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.

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

Reply #70 – December 07, 2025, 10:45:47 PM

Progress and setbacks.

Right now, my biggest problem is finding time to work on this thing. Also, since the weather has decided to turn disrespectful much earlier this year, that's compounding the problem. Been chipping away at things as time and weather has allowed.

This week, I got the upper intake installed (with 1/2" spacer) and got the TV cable stuff all sorted out.

ECU wiring is all located aside from the O2 sensor. I plan on wrapping/looming things after it's running.
Also, got all of the vacuum lines, etc connected to their appropriate locations, except for the tube from the VC to the TB.

Since I'm insisting on using a stock airbox, I needed to relocate the battery to the other side. This required some new cables.

I started to work on the starter wiring, as I needed to make changes for the new starter. After about 5-10 minutes of sorting out what to do with the wiring from the fender-mounted starter solenoid, I pulled my head out of my butt and realized that I no longer needed the solenoid on the fender...
Order some parts to change that out.

About that time, it was getting colder, so I decided to call it for the day. As one last thing, I opted to start to fill the cooling system.
That was great and all, until I noticed a leak from behind the water pump.
Looks like I need to pull the pump off and see what's happening there. Awesome.

Ordered more parts and hopefully will be able to get the fuel lines hooked up and the PS system complete soon.

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

Reply #71 – December 08, 2025, 09:05:32 AM

The current list of things needed to get the car running.

- Rework fuel liness - Need to connect existing nylon lines to the later fittings on the new rail extensions.
- Replace throttle cable - Have it, just need to get under the dash to swap things out.
- Wiring for new starter - Waiting on parts
- O2 sensor wiring - Not *needed* to get it running, but I'll be running a WBO2 for a short bit to sort the tune, and then I'll swap it back to a NB version.
- Evidently replace H2O pump gaskets...again - It's either between the pump and the plate, or the plate and the timing cover.
- Fill trans
- PS pump pressure hose - Install new one and fill PS system
-Mount airbox - Being totally unfamiliar with Fox 5.0 EFI installations, looks like I need to cut some sheet-metal and I think I have the wrong parts for inside the fender. The oval portion of the "silencer/etc" is much smaller than that on the air box. Do I even need it?
- Relocate and fix tubing for HVAC vac reservoir

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

Reply #72 – December 11, 2025, 09:35:15 AM

It was the pump to plate gasket that was leaking, Shoulda pulled that apart when I did everything else, but didn't have a gasket for it in the kit I had.

Took advantage of some reasonable weather yesterday to pull the pump and clean everything up for when the gaskets arrive.

Got the hole cut for the airbox. I'll have to sort out the upper mount, as the indents/provisions for the attachment bolts aren't in the sheetmetal. (They're recessed and angled)

Planning to add an oil pressure gauge, so I picked up an sender with a warning light trigger.

Also got the throttle cable swapped out and connected.

Now we're due for some really cold weather the next few days, so I'm probably away from thing until after that.