Tranny Swapping

Well it has most certainly been a long time since I've written on my blog.

This post is about the long, extensive transmission swap I did on my Mustang about a month ago. The swap was pretty basic and straightforward, especially with the transmission swap guide from West Coast Fords, it just took a lot of time to do. The entire swap took me about a week with a handful of help form my friends.

Again I had the car about 3 feet off the ground to do the swap. Apparently I like to do things the hard way.

 It was a really basic swap. Nothing too fancy. Stock clutch and pressure plate, flywheel, and cable. Someday I'll upgrade when I have the money.

 

The hardest part of the swap was getting the old AOD out without removing the long-tube headers from the car. I ended up having to cut the collector off the drivers side header and weld it back on afterwards. I definitely found myself in some interesting positions that I never knew I'd be able to fit in.

 

Yeah that's right, we know how to make a party out of a transmission swap.

Take a Brake

 About a week ago I ordered these drilled and slotted rotors for the SC/302 for Valentines Day. Drilled rotors for you car are the way to go. Hands down. But slotted rotors have both their ups and down. Slotted rotors are used mainly  in race cars and the slots (the lines across the rotor) help grab the brake pad to slow it down quickly. The bad thing is that slotted rotors eat away at your pad faster because they are braking harder. Luckily these aren't full-on slotted rotors, so the pad should last quite a while. The drilled factor of rotors though, provide a HUGE improvement over stock because the holes allow the disc to stay cooler and vent heat easier, keeping the friction tight, and your brake fluid cool.

 My brakes were about as bad as they can get. The pad was completely gone, and the rivets were being used to slow down the disc. I highly recommend not doing this.

 This is the old pad (front) compared to the new pad (in back), you can see there was literally nothing left.

 My mess scattered all over the place

They look pretty dang good if I do say so myself

Custom Cold-air

And now to elaborate on the custom-underhood CAI for the SC/302. I built this under the project name of my company NSP Motorsports. After doing the fiberglass speaker mount, this was going to be a piece of cake. I wanted something that would stand out and definitely give the engine bay some spunk (as if the huge Kenne Bell sitting there wasn't enough). This air box had to be specifically designed to fit my car because I also needed room for a overflow-reservoir, and I didn't want to mount mine to the back of the radiator like I've seen done before. It just looks trashy. 

 

Here is the original mock-up. The inward curve is where the overflow-bottle would mount, 

while still providing enough space for the filter to fully function.

I was guessing the entire time on how the overflow would fit, because I'm impatient and had only ordered it while I was building the box. I had most of the dimensions, but there was still a bit of guesswork I had to do.

Here's the filter being tested for size and angle. Everything looks good!

I originally used a screw and washer to hold it all in place, but later I decided that a plastic rivet 

looked more professional.

 Got the NSP Motorsports vinyl decal on. Looks good!

And here is the finished product. I think it looks great. I obviously don't have the reservoir

bottle installed here, but you can see where it is supposed to sit.

I noticed a 10* cooler difference in the engine temperature overall (as compared to before, where the filter was half-exposed, and half-inside the fender-well). It never goes above 175*, and the air flows smoothly through the box.