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  1. #51
    FEP Super Member erratic50's Avatar
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    Travis’ car was at Midwest foxfest and sold shortly after
    Last edited by erratic50; 12-29-2019 at 11:25 PM.

  2. #52
    FEP Super Member erratic50's Avatar
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    Sourced new gear set from Moser. 3.90:1. This ratio will nicely complement the 2.95:1 low and 0.63 found in my T5Z. Well — cruising is at least liveable.

    3.90*0.63=2.457

    to put this in perspective, those with a stock T5 and 3.55 have wider ratios 1-4 and 4th is closer to 5th. Final drive is
    3.55*0.68=2.414


    Also, (when) if I break my T5Z, I plan to get a Viper spec T56.

    Looking at the final drive ratios a T56 has with Viper spec is 0.50 2nd overdrive

    my car if I get a T56
    3.90*0.50=1.95

    Factory 2.73 with 0.68
    2.73*0.68=1.8564

    Factory 3.08 with 0.68
    3.08*0.68=2.0944

    Those who run a T5Z with a 3.08 see 1.9404

    For those who love to row the gears in a straight line .....
    3.90 * 2.95 =11.505

    vs stock T5
    3.73*3.35=12.4955
    3.55*3.35=11.8925

    The big thing here is with slicks and around 400 HP a stock T5 with either 3.55 or 3.73 requires the driver shift it “wheels up”. Obviously shifting wheels up translates into missed gear equals destroyed car.

    I won’t eliminate the idea of putting a shot of NOS back on my car once it has healthy metal and engine again.
    Last edited by erratic50; 12-30-2019 at 12:00 AM.

  3. #53

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    3.90's... YOWZA!
    Mike
    1986 Mustang convertible ---> BUILD THREAD
    Past Fox-chassis "four eyes":
    1983 Mercury Cougar LS
    1986 Ford Thunderbird ELAN
    1980 Capri RS Turbo

    Work in progress website ---> http://carb-rebuilds-plus.boards.net/

  4. #54

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    Did you find a donor body or make a final decision on what to do there?

  5. #55
    FEP Super Member erratic50's Avatar
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    Enough donor metal has been secured for this disaster of a four eyed fox to make it back. I want to get my 85 up and running soon. Then it will be time for this 86 to get blown apart and prepared for its second chance

    As a bit of an impulse buy I scored a FMS GT40 tubular intake that was mislabeled as a Lightning. You can tell by where the trim piece attaches that this one is a FMS..... By far the best looking EFI intake for pushrod 5.0’s in my opinion. The lower will need to be ported to reach the flow potential required, but that’s easy enough. Hadn’t thought about it much but I’ll eventually sell off my Typhoon.

    As indicated in my 85 Saleen clone thread and other places, the Dart 353 will most likely go into the 86 build with a nicely built 331 ending up in the Saleen

    One of the main things I’m looking at now is what parts are needed to complete the 85. Gotta get those sorted.

    The other thing is what prep work can get done prior to blowing the 86 apart to make the actual build go very fast. Stuff like the 8.8 can get built in a spare housing. I’ve sourced an actual 86 housing which is where the 3.90’s will get put.

    I’m looking for a Medium Canyon Red dash lower from an 86 to replace the cut up lower from an older fox that’s currently in my 86

    I am also looking at which AFR heads will be right for the 353. Leaning towards AFR185 at the moment.

    The other piece of research is what non factory parts are required to put a Dart based motor together properly. There are subtle differences - will have to get in top of that

    The 353 will get an FTI designed cam when the time comes
    Last edited by erratic50; 01-15-2020 at 12:52 PM.

  6. #56

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    Great update! Lots going on and going to be an exciting build!!!

  7. #57
    FEP Super Member erratic50's Avatar
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    I’ve been shopping porting shops lately as the tubular intake has a long way to go to keep up with a 353. Bigdogs projects getting 320 CFM per port for it which is sufficient.

    Ive been looking at AFR 195 heads in lately. I’ve found a source for thick MLS head gaskets that will keep compression right at 10.5:1.

    Im thinking I will leave all the emissions gear in place on the car as I redo it because there is more and more regulatory discussion on cars all the time. I can’t imagine the misery they guys out in CA are going through right now with finding stock exhaust to put back on.

