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General => Lounge => Topic started by: thunderjet302 on July 03, 2005, 11:11:49 PM

Title: Odd cars to hot rod
Post by: thunderjet302 on July 03, 2005, 11:11:49 PM
Have you guys ever had the urge to hot rod a car that usually isn't considered modification worthy? I was sitting at a stop light the other day and a late 80s-early 90s Crown Vic stoped next to me. I thought wouldn't it be cool to drop a 460 with Ford racing aluminium Cobra Jet heads and a C6 in there. I'de leave the body and rims completly stock. I think it would make the ultimate sleaper.

I've also had a couple of other strange cars I'de like to modify.

Mid to late 80s Dodge Diplomat. Stuff a 440 Six Pack and a 727 Torque Flight. Leave the wire wheels on the car too ;) .

Early 1980 Oldmobile Delta 88. My grandparents used to have one that was cream with a gold vinal top and a gold cloth interior. I've had thoughts about puting a 455 Olds backed by a turbo 400 in one. I'de also put a set of Olds Ralley wheels on it and call it a "Rocket 88" :hick: .

So you guys have any strange cars you'de like to modify?
Title: Re: Odd cars to hot rod
Post by: Clayton on July 03, 2005, 11:29:51 PM
a 86 ranger with either a 2.3L T or a 390 HI-PO backed by a 5spd of some sort.... ford 9"
Mazda Miata- 460 w/supercharger---------woah wouldnt that be fun?

adding a supercharger to my sisters probe ;) :D

dodge shadow- can anyone say hemi?

96 dodge dakota------hemi

80's daytona with a 440 6-pak

buick lesabre- with a 454

and last but not least a smart car with a 460 :evilgrin:
Title: Re: Odd cars to hot rod
Post by: Tbird232ci on July 03, 2005, 11:35:02 PM
none of the stuff mentioned is odd, and most of it ive already seen, or seen something similar

1fstcat has a crown vie he stuffed a 460 in
Title: Re: Odd cars to hot rod
Post by: 87cougar347 on July 04, 2005, 12:24:41 AM
the old ltd2's would be great to do that to also, put a 390 into that little car :tg:
Title: Re: Odd cars to hot rod
Post by: Haystack on July 04, 2005, 12:29:59 AM
some of the crown vics (or should I say lots) had the 351 factory. It would be easy to just swap it out with mustang 351 parts. I always wanted to pimp out my dads crown vic station wagon. Add more chrome, jet black, big assed blower/supercharger sticking out of the hood and a wheelie bar just for effect. and of course the obligatory flames down both sides.
Title: Re: Odd cars to hot rod
Post by: Tbird232ci on July 04, 2005, 12:38:04 AM
not the 80's-90's cars, the best ive seen them get is a 5.0 SO, i could be wrong, and if i am, id like to see info just so i know whats up, but ive heard about MANY guys doing HO swaps because they all got the SO
Title: Re: Odd cars to hot rod
Post by: Haystack on July 04, 2005, 12:58:12 AM
they are so's. I ment to sup it up. Its the same as an 86-88 cougar in most cases. I am sure that they came with the 351's. The only diffrence between a cougar engine is the fuel rails mount backwards makeing it difficult to convert it to the mustang style intake. It uses the drivers side intake thingy like trucks do.
Title: Re: Odd cars to hot rod
Post by: nitroracer on July 04, 2005, 01:19:53 AM
I have a HO swap done to the 5.0L in my grand marquis, it is a fairly popular mod as long as your willing to get dirty.  The parts are cheap and plentiful from mustang boards and the cars are cheap because old people lose the abiltity to drive.
Title: Re: Odd cars to hot rod
Post by: MasterBlaster on July 04, 2005, 07:39:59 AM
Quote
the old ltd2's would be great to do that to also, put a 390 into that little car
Little? The II's were the 5000lb behemoths made up to 1979 or so, then just called LTD for a couple of years before the Fox LTD version came out and the biggies became Crown Victorias.

