You got a build thread?I am about to start on mine in May.

 

Haven't started one yet but I'm taking a lot of pictures as I go . Maybe I should put one up ,lol.

 

My car is a 1997 so it didn't have a volt gauge. If I'm curious I log voltage through HP Tuners. Since I control the alternator through the PCM I really don't worry about it at all. Voltage in this car has never been an issue beyond when I burned up two alternators. Ironically, each one was just out of warranty when it died. Oh well.

You will probably need a Dakota Digital signal converter for your speedo, but the tachometer signal can be adjusted through the PCM to send whatever your tach needs to see. Default the tachometer output will read like a 4 cylinder.

Yep... we want **** (pictures). Hahaha.

 

Thanks for the info bud. Lmao ill post a few teaser pics of it . The super coupe came with 2 volt gauges (digital and dial type) it would just be nice to have them all work . What about temp gauge did you just use the one wire sensor or ?

 

I never completely got the temp gauge working. It worked when I was doing testing but I missed (or accidentally cut) something I didn't mean to and it hasn't worked since. The car is coming apart as soon as the weather here is warm and not raining so I'll be fixing or upgrading a bunch of little nagging stuff like that.

 

Here are a few from when I welded Ithe mounts . Also a pic of the rear set up in the car .... The rear will explain why I went with the tbss intake and I'm not to worried about a hole in my hood ,lol.

 

It's never going to stop raining or be warm.

 

At the rate we are going, I'm starting to believe you.

 

What rear is that, 8.8? You know they make IRS 8.8 centers. I bought one but that is part of this summer's (whenever that comes around) upgrades.

Are those Mustang (or knock off Mustang) wheels and a drop in the trunk for a fuel cell? I saw the coil overs, is it going to be a drag car?

 

Ya its a 8.8 ladder bar car locker, 3.55, 3 way adjustable shocks (need to get rid of the coils on the car now ) . I bought it with the rear set up in it , used to be a turbo 3.some bull **** ,lol. But she's going to be a weekend Beater.



Also throwing this on her . This all was originally intended for my 90 c1500 but some one made me a offer so on it went . I've always liked the lines of the Thunderbird ,and the original owner pulled the turbo v6 out and offerd me the shell. I just couldnt say no,lol.

 

They are 9x18 in the front and 10's out back ,its been converted to mustang lug pattern . Ya good size cell in the back, Dual 255 pumps.

 

That looks like fun. We have a lot of turbo cars in my area and I thought about adding one to the Thunderbird but keeping it mild and sleeper style so it can maintain daily driver duty. Hahaha.


Cool. I wanted to do the Mustang wheel thing until I realized what was involved. Since I'm staying IRS, I need to drill the rear hubs. If I could find a good deal on some Mustang wheels it might happen but I haven't found the right deal. Most time I see Mustang wheels for sale the owner thinks they are made of gold or something.

 

Ye I've noticed that every set I tried to buy before these , the owner thought they were with waaaaay to much . I picked these up off my buddy who just swapped wheels on his cobra .

 

Funny how some Mustang owners can't wait to upgrade their wheels, yet think they are somehow worth dealership new prices minus 20% with worn out tires. OE Wheels sells most repops I'm interested in between $100 to 125 a rim which is probably how I'll go if I do it. Several friends have them and one only bought wider rears which are such a close match to the real fronts no one would know unless you told them.

 

I'm loving the updates and the new mn12 LS swap that Igloo posted..been seriously thinking about doing this with my car..

If it can work in a Thunderbird it can work in a Mark VIII



Igloo, how is that 8.8 set up ? what kind of modifications had to be made to the subframe? Also is that a 6.0 in there?

 

Your car looks good BFK86. I wanted a Mark VIII but stumbled across the Thunderbird for a song and couldn't pass on it.

What did you spend on the Mustang wheel conversion?

Keep in mind the Marks are a little bigger and a lot heavier. For my purpose it doesn't matter, but for racing...

Mark VIII's come with IRS open 8.8's and the limited slip units are fairly interchangeable with the solid axle 8.8's. The thing to look for is the side gears being machined for the clips on the axles.