    The 353 motor build still needs so many things.
    - heads
    - custom cam
    - lifters
    - adjustable timing set
    - pushrods
    - rocker arms
    - large capacity oil pan
    - etc

    The body will see mods for 315/35/17 tires and battle boxes as it’s being transformed

    The suspension will get
    - TRX swaybar in front
    - MM panhard
    - MM upper control arms

    Otherwise it’s more or less done and I’m happy with it overall

    I recently added MM adjustable lower control arms and all new rubber materials around the springs, etc. They’ve been a great addition — MUCH better than the POS tubular control arms that I had put in there before.

    I recently had it out beating on it and actually spun one of the 245/45/17 Kuhmo tires on its bead. Time to change my habits on rear tire pressure, I can’t get away with 28 left and 26 right now that the LCAs actually know what to do with the power they are sent.

    Gone are the days of 15-20 mph down the street in 1st, stand on it, and boil the hides. Gone are the days of 30-35 after the intake and T5Z swap too. Now it’s 4000+ and drop it at WOT to boil them or or it’s 40-45 down the street and stand on it and get them to chirp a bit as it climbs very rapidly to 60 MPH and the 6250 rev limiter. It makes for a completely different but very fun driving experience.

    I have my doubts on the motor mounts putting up with that crap for too much longer but it’s always something.

    a pic I snapped the other day while I fixed the flat tire issue.
    Attached Images Attached Images
    Last edited by erratic50; 02-28-2020 at 08:08 AM.

  8. #58
    FEP Super Member erratic50's Avatar
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    Looking at having TMI do a custom leather setup based upon the SVO patterns. I’ll grab an SVO foam kit and convert the front seats. I have original
    SVO leather rear seats that will get the covers pulled off and done to match the front.

    heres the leather samples

    the blacks are the same - just used one to help with lighting and make the patterns show
    Attached Images Attached Images

  9. #59
    FEP Super Member erratic50's Avatar
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    Made some decisions on the ol 86GT yesterday. I'm going to refinish and run my son's old halo's. No mesh in them- just the factory 1985-1986 GT halo look. I'll take the seats down to the frames and build them back with fresh SVO pads and fresh leather made to order.

    He is going refinish and run my 1986 SVO leather headrests in his 86GT convertible that has 1992-1993 black leather seats. We'll break the seal on the leather top-coat then darken them to black with dye to match the rest of his seats then seal them up with a fresh coat of spray sealer. Basically the same process my dad and I did on the entire junkyard seats when reconditioning them before we gave them to him for Christmas a few years ago.

  10. #60
    FEP Super Member erratic50's Avatar
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    Took the old rust bucket out yesterday and ran a tank of fuel through it. Overall it drives really nice, its just so stinking rusty and the engine is tired. It put up with the hell I gave it for another go-round which made for a fun outing.

  11. #61
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    Glad the car still puts up with a little abuse. Sounds like it was a pretty long drive unless you don’t get that good of mileage.
    Quote Originally Posted by Travis T View Post
    I think this is my favorite car on the site right now.
    Quote Originally Posted by BLUECRAPI
    This is the best thread on the internet.
    Darran
    1982-1C (Black) GT T-Top:http://vb.foureyedpride.com/showthre...he-Road-Thread
    1986-9L (Oxford White) SVO: http://vb.foureyedpride.com/showthre...d-did-1986-SVO
    1979 (85:Tangerine) Coupe (my son's): http://vb.foureyedpride.com/showthre...gerine-Machine
    1979 (3F:Light Medium Blue) Coupe (one day to be my other son's!) http://vb.foureyedpride.com/showthre...um-Blue-Bomber!

  12. #62
    FEP Super Member erratic50's Avatar
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    Went nearly 300 miles. It has a 2.73:1 rear gear and a 0.63:1 OD via T5Z these days so it more or less idles at 65-70 going down the road.

    The transmission needs to come apart again to figure out why the hell it won't allow a 2-3 like it should.... If you try for 4th then it goes right into 3rd otherwise it won't. I've had front-row seat for my butt kicking before because of that stupid 2-3 problem. Oh well -- I'm rolling 90 when I need to look for it.

    Finally found time to take a good friend that has helped me so much with suspension and braking for a ride on Sunday. He was surprised when I got after it and my motor hung in there until the rev limiter called off the party. His former SCCA class champion 86 calls it quits at 5300 like all of them do stock. He has a 17 5.0 so he was not ultra impressed by any means, but was quite surprised by the seat of the pants put up by my tired old stock head motor. It is amazing it pulls anywhere close to as well as it does. 0-90 I'm sure trigger would win that battle if I'm on the stick out of the hole thanks to the Maximum Motorsports LCA's giving me a jump on the 60 foot, but my problem is the 2-3 shift sucks and costs me time every time.... Not sure I could make up for it in a 1/4 mile vs tuned and paddle shifted 5.0.

