This is my '86 Base T-Bird, it has a stock 5.0L with some minor bolt ons. That includes a homemade cool air intake, MSD Coil and Heddman Headers w/ Flowmaster lers. The Tranmission is an AOD 4-speed out of a '89 Mustang, it also has a PA Valve Body. It also has an 8.8 limited slip axle with 2.73 gears, which is rare I think on a 9" rear drum car, thats how I bought it. I has currenty 155,000 miles on it and still runs pretty strong. Not the best paint job but its Bright Blue w/ the black strip on the hood, when I first got the car it looked like that except it was primered and it kinda grew on me. I plan on doing some more stuff to the car. I am sorting the suspension right now but I will eventually drop a Explorer 5.0L V8 in the car for the HO conversion. Get a built AOD for the car and do some other thing to it. Here are some pictures of what it looks like.
(http://memimage.cardomain.net/member_images/11/web/539000-539999/539330_26_full.jpg)
(http://memimage.cardomain.net/member_images/11/web/539000-539999/539330_36_full.jpg)
(http://memimage.cardomain.net/member_images/11/web/539000-539999/539330_34_full.jpg)
(http://memimage.cardomain.net/member_images/11/web/539000-539999/539330_33_full.jpg)
i kinda like that paint scheme. what type of suspension work do you plan on doing to it???
Car looks really good, you might wanna drop that metal intake pipe as it might defeat the purpose of the cold air intak. Try some plastic drainage pipe, as it will keep the intake charge cooler & denser. :)
love the black on blue, and what you did to the hood/grill
I like the guages in the ash tray....
Just Spring and Caster/Camber Plates right now, but I plan on installing some Koni adjustable shocks ad tighting up the suspension with poly bushings and new ball joints and tie rods. I will eventually install rear control arms too. It turns really well, I installed a quick ratio steering rack in the car and that helped the turn in alot.
but that mostly what I am going to do with the suspension.
Here are some pics of cone navigation :D after the mods
(http://fpacarclub.com/IMG_7625.jpg)
(http://fpacarclub.com/IMG_7741.jpg)
(http://fpacarclub.com/IMG_7742.jpg)
I have more but I was afraid it would take up to much space!
Are those pony rims without the center caps?
Yeah! when you run a autocross they want you to remove anything in and out of the car that isn't bolted down! Thous the missing centercaps!
Thats a sweet t-bird please load up some more pictures thanks.
XD that's really cool. i like the black pony wheels. how much did the suspension mods help?
Helped a good bit, before the car going into a corner the nose would almost hit the ground and one of the rear wheels would come off the ground. But I still need some other stuff, stiffer shocks, bigger sway bars and race tires.
More pics with Louisiana's famous Lake Pontchatrain in the backround :D
(http://fpacarclub.com/IMAG0012.JPG)
(http://fpacarclub.com/IMAG0015.JPG)
(http://fpacarclub.com/IMAG0016.JPG)
(http://fpacarclub.com/IMAG0017.JPG)
that car looks VERY good, i really like the pics on the course
what springs did you end up going with?
also...paint those wheels weights black ;)
that is one sweet Bird!! i love the stance!! :D
Frank M.
ended up with the f springs, still need some stiffer shocks and bigger sway bars though, know anybody that can get me some adjustibles for all four corners ;)
Ponies alwasy look better w/out center caps :)
up front, youre able to use stang struts, especially now that youre lowered, the rear is the hard part
are you planning on doing the 11" brake upgrade up front?
Yes, I plan on doing the 11' upgrade on the front and maybe convert to rear disc.
wait untill you do the front brake conversion to get struts, because the spindles for the 10" and 11" are different
even picking up some monroe sensatracks wouldnt be bad if youre on bad shocks/struts, theyre cheap, and they do work rather well
also, what are the limits of the class youre in mod wise?
In E Street Prepared or ESP for short, suspension mods are unlimited as long as you use the factory mounting points. So coil-overs are illegal in this class unless the car came with coil-overs from the factory. I might try bigger sway bars first considering I have the stock 1' front bar and a meisly looking stock rear bar. The KYB GR-2s work fine, its a little stiff in the front and a little on the soft side in the rear, but I will probably wait and do the struts when I do the brakes, its just finding what to use for the rear. KYB Gas-A-Just shocks are pretty stiff and would probably work ok with a set of KYB AGX adjustible struts in the front. But in AutoX most of your adjustments are made in the rear suspension so I'm SOL on that. On thing I still have to reserch is a adjustible rear sway bar, if it is not a bolt on "no modifications to car to make it work" part, I can't use it.
This thread may help. http://www.foxtbirdcougarforums.com/showthread.php?t=1357&highlight=sway+bars
pick up a TC rear swaybar, that should help with understeer if you have issues with it