I'm doing a rear disk brake mod in my '87 using the discontinued M-2300-C. I'm planning on selling it and since I had the kit a friend at work gave me free I decided to install it when I did my front brake job. Kind of a pain in the butt compared to older mustangs. Mix and match metric/standard, tighter spaces, etc. The next day I had one more double flare to make in one of the brake lines (had to install a standard thread tube nut) when I found my new flaring toolkits 3/16 adapter pin was broken off and nowhere to be found. Suspecting it may have come off inside the last line I reflared, I removed the line (fortunately a short line to the left front brake) lo and behold it was there. That may have caused a few problems, eh? The other night when I returned home from a parts run, I noticed my '71 f-100 390FE had a little steam venting through the overflow. I figured I'd check it out in the morning. This morning I checked the water level (low) and fan clutch (loose) and figured it must have been the 150 mile round trip I did the other day to pick up a 200 I6 a fellow was getting rid of. The truck always ran good except for an annoying little exhaust leak I intended to fix when I got a new exhaust system installed with flowmasters. A little something to compliment my 4bbl. swap. I filled it up and went to the store to get a new
3/16 adapter was told another store 10 miles away had a replacement otherwise I'd have to wait another day for them to order it. On the way to the next store I stopped at the parts store to buy a new thermostatic fan clutch and a 4 core radiator to replace my old leaky 3 core. I pick up my new adapter out of another kit they have drive home and park. When I parked in the driveway I hear a hissing, Suspecting it may be a large radiator leak I opened the hood to discover steam coming from the valva cover vent, Doh! I pulled the dipstick, it was covered in baby shiite brown. Double-Doh! I quickly pulled off the valve cover to find out where exactly it was leaking from, found more baby brown and it coming out of the lifter valley adjacent to #5 cylinder. so I'm thinking blown head gasket, or, gulp, cracked head. There was a couple of times recently I was merging onto the freeway and had to step on it so that probably's what caused it. Frortunatly I get the mustang done, bled, cleaned up and barring no leaks when I inspect it tomorrow (so far so good), I'll have transportation while I pull the 390 out of the p/u and rebuild it. I take a closer look at my flaring tool kit and discover it had another 3/16 adapter instead of a 5/16, arrrge. I need to pick up the new radiator in the morning for the truck to compliment my nicely freshened up 390 when it's done. Oh well, another project. :)- posted
19 years ago