Stripped the Cougar for parts. I've been waiting for the right moment to start a thread about this project. I just got the motor in and it's sitting under it's own weight now. I'd say it's time for pics!
Definitely a work in progress so no hating even if you think it's wrong to put a v8 in a TC.
Good work. On the Turbo coupe site there is a problem putting a v8 into a TC. But I think in here it is ok. So is the yellow cowl for the car?
I am gonna run the cowl hood and murder the outside of the car. I'm thinking flat black with gloss black flames?
If not then it'll be gloss or satin black with the same color rims. Snowflakes FTW!
Moar pics! Do these pics sit well with the cat folk? I'm sorry, I really am.
no hatin from me, I'm doing the same thing with an 88TC so I may be watching over your shoulder a bit when it comes to the mass air setup. most of mine is done just need to do a few more little things.
I would be more upset with whoever painted it that color than you for putting it out of its misery :D
choked back a few tears seeing the pics of the yellow cat.. I really loved that car :(
This mass air is calibrated via a chip in the computer. It's simply spliced into two wires in the harness. If needed I can give more detail but it really is not my specialty. It's also running 24lb injectors. It ran good when I pulled it except the water pump was bad. Aluminum heads are good though. I didn't overheat it. I've changed thermostat and water pump before putting this motor in.
Clutch pedals are in, tomorrow I'm gonna drop the tank and put in a 190 or 255lph fuel pump. Then hook up the clutch cable and speedo. I may need a harness for a T5 to body. Not even sure what speedo gear I'm gonna need either. But that's not important to make it run. I could use some help in this department on the wiring harness for the EFI Mass Air harness. Which needs spliced and all. To much work but I want it done soon. :P
Edit: I saved every piece of her. The body had rusted bad underneath and the strut towers were bad on both sides. Still alot of her lives. Soon.
i am surprised it took this long to strip the yellow car. we had a short discussion about that car at the thundercat day in KY.
as far as goldmember goes, i took a lil trip down memory lane and found this:
do it up right, john! :D
One day. Right now it's gonna be a daily driver. I just want it together as fast as possible. So far I've got 6 dollars in the paintjob and I'm trying to keep it cheap. I'm hoping under 60 bucks. 2 quarts base flat black and 1 court clear. It'll be a learning experience though. Never painted much.
Edit: I just want to drive it...
Things I ran into so far this project. Master cylinder spacer to allow for clutch cable adjustment. Also you do need a clutch pilot tool if you want to do the job at all.... I've had a rough last year. I was surprised it took this long. I need a t-bird in my life right at the moment. I'll feel so much better driving this thing around. Just like the old days. Hopefully less speeding tickets.
Claude! Where's my visit? Next time you're in the neighborhood...
Sometimes you have to kill one..... to keep one living.
I think a 5.0 in a Turbocoupe is a cool thing.
Got a pic of this before you put it in? I'm curious of what to make one out of..I need one too.;)
Likin' the project...what's inside the motor? Stock stuff, or is it built a little?
Edlebrock aluminum heads, cam, & intake.
I just used a piece of steal and put it between the master cylinder and firewall. I used a piece of flat stock because it had to fit between the bolts. I'll try to get a pic posted today.
Dropped the tank, modified the sending unit to run a 255LPH Fuel pump. Tanks back in the car. Got the exhaust over the rear end. Battery tray and a lot of the wiring is "Routed" in a mockup fashion. My Coil for the AC was pretty badly damaged in storage. Not sure if I'm going to install the AC afterall. Here's a pic of my modified 84 fuel pump. All I had to do was hack off the metal pipe to allow for the size of the 255LPH fuel pump. It's got a brand new strainer on it also. I found the strainer to be for a 1986 Mercury Cougar. The 86 mustang was a different strainer. It needed to be angled like that so it wouldn't interfere with the level float.
Here's a few more pics of the engine bay progress. Looks like a rats nest! I'm hoping to have lots of progress by the end of next week. I've been off work way to long. :(
Anyone notice the 3G upgrade? Gonna be some bumps in the trunk. 2 12's and an 800 watt Fosgate amp. I found some frayed wires in the harness that's why I pulled a lot of the looming off.
Here's the deal. I wanted the tach to work in the stock cluster with this V8 conversion. From what I read it needs to be researched more.
I had this Autometer pro sport comp huge tach deal that I was not going to put in the interior and screw up the factory look. Here's my modification. I will have to remove some of the plastic behind the cluster so the circuit board with go back in far enough.
PICs! PS: I used only the parts from the two tachs to make this. That's the best way!
That last picture I cut out the circuits for the fasten seat belt light. and the circuit that had the 5 nuts on the studs that the org. tach mounted to. I'm assuming that was a signal or a ground. I'm guessing ground so I'm not worried about removing that because I am grounding the circuit board via relay to key on/start The rest are still there. I was able to remove all that was in the center without affecting those circuits.
The orange needle will be painted white before I put it together.
Weatherstrip repair trial number 1.
Cut everything flush to the bottom of the weatherstripping
Cleaned surface with acetone. Prepped and taped.
