At about 95 mph and 4000 rpm, smooth as silk, I start to wonder if that driver’s side cam with that funky journal gets loose will it fly through the firewall like a missile coming for me, or just fly around under the hood and wreck my entire day? Next winter maybe new heads.
I think about the valves, and the valve springs, and seals, and retainers, and keepers. The cam and cam caps and the twenty-eight bolts that hold them down… did I torque each one to twenty two foot pounds? I think I did, all twenty-two bolts, right? Those weird cam sprocket bolts, ninety-two foot pounds and thirty degrees, what’s that about? Why not just one-hundred and twenty foot pounds?
That cam follower I only got in with a bigger pry bar. That made me a little queasy.
The timing must be right, did I get the timing chains right? What about the guides, and those weird tensioners? Fucking Carlos was so busy proving he was right about something, anything, everything, to Mark Baskerville and me I might have forgotten to torque them. Nah, I checked them about 25 times before I put the timing cover back on, I think, I’m pretty sure, but did I tighten those fourteen cover bolts? I hope that gasket is in right, it was kind of weird, and I hope I put that main seal in right. It was different than the original. Thanks Fel Pro, like I don’t have enough anxiety.
What about the spark plugs and those stupid three threads in the aluminum head? Fucking Mustang Forum guys, 14 foot pounds dry, Twenty-two foot pounds with never seize. Make up my mind! What about the one plug in the back on the passenger side. Why’d they angle that plug hole that way. Can you use a universal on a torque wrench?
What about the fuel lines and fuel rails and injectors. Did that one gas leak stop? Did that one leaky O-ring seal. I hope it’s not pumping 93 octane onto the hot head. That might me bad…
The coil packs must be ok, they’d not kill me anyway. The cold air intake, and the mass airflow sensor were good, right? Don’t want any unmetered air coming in. The valve covers and those funky grommets? I hope they don’t leak oil.
How the hell are you supposed to get that harmonic balancer bolt to one-hundred and thirty foot pounds and when the entire car starts to move forward at ninety, in gear with the brake on? That bolt is probably on good enough, right? I won’t come flying off, right? I should retighten that, and those fucking plugs this weekend.
Why the hell didn’t I replace the water pump? The whole top end and front of the engine was torn apart, dude, it was right there! Five fricken bolts! And why didn’t you replace the radiator, it was out, dumbass. Never again will I try to go cheap on a power steering pully tool. Three hours trying to put that damn thing back on, then two minutes with the right tool. Dumbass!
That new belt tensioner said it was from Ford, but it was awfully cheap. It hope it is from Ford. I didn’t see Motorcraft on it anywhere and what about those Amazon hoses? Yeah they are red, and look cool but will they blow two-hundred degree water all over my face one day? That would suck.
Is that crankshaft position sensor, hidden behind the AC compressor, leaking oil? Why didn’t I just gut all that AC crap. It’s a convertible, man. You’ve never used it.
Anyway, this is what I think about at ninty-five miles per hour and four thousand RPMs…
Maybe I should install a new radio, and let the music distract me, but that seems like a lot of work and I’d never hear that small block Ford rumble.
Like Neil Young said, “Long May You Run…”
