v8sten

iTrader: (5)

My Coupe when i 1st got it




The motor going in it, a 385 SBC stroker


in its last home, a 94 S10


87+ GT fender had to shave the ground effect holes and shaved the antenna




shaved the lower bars off of the junk yard bumper cover




Oil pump locked up and broke the shaft on the junk *** 306. I had to fix it cause it is my daily driver and to get to work, so i replace the pump and oil pump shaft and put it back in


























Can you guess what happened about a month later?








Replacement short block #1. I found out I couldn't use it due to piston to valve clearance issues, after I cleaned it up.




So I got a 93 short block with a F303 cam in it. For the same reason stated above, I had to go to work so the cheapest and easiest way to do that was to fix it and put it back together. I swear Im not a Ford guy.

v8sten

iTrader: (5)

New to me exhaust pipes


03' Cobra 10th Anniversary brakes and front control arms!!! Fronts go on immediately, the rears have to wait for my rear axle to get built.












Polished Cobra replica wheels 17/9


teaser pic until i got the rear end in there


Pulled the old 8.8 out to get it built




While it was in the air i went ahead and put the newish pipes on


New rear axle parts came in, 35 spline Moser axles, spool, 3.55 gears and bearings. I haad to drill out the wheels and disc rotors to fit the studs.

sway99bird

iTrader: (22)

Looks good so far I really like it

v8sten

iTrader: (5)

Damn AOD decided to give me problems and spring a bunch of leaks. A lot of bolts were loose so I pulled the tail shaft off and pookied it up and did a filter change when I was under there.






I tried on my friends wheels to see if they cleared the Cobra breaks. the rear did and the fronts were VERY close but I think they might clear the 13" brakes.










I picked up a hood off of Craigslist for a good price, its not the best but it will do.




Getting the hood motivated me to get the bumper cover on so I did.














Got some new rubber for the rear. 285/40ZR17




Pulled the carpet and pressure washed it.








Now Im actually started on getting the parts to do the SBC swap. I just picked up an AJE K-member and the spring perches and front control arm bushings came in yesterday.




(7-29-12)
Since this is my DD I have had too keep the ford drive train in it if a while, due to $$$ reasons. Last night the only part I really havent touched other than servicing it and stopping the leaks it has finally went out on me. The AOD lost 3rd and 4th so Im not spending another penny on the ford stuff im done with it.

So SBC/TH350 here we come.

I got my motor out of storage today and started tinkering with it. I spent today straightening up my shop and cleaning my motor. tomorrow im gunna button up the motor and figure out what to do about my accessories. Im running the stock setup off of a 99 S10 blazer. Some time this week I have to go into my TH350 and see if it can be rebuilt, it got messed up pretty bad in my accident. Im still looking for headers and a radiator for a small block chevy, if anybody has some laying around please hit me up on here.







I got some modified Kooks headers for a good price



I got most of the Ford out of this car for good. I sold the old motor and trans and its paying for a built TH350 with a JW trans brake. Im getting the trans and converter back this friday, then hopefully the engine and trans will be in this weekend. The stock 99 S10 Blazer front accessories didnt work, it hit the tall valve covers. Im going to get the mid mount Billet Specialties setup with power steering. I ran across a little snag with the front control arms. Im running a set of 03-04 Cobra control arms and that allows a 17/9 wheel and a 275/40R17 to tuck in the fender and not stick out like you typically see on foxbodies, well the problem is I have an older AJE K-member and it has smaller bolts and the stock bolts cant work for many reasons. so the control arms wont fit. I called AJE and they are sending me some sleeves to correct this problem. I am waiting on the guy who I bought the Kooks headers from to get me the adapter plates so I can bolt the headers up. Hopefully I can get this all by the weekend so I can get majority of this project together.







Well today I paid off my transmission and Monday the JW trans brake will be ordered. The guy I bought my headers from couldn't get the adapter plates so I had some laying around that I had to widdle on all day today. I got them to fit with the help of my good friend Gary. It only took about 7 hours to grind these into submission. Tomorrow we will mock up the motor in the car and see if everything fits like it hopefully should.

v8sten

iTrader: (5)

I got it in and mocked up. I wanted to see how the headers fit, I had to ding 1 pipe on each header. And the DS header was modified to clear the stock steering shaft







Ive been waiting on these little bastards to put my front end back together. these are the sleeves to make the front control arm bolts bigger to fit the stock control arms



Street car suspension


Tucking the 17/9 with 275/45R17




Sitting on all 4 again, it needs an alignment real bad


I thought i was going to have an issue with the steering shaft not being long enough, but after talking to AJE they helped me out a lot. so tomorrow ill get the front end completely together, i gotta put new tie rod ends on.







