Well, finally something on this list I can really bite into. I was
getting bored with TR-8 injection problems and such.
Ford 5.0L in a TR7 ?
Rumours for 302 mounts in a TR-7 ?
A Chevy V8?
Buick V-6?
Convertible ?
1) I saw a Chevy V-8 powered TR-7 hardtop for sale 4 years ago in
Texas. Blueprinted, 4 speed, and new rear end for $16K. It had a hood
scoope in the picture.
2) I've seen several Buick V-6 powered cars. When in college I heard
of a guy who had on and latter saw him 'racing' around with squeeling
tires. Sort of. Later I found out he was a 'friend of a friend of a
friend' with a 'really fast car'. My friend couldn't wait for a race.
He was sooo tired of hearing about this fast TR-7. My 289 powered TR-7
instantly toasted it. I've had a lot better races from stock Mustangs.
Anyway the V-6 cars are much more civilized than mine. Seemed almost
like a factory car. With the kit it looked like a fairly easy
conversion.
3 Ford 5.0L - We'll its a mean combo. Yes the engine's heavy. Yes,I
broke my driveshaft. Yes,I broke my rear end. Yes, I ripped out a
rear mount. Yes, it's been expensive. Yes I love it.
My car spun a beering with 77K on the odometer. Ouch. I had a perfect
body, new seats, clutch, carpet, header, and a lot-o-money in it. I
loved the car and hated that engine.
After the swap the car originally sported:
'66 289 bored 40 over. It had a Erson cam with 292 duration and 455
lift. Stock heads and stock exhaust manifolds. I ran a stock 4 barrel
intake with a Holley 600. Transmission was a C-4 and the stock rear
end. The torque convertor was changed for a high stall model and
ultimately the U-joints went. The rear end broke and was sqapped with
a 8" rear end. See suspension stuff below. This combo was fairly mean
and did seem nose heavy. I also missed the 3.91 rear end (8" had a
3.25) as it did hurt my accelation. The Ford brakes did do wonders
for it though. The radiator is a early 3 core Nova item with electric
fan. I also chose a C-4 over a T-5 at the time (1987) as the T-5
seemed to be breaking for everyone I knew with a stock Mustang. Ditto
for AODs. Time (aftermarket) has since fixed the AOD and the T56 has
done one up on the T5. I was also concerned with where the stick would
pop up one a T-5. The hydraulic clutch (lack of) didn't sound like
much fun either. Quite honestly the car drove more like a mean Nova
stock car than a TR-7, though. Loud obnoxious and brutally fast.
This year the car has been totally torn apart. Several $$ have been
spent with the idea of improved weight and drivability. It's just
starting to move around now, but with headlights and stuff left to fix
and a trip to the exhaust shop.
1) The engine been totally rebuilt with lots-o-new goodied. The engine
was balanced and blueprinted. Edelbrock RPM heads with 2.02
valves.(Ford heads flow bad and are heavy.). Ceramic coated Mustang
shorty headers, Edelbrock Performer intake, Mallory flattop distibutor,
Holley Projection, "Powered by Ford" Cobra valve covers, roller-rocker
arms, High perform al waterpump, windage tray, and a Fluid damper. Oh
yeah oil pan is/was a late model 'rear sump' pan. The whole engine is
bright red with the al pulleys powder coated black and the black
crinkle valve covers.
2) Transmission was swapped for a late model AOD rebuilt for
performance. Kevlar bands, and solid input shaft, and more. I'm
excited to have an overdrive(~.66) again for the highway.
3) New 4 core Nova radiator and new 2100 CFM electric fan.
4) Swap of old 8' 3.25 rear for a 9" tracktion-lok 3.9 ford rear.
Traction-lok is very rare for the 8' and 8' gear sets are rare and
expensive.
5) Battery in the trunk. Right side over the tire that tends to lift
up ;-)
6) still have to chop the hoop :- (. I used to run a 'triangle' shaped
aircleaner, but the new manifold and inject raised the mess up a couple
of inches. Uggh.
7) New tires and rims. Michelin XGT Vs at 2051550. The rims are 15"
alimnum 'stars'
Anyway here's the scoop on some recently asked questions.
1) Ford injection will NOT fit under the stock hood. No way!. I had
enough trouble with my distributor and the hood. Look at the
distrubotr hieght compared to the Ford injection. :-(. I have not put
in the spacers to drop the 'X' steering crossmember as I am afraid of
messing up steering geometry. Anyway the extra 1-2" is not enough for
the room. I fear that the Ford SEFI would need a huge scoop on the
hood!
2) Suspension was an awful problem, but easily rectified. Have any of
you really got into your '7' and heard a clunk in the back? Thats the
rearend hitting the body. I could do it on command after my swap. I
bought heavy-duty TR-8 spring with SPAX shocks and my handling was
better than before the swap!. (I also replaced all of the rubber
bushings with hard ones).
3) The Falcon rear is 1/2" wider than the Tr 7/8's. Ford made three
wides of 8 & 9 rear end. This is the narrowest one! Any ratio can be
had for a Ford 9". Plus it gets you lot-o-respect from the Hot Rod
crowd!
4) The late model Mustang serpentine belts might also cause trouble.
Especially if your trying to retain a power steering unit. I don't
even think that it would even fit under the hood.
5) Performance. Can't comment on the new parts but here are a few
number from the old stuff. With stock TR rear 0-60 5.1-5.5 seconds on
the old Michelen MXLs. 0-100 10-12 seconds depending on street, gas,
and weather. The 3.25 raised the 0-60 time up to 6.5-7 and didn't ever
do the 0-100s. Also got 22 mpg once with the TR rearend when I drove
nice for a couple of interstate mile. If I drove 80-90 mph on the
interstate that mileage quickly dropped to 9-10 mpg. Ouch.
6) Tach and speedo. The TR8 tack served my well here. My speedometer
was off considerably when I have a cable made for it. Incidently the
smith tach end is very similar to Ford's with 1/16" need cut off of the
house to allow it to sit correctly on the tach. I'm getting ready to
by a reduction gear box to fix my stock speedo. :-)
7) Brakes: I bought a uprated brake kit from Rimmer years ago. The
Ford brakes on the back help too!
When new combo is totally street ready, I'm off to get some times and
I'll report them here!
Chad McCubbins
chadmcc@ix.netcom.com
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