kingcars' 250rwhp/13 second Tbird project (new project brewing 2/6)

  • Thread starter Thread starter kingcars
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Alright, so I spent about 6.5 hours today degreasing the engine. I'm not gonna go nuts cleaning all the wires/hoses and stuff (only briefly went over the main ones) but I'm extremely happy with how it came out.

Before:
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After:
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I also cleaned/painted these while I had them out:

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Tomorrow, my uncle and I will get it painted up and ready to go, so expect more pics then. It's gettin there!
 
nice thread. It is pretty entertaining. I love a good engine build, and you are doing a good job of documenting it. Go grassroots motor sports!
 
lmracer
nice thread. It is pretty entertaining. I love a good engine build, and you are doing a good job of documenting it.
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Thanks :) . I always used to enjoy goin to car shows and seeing photo albums of peoples' projects, so I guess that rubbed off on me. And if you haven't noticed already, I'm way over enthusiastic about my car...so I HAVE to show everybody haha.


lmracer
Go grassroots motor sports!
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QFT! No checkbook cars to be seen here.
 
kingcars
And if you haven't noticed already, I'm way over enthusiastic about my car...so I HAVE to show everybody haha.
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as you should be. I watched your initial drive video and that thing looks fun. It's going to be pretty rowdy when you finally start making power. I realllly like it when people put manual transmissions in cars that were never intended to have one. Nice work, and for the record, I like the looks of it. its tough.
 
Course...the Thunderbird did come with a manual in the Super Coupe and Turbo Coupes.
 
Looking good so far man! Can't wait to see and HEAR the videos!
 
lmracer
as you should be. I watched your initial drive video and that thing looks fun. It's going to be pretty rowdy when you finally start making power. I realllly like it when people put manual transmissions in cars that were never intended to have one. Nice work, and for the record, I like the looks of it. its tough.
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I do have a 2nd video on youtube also that should be easy to find from the link in my sig (either go to my profile or it should be in related vids too hehe). It is a really fun car...I haven't really driven it in about 2 months due to a blown lower intake gasket that caused a horrible noise, so to say I'm itching to have it back is a MASSIVE understatement. As far as the looks...yeah...I love it. The tailights have always been a favorite of mine...they instantly bring me back to the old Shelby Mustangs. I love how the car as a whole has nuances straight out of the 60s muscle car era (long hood, short windshield, shallow dashboard, full width tailights), yet is actually quite an aerodynamic, more modern shape; the body was used in NASCAR for many years, and actually still holds the NASCAR speed record of 212mph I believe.

buickgnx88
Course...the Thunderbird did come with a manual in the Super Coupe and Turbo Coupes.
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Yep, 5 speeds did come in Turbo Coupes (which were turbo 2.3L 4 cylinders) but never made their way into the V8 cars. Nor did the fox body Tbird ever get the High Output 5.0 (like what I had converted my car to). Such a shame.

JCE
Looking good so far man! Can't wait to see and HEAR the videos!
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Thanks. There will be plenty of videos. May 2nd is going to be a big dyno meet for a local forum...I plan to sign the Tbird up and see what kinda numbers she puts up...and of course have it on video.
 
Do I see you spraybombing stock induction?

Shock, horror.
 
It's got a nice K&N filter and the silencer has been removed. Makes no sense to spend money on a (probably chrome - not my style) CAI...won't be any power gains to speak of. No riceness will make its way into my engine bay! ;)
 
Nice car kingcars.👍 I don't see why a CAI would be chrome, and even if it's only a little power, it's not really rice. I say go for it.👍
 
Pretty much every CAI I've ever seen for my car is like this:

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And there's really no way I'd see any real power gains out of it.
 
kingcars
It's got a nice K&N filter and the silencer has been removed. Makes no sense to spend money on a (probably chrome - not my style) CAI...won't be any power gains to speak of. No riceness will make its way into my engine bay! ;)
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Throw a short-ram or good intake on that badboy. Its not rice to have a professional aftermarket intake.

Or this: http://www.steeda.com/products/vortech_supercharger_kits.php
 
Hmmm...a quick google search on that just backed up my argument. Found a thread on a Mustang site about em:

the short seems like a good idea until you realize that you are now sucking in hot engine air, which is less dense (and less powerfull) than the colder air your factory airbox got. I got my cold air intake system for about 50 bucks on ebay and think its great, aside from the fact that puddles scare me in the rain. If you want to be able to drive through puddles and dont want to spend 100 dollars or more on some alumminuim tubes, for like 5 hp I suggest you go with a drop in K&N or other type drop in unit, that just replaces your stock filter, with a much higher flowing unit, with a simillar power gain.
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Thats what I already have ;) . I've done my research on them and see no reason to spend $50+ on a "C"AI, unless someone would like to prove me wrong.
 
That picture you showed up there is just a pod filter, I didn't think they counted as a "CAI" did they? I have a standard air box in my Ute too, with a K&N Filter, but the intake for the airbox is now an OTR unit.:)
 
It's a CAI because it is the full kit with the shield, using inner gaurds as the rest of the shield and holes for the cold air.
 
Those before and after engine compartment pics turned out great. What a huge difference. 👍
Simple green and bleach seems to work quite well.
 
Not seen this thread before, it's an interesting project 👍

Car looks very tidy and understated too, nice to see you've used something a bit different to the normal 'muscle/pony car' as a base.
 
CAMAROBOY69
Those before and after engine compartment pics turned out great. What a huge difference. 👍
Simple green and bleach seems to work quite well.
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Thanks! Yeah, I used the bleche white on the big surfaces like the firewall and shock towers, then used the simple green on the smaller areas with more electrical around them. I even went around and cleaned the washer fluid container, MAP sensor, and a few small things that had been buggin me for a long time.

TheCracker
Not seen this thread before, it's an interesting project 👍

Car looks very tidy and understated too, nice to see you've used something a bit different to the normal 'muscle/pony car' as a base.
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Thanks, glad you finally checked it out! And you pretty much summed it up - it's something a bit different from the normal fox body or SN95 Mustang/F body Camaro or Firebird/etc that most kids get these days...and it doesn't look as threatening on the street (if only they knew hehehe). But I can utilize pretty much the whole fox Mustang aftermarket for go-fast stuff, so it's a really nice combination to have: a different, not-overdone car with a huge aftermarket to use.
 
kingcars
It's got a nice K&N filter and the silencer has been removed. Makes no sense to spend money on a (probably chrome - not my style) CAI...won't be any power gains to speak of. No riceness will make its way into my engine bay! ;)
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Hehehe, I hear you.

Nah it's not that I have anything against reusing the stock stuff, it's just that very nearly nobody uses it.
 
JCE
Pretty neat kit there. As long as it gets some forced induction. :D You will have one mean machine. I'm jealous. :lol:
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Haha yeah it'll be pretty funny seeing peoples' reactions when they hear supercharger whine from under the Tbird's hood!

Rotary Junkie
Hehehe, I hear you.

Nah it's not that I have anything against reusing the stock stuff, it's just that very nearly nobody uses it.
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Yep, but I like to be a little bit different :sly: .

Anyways, it's update time! My uncle came by today and helped me get the engine bay painted. Check it out!

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Unfortunately, my batteries died before I got the pic of my favorite touches, like keeping the factory stickers on the front rad support, along with a factory-written permanent marker that says "#174 4-28-88" (which I consider the car's bday...yes I'm THAT sick). We also kept the factory fender labels. But anyways, the engine bay has NEVER looked this good since we've had it. I can't wait to see how the 306 looks sittin in there!
 
Oh, and please don't forget to paint that black trim from front to back the body color. I can't stand that on the T-Birds or Mustangs.

Oh, and nice 3rd gen Fbody back there. :D
 
I'm keeping the black trim at the moment, sorry haha. And yes, that's my dad's 85 T/A with a TPI 305 and T tops. It's been my DD since the Tbird has been down. It's nowhere near as fast as my Tbird, and it's an auto, but when the weather is nice and I can take the T tops off...thats plenty awesome!
 
Well I just spent the rest of the week getting the engine ready for battle. Here she is:

enginefinished004small.jpg


Should be making her way into the engine bay tomorrow :) .
 
nice looking, nice runing, cool project.

but there is one thing you HAVE to do... paint the chrome grille white, or for continuation, black, to go with the black trim.
 
Hahaha thanks. As for the grille, it's staying chrome until further notice :) . I've thought about painting it many times...I'll probably buy a spare grille from a junkyard or something and try it out.
 
Here's some quick paint jobs:
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white.jpg


Honestly, I think the white grille looks better.
 
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