Progress Thread 89 Notchback 4-cyl to V8 swap

[89notchDude]

Hey everyone. New guy from NJ here. I picked this up 1989 coupe roller in Feb '21. Its a Florida car so almost no rust. The plan is to restore/restomod it with a 302 for a fun sunday cruiser and hopefully get my two young boys into foxes. I picked up the motor thats shown, a t5, A9L, 89 engine harness rather quickly.

 

[89notchDude]

out with the old....7.5

scored a 8.8 with 3.73s. I cleaned it up a bit, new cover, brakelines from LMR

 

[89notchDude]

sanded it, POR-15 and then POR Topcoatthe rear

The rear came with the sway bar and some unknown brand of upper and lower control arms. Installed new SR performance struts and SR performance lowering springs.

 

[89notchDude]

I removed the dash in order to dye it black. While it was gutted, I put in a new heater core and AC evap and replaced the blower motor for extra insurance. I never want to have to go in there again.

Used a degreaser, scotch pad and clean it with alcohol

Picked up a replacement dash pad from LMR. The fitment was a little off so I had to elongated 2 of the holes in the rear to get it a best I could.

 

[89notchDude]

V8 cluster in. I ran the v8 engine harness and computer while everything was out.

Somebody was a bad boy and smacked a curb. I had to bend back the lower core support.

got the new ball joint pressed in.

I cleaned up the bay a little. Removed the 4cyl steering rack, and am getting ready to drop in the new one. Swapped out the 4-cyl brake booster/master cyl to the regular v8 one (Not Cobra). New clutch and speedo cable.

I threw a quick coat of Rustoleum Turbo black on it just for a little protection. Paint and body is on the back burner until I get this fired up and on the road.

 

[General karthief]

Working hard and getting it done! Good job

 

[89notchDude]

Working hard and getting it done! Good job

Thanks. Hardest part is carving out some time between the kids and wife.

 

[limp]

Was that a laser frame straightener?

 

[89notchDude]

Was that a laser frame straightener?

Yes. The "sharks with laser beams 2000" from Harbor Freight. I even got the 20% coupon

 

[90sickfox]

You're really digging in that car. Looks good so far.

 

[Monkeybutt2000]

Sweet,great work so far.

 

[89notchDude]

So I'm in the process of cleaning up my motor. I'm gonna swap out the stock upper/lower for an explorer. My question is since I have no ACT boss on the lower, what would be a good place to tap under the explorer upper? I highlighted where I'm thinking. What do you guys think?

 

[Mustang5L5]

1 is a coolant port. Coolant circulates in and out of the intake through there, so it’s not a vac line.

2 has the potential of oil puddling. 1 pcv connection should go there to prevent that.

Engine - Explorer intake vacuum line diagram

Have seen this question asked a million times. So here's a diagram. This is an EARLY Explorer intake with the EGR port. There were two lower manifolds. The RF-F87E-9K461-BA lower was early and had the bosses present for the ACT. The RF-F87E-9K461-BB lower was later (non-EGR) and lacks the...

www.stangnet.com

For the ACT, best options are to carefully drill/tap the runner, which is difficult due to no boss being present, or just mount the act in the airbox and extend the wires.

 

[89notchDude]

Well good thing I asked. Woulda sucked to tap a coolant port.

 

[89notchDude]

Finished up the front brakes. Went with oem 87-93 v8 setup.

 

[89notchDude]

I finally had some time off to get the motor freshened up. I installed the explorer upper/lower. Picked up some explorer 19lb injectors from Neomustang. Getting the itch to drop this in the engine bay. Just waiting for the clutch kit, new motor mounts and some minor odds and ends.