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Topic: Chuck's '83 TBird (Read 70668 times) previous topic - next topic

Re: Chuck's '83 TBird

Reply #240
Nice job on the line bracket and a big congrats on the new addition to the family!
1985 Mercury Cougar XR-7 - 5-speed 
One of 1,246 built

Re: Chuck's '83 TBird

Reply #241
Congrats on #2!   Bracket looks good too!
84 COUGAR/90 HO, 1.7RRs, performer RPM,700DP, equal length shorties, stainless EXH ,T-5,Hurst pro-billet, KC clutch, 8.8/ 4.10s, line-lok, bla ,bla, bla.
71 COMET/289,351w heads, 12.5 TRWs, 750DP, Liberty TL, 9"/6.00s, 11.9x @112 , bla,bla,bla.

Never shoot your mouth off, unless your brain is loaded! ....I may get older, but I'll never grow up!....If you're not laughing, you're not living!  :laughing:

Re: Chuck's '83 TBird

Reply #242
Congrats on baby #2!
1988 Thunderbird TC, 5spd
Stinger 3" single exhaust, Cone Filter, Adjustable Cam Pulley, Schneider roller cam, Walbro 255 lph, AEM Wideband O2
'93 Mustang Cobra replica wheels on 235/50R17

'21 F150 Powerboost
'17 Husqvarna TX300

Re: Chuck's '83 TBird

Reply #243
Congrats!

Time to teach baby #1 to weld.
88 Thunderbird LX: 306, Edelbrock Performer heads, Comp 266HR cam, Edelbrock Performer RPM intake, bunch of other stuff.

Re: Chuck's '83 TBird

Reply #244
Oh, hey. Look at this.



And it's under the car!


Long live the 4-eyes!  - '83 Tbird Turbo

Re: Chuck's '83 TBird

Reply #245
Looks great!
88 Thunderbird LX: 306, Edelbrock Performer heads, Comp 266HR cam, Edelbrock Performer RPM intake, bunch of other stuff.

Re: Chuck's '83 TBird

Reply #246
Nice work fabricating those clamp-on axle brackets!  :bowdown:
1988 Thunderbird
306 HO w/ A9P processor
AOD w/ Transgo Reprogrammer
Full Digital Dash w/ twin Cyberdyne A-pillar gauges 
245/50/16 Tires on Snowflakes
Engine swap - CA smog compliant

Re: Chuck's '83 TBird

Reply #247
Nice work fabricating those clamp-on axle brackets!  :bowdown:
Wish I could take credit for those, but those are part of that Steeda kit that I cut apart to fit in here.

Not many updates this week. Been wrangling other projects, and time is limited.
Long live the 4-eyes!  - '83 Tbird Turbo

Re: Chuck's '83 TBird

Reply #248
Well, I managed to get the other car projects taken care of and was able to steal away a few hours this week to get some things done on this.



Got all of the new power stuff and lighting wiring sorted and tucked away. The lone orange wire is for the switch for the fog lights. I need to move a few things around to be able to open the 47'-long doors on this thing to work under the dash before I can finish that.
I'm probably going to make a little cover to hide a bunch of that wiring. There is just A LOT going on there on these cars...and I added more.

Got all of the new lights in place also.



Then I went to the back of the car to start to try and fish the tailpipe around everything.




There is a bunch of stuff to work around back here...especially with a 3" tailpipe.

I have a plan, but it needed to start with this.


Probably going to take another whack at the tailpipe and make a few other choice cuts to snake around all of the mess.
Luckily, I have a bunch of tubes on-hand. (This is all for the 240, but I can always buy more ;) )


I'm going to need to add a new bung for the WBO2 in the DP, and I think I may work in a couple more v-band clamps to make things easier to remove/fit.

Once it's all redone, I'm hoping my buddy can spray it with some Cerakote, like he did for my 850 exhaust.


Long live the 4-eyes!  - '83 Tbird Turbo

Re: Chuck's '83 TBird

Reply #249
This showed up today.


I already have a spare LSU 4.9 sensor in the garage, so I just need to get it into the exhaust and wired up.
Long live the 4-eyes!  - '83 Tbird Turbo

Re: Chuck's '83 TBird

Reply #250
Well, November disappeared in a flash. Now Dec is half gone due to other obligations and then surgery (snip-snip) recovery this past week have kept me away from doing any work, other than some garage clean up.

However, today I was able to get back to what may prove to be the fruitless attempt to fit a 3" tail pipe around all of this rear suspension stuff.

I stuck the tailpipe up in place to see how far things were off from that end.

I couldn't even get it lined up properly without hitting the panhard chassis bracket.

I chopped a little bit off of that and got it lined up and secured in place. Then I moved to the front.
After a couple hours, I wound up here.





I basically have a 1/4" of clearance to the frame, upper link, panhard bracket at ride height. I think with some better sorted hangers, I can limit the movement enough.

I realized when I was cleaning up that I probably wanted to raise the ler up a touch, so I'll need to slightly shorten that exit piece from the ler to fit things back together again properly.

Once I fix that, I'll piece together the last bit to the tail pipe, and then move the suspension through its range to see where any problem areas might be. I may wind up have to squeeze a couple tubes here or there, or add clearance dimples, but I think we're pretty close.

After that, I need to sort out the split/assembly locations and tack in the V-band s and basically get things all back in order before final welding.

Then it's off for coating.

Sorry for the pics. It was as hard to get a camera under there as it was that exhaust tubing...
Long live the 4-eyes!  - '83 Tbird Turbo

Re: Chuck's '83 TBird

Reply #251
Another option will be to try and go under the axle.

The old Stinger tailpipe kind of dipped down a bit right after going over the axle and then out to the back. It was kind of low, so that MIGHT be an option, depending on how much droop there is in the system, and whether the over-the-axle just doesn't work.

I am 100% certain that I will NOT be doing a dump on this thing.
Long live the 4-eyes!  - '83 Tbird Turbo

 

Re: Chuck's '83 TBird

Reply #252
You could consider oval shaped pipe. Saves you a bit of clearance, if you decide to go under the axle. IDK how much more expensive it is.
1986 Ford Thunderchicken, 5.0 AOD w/ Shift kit,  354,XXX miles. 1-Family owned. Original engine+trans.
8.8 Disc Rear w/ 3.73 Posi. CHE Control Arms. '04 Cobra brakes all around. 2000 Cobra R wheels. Tubular front LCA's. MM Steering Shaft. Unlocked Speedo, Lowering springs, Eibach sway bars front and rear. Ram air intake.

Re: Chuck's '83 TBird

Reply #253
Yeah, that or I was considering applying appropriate amounts of hydraulically-applied force to "adjust" tubing where needed.
Long live the 4-eyes!  - '83 Tbird Turbo

Re: Chuck's '83 TBird

Reply #254
3" tail pipe correct?
88 Thunderbird LX: 306, Edelbrock Performer heads, Comp 266HR cam, Edelbrock Performer RPM intake, bunch of other stuff.