I managed to sort the engine ground issue on the Crown Vic yesterday before the storms hit. I discovered a hole in the engine block a little above the timing cover stud. It has 3/8"-16 threads in it. So I tapped it out and stuck one of the 3/8" header allen bolts that I had in there with the battery ground, electric fan ground, and the starter solenoid ground cable. Took about 1/2 hour. I looked some things over and then I saw the dark clouds coming in the horizon; so I covered the car back up and waited for the storm to hit. I got a picture of the cables, but it is not a good one. It was taken upside down. If you look above the MSD coil, you will see where the battery ground (and the other 2 cables) is connected to the engine block.

I did discover that I never installed the filler pipe into the new gas tank. IIRC; it was not wanting to squeeze into the gas tank O-ring. This may sound perverted; but I'm going to heat the gasket with a heat gun and smear vaseline on the end of the filler pipe and hopefully that will get it in there. I think that's it; other than clearing the engine compartment of all the tools and parts, priming the engine, and setting the distributor in. And I will probably get a new battery as well.

 

Each step is progress. You got this. Keep it going.

 

Changed out some of the plugs on the CV for newer ones yesterday. Some of the plugs had a gel-like substance on them. Perhaps it is WD-40 mixed with engine oil? Dunno, but I'm keeping the old ones as backup as I will cut a couple of the plugs during the break-in process. Also got the fuel tank fill pipe into the tank grommet. I had to reverse the grommet as even with heat and a little oil rubbed onto the pipe; it was surely not going in. Reversing the gasket made it possible to install the fill pipe. I still need to assemble the coil wire; which will happen by next weekend. Also cleaned the engine bay of tools and parts. Weather permitting, I will get some fresh 91, prime the engine, and fire it up next weekend.

 

I've never seen a gel like substance in a gas engine, only in diesels. I don't suppose you took a photo or two of this stuff? Looking forward to a video of you firing it up.

 

Gasoline breakdown?
Fuel sitting in the system more than 3 to 6 months not totally sealed, no Stabilizer?

Supposedly, gasoline will do this, and if ethanol is present, you will get a gel like substance.

From 3 minutes of reading, the VOCs begin to evaporate and the ethanol begins to phase separate as it is aqueous based that oil based. I guess it is technically only suspended in the gasoline but stays there long enough to not cause problems because people go through gas so quickly.

Hopefully there's just a residue on the plugs that dried. Otherwise it's possible that you may have deposits throughout your fuel system and in the carb. Hope not.

 

I hope that is not the case; as the fuel system is completely new and hasn't seen any fuel. I had a couple cylinders fill up with WD-40; that may be the reason. Only a couple of the plugs had that gel on them. I'm going to guess that the WD-40 laid on top of the engine oil and kept filling up into a couple of the cylinders. When I last sprayed the cylinders down, WD-40 poured out of the spark plug hole on the No. 4 cylinder. I drained everything out and filled it up with fresh 10W-30 and Zinc additive; then made it my goal to have the car running by the following month. I will pull the plugs one more time before I torque them down.

 

I got a little work done on the Crown Vic over the weekend. I bought a battery and a clean 5-gallon gas can on Friday night. Saturday was spent pulling the car off of the jackstands and scrounging for wood blocks to sit the front of the car on. Yesterday I took the rear wheels off the ground and supported the axle with jackstands; so the drive wheels aren't touching the ground on the 1st start. Installed the battery and discovered that the starter solenoid cable was too long; also, one of the battery hold-down studs needed to be cut down for hood clearance. Got that done and put everything in position after the rain. By the time I got done with all of that, I had to make dinner; so I called it quits and will attempt the 1st start next weekend. I would like to sync the 1st start with the neighborhood landscapers; in case the car is rowdier than it's supposed to be. We have a couple problem neighbors who like to cause trouble for events like this.

 

Maybe you should ask those neighbors to come over and give you a hand with the car. That way, if you involve them, they can't call and complain to the local Popo.

 

Ask them to lean down by the exhaust and let you know if it sounds like it's firing evenly.

 

Back when they were relatively new/young; they would call the cops and/or fire department on my Dad for any and all reasons. They didn't like his 1953 F-250; so they called the police to have them impound it because it was too noisy. Problem was that they didn't understand flatheads (yes, my Dad was still running the stock 239cui); and it ran very quiet; so much so that the officer who came commented that it was quieter than his patrol car. Back then, if you annoyed the police with nuisance calls, they would let you know. That's exactly what he did, as he went over across their yard and noted that the camper they had parked in their driveway, needed to go because of zoning violations. A few months later, my Dad put up an I-beam A-frame in the garage so he could pull and service his Lincoln SA-200; and other equipment. So, they decided to call the Fire Inspector because the police were not cooperating with them. So the fire chief came and inspected the garage. He liked what he saw and asked my Dad if he could do that with his garage. So that avenue was closed to them. That was 40 years ago. They got smart over the following years and instead of calling the PD and FD, they found allies in the township; people who also feel that any resident who doesn't make $50k+/year, doesn't belong in the town. People like that were the minority back in the day; but now they're the majority as they supplanted the old guard. That is pretty much where we are at now.