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

[CarMichael Angelo]

After Dinner, Kate asks me if I’m gonna go back out for a single lap of the circuit…..

“Maybe” I said…( It was actually a hard yes, but I wanted her to think I was weighing my decision)

Typical for every cruising venue, the streets are lined with people there to spectate, and egg on the drivers to do stupid sht for their viewing pleasure…Way too many cars on the streets, and waay too many flashing blue lights…Nonetheless, people are doing stupid sht everywhere. It came down to too many instances of stupid sht, and not enough flashing blue lights to possibly catch or curb the reoccurring stupid sht.

So,….the likelihood of not having to pay for doing it, the odds were squarely in the stupid sht doers corner.

Exactly my kinda odds. As for crowd pleasing though I had nothing for these guys.

Traffic was the killer though…you spent more time stopped than rolling. I could only tolerate about an hour of all of that, and the little dude that pops up on your right shoulder reminded me that I was almost 64, was 4-5 hours from home, and has been drinking,…( just like every other yeahoo out there). I got off the circuit at the next left turn, and headed north, away from the beach and the craziness, and headed back towards our hotel. ( Along with a fair amount of other guys, equally old, equally far away if not more, equally at risk for getting “ the big ticket”)

Enter the guy in the C8.

It had to happen. This guy was just like every other bonehead that drops 100 grand on one of these things, and now thinks he’s got a super car. ( How many times do these guys have to get their ego bashed on youtube?……You’d think they’d learn)

He keeps revving, and lurching next to me…He is doing everything he can except open his tinted passenger side window and challenge me verbally…So, what was I supposed to do? He gets his invite accepted…By the car with the license plate that tells him why there’s only one tailpipe, and no audible exhaust note….(But just like about a thousand other guys down there that I must’ve talked to, only their 20 year old kid knows what TOOJZ could possibly mean).. And ole dude was getting ready to find out.

It was a 20 MPH roll in first gear,..and I left that guy from the second my foot was on the floor…The tires spun, the engine hits the rev limiter, fires two shotgun blasts at C8 dude, and I pull second, All of the sudden now he is no longer interested in getting a second chance of getting a bitch slap from the flat side of a katana. MOF,….he won’t roll up beside me anymore… So I just cruise.

That sht stings, I bet C8 boy.

 

[ThinBlue502]

 

[WindsorPenchant]

"Make me a superstar..! No matter who you are..!!"

 

[CarMichael Angelo]

I’m back.

700 miles put on the car over the course of 4 days, and not a single problem. Amazingly enough, running at 80 netted 25 mpg. I think it woulda probably did that at 70, but watching the AFR gauge, the engine goes slightly leaner at 2500 rpm than at 2200-2300…it was about 14.9-15.0:1 at 80 MPH, and somewhere around 14.5-14.7 at 70.

Is it even possible to have a combo that makes fairly big power and still get 80’s era econo box mileage?

 

[7991LXnSHO]

I’m back.

700 miles put on the car over the course of 4 days, and not a single problem. Amazingly enough, running at 80 netted 25 mpg. I think it woulda probably did that at 70, but watching the AFR gauge, the engine goes a slightly leaner at 2500 rpm than at 2200-2300…it was about 14.9-15.0:1 at 80 MPH, and somewhere around 14.5-14.7 at 70.

Is it even possible to have a combo that makes fairly big power and still get 80’s era econo box mileage?

Darn impressive! Congrats.

 

[90sickfox]

We have to point out something for Mike to work on or he's calling the guy that threw his card at him. I'm not stupid. Boredom sets in when a project is near complete. Even I would think about 100k though. That could buy a really nice 64 fairlane convertible and pay for the coyote swap and trans...plus gas for the next 10 to 20 years ( inflation included ).

 

[90sickfox]

I think you'd be way happier with air suspension. Imagine the eyeballs when you roll up, park, and put that thing in the weeds. You've got plenty enough unused trunk space.

 

[WindsorPenchant]

We have to point out something for Mike to work on or he's calling the guy that threw his card at him. I'm not stupid. Boredom sets in when a project is near complete. Even I would think about 100k though. That could buy a really nice 64 fairlane convertible and pay for the coyote swap and trans...plus gas for the next 10 to 20 years ( inflation included ).

I mean it should obviously have a Barra opposed to a 2JZ but other than that..

 

[CarMichael Angelo]

I mean it should obviously have a Barra opposed to a 2JZ but other than that..

Naah….I solved the “Toyota in a ford thing” with one small item…

That leftover emblem I had from the red car, caused more confusion than just about any other thing.

It shoulda actually read “2JZebrajet”, but I had to use what I had.

