Build Thread 1978 Fairmont. I bet somebody back home’s thinkin’…I wonder why he don’t write..?

Do you not know who I am by now?!! it’s not about owning this car..it’s about making it. When I run out of stuff to do, what do you think ( you know ) will happen here?
You'll sell it, this time for quite possibly an insane amount of money because this car's craftsmanship puts your red "vintage" fox to shame, and then do another car in a year or three.
 
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You'll sell it, this time for quite possibly an insane amount of money because this car's craftsmanship puts your red "vintage" fox to shame, and then do another car in a year or three.
I’d bet this car would struggle to see 20k. And let’s say it did make 30k..( where it’d get sold in a minute)
There'd never be another..a C8 maybe,...an M2? never another build.
 
Aww snap, they're trying to out-curmudgeon each other again! :rlaugh:
I was going to offer CMA my GT3788 ball bearing turbo from my truck, and send him a bottle of nitrous to cure the turbo lag.

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But I kinda thought it would seam try hard. Especially when its a 675 hp turbo and might break his LJK. And my truck only does 35 mph up the hill when the turbo isn't boosting on it.
 
I’d bet this car would struggle to see 20k. And let’s say it did make 30k..( where it’d get sold in a minute)
There'd never be another..a C8 maybe,...an M2? never another build.
I'd bet money that you could get $40k or more on the right platform. You've done the impossible, you've made the most bland, boring, slab-sized box-on-wheels car Ford ever built look good. Then you made it fast. All the big-block power and patriotic paint schemes in the world only managed to make them fast for Glidden back in the day, his was still ugly.
 
I'd bet money that you could get $40k or more on the right platform. You've done the impossible, you've made the most bland, boring, slab-sized box-on-wheels car Ford ever built look good. Then you made it fast. All the big-block power and patriotic paint schemes in the world only managed to make them fast for Glidden back in the day, his was still ugly.
I’d take that bet.
When the dust settles, and the close-up cameras are focused on the small stuff, it’s still just a bland, boring , slab-sized box on wheels with some heavy mascara...
And the mascara is running in places.

Ive had my delusions of grandeur with the red car.. thinkin I did something special. One auction and a month of Auto-trader brought me back to earth.

The only old cars that bring 40+ k nowadays have a 6 in the decade they were built.
 
"Built" cars based on grey slurry are always like that. There are no exceptions except way back machining it to 69.

Exceptions are:-
1. exported Faux "Built:" US cars on Grey Slurry.

EG

1969 Ford Falcon XW GTHO (Replica)​

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2. exported Factory Faux Built cars based on Grey Slurry. (Any year, but Malaise is Best).

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1983 4.2 2V Factory RHD Mustang


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Right Hooker conversions always work. All of the Mustangs Fox Body, S95 and S197 based cars that are converted here use a TRW 1979 TE Ford Cortina 6 cylinder Ghia Power steering Rack which is dimensionally the same as the Mustang Rack except in RHD form.


And the Monteverdi Sierra...an 80000 dollar Volare with Fiat lights and a proper non torsion bar IFS.

Seen-One-1979-Monteverdi-Sierra-for-sale-Left-Side.jpg
 
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I’d take that bet.
When the dust settles, and the close-up cameras are focused on the small stuff, it’s still just a bland, boring , slab-sized box on wheels with some heavy mascara...
And the mascara is running in places.

Ive had my delusions of grandeur with the red car.. thinkin I did something special. One auction and a month of Auto-trader brought me back to earth.

The only old cars that bring 40+ k nowadays have a 6 in the decade they were built.

If this pig with lipstick can make it to $12k fifteen years ago, and there are other overdressed Pintos in the $20-30k range now, I'm seriously thinking you could do at least that good, but I'm betting on better.
 
Except you fly DC 9’s....and bitch about moving people,...I bitch about people that don’t move...
Quiet? You should hear me yelling at the Lexus driving, old assed crustacean merging into traffic in front of me..

Not Quiet.

And you’re freakin 40...add 23 to that imagine “That“ old.

It's how old you feel Mike, I'm at least 65.

Kurt
 
It's how old you feel Mike, I'm at least 65.

Kurt
You gotta change something then, if you are 40, and feel 65, using the stress induced age multiplier, you’ll be dead in 5 years. Wasn’t Tom Cruise in a movie about a bored airline pilot that ended up running drugs for the colombian cartels?
That might be worth looking into? :shrug:
 
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You gotta change something then, if you are 40, and feel 65, using the stress induced age multiplier, you’ll be dead in 5 years. Wasn’t Tom Cruise in a movie about a bored airline pilot that ended up running drugs for the colombian cartels?
That might be worth looking into? :shrug:
Good flick !
 
So.....back to C²/T².
And in the spirit of the above status, im upgradin' And updating.
20201006_084419.jpg

This is what I've come up with in an attempt to transfer the cut out holes from the one hood to the other.
20201006_084428.jpg

It requires a certain.....leap of faith. Obviously, one side done, I did the transfer from the other side this morning. I'll cut it out at lunch when I go home.

