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  1. #51

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    Quote Originally Posted by deathbypsi View Post
    I just had to file down the bottom side of the plate and a small portion of the intake so the plastic "hook" on them would fit.
    I suppose, no reason i can't do that.
    Brad

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

  2. #52

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    All the joy I had from getting those mounted clean was erased when I realized I forgot to mount the BAP to the firewall before motor went in.lol

    No room to drill any holes now with intake on so I had to zip tie it to the PCV hose kinda out of sight.
    Brian R. of Michigan
    83 TBird 5.0
    88 Ranger 2.3t
    http://vb.foureyedpride.com/showthre...83-Tbird-build

  3. #53

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    Well dropped the tank and I found a whole new mess. The seal for the filler neck had turned to a gummy mess and so did the seal for the vent tube valve. The vent tube valve seal had fallen apart at some point and it was just laying on top of the tank leaving a large opening in the top of the tank. Who knows how much dirt,bugs and moisture got into the tank. When I pulled the sender I found the tank was solid rust inside. The sender was rusted , the filter screen had disintegrated and the rubber hose for the pump had collapsed.

    I had to order a new tank,pump,screen,filter and both rubber seals. The sender wasnt reading anything so I removed it while I soaked the sender in a bowl of vinegar and after cleaning the contacts inside I got it to read the correct ohms as its swept.


    Sooo, while Im waiting for the tank to show up I will start installing the exhaust ,rebuilt the 8.8 and install all the new bushings in the rear arms.

    Brian R. of Michigan
    83 TBird 5.0
    88 Ranger 2.3t
    http://vb.foureyedpride.com/showthre...83-Tbird-build

  4. #54

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    Quote Originally Posted by deathbypsi View Post
    All the joy I had from getting those mounted clean was erased when I realized I forgot to mount the BAP to the firewall before motor went in.lol

    No room to drill any holes now with intake on so I had to zip tie it to the PCV hose kinda out of sight.
    Geez that's frustrating.

    Also a nice mess you found in the gas tank! Well done fixing the sending unit! I'm curious if the 8.8 is wider than your original rear. Those T-birds came with rear disc brakes didn't they?
    Brad

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

  5. #55
    FEP Senior Member rodster's Avatar
    Join Date
    Feb 2006
    Location
    Allentown, PA
    Posts
    716

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    Drum brakes until 87....

  6. #56

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    X2 on kudos for restoring the sender. I never hear of vinegar for this. I would've used WD40 or something like that.
    '88 Mustang GT convertible, T5, 3.08:1 gears. 5.0 Explobra Jet: A9L Mass Air conversion, Fenderwell Mac cold air intake, 70mm MAF meter = 4.6 T-Bird/Cougar housing + '95 Mustang F2VF-12B579-A1A sensor, aftermarket 70mm throttle body and spacer, Explorer intakes, GT40P heads with Alex's Parts springs and drilled for thermactor, Crane F3ZE-6529-AB 1.7 "Cobra" roller rockers, Ford Racing P50 headers, Mac H-pipe, Magnaflow catback, Walbro 190 LPH fuel pump, UPR firewall adjuster and quadrant with Ford OEM cable, 3G conversion ('95 Mustang V6), Taurus fan, rolled on Rustoleum gloss white paint...
    Past Four Eyes: Red well optioned '82 GT 5.0, Black T-top '81 Capri Black Magic 3.3L 4 speed, Black T-top '84 Capri RS 5.0 5 speed.Over 200,000 miles driven in Four Eyes, and over 350,000 in Fox Body cars.

  7. #57

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    Quote Originally Posted by grabbergreen84 View Post
    X2 on kudos for restoring the sender. I never hear of vinegar for this. I would've used WD40 or something like that.
    The acid in the vinegar eats the rust away. Takes about 24hrs for serious rust. I use it all the time to clean nuts,bolts and little brackets over night before I paint them up.

    I got all the rear control arms rebuilt with Energy Suspension bushings and I cut some plates to box them. 8.8 got all cleaned and stripped today along with all new seals.The posi and 3.55s looked great still so they will remain untouched for now.
    Brian R. of Michigan
    83 TBird 5.0
    88 Ranger 2.3t
    http://vb.foureyedpride.com/showthre...83-Tbird-build

  8. #58

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    Got the 8.8 all done and installed yesterday. Pic before I installed rotors, pads and new KYB shocks. I flipped and raised the lower shock brackets on the housing.



    Need to change the rear flange on the driveshaft for one that will fit the 8.8 and start building the exhaust today. Getting closer!!
    Brian R. of Michigan
    83 TBird 5.0
    88 Ranger 2.3t
    http://vb.foureyedpride.com/showthre...83-Tbird-build

  9. #59

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    Its alive!!
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JSEJ52SedIk

    Had to replace the inlet fitting on my 255 Walbro and the fitting on the line since it was the most amazing hack job I have seen yet..New tank is in. New in tank pump was longer than the original so I had to cut up,shorten and reweld the hanger on the sending unit so the pump didnt bottom out in the tank. I bled the brakes and finished everything under rear of car. I made a little 3" dump for my tailpipe and just need to build the pipes between the collectors and the Y pipe.



