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Birddog0347 rescues a Fox

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  • Birddog0347 rescues a Fox

    So about 2 years ago I got my current 92 Coupe 5.0/5spd in a trade from a guy in East Texas, I gave him a dirtbike and $1k for the car. My plan was to have a fun weekend car that I may some day do a

    little auto x or an open track day in it. I don't really have an interest in drag racing so it needed to handle as well as possible. It was originally a 4 cylinder conversion, bright red with black

    interior. It had weld Pro Star drag wheels on it, unkown crap ass springs, terrible suspension all the way around, disk rear, cowl hood, pretty stock motor that sounded like it had a cam in it (more on

    that later), a 5 lug conversion, dumped flows, and a breathalyzer. So after I drove it home from East Tx I ended up driving it back the next weekend to get the breathalyzer pulled out of it as the ass-

    hat lied and said it could be done in Dallas.

    when it came home






    Here's the list of problems it had that I immediately knew about.

    No keys, ignition or doors (clean title though)
    brakes were spongy as hell and I had to pump them to stop every time
    it was eating serpantine belts
    broken fan blades
    terrible suspension
    needed alignment
    blinkers didn't work
    paint is terrible
    no e-brake


    Anyways, the first order of business was to get an ignition key for it, the guy said his kid lost the keys... all of them. When he tried to replace the ignition key cylinder he pulled too much of it out

    and lost the gear that goes behind the cylinder, so it had to be started with a flat head screw driver and could not be locked as there was no door key.

    Then I wanted to be rid of those drag wheels so I swapped DJ for his FR500's but quickly realized they wouldn't work with the crappy 5 lug conversion that was done on the car. It had Lincoln Mk VII

    rotors on the front and a 2000-ish disk rear end which made the wheels stick way too far out. Once I swapped the wheels I was pretty much commited to doing a proper 5 lug conversion so I found a used

    set of SN95 brakes/spindles and tried that but the calipers were sooo bad that I decided to stop and go with Cobra brakes on the front. So, I got new rotors and bought the caplipers and brackets off

    Corral. I also got new Tokico blue struts. I figured while I have it apart I might as well do the control arm bushings and sway bushings, and got MM solid steering rack bushings too. I also discovered

    the reason the brakes SUCKED was due to the stock master cylinder and the disk rear end... so I got the proper master cylinder, new booster, prop valve, SVE lowering springs etc. and fixed it. I went

    cheap on the springs since I knew I needed something for now but had to wait till I can afford it to get a full coil over set.

    Before and after:





    Last edited by bird_dog0347; 08-10-2014, 01:47 PM.
    Originally posted by stevo
    Not a good idea to go Tim 'The Toolman' Taylor on the power phallus.

    Stevo

  • #2
    Then I ripped it all back out to do the bushings and the cobra brakes. Also the springs still had a serious raked look to them so LMR made it right for me and I got some Eibach sportlines and some MAC

    caster/camber plates cause they were cheap and I needed something better than stock at the time. I also did the SVE rear control arms.






    Now with the front suspension and brakes where I wanted it for the time being I had to start fixing things like the belt/pullies/fan/etc. I discovered why the belts were being eaten... the water pump

    had some how walked the shaft forward which pushed that pulley out of alignment. It also pushed the fan into the radiator (explaining the broken blade) and meant I had to replace the radiator. So I got

    another radiator, fan, fan clutch, water pump, 3G alternator, march alt bracket, underdrive pulleys, and a new belt and went to town. I still need to replace my power steering pump as it whines like a

    little girl losing her virginity to a porn star.




    I don't have pics of this part, but I also replaced the power window motors, all locks, door lock actuators and got the power windows/locks working again. I got the blinker issue resolved as well and took the black "tint" paint off the tail lights and polished them up all nice.

    Now it was time to give it a little more power... not much but hey, it wasn't expensive. I found an Explorer intake for it and went to work on that and the exhaust. I hated the dumped flows it had and

    love the look of tailpipes on a coupe but the mufflers were welded to what was left of the stock H pipe (that no longer was an H) and were offset inlet center outlet so tail pipes couldn't get hooked up

    and it had stock headers. Which meant I had to replace the H pipe as well. So I pieced all the parts together for a whole new exhaust. BBK Long tube headers, BBK O/R H pipe, and 2 chamber flows with

    chrome tail pipes. I also discovered at this point that the O2 sensors were cut and I was completely missing the O2 harness. So I got a harness and 2 new O2 sensors and it no longer sounds like it has a

    big cam but it actually idles pretty nice now.

    Before and after:




    Last edited by bird_dog0347; 08-10-2014, 02:25 PM.
    Originally posted by stevo
    Not a good idea to go Tim 'The Toolman' Taylor on the power phallus.

    Stevo

    Comment


    • #3
      Nice man. Would love to have an IRS fox at some point.

      Comment


      • #4
        What did you do with those cheap rear control arms. I need some for my zephyr.

        Comment


        • #5
          After almost a year of having it and working on it all the time but not driving it, I finally drove it a little until the rear end started making some noise. And that was pretty much exactly the same

          time when I saw a 04 Cobra IRS come up for sale for $500 so I jumped on it right away!I knew to get the rear end to handle like I wanted was going to cost at least another $1500 just to handle maybe as

          well as the IRS so I went with the IRS instead as I already wanted 3.55 gears and it had them. Eventually I'll get different control arm bushings for the rear end, and coil overs, but for now it's got

          the stock Bilstien's, cut stock springs, poly subframe and F/R diff mount bushings and a rear diff brace. So now it's got full Cobra brakes all the way around as well. Also I had to sell the exhaust I'd

          just installed and control arms and rear end, so all in all I think the swap cost me maybe $250 after selling off my old stuff. I also got the e-brake working now too! Unfortunately I knew the 18x10

          rear wheels weren't gonna fit on the rear with the IRS so I traded them for a set of 98 Cobra wheels.








          This is where it sits today, and still needs a number of things as well as a list of "wants". Before I can drive it regularly I'll need the registration/inspection stickers and I've got what sounds like

          a dragging brake pad that I've got to find and fix what's causing it. Very soon I'll NEED to replace the power steering pump as it's a very annoying sound, new motor mounts, and new front tires (one bad

          might as well replace both).

          I also WANT subframe connectors, arm rest covers for the interior, new seats as I've got the gangster lean driver's seat, and I'll add the A/C kit from LMR as most of my current A/C stuff is missing but

          the heater does work well.


          Originally posted by stevo
          Not a good idea to go Tim 'The Toolman' Taylor on the power phallus.

          Stevo

          Comment


          • #6
            Originally posted by talisman View Post
            Nice man. Would love to have an IRS fox at some point.
            Thanks man, it was a lot of work to get it all in there correctly and I certainly learned a lot, but I think it was well worth it. I've only put like 2 miles on it so not all the bugs are worked out of it yet and I can't give a good comparison before/after since I screwed around and didn't drive it for a year.

            Originally posted by Sleeper View Post
            What did you do with those cheap rear control arms. I need some for my zephyr.
            Sorry man, sold all the SRA stuff a long time ago.

            Also I fixed all the pics, the links were all screwed up.
            Originally posted by stevo
            Not a good idea to go Tim 'The Toolman' Taylor on the power phallus.

            Stevo

            Comment


            • #7
              how much you want for it as it sits?

              Comment


              • #8
                Originally posted by Back N Black View Post
                how much you want for it as it sits?
                Too much I'm sure... you can make me an offer, but I'm not really looking to sell it.
                Originally posted by stevo
                Not a good idea to go Tim 'The Toolman' Taylor on the power phallus.

                Stevo

                Comment


                • #9
                  looking good man
                  Big Rooster Racing
                  1985 Mustang GT

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    Remus likes.
                    "When the people find that they can vote themselves money, that will herald the end of the republic." -Benjamin Franklin
                    "A democracy will continue to exist up until the time that voters discover that they can vote themselves generous gifts from the public treasury." -Alexander Fraser Tytler

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      baddass!
                      "If I asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses." - Henry Ford

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        I always had a love for your coupe man! Def had a lot of work put in to it. You get the AC working yet
                        GOD BLESS TEXAS
                        August Landscaping
                        214-779-7278
                        Seb's high class.
                        He'll mow your grass.
                        He'll kick your ass.
                        And while his kidney stones pass,
                        He'll piss in a glass!

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          Originally posted by SEB View Post
                          I always had a love for your coupe man! Def had a lot of work put in to it. You get the AC working yet
                          No, I don't have most of the original AC parts so I plan to just buy the kit from LMR next year. $750 for a whole new system that uses new freon, I think that's better than piecing together old crap that may or may not work.

                          Originally posted by stevo
                          Not a good idea to go Tim 'The Toolman' Taylor on the power phallus.

                          Stevo

                          Comment


                          • #14
                            How hard was the IRS swap? Thinking of going that route in my coupe as well.
                            95 Lightning #1155/2280 - SOLD
                            93 Coupe - SOLD
                            13 5.0 F150 RCSB -DD
                            86 LX hatch - current money pit

                            Comment


                            • #15
                              Very nice man, I'm pretty envious of not having that car.

                              Comment

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