Upon closer inspection, the old hood is gonna need some work. The bodywork has lifted around the perimeter of the passenger side scoop due to the heat coming off of the turbo. Especially aggrevated by the fact that i forgot to put the turbo blanket on the thing one night.

The current hood scoop will not stay together.In order to get it to match my hood contour, I had to cut it pretty radically. I ended up grinding the mount lugs off the front. Its an abs scoop, and No glue that ive found will hold the mount studs after heat, and wind do their work. Im thinking its gonna end up in the same place that the OG monster engine did.
I've got a hood insulation blanket coming for the underside, so the heat thing is somewhat dealt with, but even then, using this hood where the crown that doesn't match the driver side fenderline bugs the hell outta me, sibce its directly in my line if sight.. To fix that will require that I make several relief cuts to the bracing so I can push it down, then weld it all back....which will fck the bodywork all the hell up too.
Im conjuring a hood scoop design in my head for that hood, itll be made out of steel, only instead of welding it to the hood, and warping that sheet metal all to hell and back, ill make it a bolt on.
Pretty radical design. right now, itll either be one forward facing " snorkel " style inlet on the driver side, and a siamesed version facing backwards on the pass side as an heat extractor for the turbo,
Or they'll both face forward. I dont know just yet. One way or the other, both hoods are gonna take some time to make right.

I bought a GPS based speedo sender to get my speedo working.

Lastly,..im researching torque arm suspensions...that is part of the plan, along with a panhard bar for the rear suspension after the hood.

Never an idle minute in monster Town.
 
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I called Bruce Griggs. A laid back Dude if there ever was one. Way back when, I was anticipating building a torque arm/ panhard bar for this car, and In anticipation of that, actually bought the front mount kit that they use on their torque arms.

it’s been in a box for.....ohh maybe 3 years now.

So,...now that an obscene amount of power has potentially entered the picture, putting it on the ground is more relevant.
And Because of the new found relevance, a torque arm/ panhard bar comes into consideration.
I also think it’ll be that much more driveable, as I free up the cat-fight that is a Fox body factory 4 link with poly bushings.

Ground clearance immediately under the rear end is the concern..though.The Griggs design uses the rear end cover as its rear anchor point with the two front mount points near the pinion. Everybody else has legs that clamp to the axle housing at the rear mount. It would be easier if I just copy that,........

:bang:but let’s not forget whose talking here.

I’m thinking I’ll make a trussed inner skeleton so I can wrap that with 1” plate on the sides, and 2” plate on the top and bottom...That would have to be mega-strong when compared to a standard piece of .125 wall 1 X 2 rectangular tubing.
And that’ll keep my ground clearance at the maximum.
I just do some homework on instant center, and that kinda sht..
 
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Hey Mike you made me remember one of the coolest guys I've ever met. His name is Don.... Mustang Don of mustang Don's garage. He worked very close with Mr. Griggs. He is a very knowledgeable guy and would lend some advise I'm sure.

This is his Facebook page


You can look him up on the interwebs...he's located in VA
 
Everything you need to know about building, and setting up a torque arm/ panhard bar setup is on MM’s website. Yesterday, I planned to just buy the stuff from them, but in the light of the new day, ( and after getting their quote)...

Theres no way i’m paying 900.00 for stuff that ai can make for a fraction of that.

Now,.........I know what you’re thinking.....” This is what you said when you said the exact same thing about adapting the transmission”....

To which i’d say you’re right...but here’s the difference. There is one critical component to this setup....the front mount. The entire adapter on the transmission fiasco was a critical component.
The front mount has to be able to allow the torque arm to move in/out as the rear travels through its arc.

I will not attempt to make that. That, i’ll buy.

The rest is chassis fab 101...easily do-able by a guy with a few cutty-tools, a few grindy-tools, and a welder.

The entire rear mount/panhard kit is almost 400.00...I’m gonna make that for 100 bucks.
The entire panhard bar minus that cross member/ front mount is over 400.00 i’m gonna make that for 100 bucks.
 
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Main leg is done....just gotta get a flap wheel to smooth the welds.
20201008_151646.jpg

This is before I welded the top cap on..wanted you to be able to see the trusses inside.

At the same time, the hood is roughed in.
20201008_151653.jpg

The black primer revealed i got more work to do..

The "rest of the story" is the side effect of that much welding. There is a slight upward bow in the thing. I tried to back over the thing with Kates' SUV to try and push it back straight, but.....it dont bend now.
So,...given that the thing is in its first stages of the build. The slight bow is NBD..
 
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Main leg is done....just gotta get a flap wheel to smooth the welds.
20201008_151646.jpg

This is before I welded the top cap on..wanted you to be able to see the trusses inside.

At the same time, the hood is roughed in.
20201008_151653.jpg

The black primer revealed i got more work to do..

The "rest of the story" is the side effect of that much welding. There is a slight upward bow in the thing. I tried to back over the thing with Kates' SUV to try and push it back straight, but.....it dont bend now.
So,...given that the thing is in its first stages of the build. The slight bow is NBD..
Without the availability of a shop press, I used the SUV method to get the right bend in my MM subframes. Whatever works!
 
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