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Messages - Tbird232ci

1
Suspension/Steering / Re: Rear tire sizes
These wheels have an odd offset compared to what most people use on fox bodies.

Fox body Mustangs have far less room in the rear wheel wells, so they bring the tires in closer to the inner wheel well. If we ditch the quads and tail pipes, we can stuff a 10.5" wheel and a 315 in the rear.
2
User Rides / Re: Rehabbing an 87 Turbo Coupe
It's pretty cool that you were able to hold onto your first car for all of these years.

At one point, I was wondering if it would be possible to do an aftermarket fuel pump and hanger like that. I'm glad to see it actually works
3
User Rides / Re: Bird back on the road.
I remember that car!

I would run it down the track and see what gear and RPM you pass through the traps at. You could then use the tire size to get you to a more optimal RPM through the traps if you need to.

I was digging into tire sizes, and it looks like no one makes a good tire in 27" anymore.
4
Suspension/Steering / Re: Rear tire sizes
I can't answer your question exactly, but I have a 275/35/18 on an 18x9 +35mm wheel. There is plenty of clearance to the fender lip and about a half inch to the quad shock.


You can kinda see the clearance to the fender lip in that picture.
5
User Rides / Re: Work In Progress. '88 TC
Tbird232ci - I am not that good with all the quotes!!!! :bowdown:
The trick is that I right-click the "quote" icon in the bottom-right of the post and then open it in a new tab. Then I can copy and paste the brackets that do the quotes and whatever text I'm quoting. It's a little tedious, but it comes from being on these forums for...Christ...over 20 years now.

ScottRod is making the underhood cover for our cars and called me to check on which year I had.  He said the latch location or shape changed depending on the year 83-88. 
http://scottrodfab.com/shop/index.php?id_product=186&controller=product
I'll be keeping an eye out on this thread. I'm anxious to see how well it fits, and how far forward it extends into the header panel. I feel that if it doesn't extend far enough forward, the air flow could still go over top the radiator and support. Even if it's not as long as I would like, it would be a great start for the price.

I bought that SN95 spindles and stashed them away a couple months ago.  I have been watching the market for a while and the prices for the spindles are climbing.  These were $100 directly off the car with the caliper and rotors along with the struts that I am not sure if I will keep any of the extras.
I paid 170 for mine a few years ago and that was considered a good deal. You did really good there. If you have any questions on the 5-lug swap, I'd be glad to help.

The extra E6 that i bought has a stich weld repair.  Not sure I should send that one out to be ported.  If I can get the T6 to spool as quickly at the IHI with the .48 that would be perfect for me at this stage.
It depends on the type of crack. A lot of them will have some surface cracks and it's not a big deal. The ones that crack and leak are the ones that are an issue. It certainly is worth doing if you can though. There are no downsides.

Funny about mentioning the car is clean.  It's been a New England car it's entire life and has some scars from it  Started off with the original owner in Massachusetts and then to my Step mother and Dad.  My Step mom used to commute into the Bronx as a school teacher with the car for a few years.  About 2008 when gas prices went up and her back started hurting from the clutch, she got a Prius for the tax deduction and save on fuel. There's dings on the car and some tree branches fell on it in 2011 from Sandy(?) so it has some dents.  It's in good shape but no where near a garage queen.
I feel that cars like this are the best kind. It's nice, but not perfect. I would feel guilty driving and modifying a perfect car. The history with the car makes it pretty awesome as well.

Be sure you triple-check the location of all of the holes you need to cut. None of them lined up on the cover I bought from them for my '83 (and I specified an '83 when I ordered). I drilled one pilot hole and then thought to check the locations. I would've been pissed had I not done that, as I had to alter all of them to get it to fit. Looked good afterwards, though.
That's a good tip on things to look out for.

Gumby's method of the through-floor SFCs would be what I would do if I was building a fresh car. At this point, my set-up is too much to redo, just for the sake of redoing it. I'm planning on reworking the rear of the cage though, so I can get a rear seat back in the car (Much to my wife's chagrin).
His current car has the more traditional style under-floor connectors, but I agree. If I had the skills to do them through-the-floor, I certainly would.

