Added another Fox to the fleet - 1985 Marquis LTS

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Re: Added another Fox to the fleet - 1985 Marquis LTS

Reply #60 – October 20, 2025, 11:14:55 PM

Looking good Chuck! Talk about a huge change under the hood and it should be a good power plant until you decide to do something else or not.

Re: Added another Fox to the fleet - 1985 Marquis LTS

Reply #61 – October 26, 2025, 10:13:58 PM

Limited time the past few days, but I did get a little time today to get the valve covers, distributor, and injectors installed.

Other than the rear main seal, the engine is ready to drop back in. The only other item that needs to be tended to is to replace the trans filter.
Hopefully next weekend I'll have some time to get that accomplished.

Re: Added another Fox to the fleet - 1985 Marquis LTS

Reply #62 – November 01, 2025, 06:55:50 PM

Got time to work today.

One of the firsts tasks was to get the RM seal replaced. Made use of my install tool. It took almost nothing to get the old seal out.

Got the trans filter replaced and got things back together again.

While I was prepping to move things into place, I found this. A busted PS cooler line.

*sigh* Guess it's good I found it now, instead of after I filled the system up.

That wasn't going to stop me from my goal for the day, however.

All bolted down, so now to finish up the rest of the stuff.

Re: Added another Fox to the fleet - 1985 Marquis LTS

Reply #63 – November 09, 2025, 06:18:48 PM

No time to get on this until today. Of course it's the day the weather decided to take a turn and get cold and blustery.

I needed to get the driveshaft back into the car, but I needed to replace the u-joints first. During the RnR of the U-joints. One of the balance weights got knocked off of the shaft, so I welded it back on.

Got that knocked out and got the unit back into the car.

I did pick up a new rear sway bar for the car too, so I got that swapped in while I had things up for the driveshaft install. Went with a 24mm one over the 21mm that was in there. The 21mm will wind up on the wagon. (Unless I buy another larger one for it

)

The next, tedious task was to replace the bad trans cooler lines. Which took much longer than it needed to. Just used a Classic Tube set.

By this time, the temps had dropped quite a bit, so I was done for the day.

Following up on the throttle body spacer clearances.

With the thinner aftermarket spacer, it clears the valve covers and such just fine. What doesn't clear is the throttle cable bracket.
It hits the FPR on the rail. I'm probably going to just go back with a modified stock EGR spacer instead. It'll give me the clearances I need.

I need to get back under the car and reinstall the shift cable and the the TV cable.

I've also made the decision to just mod the stock Y-pipe to fit the factory headers and build the new Y-pipe later. Not what I wanted to do, but I'm just running out of time before it gets generally miserable outside.

Re: Added another Fox to the fleet - 1985 Marquis LTS

Reply #64 – November 10, 2025, 08:54:35 AM

Nice little progress, that's always so satisfying to bang out all the details in a row.

On my car I had to slot the throttle cable bracket to move it upward and get clearance over the valve cover (Cobra intake, tall valve covers, 1" phenolic spacer). But all that did clear the adjustable FPR. It's not uncommon to need to adjust things. The EGR spacer will do the trick though.

Re: Added another Fox to the fleet - 1985 Marquis LTS

Reply #65 – November 10, 2025, 09:53:11 AM

Yeah, I think everything will clear just fine with the stock spacer, and I shouldn't need any intake spacers.

I also have some downtime coming up this week that'll slow things down. Got to have cataract surgery on one of my eyes later this week, so that's going to limit me for a short bit. Hopefully I'll still be able to work on some of the underhood wiring.

Re: Added another Fox to the fleet - 1985 Marquis LTS

Reply #66 – November 10, 2025, 03:48:35 PM

Looks good so far. Nice to have the engine back in I bet.

Hope it a quick and easy procedure for you. You'll have that new twinkle in your eye after the new lens. Maybe even see better under the hood!

Re: Added another Fox to the fleet - 1985 Marquis LTS

Reply #67 – November 16, 2025, 08:13:15 PM

Well, I had some time to work this weekend, but not much picture-worthy stuff.

Yesterday I spent some time under the hood, to limit my getting up and down from under the car. I got the sensor wiring and such where it needed to be. Had to extend a couple leads, as a couple things were in different locations from with the CFI set-up.
I also got the battery tray moved from the PS to the DS of the engine bay, as the air box needs to live in the old battery location.

I test fit the throttle body with the stock adapter, and it does look like I'm going to need a plenum spacer for the throttle cable bracket to clear the valve cover.

Today was wrestle under the car day.
Got the shift cable connected and was looking at the TV cable and realized that I don't have the correct lever arm on the trans for the cable, so I need to hunt one of those down.
Next was reworking the old Y-pipe to fit the new factory headers. That turned into a fight, and I still need to make another adjustment. Just ran out of time today.

The only thing worth a picture is the intake plate I printed up. I got it in paint this weekend, so that'll be ready when it's time to put it on.

Re: Added another Fox to the fleet - 1985 Marquis LTS

Reply #68 – November 17, 2025, 07:21:28 AM

I think the main problem with the fitment of the Y-pipe is that when it was originally done, all of the mounts, especially the transmission mount, were toasted. Now things are raised back up, and so is the Y-pipe.
Just gotta get back under there and sort that out now.

Re: Added another Fox to the fleet - 1985 Marquis LTS

Reply #69 – November 22, 2025, 09:00:18 PM

Finished fighting with the modded Y-pipe today. I hate it. It'll work though until I can build the new one.

Got my 1/2" intake spacer today, too.

A quick test fit shows that the throttle cable bracket clears and the hood still closes.

All kinds of little stuff left to do, but we're starting to close in on the end now.