84 XR-7 Project

Topic: 84 XR-7 Project (Read 31871 times) previous topic - next topic

84 XR-7 Project

Reply #60 – February 28, 2017, 12:19:42 AM

Here are a few pics of the engine tear down. It's nothing special except that there are more chains and cams that most here are used to seeing.

The cross hatch in the bores looks almost fresh. The guy said the engine could have been redone and it looks plausible that it was. I might have gotten away with not getting rings, but they were reasonably priced so why not?

Pistons weren't all that bad. I could have cleaned them with just brake clean and some rubbing. But instead I let them soak...

...for about a week in PineSol. They came out like this after 2 or 3 minutes of scrubbing with a maroon scotch brite pad each.

Next, leave it to the internet to find a solution that sounds too weird to be true. I've tried grease. I also bought a blind hole bearing puller kit (not specifically for this project, but I knew I'd need one). Neither worked...but this did...

Stuck pilot bearing? Jam bread in the cavity and use a hammer and alignment tool! I couldn't believe it worked.

I got the oil pan painted and bolted on temporarily.

I'm waiting on powder for the timing cover and intake. I have the powder for the valve covers and the clear to go over the base powder of the timing cover and intake. I still have to come up with a cooling solution for the driver side head.

Bonus - I found out once I disassembled the heads that I have a unique situation going on with the cams. I have matching 96-98 Cobra exhaust cams, but 1 96-98 Cobra intake, and 1 03-04 Cobra/Mach 1/Marauder/Aviator intake cam. Upon further disassembly, I found shims under all the lash adjusters, or lifters if you will. From what I can gather, I have custom ground cams. Sweet, but from who? Each cam has "Blower Left/Right Intake/Exhaust" engraved into them. I'm excited but I hope them being blower cams won't hurt my performance too too much. The guy that sold me the engine said that the Mustang it was installed into pulled like crazy N/A. So fingers crossed. Hopefully the tuner I choose will be able to dial it in without me having much info on the cams.

84 XR-7 Project

Reply #61 – February 28, 2017, 07:50:54 AM

Great progress on the engine tear down and those cams would have me scratching my head as well. Wonder if you could post up pictures on one of the modular Mustang sites and see if anyone on there would have a clue.

On my Bird I'm running Griggs Racing spherical ended LCA's with the Global West UCA's. My guess is I don't have a lot of bind but the noise translation is a little higher than it would be with bushing style LCA's.

84 XR-7 Project

Reply #62 – February 28, 2017, 04:37:15 PM

Quote from: Billyf17;459512

Yeah, that's why I went with them. They look really good and I'm already happy with them, even though it'll be a while before I get to try them out. There aren't many choices when it comes to LCA's for our cars, and even fewer with spherical bearings AND sway bar mounts. I'm sticking with stock uppers and rubber, just need to find bushings for the UCA's. I'm ordering the MM kit and tool for the rubber housing bushings.

I've got MOOG bushings in my upper arms. I've got these FRPP bushings in the axle: https://performanceparts.ford.com/part/M-4050-B

This would also work, from MOOG: http://www.oreillyauto.com/site/c/detail/MOO0/K8637/02936.oap?year=1987&make=Ford&model=Thunderbird&vi=1140253&ck=Search_02936_1140253_3405&pt=02936&ppt=C0106

84 XR-7 Project

Reply #63 – February 28, 2017, 07:12:17 PM

I measured the lift on the lobes, that's how I came to the conclusion they are regrinds. The duration has me concerned. I don't have a degree kit to check it. I might be able to get my hands on one, but that would have to be in the next 2 weeks so I doubt that will happen.

Hopefully the car will run good enough on the stock 99 GT tune that I'll be able to break the clutch in before the tuner gets their hands on it.

84 XR-7 Project

Reply #64 – February 28, 2017, 11:51:04 PM

Quote

This would also work, from MOOG: http://www.oreillyauto.com/site/c/detail/MOO0/K8637/02936.oap?year=1987&make=Ford&model=Thunderbird&vi=1140253&ck=Search_02936_1140253_3405&pt=02936&ppt=C0106

Thanks for the link. I haven't been able to find a bushing for the arms. I'll have to cross reference the Moog number to see what else is available. I'm not too fond of Moog anymore. Their quality severely declined in the last few years.

