It’s been a long time coming (like 20 years of dreaming), but I just completed an engine rebuild on my 5.0. It’s the original block with .30 over Wiseco forged pistons, forged rods, stock crank, and Trickflow 11R 170cc heads. It also has a Trickflow street burner intake, MAF conversion, and TFS stage 1 cam. Should really add some fun to how it drives. It was a fun build, but very drawn out due to all the parts availability issues these days. The machine shop guy couldn’t believe how little wear/clean my 200k mile short block was. If it didn’t start eating it’s cam bearings, it might still be trucking along, lol. Ford powa!
I’ve made a couple of really amateur YouTube videos of how it came along if you want to check it out.
Hey everyone, haven’t checked into the forums in quite some time. I think I started posting here while I was still in college (2004?). I’ve still got my old turd, and drive it occasionally. It’s still the same basic setup. The only things I’ve done in recent years were finding a sweet perfect set of headlights/marker lamps and I finally got the courage to take my tail lights apart to clean/polish/reseal them. Oh and last summer I did put new Cooper tires on it. The old ones weren’t wore out, just dry rotted and shook like crazy (first time I’ve had to get new tires due to age, not wear lol).
Lately my interest have been on other projects. I have an ‘87 F250 4x4 that I literally replaced the entire body on except the cab (an arguably should’ve done it too). I learned a lot about welding and fab work as I replaced a lot of metal in the cab. The same guy that painted my Thunderbird then painted it for me in his garage. It’s a good “driver quality” fun truck. It was a local truck that I’ve know since I was a kid. Dad bought it in ’06 to use as a farm truck and I got it from him after selling an antique John Deere tractor I had.
Sadly my Dad passed a couple of years ago and I was thrown into working full time and taking care of his cattle farm by myself. That went on for about a year before I gave it up and we sold his cows 😢. That was a hard day as I grew up around farming and cows. My Mom knew I was having a hard time giving up the cows and in missing my Dad, so she decided to pass his Chevelle on to me. It was quite the project as the car had basically sat idle in their pole barn for my entire life (other than I few years I got it running in my teens/early 20’s).
I got it running, fixed the brakes (went from drums to disks), new torq thrust wheels and BFG’s, and last winter had a huge project of pulling the original 350 and doing my first engine build. It’s now a 355 with 9.5:1 pistons and Edelbrock performer RPM top end. Dad always said he wished it had a 4 speed and bucket seats like his original Chevelle had, so I installed new carpet, Procar bucket seats, and the crowning jewel; swapped from TH350 auto to Muncie 4 speed! Of course when I pulled the carpet I found some small rust holes in the floor pan, so my floor pan repair skills learned on the ‘87 Ford came in handy.
I also bought a ‘14 Mustang 5.0 (6 speed) about a week before Covid hit, so I’ve been enjoying it as well. It’s stock other than magnaflow lers, CAI and a tune.
Anyway, sorry for the long post. I always really enjoyed this form and the family feel of it. Fox birds/cougars will always be my favorite cars and I’m glad we have a close nit community like this one. I’ve really noticed in the last couple of years that these things are getting sooooo scarce. It’s sad really!
What’s up guys? I have not been very active on the forums lately. Mostly because 1. I changed jobs from a “office” job where I had time to check forums during the day to a utility worker job 2. Our laptop at home ped out and I honestly lothe trying to navigate/type forums on my smartphone.
Anywho, I’m trying to make an effort to check in here more often.
So is anyone planning on doing Hot Rod Power Tour this year? I think it starts out in Bowling Green and ends up in GA somewhere. I did not attend in 2016, and only made one stop in 2017 but have been every other year since ‘07. This year a group of car guys from my area are planning on making at least 3 or 4 stops.
It was a scorcher but there were still several very nice rides to show up. My Uncle won "Best New Ford" with his 2010 Roush 427R. The 'bird, as expected, did not win any awards but it was still enjoyable to get it out for a few hours.
I'm glad to say that I'm back into a Ford truck! My brother bought my '10 Silverado ext cab, which allowed my to go buy this supercrew. It's a Lariat which is amazingly luxurious for a truck...really nicer than what I wanted/needed but I got a really good deal on it.
It's blue jeans metallic with I believe the 501a package. It also has the 7700 gvwr package along with (my favorite part) the 6.2 engine. It's fairly rare to find in a non-Raptor F150.
