We took the M81 to a local car show

[m81mclaren]

Wow this is a really good section for FEP and have been loving everyone's builds. I thought I'd drop a post here as most of my time is spent in the 2.3 section figuring out this quirky engine.

For those who missed my resurrection thread the short story is I bought the car back in 1993. Got it running but it had motor and turbo issues which had taken it off the road back in 1991. Building a career, 2 house moves, and having a family put it on the back-burner until my son at age 7 asked me of we could work on the orange beast! He's now 15 and has been with me every step of the way (along with many here on the FEP 2.3 section) working on it when time permitted to refurbish the car back to a driver. Finally, this March after a lot of fiddly work we got it through CA smog days before the GoodGuys show and made it there under its own power. We've been working the kinks out since and have made it to 3 GoodGuys, a few cars and coffee, RADWood S.F. and now this local show. It's been a blast for sure and I can't believe how fast time truly flies!
1995 when I bought it


2003ish


April 2010


Sept 2010


July 2011 she fires!

2014 sometime
Carb off for rebuild



July 2016


March 2017 head finally off for inspection and rebuild



Sept 2016



Recaro LSC's finally back in

Headliner


May 2017


August 2017


August 2018
Turbo rebuild after I still had smoke on start- carbon seal!




Then this


Replacement that

And that
Then this happened again...thanks AAA!

[4-barrel Mike]

Nice!

Too bad that @radwoodofficial missed the obvious #foureyedpride IG tag.

Mike

[m81mclaren]

Three filters to catch maybe a bad gas fill-up: two at the carb and one at the tank


And...


September December 2018
CAT installed, new rad, new tires



January 2019- getting close


Vacuum line purgatory preparing for smog inspection



Fixed boost gauge



March 28 2019 Passed Smog and made it to our first show and all legal! Goodguys!


Made the GGuys Gazette Magazine!

June 2019 Goodguys2


July 2019


August 2019

Sept 29, 2019
My son and I took the m81 McLaren to a local car show and had an awesome time with almost 750 cars in attendance! I only spotted one other 4 eye a restored 84 gt350 which I wanted to park next to but got routed elsewhere in the early darkness. Lots of double and triple-takes from the gearheads in spite of no V8!




Lots of FEP folks to thank of course for all the many years of support and friendship; a great group of guys here for sure! You all know who you are as so many contributed to the main build thread and answered the endless questions. Looking forward to what's next.

[mcb82gt]

Looks like a hundred leg squid got under your air cleaner. Damn!

What a job that must have been. Kudos to you!

[KevinK]

Glad to see the car out.

FYI, I put one of those Champion radiators in my 85 McLaren and it started to overheat. It only had a small leak prior. I installed a stock Ford one back in it and no overheating. No idea why but the radiator gets the blame. It had no miles on it. I still have it.

[Basin Motorsports]

People at the shows make it more fun to go and see what they say. Glad to see it out again. Maybe we can park together next year at Good Guys if I'm not running autocross.

[NAVYCAT]

wow! great work............. looks beautiful!

[gr79]

Nice write up and congrads getting the M81 to finally drive into the show and tell thread.
The big goal all the work was about. The fruit of labor. So glad you can enjoy it as meant to be. Experiences, memories.

People really ask questions about the carb 2.3T and even want to see one. Not only at shows. Everywhere.
Especially when they find out the car is not powered by a 5.0. They want to study the turbocharger setup.
Most cannot find it!

Looking at the engine pics, cannot see the outer timing cover round rubber plug installed in the inspection hole.
Got concerned to think it was missing. About something getting in there thru the open hole to mess up the belt.

[m81mclaren]

Thanks I'll keep an eye on it but the Champion performed very well in the 100 mile round trip stop and go traffic in 100 degree plus weather this summer. I liked the fit and the filler location compared to others and did not want to go too thick as others reported issues with that.

Glad to see the car out.

