so that the results when completed will appear as if it was never tampered with. These pieces are in the proverbial pipeline and once received we will be able to complete the final stage of the interior transformation.
Here we have installed the OEM magnesium center console with Kip's cool carbon fiber/leather cubby. Since we still have to install the gal's heart we will be leaving the bulkhead access panel removed for ease of access to miscellaneous hoses and brackets during the installation process. We have also left the trim and the rubber boot around the e-brake loose as we will have to adjust the cables once everything is back in place.
Here the OEM magnesium center console has been installed and you can see that the cubby appears as if OEM. When closed it appears just as the OEM armrest; it is full leather wrapped and also has a bit of padding making it even more comfortable. Then once it is opened the interior has been fully lined and the carbon fiber perimeter becomes visible and matches nicely with the OEM carbon fiber seat backs and sides. [ View Pictures ]
Well we received the new Molex connectors and terminal as such it is time to complete the interior wiring of this gal. We are returning the wiring harness back to OEM standards because another made less than stellar modifications.
Here is the primary connector for the OEM stereo Amp as it was modified by another. We have since corrected the harness and now will be installing all new Molex terminals and connector. [ View Pictures ]
Here is the harness with all new Molex terminals installed. [ View Pictures ]
Here is the OEM Amp power connector as it was modified by another. We have since corrected this portion of the OEM wiring harness and will be installing new Molex terminals and connector. [ View Pictures ]
Here is the harness with the new Molex terminals and connector installed. [ View Pictures ]
Here the harness is ready for final assembly. [ View Pictures ]
The returning of the harness back to OEM specifications has been completed and now we can integrate the harness into the OEM amp. [ View Pictures ]
Here the OEM AMP and the wiring harness have been successfully and properly mated. [ View Pictures ]
Now we have completed everything on the interior of this gal except for the bulkhead closure panel and the leather trim that conceals it however these items will remain off until her heart is back in place.

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