Applied ultra black RTV to crack & will allow to dry.
Then I'm gonna cut it with a super sharp razor and peel the tape back and see if it fixes the leakage into the doors.
ZOMG! update: Just about got it ready to fire up. Oil change, VSS wiring, Timing, clutch adjustment, misc loose bolts, need to buy a new belt, fluids, and then whatever bugs it may throw at me. Not to mention a thousand panels inside that need put back on and there ain't no gas in it. :mullet: Then maybe a :burnout: video. Crossing my fingers on this one. So far none of my wiring has let the magic smoke out. Yet...
Next week paint job... as money permits.
NICE !!! I'm glad to see that SOMEONE is getting some work done. I haven't done anything at all lately except the console lid,and that wasn't a big deal. Keep us posted.Great work so far. I love the tach idea. Good thinking.
Good luck. After i did my swap I had lots of issues. Turned out I had a bad PCM. Oh well.
I will be watching this post with antition...
It did run... but it sounded like a diesel. I just pulled the intake and I'm getting ready to pull the lifters and pushrods to clean/soak them and then re-oil them. Hopefully when I put it back together it'll not make noise. Plenty of work left... LOTS of bugs.
What makes you think it was the lifters/pushrods? It is my understanding that they should pump up with oil from priming the engine (hook a drill to the oil pump shaft). Or you could disconnect the coil, floor the throttle and crank it for quite a while. If you didn't prime, the lifters should eventually pump back up from running.
My experiance has been, that the lifters will pump up instantly. Your pushrod are probably wrong. From what I have seen, I'll bet 95% of people do not set them up right.
The noise was intermittent. When started it made the noise, then it didn't, then it did and won't stop making the noise. Motor ran fine in the yellow cat when pulled. I did change the dizzy out but it was stabbed properly. I did prime the motor by hooking the drill up to the oil pump shaft with my homemade adapter and turning it counterclockwise.
I made a thread about this over at the horse and pony show website: (wrong choice I know)
http://forums.corral.net/forums/showthread.php?t=1248841 (http://"http://forums.corral.net/forums/showthread.php?t=1248841")
(http://forums.corral.net/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=55948&d=1283192281)
All I wanted to know was if the lifters and dog bone were supposed to travel this far. I didn't ask the right questions or something, maybe I should have asked if I could take off the heads and reuse the gaskets and the bolts. Then I'd get a bunch of ppl there to help.
Clarifying the noise you are hearing would be helpful: It's a clatter from the valve train? Or aren't you sure?
If it's valve train noise, here are some things to try. If it's something else, more information is needed.
Clatter from the valve train can be tracked down without pulling the heads. But the valve covers will have to come off. You need to check the clearance on each rocker. Check each one individually with the lifter on the cam base circle (not on the lobe). If there something wrong you'll know it because there will be excessive clearance. It's possible you may have a loose rocker, a bent push rod, collapsed lifter, broken valve spring, broken rocker stud/bolt or even a broken lifter roller (highly unlikely).
The pics only tell me that it appears you have the dog bones and spyder installed correctly.
If you have a collapsed lifter, the heads don't need to be pulled to replace it, you can get them all out with the heads on (though some of them can take some tinkering).
BTW, getting a response on the other site in a matter of hours may not be a realistic expectation...
From my attempts at determining the noise I'd say it's valve train noise. It made the noise on startup, then I let it warm up and it went away, then it came back and never left. I could not determine the side that the noise was coming from but it sounded very loud like a rod knock that was consistent with engine RPM.
If it's valve train and it was really loud, it'll be easy to find! There will be at least one really loose rocker. Once you locate it, then it'll be a matter of determining which problem you have.
I have no idea on your level of experience, but checking the valve train is a good place to start. I have seen many different causes for a knocking or clattering noise on the first start up. The key is to have a methodical diagnostic process and not make assumptions (which can cause you to take things apart which aren't the problem).
I'll check in with you tomorrow. Let us know what you find.
PS- Everyone don't be too sad for that yellow cougar, not only did it give life to Blu's tbird, it gave it's header panel to fix my wrecked cat:
The yellow cat was a cool cat indeed. However I'm no Daminc when it comes to to fixing rusted strut towers and such. I'll be lucky to get this beast on the road before it's to cold to ride the bike. (which is my only mode of transportation at the moment. Cow-gone take me away!
Blu - I don't think the dogbones are supposed to come off the surface of the block. It appears that your lifters are too tall or the lifter cylinders too short. Is that an XXX block (roller cam block)? Something definitely is not right there.
Here is a picture of the standard Ford 5.0 roller lifters...
(http://i71.photobucket.com/albums/i153/jdschrader/100_3177.jpg)
It looks like from your other thread that the lifters you're using may be too tall? Don't go pulling the engine apart. This is your issue. Just got to get the lifter situation figured out.
She sounded so good when she was running right. I can't wait to get this thing mobile. I need a cure to this bad scratch fever.
