Gearhead, new to the old?

[Portland_5.0]

Hey all, recently bought an '87 notchy 5.0/AOD. Got it running (and stopping) well after some work, but need some advice. Have the following questions:

a) Which is the best way to convert to 5 lug/rear disc without sourcing parts from junkyard? I have found some on LMR.com but they are either spendy or appear complicated.
b) How easy is it to delete smog pump and/or EGR, and is there a worthwhile performance improvement by doing so? Easy to maintain Oregon emission status?
c) My car doesn't have A/C, is this relatively simple to add? I also would like to add power windows and locks, suggestions?
d) Looking at building a 347 stroker motor, is this a simple bolt-in or are other mods necessary?

Thanks in advance. I'm sure most of these conversations appear in threads, but would be easier to have in one place. Thanks in advance for your help!

 

[90sickfox]

Go on rock auto and order two left side axles for a 90 Ford ranger. They should be a lil over 29 inches long. Order two 10 inch rear drums for same truck. Pull rear cover and swap axles. You'll need rear differential fluid, silicone sealant, ( should get...) axle seals, rear axle bearings.

You'll need a lot to go 4 wheel disc brakes properly. Everything will have to change or be modified.

Ac isn't bad if car still has evaporator in dash and the brackets for the ac compressor.

Smoking pump is easy.... take it off... pinch or plug pipe from catalytic converters.... unbolt the pipe from the back of the heads. Cut the ends off and flip them around. Smear high temp silicone on them and swap sides... bolt back down.... or get thermactor plugs from NAPA and re remove the pipe and screw in the plugs.

I have no idea about emissions over there...if you have new high flow cars it should pass depending on what else is done...cam....heads...

Putting power locks and windows in will be a challenge. You'll need door harnesses and everything inside the doors.

Those non- power doors are worth something. They are a bunch lighter than power doors. People are always licking for manual doors. Might find someone willing to swap full doors.

 

[Mustang5L5]

Hey all, recently bought an '87 notchy 5.0/AOD. Got it running (and stopping) well after some work, but need some advice. Have the following questions:

a) Which is the best way to convert to 5 lug/rear disc without sourcing parts from junkyard? I have found some on LMR.com but they are either spendy or appear complicated.
b) How easy is it to delete smog pump and/or EGR, and is there a worthwhile performance improvement by doing so? Easy to maintain Oregon emission status?
c) My car doesn't have A/C, is this relatively simple to add? I also would like to add power windows and locks, suggestions?
d) Looking at building a 347 stroker motor, is this a simple bolt-in or are other mods necessary?

Thanks in advance. I'm sure most of these conversations appear in threads, but would be easier to have in one place. Thanks in advance for your help!

a Without going to the junkyard, new parts will be $$. Are you looking for SN95 disk? Fox offset? SN95 offset? You can run the M-2300-M kit, buy a pair of powdercoated loaded calipers off rockauto.com, a set of fox-offset brackets from North Race Cars and a pair of Fox length axles and you are up to nearly $1000 and haven't even gotten into brake line fittings and the required MC/Booster swap. Or you can buy an entire rear axle for $200 and have most of what you need except some elblow grease for cleanup/paint.

b.) nothing to gain by deleting either. In fact, a working EGR will give you some part throttle fuel economy and you want the air pump working if you have cats. Really, it's a 0HP gain pretty much.

c Adding A/C can be done but you'll need to source all the brackets, lines, and swap your HVAC box out to one that has AC as well as the controls. As for PW/PD it would probably be best to find complete doors as the manual doors have different internal bracketry to support the crank. You'd need to remove all of the internal structure and swap it.

 

[billison]

As far as the power windows go. I’d just reach out to other members. There are always people wanting to swap to manual and will likely trade you. You’ll need new door panels as part of it.

For ac. Is it a factory no ac car? If so, you’ll need everything. If it was removed, then you just need what’s missing?


Is it a factory no options car? Those are kinda rare and desirable.