 

[CarMichael Angelo]

But now that I think of it…
If I can figure a way to fab up a look alike of this engine cover

Who’s gonna know that it’s not a Barra?

 

[7991LXnSHO]

Serious question, do covered coil packs run hotter, and does it shorten their lives? For example, an LS looks better with period valve covers over the coils, but that sure limits air flow. In your car, the turbo blanket might help, but the engine has to be warm under boost.

 

[CarMichael Angelo]

Serious question, do covered coil packs run hotter, and does it shorten their lives? For example, an LS looks better with period valve covers over the coils, but that sure limits air flow. In your car, the turbo blanket might help, but the engine has to be warm under boost.

from the factory, they’re buried in the valley under a plastic cover..they manage to live for 40-50k miles until they’re removed from the cars they came in for export to the US.

 

[CarMichael Angelo]

Ok…I’m motivated.

Ive decided to take my own advice, and create an engine cover. I’ll try as best as possible to copy that Barra layout. The embossed ford logo is ordered, as are new plug wires. I plan to remote locate the coils out of sight. The question now is what am I to use for material to build the thing. Its really too complicated to try and build it out of metal, and I don’t know how successful i’ll be using some sort of composite. All i know is, it has to look like a Cam cover that actually bolts down, as opposed to some plasticky looking engine cover. It’s a big job though, and will require that i cut the water outlet that turns the upper radiator hose that runs in front of the engine, so that I can turn it down, route a hard line perpendicular over to the driver’s side of the engine so that I can put the t-stat housing where it is in the Barra pic. It won’t actually have a t-stat in it, it’ll be there purely to be a closer match to the actual engine layout. Itll require I remove stuff so that the copper painted parts can be blacked out beneath the red top that Barra’s come with, so the intake will come off,…maybe the turbo manifold as well. Once the manifolds are off, i’m gonna do what I shoulda done with the intake, and have it powder coated in the shiniest silver I can get.

I gotta figure out how i’m gonna do this though,…it’s on the “ Come hell or high water” train in my head.

 

[Olivethefet]

You could just put a Barra in it.

 

[CarMichael Angelo]

You could just put a Barra in it.

Find me one that will adapt to my trans, then find an adapter, then the cams, the exhaust, and the intake manifold that doesn’t have to come from freakin Tasmania, and I’ll consider it.
I already went through the “ everything has to come from AU, or you gotta make it” with the last engine….as a reminder, that stinkin Australian sourced valve cover cost 400.00. And The Roller cam cost 550.00…and that was years before the virus. I’ll bet a stock Barra would be 10 grand.

And after all that….,it won’t fit in the car. A Barra is gigandor.

And as a P.S.
I’ll bet there are more than a few here who would gladly buy ( price not withstanding) a Kit AC Cobra, or an Eleanor 67 Mustang and not give a rats red bunion hole that neither are close to the originals that the cars were cloned off of.

 

[KZGUNS]

make it out of foam board then make a fiberglass shell using the foam model as a buck. you'll need to wrap the foam as i thing the resin will melt it.

 

[CarMichael Angelo]

make it out of foam board then make a fiberglass shell using the foam model as a buck. you'll need to wrap the foam as i thing the resin will melt it.

What do you wrap the foam with?

 

[KZGUNS]

What do you wrap the foam with?

saran wrap should work. really anything thin to create a barrier

 

[Husky44]

Ok…I’m motivated.

Ive decided to take my own advice, and create an engine cover. I’ll try as best as possible to copy that Barra layout. The embossed ford logo is ordered, as are new plug wires. I plan to remote locate the coils out of sight. The question now is what am I to use for material to build the thing. Its really too complicated to try and build it out of metal, and I don’t know how successful i’ll be using some sort of composite. All i know is, it has to look like a Cam cover that actually bolts down, as opposed to some plasticky looking engine cover. It’s a big job though, and will require that i cut the water outlet that turns the upper radiator hose that runs in front of the engine, so that I can turn it down, route a hard line perpendicular over to the driver’s side of the engine so that I can put the t-stat housing where it is in the Barra pic. It won’t actually have a t-stat in it, it’ll be there purely to be a closer match to the actual engine layout. Itll require I remove stuff so that the copper painted parts can be blacked out beneath the red top that Barra’s come with, so the intake will come off,…maybe the turbo manifold as well. Once the manifolds are off, i’m gonna do what I shoulda done with the intake, and have it powder coated in the shiniest silver I can get.

I gotta figure out how i’m gonna do this though,…it’s on the “ Come hell or high water” train in my head.

Poser

 

[CarMichael Angelo]

Whadya talking’ The whole car is a supposition.