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Topics - bryan163

1
T-Bird/Cougar Parts & Cars WANTED / Need TV cable.
Does anyone have a TV cable for an 87/88 5.0? A friend of mine just picked up his first tbird and the part that clips onto the throttle body is broken. I don't want him to burn up his tranny.
2
Engine Tech / head gasket reccomendations?
Ok, so I put about 2000 miles on my 5.0 cobra engine swap and it has blown a head gasket. The engine was used and stock with 89k on it. So no big surprise that it popped a seeing as its boosted.  My plan is to change the gaskets this week with a kit from mustangs unlimited. The kit includes a pair of graphite head gaskets and new torque to yield head bolts. I want to do the job with the motor in the car, so I want to use a gasket that doesn't require any high RA ratings. Does this sound like a good choice?
3
T-Bird/Cougar Parts & Cars FOR SALE / Accel 14lb and 19lb mustang fuel injectors
I bought this new set of 14lb. Accel injectors to get better mileage and performance. The car definitely ran smoother, but soon after that I went turbo and swapped to 19lb. injectors. Now I'm putting in a cobra motor and upgrading to 42lb. injectors. So both sets are for sale. The accels have the better conical spray pattern. Check out the nozzle. I thought I had pics of the 19lb injectors, but I cant find them.
14lb. Accels $70 shipped
19lb. OEM $65 shipped


5
Engine Swapping / Cobra Engine Craigslist Score!
I wasn't really shopping for an engine. I had my old supercharger listed on craigslist and this got offered up as a trade. It's complete ready to run 94 Cobra engine with 89k on it. The guy had pulled it 3 years ago in favor of a built 347 for his drag car. It had been sitting unused in his garage. Of coarse I jumped on it.
Engine swapping will begin immediately:D Anyone have experience with this swap?
6
Show Photos / some camera car rolling footage
One of the guys in my car club made a short video with some rolling shots of our cars. I really like the way the bird looks going down the road in this one:D
[video=youtube;CoLQNWVAi2w]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CoLQNWVAi2w&feature=share&list=UUD-q2GY8P-ty3as1NLO-wuQ[/video]
7
Show Photos / Thunderbird meme
I downloaded an app for making memes on my Droid. Been memeing up a storm ever since.
8
Drivetrain Tech / 8.8 swap
I just finished swapping out my 7.5 for a an 8.8 TC rear. The whole project cost me around $400. That included buying new a set of loaded calipers.
The first thing I did when I got the rear to the shop was to build a rolling work stand for it. Then I did a little wire wheeling and pulled the diff for welding.
The gears it came with were 3.73s.


I welded this thing solid as a brick. I also pre-heated it with a torch to get better penetration.


I also cut off the ABS gear since it serves no purpose to me. Any time I can reduce rotating mass in the drive line its a good thing.

Changed the axle seals while the axles were out.

Here's the old rear after I pulled it out.


I installed new urethane bushings in the 8.8 after using a torch to melt the edges of rubber bushings and popping them out with a hammer.

After a little black spray paint and a $23 dollar chrome cover this thing was starting to look pretty good.

I was able to use the rotors that came with the rear as they looked fairly new. I purchased a new set of loaded calipers from ebay. The ones that came with the rear were pretty beat. Painted everything to keep it from rusting. I reused the hard lines from the 7.5 because i had just replaced them last year. 3/16 to 1/4 inch adapters were needed to connect the old lines to the new calipers.(sorry no pics of the lines)


Had to wrestle this heavy beast into place. Took a bit of up and down and side to side to get to bolt holes to line up on the control arms.


Took it for a road test and everything feels good. 

The only thing left now is to hook up the parking brake cables. I bought new TC right and left rear cables,  but they don't look to be compatible with the existing front cable and brackets. Hopefully I can find the parts I need for that soon. For now I guess I just cant park on any hills. I'm also going to look for a set of quad shock brackets so I can install axle stabilizers.
10
Drivetrain Tech / Decided to go 5 speed (with pics)
This project was actually completed 2 weeks ago, but here are the highlights....
My old tranny was a TCI built AOD that worked great until I turbod the car.
Here it is after I pulled it:

to start the pedal swap I pulled the driver seat and the steering column, and brake pedal assembly.