84 XR-7 Project

Reply #65 – March 01, 2017, 08:36:35 AM

thunderjet302,

Where did you find the body side rubber bushings for the stock UCA's? Several folks on here would greatly benefit from that source.

84 XR-7 Project

Reply #66 – March 01, 2017, 09:18:28 AM

Quote from: Billyf17;459525

I'm not too fond of Moog anymore. Their quality severely declined in the last few years.

Ain't that the truth? I was sorely dissappointed with the early Mustang kit I used to rebuild the Comet frontend(uses identical parts)... The lower control arms needed a chincy little washer/spacer(included) to make the original stabilizer bar fit so-so and the taper was wrong on upper ball joint pin that fit into spindle... Now in process of rebuilding the Cobra Jet steering plus adding P/S, will do suspension AFTER I find better control arms than Moog supplies...

That Ford Racing kit is available on ebay for around $40 with free shipping...

84 XR-7 Project

Reply #67 – March 01, 2017, 12:29:42 PM

On Rockauto they list the body side as "Rear Upper to Frame". Poking around I found ACDELCO 45G11077. That is only the body side. The Moog K8637 is a kit for both bushings, so 2 would be needed. The ACDelco has a lifetime warranty and it's super easy to claim the warranty through Rockauto. I've had to do it with my wife's Cobalt. Just keep the order number, claim warranty on Rockauto.com, buy a new part, ship the defective one back, and they reimburse you.

I trust ACDelco quality more than Moog, so if I can reuse the stock uppers, that is probably the route I'll take. Ford Racing kit for the housing and the ACDelco bushings for the arms.

84 XR-7 Project

Reply #68 – March 01, 2017, 01:36:47 PM

Quote from: Aerocoupe;459527

thunderjet302,

Where did you find the body side rubber bushings for the stock UCA's? Several folks on here would greatly benefit from that source.

That MOOG kit has the upper control arm body side and axle housing bushing. You need two kits, one for each rear upper arm. I used the upper body side bushing from the MOOG kit and the FRPP bushing in the axle. I gave the axle side bushing from the MOOG kit to a friend with a Mark VII

Quote from: Billyf17;459531

On Rockauto they list the body side as "Rear Upper to Frame". Poking around I found ACDELCO 45G11077. That is only the body side. The Moog K8637 is a kit for both bushings, so 2 would be needed. The ACDelco has a lifetime warranty and it's super easy to claim the warranty through Rockauto. I've had to do it with my wife's Cobalt. Just keep the order number, claim warranty on Rockauto.com, buy a new part, ship the defective one back, and they reimburse you.

I trust ACDelco quality more than Moog, so if I can reuse the stock uppers, that is probably the route I'll take. Ford Racing kit for the housing and the ACDelco bushings for the arms.

That sounds like a plan. With the Maximum Motorsports lower arms I would go with what Jack, from Maximum Motorsports, recommends and run the stock uppers with rubber bushings.

84 XR-7 Project

Reply #69 – March 03, 2017, 02:42:06 PM

Today I got down to the garage to finish stripping the engine bay to start paint prep and do some repairs.

Since I had to remove the column and pedal assembly, I took some time to test fit the New Edge pedals so see how they'd fit. As you can see with the below pics, the two assemblies are quite different.

Luckily Ford didn't change how they mounted that much.

They bolted right in. Only mods I'll have to do will be to ream out the holes for the hydrobooster.

This weekend hopefully I'll get the donor stripped so I can test fit the steering rack and column. The column will most likely be where I'll have issues. Here's hoping the issues won't be that great.

So I'd like to ditch the prop rod, and I prefer not to use a gas strut solution. Does anyone have or know where I could get a set of sprung hood hinges? I'm kicking myself because the last Fox Cougar with them the u-pull-it I go to had, I passed on them because I didn't have the time or help to attempt to get them off. Then the next trip out, all the Fox Birds, Cats, and Ponies were gone. Ebay had a pair of Mark VII hinge springs that look to add on to the non-sprung hinges, but I don't know if those would have worked on my car and the price was too high for a gamble. Thanks in advance.

