Just like the title says, I've only seen one and the picture I have is avatar quality so when you zoom in the quality is terrible. I'm going to start on the one for my 83 and am just looking to see if there are any pitfalls before I dive off into this.
With the 351W being so much wider I did not want to reuse these. I used FMS 8mm wires with them and they fit perfect. If you want to use a larger diameter plug wire the black guides can simply be drilled out to fit them. They are in great shape as you can see from the pictures and the price is $30 plus shipping.
I have a CSI (P/N 630R) and a Lokar throttle cable (P/N TC-1000HT) for sale that were on my '83 T-Bird when it had a 306 in it with a Holley 4150 carb, 1" nitrous plate, and an Edelbrock Victor Jr. intake. I switched over to a 351W and due to the taller deck height the throttle cable is no longer long enough even with the nitrous plate removed. I switched over to a fogger system which screwed up the old spring return setup that was mounted under the CSI throttle bracket (NOS solenoid got in the way) so I needed a throttle bracket that allowed for a top mount front spring return set up. Anyhow here is the picture of the throttle cable, throttle bracket, and parts bag which has the pivot ball that attaches to the carb, the carb fitting which attaches to the cable and the pivot ball, and the allen wrench for the set screw on the carb fitting. The price is $50 firm plus shipping.
I think we get into several conversations a month over what wheels and tires will actually fit under the rear fenders of the Cougars and T-Birds. One thing that has not been done or at least that I can find is a thread that people post wheel & tire combinations that fit under the rear fenders as well as the rear suspension makeup. What I think we need to do is post this information up so that a person can get a better idea as to what works and even what does not work but remember that pictures also help people get a feel for how it looks. I'll start with what I have on my '83 Bird.
Car Info - 1983 Ford Thunderbird LX 5.0 Base Model
Rear Axle - '87 8.8 Stock or Aftermarket Lower Control Arms - Griggs Racing Adjustable LCA's with no spring perches, length adjusted to stock T-Bird dimension Stock or Aftermarket Lower Upper Control Arms - Global West Adjustable UCA's (T-Bird Specific, not the GM A-Body car units although those are supposed to work), length adjusted based on pinion angle but close to stock T-Bird dimension Four or Five Lug - Five lug conversion using stock Fox Mustang length Moser axles with five lug pattern (used North Race Car brake adapters for the rear SN95 brakes) Rims - 17x9 Bullitt Style Chrome Replicas, 24mm offset with a 6.5" backspacing (I will measure this as I am not 100% sure but this may take a couple of weeks to get to) Tires - Yokohama 275/40/17 AVS ES100 (no longer made)
I think we get into several conversations a month over what wheels and tires will actually fit under the front fenders of the Cougars and T-Birds. One thing that has not been done or at least that I can find is a thread that people post wheel & tire combinations that fit under the front fenders as well as the front suspension makeup. What I think we need to do is post this information up so that a person can get a better idea as to what works and even what does not work but remember that pictures also help people get a feel for how it looks. I'll start with what I have on my '83 Bird.
Car Info - 1983 Ford Thunderbird LX 5.0 Base Model
Stock or Aftermarket K-Member - Griggs Racing (moves the tire forward 1") Stock or Aftermarket Lower Control Arms - Griggs Racing Severe Duty Fox Mustang length (set to zero forward offset so that the total forward movement of the tires is still 1") Four or Five Lug - Five lug conversion using the SN95 '96-'04 spindles per Griggs instructions (94-95 spindles move the wheel 3.1mm outward per side and the 96-04 spindles move the wheel 8.1mm outward per side) Steering Rack Limiters - None Rims - 17x8 Bullitt Style Chrome Replicas, 24mm offset with a 5.5" backspacing (I will measure this as I am not 100% sure but this may take a couple of weeks to get to) Tires - Yokohama 245/40/17 AVS ES100 (no longer made)
Trying to work up some numbers on wheels for a 87-88 TC and need to know what the backspacing and offset were on the factory snowflake rims. Anyone have this info? I've looked for a couple of hours and pretty sure I have just overlooked it but my eyes are about to fall out of my head.
I have a black 16GB 4S with Otter Box w/belt clip and a black 16GB 3GS with Otter Box w/belt clip. I am wanting $250 for the 4S and $100 for the 3GS. Both will come with a home charger and they are AT&T phones. I figured I would check with you guys first before I put them out on the Corral and other larger sites.