    Separately from going for a spirited run with a friend, I did drop the hammer on it a couple times and ran some 1-2 full power shifts at 6150. Since my 2-3 is more or less broken I have to be nice on that one.

    I did run a 1/2 mile from a standing start with it once too. The 3-4 shift is around 135 and I was well into 4th and letting her eat when I hit the 1/2 mile. Not sure how fast -- wasn't running GPS at the time. But hauling the mail anyway.

    Other than those few passes I behaved myself and just went for a badly needed drive. Life has been kicking my ass and then some lately and there has been far from any support from anyone around me. Makes me want to just push everyone away and take care of myself because two can play at that game.

    I decided to pay a long overdue visit to my cousin's grave. He was like a brother to me. Its been nearly 25 years but when life kicks my ass in all other ways is the time when those things come back on me hard.

    Sometime around 3:00AM - 4:30AM I had multiple close calls with deer. I would have hit at least two for sure if it still had its stock brakes. The brakes made all the difference.

    I continue to be very grateful to my friend Jeremy for helping me figure out the right combo of SN95 parts. They really work well on my four eyed fox and saved my ass -- again. I would be in a box if it wasn't for the brake upgrades and thats something I remind myself of often while the world kicks my butt.

    Any and all improvements and changes are just a pipe dream until some of the problems I'm facing right now are behind me. Hard to say how it will turn out. I just keep hoping for the best but expecting the worst. I don't have a lot of months of living on no income before I start losing **** -- and fast. I'm on a forced leave of absence because of COVID-19 and I'm battling with the state right now because they claim I still have a job because I'm on LOA. I've never taken a dime from unemployment in my entire life but damn it they need to cough up the cash and now.
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    Last edited by erratic50; 04-30-2020 at 12:39 AM.

  13. #63
    FEP Super Member erratic50's Avatar
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    Little update ...... managed to get it out and do another extended runabout on the 4th of July. 175 miles this time around. Drove it like an adult for a change and for the most part it ran great. Towards the end it stumbled a couple times and was jerky in overdrive and down on power instead of its usual torquey self.

    It straightened out so I didn’t think much of it and put it away

    I fired it up on September 10th to handle some stuff before foxfest. I had promised to once again bring the biggest pile of crap there and encourage others to just show up and have fun

    Well - it fired up and ran fine for about 5 minutes. I went to pull out of the drive after clearing the gate at the storage facility and out of the blue it started stumbling. Bad. Like 1-2 dead cylinders bad.

    I took it home and started pulling plugs to try to understand what was going on

    The #6 plug was a mess. Crack porcelain, fairly discolored like it was fouled and had a heavy coating of what looked like fresh gas and oil.

    Pulled the dipstick and the oil was very black and looked more like gas/oil mix than 10W40 Mobil.

    I thought about just changing one plug but then I remembered I had not taken all 8 of the plugs out since I regapped them in 2001. These plugs were high end platinum when I bought them but have over 200K miles on them...... so why not replace them. The gaps were 0.048 when I put them in because motors that use oil need a little hotter spark to avoid fouling and this thing has burned some for years

    the old plugs were only 0.055 after all these miles surprisingly. Motorcraft platinum really are for all intents and purposes a lifetime plug as advertised

    All the parts stores had was NGK so that’s what went back in.

    I fired it and while it ran a little better it still stuck to high heaven of fuel and had a pronounced miss

    I ran out of time for wrenching so it went to Foxfest across town this way. It went through 3 quarts of oil and 7 gallons of gas in about 30 miles round trip. I thought it was a goner for sure. A lost cause. All the years and beatings and this 302 would basically give up the ghost at idle

    But on my way home the miss was intermittent. There were a few times it ran just fine. WTH

    I thought to myself that it can’t be a mechanical failure if it’s intermittent. It has to be fuel or spark related

    I pulled the cap and gave the cap and rotor a good cleaning with a wire brush on my drill. Zero change

    Next I looked over at my parts stash and remembered that I have a set of 4 hole EV6 24lb injectors, EV1 to EV6 wiring adapters, and an X3Z ECU sitting around. I decided it was time to see if the problem was a failed injector before going to compression tests or declaring the car a lost cause needing disassembly

    I knocked the fuel pressure way back then test fired it with the 24’s. Still had a very pronounced miss. Pulled the plug and #6 was dry as a bone and cold. Hmms

    So I refired it with the A9L the put the fuel pressure adjustment to 39 with the vacuum hose off and plugged and engine at idle

    Still nothing from #6. So I ohmed out the old injectors. Two were very low impedance but of those #6 was a dead short. then I tried to blow through them. The same two let me. One a lot more than the other. Obviously my bad injectors and the im going to have to get the A9L refurbished because a cooked #6 injector signal

    So I swapped in my X3Z. It fired, sounded perfect, stumbled and died. If I shorted the pump relay it would run but not otherwise ..... great. A second bad ECU

    I borrowed another X3Z from a friend. Whoomah! She lives.