    Sooo, now its time to wire the gauges, fix my water pump leak,little more interior clean up, alignment and then off to paint!
    Brian R. of Michigan
    83 TBird 5.0
    88 Ranger 2.3t
    http://vb.foureyedpride.com/showthre...83-Tbird-build

  10. #60

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    And now a little preview!


    I will be picking these up tomorrow and getting them on the car so I can finally get my first test drive in on Saturday...I hope.
    Plan is after I put a few break in miles on the car and address any bugs it will then go back to buddies shop and we will finish with the rest of the body and paint. I wanted these done first since they were in the worse shape and needed the most work.

    I also got my new boot ready to install. So nice.



    Loving the new stance.
    Brian R. of Michigan
    83 TBird 5.0
    88 Ranger 2.3t
    http://vb.foureyedpride.com/showthre...83-Tbird-build

  11. #61
    FEP Super Member JTurbo's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 2006
    Location
    Western MA
    Posts
    6,086

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    Turning out awesome. That's a metric ****-ton of work you have put into that car in short order. Congrats!
    1979 Indy Pace Car Mustang 302 / 5spd
    1982 Mustang GT T-Top 302 / 4spd
    1986 SVO Mustang - 1C

  12. #62

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    Thank you. I was just thinkin about this time line last nite and even surprised myself!
    Brian R. of Michigan
    83 TBird 5.0
    88 Ranger 2.3t
    http://vb.foureyedpride.com/showthre...83-Tbird-build

  13. #63

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    Got the front end all together last night and made a strange discovery. Looks like the 87 hood is not a direct bolt on for a 83. only two of the four bolts going into the hood line up on the hinges. The rears are way off so I only have two bolts in for now while I wait for help to remove the hood again and do some mods to the hinges for the other bolts.

    Otherwise real happy with how its coming together
    Brian R. of Michigan
    83 TBird 5.0
    88 Ranger 2.3t
    http://vb.foureyedpride.com/showthre...83-Tbird-build

  14. #64

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    Maybe a set of the later hinges will still bolt right up to your firewall?
    '88 Mustang GT convertible, T5, 3.08:1 gears. 5.0 Explobra Jet: A9L Mass Air conversion, Fenderwell Mac cold air intake, 70mm MAF meter = 4.6 T-Bird/Cougar housing + '95 Mustang F2VF-12B579-A1A sensor, aftermarket 70mm throttle body and spacer, Explorer intakes, GT40P heads with Alex's Parts springs and drilled for thermactor, Crane F3ZE-6529-AB 1.7 "Cobra" roller rockers, Ford Racing P50 headers, Mac H-pipe, Magnaflow catback, Walbro 190 LPH fuel pump, UPR firewall adjuster and quadrant with Ford OEM cable, 3G conversion ('95 Mustang V6), Taurus fan, rolled on Rustoleum gloss white paint...
    Past Four Eyes: Red well optioned '82 GT 5.0, Black T-top '81 Capri Black Magic 3.3L 4 speed, Black T-top '84 Capri RS 5.0 5 speed.Over 200,000 miles driven in Four Eyes, and over 350,000 in Fox Body cars.

  15. #65

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    The 80-83 hood hinges are a different design from 84-88 hoods.

    I've never delt with an 83 before personally though
    2 1986 cougars (both 4 eyed and 5.0)
    1 1987 cougar

  16. #66

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    I drove it up and down my driveway! Loaded on the trailer this morn to go get the exhaust finished at my buddies shop

    Brian R. of Michigan
    83 TBird 5.0
    88 Ranger 2.3t
    http://vb.foureyedpride.com/showthre...83-Tbird-build

  17. #67

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    Awesome! Smoky burnout?
    Brad

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

  18. #68

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    No not yet. Still no gauges or fan controller wired up yet. Front end is all out of wack but I did get to roll around my buddies shop complex today after the exhaust was done and holy crap this thing is touchy!

    The exhaust turned out better than I hoped. It sounds killer and seems quiet enough on the interior to live with on a daily basis. Who needs duals!?
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n7uK9Vqu1D0
    Brian R. of Michigan
    83 TBird 5.0
    88 Ranger 2.3t
    http://vb.foureyedpride.com/showthre...83-Tbird-build

  19. #69

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    So ever since the car got started for the first time it was running extremely rich with black smoke and eye watering fumes. It would hunt for idle and surge but I have not been able to get my brand new electric fan controller to turn the dam fan on nor did I have the other gauges wired so I wasnt able to let the car run for very long from a fear of not being able to see what the engine was doing.

