Who would of thought such a big ass car would have such a cramped engine bay.

"Luc - The Acadian Oppo" (luc5) 01/07/2015 at 21:56 • Filed to: None

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It looks like I can forget about headers. There is at most 3/8" between the stock manifolds and the motor mounts. It sucks because I was planning on getting full length headers and a custom exhaust right away since the stock exhaust is pretty rusty.

The car has a 8ft long hood but still next to no wiggle room inside the engine bay. I thought a car this big would have all the room in the world.

TheVancen- In Pursuit of a Greater Payday and Car Parts > Luc - The Acadian Oppo 01/07/2015 at 21:59

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Put any thought into those heads?

Luc - The Acadian Oppo > TheVancen- In Pursuit of a Greater Payday and Car Parts 01/07/2015 at 22:01

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yeah I emailed you back 2 days ago.

JGrabowMSt > Luc - The Acadian Oppo 01/07/2015 at 22:01

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Challenger probably had more space under the hood for the basic things, but the exhaust manifolds are just as far down.

Should re-paint the valve covers and get some new matching plug wires.

Really needs a detail though. I wouldn't change a thing about it. Such a beautiful boat.

dogisbadob > Luc - The Acadian Oppo 01/07/2015 at 22:03

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I'd like to see a pic of the entire engine bay! How much shit did they put in there? :o

Luc - The Acadian Oppo > JGrabowMSt 01/07/2015 at 22:04

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yeah It much needs a cleaning but it's been too damn cold to do anything with it. once it gets above freezing I'll go pressure wash the whole thing including the engine bay.

The challenger had MUCH more space to work on it.

Luc - The Acadian Oppo > dogisbadob 01/07/2015 at 22:05

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give me 2 mins I'll go snap one.

dogisbadob > Luc - The Acadian Oppo 01/07/2015 at 22:08

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Yay thanks!

TheVancen- In Pursuit of a Greater Payday and Car Parts > Luc - The Acadian Oppo 01/07/2015 at 22:08

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Ah durr.

crowmolly > Luc - The Acadian Oppo 01/07/2015 at 22:09

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What is it? 460 town car?

Luc - The Acadian Oppo > crowmolly 01/07/2015 at 22:11

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it's a 1979 400 continental

Jedidiah > Luc - The Acadian Oppo 01/07/2015 at 22:12

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My Oldsmobiles are not like that, but, then again, my interiors feel cramped sometimes.

Just space inefficiency that comes lack of design optimization I guess. CAD has really helped cars become more optimal.

Luc - The Acadian Oppo > dogisbadob 01/07/2015 at 22:16

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Luc - The Acadian Oppo > Jedidiah 01/07/2015 at 22:18

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When I bought the car I didn't even look for stuff like that. I just figured that I could put and long tube headers in there. Boy was I surprised when I actually went to have a look.

crowmolly > Luc - The Acadian Oppo 01/07/2015 at 22:21

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Maybe you can get a set of shortys in there.

Jedidiah > Luc - The Acadian Oppo 01/07/2015 at 22:22

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Given that most headers have to be designed for particular car platforms; I'd be shocked that you will find some that fit.

Dual 2.5" pipes and some glasspacks turned backwards or some power sticks will make it sound pretty good and open it up. I'd remove all the emissions control garbage if you don't have testing where you live.

Headers don't make much of a difference on the low comp motors of the 70s

Luc - The Acadian Oppo > Jedidiah 01/07/2015 at 22:27

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yeah I plan on removing all the emissions stuff. I want to be sure on what I'm doing with the exhaust since it all has to be replaced I want to do it only once.

I think I'm gonna do a 3" single rather than a dual 2.5".