Of all of the cars you own, you're worried about this one having a back seat?
6
User Rides / Re: Work In Progress. '88 TC
The car runs well without overheating now.  Still gets pretty hot on the highway with the A/C running according to the factory temperature gauge so that leads me to the next step of part collecting. 
1. '94-04 Mach 1 Chin Spoiler  (plus it looks cool to replace the small chin spoiler on it currently)
2. Scott Rod Fabrication radiator to bumper cover - Awesome customer service btw

The Mach 1 chin spoiler isn't really any taller than the factory chin spoiler. I didn't notice any difference in cooling when I installed mine, but I also didn't have A/C.

Is Scott Rod making one specifically for our cars? I've been looking at making one myself, but I just haven't gotten to it. If it fits our cars how I would like, I'd be glad to buy one.

I don't know if it would help much in your case, but I've pulled the fan assembly off, unbolted the radiator, laid it back and used the hose to knock a bunch of grime out of the A/C condenser and then the radiator. Your car appears to be very clean so it may not be an issue with yours.

Decided I will have to have a set made myself which Andrew said isn't too difficult out of pipe.  Maybe others have another idea on here?

There are a handful of threads talking about that on here. Gumby did a nice set on his car in his build thread. He did his a little differently than most, but it will give you a great visual of what needs to be done. Andrew does sell the seat braces for the connectors (that Chuck W designed) that makes a decent difference. Not to bad mouth Andrew, but he really should be the last person you go to for tech. He hasn't installed a single part he makes on his own car.

Oh, and I found a set of '94 SN95 front spindles but that is for the future in a year or two.

Buy them and stash them. They're getting harder and harder to find.

Saving pennies for a FMIC, injectors, and PimpX. 
I won't wait to install the FMIC, Turbo and etc before the PimpX.  I think it should be fine between the fuel pump and adjustable frp.?.

Doing the turbo, FMIC and everything will be fine. I did a log header, hybrid turbo and a bunch of other  on a stock LA3 with a fuel pump and adjustable regulator. It wasn't ideal, but I didn't have any issues other than getting greedy with boost and popping head gaskets. I would heavily suggest getting the E6 ported by Steve Schlodes or BoPort, and trying to do a .63 turbine housing. Porting the E6 will basically allow the .63 to spool like a stock E6 and .48 would spool. It'll pull much better in the upper RPMs as well.

Don't forget to budget injectors. The PimpX runs high impedance injectors where as our cars are low. Our injectors are barely good enough for our cars in stock form as it is.
7
User Rides / Re: Back in a fox. 1988 Turbo Coupe. The life journal.
The Krylon Industrial line seems to be pretty durable so far. I haven't through its paces yet though.

That is indeed an LT1 car. Honestly, for a normal street car, I prefer the LT1. It sounds better and it has all of its torque down low. With headers, exhaust, roller rockers, intake and a tune, it made 294hp/347ft/lbs to the wheels and the curves were flat. It made torque everywhere, and would cruise at 1700rpm at 70mph with no issues. If I were building a GM with the sole purpose of going fast, then LS is the way to go.
8
User Rides / Re: Back in a fox. 1988 Turbo Coupe. The life journal.
Yes, I am using the 92-94 Ranger alternator and bracket to move it to the passenger side. It uses a bolt hole that It right by the thermostat housing. I went through my pictures and realized that I didn't take one of when I mocked up the bracket and alternator. It was close to the thermostat housing bolt, and its tight around the coolant tube off of the water pump.

I did manage to go out and paint a few more things today. I still have to paint the radiator, sort the hoses and finish painting a few more small items. I'm really dreading the radiator. That's a lot of masking.

I also learned that VHT Chassis and Roll Bar paint is pure garbage. I used it to paint my control arms, and brake fluid peeled the paint right off. I thought that maybe it was because the paint didn't have a lot of time to cure. When I installed the double hump crossmember, I had to tack weld the bushing sleeves in place. I reached under the car and kinda sprayed the welds with the VHT. Today, I wanted to pull the crossmember and give it a more official paint job. I splashed some acetone on a rag, and the VHT wiped right off. I've been using Krylon Industrial on some other stuff and it is far more durable and about the same price.
9
Lounge / Re: New career direction.
Haven't acquired Cobra IRS yet, or Large Rear Drive Unit.