Maybe a nice 5.0 or Turbo wagooon?
Not particularly "odd", but they only came with the 3.8 V6.
.
Title: Re: Odd cars to hot rod
Post by: cougarman on July 04, 2005, 07:57:05 AM
Quote
Odd cars to hot rod

Hey, I thought that's what we all doing?  j/k  :flip:
taking a luxury style car , and modifying them. :D
Title: Re: Odd cars to hot rod
Post by: amooset on July 04, 2005, 08:53:30 AM
I always wanted to hot rod my moms old amc hornet wagon.
Title: Re: Odd cars to hot rod
Post by: 5.0willgo on July 04, 2005, 08:57:38 AM
Quote from: cougarman
Hey, I thought that's what we all doing?  j/k  :flip:
taking a luxury style car , and modifying them. :D


Actually I think this to be kind of true. When you think of a car to modify, a Cougar or T-bird isn't first that comes to mind.

There's a guy around here with a Lincoln Town Car.
I've seen this thing at a few shows and it's just wild.
(http://www.dssracing.com/images/joegerstcar.jpg)
http://www.dssracing.com/customercars.html
http://gerperformance.com/ford.htm
Title: Re: Odd cars to hot rod
Post by: Ifixyawata on July 04, 2005, 11:27:23 AM
Quote from: MasterBlaster

Not particularly "odd", but they only came with the 3.8 V6.
.


Unless it was a sporty LX model or a police version, in which case they got the 5.0 HO. I've also heard of them having a 2.3 but I've never seen one.  Oh, and I've seen one or two with a 200 I6.
Title: Re: Odd cars to hot rod
Post by: Thunder Chicken on July 04, 2005, 11:36:23 AM
I'm pretty sure the Crown Vic came with a 351 in the late 80's, but only police versions

I wanna hot rod a Volvo 7 or 9 series wagon. You can buy kits to drop a 5.0/T5 combo into one...
Title: Re: Odd cars to hot rod
Post by: Ifixyawata on July 04, 2005, 11:38:22 AM
The early 80's Crown Vics had a 351 optional on civilian cars, too I think. Not very common, though.
Title: Re: Odd cars to hot rod
Post by: thunderjet302 on July 04, 2005, 12:55:41 PM
So I'm not the only crazy one eh? I just love the idea of taking older cars that no one thinks is fast leaving the appearance as close to stock as possible and modifying/stuffing in a bigger engine. I think that it gives ya cover from the cops and who would suspect something like a stock looking Dodge Diplomat to be fast? Of course the Bird is doing a good job of surprising people. I don't street race it but when I take off from a light and the pipes start to rumble people tend to notice it.
Title: Re: Odd cars to hot rod
Post by: oldraven on July 04, 2005, 01:56:26 PM
I was thinking last night about putting a 60's Hippie van body on a new Eurovan/Transporter chassis. Some things I've wanted to do in the past are, ripping the body and every other weight adding piece out of a 90's Subaru Justy to build an off roader out of. I mean like a dune buggy, not a rock crawler. Some mud flares and a bit of fibreglass to keep it from looking like....... well, an hacked up Subaru. And the turbo'd VW Fox is still rattling around in my head from time to time, as a winter beater.

Still planing on that mid engine SBC Corvair, though.
Title: Re: Odd cars to hot rod
Post by: Cad-T-Bird 500 on July 04, 2005, 02:51:40 PM
How about the Zephyr or Farimont of the late 70's early 80's.  They were fox based.  The 2 doors looked kind of nice but the four doors would make a perfect sleeper.

A Cadillac 500 would go right in for a low 3000 pound hot rod.  All the best parts from the Mustang would go right on.