Here is the manual pedal set next to the auto set

also had to pull my ratchet shifter

next installed manual pedal set

and clutch cable through the fire wall

then the flywheel, clutch, bell housing, and a T5 went in



The Thunderbird's electronic speed sensor had to be swapped onto the T5 because the Mustang one it came with is for a cable. I did have to use the gear from the mustang one though, because the thunderbird gear was too long

Used a body saw to cut a hole in the floor and installed the shifter

All and all, It was a fairly easy swap. I've put a couple hundred miles on it since the swap and I am really liking it:D
11
Engine Tech / swapping supercharger for a turbo
I've been wanting to do this for a while and decided yesterday to pull the trigger on this project. As some of you know, I've had a powerdyne supercharger on my sport for quit some time and it worked great, but I'm interested in making a little more than the 8psi that It was limited to and I would like to make peak boost at a lower rpm. So I'm swapping over to a turbo setup.
Here's the old setup:

Here is the new mustang turbo manifold:

This new manifold is designed to place the turbo on the passenger side and doesn't fit my engine bay on either side, so I will be cutting it up and changing it around so the headers hug the engine a little tighter and the turbo sits on the driver side where my supercharger was.

I cut the turbo  and waste-gate  off the passenger side manifold and welded the waste-gate opening shut. They will be flipped around and used on the driver side:


12
Drivetrain Tech / 7.5 Rear rebuild and gear swap
The last few months 7.5" rear end has been getting noisy. So I went ahead and ordered a new set of 3.45 gears to replace the current 3.55. When I opened the cover I was surprised to find a ford Trac Lok limited slip. I was expecting to find a gear locker because thats what I asked for years ago when I last had the rear end built. The gears were Richmond 3.55 like I requested.
The problem is that some of the ears are broken on the clutch plates. I want to rebuild my LSD carrier with some new clutches, but I cant find the parts anywhere:punchballs: Does anyone know where to get clutches for a  7.5" ford Trac lok?

This is the new gear set
http://www.jegs.com/i/JEGS+Performance+Products/555/60021K/10002/-1


13
Engine Tech / New Engine Ideas?
I just sold my 96 Maxima for $3000. So I was thinking about buying a new motor for the Thunderbird. Nothing wrong with my supercharged 5.0 SO, but I'd like a little more power. I was thinking about this:http://www.jegs.com/i/Ford+Racing/397/M-6007-X302/10002/-1
I'd like to keep it under $4000 and I will most likely be running a turbo on whatever I get.
Any suggestions?
14
Show Photos / First Time Drifting
So Connecticut has finally got a legit drift circuit this year and I'm planning to try out with the encouragement of some of the other drifters in my car club. Saturday was my first practice. We got lots of pictures and made a video of the caravan to the practice lot, and some of the drifting action. I already am hooked, but I will need a lot more practice and a few changes to the car to compete.
Attn. safety police: the drifting was all shot on a closed course aside from one burnout from a stop sign.
[video=youtube;X6flXnTgN9o]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X6flXnTgN9o&feature=youtu.be[/video]
[video=youtube;gwPrjEceSMU]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gwPrjEceSMU[/video]
[video=youtube;qHdqKnbrWMU]http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=qHdqKnbrWMU[/video]









15
Audio & Other Aftermarket Electronics / Just installed remote entry
I just installed a Bulldog remote keyless entry system. Been wanting one for a while, It was $50 from Autozone.


I also had to replace my driver side lock actuator

New(left) and old(right) lock actuators. Autozone wanted $230 for one, but I got it on ebay for $25 shipped.

The actuator was held in with a large rivet. I drilled that out and replaced it with a cap screw when I reinstalled it.

The remote.

[video=youtube;6pE9wdKV0IY]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6pE9wdKV0IY[/video]