Fox T-Bird/Cougar Forums

First off I wanna say hi to all t-bird/cougar lovers out there,I just recently acquired an 87 t-bird that is non h.o :( ,but decided to try n mod anyway.. I have another 302 roller motor I've been working on that has Gt40 tubular intake,ported gt40 cast iron heads/trickflow springs, Tfs1 cam,bbk long tubes,Paxton old school sn2000,n t5 tranny on my budget at the moment.. My questions are being that I'm sd n not h.o can i still do Maf conv. the same as for the h.o or am I in a pickle here? I'm no electrical guru but I get an basic understanding. Also to do the t5 swap would it be better just to find a turbo coupe or stick to my gun here? I've done alittle research n my understanding is that i would need a T C for rear anyway now do to the fact that the tc I have my eye on is manual could I just rip harness out of this one , do swap on tc ,do Maf conv. n be done or just try to build this one?.. Thanks to anyone who takes the time to read this post and any advise is greatly appreciated I Luv these cars:burnout:

Lets see.....You will need the Mass Air conversion done to your car. Here are a couple of options....

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Ford-Mustang-EFI-5-0L-5-8L-Mass-Air-Conversion-Pigtail-/251322916277?pt=Motors_Car_Truck_Parts_Accessories&hash=item3a84035db5&vxp=mtr

http://www.ebay.com/itm/86-88-FORD-MUSTANG-5-0L-MASS-AIR-CONVERSION-KIT-FORD-LINCOLN-MERCURY-/301029848855?pt=Motors_Car_Truck_Parts_Accessories&hash=item4616c6f717&vxp=mtr

You will need the harness (add tow wires, move two wires, tap in to two wires). The first kit has the easy to follow instructions. The plug to the computer has a lot of pins, and the instructions show you exactly what to do. You will also need the air intake, and computer. The second kit I posted has everything. The computers alone aren't as cheap as they used to be. Shopping around may save you a few dollars.

If you're running a Super Charger, you may want to step it up on injectors which would require a Mass Air meter matched to the appropriate injectors.

Once you get the Mass Air swap done, you will need to remove the vacuum tube from the MAP sensor on the firewall.

As far as a 5 speed swap. You need the pedal assembly from a Fox Body Mustang. Actually, the whole 5 speed assembly, transmission and all (quadrant, cable, bell housing, flywheel, clutch, block plate, fasteners), are a direct bolt in for the Thunderbird. Although if your car was not equipped with a factory floor shifter, you will need to cut a hole in your floor. Mine is a Sport model, so, factory shifter in the floor. The trans mount, crossmember, and driveshaft can all be re-used.

The rear end can come from a Turbo Coupe. You'll need the parking brake cables, and to get the right proportioning valve and possibly a Master cylinder. If you want to go 5 lug, an SN-95 Mustang is a good donor for the front and rear suspension.

You'll also need an EEC such as an A9L, and after you get the whole combo where it runs and drives, the best thing would be to take it to someone who works on Mustangs and other 5.0 Fords with forced induction (as opposed to some random "tuner/builder" type) and have at least one, and preferably 2 or 3 tunes burnt to a flip chip, so if you want to or have to run lower octane gas, you won't melt a piston or valve.

And, with that kind of power, don't use a 2.3 T5, step right up to the V8 version, and have that thing worked over some too, steel retainer, updated syncs, hardened input, etc.

That's the basics, after that, once the parts that make the power are burnin' and turnin', you'll want subframe connectors, tubular rear upper and lower control arms, heavier duty shocks, rear gear change (with a T5, I wouldn't go over 3.73 unless you have some massive tires under the back, with an AOD it's pretty normal and effective for 4.11)

use your existing wiring and then upgrade the fuel pump. you don't need to replace the rear end, but you will want to add mass air with that cam. its really not hard to do.

id also upgrade the fuel pump. any v-8 t-5 works and bolts in like factory. I used a 99+ v-6 t-5 and re used almost everything. stock crossmember swapped right on, as did the bell housing bolts.

I have one but I think it's for a 95gt or cobra dunno if i should try to tackle with that or try to find 89-90 5sp EEC-IV

What injectors could I start out with for cam because I want to give the engine a little break in before I just mount the charger n go like 36-46 lb injectors

Thank u guys for input ,will keep u guys posted n try to post picks when I can

For your car, with speed density and a manual trans, you'll want a DA1, for massa air and manual, A9L.

The newer EEC *may* work, but the newer cars also had other stuff, airbags, extra sensors and whatnot, so I can't tell you with 100% certainty those will work. A Cobra EEC probably won't anyway, as they 24# injectors (for 1993, unsure of the 1995 without looking in my notes) and unless you have the setup to require the higher flow injectors, you'll run pig rich with a Cobra EEC.
;)

i have a 5 speed in my Bird and use an A9P. Works great, no issues.