 

[Portland_5.0]

As far as the power windows go. I’d just reach out to other members. There are always people wanting to swap to manual and will likely trade you. You’ll need new door panels as part of it.

For ac. Is it a factory no ac car? If so, you’ll need everything. If it was removed, then you just need what’s missing?


Is it a factory no options car? Those are kinda rare and desirable.

Thanks for your reply! This car has the AOD and a radio, but nothing else; no A/C, power windows, mirrors, or door locks. Because of the radio, I would assume it's not a factory no-options car? Is there an easy way to tell?

 

[Portland_5.0]

Go on rock auto and order two left side axles for a 90 Ford ranger. They should be a lil over 29 inches long. Order two 10 inch rear drums for same truck. Pull rear cover and swap axles. You'll need rear differential fluid, silicone sealant, ( should get...) axle seals, rear axle bearings.

You'll need a lot to go 4 wheel disc brakes properly. Everything will have to change or be modified.

Ac isn't bad if car still has evaporator in dash and the brackets for the ac compressor.

Smoking pump is easy.... take it off... pinch or plug pipe from catalytic converters.... unbolt the pipe from the back of the heads. Cut the ends off and flip them around. Smear high temp silicone on them and swap sides... bolt back down.... or get thermactor plugs from NAPA and re remove the pipe and screw in the plugs.

I have no idea about emissions over there...if you have new high flow cars it should pass depending on what else is done...cam....heads...

Putting power locks and windows in will be a challenge. You'll need door harnesses and everything inside the doors.

Those non- power doors are worth something. They are a bunch lighter than power doors. People are always licking for manual doors. Might find someone willing to swap full doors.

Thanks for your reply! Ok, if I decide to go to power window/locks/mirrors, I think I will just find someone to swap with. This will be a street sleeper, likely never at the drag strip - so the few extra pounds isn't a big deal to me.

 

[Portland_5.0]

a Without going to the junkyard, new parts will be $$. Are you looking for SN95 disk? Fox offset? SN95 offset? You can run the M-2300-M kit, buy a pair of powdercoated loaded calipers off rockauto.com, a set of fox-offset brackets from North Race Cars and a pair of Fox length axles and you are up to nearly $1000 and haven't even gotten into brake line fittings and the required MC/Booster swap. Or you can buy an entire rear axle for $200 and have most of what you need except some elblow grease for cleanup/paint.

b.) nothing to gain by deleting either. In fact, a working EGR will give you some part throttle fuel economy and you want the air pump working if you have cats. Really, it's a 0HP gain pretty much.

c Adding A/C can be done but you'll need to source all the brackets, lines, and swap your HVAC box out to one that has AC as well as the controls. As for PW/PD it would probably be best to find complete doors as the manual doors have different internal bracketry to support the crank. You'd need to remove all of the internal structure and swap it.

Thanks for your reply. Do you know what year axles will easily swaps with my car (1987) that has 5-lug and disc brakes? I can start looking for an axle that has those components but I don't have a welder so it would need to be bolt up ready... Thanks for your help!

 

[Mustang5L5]

94-98 axle would be easiest choice. 8.8 came only on the GT but if you found an 94-98 v6 axle the brakes will swap to yours

 

[Portland_5.0]

94-98 axle would be easiest choice. 8.8 came only on the GT but if you found an 94-98 v6 axle the brakes will swap to yours

If I understand you correctly, I can either swap the entire axle from a 94-98 with the 8.8" I currently have or I can buy axles and convert to 5-lug (parts online) then obtain 94-98 V6 brake components and add them to my existing axle? Thanks for the post and in advance for clarifying!

Lastly, if I buy a stroker long block and dress it, is it a direct bolt in or is there heavy modification necessary? Should I just build a strong 302? Thanks again!

 

[Mustang5L5]

If I understand you correctly, I can either swap the entire axle from a 94-98 with the 8.8" I currently have or I can buy axles and convert to 5-lug (parts online) then obtain 94-98 V6 brake components and add them to my existing axle? Thanks for the post and in advance for clarifying!

