Installing the oil pan cover

It has been said that you can't build a 2.3T that doesn't leak, but I'm going to try. The first step for me in tackling this was to make sure I've got a good seal on the oil pan gasket. So I bought a new gasket and used a fair amount of RTV to seal up the corners where the block meets the front and rear mains as well as to seal up the junction between the front plate and the block.

These pictures show the area where the front plate meets the block:

 

So following the manual (Yes dear I read and followed the directions) I put a 'dab' of RTV in the 'corners' where the block and mains meet and a bead where the block and front cover meet.

 

Front 'corner' and joints:

 

 

Rear 'corner':

 

What I used:

I again followed directions on the RTV, installed the gasket, pan and finger tightened the bolts. Waited an hour then torqued the bolts to spec.

After curing and torquing:

 

 

 

 

 

Oil pan on:

 

Installing the M127 Oil Pump

Today I installed the Melling M127 pump and pickup on the engine. While technically not a stock replacement, it fits correctly and lot of people on the TurboFords board have success with them.

First thing to know is you must use the M127 pickup with the pump. The stock one doesn't fit to the new pump. Plus why reuse something that critical when changing everything else?

Second thing to know is that the stock bolts used for the pickup to pump won't work since the pickup is thinner than the stock one and the bolt will intersect with the bolt that mounts the pump to the block. I ended up using the bolts from another engine's pump to block.

 

Finished install:

 

Painted Valve Cover - Color!

Before:

After:

 

 

little buggery around the oil cap:

 

The paint is the 9W Charcoal that is the body color. It didn't come through very well in these pictures.

Still not sure what to do with the letters. Once I figure that out I'll clear it.

Masking the valve cover

It was absolutely gorgeous today, so I played outside with my son instead of working on the Capri. By the time is started getting dark we came in and I started masking the valve cover for paint.

Here is how I masked off the low area where the valve cover bolts go:

 

Here is another view:

 

Here is the valve cover totally masked off:

 

And part of the mess I made:

 

Not bad for about 90 minutes of work. Tomorrow I'll paint the accent color, then I need to decide what to do with the writing and FORD logo.