Noob here with possibly silly question....And hi!

[mikes85Capri]

Greetings Everyone,
So I finally got my first foxbody. Something I have been wanting to build for some years now. Landed a great deal on an 85 Capri 5.0 T-Top project. She needs some TLC but I am looking forward to a build with my 9 year old son. Anyway, the car came with a 88 5.0 literally bolted in only by the two mounts just above the K member for trailering. The T5 was in the hatch with the cross member. That being said, the engine is tilted badly preventing me from doing much to it in the meantime. Am I missing something here? Does the tranny support the rear of the engine therefore keeping it from tilting? Or, is there a mount I am overlooking to keep it level while the transmission is out of the car? Any help is greatly appreciated. I look forward to learning a lot from this site. Thanks in advance.

[mudgepondexpress]

You are correct. Once the transmission is bolted in place the engine will sit normally. You will probably need to place a jack under the front of the engine in order to tilt is enough to install the transmission and crossmember.

Cool car and good luck! We have an 83 bubble back Capri also.

Kenny

[mikes85Capri]

Thanks. Figured as much. Makes sense. Determined to go EFI on this thing. Everyone is telling me...just slap a carb on it and you’ll be done. But to me, it just wouldn’t be right for me. So going to tough it out with a gas tank swap, ecu, harness and all. Hopefully not too much headache.

[mudgepondexpress]

Good choice. Converted my 81 F150 years ago to a mustang HO setup, best mod I have ever done for it.

[homer302]

Good choice. Converted my 81 F150 years ago to a mustang HO setup, best mod I have ever done for it.

Alright. Those were the early years of the square front F150. Let's see some pictures of that! I love those. They were not very rust resistant so all the ones near where I was in that year turned to dust early on. I love them though.

[emerygt350]

I drove an 86 f150 in the late eighties that had the big intake runners on it. Not much real power but an awesome running engine. With the sweet old style dash and the nice looking exterior. 86 was the peak of the f150 for engine plus style.

I know the injection will make for a better car in the long run, but you may want to go cheap carb in the short if you are not sure about the engine running etc...

[mudgepondexpress]

Not to hijack, but here is my pickup about 5 years ago..

The 5.0 HO SEFI conversion was done in 1998. The engine now has 298,000 miles on it and the Pickup has 301,000... it has served my family well.

Needs a lot of work but I have a ton of NOS parts for it... now when the daughter goes to college I might have some time to work on it.

Kenny

[wraithracing]

Thanks. Figured as much. Makes sense. Determined to go EFI on this thing. Everyone is telling me...just slap a carb on it and you’ll be done. But to me, it just wouldn’t be right for me. So going to tough it out with a gas tank swap, ecu, harness and all. Hopefully not too much headache.

Nothing wrong with going with EFI. I have done this on a few early Foxes myself. I personally have decided on a couple of my Foxes to go with this setup https://fitechefi.com/ rather than the whole factory EFI setup. Has virtually all of the benefits but with less install headaches IMHO. You can still use a later model EFI fuel tank to help with the swap or modify your current setup. If you have all the OEM EFI parts then that may be the less expensive option, otherwise the Fit Tech setup will be hard to be again IMHO. Good Luck!

[wraithracing]

The engine now has 298,000 miles on it and the Pickup has 301,000...

So . . . . The engine was rebuilt/replaced at 3,000 miles?

[mudgepondexpress]

No, the pickup had 108,000 on it, the engine 105,000 when installed, 3000 difference, just to be honest

[mudgepondexpress]

End of hijack. Trey is right on, the new all in one efi is pretty sweet. If you have all of the stock items, it is quite doable, just a little more time. Lots of help on this site as you need it.

Kenny