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  1. #26
    FEP Senior Member waggin's Avatar
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    Sep 2009
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    Mount Vernon, WA
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    Thank you everyone for the replies and advice!

    Even if my Zephyr is starting with a manual transmission on the floor, is the hump still different? I know they had a different configuration for automatic vs. manual, but didn't know that the Fairmont/Zephyrs had a different manual trans floor hump from the Fox Mustang/Capri. Since I have that rare, factory console, I'd sure hate to have to cut it up.

    Worried that using an Explorer engine and converting to carb would be sort of a snowball project. Wouldn't I need a carb, intake manifold, distributor, cam gear, front cover, front accessories, etc. etc? By the time I did all that, I think I'd rather figure out the goods to run EFI. Trying to keep this semi-simple, as if I try to go big right away, odds are that the project will sit another three years. I'm ok with starting slow...literally!

    As for the brake lines, I'm reading that I can just scavenge the 6.75 or 7.5 lines from the Zephyr axle, then swap those over to the 8.8, which sounds like the easiest/cleanest approach. Haven't looked at the Zephyr, but my Fairmont's brake line comes off the right side floor pan area. Assume it's the same. That way, I don't have to deal with the center body pan bracket. It's also the economical approach, which I like. Yes, I realize that I'm a little goofy about preferring single exhaust. Figure that if Mike Cunningham is racing a 347 and using a 3" single exhaust, it's probably enough for any 302 I might have.
    '78 Fairmont Box Top w/Straight 6/3-spd Manual Everything
    '81 Zephyr Wagon 4/4-spd
    '84 Mustang SVO 5.0 Swapped semi-junker (I didn't do it!)
    MAF, GT-40, BBK Shorties

  2. #27
    FEP Power Member 4-barrel Mike's Avatar
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    T5-equipped Fairmont with Mustang "hump" for transmission clearance. I think you can gain sufficient clearance without it.

    Attachment 130945

    Mike

  3. #28
    FEP Power Member 4-barrel Mike's Avatar
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    Detail from a much larger picture of an early mock-up with T5 and no Mustang hump.

    Attachment 130946

    Mike
    Last edited by 4-barrel Mike; 01-15-2020 at 01:36 AM.

  4. #29
    FEP Power Member 4-barrel Mike's Avatar
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    Working backwards , another detail from a larger picture, stock Fairmont floorshift hole, needs trimming for a T5:

    Attachment 130947

    Mike
    Last edited by 4-barrel Mike; 01-15-2020 at 01:28 AM.

  5. #30

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    You won't have to cut your console. The F/Z hump just seems to sit a bit lower than a Mustang's, and like Mike's picture shows, the holes were seemingly cut with a jigsaw to any old shape, so you'll probably have to enlarge it is all.

    I've got no problem with keeping things simple and doing a single exhaust. It will save you from having to figure out how to make the tailpipes happen too. That's something I just went back and tweaked again on mine after 10 years. Much easier to do it the way the factory did.
    Brad

    '79 Mercury Zephyr ES 5.0L GT40 EFI, T-5
    '17 Ford Focus ST
    '14 Ford Fusion SE Manual

  6. #31

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    Sell me this wagon.
    '79 Z7 w/sunroof, first car, 302, 5-speed, 8.8 Rear Disc
    '68 Cougar 302 4v Auto
    '84 Jeep Grand Wagoneer
    '03 F250 V10
    '04 Volkswagen Golf 2.0
    '07 Hyundai Entourage

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