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Originally Posted by hardfordcore
Hi JC,
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Hey HFC,
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I was lucky and saved the threads on the #5 flange this time. I have fought this battle on other vehicles and lost once on the #2 cylinder of my F100 with Heddman headers. A nut and bolt reside there now holding the header with Mr.Gasket soft copper gaskets.
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I've said this before: THAT upper bolt hole is a "design flaw". Probably the worst of but a few on the FE engine.
If the engineers had just made it a bored hole, and had originally put a bolt and nut there, they would have saved a bundle on machining costs and made it to where if you broke a bolt taking the manifold off, you'd just have to get a new bolt and nut and it would be no big deal. You'd think that "The Better Idea Folks" would have done THAT. "BUT Newooooooooooooooo!" (John Belushi)
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I am still deciding on what headers to use on the Galaxie, probably Sanderson or a set of 65 Ford FE cast iron shorties if they turn up. On the early Ford starters that engage the ring gear from the rear and are so darn heavy, I have a 57 Tbird 312 Yblock which the previous owner had starting problems with and wore some of the teeth on the ring gear on the back side. Sounded horrific when the starter turned. I used the PowerMaster for that and now the drive engages from the front and it is quiet. To get at the torque converter for ring gear replacement on the Tbird means taking out the engine. Can't get the trans out without removing both the engine and the trans at once. Saved a huge amount of work and cost. BTW, one of these mini starters brands has a mounting boss that is rotatable in order to move the bendix away from the block on certain applications. Mark
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I'm constantly amazed at the range of "fixes", up with which we "Galaxie Enthusiasts" are able to come. Some have come to be so standard that they can almost be considered "stock". But some of them are so ingenious (like having a water bed for a convertible top) that I sometimes just have to go "WOW!" when I finally "grok" what has been done. And then sometimes... The solution is just EXQUISITE. Like finding that special "G" (for Galaxie) spot, and it just make you feel GOOD all over.
I don't know of anything I do that gives me more satisfaction than figuring out how to do something to "git er done".
I'll give you an example that I've got pending right now. You know the little rubber boot that channels fresh air into the Heater/Defroster Unit from the louvers in front of the windshield? Well, in order to install that you have to take out the Glove Box Liner. But even then, you can't get that little accordion pleated boot to stay on the BACK of the flange on the H/D Unit when you try to pull it over the Front of the flange.
Well, I've finally figured out HOW to do that.
I'm going to have to remove the H/D Unit again, and drill three holes: One in back and two on the passenger side of the flange on which the accordion pleated boot fits, and then thread three metal screws just long enough to stick out the other side through those holes from the inside of the flange. That way there will be three little pointy pieces sticking through the outer side of the flange so that when the boot is pulled over the flange from the back, it won't be able to slip off when one pulls the boot over the front of the flange!
It's so simple that I don't know WHY I didn't think of it before I took all the books out of my library to hold the H/D Unit in place so that I could put the bolts on from the engine side of the firewall.
Ingenuity seems to have a way of finding its way into what we're doing. And the combined knowledge and experience evinced here at FMF has so far been equal to the task of keeping these old Gals standing tall, and going strong.
I suspect that every marqe has this kind of thing, but I don't
know that THAT is true, because I can't see me doing what I do with Ms. American with the 1981 Z28 Camaro that the company for which I was working gave me as a bonus. That CPOS wasn't worth scrapping when it was NEW!
Anyway, temps are back up into the century zone here for the foreseeable future. So if you'll hang in there, I'll hang in here.
JC
