5.3TURTLE

Hello, first post and long time stalker. Been wanting to build a fox-body coupe for a while and just picked up a 2002 5.3 swap last week. As of right now, Im still looking for a decent fox body to swap but since I have the engine I wanted to go ahead and get started. Really the only mods I will add are a cam/spring upgrade and either 2010+ Camaro manifolds or shorty headers, whatever I can find. The car will be an open track car/street car with a cobra irs. I currently have an 01 GT with an irs and love it. Anyways, I'll get pics later buts here's my inspiration:

5.3TURTLE

a little more info on the plans. I will be using the factory 4.6 k member with the UPR ls to 4.6 mounts and either the f body or cts-v oil pan. because of my physical disability, i'll be using a th350 and a small stall (rpm depends on cam selection). I have already started cleaning things up and the previous owner done replaced head gaskets, head bolts, plus other gaskets. Im also currently re-pinning the factory harness. As soon as its done ill post up. Anyways, heres the long block:

TipsyMcStagger

iTrader: (1)

Good luck wit the build. Clean Fox bodies are getting hard to come by.

The US isn't in a recession though. A recession is two straight quarters of a declining GDP. That hasn't been the case for more than five years. Just sayin'

5.3TURTLE

The title "Recession Buster" title is based off another build I done on a ford 4.6 2v build which I was basing off Nick Mckinny of Modular Head Shop Recession Build he did. Sorry about the confusion lol!

5.3TURTLE

Got the harness completely gone through, now just a matter of taping/looming it up. People said it takes a while, I have about 13 hours in mine so far.
Also have the manifold cleaned. Before/After:

5.3TURTLE

Was able to work on the harness to be able to lay it on the manifold. Hoping to finish it tomorrow. Done some more cleaning and bolted the manifold down.

Bowtiedford

iTrader: (9)

should be a nice ride

5.3TURTLE

Thanks bowtiedford. It will be a little more bare bones than my GT but not not completely gutted.

5.3TURTLE

Got a few more parts cleaned up, very few left dirty. Also got the final lay out of the harness. I did reroute a few things but nothing major. As soon as I get some more supplies, I should have the harness done minus the fuse/relay box.

5.3TURTLE

Not much to add to the engine other than adding the adapter mounts. Im picking up a complete brake to brake front k member with steering rack out of an 2000 gt car. A friend is using the motor out of it so he's selling the front suspension dirt cheap. I also found an 04 irs with complete bushing kit plus a lot of extras not too far away. Hopefully we can strike a deal.
Other than that, here are the mounts test fitted on the engine.

5.3TURTLE

Ended up being able to look at the IRS today. About an 1 1/2 drive there but wasn't able to pick it up today but wanted to make a deal. Nice guy I have sold parts to before. It was out of an 04 Cobra with 27,000 miles and the mods it has are as follows:
IRS diff brace
MM Derlin upper/lower control arm bushings
MM poly subframe bushing
MM poly diff bushing
MM adjustable sway bar ends
Full Tilt Boogie toe links
ARP extended lugs
Magnaflow tail pipes with borla tips
slotted rotors
Excited to pick up next week and glad I don't have to do any mods on it!

ls1ChevyStang

Hey,i have a pretty decent foxbody ill sell,its a hatchback though.i already put a aje k member,motor mounts and i have the tranny crossmember.im thinking about putting it in my 84 cutlass because i really cant afford 2 projects..ill take 1100 for it. Has nice interior,even though most ppl gut them.. Pm me if your interested

softballnrd27

iTrader: (4)

I what's up with that square body in the background? Looks pretty good from what I can see. I'm fairly partial to 73-87s

5.3TURTLE

Sorry, im going to stick to a coupe. But thanks!

Bowtiedford

iTrader: (9)

funny how in the Mustang world, a coupe is like gold now and a reg hatch is just ok. Back in 1988 when I was a manager at the Ford Dealership, you couldn't give away a coupe. Everybody wanted a GT or LX hatch.

5.3TURTLE

I don't think they're made of gold, I believe they have a select people that like them better, me included. I can pick up a hatch or coupe in the same price range around here. There are fewer coupes though.

5.3TURTLE

Originally it was a fleet side tbi 305 with a 700r4. Good truck but wanted something more.... So there is a mild sbc 406 in front of a 4l80e. Still wrapping up things with it and recently we found a guy willing to trade beds and since im a sucker for the step sides, we traded.

5.3TURTLE

Not much activity other than cleaning the remainder of the dirty parts and taping off the block for paint. I do pick the irs up at the end of the week and have a balancer puller/installer jig on the way, so pics to come soon!

5.3TURTLE

Picked up the irs today. The rest of the parts are in the back of the car:

5.3TURTLE

INFORMATION REFERENCE:
Done a little digging on the driveshaft issue and came up with these numbers.

What this boils down to is I can use a th350 with the 9" tailshaft and th350 yoke with the factory driveshaft. So pretty happy with that!