Focus Update

Its refreshing to be so close to finishing up my engine build. As I stated in my previous post about Automotive trends, I try to justify the expense of my hobby to myself, but I'm having more trouble doing that as time progresses. Project cars are money pits and you can seldom throw a few bucks at them without throwing a few hundred. I don't want to sound disappointed with my car or the money that I'm spending on it, I'm not. The car is great and its going to be even greater once the new engine is installed and tuned. I'm mostly just saying that truly great cars cost money and due diligence (I like that phrase) should be excerised when building one. I have probably gone overboard upon occasion with buying parts, but this current project has stretched out over a long enough period that it hasn't seemed to be that bad.

I ordered the water pump and new oil pan that I need this morning, and I also bought a Mass Airflow Sensor that is calibrated for the uprated SVT Focus injectors that I bought a few weeks back. The oil pan that was on the engine looked like it had been driven over a rock at some point and the bottom was scraped up pretty badly. I could have overlooked some cosmetic blemishes had it not been for the powdercoat peeling on the inside of the pan. I didn't really want any of that getting up into the refreshed rotating assembly, considering the expense of the machining and the $50 for a new oil pan seemed like cheap insurance. A lot of folks recommend replacing most of the less expensive components of an engine when you rebuild for exactly that reason. You certainly don't want a $50 part to cause thousands of dollars in damage.

As I've mentioned previously, I'm still planning on doing my own headwork. I was doing a little bit of reading this evening regarding that. Most folks generally construe porting and polishing as a black art, with which I won't disagree. However, it seems like one of the more straightforward black arts; much simpler than say, levitation or invisibility cloaking.

The other new project that I've brought on is to diassemble and rebuild an alternator. I have a handful of the accessories that came on the engine I bought at the junkyard and one of those is the alternator. However, when turned by hand, it makes a pretty nasty grinding sound, so I suspect that the brushes are pretty torn up and the commutator (or its respective bearings) might be rusted. I have no clue how to rebuild an alternator, but its got to be easier than building an engine, right?

Thanks Mom and Dad for the adventurous spirit! When I get in over my head, I turn to the internet for inspiration (or cheap(er) replacement parts when there's no getting back).