FYI, I put one of those Champion radiators in my 85 McLaren and it started to overheat. It only had a small leak prior. I installed a stock Ford one back in it and no overheating. No idea why but the radiator gets the blame. It had no miles on it. I still have it.

[m81mclaren]

For sure they look as they walk by the orange paint, then double-take when they see the flares and under the hood then get curious when they see the Revell Model box, magazine cover shots and small write-up I have on the dash. So many have owned a foxbody or SVO (or Pinto) in the past and makes for great conversation about where the turbo is and how it works with a carb. The older ones just shake their head at the 4cyl and spaghetti under the hood. OG EcoBoost!

I do have the timing cover bolt grommet and rubber edge seal to re-install when I get to the valve cover bolt redo over the winter don't worry!

Nice write up and congrads getting the M81 to finally drive into the show and tell thread.
The big goal all the work was about. The fruit of labor. So glad you can enjoy it as meant to be. Experiences, memories.

People really ask questions about the carb 2.3T and even want to see one. Not only at shows. Everywhere.
Especially when they find out the car is not powered by a 5.0. They want to study the turbocharger setup.
Most cannot find it!

Looking at the engine pics, cannot see the outer timing cover round rubber plug installed in the inspection hole.
Got concerned to think it was missing. About something getting in there thru the open hole to mess up the belt.

[gr79]

This one?:
https://www.picclickimg.com/d/l400/p...USTANG-SVO.jpg
All it really is a certain size rubber body plug

I guess will always retain the bit role of assy inspector, sorting defective parts, etc.
Much more critical:
Friend has a '08 P71 Crown Vic. Noticed one of the car's fuel tank straps hanging one day.
That was in the spring. New straps are still in the car's trunk. Hope his procrastination doesn't bite his pocketbook.

[xctasy]

Nice write up and congrads getting the M81 to finally drive into the show and tell thread.
The big goal all the work was about. The fruit of labor. So glad you can enjoy it as meant to be. Experiences, memories.

People really ask questions about the carb 2.3T and even want to see one. Not only at shows. Everywhere.
Especially when they find out the car is not powered by a 5.0. They want to study the turbocharger setup.
Most cannot find it!

Looking at the engine pics, cannot see the outer timing cover round rubber plug installed in the inspection hole.
Got concerned to think it was missing. About something getting in there thru the open hole to mess up the belt.

This is just like the Cross Flow head modification to Mike1157's Glia Monster nee 1978 Ford Fairmont.

Born a 200 six, any normal sane person kind of expects a nice iron bent 8 from Cleveland Foundry 1 or 2, but then you find...gah! an in line engine with crazy stuff that just should not be....


2.3's and any other in line engine Ford made does that.

I'm not even sure a Yamaha SHO Taurus 3.0/3.2 V6 like mgman75's and Peganit2's

or nik97's Ford made SHO 3.5 V8 version of the 6-v ahamaY.

or perhaps even an Eaton Blown 3.8-4.2 V6 like plstktnkr2's lovely " plastic tanker two" would not mess people up anywhere near as much as that Carb turbo 2.3 does, m81 and gr79.....



More power to you all

[Boomer85gt]

Awesome piece of Foxbody history! Good job on keeping it alive.

[JTurbo]

Congrats. Never realized that you actually got it back on the road. Good job!

[m81mclaren]

Awesome piece of Foxbody history! Good job on keeping it alive.

Congrats. Never realized that you actually got it back on the road. Good job!

Thanks and why I posted here as it looked like an active spot to share current state of things!

[m81mclaren]

BTW I just turned 24,240.2 miles on the odo so I've put a whopping 918 miles on her in just shy of 30 years (gulp!) of ownership! Just crazy how time flies. Last Saturday we took it to the local BlackHawk Museum Mustang show and had a great time and met some cool people. Put a coat of actual wax on for no good reason!

[qikgts]

Out and about in your damn cool 4 eye! You have me beat.... Looks like that was a good show!

[gr79]

Did all the cars have rocker panel stripes in the door sill?
Nice touch.

[83GTTops]

I would love to see one of those in person!