^That. You CAN use an A9P (the AOD/5.0 eec) with a T5, but a lot of folks say you can't or shouldn't use the A9L with an auto trans. Personally, have never seen it or done it, so no first hand experience. If in doubt, and you have a T5 though, A9p, A9l will work no problems,

Well thanks guys, it's just that I'm in Houston n can't find a9l, does any one have one close or for a good deal n a Maf calibrated for 24s or larger

http://www.corral.net

Lots of guys over there selling stuff, there's also ebay, but I'd rather help out another Ford guy than give money to effing paypal.

Over the years I've gotten some good parts from folks there (corral)...in fact, believe I picked up my A9L from a seller there for my Bird.

I just left the Houston area a couple of months ago and this is the local Mustang forum there with a bunch of great guys on it:

http://www.westsidemustangs.com/forum.php

There is a San Antonio forum as well that I have bought parts off of in the past and they are a good bunch of guys too:

http://www.lonestarstangs.com/forums/san-antonio-mustang-forum.7/

Then there is the Dallas/Ft. Worth site that is always good for parts as well:

http://www.dfwstangs.net/

You should be able to find everything that you need on these sites and if you cannot then the Corral is always a good place to hit up as well as Stangnet.

Darren

Thanks again guys, y'all have really been helpful, I thought I'd get bashed for being a noob but this really makes me feel welcome,and I'll be sure to check out the forms mentioned :D

Everybody is new at some time. Gotta start somewhere. Welcome and glad your here.

Well guys i oppted to take supercharger off for now until i can get this thing running, i got the al9 ,maf n injectors calibrated the same,30s or 40s ,bbk throttlebody ,adjustable fuel reg. n went to my buddies junk yard for the maf pig tail. I tried to follow this pdf picture i saw but no luck.:wtf:it took me a bit to figure out that i needed to reconnect neutral safety switch on transmission (lol)for the five speed swap, but i think ive done some thing wrong because i have no mid pipes at the moment n when i try to start it will spit fuel out of shorty n i get a small fire lol. My timing is zeroed out , i left tbirds firing order 1-5-ect... Idk if i followed the right pdf for maf for our cars, so please if anyone can understand my jibberish n point me in the right direction that would be awesome thanks

Ok, so did you change the cam to an HO cam, or aftermarket Mustang?

If so, you need to route your plug wires in the same order as the HO engine...also, when you timed it, did you pull the SPOUT connector out? (little black doo-dad on the distributor harness-should have a gray piece sticking out of a slightly larger black piece. pull that gray piece out, set timing, reinstall gray piece. done)

If all that's in order, what size injectors and what mass air meter do you have. These things are pretty easy to work on, but sometimes, it happens that the wrong parts are put in somewhere and it throws a few things out of wack. My guess is the plug wires are still on an SO firing order, but you've now got the HO (or other cam's) firing order without the plug wires being re-routed.

HTH.

Yes thats it, someone mentioned to me before that i needed mas air for tfs1 cam ,but i needed to retain tbirds non ho firing order n just let computer adjust ,ill try ho firing , can any one get me the instructions for the maf plug to make sure i didnt mess up there or follow the wrong advise, ive been looking but cant find anything thanks

LOL, whoever told you that the eec controls the firing order is a 'tard. DOn't go back to them! The cam determines the firing order. ;)

... the cam injectors and computer are all designed to work together. the eec had direct pin outs of the fuel injectors. it fires them based on which computer you.have.

the only wires that need swapped around are the spark plugs.

http://www.coolcats.net/modifying/massair.html

mass air walj through.

OP, just go to oldfuelinjection.com and that will explain the hows and whys.

Old fuel injections site has been down for a few weeks

Well thanks to all u guys , i got it started :rollin: definite rep up , but im gettin some misses , so im gonna swap tfi n dizzy tomorrow to see if that helps , if not ill be rippin off heads to make sure valves are seating, its getting there though. One more question, on the ecu harness i believe we have to swap pin 11 to 32 n pin 51 to 38 , now what left me lost is that u can switch 51 to 38 ,but there isnt a pin in 11 but a pin already in 32:wtf:so i didnt do pin swap having fear that i might fry somthing, do i really need to?

Unless you did some crazy mods, you should not have to change any pinouts on the wiring. You WOULD have to add in some for the mass air conversion, but unless you were using an unaltered and undamaged V8 engine harness native to your year car, you shouldn't have to change anything.

Hmmmm.....