Lol, dude I want this thing running too. All the little details take forever!

Thanks for the compliments.

 

Is that a 77 F-series pickup?

I gotta admit, that engine looks like it should be in there. I'de pimp it.

What intake manifold do you plan to use.

 

Thanks.

I think the blue truck (we call it "old blue") is an old F150ish with an FE V8 and can 4 wheel drift pretty well. It was my irrigation truck last year, but like everything on this farm, it doesn't get any maintenance.

I was thinking of using a black trick flow track heat manifold such as this:



Here is a non-black one on an engine:



It loses the 20Bish runner tube look but I think it's the best choice for my simple tastes.

 

I agree the details are a PITA! For me I get the most done working alone late at night. I just resolved a stumble problem with my V8 RX-7. I had a exhaust leak a few inches away from the 02 sensor,what was happening was air was being drawn into the leak causing lean 02 readings. That small leak caused it to stumble. So make sure you do your exhaust up right,lying on my back welding upside down is not my favorite passtime! Might save you some headaches to first get it running on the stock ECU or piggy back it so you can switch between that and Megaheadache. At least then you can use the stocker as a baseline to verify it runs and improve from there. Hopefully MS accepts Ford OEM sensors without using easy therm. I like the work youv done...but dont get me wrong I like my car better and think it would spank your 2nd gen. Lol.

 

Hmmm... 77 F-100 Ford... 20B... Oh my god, you've just given me one of the most insane ideas for a bastardized REPU ever.

I had a 77 F-100 with the 300cid straight six, I loved the thing. I'd love it even more with a 20b in it though!

 

I think the black Trickflow manifold would look better in the engine bay, a nice break from yellow and silver.

 

Fan belt and heater hoses are done:







Oil pan ground clearance looks to be about 6":







The factory sway bar won't work because the harmonic damper is in the way, so I'm planning on finding one from another car that will have similar spring characteristics and be a better fit.

 

I'd venture to say that 98% of the engine related fabrication is done, and now it is time for rigging and wiring. The throttle and clutch cabling are already installed and I have functional pedals. Let's hope the wiring goes easy on me; I want this car off the farm. All of the regulars around here have been seriously eyeing the car now that it has a real engine under the hood.

 

Check in the back of grassrootsmotorsports magazine,theres a few companies there who will make you a custom sway bar. They can make you one for a 2nd gen with a bulge in the middle to clear the balancer,its also not crazy expensive. That way it has the correct tension and fits without fighting it. Last time they made me a sway bar it was 140.00. Try to use shielded wire where the factory ford used it for the ECU. Megasquirt likes clean signals. I had to use it on my ignition signal wires to the coil or my engine ran like absolute crap. Looks a lot better after a bath! I like those rims a lot. Just give yourself a break and start fresh on the wiring when you dont have to rush. Your almost there. Try to order that sway bar so by the time its wired up youll have it. Good luck,I cant help much with the megasquirt.

 

Beautiful, just beautiful.

Actually, on the color preference for the Trickflow manifold, I think black is just a better contrast from yellow (never-mind that there's already a lot of black components in the engine bay).

 

There was a thread about this on the Torquecentral forums. I had had one made for me by Quikor, and the guy that owned the company stil lhas the specs and will still make them. Do a search over there and you will get all the info and pics necessary.

This one was built from my specs:

 

Fits nicely too,what did it cost if you can remember?

 

Wow! Exactly what I need. I'll check into that, and thanks for the info!

 

Told ya. lol

 

it was $200 when I bought it, but IIRC, teh guys that got them recently had paid less.

And yes, it was a primary componenet in my car pulling the sort of lateral Gs it did.

 

Um, is it just me, or would this sway bar work for a LOT of other swaps too?

 

Post ur LT1 FB's best trap speed and ET.

 

Said told ya about the sway bar. Wasnt being a jerk....at least wasnt trying to be..lol. Im not even remotely interested in drag racing,I'll never have a 60 foot time or 1/4 mile time to post. Just simply dosnt do a thing for me. Now autocross or drifting thats a different story. But each course is different.

 

Just a friendly jab.

Since you asserted that your car would spank mine, I naturally assumed you meant drag racing, where times are not inversely proportional to 70% driver skill, 20% tires, and 10% car.

Clearly you must have meant straight line performance, because everyone knows a ford focus can hand everyone their *** if it was driven by a national class champ and had R compound tires.

I'm sure we can all agree that in autocrossing, cars don't beat other cars, based on your voluminous history of participation in skill based motorsport events.

 

Your right about driver skill. A good friend of mine is just a natural...took me years to delelope what comes to him in a few runs. I'll never forget some of the cars Ive run against.....some are almost untouchable. The fastest car Ive ever seen was a old MG with a custom tube frame fiberglass body (race only) and a GM grand national turbo V6 under the hood. He autocrossed this beast and unfortunately was in my class. His biggest problem was traction of course. He cornered on 3 wheels in almost every corner. He eventually bought a protective (rib protector vest) to easy the side G's in corners. Karting uses a lot of those vests. I was usually a full second or two behind him. He did drag race it just to see what it could do. The car ran somewhere in the low 10's on street rubber. best part was that thing was ugly. It was basic white and the paint job was a 10 footer. It was all business. Total track ****. Im sure you've seen some sick cars too.

 

The wiring progress seems to be going pretty well. I've been studying the FC and V8 fox body wiring diagrams and think I know how to combine the two into a system that will work. Turns out my donor car is a 92 GT hatchback but the ECM is from an 89. The harness matches the 92 diagram in the manual and the and door VIN says 92 as well, but the computer has E9xxx..... written on it.

On to the pics. Here is the main fuse box and starter relay:





A look at the computer harness. I've got S4, S5, and S6 RX7 interior parts, lol.



I got it to crank over and hopefully I can have the computer hooked up by next weekend.

 

Take a look at the cost summary so far. Keep in mind the car already had a TII driveshaft and differential.




I got lucky and got a decent fox body wreck as a donor for some parts, and have most of the black interior that I can liquidate in pursuit of funds for the future intake and injector upgrades.

Yes I'm poor and I'm not ashamed to admit it.

 

How much power do you think that motor is gonna put down? 236*cam and AFR 185cc's should be more than healthy on the top end

I'd say for $3815 said and done, you did pretty well for yourself. Pretty much how I woulda done it if I go 302

BTW, you got a MAF & Injectors that can handle the kind of power you're about to put down, or are you going MegaSquirt?

 

The injectors are going to max out at about 300 flywheel hp. They are the same type as my SHO V6 has, and 6 of them squirt 220bhp worth of fuel in that engine. 8 should fall short of the 350ish bhp the engine has the potential for with the restrictive stock intake and throttle body.

After an intake and larger throttle + 30lb injectors and megasquirt tuning I'm expecting 350 at the wheels. Nothing to brag about but enough to put a smile on my face.

 

Just so you know a lot of mustang guys install chevy LT-1 injectors which are 24.7 lb and can be had used on ebay for cheap...30 to 50 a good clean used set. They will function with the stock ecu,dont ask me how though. For thirty pounders youll prolly have to buy a new set of accels from summit....mine were 265.00. I also think you did allright cost wise considering you really built the engine nicely. You basically have a new engine now. You'll have far less issues than I had since you rebuilt it..(wise move). I still have a slight stunble that Im chasing..but even with that the cars a blast.