I really like it so far. It's a lot more solid feeling and better riding/handling than past F150's I've owned and has plenty of HP to boot. I drove it about 3 hours home from the dealer where I bought it and was really surprised to see 19 mpg on the display.
Random thread! Last night my four year old son and I took my bird for a drive. We ended up driving to my brothers work which is a large Pioneer seed corn plant. I weighed my car on the semi truck scales there and with me (210 lbs), my son (40 lbs?), and 1/2 tank of gas we scaled in at 3640 lbs. I always knew the car was fairly light but am glad to know its actual weight.
Anyone else weighed theirs? I'd be curious to see what a Mark or a loaded out 5.0 bird or Cougar would weigh in comparison.
Well guys I recently sold a John Deere tractor project of mine and am contemplating using the proceeds to finally build the motor for my T-bird. My 302 is getting really tired with nearly 200k on the bottom end. Over the last year it has started using oil and seems to really be down on power. I also sold my '07 Mustang GT so this and my junky '87 f-250 are my only real hobby now, lol.
What I'm looking for is something that will run on 93 octane pump gas, be reliable enough to take on road trips (power tour, etc), and put a smile on my face when I stab the gas. I've been hoping to do this someday and have modified the car over the last 10+ years building it up in preparation of throwing more power at it (8.8 swap, control arms, sub frames, exhaust, etc.).
I know there are other forums that might focus more on engine builds, but I thought I'd start here as this is the first forum I ever really joined and have stayed active with through the years, so I feel like I can trust your opinions.
From what I've researched so far I'm thinking: 331 stroker with AFR 165 heads. No idea on induction. I'm thinking I could use my current BBK shorty headers and be OK. I have no idea what to plan for on ignition stuff (do you really need MSD type stuff?) or fuel (I believe my fuel pump is 190lph, no idea if that's enough and what I'd need for injectors). I'm still speed density as well so I'd have to figure going to MAF.
Basically I want to get a game plan but really don't know where to even start as I've never done this before!
As far as the machine work, can anyone recommend someone in my area (southern IN)? Overall budget would be max of $6k, as that's what I sold my other project for but I'd be happy with less.
I wanted to share my latest project. It's affectionately named "Wimpy" because of the fact of it being a 3/4 ton truck but only having a 302 for power. I bought it off my Dad this winter after selling a '73 f-250 that was non-running and taking up garage space. Wimpy's got a 4 speed and is a Custom model.
As you can see this truck is extremely rusty. That's due to being a farm truck its whole life. The good thing about the truck is that it's pretty good mechanically. The 302 runs great other than not wanting to idle properly occasionally (I need to check the TPS and IAC) and the transmission, axles, and t-case all are in good working order. It runs down the highway straight as can be at 65 mph.
So far I've replaced some rusted brake lines, done valve cover gaskets, new side mirrors, and found some factory steel wheels and used tires for it.
Next thing is to redo all the brakes and plumb up the new front fuel tank my Dad installed but never hooked up. I think I'm just going to delete the rear tank and the diverter valve thingy and just have the front one. Then I'll probably drive it through the summer to make sure it's mechanically good. It also needs new shocks all around.
In the meantime I need to find some doors, a doghouse, and a bed to get rid of the rust. The plan is to keep the "brick nose" aero front end and paint it to match my T-bird eventually. Long term I wouldn't mind doing a small suspension lift.
I have a friend who has a 90-ish F-250 Lariat though with a 460 and 5 speed. He just priced it to me so now I'm torn! His truck needs bedsides or at least patch panels but the rest is solid. Plus big block power sounds like a major plus! What I like about this red truck is that I've known its owners/history going back to when I was just a little guy. Plus the its a stripper model (crank windows, no A/C, no carpet/sound deadening) and I think that's kinda cool since all newer trucks are loaded with the amenities. The body parts other than the beds are dirt cheap (I've found doors for $80 or so, complete front clips for $200) so I think I could get it looking good again for not a ton of money.
So I've been working on my '87 f250 project. I bought it off my Dad in pretty rough shape (been a farm truck its entire life in the rust belt) and have been trying to fix some of its small issues to get it more roadworthy. It badly needs valve cover gaskets so I've spent the afternoon working on removing the upper intake manifold so I can get to the passenger side valve cover.
