Picked up this 86 LTD wagon last fall with intent on taking it on the Hot Rod Power Tour this coming June. For now its powered by the the 3.8 V6. Had a nasty front seal leak that included a scored up balancer. Balancers for these particular generation of 3.8 motors aren't on the shelf at your local autoparts store. For some reason Autozone had it for about half of what Amazon, Oreilly and Advance Auto wanted for it.
Did a 5 lug swap over Christmas. 95 spindles and SN95 rear axles. 3.31 gears and the 8.8 tracklock. Figured the S197 would be the right offset for the rear but the fronts might need spacers. The fronts to rub the 245/45/17s at full lock but doesn't look bad IMHO. Also have a 87 LX cat back, the drivers side bolted right in, albeit the tail pipe isn't long enough so I'm still figuring that out. With the 8.8 rear, I moved the brake line to the middle, eventually I'll duel it out, and put the high pressure pump in the tank. Probably going to chop off the tails after the rear axles and dump it out behind the wheels. I have an old Borla cat back I'll probably use for this, with the borla "intercooled" tips it should look pretty cool.
This is how it sits now. This was at the Ford dealer in Katy Texas getting inspected. It was funny the crowd that it drew of service advisers when I pulled up. Don't think one of these have rolled through a Ford dealer in at least 15 years.
Next I'm working on Window Tint and some interior upgrades. Putting a Kenwood deck and new dash speakers. The old 6x9's in the back will probably get an upgrade too after I see how the Dash speakers sound. Ditching the ash tray and putting in a voltmeter, USB ports and 12v outlet. The Dash above glove box is getting an Oil pressure and Water temp autometer 2 5/8 gauges mounted in angle rings.
This fall, I plan to do an LS swap. Before you criticize, I bleed Ford blue, but for $1500 I can make 300+ RWHP and have overdrive and fuel injection that's not 25 years old.
In June we are going to drive from Houston to St. Louis and pickup the HRPT and then onto Indy and Bowling Green for the final HRPT stop and then back to Houston. About 2500 miles, be sure to follow along incase I blow something up at 85 MPH sustained for hours at a time. Which reminds me, I did pickup an Explorer aluminum driveshaft last weekend and I'm waiting on the 1310/1330 conversion ujoints which are a bitch to find without the grease fittings.
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