I pulled the fan shroud off of an '85 GT Mustang years ago when I first built my T-Bird. It came of a German Mustang GT (guy was in the military, shipped car home, got drunk, crashed car, etc) and still has the sticker on with the warning in German and English which does not mean other than I thought it was interesting. Anyhow, the major difference between this one and a 86-93 shroud is there is no provision for the overflow bottle. You can still get a new repop 79-85 fan shroud from Blue Oval Industries for $85.
FAN SHROUD:
The thermal clutch is a standard duty Murray P/N 2723 that you can at most parts stores for $30 and the Fan is an OEM fan that I have seen going for around $100 new.
FAN & CLUTCH:
I do have the bolts that assemble the fan to the clutch and they are currently assembled together just in case anyone was wondering about that as well.
Got the radiator cleaned up and its in pretty good shape now. I had to straighten some fins on it which is why you see the paint missing in spots, typical fin collapse from sitting in a garage and getting moved all over the place because its in the way. It is a GoDan (GDI) 433556 stock replacement radiator commonly bought at PepBoys, OReillys, AutoZone etc. It is an all metal radiator so no plastic end caps and they were about $85 new.
RADIATOR:
I'm in no rush to sell this so hopefully someone who really needs it can grab this up before it gets too warm. Price is $100 firm for all of it plus shipping. I have the box my aluminum radiator came in so I can pack it in that as it was way to big of a box for just the radiator.
I fired up the new 331 in the Coupe the other day and after letting it run for a bit I noticed that both connections between the X-Pipe and the Cat Back were leaking. After I shut the motor off and things cooled down a couple of drip of water even dripped from these locations. I still had the car up on jack stands so I took the X-Pipe back out. The ball like connections on the X-Pipe were somewhat rough so I smoothed them out with some emery cloth. I crawled back under the car and took a small flashlight to see what was going on. The cup connection on the Cat Back were rough and just laden with carbon build up. I jacked around with some emery cloth on those and soon realized it was getting no where fast. The solution was pretty simple so I thought I would share it with you guys. I took a cup brush that would work with my DeWalt 14.4 cordless drill and shined them up. I chose a brush that was a little larger than the ID of the pipe so it would really clean up the ID of the pipe as well as get the lip of the cone connect clean. If you angle the wire wheel at about a 30 degree angle and push it will cinch down and literally go into the flare and really clean it out. Worked them over for a couple minutes each and got all the carbon build up out of the connection. Went back after it with the emery cloth and got all the rough spots out.
Took a couple of hours but the exhaust is sealed up now and no leaks. I wish I would have thought to take pictures but I spaced it. I did however want to post up the wire wheel I am talking about so it would make more sense:
I bought this flywheel with a 331 stroker package and did not realize that it would not work with the Fox Mustang clutches. I found several sites selling them in the $310 range including eBay. This flywheel has never been installed and from the markings on the flywheel is was manufactured in 10/2004. Here is the link to it on Summit:
I am having a guy in Arkansas port my Edelbrock Performer RPM (2.20/1.60) heads and the Edelbrock Performer RPM II lower intake for the new 331 in my Coupe. I bought the heads used and basically stole them from the guy but he named his price. I took them to the gentleman that does all my machine work up in Norman, OK and we decided to strip them down to just the castings and install all new valve train. The new valve train consists of Isky 8005 springs, Manley titanium retainers & keepers, Manley severe duty valves, new ARP rocker studs (the old ones were about a 1/4" too short), and some Crane Cams aluminum full roller rockers. I also got a set of stud girdles with the heads so the top end is rock solid. The heads have been the choke point on the car since I built the last 306 so with the 331 and Ed Curtis cam I decided to bite the bullet and port all of this. I took pictures of the before and will post the after here in a couple of weeks.
Lower Intake:
Head:
Hopefully with the additional cubes and the higher flowing upper end this one will hit the 400+ rwhp mark.
Not sure how many of you guys would need one of these but the bolts and studs needed to install the water pump and timing chain cover for the 5.0 and 351W motors are getting harder to find and when you do find them they are rusted all to hell and back. Latemodel Restoration has an exclusive deal with ARP for new kits and I bit the bullet and bought one for my 331 build. Here is the URL:
