'80 SA 5.0 Build
#176
Rotary Enthusiast
nice build man. been a while since i have been on here.
I'm doing something similar except went with a gen 1 SBC- I only looked at the last page in the thread and see at least 3 things in common. headers (had to cut one pipe on mine) are tight as hell by the steering rack, passenger side tightness and the custom hydraulic clutch.
watch out on the passenger side carpet whgen you 1st start it up. mine started to smoke in the car, but i wrapped that header and put some flame retardent material in the car to fix.
looks great man, i'll have to come in and check out the whole thread later. ( oh and we got the same install package, radiator etc. that radiator don't cool for **** down here in FL. I got 3 elec fans and clutch on the motore. lol
I'm doing something similar except went with a gen 1 SBC- I only looked at the last page in the thread and see at least 3 things in common. headers (had to cut one pipe on mine) are tight as hell by the steering rack, passenger side tightness and the custom hydraulic clutch.
watch out on the passenger side carpet whgen you 1st start it up. mine started to smoke in the car, but i wrapped that header and put some flame retardent material in the car to fix.
looks great man, i'll have to come in and check out the whole thread later. ( oh and we got the same install package, radiator etc. that radiator don't cool for **** down here in FL. I got 3 elec fans and clutch on the motore. lol
#177
Senior Member
Thread Starter
nice build man. been a while since i have been on here.
I'm doing something similar except went with a gen 1 SBC- I only looked at the last page in the thread and see at least 3 things in common. headers (had to cut one pipe on mine) are tight as hell by the steering rack, passenger side tightness and the custom hydraulic clutch.
watch out on the passenger side carpet whgen you 1st start it up. mine started to smoke in the car, but i wrapped that header and put some flame retardent material in the car to fix.
looks great man, i'll have to come in and check out the whole thread later. ( oh and we got the same install package, radiator etc. that radiator don't cool for **** down here in FL. I got 3 elec fans and clutch on the motore. lol
I'm doing something similar except went with a gen 1 SBC- I only looked at the last page in the thread and see at least 3 things in common. headers (had to cut one pipe on mine) are tight as hell by the steering rack, passenger side tightness and the custom hydraulic clutch.
watch out on the passenger side carpet whgen you 1st start it up. mine started to smoke in the car, but i wrapped that header and put some flame retardent material in the car to fix.
looks great man, i'll have to come in and check out the whole thread later. ( oh and we got the same install package, radiator etc. that radiator don't cool for **** down here in FL. I got 3 elec fans and clutch on the motore. lol
I've have been going back and forth on yanking the carpet out. One of the reasons being with the carpet smolder/melting - the other being the carpet bunches up against the side of the accel pedal and I have big feet.
I'm sure I'll have to go back and do something more with the cooling.
I'd like you see and hear more on your ride.
#178
Senior Member
Thread Starter
A quick update. I haven't really done anything major, I have been mostly playing around with small things here and there. The biggest thing I have done is bolt the intake down and am work on the plumbing. I need to get some gaskets for the t-body and EGR spacer, the engine gasket kit didn't include these. I am thinking of deleting the EGR for now too, being I don't plan on running it on the street at the moment.
A fun little side project I have been working on is the intake plaque. I started by media blasting it to take the old paint and oxidation off. I then put a series of coats of paint on it followed by running some course grit sandpaper to it to take the top back to a natural finish. I sanded it in a single direction to give it a "brushed" looked. All it needs now is a coat of clear. It came out pretty good.
I also received my welder! Yesterday I went and picked up a tank of shielding gas and some PPE along with some miscellaneous accessories. I was going to start playing around with melting metal today, but I'm tired and lazy (LOL).
Until next time.
A fun little side project I have been working on is the intake plaque. I started by media blasting it to take the old paint and oxidation off. I then put a series of coats of paint on it followed by running some course grit sandpaper to it to take the top back to a natural finish. I sanded it in a single direction to give it a "brushed" looked. All it needs now is a coat of clear. It came out pretty good.
I also received my welder! Yesterday I went and picked up a tank of shielding gas and some PPE along with some miscellaneous accessories. I was going to start playing around with melting metal today, but I'm tired and lazy (LOL).
Until next time.
#181
Senior Member
Thread Starter
The cart is actually harbor freight. It's okay I guess for what I paid. I originally was thinking I didn't need one, and then I came to my senses that I have to drag around a tank of gas - dah. LoL
#182
Senior Member
Thread Starter
Anybody know off the top of their head the differences in SA & FB front struts & knuckles? Someone in the area is selling a set of front coil overs from an '84 on Craigslist. I was thinking of buying them but they seem to be different.
#183
Senior Member
The hubs are different, 84/85 has much larger bearings. I think it would work if you went ahead and got 84/85 brakes, but idk if the calipers from the SA would work
#184
Senior Member
Thread Starter
I'd like to do the Turbo II brake swap. Maybe worth buying and saving them until I do that.
#185
Senior Member
This maybe worth looking more into then. I like the idea of larger hubs & bearings. I've heard old school tapered roller bearings take beating on the track. I imagine they would be a little more HD, or so I think at lease.
I'd like to do the Turbo II brake swap. Maybe worth buying and saving them until I do that.
I'd like to do the Turbo II brake swap. Maybe worth buying and saving them until I do that.
#186
Rotary Enthusiast
the 84's are taller I believe, but the big difference is the bearing journal (if thats what its called) where the bearing goes on is larger diameter on the later model. been a while since i converted mine....
#187
Rotary Enthusiast
just saw this. the caliper from an SA will bolt on to that 84'. I am dead nuts positive. I made my own conversion plates and all.....
same bolt pattern on 84 and SA
#188
Senior Member
#189
Rotary Enthusiast
one of the few SA parts still laying around ...in my attic. I had to set them next to each other as to not grab the wrong one lol.
that and the rear end still in the garage. If anyone can answer if the 80SA pinion will fit in an 84 SE I'd love to know. their both 3.909 if memory serves, but I think the girth is different?
anywho, back to your build. that ****'s nice man. love the dash gauges
#190
Junior Member
IIRC, the pinion flange changed in 83 when they also changed the axle bearing sizes. Earlier ones have a bolt pattern ~3" on center; the later are ~3.5". Supposedly you can swap the flanges between any of the SA/FB diffs, but then you have to ensure you set the preload correctly when tightening the center nut.
#191
Rotary Enthusiast
IIRC, the pinion flange changed in 83 when they also changed the axle bearing sizes. Earlier ones have a bolt pattern ~3" on center; the later are ~3.5". Supposedly you can swap the flanges between any of the SA/FB diffs, but then you have to ensure you set the preload correctly when tightening the center nut.
#192
Senior Member
Thread Starter
So I am in a little of a dilemma with the car - about the exhaust. The task seems pretty challenging. Like I eluded to before, I went ahead and purchased an off-road x-pipe for a Mustang. The idea was to use the two pipes that attach to the headers as a starter pipe, and build the exhaust off of them. I am now having second thoughts now that I have bolted them to the car.
The passenger side comes down and pretty much runs right into the middle of the transmission cross member. The driver side seems to fit a little better, but it comes very close to hitting the floor board. This now makes we wonder, is it easier to purchase a 2.5" female ball-flange, weld in my own O2 senor bungs and build off of that. The exhaust seems to be a very delicate balance of not being too close to the floor and not being too low.
Other things that are giving me a little anxiety, is this is really difficult to not over buy materials, have the necessary materials, and do it all on your back. Especially the on your back thing. Your line-of-sight and being able to visualize everything is limited.
Anyone who is running a Granny trans cross-member, did you all go under it? I'll take any pictures of V8 swapped SA/FB exhaust pipe setups that someone is willing to provide.
The passenger side comes down and pretty much runs right into the middle of the transmission cross member. The driver side seems to fit a little better, but it comes very close to hitting the floor board. This now makes we wonder, is it easier to purchase a 2.5" female ball-flange, weld in my own O2 senor bungs and build off of that. The exhaust seems to be a very delicate balance of not being too close to the floor and not being too low.
Other things that are giving me a little anxiety, is this is really difficult to not over buy materials, have the necessary materials, and do it all on your back. Especially the on your back thing. Your line-of-sight and being able to visualize everything is limited.
Anyone who is running a Granny trans cross-member, did you all go under it? I'll take any pictures of V8 swapped SA/FB exhaust pipe setups that someone is willing to provide.
#194
Senior Member
Thread Starter
Now that I am done complaining, I'm sorry I haven't posted anything in a while. A family vacation to DC & NYC combined with a heavy work load has really nixed any free time to spend on the car. Beside doing some research and trying to focus my game plan, very little has been done.
The one thing I have done is build a support stay for the air intake tube. This will be a temporary setup where it's picking up air from. I know from a performance stance this isn't ideal, but I am just trying to get this thing driving and improve it from there.
The bracket was made from 16ga 1" steel. I put a simple twist in it and made some bolt holes to attach it to the MAF housing and the alternator's lower bolt. To keep it from rotting on the alternator bolt, I folder a tab over to catch the alternator bracket. I gave it coat of paint and called it good.
The one thing I have done is build a support stay for the air intake tube. This will be a temporary setup where it's picking up air from. I know from a performance stance this isn't ideal, but I am just trying to get this thing driving and improve it from there.
The bracket was made from 16ga 1" steel. I put a simple twist in it and made some bolt holes to attach it to the MAF housing and the alternator's lower bolt. To keep it from rotting on the alternator bolt, I folder a tab over to catch the alternator bracket. I gave it coat of paint and called it good.
#195
Senior Member
That bracket looks like it will work fine. As for exhaust I would try to route under on the left and over on the right. I think you will have a hard time doing duals though. That is why I settled on a Y pipe for my set up
#196
Senior Member
Thread Starter
A little more to add to the story this week.
I've decided that I am going to do a little bit of a hack on the exhaust to get the car running using some flex pipe and the mufflers from the Mustang. Once the car actually gets running/driving, I'll take it to an exhaust shop and have them bend and weld something up. I'm not a fan of using non-mandrel bent pipe with all the crimps/pinches, but in the interest of getting it driving, I think this is best solution. After-all, its not a high performance racing engine in a ways. I also think I am going to do 2.25" pipe into y-pipe with a 3" outlet. I think the 2.25 will provide some better back pressure in the absents on no converter.
With this, Summit and LMR will be sending me some boxes.
As for actual work on the car, I did get some things done on the car this weekend. I fabed up a radiator overflow mount repurposing some of the RX-7 parts. I also completed plumbing all the intake, PCV and vacuum lines along with other small miscellaneous things.
I've decided that I am going to do a little bit of a hack on the exhaust to get the car running using some flex pipe and the mufflers from the Mustang. Once the car actually gets running/driving, I'll take it to an exhaust shop and have them bend and weld something up. I'm not a fan of using non-mandrel bent pipe with all the crimps/pinches, but in the interest of getting it driving, I think this is best solution. After-all, its not a high performance racing engine in a ways. I also think I am going to do 2.25" pipe into y-pipe with a 3" outlet. I think the 2.25 will provide some better back pressure in the absents on no converter.
With this, Summit and LMR will be sending me some boxes.
As for actual work on the car, I did get some things done on the car this weekend. I fabed up a radiator overflow mount repurposing some of the RX-7 parts. I also completed plumbing all the intake, PCV and vacuum lines along with other small miscellaneous things.
#197
Senior Member
Thread Starter
The overflow mount started off with some 22g sheet metal.
All the pieces cut and drilled out. The L-bracket is a reinforcement to provide some additional reinforcement. It's made out of 1/8"x3/4" bar stock. The bracket on the left is from the RX-7.
A coat of paint to make them all look pretty.
All the brackets mounted to the car. It secures to the Granny's radiator side seals and core support.
With the original Mazda bottle. Someday I'll replace it with something nicer, but for now its free.
Air tube back on. Engine bay is getting full.
Mounted the canister purge valve to the MAF housing.
The To Do List. It keeps getting short.
#198
Rotary Enthusiast
sweet overflow bracket; wish I hadn't tossed my tank now!
post those exhaust pics when your muffler guy does his thing. I'll do the same, but at this rate you'll probably have yours done sooner.
post those exhaust pics when your muffler guy does his thing. I'll do the same, but at this rate you'll probably have yours done sooner.
#199
Senior Member
Thread Starter
A friend found this on a EBay. I might have to up the $15 for it.
https://www.ebay.com/i/332087652207?...3D332087652207