Another 89 Mustang Coupe LS Swap
#102
I have been SLAMMED with work so haven't had much time for the car. My CTS-V pan came in the other day. I was able to try it out last night. Here is the CTS-V pan and the stock 5.3 truck pan.
I am using new mounts that Grey86Hatch made for me. I never liked the Team-Z ones from the beginning, because of how they bolt together. Tim made ones for me that sets the motor back about an inch. Here is a pic of the ones I bought from Team-Z (silver ones) and the one piece ones I got from Tim:
Here they are on the motor with it in the car:
Still plenty of room at the firewall to deal with the bellhousing bolts.
With Tim's mounts the CTS-V oil pan worked perfect with the Team-Z K-member. For at least one person that will come in here and gripe about how bad they think Team-Z sucks, and that you have to spend extra money on mounts I'll go ahead and cut that off right now. I definitely don't care for the Team-Z mounts, and they definitely need to be redesigned. Tim's mounts were less than what I paid for the Team-Z mounts. If I would have skipped the Team-Z mounts to start off with I would have actually come out cheaper. So that cancels out the extra cost argument.
Like I said, the CTS-V oil pan fit PERFECT. Here are a couple of pictures (which are very hard to take by the way lol)
Just for reference, I tried different sockets until I found one to fit in between the oil pan and the K-member. Ended up with a 5/8" socket, which has an outside diameter of .85".
The pan tucks up behind the K-member a whole lot better than the truck pan did.
Its about 3/4" below the bottom of the K-member
So for anyone that has been wondering, questioning, doubting, etc.....YES THE CTS-V OIL PAN WILL WORK WITH THE TEAM-Z K-MEMBER!!! lol
It will probably even work with the Team-Z mounts with a little tweaking, but would be too close for comfort for me. So my recommendation is pass on the mounts that Team-Z sells and either fab your own, or find someone to make you a set. As I've said before, I've always been VERY pleased with my all the Team-Z products I've had before, and also love this Team-Z K-member. The quality of the construction, welds, etc is top notch. I'm sure they will get this mount situation lined out at some point.
Next stop is to address the transmission mount setup, whenever I get some more free time to work on it.
I am using new mounts that Grey86Hatch made for me. I never liked the Team-Z ones from the beginning, because of how they bolt together. Tim made ones for me that sets the motor back about an inch. Here is a pic of the ones I bought from Team-Z (silver ones) and the one piece ones I got from Tim:
Here they are on the motor with it in the car:
Still plenty of room at the firewall to deal with the bellhousing bolts.
With Tim's mounts the CTS-V oil pan worked perfect with the Team-Z K-member. For at least one person that will come in here and gripe about how bad they think Team-Z sucks, and that you have to spend extra money on mounts I'll go ahead and cut that off right now. I definitely don't care for the Team-Z mounts, and they definitely need to be redesigned. Tim's mounts were less than what I paid for the Team-Z mounts. If I would have skipped the Team-Z mounts to start off with I would have actually come out cheaper. So that cancels out the extra cost argument.
Like I said, the CTS-V oil pan fit PERFECT. Here are a couple of pictures (which are very hard to take by the way lol)
Just for reference, I tried different sockets until I found one to fit in between the oil pan and the K-member. Ended up with a 5/8" socket, which has an outside diameter of .85".
The pan tucks up behind the K-member a whole lot better than the truck pan did.
Its about 3/4" below the bottom of the K-member
So for anyone that has been wondering, questioning, doubting, etc.....YES THE CTS-V OIL PAN WILL WORK WITH THE TEAM-Z K-MEMBER!!! lol
It will probably even work with the Team-Z mounts with a little tweaking, but would be too close for comfort for me. So my recommendation is pass on the mounts that Team-Z sells and either fab your own, or find someone to make you a set. As I've said before, I've always been VERY pleased with my all the Team-Z products I've had before, and also love this Team-Z K-member. The quality of the construction, welds, etc is top notch. I'm sure they will get this mount situation lined out at some point.
Next stop is to address the transmission mount setup, whenever I get some more free time to work on it.
#104
#105
Been slammed with work, so haven't had much time for the car.
Have been gathering more parts. I picked up a 90 model that I parted out and got some stuff off of it:
Harwood 4" Bolt on hood, but has been drilled to be a lift off which is fine I guess:
Billet nitrous bottle bracket:
Painless switch panel and some MSD stuff
[
Bunch of Autometer gauges
Fuel lines, regulator, purge solenoid
I did also pick up a Maximum Motorsports manual brake conversion, proportioning valve, and Hurst line lock. Also grabbed some Maximum Motorsports braided front brake lines
I ripped out all of the original front brake lines and ran brand new stuff. I did also pick up some cobra calipers, brackets, and drilled/slotted rotors for the rear.
Think I'm going to go ahead and look for cobra rotors and calipers for the front too. Maximum Motorsports told me they recommend keeping it the same front and rear. In other words, they don't recommend running cobra on the rear and standard GT on the front.
