Oh Lordy, I now own a Fordy (a Lincoln actually)..

[njsteve]

Thanks for the info. I will have to start reviewing all the factory service manuals that my grandfather bought for the car back in the day. There’s half a dozen Ford service volumes in the trunk.

[njsteve]

Time for some preliminary tests...I warmed up the engine for a half hour (and even tried putting it in gear and low and behold, drive works again!) in preparation for a compression test. I pulled the plugs and the coil wire and propped the throttle wide open.

Here's the results:

Cyl 1: 205 psi
Cyl 2: 205 psi
Cyl 3: 210 psi
Cyl 4: 207 psi
Cyl 5: 205 psi
Cyl 6: 206 psi
Cyl 7: 205 psi
Cyl 8: 207 psi

I guess the rule of thumb is that you want them all within a 10% range of each other. Looks like this is around a 1% range!

And here are the plugs. They appear to be burning nicely for the 443 miles I put on the car in five years. Running on 93 octane plus some 100 low-lead Avgas.

[njsteve]

Since the engine was already warmed up, I pulled an oil sample and I'll send it out for analysis just to see what it says. Once I get the engine out and on the stand I'll pull the pan and check the main and rod bearings. I don't plan on touching the short block other than maybe a new oil pump, rear main seal, and gaskets. I will most likely pull the heads and get a valve job and new valve seals installed. Maybe new valve springs if they don't meet spec.

[John Brown]

Been a long time since I had a Ford with transmission problems, but when I had shifting problems like that it was because the aluminum valve body was worn and the valves that were supposed to move freely were hung up by a ridge of aluminum. I pulled the valve body, removed several of the valves and lightly scraped the openings in the valve body till the valves were able to move freely again. Of course your problem could be something completely different, but I'd ask someone familiar with those transmissions before going to all the work of pulling the complete transmission.

[njsteve]

My old time mechanic friend said the same thing - valve body issues. But from sitting so long - over 27 years since my Grandfather passed and the car has only driven around 1000 miles in that timespan, it is time for a freshening up.

[mockingbird812]

Ah, detective work. MacGyver is back at it! Good luck and consider leaving JR at home until you sort things out!

[njsteve]

Spent the weekend unbolting everything and removing the engine and transmission. I now realize why the factory manual recommends removing the engine by itself and the transmission later. This has to be the world's longest transmission! The adjustable leveling engine lifting saddle really came in handy as I had to pull it at a diagonal to get it to clear the nose since the entire front end rose about a 10 inches in the air once the weight of the engine was taken off the frame. I then had to pull the front tires and lower the body to the ground on two floor jacks just to get the assembly to clear the nose. Did it all by myself, with the wife and son only assisting during the final maneuvering over the front sheetmetal when someone had to hold up the trans yoke to clear the final hurdle while the hoist was pulled forward.