2010 Merkur Rebuild thread

I was going to say bane of my ability to make progress. But I don't know if that sentence even makes sense.
I don't need a different steering rack. Just turns out I have the TRW slower rack (2.75 turns) so will get a ZF rack (2.25 turns) in the near future.

Hey John! See where I was saying the death ray was? Hahaha!

I've been kinda ignoring thinking much about the car until I painted the engine bay. Now comes the fun part of reassembly. Need to sit down and make my todo list.
Engine:
Replace valve cover gasket
AN fitting for breather on block below intake manifold
Replace exhaust manifold with new one (Have)
Replace lower intake manifold with ported one (Need)
Upgrade injectors since I plan to run E85 possibly (no clue what I want/need)
Probably should check stuff under the valve cover and replace valve stem seals while I'm in there. (Need)
Probably should at least look at the timing belt, tensioners, water pump, and oil pump while the engine is on a stand.

Transmission:
Needs resealed. That's about it.

Fuel System:
Mount fuel cell
Fabricate removable cover for spare wheel well.
Install dual fuel pumps (need) and filter (need)
Plumb lines, etc.

Wiring:
Install new engine wiring harness
Install/rewire as needed rest of harness.
Create something on the dashboard or a console to securely hold gauges, switches, displays, ECU, etc.

That's why I don't like making lists. They always seem like so much stuff. I'm always like, oh since I have it out I should do this.... (Ie. port head, build bottom end, blah blah blah, etc.)
I should just leave everything just how it is (except exhaust manifold), wing it back together, and enter an event.

Grant the OEM TRW AND ZF "quicker' racks are BOTH 2.65/2.7 turns depending on how much you bounce it off the stop.

SOME TRW racks are 4.1 or whatever the fuck it was.

No 2.25 racks.
(My SAAB rack is 2,2 but its a superior car)
(And GrP racks were 1,9 turns---forget finding one)

So ya ain't gonna improve anything, and really 2.6 to 2.7 is good.