Have been gathering more parts. I picked up a 90 model that I parted out and got some stuff off of it:
Harwood 4" Bolt on hood, but has been drilled to be a lift off which is fine I guess:
Billet nitrous bottle bracket:
Painless switch panel and some MSD stuff
[
Bunch of Autometer gauges
Fuel lines, regulator, purge solenoid
I did also pick up a Maximum Motorsports manual brake conversion, proportioning valve, and Hurst line lock. Also grabbed some Maximum Motorsports braided front brake lines
I ripped out all of the original front brake lines and ran brand new stuff. I did also pick up some cobra calipers, brackets, and drilled/slotted rotors for the rear.
Think I'm going to go ahead and look for cobra rotors and calipers for the front too. Maximum Motorsports told me they recommend keeping it the same front and rear. In other words, they don't recommend running cobra on the rear and standard GT on the front.
#106
Had a little time today for the car. I wasn't happy with the way I had the positive battery cable and the alternator wire run at the front of the car. I had them coming through the floor right behind the passenger fender well. From there they ran across the top of the K-member (outside edge) The 1/0 positive cable hooked to the starter, then I ran another length of 1/0 across the steering rack to the outside of the drivers side frame rail up to where the accessories hooked to the power lug. Also had the alternator cable running across the steering rack.
I just didn't like it, so I changed it up. I picked up a pass through power lug for the firewall:
Here it is on the inside of the car:
The cable on the right is the cable that comes from the trunk. The cable on the left is the cable that used to run across the steering rack, but now passes across the inside of the firewall.
Is passes across the steering column, along with the alternator wire (clear wire):
Then I took the plug that the cruise stuff used to pass through, drilled out the hole and ran the battery cable through it where it comes out behind the drivers side fender: Also in the same plug you can see the other colored wires. Those are for other accessories like electric fan. The larger clear wire you see is the 4-gauge alternator wire. It will attach to a fuse block there and then will have another length running across the outside of the frame rail, then pass under where it will attach to the alternator
The power wire then attaches to the power lug where all the accessory stuff will hook up
This is where the power lug is on the outside of the firewall, behind the brake proportioning valve, over close to the passenger side fender
With the cable attached that will go down to the starter, and the boot on covering the connection:
Much happier with is like this. Cleaner under the hood and also keeps most of the cable inside of the car.
Got the dash shell back in
I'm going to run all autometer gauges, So I'll be modifying the factory cluster and making a plate to hold some of the gauges in the factory opening.
I simply took the gauge cluster and cut the back of it off
Need to pick up some material tomorrow to make the plate that will go on top of the white part, then the black part will just sit on top of that, just like that factory gauges did
Also made a plate to cover the shifter opening, since my B&M Pro-Stick it mounted where the ash tray was. Got the plate cut, installed and gave it a coat of peel-n-seal
I just didn't like it, so I changed it up. I picked up a pass through power lug for the firewall:
Here it is on the inside of the car:
The cable on the right is the cable that comes from the trunk. The cable on the left is the cable that used to run across the steering rack, but now passes across the inside of the firewall.
Is passes across the steering column, along with the alternator wire (clear wire):
Then I took the plug that the cruise stuff used to pass through, drilled out the hole and ran the battery cable through it where it comes out behind the drivers side fender: Also in the same plug you can see the other colored wires. Those are for other accessories like electric fan. The larger clear wire you see is the 4-gauge alternator wire. It will attach to a fuse block there and then will have another length running across the outside of the frame rail, then pass under where it will attach to the alternator
The power wire then attaches to the power lug where all the accessory stuff will hook up
This is where the power lug is on the outside of the firewall, behind the brake proportioning valve, over close to the passenger side fender
With the cable attached that will go down to the starter, and the boot on covering the connection:
Much happier with is like this. Cleaner under the hood and also keeps most of the cable inside of the car.
Got the dash shell back in
I'm going to run all autometer gauges, So I'll be modifying the factory cluster and making a plate to hold some of the gauges in the factory opening.
I simply took the gauge cluster and cut the back of it off
Need to pick up some material tomorrow to make the plate that will go on top of the white part, then the black part will just sit on top of that, just like that factory gauges did
Also made a plate to cover the shifter opening, since my B&M Pro-Stick it mounted where the ash tray was. Got the plate cut, installed and gave it a coat of peel-n-seal
#109
They are pretty hard to find. I picked mine up on Ebay
http://www.ebay.com/itm/130828571775...84.m1439.l2649
http://www.ebay.com/itm/130828571775...84.m1439.l2649
#112
I had a "change in marital status" and ended up selling the car. I picked up a clean 92 GT roller in its place, because the coupe wasnt going to be finished anytime soon and had a buyer that wanted it. Dropped a low mileage stock motor and termec 3550 in it.
I did just pick up a 86 coupe though that I'm trying to decide what to do with. LS is definitely one of the options.
I did just pick up a 86 coupe though that I'm trying to decide what to do with. LS is definitely one of the options.
#115
I'm working on an 1989 coupe with a 5.3 swap now, sorting out the chassis wiring side. Have a few things routed differently, but going to borrow a couple of your ideas. I also have pretty much an identical manual brake setup and proportioning valve, yet to be installed. Shame the car was sold, looked to be a nice build. Life throws you curves, its all in the recovery. Good luck with the 86!