Update time. With pics. Motor is all cleaned up and awaiting the new head gaskets that should be here after 4pm. Time is going to move quickly now. Gotta get this thing running. Was hoping for a high lift cam and a blow thru carb on it. Maybe if I find the right intake and carb. Then a quick trip to JEGs could net good results. Going to stick with the stock roller lifters and dogbones. Figure it's good enough. :P Sooooooo. Onto the pics I guess.
-NNY
Moar!
"Can you feel the pulse? Can you feel the heat rising from below? Can you feel the energy? It's gaining strength, oh so slowly. But I'll wait."
-AFI
Uh oh!
http://columbus.craigslist.org/pts/1881985688.html (http://"http://columbus.craigslist.org/pts/1881985688.html")
http://columbus.craigslist.org/pts/1942037369.html (http://"http://columbus.craigslist.org/pts/1942037369.html")
Is that a roller block ? I don't see the mounting holes for the spider that holds down the dog bones .
And I could be mistaken but I think stock roller lifters are to tall for some non roller blocks .
Correct. This is not a roller block but was drilled and tapped for the spider hold down. I'm going to put it back together and run it with the stock roller lifters and dog bones. Nothing like doing it all wrong...
Just arranged for pickup of the 800 double pumper and the super vic jr. intake. head gaskets are in. Gotta order a bunch of stuff now. Maybe custom cam???? I need info of a good high lift cam under .600 at .50. Well I hope this isn't in over my head but I'm going to go for it. Maybe order linked lifters. I found them for 230ish. Might as well. Roller rockers? 1.7?
Edit: Valve springs are going to be the weak link. Does anyone know a cheap partnumber for some hydraulic roller cam valve springs. 140lb seat maybe 350lb open? I'm guessing there.
Am I crazy? Claude!
JMHO , I think you should take a step back and decide what your goals are with this car .
How are you going to use it ? road race car, drag racer , street bruiser?
The engine needs to be built according to the end result you are shooting for , it's all about the combination of parts and the camshaft is probably the most important part in the equation .
Some people will tell you that dual plane intakes are the way to go , others will tell you they are useless .
I think it depends on many factors , there are some people that will tell you there is only one "right" way to do it.
I say YOU have to decide what is "right " for you :D
So far I'm putting this back together with the EFI intake, unless I can utilize the 7322 cam that's in it with the 800 carb and vic jr. Then I'm going to pick up a roller 302 block with forged internals and start building that one with the cam, and eventually swap the heads to that motor and maybe spray it. By that time hopefully all the bugs are worked out of the drivetrain and chassis. Maybe upgrade some parts like the caster camber plates, shocks struts all the way around and most definetly the system. Cruising real slow so the chicks can notice is the end result/goal. Moar pics very, very soon. Watching paint dry.
UPDATE: She is running... Has an oil leak that needs addressed but other than that kept around 180 degrees the whole time and everything seems pretty good. Almost roadworthy.
(http://www.nnysite.com/pics/tbird/onherown/onherown.jpg)
(http://www.nnysite.com/pics/tbird/onherown/onherown(2).jpg)
(http://www.nnysite.com/pics/tbird/onherown/onherown(3).jpg)
(http://www.nnysite.com/pics/tbird/onherown/onherown(4).jpg)
Glad to hear it's running
I ended up having it back together and then had to take the front timing cover off cause of a coolant leak. Then just now got it all back together and I have an oil leak. Once these bugs are worked out it's going to be awesome. Got a hood pin kit to go install and an oil leak to fix. Plus all the interior pieces and stereo system install. The tach did work but it was off a few k. Need to work with that and tweak it. For now running with spout in. Going to get some videos put together soon. And hopefully a coat of primer.
http://www.nnysite.com/pics/tbird/onherown/teaser.MOV
Must have quicktime installed to watch it. 4 mb. 5 second video. Gonna buy quick time pro tomorrow so I can edit these movies and convert them to a wmv file or something.
http://www.nnysite.com/pics/tbird/teaser.avi
http://www.nnysite.com/pics/tbird/1stwalk.avi (http://"http://www.nnysite.com/pics/tbird/1stwalk.avi")
That is a 6mb .avi file of a walk around of the bird. sorry about the leaf blower noise. neighbor does that for about 5 hours a day...
I got some web hosting stuff setup so hopefully you guys will enjoy my efforts.
http://www.nnysite.com/pics/tbird/ohyeah/index.html (http://"http://www.nnysite.com/pics/tbird/ohyeah/index.html")
(http://www.nnysite.com/pics/tbird/ohyeah/images/blurrypics.jpg)
(http://www.nnysite.com/pics/tbird/ohyeah/images/blurrypics%20%285%29.jpg)
not sure if you mentioned it or not, but who made that hood on your car? I'm in the market for a hood
Just curious, what happened to the 2.3?
It was beyond dead when I originally bought the car.
Right here buddy! Been a busy one recently. Worked 70 hours a week for 2 months and before that I hadn't had a 5 day work week since March! I'll be up asap but I've been working in Gallipolis! Long drive :mad:
This makes me grin from ear to ear to hear you have that car running with that beast of an engine! Can't wait to come up!
She's in for service. Bucking and jerking issue.