Morning everyone, I recently swapped from the dying C5 I had, to the old C4 I had on my first tbird. I was running a carb back then, but am EFI on this one. The C5 had a bolt area for a bracket, and the C4 lacks it. I have looked at the Lokar cable, but am completely unsure if it will work for the TB. Can't really justify throwing near $100 on a maybe. Anyone done this swap? Advice would be very much appreciated.
I have just finished the project, and can vouch that it works. If I can figure out pictures to this post, I'll add the steps I took. I have ran into an issue though. I've lost Illumination for the speedometer (Just in the speedo)
I read a little about the water issues in the trunk of the tbirds and ours always had the issue.
My 86 started having the issue as well, so I popped the lid and noticed a large amount of rust on the passenger side weld seam in the gutter.
I covered it in a lot of JB weld since I was unable to find a welder, and I'm still having some leakage. Does anyone else have an idea what is to be done?
I'm really starting to think I'm going to have to crawl into the trunk with a flashlight and go from there.
Since this is what I had prior (And plan to do again) I wanted to post a thread about it.
The engine was a Gran Torino block, with 70 shelby Gt-350 heads. Since ford used universally the same bolt pattern, the match up was pretty simple. We used a C4 transmission which again, was a straight bolt, other than the bell housing.
Of course, an issue that we eventually ran into was that the original springs/struts weren't made for the added weight, and working a radiator that could handle it required a bit of (massaging) with a hammer to fit.
The list of goodies on it were as follows: Road Master intake Edelbrock 4 barrel Carb GM HEI single wire dist True dual exhaust RN Cam Flat top pistons Toggle switch board (Original ignition was dead) Had it rigged for lights, and a few other things I can't remember
We used an old Mach-1 wiring harness, and we also bypassed the computer almost completely, it only ran the dash.
Something I was very interested in was a possible conversion to EFI. I know very little about that kind of swap out, and what is necessary, or if it really helps or not.
Out of all of the fox/tbirds we've had in the immediate family, they've always gotten the rust around the rear window, which in the end resulted in water in the trunk area. I've taken a wire brush to the areas I could see, and hit it with Ospho (Sp?) to turn the stuff into black iron. I've not painted it over yet because I wanted some input.
Is there any way to keep that from happening, or progressing further (to non ospho'd areas) It's the one problem none of us ever figured out how to negate.
I've noticed a light miss in my engine. I've replaced plugs and wires, and cleaned the rotor out. at idle the led guage will move one degree back and forth. I can feel it as it does this, and at speed it's a little random vibration at times. I'm unsure whether this is due to timing issue, or I'm getting some random arching. The other possibility is dist positioning? Which on this vehicle I'm unsure how to do.
my other question is oil chime. It happens semi-rarely, but will flash to the oil guage, and annoy me greatly. This happens when I gun it over 70, and, some times when I turn from a stop. Are these guages accurate in any manner? I know in other vehicles, the pressure sending unit was inaccurate and retarded; is this the case with the Thunder/Cougars as well?
I've been into T-birds since I came into existence. My mother owning an 85 (originally base model) That my father had modded with a Torino/Shelby Gt-350 engine. Along with that, the household had about six of them ranging from an 84 turbo-coupe (grandma's) all the way to the Elan.
Recently got myself an 86 Elan, and have been researching a huge amount trying to figure whether to throw my dad's old shelby hybrid beast into it, or do my own build. After much searching I lucked out and found you guys.
I've been a member of other forums such as PerformanceProbe.com, and MX-6.com for a number of years. Even have a thunderbird turbo on my 89 pgt. Missed the V-8 world, and the nostalgia of the vehicles I grew up with.
Thank you all in advance for the answers I'm sure I'll find here.
