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

Put another way, adding a 5 or six speed manual is always like adding another 50 cubic inches of engine capacity in passenger cars with 170 to 352 cube engines.

The auto drivetrain losses are huge.

When drag racing, due to what happens with traction limited 60 and 330 feet times and trans-brakes, the automatic trans verses 5 or 6 speed is either a wash, or an advantage in some cases. Maybee a gain to a Tremec 3550 5-speed verses transbraked C4 based on 1/4 ET times with a 400 net hp 5.0. The drivetrain loss percentages are different on the drag strip to a chassis dyno, just as flywheel net is different to chassis dyno net.

The great examples are Stickman's comparisons, the T5 Fox Mustang verses AOD or C4 trans-braked racers.


View: https://youtu.be/icRPZl7zzCA




A Poor Mans Lenco, the two Speed PowerGlide is STILL the weapon of choice in the 2500 hp turbo V8 league. But your not at that stage...YET!
 
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Well I committed to a clutch master cylinder and its potential placement. That, like everything else with this car, causes “ collateral damage”. There is structure under the dash that anchors the firewall to the floor, and is triangulated to the steering column mount.

That structure has to move.
And,....it will require a cutoff wheel to do that.

Amongst all of those wires...that are just dangling everywhere...begging to get caught up in the blade should something like a kick back happen. Couple that to the fact that every inch of that floor/ firewall is covered in dynamat.

I can’t wait.

The good thing ( if there is such a thing at this juncture) is that the hydraulic part of this swap turned out to be way cheaper than originally planned...I expected it to cost around 500.00 and it’s actually about 200.00 instead.

Provided my “Do it twice” work ethic doesn’t rear it’s head.
 
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Put another way, adding a 5 or six speed manual is always like adding another 50 cubic inches of engine capacity in passenger cars with 170 to 352 cube engines.

The auto drivetrain losses are huge.

When drag racing, due to what happens with traction limited 60 and 330 feet times and trans-brakes, the automatic trans verses 5 or 6 speed is either a wash, or an advantage in some cases. Maybee a gain to a Tremec 3550 5-speed verses transbraked C4 based on 1/4 ET times with a 400 net hp 5.0. The drivetrain loss percentages are different on the drag strip to a chassis dyno, just as flywheel net is different to chassis dyno net.

The great examples are Stickman's comparisons, the T5 Fox Mustang verses AOD or C4 trans-braked racers.


View: https://youtu.be/icRPZl7zzCA




A Poor Mans Lenco, the two Speed PowerGlide is STILL the weapon of choice in the 2500 hp turbo V8 league. But your not at that stage...YET!

Good ol Neil . He is local and a friend of mine . He’s been around since the good old days of making these cars fast
 
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And on that note..

The point of no return:
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The Dash had to come completely out, as did my “ two piece steering column”. I’ll justify this insane task as an excuse to repaint/ have it powder coated before I put it back in. IIRC, it has body filler at the weld joints, so I’ll probably opt not to have it PC’d, because he’ll have to sand blast the thing before.
I’ll also modify the drop section of the dash, and cut it out so that the column can be put in as a solid piece instead of having to take it apart like I do now.

And maybe I can tidy up the menagerie of wires while I’m at it.

The clutch pedal config is a challenge. At this time I only have the slightest inkling of what I need to do to make it work with what I currently have. I have a pedal shaft made, but I can’t figure out how I’m gonna mount it, or actuate the master cylinder ( push or pull),.

This was the part that had to happen before I could mount the trans. Consequently, the 4l80 isn’t coming out until I figure out the pedal thing.

I do know that I’ll have to have a whole new drive shaft built, as this trans is about 3.5” shorter than the current pig in the tunnel.

And that’ll be another $350.00 this swap has cost.
That exposed dash wiring is nightmare fuel! But I do appreciate the removable dash structure...especially when I am dealing with a car with an entirely metal welded in dash structure.
 
While working at the dealership today, I take a customer that tells me that they are car-less because another dealer gave them a stupid offer to buy their car that they accepted.

So,.....,I decide to have Carvana give me an offer on the gas guzzling Nissan Titan pig that I bought 3 months ago. I owe 30k in remaining payments.

You got to the site, enter in some stuff, and two minutes later you ( I ) get the offer.

$35,688.00!!!

In essence, I buy a truck, drive it for 3 months, and make 5500.00

That truck is sooooo gone.
 
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While I concur , to buy what ? The market is sky high . So you get top dollar to spend it somewhere else to get another vehicle ?
At 63, I’m starting to consider “ hangin Chad’s”. I would have this truck, and it’s 550.00 a month pymt for the next 4.5 years. All the while funneling 2.59 a gal at @12-14 mpg into this pig.

I’m already tired of the blood bath

The key to avoiding paying an equally stupid amount of money for a replacement is to buy it from a private party that don’t know their sht is worth what they’re getting at the dealerships, and, ( depending on your end game) buying a older beater to get back and forth to work.
 
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Ok on a more Monster related tangent.
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Everything to do the hydraulic part of this swap is here..
I doubt I’ll have anytime till Wednesday to move forward on this, but me and the 3 have worked out all but the most minute ( is that how you spell it?) details....I’m jonesin to get down there to see if I can make this work w/o any help from Ford.
 
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While working at the dealership today, I take a customer that tells me that they are car-less because another dealer gave them a stupid offer to buy their car that they accepted.

So,.....,I decide to have Carvana give me an offer on the gas guzzling Nissan Titan pig that I bought 3 months ago. I owe 30k in remaining payments.

You got to the site, enter in some stuff, and two minutes later you ( I ) get the offer.

$35,688.00!!!

In essence, I buy a truck, drive it for 3 months, and make 5500.00

That truck is sooooo gone.

That's horrible. My gas engine F250 gets 15mpg. I guess I will not be buying a Nissan Titan, although I was at one point intrigued with their XD Diesel.

On a side night, much to your chagrin, my Focus is still basically worth what I paid for it 4 years ago when I bought it new.

Kurt
 
And just like that. The truck is gone. I drive the truck to their drop off point this upcoming Wednesday. They put 5500.00 in my checking account instantly, and bring me back home. I can’t fcking believe this sht.
 
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And with my new found wealth, that frees me up to go a little unconventional

These things are what i’m going to look at today:
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$8900 for a 302c4 1971 F1..interior looks as good as it does outside, but i’m thinking this may be a Maaco quicky

or...This:

$6950 for a 1994 300 i6/5 speed

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The bottom truck is the one that makes the most sense, but the top one is cooler. Both are 100k miles.
 
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At 63, I’m starting to consider “ hangin Chad’s”. I would have this truck, and it’s 550.00 a month pymt for the next 4.5 years. All the while funneling 2.59 a gal at @12-14 mpg into this pig.
Wait...you have $2.59 a gal gas? Come to think of it, we did here too....about 6 months ago. Just paid $4.40 a gal for premium
 
I vote the bumpside. Even if Maacco has touched it. Not a terrible price for one, and if it's not totally restored you might actually use it for truck stuff. Simple to work on and maintain, and quite frankly one of the best body styles Ford made after the 50s.