You hear about all the items that are made in China and quality problems. The engine that I purchased had the damper replaced. The replacement damper was made in China, it was even stamped as such. The China damper was made with a split rubber, where as the Ford damper is a one piece affair. When the China damper was manufactured, the split rubber wasn't installed properly. One end of the rubber ended sticking up and to correct the problem, they tried pounding the rubber in place. I won't be purchasing any auto parts made in China if I can help it.


China damper on left, Ford damper on right. You can see in the top circle where the rubber isn't straight. In the bottom circle you can see where the end of the seals were forced down.


China marking. Close up photo of the damage where the end of the seal was pounded in place.


Seal not straight in China damper.


In the circle you can see where the seal is recessed and that the pounding on the other side didn't solve the problem.[extend] [extend] [extend]

Ford engines have a Thermactor "smog pump" system that reduces hydrocarbon and carbon monoxide content of of exhaust gases by allowing the combustion of unburned gases to continue after they leave the combustion chamber. The system uses a accessory belt driven pump that delivers secondary air to the exhaust system. The Thermactor pump does draw some horsepower, but dyno tests show that it is only about three hp.



If you are not using catalytic converter(s) as in the case of a kit car and the engine was originally came with it, then you will need to remove all the pieces and plug the air ports in the back of the cylinder head. This describes a trick to clean the holes and then plug them.

The air ports are location on the back of the engine highlighted with the red circles.



I bought the correct plugs for the head. These allow for bolts to be screwed into the plugs after they are installed. If you wanted to, you could use the correct size pipe plugs. Just be sure the use a proper sealant. I used the Ford plugs as they came coated with the sealant.



One of the problems with the holes is that the threads can be covered with crud.



To clean off the crud, I took an old plumbers pipe brush and cut off the handle. I can then mount it into a drill. The piece of flat steel was used to screw in the fitting.



I then insert the brush into the hold while slowly turning the drill. Using forward and reverse on the drill, I continued until the threads where clean.



I took the flat steel piece that I made and inserted it into the plug. I used pliers to turn the plug until it was seated in the hole.

This article is for those who want to use shorty headers for your Factory Five Racing engine.

I found that if you use brackets from a 5.0 F-150 Ford truck, that you can use shorty headers and have no clearance problems.

With this setup, you can use a 1994-1995 and possibly later Mustang A/C compressor.



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I got some 1996-2000 SN95 Mustang spindles to compare the suspension differences between them and the 1994-1995 SN95 Mustang spindles.

When I got the spindles, they were painted and I wanted them to look as stock as possible. First I wanted to clean off the old paint. When that was done, you can see that they didn't look like the spindles that came from the factory.




I then used a hint that I got from a wise old car builder. I used some self-etching primer and some Stainless Steel from Seymour Paints.




I finished up the paint with a coat of gloss clear paint from Eastwood Co. The finished product wasn't exact, but very close.

Tools: drill, 3/8" drill bit, 1/4" drill bit, center punch

If you plan to use one of the new Ford Racing 8.8" traction-lok rear axle assembly's ( M-4006-B355, M-4006-B373 or M-4006-C373 ) and use the 5-log front/rear super heavy-duty “COBRA” disc brake conversion kit( M-2300-K ) then one of the things that you will need to do is to drill locating holes for the body to axle hose bracket. Since the axle is a new assembly and for multiple configurations, the holes for the body to axle hose bracket are not drilled.

The body to axle hose bracket is item #34 in the M-2300-K kit. It was Ford part number E8ZZ-2282-A which has been superseded by part number F4ZZ-2282-B.



The location of the bracket can be difficult because of the bends and location of where the bracket has to fit. I have created a template to assist you in locating and drilling the required holes.



1. Download the following PDF file which contains the template. Template File

2. Print the PDF file.

3. Cut out the template.



4. Working from the bottom of the axle, mount the template in the following location.



5. Secure the template using tape.

6. Using a center punch, mark the locations of the two holes.

7. Drill the holes to the required sizes.

8. Mount the bracket. You may need to bend the locating tab to make it fit in it's hole.