First fox, Now what route do I take?

Hell, skip the stroker, backyard rebuild it with factory crank, "football" rods, & decent forged pistons. Wouldn't cost squat. Throw an ofs turbo cam in it, set of used AFR's or an equivalent. Fitech Power-Adder efi and an On3 kit at 12psi or so. Make 600+ rwhp.
 
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This is where I would start:
Swap the 4:11 gear for a 3:73 or maybe a 3:55, probably the 3:73s
You could try a taller rear tire to off set the gear but that would be experimental.
check the condition of the engine, compression test, timing, plugs, and carb. Speaking of the carb, it's likely kinda big, you can work with it if it is a vacuum secondary, the crutch here is you have no info on the cam so some of this is going to be a guessing game.
Another thing is going to be the heads, you need good heads, if a head swap can be done then plan a cam swap to better the combo.
Agreed. 4.10 is too much for the street and highway. 3.73 is the perfect gear.
 
Isn't it strange how the empty eye sockets of the steering wheel in [no way] follow you as you move around the car :oops:

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They work great if you are doing a typical carb conversion on something with a mildish cam. they are limited in scope and you can get alot more for your money elsewhere.
we did not chose to use it, owner supplied, just was wondering what to watch out for. If you got any hints or suggestions that may help text me, thanks.
Oh, and I agree with the bang for the buck thing.
 
I never thought of going the forced induction route, that is another avenue to explore for sure and the ~$1000 savings just on the basic swap parts makes it right even with initial costs.

Pulling the trigger on some BBK upper/lower control arms and new shocks for the rear first off since everything back there is pretty beat, thing wheel hops like crazy even with the (probably blown out) quad shocks.
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I never thought of going the forced induction route, that is another avenue to explore for sure and the ~$1000 savings just on the basic swap parts makes it right even with initial costs.

Pulling the trigger on some BBK upper/lower control arms and new shocks for the rear first off since everything back there is pretty beat, thing wheel hops like crazy even with the (probably blown out) quad shocks.

Unless it’s a set of headers, I wouldn’t buy anything else BBK. Just go on the Maximum Motorsports website and shop around. I got in late on this thread but my advice would have been to button up at the suspension issues, get a good tire, see what your looking at (high 12s) then dial it in and find a base line. After that you can decide how you want to power it. You’ll definitely be able to get it into 11s with the 351. Work on everything else first though.
 
Agreed. 4.10 is too much for the street and highway. 3.73 is the perfect gear.

Hard to argue that point. I had an 86LX and an 89 LX convertible back in my mid 20s with 3.73s and enjoyed the heck out of em. Those cars both had mostly stock engines. If forced induction I'd go with a 3.27.gear probably. I remember the 73s having a lot of pull in 1st gear and a lot of very smoky 2nd gear burnouts...lol!

With this 87 GT I think I'm going with a 3.55 this time for a little more useable 1st gear lol....

Just my .02 ....
 
Thanks for the replies everyone.

The car is obviously getting brought up to standard before dropping any kind of power into it. Not thinking I'm just going to drop an engine in and run to the track as is haha. I agree on the wheels, not my taste in the slightest.

I'm leaning towards the 460 and an auto (for now) but also will give the 302 a good once over and see how I feel once it's running at top shape. I do like the manual aswell which is why the 351 is still on my radar. Have a close friend trying to convince me to LS swap it but not sure if I want to go down that road haha
A swap I’ve seen some of and getting ready for my winter project. If you want to keep the 302 I’d get a dart block and bore it 30 over and make it a 347 stroker with good heads and a built c4 DO NOT go aod they are junk regardless of how u build it. But then people people do twin or single turbo or just spray the hell out of it. Or a second option 351w block and make it a 408 stroker and again boost or spray it. There is a guy on YouTube with stock bottom 302 with 10psi I think and running high 10s but then he also has a 351w with a t56 running on 15.5 psi single turbo from on3 and makes 715 rwhp and is running mid 9s
 
Thanks for all the info everyone it really helps!

Finally compression tested the engine and got 120-125psi cold on all cylinders, no increase with adding oil.

The car has a pretty bad stumble at partial (hardly open) throttle that I'm assuming is a lean condition after checking the plugs, idles great and pulls hard once past this point but it doesn't like to hold a certain speed on the highway. From some searching seems to be a rather common issue with these 750 Holley vacuum secondaries, have half a mind to grab a factory remanufactured Holley Sniper system and be done with it.

Did a little more digging into the car and it seems when whoever swapped the V8 in they decided to cut basically everything that wasn't needed for the car to run out. Found the tach wire going into a connector in the engine bay but removed from the other side with all but 2 other wires haha.

Also chasing an issue where my blower motor was not working, pulled the climate controls and all the wires and cables were cut off at the back.. upon jumping the motor it spins but I'm not getting any air out any of my vents including my defrost. Assume theres a flap somewhere in the wrong position.

Tackled the drivers quarter aswell, cut out a good piece from a spare quarters and welded it in.

bklZV8.jpg


Just got a spray can touch up since I'm eventually going to paint this thing

rNB2qz.jpg


While I was at it painted a spare grill and touched up some spots around the car, looks much better now I think! Definitely needs wheels though, looking at eventually getting some 04 Cobra Reps

sK6n9D.jpg
 
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Did a little more playing with the carb to no avail. Finally got ahold of a vacuum gauge and i'm pulling 16-17 at idle, coupled with the 6.5 power valve i'm hoping thats my issue. Ordered a 10.5 to see if that helps. Kept reading conflicting opinions on the formula to find the correct size, some said divide the vacuum reading by 2 and others said to subtract, in either case the 6.5 wasn't the correct one and i'd rather have the car running rich at this point then still too lean on a 8.5.

Bunch of other little odds and ends to finish up now, previous owner didnt install the front bumper support so the signal lights are just dangling under the car, thankfully the car came with two, one steel and one aluminum. Probably going to tear the nose off and throw the aluminum one on soon, that or see how i can mount the signal light housings to the plastic bumper