Coupla odd Fox Cat/Bird sightings... March 16, 2006, 11:38:35 PM Today, at the salvage yard that I work at, while I was pulling some parts for a few customers, I took a reallll good long look at the possible donor(s) for my V8 swap..One is an '87 Cougar, trim level unknown, the wierd thing is, it has the base interior, niether seat is power, but does have power locks and windows. It has the smooth brake drums, which I gather are the 10 inchers..? It also looks like an 8.8-not sure, what would the axle code on the door read as for this combo-I wasn't able to get under it to read the axle tag...The Thunderbird is also an '87, and also has the same brakes the Cougar has, I guess it's a sport, havn't read the vin tag, but will soon as I get near it again. Has base/lx door panels, full console, drivers power seat, power locks, power windows, TC style rear seat, and the rear courtesy lamps, also has the digi. cluster, and that's about it, except it's trashed to beat all hell.Bad thing is, the cougar has NOT been wrcked, so I'm leaning towards that it's engine may be bad, and transmissions are gone out of every one of about 7-10 Fox body Cat/Birds.There's only 3 '87-'88 cars, the 2 V8, and 1 V6.The Cougar has a decent interior, the V8 Bird is, well, purely shiznit, and the V6 Bird is, well, shiznitty too.All the rest are 84-86 in year, and are fairly beat on, and rather rusted, and are probably gonne get crushed...At least I saved the TC, but have no title, so it's parts only, pretty much.If the axle(s) is/are indeed an 8.8 with 10" drums, should I get a price on em, and if it isn't too bad, get em??? Quote Selected
Coupla odd Fox Cat/Bird sightings... Reply #1 – March 17, 2006, 09:13:28 AM If the '87 Cougar has an 8.8 rear, it was swapped in. The smoothie brakes are indeed the bigger ones. It is not uncommon for the 7.5" rear equipped V8 cars to have the 10 inch brakes from the factory (mine did) You'd be surprised what is done to junkyard cars. I found an '83 Mustang 5.0 with a full roller motor and 650 CFM carb in the yard not too far from me. Too bad it was a victim of an electrical fire. QuoteIf the axle(s) is/are indeed an 8.8 with 10" drums, should I get a price on em, and if it isn't too bad, get em???Yes. Quote Selected
Coupla odd Fox Cat/Bird sightings... Reply #2 – March 17, 2006, 10:02:42 PM Didn't get a chance to look at em again today, was pulling 3.0 engines out of Taurus's all day...I DID take a quick gander Thursday at the axle in the Cougar, it sorta looked like an 8.8, but at this point I'm not going to say that it actually IS an 8.8...It des have a real thin swaybar on it, I will for sure check it out tommorow, if I have to go on my lunch break, will finally verify which one it really is.And one last question; the 10" drum brakes, are the brake shoes hard to find, or are they fairly available, at a decent price? Quote Selected
Coupla odd Fox Cat/Bird sightings... Reply #3 – March 17, 2006, 10:10:23 PM The 10" shoes should be fairly common. I think I paid about $25 for a set for my car.I sometimes wonder if 10" brakes are actually more common than the 9" brakes - of the three non-TC 87-88 cars I've had only the Cougar had the 9" drums Quote Selected
Coupla odd Fox Cat/Bird sightings... Reply #4 – March 17, 2006, 10:32:34 PM My LX has 10" rear brakes. Seems to me that most of the V8 cars were fairly loaded so they seem to have 10" drums. The strippo V6 base cars seem to be the ones with the 9" drums. Quote Selected
Coupla odd Fox Cat/Bird sightings... Reply #5 – March 18, 2006, 09:23:06 AM my base 86 cougar, only options being 5.0 and electronic dash not even a passenger mirror, has the 10 inch rear brakes. I figure it dosent have the towing package cause theres not 4 link setup. Quote Selected
Coupla odd Fox Cat/Bird sightings... Reply #6 – March 18, 2006, 02:39:21 PM Well, like Paul said, the axle in the Cougar is in deed a 7.5, I pulled the tag off of it this morning, while I did my 4 hours of OT.The rear in the Tbird I don't know about yet, but I'd suspect it to be a 7.5 as well, since it's also an '87.The only '88 Fox Bird he had was the TC that I finally finagled him out of a coupla weeks ago...and it came from Kansas City... Quote Selected
Coupla odd Fox Cat/Bird sightings... Reply #7 – March 19, 2006, 09:34:40 AM Quotebut I'd suspect it to be a 7.5 as wellDidn't I post a picture of the cover gaskets a week or two ago?Single bolt by the axle tubes = 8.8Two bolts by the axle tubes = 7.5 Quote Selected
Coupla odd Fox Cat/Bird sightings... Reply #8 – March 19, 2006, 01:38:25 PM yeah, you did post pics of that, but the T'bird is sitting, with just wheels, no tires, and is sunk in the ground, the only way I was able to even tell which brakes it had was to stick one finger in the hole in the wheel, and feel the brake drum....The cougar was a bit easier, but I still wasn't able to see the differential itself, but I could reach up under it to snag the axle tag... Quote Selected
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