!

Correct. The Ford 8.8 was exactly the same from 1986 to 1998, Ford just added the disk brakes in 1994.

So you can either swap in an entire 94-98 8.8 axle (96-98 would need some brake likes run)

Or strip the brakes parts and axle shafts from a 94-98 v6 7.5" axle and install in yours. The v6 brake parts and axles are identical to the V8 model.

If you want the larger cobra disk brakes or modify for fox lenght, you might need to buy additional parts.

302 based long block would swap right in. Might need supporting mods though like larger MAF or injectors.

 

[Portland_5.0]

Correct. The Ford 8.8 was exactly the same from 1986 to 1998, Ford just added the disk brakes in 1994.

So you can either swap in an entire 94-98 8.8 axle (96-98 would need some brake likes run)

Or strip the brakes parts and axle shafts from a 94-98 v6 7.5" axle and install in yours. The v6 brake parts and axles are identical to the V8 model.

If you want the larger cobra disk brakes or modify for fox lenght, you might need to buy additional parts.

302 based long block would swap right in. Might need supporting mods though like larger MAF or injectors.

What do you mean by "modify for fox length"? Are these axle assemblies wider/narrower? Are the 94-96 5 lug? Sorry for all the questions, this just seems too simple.

Thanks for the info on the 302, I'll just buy a 302LB and build from there. Again, thanks for all the information!

 

[Mustang5L5]

What do you mean by "modify for fox length"? Are these axle assemblies wider/narrower? Are the 94-96 5 lug? Sorry for all the questions, this just seems too simple.

The housing is the same, but when ford added rear disk brakes to the axle, they had to push the mounting surface for the wheel out 3/4" each side to allow for space for the ABS rings on the axle shafts. So if you bolted a 94 8.8 with disk brakes in your car and could theoretically use the same wheels, they would push out 3/4" each side out back.

Depending on what wheels you run, this might be good, or might not be.

So ther are brackets that you can buy that will allow you to purchase and install 5-lug axles that keep the same offset which keeps the wheel in the same location and allows you to run 9" or wider rear wheels. But. just more expense


http://www.northracecars.com/Brakes.html

 

[Portland_5.0]

Thank you soooo much, you've been incredibly helpful!

 

[billison]

Just tossing the idea out there. But you have a stock , low miles low options car you are looking to add options and mods to. Have you considered hopping on the large Facebook groups and see if someone has a clean coupe with ac, power doors and a few mods they’d swap you? Might end up way ahead this way.

 

[Portland_5.0]

The housing is the same, but when ford added rear disk brakes to the axle, they had to push the mounting surface for the wheel out 3/4" each side to allow for space for the ABS rings on the axle shafts. So if you bolted a 94 8.8 with disk brakes in your car and could theoretically use the same wheels, they would push out 3/4" each side out back.

Depending on what wheels you run, this might be good, or might not be.

So ther are brackets that you can buy that will allow you to purchase and install 5-lug axles that keep the same offset which keeps the wheel in the same location and allows you to run 9" or wider rear wheels. But. just more expense


http://www.northracecars.com/Brakes.html

Just one final question: If I am looking to run a 17" x 8.5" Cobra wheel (see link) these should fit under the car with the '94 axle with the wider track? I also plan to lower the car slightly with FordPerformance lowering springs, but only 1" at the most. Would you advise just to go to NorthRacers and buy pieces individually to maintain stock width? Thanks again!
1979-1993 Mustang 5 Lug 93 Cobra Wheel & Tire Kit - 17x8.5 - Chrome - NT555 G2 Tires - by 5.0 Resto

 

[Portland_5.0]

Just tossing the idea out there. But you have a stock , low miles low options car you are looking to add options and mods to. Have you considered hopping on the large Facebook groups and see if someone has a clean coupe with ac, power doors and a few mods they’d swap you? Might end up way ahead this way.

Honestly, I hadn't! You don't by chance have any links to these FB pages do you?