    A couple days ago I started checking the basics and found the Mustang TPS when bolted down to the Explorer throttlebody netted a idle reading of 1.70 volts. I modded the TPS so I could adjust it down to .95 volts and then the car went dead lean. I decided to finish my gauge wiring so I could see what was going on and found it was idling at 17-1 or so lean it was off the gauge. It lean backfires through the tailpipe and when I try to rev it sounds like its being choked off or something and will not rev.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dt9639i-CA4

    So I decided to drop back and punt......This ecm I got has changed hands at least 3 times before I acquired it so who knows of its condition. I decided to just go back to what Im most familiar with and ordered a plug and play Megasquirt from EFI Source. I should have that tomorrow and will get it installed asap.

    I also took the time to pull my dash apart again and installed the angled bezels on all the gauges. I had to do some searching to find somebody who made them in 3-3/8" for my speedo and tach but found a place on the east coast that sells performance boat parts and they make a powder coated aluminum bezel that worked great.

    Brian R. of Michigan
    83 TBird 5.0
    88 Ranger 2.3t
    http://vb.foureyedpride.com/showthre...83-Tbird-build

  20. #70

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    Brian R. of Michigan
    83 TBird 5.0
    88 Ranger 2.3t
    http://vb.foureyedpride.com/showthre...83-Tbird-build

  21. #71

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    Well I now have about 40miles on the car and doing some street tuning. Car is everything I thought it would be! Even with a short amount of tuning done so far it runs great!! It will smoke the tires in first and second with ease and drives like stock when your easy with it. The ride is perfect too with a perfect mix of sporty and comfy. Brakes feel good and the exhaust is just how I wanted it. Me and the lady went for a drive today and even she couldnt believe how quiet it is inside.

    Love how the interior turned out. Only thing left to do is recover the headliner and wire up the amps in trunk and install new speakers.




    Brian R. of Michigan
    83 TBird 5.0
    88 Ranger 2.3t
    http://vb.foureyedpride.com/showthre...83-Tbird-build

  22. #72

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    Well I took my car to Milan Dragway yesterday to see what it would do. I had a blast and it didnt set the world on fire but I am real happy with its first outing!

    Crazy to think how fast I put this car together and how well it turned out. I showed up at the track with all of 66 miles on the car. Brand new motor,new T5, new tires,new braking system,new suspension and a brand new MircoSquirt computer with very minimal tuning time on it.

    First pass off the trailer went about how I thought... blew the tires off, pedal, short shift around 5500 and ran a 14.52 at 97
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r****mpSRVY

    Logs showed it was real lean everywhere so I added some fuel and tried again. Still tryin to figure out the launch it went 14.00 @ 100 after a few horrible launches
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ofMynz5Pp8

    Added more fuel and launched it real easy it pulled a 2.09 60ft and ran a 13.93 @ almost 102
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ClV8He6lFkc

    After that there was a string of a few more 13.90s but with more wheel spin it wasnt going to get any better. I data logged every pass and made some adjustments this morning that really made a big difference in the seat of the pants.

    My biggest problem is the car is right in the middle of the wrong gear combo. With 3.55 gears my shift light was coming on about 1200ft in 3rd and leaving it in 3rd I would cross the line doing 101-102 at 6200rpm, if I shifted to 4th it would drop 3mph. So I think I might drop back to a 3.27 gear so I can lower rpm in 3rd across the stripe.
    Last edited by deathbypsi; 09-22-2016 at 08:34 PM.
    Brian R. of Michigan
    83 TBird 5.0
    88 Ranger 2.3t
    http://vb.foureyedpride.com/showthre...83-Tbird-build

  23. #73

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    Awesome (and quick!) progress! I agree, the interior is gorgeous, and so cool you took it to Milan! Great times and MPH for right off the trailer and with some tuning!
    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/

  24. #74

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    Well I now have about 1000 miles on it and a couple trips to the drag strip and Im absolutely in love with this car! Its such a blast to drive and Im getting all kinds of random people making nice comments about it at the gas station,store,etc...

    Went to the track this weekend and the tune is as dialed in as it can be. Runs great, super strong, great mileage and so far its pulled a bunch of 13.30s at 102 mph which i think is great for a basically stock 302.


    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zLsj...m-upload_owner

    So today starts the next step. Getting it ready for paint! Im doing as much prep as I can for my painter but its going to be a more budget minded job than a killer show quality job since I plan to drive the wheels off it.


    Im filling the fender markers.

    Going to powder coat these gloss black.

    And I sand blasted a few rust spots on the door seams then hit them with some Eastwoods Rust encapsolator and then seal it off with some fresh seam sealer.
    Brian R. of Michigan
    83 TBird 5.0
    88 Ranger 2.3t
    http://vb.foureyedpride.com/showthre...83-Tbird-build

  25. #75
    FEP Power Member Broncojunkie's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 2015
    Location
    Barboursville, WV
    Posts
    1,773

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    I've been following this build. Awesome job! I have to ask one question. How do you like the manual rack? I put one in my pace car, but it probably won't be on the road till at least next summer. I'm actually looking forward to driving it for that reason (and of course the 331 stroker doesn't hurt lol)

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