The 83GT

Fuel leak fixed. Tried cranking it, got a few ka-chuffs, but the battery wasn't having it. Charging now. May just have to replace it.

Good job!

Hot dang it's alive!!! I threw the battery from the Galaxie in it and it wouldn't fire. I turned on startup enrichment and it popped right off. I guess my tune is probably a bit too lean. I had one more small fuel leak, but was able to fix it.

So happy that hurdle is cleared!!

Timing was ALL kinds of retarded.  I got it to idle, then cranked it over to where it needed to be.

Wow, this thing starts quick and is soooo snappy. 

Reminds me of when I first lit off the 545 in this car with the 950 Holley many years ago. 

Accel enrichment needs some work, but even so it sounds gooooood. 
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Just needs mufflers so I don't go deaf monkeying with it.  I have one tiny water leak at a fitting I neglected to use sealer on, but otherwise everything is good.

Was the video with the timing retarded if so can you post another Video with the timing where it needed to be,Thanks

The first vid above was with the timing retarded.
In this one the base timing is set correct.

https://youtu.be/Ll9fQ464_iE

Exhaust system is all welded up and ready to be re-installed. It is kind of a cobbled (no surprise, right? Haha) system using left over pipe pieces I had here. I included the h-pipe and cut out sections from the original big block exhaust system so we can open it up and make some noise.

I figure it will do fine for now. It will get all changed up anyway when the turbo phase of this project gets under way.

Exhaust done and it's on the ground.

Coilovers need adjusting because she's looooow in the front. I suppose an iron headed BBF will do that.



Started this swap March 3 and I am basically finished April 20.  Whoo hoo!

Added a tab to mount the nitrous WOT microswitch. Currently jetted for a "125" shot, which will probably be more like a 90 shot on an engine this size.

Cranked up the coilovers to get the ride height back. I may need to go to a heavier spring. I think these are 150's and they are struggling. I may get some 200's.



Remflex collector gaskets are already toast. Back to dead soft aluminum, which worked fine, I just thought the Remflex would be worth a shot. Nope.

BigBlockRanger wrote:Added a tab to mount the nitrous WOT microswitch. Currently jetted for a "125" shot, which will probably be more like a 90 shot on an engine this size.

Cranked up the coilovers to get the ride height back. I may need to go to a heavier spring. I think these are 150's and they are struggling. I may get some 200's.



Remflex collector gaskets are already toast. Back to dead soft aluminum, which worked fine, I just thought the Remflex would be worth a shot. Nope.

I have heard a lot of people say they like the Remflex gaskets i tried them once!!The Header Gaskets and they stuck so bad when i removed the headers they were junk never again!!I have also used the soft aluminum collector gaskets with good results!!

It's amazing how easy it is to get running pretty decently once all the inputs are working properly! The IAT was acting up sometimes showing -40F and sometimes the correct temp. I think I got it fixed. Took me a little while to get it running cleanly, but I'm pretty happy with how it is going.

Too bad it was raining or I would have taken a lap around the parking lot. Not gonna complain about the rain though.

I made a lap around the parking lot and it looks like traction on the street is going to be a issue. Haha.

12" 200# front springs are installed along with new brake pads. It's the first set off pads I've put on it since I built it in 2010.

Just like the last set, I had to clearance the pad's plate because it drug on the rotor's hat. These are 5 lug Ranger rotors.

I almost can't believe it already has the big block back in it.

Well, that was unexpected. Haha.

Actually it was not *completely* unexpected because that particular plug didn't seem as tight as the others when I installed it. The funny thing is I almost bought oversize plugs but decided to use standard size. Ooof.



It was running at a consistent 165 before I got froggy with the throttle. I looked down and thought "dang the water temp sure popped up", Then I noticed the fan was off. Flipped it on and drove on back to the shop. Pulled in the shop and noticed a trail of water. Suspecting that plug, I looked under it and yep, gone-zo.

Despite the hiccup, the thing was running freakin great. So happy with it.

Failure version 2.0.

Fill it full oil, put the water in, it fire it up everything was fine. Took it for a short drive and got on it pretty hard a couple of times everything seemed good. Came back to the shop looked it over and then went back out for one more drive and really put the screws to it and *pop*goes the weasel. A plug on the opposite side of the engine popped out. Great.

The oversize plugs were a bust. They wouldn't go in at all. I have no idea why they even recommend them for this engine. The one I loctited in yesterday was a shallow style plug that I had left over and it's currently fine. I just went to O'Reilly's and bought deep core plugs (0.5" approx. Part no. 555-028) which I should have used the first time, but we're actually not recommended for this engine by O'Reilly so I didn't think to ask for them. The one's I pulled out (because one was rusting thru) were a deeper style plug.

I am going to install the deep plug in the one that popped out and I'm also going to put my Meziere electric water pump on this thing. I have it, I might as well use it and never worry about too much pressure in the cooling system ever again.

I hate cars.

Shallow vs. deep core plugs. The ones that were rusting through that I replaced were in between these two. I just don't think the shallow ones have enough side surface area to get a good grab on the block and it would be even worse if you get them slightly crooked.



