November 13, '00
Well, I finally got to do something kind of fun with my pony, after all these long months of just pounding myself over the 6 to 8 swap. I was putting the engine compartment together, and at first I was just thinking, aw heck, do it the easiest way and get it over with. But then I decided to do something fun, which I had wanted to do since before I pulled the original old Bloo apart. It's a trick Vernon showed me on another car at his shop, and I was so excited I ran right out and bought the part I needed to do it with.
Here's the deal - this will help you get rid of those ugly rubber heater hoses that arch over your engine. Of course, this is just for the resto-mod crowd, who want to look slick and don't mind not being original.
First you need a heater hose assembly from a 5.0L Mustang. In the 5.0L Mustangs this is a hard line that bolts to the intake manifold.
On this hose you need to weld closed a little tube that sticks up out of it. Mine is just bent over and welded closed, but if you wanted to be really neat you could probably shorten it a bit more. There is also a bigger opening that is threaded, and you can fill it with a plug from the plumbing section of your hardware store.
Then I removed my distributor, so I could remove the elbow fitting which was screwed into the intake. Don't forget to mark the distributor so you can put it back in right, and cover the hole with something while it's out so nothing falls into your engine. The carb should be covered too, since you have to remove the aircleaner to do this. I actually had to remove the carb to install the hard hose.
I just moved the carb out of the way and began installing the hard heater hose by screwing the front end into the intake where the elbow fitting was removed. Then I removed one intake bolt and used it to secure the rear of the heater hose (there is a braket for that, but it needed a little bending to get it all lined up).
Hubby at work!
I reinstalled the distributor, and the carb. Now I just needed to hook up all the rubber hoses. The back end of the heater hose is connected to the heater core. I had to use a slightly bigger hose on the bottom because the bottom hardline is bigger. I don't think this will cause any leaks at the heater core. I attached two foot-long lengths of hose to the heater core and pushed it through from the inside, while my husband helped by lining them up on the engine side, and sliding them onto the hard hose. Then we secured them with clamps. Keep in mind you'll need more clamps than doing it the old way. Then, on the front of the hose assembly, there's only one more hose to connect to the water pump. It's tricky to get it to make the tight angle without kinking.
I added a braided stainless covered fuel hose to the carb, put it all back together, and it looks pretty trick. Those hardlines are a big improvement over the old ugly rubber hoses, and that's the fun part of doing a resto-mod, making it look better and run better inside, while it still looks like a classic pony on the outside.