Modifying Header / Steady Rest Supports

I was never really satisfied with the way the steady rests were designed into these headers. But Stan at FPT convinced me early on his design was fail safe. 

But after I rebuilt my engine it was making a lot more hp and I still wondered when something might break from the stress.

I also got some comments from others after they have seen the setup AND a lot of questions. 

I want to add that I have never had a problem with this setup.

Steve Metzger AZ28 pointed out a easy fix for one point of stress and so I had to try it so I could sleep a little better. I got several other suggestions from others on y-blocksforever.com

If you have a yblock powered car you have to go there and check it out. Good bunch of people. 

This redo takes the stress off the side loaded heim and makes it an axial load. I also added a urethane washer on one side of each rod to firm things up a bit. This replaces the male heim joint with a female and shortens and rethreads the rods. You will lose some adjustability, so be careful that your application will be able to level the engine properly with what you end up with.

One bonus from this setup is the headers are a little easier to install than before.

HOW NOT TO INSTALL THE AOD

This is how IMHO, NOT to do the swap. Lots of unnecessary cutting and butchering. They also hacked a perfectly good factory tbird shifter and mated it to a perfectly good b&M shifter which they cut up too. And I think I read that after all this it still didn't work quite right?

I vowed to not do my tbird like this. My apologies in advance to anyone who worked on that project.

Figuring out How to Install an AOD transmission in the tbird.

The main reason I tackled this project in the first place was…

• Have a 3oo+hp engine.

• Retain the stock tbird auto shifter

• Drive comfortable Hiway speeds 70-80mph with decent gas mileage, 

but still have a low start off gear for an occasional drag race

• Drive a long distance to a dragstrip or event and be comfortable racing it.

That's a LOT to ask but I figured out how to do it with a lot help from friends.

I purchased a Bendtsens 4 speed automatic overdrive Trans adapter kit.

My good neighbor, just over a simple conversation one day gave me an old AOD trans he had abandoned in his garage. WOW. And he loaned me his engine hoist for waaaaay too long while I agonized thru this project.

I had the trans rebuilt at a local shop - Hy-Tech transmission by Mike Hocutt-Great Guy. (the trans, later disentagrated into smithereens ) but Mike was good for it and replaced the whole thing.  I'll post later about that!

I highly recommend this swap. I was very slow and deliberate in this because this was my first full on custom deal, and afterall I'm not a real mechanic, just a do-it-yourselfer. You could probably do it easier. And I know now that I could too, after all my trial and error. So, if you are interested send me an email.

Things you will have to do is…

•Remove two small notches from the x member/nothing major/no structural issues

•Fab a new trans cross member

•lengthen or shorten your drive shaft to accommodate your trans choice

purchase a linkage kit from Performance Engineering to adapt your factory shifter+fabricate a small arm for the stock shift lever for underneath the car which lengthened it about 3/4".

All this allows complete shifting manually and automatically thru all four gears.

I've been told that this manually selection of the low gears could not be accomplished.

I do know guys that have C4 trans with stock shifters that cannot manually select low. What good is this if you can't descend a hill in low gear?

 I highly recommend findinding an empty engine block with front timing gear cover and front mount to do a mockup on with the trans. This will answer alot of question for you for your application.

Pulling out the tired old 312

These pics were taken as I pulled the old 312 to swap in the new 292 stroker setup AND The AOD transmission. Just in case I couldn't remember what something was supposed to look like. Might help, might not.

btw, the engine I pulled, was a great engine from my previous rebuild of about 22 years previous, but it began to smoke very badly. I think it is an oil ring, but not sure. because compression is still good. It ran fantastic, just smoked. 

At the 2005 Birdsapalooza I was finally beaten out by ACE driver Don Hyde. I still got rookie of the year!

The old engine was a 312 with C heads oversize valves and polished and ported, Blue thunder intake. An isky cam with stock exhaust.

Also shown is the engine compartment after I began some clean up and priming.

Factory Brake & fuel lines

These photos are of work done by my friend Tom McCartney on a 1957 tbird Frame off restoration. They illustrate how the brake and fuel lines need to run

Interior Stuff and windshield / side windows

These are pics from The interior work I've done AND am still working towards improving. I replaced the windshield with new and seal and also had all the trim polished and or re-chromed. Not cheap! but made a difference in the look of my car that I never would have thought.

Trunk mounted Battery

The oil filter setup required that I mount my battery in the trunk. That was ok by me as I felt like it would clean up the engine compartment. I also installed a kill switch which exits thru the backup light lens, for use at the Drag Strip.

I also installed a "Painless" Heavy Duty Solonoid  to disable the alternator and kill the car's electrical when necessary. That turned out to be a nightmare for me as I'm illiterate when it comes to electrical wiring matters. But with several helpers, (they) got it figured out.

Mounting the Battery in the trunk also requires you install a bullkhead between the passanger compartment and the Battery.

I made mine from aluminum sheet and Rich Nordholm  rolled a nice bead around it to finish it off.