Haven't posted in awhile. I know some people like build threads, Especially since most are either switching camps, or cross-breeding. So I thought I'd share mine, which is finally making headway. Anyhoo, I bought a 1983 LTD wagon off craigslist back in August 2012. Strictly for the drivetrain to put in my fox at the time, immediately fell in love with it. It had a N/A 408w SBF /C4 combo at the time. Ugly as sin, and could do no wrong, it was a fan favorite.
Old pics
I transferred most of the good suspension parts from my old fox to the car, i.e. tubular front end parts, coilovers, rear, mallory hyfire, standalone fuel system, and added a killer super vic/monte smith fogger. Still ugly..
Quickly ran into limiting points.. The eaton diff wasn't up to the task, car was unstable once hit with anything over 150hp. Diff was unlocking. Threw in a Spool, 33 spline axles, and C-clip eliminators. Once it had hook, it blew through the converter, car was only running 2 tenths better than on motor. Threw in a Freakshow converter, problem was, the car was already hurt from hitting the rev limiter so many times with the loose converter on spray. The car was smoking bad, and down over 50psi of compression in 2 cylinders. Since we planned on freshening it anyway, and I just bought a house and wouldn't exactly have tons of money, I decided to risk blowing it up, and see if it lasted a pass. It didn't...
[video]https://www.facebook.com/Ford5.0forlife/videos/10153510705771183/[/video]
The past couple years since then, has been gathering parts to make it not only faster, lighter, but more streetable, more reliable, and safer. Here's progress thus to date in pictorial form.
The cage was updated to an 8.50 spec cage with swing out door bars, window net, and gutting excess metal behind the plastic panels.
Out with the old cage, and dash/HVAC SYSTEM
Uggh.. not good.
Much better
Ignition relocated to glove box
N20 bottle/heater/quick release pivot relocated from spare tire well to rear passenger area
Rear end bracing (NOTE: Rear is not yet painted and underside isn't undercoated)
Custom ARB from TeamZ
Sumped tank w/A1000 pump
Viking Double Adjustables for street duty
Onto the meat and potato's. The drivetrain.
Since I nicked the block, I opted to by a fresh new block because it was cheaper than machining and fixing what I had, so I picked up a freshly machined .030 over 1974 351w block
The Puzzle. A Zero Balanced, 10.9:1 426CID rotating assembly, 4340 crank, 4340 H-beams for rigidity, Probe Srs pistons with 1/16th, 1/16th, and 3/16th ring package for increased oil control, Hellfire rings, to handle the fogger that's flowed from 200 to 475hp. I utilized the undersquare combo (4.030 bore vs. 4.25 stroke) to give it more torque, and limit the rpms it will be turning, as the limiting point of the the stock 351w's are the 3' main's and RPMS.. Since it is a N20 Combo, I will be letting the tq/nitrous do the work, and not killing it with rpm.
Oil Restrictor mods.. Limiting the amount of oil that gets to the valvetrain so the pump doesn't wipe the pan clean on a pass and suck oil into the engine vacuum pump.
Precion Oil Systems blueprinted Standard volume oil pump, with girdle clearanced.
Crank trigger for precise timing
TFS-R's fixed up (after the blowing up incident, lol), and flowed to the tune of 360cfm on the intake side
Prc upgraded springs to handle over .700 lift
Monte Smith Custom Cam spec'ed to spray over 300hp on 93 octane. With the 1.7 rockers, rounds out to be .739 lift on the intake side and .714 exhaust, 265/279 dur @ .050.
Jomar rocker girdle to keep the valve lash in check, pick up a couple hp, and keep maintenance to minimum for street use.
1050cfm holly dominator ready to top it off and let it eat!
C4 was sold in favor of the only Chevy part that will grace this car. An Accurate Transmissions built Powerglide. Upgraded with Turbo spline input shaft, and transbrake. Went with a powerglide for multiple reasons, 1. They handle more hp much more reliably 2. Less moving parts = Less drivetrain loss. 3. They are lighter. 4. The way the converters are designed on a powerglide, they are made to stall up to get the car moving, and grab onto the motor when power is applied. In that vein, unlike a C4 with a tight n20 converter that would be a dog on motor, the powerglide cars can still shuffle out of their own way, and run really well even without a power adder.
Freakshow converter as always.
Progress
Back to the shop for a ton of work. First up, motor plates, and new custom fender exit exhaust w/ mufflers for streetability.
Utilizing a 90* moroso low profile adapter for oil filter
Stock 1983 6 cylinder brakes weren't doing anyone any good. Ditched the brake booster, the heavy vacuum pump for power brakes, manual master cylinder, utilized Aerospace front and rear disc brakes. 16 pistons in total. Vented fronts, and redoing the lines. Stopping shouldn't be an issue, and saved about 60-75lbs.
Stock Radiator support was in bad shape, and wouldn't allow me to run anything more than a stock radiator because of space restrictions on account of the bigger crank pulley for the vacuum pump. OFF WITH IT!
Precision Performance Products Kwif-Shift II w/custom bracket for N20 Gauge, On/Off ball valve, and Fuel Pressure Gauge with electronic sending unit for standalone (A/F Gauge for mockup purposes)
Heating system was ditched, and the car is being rewired from scratch.
N20 Mini Progressive Controller for street Nitrous duty
Smugglers box!
Telescopic switch panel for ease of service.
Armrests still work!
Have a set of 10.5' Hoosiers for track duty, and picked up a set of "Street Tires" to beat around on
That's all for now.. Still a ton of work to be done, and a bunch of stuff I haven't taken pictures of yet, but looking forward to getting back in the saddle. I have a short film i'm making that "stars" the car, and I promise it will be one for the record books. Stay tuned!
Props to Ring Leader Racing for all the work done on the car out of Monson, Mass, and NASTY5.0 for the motor build, and good advice.
Oh, and how could I forget.. the stickercharger:
Update 2-8-16
Mocking up kill switch ,and making use of a dent in the ol' broads bumper at the same time. Gonna mount the positive/negative terminals behind the license plate in a trick hideaway bracket fashion later.
Started the wiring of the car. The engine harness was ripped out, deloomed, depinned.
Well.. they light up at least!
Lightswitch rave parties
New bezels w/ HID's
Powering her up for the first time.. Probably wondering what year it is, and why anyone would be stupid enough to invest this much money into her.
Slim Optima Yellowtop installed in hideaway pocket in trunk, and back shot of the cage.
More to come! A month or 2 from firing up i'd say.
EDIT 3/14/16
Couple quick updates and some pic whoring.
Setting up master fuse panel behind glove box + remote mounting coil.
Rear removed again to have ends cut, so it can be straightened, 4.10's installed, painted, and new hardware.
Crappy pic, but gears installed
Uugh.. So much stuff! Battery in hideaway pocket in trunk.
Street car stuff.
Aerospace 4 piston vented street rotors mounted
Decided to utilize the factory wheel, plus make room for line lock/purge
Work station thus to date. (Wiring on ground is temporary)
Random Pic whoring.
Swingouts!
Update 5/13/16
Been busy lately, haven't really posted anything, and the build took a sideline for a bit, but the rear is together, ends removed and straightened, and back in the car, and things are shaping up.
4.10's, 33 Spline, Spool, and aerospace 4 piston units.
Hopefully more soon, it's almost go time on this rickety biscuit.
Old pics
I transferred most of the good suspension parts from my old fox to the car, i.e. tubular front end parts, coilovers, rear, mallory hyfire, standalone fuel system, and added a killer super vic/monte smith fogger. Still ugly..
Quickly ran into limiting points.. The eaton diff wasn't up to the task, car was unstable once hit with anything over 150hp. Diff was unlocking. Threw in a Spool, 33 spline axles, and C-clip eliminators. Once it had hook, it blew through the converter, car was only running 2 tenths better than on motor. Threw in a Freakshow converter, problem was, the car was already hurt from hitting the rev limiter so many times with the loose converter on spray. The car was smoking bad, and down over 50psi of compression in 2 cylinders. Since we planned on freshening it anyway, and I just bought a house and wouldn't exactly have tons of money, I decided to risk blowing it up, and see if it lasted a pass. It didn't...
[video]https://www.facebook.com/Ford5.0forlife/videos/10153510705771183/[/video]
The past couple years since then, has been gathering parts to make it not only faster, lighter, but more streetable, more reliable, and safer. Here's progress thus to date in pictorial form.
The cage was updated to an 8.50 spec cage with swing out door bars, window net, and gutting excess metal behind the plastic panels.
Out with the old cage, and dash/HVAC SYSTEM
Uggh.. not good.
Much better
Ignition relocated to glove box
N20 bottle/heater/quick release pivot relocated from spare tire well to rear passenger area
Rear end bracing (NOTE: Rear is not yet painted and underside isn't undercoated)
Custom ARB from TeamZ
Sumped tank w/A1000 pump
Viking Double Adjustables for street duty
Onto the meat and potato's. The drivetrain.
Since I nicked the block, I opted to by a fresh new block because it was cheaper than machining and fixing what I had, so I picked up a freshly machined .030 over 1974 351w block
The Puzzle. A Zero Balanced, 10.9:1 426CID rotating assembly, 4340 crank, 4340 H-beams for rigidity, Probe Srs pistons with 1/16th, 1/16th, and 3/16th ring package for increased oil control, Hellfire rings, to handle the fogger that's flowed from 200 to 475hp. I utilized the undersquare combo (4.030 bore vs. 4.25 stroke) to give it more torque, and limit the rpms it will be turning, as the limiting point of the the stock 351w's are the 3' main's and RPMS.. Since it is a N20 Combo, I will be letting the tq/nitrous do the work, and not killing it with rpm.
