The hatch cover for the 4.6L can be flat! I made mine out of dual layer
1/4" safety glass (see the edge in lower RH corner). I did this primarily
for sound proofing, but it will also make it easy to inspect the engine
without removing the cover. I also eliminated the shift linkage cutout.
I'm replacing it with a sealed sliding device of my own design for improved
sound proofing. The sound deadening (Q-Pads covered with Alu tape) can be seen here too. The rocker and lower cross piece will also be covered with it.
Inside (upper) and outside (lower) passenger side views of the "Stethoscope".
Where the roof meets the
window frame/upper door pillar just behind the upper door frame there is
an opening (~1/2" x 1 1/2) that lead directly to the rear roof pillars.
This is right above the headers, so the sound goes straight up and forward
to within inches of your ear. The same thing is also on the drivers side. The outside view is after I covered the hole up with Dynamat and Alu foil. Behind that there is a 1 1/2" square hole split by a piece of sheet metal down the right side. The gap to the outside (about 3/8" x 1 1/2") goes right to the inside.
This is the battery tray I made from 1/2" x 1/8" Alu angle. The front, left side, and bottom can be removed. The rear and right side are attached to the body. The hole that can be seen at the bottom of the picture is to allow access to the upper right rack mount bolt.
The gas tank of the early cars is Aluminum. I've insulated 3 sides to reduce heat build up. The large hole in the top is to allow installation of the Ford EFI pump. The '99 4.6L engines have a returnless EFI pump system, and it would have been difficult to use an external pump and have it work right. This also makes for a cleaner and safer installation. The fuel filter is also installed inside the tank.
Although you can't really see it here, the tub area has been color sanded and polished to a glass like finish. Since most of it had to be polished by hand, I color sanded to 3000 grit with Mequiar's "Unigrit" paper before I started polishing.
Dual pane rear window. The tube is a necessary vent to keep from exploding with changing altitude. I made it from two 1/4" laminated safety glass spaced with a brass 3/16" square rod shaped to the window. It is glued together with silicon and completely sealed except for vent tubes at each end. The glass is slightly oversized so the window mounts in front of the flange and is clamped in place against a silicon seal.