I got all the bolts out but the center one which is a T-40 torx bolt. I had to use two 1/4 extensions to get down thru the intake. As I was loosening the bolt I held my telescoping magnet against the bolt so I could retrieve it. About this time I got majorly distracted by a phone call, and honestly think I did retrieve the bolt, but when I removed the intake from the motor I found my T-40 bit/socket still laying in the upper intake.
So now I'm freaking out thinking the bolt fell down into the lower intake! I REALLY do not want to remove the lower intake on a "maybe". I tried fishing my telescoping magnet thingy into the ports but broke it trying to follow the bends. I also have one of those long flexible "grabber" things but couldn't seem to retrieve anything.
I've searched everywhere and can't come up with the bolt so there's a pretty good chance it fell into the intake.
Any ideas guys? Short of pulling the lower intake?
Well hopefully I'll be around the forum more often now. I changed jobs back in August and in doing so went from a office job where I would check in here during my down time to a "utility worker" job (local rural water company). Our laptop at home pooped out on us so I've been pretty limited to the Internet until now. The wife got me an iPad for Christmas so I'm back browsing the forum.
The new job is great, but I've not done much with the 'bird other than drive it and then put it away for its winter nap this fall. Plans are to go with a new radiator and fix some minor interior wear/tear issues. The old girl ran hot this past summer at power tour. I thinking the stock radiator is full of gunk. She's also starting to use oil...it's a matter of time before the 5.0 is gonna need rebuild/refreshed.
Other than that I sold my '73 f250 project and am thinking about buying a '87 f250 4x4 off my Dad as a project/hunting/fishing/winter truck.
I hope you all had a merry Christmas and wish you the best in 2016!!!
My hometown had a car show to raise money to repair our town pool. Despite the heat I decided to take my bird and support the cause. This was the first show my son and I had ever really attended as father/son. He will be 4 this week so after an hour or so he was pretty bored. I think he will be a car guy though, he can already recognize several different make/models. He for some reason really likes VW Bugs though...
Anywhoo, here are a couple of pics. One with a couple of local gals who were dressed as "pin up girls" and one with my ugly mug in it. That's my buddies brown '74 Lincoln Continental next to my car. He went on power tour with me this year.
Saw this on bangshift.com. Looks like the car is set up right to be a fun driver. Personally I'd ditch the big ass cowl hood and headlight covers and drive the thing like I stole it.
I just found a new NOS driver side door handle cup for my car on eBay. I installed it but found that the door "release" has apparently worn/stretched over the course of 200k miles and will hit the door handle cup. This will not allow the door to open. Before I dive into it, has anyone ever tightened up/adjusted their door release/latch? Any pointers? I'd like to get it tightened back up somehow so that I can keep this sweet new door handle cup in place without breaking it as well.
I assume there is a cable that runs over to the door latch?
We had a really good trip this year. I'd never travelled with other cars as a group so that presented its own challenges. One of the guyshiznit some railroad tracks the 1st day and had a front end vibration at anything over 60 mph afterwards, he tried keeping up but ended up going home after the St. Louis stop. My 'bird started running hot so anything over 70 mph on the interstate was really pushing it...we did run the actual power tour route so the slower speeds helped keep things cooler. On our last night in Birmingham my friend John's '74 Lincoln sprung a leak on one of the lines for the hydroboost. Of course no parts stores carry many parts for '74 Lincolns, so we ended up pulling the belt of the PS pump and he drove it all the way back to IN with no PS or Pwr brakes! The other car that went was a new Stingray so he obviously had nothing to worry about.
Overall my T-bird did well. I used about 1 1/2 quarts of oil over the whole trip and as I mentioned it did run a little warm but never overheated (gonna flush the radiator to see if that helps). As some of you remember I fought a driveline vibration for quite some time and seemed to remedy it mostly with an aluminum driveshaft. I noticed on this trip there is still a vibration 70 mph+...I'm going to check the pinion angle again to see if maybe its off. I also got a nasty door ding at one of the hotels, going to contact some body shops today to see about doing paintless dent repair on it.
I got a TON of comments on the car. One guy said "of all the thousands of cars in here, this is the only Fox T-bird I've seen. Love it man." Another guy in a 80's G-body Cutlass who was stopped along the road in some small town along the route ran over and said "beautiful car, very nice". This made me feel that maybe there are car people out there that like our cars as much as we do!