To put a live (solid) axle 8.8 in an MN12 / FN10 chassis you have to remove or heavily modify the rear subframe, make mount points AND move the fuel tank. The axle goes over the fuel tank which will not allow full suspension travel with a live axle. For a drag car, maybe... street car will handle better in factory trim. I believe Igloo's car had the conversion started by someone before he got it.

 

Oh ya there's no way I'd cut up the car to put in a solid axle..wouldn't be a race car anyway, it'd just be nice to have a n/a motor that's cheap, easy to work on that actually makes good power and is responsive to basic bolt ons..something I'm deprived of with the dohc 4.6 lol.

The wheels on my car are actually 5x4.25 pattern made for thunderbirds/cougars/mark viiis. There's a few companies that make aftermarket mustang wheels in that pattern. But I have been looking into hub swappingit so I can get a set of 96/97 cobras on the car..always been a favorite wheel of mine. The hubswap process isn't too difficult but I just haven't gotten the time to look farther into it. Someone local to me with a mark viii bought a jig that mounts to the rear hub and rotor used to drill the 5x4.5 pattern, just have to get good drill bits otherwise it takes foreverrr...nice thing is it can be done on the car, then just press in new studs and use a centering ring for the larger center bore. Fronts are simple, sn95 mustang hubs swap right on and can accept cobra rotors and calipers with a caliper relocation bracket if desired. There's a few write ups on the procedure on lincolnvscadillac.com under the mark viii section.

I'd love to find a low mile lq9 with trans harness and accessories, get an ls2 intake, bigger cam and the supporting mods to the valvetrane. Hardest part for me would be wiring that mess to make the factory fuel injection and ignition work properly..don't think a carbed intake would fit under my hood. All of the wiring of the electronics would be out of my ability to do.

 

Cool, I was just making sure you knew what you were getting into with the 8.8. I have an 8.8 center I'm going to throw in mine in a few days. The 7.5 has been great, but I'm running on factory axles and a burned out posi. The 8.8 has a good rebuilt posi, new gears and requires different axles so... why not?

My car was a N/A V6, even less reliable, more anemic and fewer options for bolt-on's.

I was going to have the rear hubs machined, but I would almost rather skip the hassle and buy wheels that fit. I guesstimated I would have around $1000 in everything if I did the hub swap, wheels and tires. Where can I get the wheels in the right pattern? I saw SuperCoupe Performance, but the least expensive would put me at $680 for the set before tires ($400)... same ball park as the hub swap. This car is on a budget.

The car intake fits, but it's close at the throttle body (front). There is no way a truck intake or carb would fit under a stock hood. I have the engine as low as it can go and I have .5" between the TB and the hood liner.

If you don't feel comfortable with the wiring, a custom harness could be built which eliminates the "hard" part of the wiring.

 

Supercoupe performance is one and thecustomwheelshop.com is another..basically same pricing. The popular wheels always seem to be on back order though, the ones on my car are the 18x9 cobra rs which I believe are available. I bought mine used though for $700 with tires which turned out to be junk so in the end I probably spent a bit over $1100..no real budget here lol. I'd either buy a used set off of someone with good tires or hub swap and find used mustang wheels which are wayy cheaper (depending on which wheels you go with) FYI the 05 and up mustang wheels used more offset and work much better on thunderbirds and mark viiis.

I think if I ever attempted this swap I could probably manage to find all the parts necessary including the engine and trans and at least get it in and fab up some mounts and a trans cross member and figure out the accessory mounting but I'd have to bring it somewhere to have a shop do the wiring for me..and tune it while its there. Leave it up to the pros.

 

Well, if that's the best price then I'm not going to mess with it. I'll buy a set of replica Mustang wheels from OE Wheel for around $400, throw some tires on and be done. I've looked for real Mustang wheels, but no one near me wants to part with them for much less than what I can by replicas for.

I did not know about the offset for 05 up cars, I was only looking up to 04. Thanks for the tip.

I understand, it's all about comfort level. I'll try nearly anything once, but I've messed with cars a very long time.