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Messages - Beau

31
T-Bird/Cougar Parts & Cars WANTED / Re: HO Upgrade
Another idea? How about an Explorer engine?

Pros: GT40 heads, good intake, good pistons (I think?- can't remember), lots of used explorers, maybe not so cheap, since LGB...but...

Cons: need to change cam, valve springs, and add a distributor, and if it's a P headed engine, headers are more of a pain. But BBK 1515 work on P heads, but will need a 90* plug boot on at least one plug...

I actually have a spare Explorer engine from a '99 Mounty....I'd love to say it runs, but I couldn't get it started. However, the oil was good, and it did turn over before I pulled it. Bought a rollover a few years ago....was gonna V8 swap a '97 Explorer that has a 4.0....got as far as parting out the rolled donor and sping the smashed  and then winter hit, and...well...come spring, there was a new job, and no time, money, or motivation to convert the thing. Eventually there was a 4th kid and a 5 seat SUV wasn't enough so I bought an '06 4.6 Exploder and the to-be-swapped Explorer still sits, as does it's intended engine.

Anyway, I see you are upgrading a '94 5.0 cougar....do you mean '84....because a '94 Cougar already is an HO engine...

32
T-Bird/Cougar Parts & Cars WANTED / Re: HO Upgrade
I've got a couple HO cams...as for heads, GT40 heads would work, and probably at this point in time be easier to find than E7s.

If you're set on the E7s, I have a set of those, and at least one HO upper/lower.

Where are ya? Shipping heads isn't cheap. Hell, if you're local, I'd just give you this HO shiznit, I honestly have no use for it anymore...
35
Suspension/Steering / Re: Mustang sway bar on thunderbird
I'm a little late to this party, but I do remember well the talk of the hollow bars and that they ought to be avoided if possible. I even vaguely remember someone here having one that broke...whether it was from rust or simply hard use eludes my memory.

I had a 5.0 Stang bar, and few TC bars (rears)....all were identical in all dimensions/shape.
Fairly certain via memory that Stang 5.0 front bars and the TC bars were very similar. The difference is the end link lengths as the bottom end location on the control arm is "lower" on Tbirds vs Fox Stangs. SN95 Stangs are closer to the '87-8 Cat/Birds.

When I had my white Bird, I put a TC bar on the back (didn't have one before), that alone made a helluva lot of difference. When I swapped on the TC struts (with them "locked" into firm) it was a total night and day difference. TC bar up front at that point as well. Good times. By today's standard though it was pretty sloppy, but in 2005 I thought I was a bad dude.

I miss that car...anywho..
36
Suspension/Steering / Re: RLCA.
I had poly bushings with my CHE arms, plus some sort of metal upper axle end things that I foolishly slapped in as well. Rode rough as hell, the susp was bound up, and even on slightly rough surfaces, cornering would cause the rear to kick out as if it were a leaf sprung truck.

When I did the Mustangs later on I left all the bushings poly (but did put new ones in) and they all have ridden so much nicer.

Lessons learned...as they say.
37
Engine Tech / Re: after market Dizzy FYI *** IMPORTANT READ
But the length on the distributor housing AND the shaft is identical to the old one, no?

There's a place here that rebuilds distributors, on the popular units...surely they'd do a 5.0 Ford....I'll nose around. I'd rather have a rebuilt OEM part than a chinese POS that (as you've discovered) has piss poor tolerance and QA issues....

You can change the gear, too, if need be..
38
Body/Appearance/Interior / Re: need a seating solution
I put a set of '98 GT seats into a friend's Fox Stang...huge improvement. He's also a bigger fella and said upon the first drive with the new seats that it felt a lot better.

Leather..ughh. It's nice to look at but wears like shiznit and will eventually...look like shiznit as well.

If I could find myself an Expedition Platinum eco boost with cloth and withOUT that ed moonroof, I'd be happier than a hog in a new mudhole.

Unfortunately....effing Ford and their junk moonroofs.

I've also noticed that the SN95 seats don't seem to get (or maybe as bad?) that good ole Fox gangsta lean like the older seats get..
44
Lounge / Re: Havent been here in awhile.
Still kicking, though I haven't had a Tbird since 2014. (That may just change soon..)

Covid sucks, work sucks, adulting sucks.

But we keep on keepin' on. At least I make decently good money now. My head's in a better place, I've literally got nothing to complain about.

Let's git it!
45
Suspension/Steering / Re: Strut removal question
Yeah, mine were somewhere in the neighborhood of roughly inch and a half, 2 iinches. Never did get a measurement or even a before and after pic, but I do have random pics of that car later on and it was definitely not rocking the 4x4 look that these cars were famous for, unmolested..

Yeah, SN95 springs are shorter than stock units, ride quality is about the same, maybe a little stiffer.

Next time (and there will be a next time!) I'll run some '03/4 Bullitt springs or Mach 1 or something similar.

Next time.. ;)

I have a line on a car. We'll leave it at that until I have something more concrete.