I got my shifter mounted tonight




got the shifter properly mounted and got the neutral safety switch and reverse lights wired up. I also ran the wires for the electronic speedo, trans temp gauge and wired up the trans brake to the button on the shifter




I got my TH350 yesterday. man I cant wait to get this running




This was a pita to put in


On the home stretch


I had to notch the fire wall seam for the distributor


Im gunna get the drive shaft made tomorrow, and button up the rest and start it up. Well thats the plan at least.

I got it running and was able to drive it. I tested the trans brake and it worked great. Only problem is, I have a massive oil leak on the front seal of the oil pan. :livid: so tomorrow im gunna try to put exhaust on it and try to get the oil leak fixed.


Got the oil leak fixed and now Im fighting keeping a belt on the accessories, other than that It runs awesome.


Well, I changed my plugs in my car from the 4554 NGK (left) to the 7173 NGK's (right) and it severely woke up. I went from shifting from 6800 to shifting at 7400 and drivability was much better. Well the motor was saying "GIVE ME MORE!!!" and the transmission was saying "TOO MUCH!!!" then it said "F@#K IT IM DONE!!!" and broke.



How I got home that night


I was spinning a little, those marks that keep going are mine








well its in and i replaced the upper housing bushings on my 8.8 too







got it all together and it shifts and drives great. we softened up the 2nd gear hit and maybe it wont shift itself to death now.

v8sten

iTrader: (5)

The sprag broke again. we tried to soften the 1-2 shift, which we accomplished by modifying the accumulator, but didnt take into thought that it still had full pressure at the sprag. so it still shifted itself to death. we just didnt feel it. so now the mustang is sitting and im saving my pennies for something else to drive, daily. hopefully by feburary i can fix it and have it back on the road.

v8sten

iTrader: (5)

Just another update. Im slowly working on the interior right now. My friend has a real clean coupe he is restoring and he is donating some of his old parts to my cause. i put his old weather stripping on (which is way better than my old weather stripping) and his old headliner. that should clean it up a lot. since my doors are apart im trying to fix all the rattles. my package tray isnt in the best shape so im gunna attempt to recover it myself, that should be interesting. if i can afford it i would like to get new speakers too and build a sub box for the trunk for 1 10" sub.

2cat95ta

Nice build! I'm not a ford fan but this one gets brownie points in my book.

v8sten

iTrader: (5)

Thanks, I chose this platform cause its the only kind of vehicle that beat me on the street when i had my S10 together.

SPAZ-3

i really enjoy this build, car sounds amazing and seems to be coming together pretty good... keep us updated on pics and vids as you progress

v8sten

iTrader: (5)

Will do, Im gunna work on cleaning the interior up tomorrow and hopefully start putting it back together. Ill snap a few updated pics tomorrow.

v8sten

iTrader: (5)

I wasnt able to work on my car due to work and family shindigs and wont be able to tomorrow either because of more family shindigs. maybe this weekend. hopefully.

stumprrp

iTrader: (2)

great thread. whats the motor like?

v8sten

iTrader: (5)

old wore out, rode hard and put up wet, loose, goes through about 2-3 qts of oil every time i take it out, and fun as hell. :-)

v8sten

iTrader: (5)

ive been working on a daily driver project. it has been taking up my time and $$$ hopefully i will start back on my coupe in feburary and get it ready for TX2K13

ZONES89RS

iTrader: (25)

Cannot wait to score a 85/86 coupe for a LS swap. Yours has moved pretty quickly.

v8sten

iTrader: (5)

Thanks. I got most of the interior together with the newer (92) headliner and dome light. It looks much better. the old headliner didnt have any fabric and now its much cleaner. i also made a bracket for mounting the tach and got it off of the steering column. hopefully i will get started pulling the trans back out this weekend.

Joe Lluvia Avila

Did you have to get the drive shaft cut? I'm doing a sbc w/700r4 swap on my 89 hatchback mustang. I'm going to use the stock k member for now.

v8sten

iTrader: (5)

I had a driveshaft made, I only used the drive shaft ends and had a new tube cut to length, with solid u-joints. I recommend using an AJE k-member it will make your life much easier, it makes doing a swap like this literally a bolt in.

*****UPDATE*****

I started to remove my trans again and it should be out today after work.

REDL1NE

iTrader: (5)

Nice work. Thanks for documenting this so well and love all the pics.