Oil Restrictor mods.. Limiting the amount of oil that gets to the valvetrain so the pump doesn't wipe the pan clean on a pass and suck oil into the engine vacuum pump.
Precion Oil Systems blueprinted Standard volume oil pump, with girdle clearanced.
Crank trigger for precise timing
TFS-R's fixed up (after the blowing up incident, lol), and flowed to the tune of 360cfm on the intake side
Prc upgraded springs to handle over .700 lift
Monte Smith Custom Cam spec'ed to spray over 300hp on 93 octane. With the 1.7 rockers, rounds out to be .739 lift on the intake side and .714 exhaust, 265/279 dur @ .050.
Jomar rocker girdle to keep the valve lash in check, pick up a couple hp, and keep maintenance to minimum for street use.
1050cfm holly dominator ready to top it off and let it eat!
C4 was sold in favor of the only Chevy part that will grace this car. An Accurate Transmissions built Powerglide. Upgraded with Turbo spline input shaft, and transbrake. Went with a powerglide for multiple reasons, 1. They handle more hp much more reliably 2. Less moving parts = Less drivetrain loss. 3. They are lighter. 4. The way the converters are designed on a powerglide, they are made to stall up to get the car moving, and grab onto the motor when power is applied. In that vein, unlike a C4 with a tight n20 converter that would be a dog on motor, the powerglide cars can still shuffle out of their own way, and run really well even without a power adder.
Freakshow converter as always.
Progress
Back to the shop for a ton of work. First up, motor plates, and new custom fender exit exhaust w/ mufflers for streetability.
Utilizing a 90* moroso low profile adapter for oil filter
Stock 1983 6 cylinder brakes weren't doing anyone any good. Ditched the brake booster, the heavy vacuum pump for power brakes, manual master cylinder, utilized Aerospace front and rear disc brakes. 16 pistons in total. Vented fronts, and redoing the lines. Stopping shouldn't be an issue, and saved about 60-75lbs.
Stock Radiator support was in bad shape, and wouldn't allow me to run anything more than a stock radiator because of space restrictions on account of the bigger crank pulley for the vacuum pump. OFF WITH IT!
Precision Performance Products Kwif-Shift II w/custom bracket for N20 Gauge, On/Off ball valve, and Fuel Pressure Gauge with electronic sending unit for standalone (A/F Gauge for mockup purposes)
Heating system was ditched, and the car is being rewired from scratch.
N20 Mini Progressive Controller for street Nitrous duty
Smugglers box!
Telescopic switch panel for ease of service.
Armrests still work!
Have a set of 10.5' Hoosiers for track duty, and picked up a set of "Street Tires" to beat around on
That's all for now.. Still a ton of work to be done, and a bunch of stuff I haven't taken pictures of yet, but looking forward to getting back in the saddle. I have a short film i'm making that "stars" the car, and I promise it will be one for the record books. Stay tuned!
Props to Ring Leader Racing for all the work done on the car out of Monson, Mass, and NASTY5.0 for the motor build, and good advice.
Oh, and how could I forget.. the stickercharger:
Update 2-8-16
Mocking up kill switch ,and making use of a dent in the ol' broads bumper at the same time. Gonna mount the positive/negative terminals behind the license plate in a trick hideaway bracket fashion later.
Started the wiring of the car. The engine harness was ripped out, deloomed, depinned.
Well.. they light up at least!
Lightswitch rave parties
New bezels w/ HID's
Powering her up for the first time.. Probably wondering what year it is, and why anyone would be stupid enough to invest this much money into her.
Slim Optima Yellowtop installed in hideaway pocket in trunk, and back shot of the cage.
More to come! A month or 2 from firing up i'd say.
EDIT 3/14/16
Couple quick updates and some pic whoring.
Setting up master fuse panel behind glove box + remote mounting coil.
Rear removed again to have ends cut, so it can be straightened, 4.10's installed, painted, and new hardware.
Crappy pic, but gears installed
Uugh.. So much stuff! Battery in hideaway pocket in trunk.
Street car stuff.
Aerospace 4 piston vented street rotors mounted
Decided to utilize the factory wheel, plus make room for line lock/purge
Work station thus to date. (Wiring on ground is temporary)
Random Pic whoring.
Swingouts!
Update 5/13/16
Been busy lately, haven't really posted anything, and the build took a sideline for a bit, but the rear is together, ends removed and straightened, and back in the car, and things are shaping up.
4.10's, 33 Spline, Spool, and aerospace 4 piston units.
Hopefully more soon, it's almost go time on this rickety biscuit.
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