"The vehicle must appear to be stock"

Luc - The Acadian Oppo > Jedidiah 01/07/2015 at 22:29

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I'm currently working on a deal to get some different heads that would bump my compression from 8.4:1 to 11:1 so it will be equivalent to a motor from the early 70's rather that the late 70's ~280-300hp once I'm done with it.

dogisbadob > Luc - The Acadian Oppo 01/07/2015 at 22:29

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eeeeeeeeeeeeeek that giant engine bay is packed!!!

WTF does all that shit even do? Gotta be grateful for all the modern systems that are much smaller and take up much less space.

I like the blue valve covers though!

And thank you for the photos.

Luc - The Acadian Oppo > dogisbadob 01/07/2015 at 22:31

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I don't know what half this shit does but I plan on getting rid of most of it. There is no room at all to work in there. It's completely ridiculous.

Jedidiah > Luc - The Acadian Oppo 01/07/2015 at 22:31

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So you still have inspection then? That's dumb for stuff as old as this.

Backwards glasspacks and duals will make it sound like the land-barge luxo-muscle look you were talking about the other day.

As long as it doesn't have a crossover pipe on the manifolds that needs to be cut off, you can probably run duals and get away with it by clamping in stock style mufflers for inspection.

Luc - The Acadian Oppo > Jedidiah 01/07/2015 at 22:35

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That was reference to monster garage. We have no inspection here. I drove the car out of a field and it's now insured and registered no inspection necessary. I can do pretty much what ever I want with it. But I prefer a larger single exhaust to a smaller dual.

Jedidiah > Luc - The Acadian Oppo 01/07/2015 at 22:36

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Are these aftermarket heads or stock style heads that are shaved?

I'm not terribly knowledgeable on ford motors, but getting that much compression from just heads seems a little extreme. I know olds just put a big dish on the pistons to lower the compression and shaving the heads wouldn't be that helpful. You can't shave the heads too much or the shape of the combustion chamber will change.

Jedidiah > Luc - The Acadian Oppo 01/07/2015 at 22:38

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It will sound like a truck if you run the big single, but it will sound like a muscle car if you run the duals ;)

Personally, I always run duals unless you have clearance issues with gas tanks and the like

Luc - The Acadian Oppo > Jedidiah 01/07/2015 at 22:43

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right now I have 76cc open chambered heads. see the combustion chamber? big round and open.

I'm working on a deal for some 351C-4V heads from a 1970 Ranchero GT. Those have a 62cc closed chambers. like this.

Reducing the combustion chamber raise the compression ratio. These also have much larger ports and valves.

Jedidiah > Luc - The Acadian Oppo 01/07/2015 at 22:47

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It should fit if you have a Cleveland; Those heads you are looking at are pretty kick ass; those intake valves are huge.

If its a windsor, you will need a aftermarket clevor style intake manifold or port match a boss 302 style intake to fit.

shop-teacher > Luc - The Acadian Oppo 01/07/2015 at 22:49

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Ford was pretty good about magically shrinking engine compartments. Ir's amazing how big those wheelhouses are!

Arch Duke Maxyenko, Shit Talk Extraordinaire > Luc - The Acadian Oppo 01/07/2015 at 22:56

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Get yourself a pair of shorties and maybe an EFI kit.

crowmolly > Luc - The Acadian Oppo 01/08/2015 at 09:40

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You won't gain 3 points of compression going from 62cc to 76cc, even with a steel shim head gasket.

cletus44 aka Clayton Seams > Luc - The Acadian Oppo 01/08/2015 at 14:17

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Thank emissions crap for all the clutter. Why don't you just swap in a 460 from any old F250? There's a reason nobody builds small block 400's for power...

With-a-G is back to not having anything written after his username > Luc - The Acadian Oppo 01/08/2015 at 19:14

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I would clean all the schmutz out of your cowl before replacing anything mechanical on that car.

Luc - The Acadian Oppo > With-a-G is back to not having anything written after his username 01/08/2015 at 22:15

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It's been -30 Celsius everyday since I got the car last Saturday so I haven't washed it yet. Don't worry I'll be cleaning it up once it warms up a bit.