Happy 4th.,

TED
Title: Re: Odd cars to hot rod
Post by: oldraven on July 04, 2005, 03:21:22 PM
BTW, thanks for spelling it 'sleeper', Cad-T-Bird 500. I don't know about the rest of you, but when I hit the sack, I don't 'sleap'. ;)
Title: Re: Odd cars to hot rod
Post by: Bird351 on July 04, 2005, 03:35:13 PM
A Caddy engine is the second to last thing I would want to put in a Fairmont/Zephyr. (the last thing being a Chevy engine) I would, however, love to build up a Fairmont/Zephyr. Some of us have had several discussions about it.. things like a 2.3T swap, or hacking a turbo onto a 200 or 250 I6, or a late 90s Mustang V6, or anything of the kind. Being that it's probably the lightest Fox body, personally I would want to exploit that and pick something light and efficient but still reasonably powerful. Something that moved as well as or better than my Mark VII, was just as fun or more fun to drive, got a lot better mileage, and didn't get bothered by every other punk kid on the street with something to prove. (I hate showoffs and wanna-be racers trying to impress me when I'm out driving.. and I don't race. They actually tried more stuff with my T-bird, but now I think they see the Lincoln and dismiss it as a luxury car.. so I can drive in peace. I'd want a Fairmont/Zephyr that similarly flew under the radar, so to speak)

Hmmm.. SC 3.8 swap into a 4-door Zephyr.. there's another oddball to add to the list.
Title: Re: Odd cars to hot rod
Post by: TurboCoupe50 on July 04, 2005, 05:06:41 PM
Awwww comon Ben, the 472-500cu in Caddys are cool. I remember a ariticle in Hot Rod(Caddy Hack) where they demonstrated the increased preformance by cutting weight vs adding HP. They started out with a '70 Elderado weighing something like 7000 lbs(added a bunch of weight)running 17s to finally running low 13s by cutting it down around 2900 lbs(just about what a Fairmont would weigh). Thats as good as my car....

Speaking of Fairmonts in the early '80s(this was wayyy before the 5.0 Stang craze) one showed up at a Shelby Club open track event with a real Boss 302 in it. The guy had built it right, it would cruse effortlessly at 120mph, and was so quick the stockish street Shelbys couldn't keep up with it. Also there used to be a Fairmont making the car shows in the early 90s that had the SOHC 427 in it. While I'm a fan of the Futuras, I could have thought of something better to do with that cammer 427...
Title: Re: Odd cars to hot rod
Post by: Bird351 on July 04, 2005, 05:26:34 PM
Never said the Caddy engines were bad. Hell, I almost bought a mid-70s Caddy w/ a 500 once, long ago. I just wouldn't put one in a Ford. Yes, I'm one of those "Ford body, Ford engine" types.

Yeah, a cammer is a pretty awesome engine, and sort of a shame to be "slumming" in a Fairmont/Zephyr.. but just think, if he ever grenaded it, he could at least use the timing chain as a hula hoop. :p
Title: Re: Odd cars to hot rod
Post by: V8Demon on July 04, 2005, 08:31:45 PM
Quote
remember a ariticle in Hot Rod(Caddy Hack) where they demonstrated the increased preformance by cutting weight vs adding HP.


Thanks tom....I feel old enough (everything hurts today)

Anyway how about a late 70's Olds Regency
Title: Re: Odd cars to hot rod
Post by: MasterBlaster on July 05, 2005, 07:50:39 AM
Quote
Unless it was a sporty LX model or a police version
Not the wagons though. Momsy had an ex-police 5.0 model until it got too rusty. Then she switched to a Taurus wagon.  :disappoin
Of course, for the last bunch of years wagons have been the "in" car to do (at least in Chevy circles, with 80's Malibus, Cutlass Cruisers, etc) so EVERYone has one..
Quote
Also there used to be a Fairmont making the car shows in the early 90s that had the SOHC 427 in it.
I bet it looks like this:
http://fzliterature.150m.com/M&FJune2k101.html  360kb !! (http://fzliterature.150m.com/M&FJune2k101.html)
http://fzliterature.150m.com/M&FJune2k102.html  360kb !! (http://fzliterature.150m.com/M&FJune2k102.html)
Title: Re: Odd cars to hot rod
Post by: cougarman on July 05, 2005, 08:30:19 AM
Quote
bet it looks like this:

 Nice!!!!!!!!!!!! :bowdown:  :bowdown:
Title: Re: Odd cars to hot rod
Post by: TurboCoupe50 on July 05, 2005, 09:17:32 AM
Quote from: MasterBlaster
I bet it looks like this:


Yup thats the one.....
Title: Re: Odd cars to hot rod
Post by: Funky Cricket on July 05, 2005, 01:58:42 PM
i wanted to put a SC engine in my 87? rwd areostar. (can't remember the year to save my life now..) man i liked that van...

and i had a capri rs with a 200 inline 6.. and wanted to work with the 6, but alas the body was lost to the rust gods before i could save it.
Title: Re: Odd cars to hot rod
Post by: doodaa on July 05, 2005, 03:20:27 PM
Quote from: Bird351
...Hmmm.. SC 3.8 swap into a 4-door Zephyr.. there's another oddball to add to the list.


Beat me to it, only I want to do it into a Z7. Not quite a sleeper but if the paint scheme was silver and rust like my old one.... Know where I can find one? I've got the SC engine. :)
Title: Re: Odd cars to hot rod
Post by: Bird351 on July 05, 2005, 05:33:27 PM
Speaking of odd cars and Fairmonts.. just saw a Fairmont Ranchero today. Seems like I see a different Ranchero every week now, after not having seen any of them for years.. and today's just happened to be a white and blue Fairmont. 4 headlights, Futura B-pillar, etc.
Title: Re: Odd cars to hot rod
Post by: 88turbo on July 05, 2005, 07:04:54 PM
Quote from: 87cougar347
the old ltd2's would be great to do that to also, put a 390 into that little car :tg:


little car?  LTD2's were quite big.....
Title: Re: Odd cars to hot rod
Post by: cougarman on July 05, 2005, 07:21:13 PM
Here's an LTD II.  :D
Title: Re: Odd cars to hot rod
Post by: Cad-T-Bird 500 on July 09, 2005, 09:29:17 AM
This one gets my vote, 82 Cougar Station Wagon, and it's for sale!

http://www.foxtbirdcougarforums.com/showthread.php?t=3406

TED
Title: Re: Odd cars to hot rod
Post by: RTStabler51 on July 10, 2005, 12:28:01 AM
If I ever ran into a pot of money I've always wanted to take a 83-92 Camaro and put a Ford drivetrain under neath it and grow a mullet :-)
Title: Re: Odd cars to hot rod
Post by: 50tbrd88 on July 14, 2005, 02:28:28 PM
Quote
Early 1980 Oldmobile Delta 88. My grandparents used to have one that was cream with a gold vinal top and a gold cloth interior. I've had thoughts about puting a 455 Olds backed by a turbo 400 in one. I'de also put a set of Olds Ralley wheels on it and call it a "Rocket 88"  .


My first car was an '81 Olds Delta four door.  The car was originally a diesel but someone had yanked that out and dropped in a 403 Pontiac Trans Am motor.  The car was a tank but man would it ever light the tires.  I have some burnout pics maybe I'll post em
Title: Re: Odd cars to hot rod
Post by: TurboCoupe50 on July 14, 2005, 03:30:40 PM
Quote from: 50tbrd88
and dropped in a 403 Pontiac Trans Am motor. 


Yea the Trans Am did have a 403, but it was a Olds engine. GM started installing those in the Fire Chickens after production ended on the 400 Pontiac engine.
Title: Re: Odd cars to hot rod
Post by: 50tbrd88 on July 14, 2005, 07:12:34 PM
Quote
Yea the Trans Am did have a 403, but it was a Olds engine. GM started installing those in the Fire Chickens after production ended on the 400 Pontiac engine.


Yeah but it just sounds cool to tell people that it came out of a T/A.