84 XR-7 Project

Reply #70 – March 03, 2017, 03:07:24 PM

The Mark VII add-on springs WILL work on your hinges. That's what I'm running on mine and they work fantastically well. But I will say that the hood doesn't go up as high as if there were a prop rod or the 1987-88 hinges. Otherwise, perfect solution.

84 XR-7 Project

Reply #71 – March 03, 2017, 04:19:57 PM

Thanks. I will keep that in mind if I can't find a set of hinges.

84 XR-7 Project

Reply #72 – March 15, 2017, 12:22:36 AM

Been plugging away. Not looking good for my goal of June 1st. Just way to much to do and the weather hasn't helped. I'm not too pleased with my dad at the moment. I've been saying we needed to get a rotisserie for well over a year, closer to two probably. He's also helping his brother with his '70 Olds 4-4-2. He dropped the bomb last weekend that my car will be going up on the rotisserie first, then the Olds. We're at 2 and a half months....and now he wants to put it up. Yeah well. I can finish the floor and gussets a lot easier.

I played around with the new edge seats. I've read it a million times...they fit with changing the seat tracks. Sure...except when I do it right? Here's the passenger side bolted in.

Apparently...power lower buckets don't bolt to manual seat tracks. This goes for Fox Mustang's as well, as I have a set of manual Fox seats. So I have to figure something out there. I want to keep power, but would have sacrificed it for ease of installation. I don't want to chance buying a power seat track from eBay only to find it won't fit either, or even worse, the mechanisms are shot. I have a plan to get the New Edge seat in. Just have to find the time.

More pressing is figuring out how to mount the steering column. Which is going to involve hacking the New Edge dash frame, my dash frame, and probably the dash itself.

Next I have to figure out the wiring. I have every single wire removed from the donor, as seen here.

Most of that is getting removed. I don't need the airbag stuff, I don't have time to keep the ABS/TC stuff, and a lot of the emission stuff is getting axed. Essential items are the engine/trans wiring (duh), the FPDM (fuel pump driver module, this is a returnless system), fuse box, and interior fuse box. I have to lay the new wiring out and go through both EVTM's that I have to merge the 99 and 84 harnesses...yay.

On a positive note, I am about to finish final assembly of the engine. I have a few more gaskets to buy and two more things to powder coat. Tonight, I finished the valve covers. I did the coil covers about a week ago to test the color and baking procedure. They came out great, except for a few spots no one will ever see. I blame the cheap gun my friend let me use. ProTip - if powder coating semi-professionally or trying to become a pro....spend the money for a really good gun.

Pics!

This weekend, hopefully I'll be able to finish the engine, get the car on the rotisserie, move the engine to the lower garage to mate it with the trans, mount the pair on a cart and do a test fit. I need to find time to yank the starter off the donor too. Then I'll be able to get the oil system primed and perhaps even get the engine fired on the floor. I'll video that, most definitely.

84 XR-7 Project

Reply #73 – March 15, 2017, 09:33:35 AM

That's just...crazy. Trying to hit the deadline, I mean--everything else is frickin' awesome. Having the ability to do so many things is a huge asset, although I'm sure it's becoming a burden also. But yeah, outstanding work.

So are there not extra holes in the bottom of the seat frames to allow the manual track to bolt up? How about drilling holes in the track to fit the existing seat frame holes? I ran into none of this when I bolted the SN95 seats to the stock Cougar power seat tracks, that's why I'm asking.

84 XR-7 Project

Reply #74 – March 15, 2017, 10:04:47 AM

The manual seat buckets are different from the power buckets. The manual buckets and tracks are flat, or the holes are all on the same plane. The power bucket holes are on different levels and the bucket frame has a recess for the height mechanism. I'll have to get a few pictures to show the differences. All my excitement for having 99 Cobra seats in my car turned to frustration. Like I said, a million times, just switch seat tracks. It won't be that difficult to mount the new seat, but time consuming. Two new holes for the rear mounts, and cut the front seat support with studs out of the donor and weld it to my seat support. Again, a picture will better illustrate what I mean.