The pace is intense, These places never stop, and since nobody is flat rate, I've seen techs flat-out swarm a car and clear it so fast you're just left blinking.  The tech is a learning curve, that's for sure.  I'm headed out to Toledo tonight for 3 days of training in Contactors and Discharge.  High Voltage training ALSO never ends.  Better safe than sorry, I suppose.

The joys of the millions of training classes.

At UPS, we take monthly training courses, and once a year, we take about 10 hours of annual training. Most of the training doesn't pertain to us, but it keeps blame from falling on UPS if something happens.
11
User Rides / Re: Back in a fox. 1988 Turbo Coupe. The life journal.
Once again, my ADD has gotten the best of me over the past few months.

I got the itch to build a new computer as mine is dated and had to turn a bunch of game settings down to get decent frame rates. Unfortunately, the current state of computer components is absolutely insane. I decided that rather than build a computer; I'll just do new peripherals. I ended up going with a 49" ultrawide monitor, new keyboard, mouse pad, and painted some stuff to make it look a little nicer. I then pulled the case apart and cut out all of the mesh and honeycomb that was blocking the fans airflow. With that, I RGB'd the hell out of the computer. Unfortunately, I forgot to take pictures of the completed setup. That'll be for another day.

One of the other things I've gotten around to is starting my aquarium. I put in S.Repends and some Anubias Nana Petite so far. I've been battling some algae as the tank cycles, but I think I'm getting it under control now. I'll be adding some Red Root Floaters, an Anubias Golden Coin and maybe some Pearl Weed. I'll probably break it down and change the substrate at some point once I get the plants established. I made a poor choice of substrate and nothing likes to stay planted.



Now, to more of the automotive stuff.

Carlisle came and went. This time, I got a room and spent the weekend up there. It was a good time, and it was nice to not have to rush to find friends and be able to actually see the cars. I took the Mustang and with as hot as it was, it was nice to have A/C. I didn't take many pictures, and only took one of my own car with V8Demons mustang.



The car was clean until I drove up through a battlefield of cicadas.

After Carlisle, my sleep pattern has shifted, so I've had more time during the day to get work done. I have stuffed the upgraded water pump on the car, and have painted some other . I haven't taken pictures. I did get the exhaust mostly wrapped up.

I made a turn down out of a 90 degree bend using just a sawzall. I was quite proud.



A buddy of mine did all of the welding on the exhaust for me and it came out quite nicely. The hangers should be in today, so it may get installed tomorrow.



One of the other things I'm stupidly happy with is how the alternator bracket is coming out. I had to grind a nub off to give myself room to the thermostat housing bolt. I hate the idea of making maintenance difficult on myself. When I ground the nub off, I also ground down a casting seam and smoothed it out a bit. I found out that my buddy has a bead blaster at his shop so I bead blasted the bracket and I'm pretty happy with it thus far.



This week will hopefully will be decent enough weather wise so I can get off of my ass and finish painting a bunch of parts to install.









 
12
User Rides / Re: BlueBird
I still stand by the fact that the 4v is one of the best sounding V8's ever.

You're still a dick.
14
Lounge / Re: covid in my household..
I ended up getting the Covid back in February. A handful of coworkers and I felt kinda run down and very mildly sick. It felt like a typical cold you might get for a day if you were sleep deprived. The company I work for, and my shift means being sleep deprived is a normal ordeal so none of us thought much about it.

One coworker called his doctor about a sinus issue and they tested him. He came up positive. After a game of phone tag, we al got tested. 9 of us came up positive.

I was really rough for a few days. After I got over that initial hump, it really wasn't too bad. I have had pneumonia and it was far worse than I Covid for me. I would easily get winded and wasn't at full strength for a few weeks. My smell is still a little wonky but it is steadily getting better.

Make sure you keep hydrated, vitamins and keep your eating clean. Try to keep moving.