I went back to my build thread on Bangshift and looked at what I went through back in 2012.  I didn't have problems with core plugs back then, but it was puking water out the upper hose radiator cap thingy at high rpm.  I put a gauge on it and it was ~20 psi at idle and would shoot up when you winged the throttle.  I switched to an electric pump and it worked fantastic from then on.

I like the deeper ones they seem to seal better. I ordered brass for my 347 I just built they was supposed to be the deep ones but was in between the two you have. I like brass don't have to worry about them rusting out

Pump all wired and installed.  Tomorrow I'll bang in the new freeze plug, put the belt on, fill it up with water and cross my fingers.

I bought an inexpensive pump as a spare for Raceweek and it came with everything.  Backing plate, gaskets, electical connector, hardware, hose adapter, etc.  I used the black backing plate and the hardware.  

Freeze plug in, pump on, belt on, water in, test drive done.

Works good.

Hot start need work. I believe I have way too much start retard (probably don't need any) and I think that is fighting me.

I took almost all of the retard out and it has hot started every time. So that's a win. Fingers crossed.

I drove it home for lunch and I tried really hard to break it...... so very unintentionally though.

I went and filled it up with gas, then as I was driving down a street near my house, I ran it up hard in 1st, pulled 2nd, then went to poke it in neutral so I could coast to the next stop sign. Going to neutral is a normal thing I used to do all the time. Squeeze the handle and ram it into N, (Reverse pattern shifter and reverse is completely locked out), and just coast down. No biggie. Well, I guess the shifter cable is still not adjusted 100% right because it went back into 1st..... at a fairly high rate of speed. The back tires immediately start sliding and hopping all over the place. Engine dies and I am certain I have just completely killed it.

I roll up to the stop sign, roll through slowly and park on the street in the shade of a tree, completely dejected. I try the key, nothing. No power at all. I get out and walk to the back of the car. Sure enough, the violence of the incident tripped the battery shutoff switch. Holy smokes. I pop the hood, look around and everything looks fine. I fire it up (hot start test #1 haha) and it sounds like it has a miss. Great. It probably overrevved and bent a pushrod. I ease it down the street to my house and park it in the driveway.

After I eat some lunch, I head out and pull the passenger valve cover. Everything looks perfect. Greeeeaaaat. As I am looking at the top of the head, my focus sharpens on the #4 spark plug wire lying between the header tubes. It shook so hard it knocked the #4 plug wire off. Wheeeew.

Cranked it up and it is completely happy, like nothing had ever happened. I hopped in and gingerly drove it back to work. Everything seems to be working fine. The trans seems ok and I certainly hope that it is. Water temp came up to 186 and pretty much stayed there the whole time.

Disaster averted. I think.

Cranking when hot continued to be a problem.
I rewired it today prioritizing power to the starter and I think I fixed it.

Drove it around the parking lot without the fan on, did a titanic all three gear burnout and got it up to 197 degrees. Shut it off and it spun right over and fired up. I did it several times to verify. Whoo hoo.

Cars are not stupid today!!

Felt like I should change the fluid in the diff and inspect everything since I jammed it into 1st at speed. Fluid definitely needed changing and I decided to throw some new clutches in the diff while I was there. It fought me pretty hard but I got them in and the diff back in the car.

I also installed the new belts and put the door bars back in the car. Idk if it will be quick enough to need either one, but I rather have them in place.

Got the Nitto drag radials mounted today. These will allow us to run a True Street class at Raceweek if we want. I have some 28/10.5's on another set of wheels, but TS requires a DOT approved tire.

My Nitto 275/60 that's on my 98 with the 347 I just built hook good on the street as long as it dry

Drove it home for lunch. Played with the Dragy a little. Really just trying to figure out how it works. Didn't get any good data because on the times I did get froggy with the throttle, I didn't wait for it to reset. So it would record a little, but then chop it off.

BigBlockRanger wrote:Drove it home for lunch. Played with the Dragy a little. Really just trying to figure out how it works. Didn't get any good data because on the times I did get froggy with the throttle, I didn't wait for it to reset. So it would record a little, but then chop it off.

nice build you got going there just curious on your fuel injection system if you could fill me in on the details? what kind of rails you use to feed your injectors? what kind of ecu you useing? that system does not use a maf sensor or is it built into the throttle body? how many hp can this system handle?
man i had to many fox bodies back int he day would like to find another one.

I am running an old Megasquirt MS1 with the MSextra code base loaded. It is a batch fire, speed density ecu and is really pretty simple. I use a TFI distributor to trigger the ecu. It does not do anything other than send a trigger signal to the ecu. The MS controls the actual timing. The rails were blanks that I cut to length, drilled the injector holes, and tapped the ends. The injectors are 62lb/hr GT500 injectors. The throttlebody is a Pro-M Racing 1000cfm 4bbl unit that I had sitting around. As far as efi systems go, it's on the primitive side of things, but it works well enough for me. The ecu will handle as much hp as you have fuel system to support.