Backstory:
Ive owned and worked on plenty of Fox Mustangs, and had a fox Tbird when I was 17, but never worked on it, so I am familiar with foxes, but just now figuring out Stang/Tbird differences.
Picked up some fox headers, blasted and painted them. After cutting off the horrid exhaust the previous owner had on(2" duals with glasspacks), I got excited as I went to throw on the drivers side header. No dice. The header wont go down far enough because of the (column)shift linkage.
Its still not bolted up FYI, the header needs to drop 1/8" at least to bolt to the head, then Im going to need a little clearance here:
(http://i885.photobucket.com/albums/ac57/mtgmike302/c35c5c47.jpg)
I have read plenty of guys saying you can move this around so i figure Ill toss on the passenger side. Nope.
I didnt take a pic, but it hits the motor mount bracket. It seems to me the mounts are worn, but obviously these are different than stangs.
So, does everybody swap over to the mustang style? Would new Tbird mounts be fine? Im all about easy, so I wouldnt want to make any extra work for myself unless there are serious advantages.
TIA!
What I did on the drivers side was remove the lower stud and put in a bolt , I did have to do a little massaging on the H-Pipe but nothing drastic . The passenger side about fell in .
If you are having trouble on both sides I would guess you mounts are quite worn
Your motor mount isolators are bad that's why it hits the shift linkage so much. I have FRPP GT40P shorties and all I had to do for clearance was to use a bolt instead of a stud on the lower part of the on the driver's side. The shifter works fine and I can shift it all the way down to position 1 no problem.
(http://i885.photobucket.com/albums/ac57/mtgmike302/2010-08-01152802.jpg)
Id say it was time for mounts, wouldnt you? The other one literally fell into two pieces when I took it out.
Unfortunately, the headers still wont go in. Well, technically they will bolt up, but I brought the drivers side to work to drill out the lower stud for a bolt, and I still need to grind away at the motor mount bracket on the passenger side. Im going to borrow a die grinder bit tonight. The passenger side bolted up, but contacted the bracket, so Im going to make a little room for it.
The drivers side now looks like the above pic, but in that pic, it still needed to drop some to bolt in. The motor mounts helped, but I still need a little extra.
What year car is this? If 1987-88 5.0, then you can safely cut the brackets on the motor mounts. The theory behind the brackets is that they were supposed to interlock in case of failure of the factory liquid-filled motor mount isolators. In reality the brackets never really did their job...and if any other headers besides the factory HO 5.0 ones are used, they just end up getting in the way. So hack away.
Driver's side, you can relocate the shifter bar lower but only if you keep the bar parallel...in other words, don't tilt it or you'll have serious binding. I had to do this on a few cars and it worked just fine. That gets you the additional clearance you need for the lower bolt.
I wouldn't suggest cutting the tabs off the motor mount brackets...I've put mine to use before!
You need a set of ChuckW's mounts...the stock mounts aren't even sufficient for 155hp...Chuck's mounts are the ONLY way to go...
Hey Chuck, do I get a cut for all the advertising I do?????? lol, jk
I didn't even mess with that PITA steering linkage...ripped it all out and in went a B&M floor shifter...the first time around...everything else has had a 5-speed swap...lol.
Good luck,
Don
Ive used Chuck's mounts on my 2.3 before. Very nice pieces. I will do business with him when I need them for my 5.0
The last set of mounts you will need.
A++++++. I have his on my 5.8L swapped into my tbird. Awesome
Well, too late. Maybe Ill buy some of those when I do a fresh engine. I cut the tabs off and put the headers in no prob. Now it's on to the bassani X pipe. I don't really have the car high enough to get the drivers side starter pipe wedged around the shifter linkage and the header. I pushed, twisted and cussed for awhile, but it was too hot to keep messing with it(high 90's, VERY HUMID, and no airflow in my garage, need to buy a fan).
So I threw(broke) my good flashlight and walked away for now.
I might do a factory floor console and shifter later on, but Im definitely not doing any gaudy aftermarket floor shifter. Is there anything out there that is attractive, and doesnt interfere with the a/c, or stereo?
Glad you're making progress. But,how are your motor mounts?
Here's my setup: Stang HO, stock HO headers, Chuck's mounts, and stang h pipe, catless with glasspacks and turndowns.
It was originally a floor shift auto car, but now it has 5 gears...
Oh, they were easy, popped right in. I did at least buy the solid rubber instead of the hydraulic mounts. Both were as short as the one i posted a pic of, but the other(drivers side) actually fell into two pieces as I removed it.
Got the h pipe in last night. Everything is still loose. I cant figure out how to tighten the bolt and nut I used on the drivers side. I put the bolt in from below. I had a hell of a time getting the head past the linkage, but its in. I can spin the nut on reaching around the "collector", but cant figure out how to tighten. I cant get a socket past the linkage, or a wrench on the nut...
This is going to be the end of me.
I would just unbolt the linkage from the frame, tighten the collector bolts , then bolt it back on
Yeah, Ive probably spent three times as much time trying to work around it.
I remember those days a long long time ago.....and don't miss them. Keep us the updated.
My car had an AOD from the factory...I stress had. Bulky, power eaters, and no fun on a track. Installed a T-5 years ago (since removed for the TKO), dropped some weight (added some back with the TKO but more displacement cured that problem), and the grin factor alone made it worth while. Oh, did I mention that the shifter bracket was smashed into a flat piece of steel with my Gallagher Sledge-O-Matic? Yeah, I got some satisfaction out of that...
Darren
I'm old .fat , and lazy . I don't wanna shift manually anymore .
Patience with the column linkage can yield satisfactory results :hick:
I'm only 43....I still have a bunch of shifting years ahead of me.LOL.
Same age as me , From the time I was 17 till I was 38 every daily driver I owned was a manual . I'm all done shifting :D
It was so easy to unbolt the linkage and move it to tighten the xpipe to header that I wanted to stab myself in the eye.
The lead pipes are on, oxygen sensors are in, the back section of the xpipe is on but loose. My UltraFlo cat back didnt come with hardware for the flow tubes to xpipe, so Im buying some bolts today at lunch. I mounted the Mustang ler hangers. I dont see how the stang tail hangers would work, so Ill keep them around, and just have to have a shop weld them on the frame and rig it all up.
I dropped off my smog pump and hoses just because I wanted to declutter under the hood, Im well aware it doesnt offer any performance gains. I cut off then sealed off the emissions tube that runs between the heads.
My xpipe does seem to be kicked off towards the drivers side a tad. I cut off the drivers side x pipe hanger because it was in the way, and my car had the single hanger bracket anyways. I think the pass. side isnt lined up for this usage.
Should I cut it off as well, and just have the headers/catback supporting the xpipe?
I have an H-pipe from a 94 /95 Stang and I had to cut off the hangers
It is working just fine ;)
If memory serves me right the bracket between the transmission mount and the the transmission is the one that has the "ears" on it where the exhaust hangers slide into. I used one off a Mustang and it worked great. Granted the X-Pipe in my car is custom built but we felt that having these hangers was a plus with the shorty headers. With the long tubes we removed the hangers as it was a severe PITA to get it out.
Darren
Well, I had to take the starter pipe off the passenger side because the left over emissions pipe was pushing against the aod pan and causing a leak. So, Ill chop off the hanger and pipe today, get it welded up and try again this weekend. It does look like my flow tubes will be long enough as is though. They may not bottom out against the ler, but I figure ill get them welded when I get the tails hung.
To mount my H-pipe I just used the one eared trans mount. It's holding fine and doesn't sag.