    Took it for a drive. Zero idle stumble the 24lb injectors are notorious for. Very responsive at tip-in. Almost too responsive honestly

    After a little drive I decided I needed to drain the nasty oil and put some fresh 10W40 in it.

    It still smokes and always will until it’s rebuilt but it hasnt smoked this little in over a decade

    While out cruising it a new edge came along at a stoplight. Should be easy pray so let’s do this. in a matter of seconds I found out what it is going to do when I hammer it. LAZY. Just flat LAZY. Devon’s 86 would drag my butt away I could barely beat a new edge LAZY

    Back home to do some reading. The Ford service guides emphasize for the 93 Cobra to look for 38 PSI at idle with the vacuum line connected and not necessarily 39 with it off and plugged.

    in order to get 38 plugged in I had to go to 45 unplugged— strange. Apparently the X3Z uses a different pump relay strategy? Whatever

    Took it for a drive and it’s 50% better than it was. It’s falling on its face at 6000 now instead of 5800. I suspect the less aggressive timing strategy on the X3Z is the culprit for this

    My next more is to see if I can get away with a little more base timing with this ECU. The A9L and the VM1 only ever let me run 13.5 without being a complete bitch. Detonating, getting hot, etc

    The car does not run like or sound like the same vehicle. Absolutely nothing like any fox ive ever heard actually. Drivability is very very refined. Like a car 15 years newer.

    more playing to get my power back to come

  14. #64
    FEP Super Member erratic50's Avatar
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    To be clear on the change in sound

    i have a B302 cam. More or less the same as a stock HO cam with 1.7:1 rockers. It’s always had a little cha chop the entire time I’ve owned it

    Now it idles like your average stock econobox. No chop no hint of any stumble. And amazing at part throttle

    If only I can figure out how to get my WOT performance back. It’s a dog in comparison to how it was, but lots better than most would expect.

    Probably what irritates me the most is when this X3Z it shuts my ass down towards the top of 2nd at 85 mph. Barking dog anything beyond that where as I’m accustom to a lot more. On GPS an easy 135 in 3rd, 163 in 4th ..... and all within a mile. There’s a 13 GT500 around Omaha that HATES my car historically.

    Now it falls on its face at speed but oh well

    I’ll disconnect the VSS and take it for another rip

  15. #65
    FEP Super Member erratic50's Avatar
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    I looked over the spark map data for A9L vs X3Z again. Since the X3Z is considerably less aggressive I decided to try a little more base advance. I was at 13.5 before which is all it’s ever put up with.

    i added around 2 degrees advance and revved it with the spout reconnected. Was clearly a bit much after a little WOT in 3rd at 2500.

    Backing off, I settled in with just slightly more than I had. I’m at around 14 although I don’t have a light on hand right now

    It sounds a bit more pissed off than the initial impression with an X3Z now. Performance is now closer to how it ran in the past - but it is definitely still very much down on power vs the A9L with fuel pressure nonsense.

  16. #66
    FEP Super Member erratic50's Avatar
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    Now have a 1986 8.8 housing loaded up with the new 3.90's, new bushings, Mosier fox width SN95 flange axles, NorthRaceCars brake brackets, crush sleeve eliminator, etc. And of course the usual rebuild items - bearing and seals. Went with carbon fiber diff clutches, and new housing bushings. Also a reinforcing aluminum 8.8 diff cover identical to the one on my 85.

    Gotta get the 1985 wrapped up and get this old rust bucket tore down before it becomes the parts car because there's too little left to save. As I look at the floor where its often parked, the past few years ...... even being inside ...... have been VERY unkind to it. Metal is literally falling off the car as it waits.

    Stripped shells after a car has been parted are often far cheaper than the replacement metal. Might be what has to happen I guess. (grr)

  17. #67

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    Been following both your builds on here. Very nice work. Hope you are able to continue with both!

    Was curious where you bought your 8.8 crush sleeve eliminator? Happen to have the part # handy?
    84.5 GT Convertible Build Thread
    86 LX Coupe

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