Im anti ls swap but he ran 9s for a full season in a 4 door fairmont and spent alot of time hooning and doing random burnout contests. If its tuned well they seem too last.
Now off to order my berkeley your ls swap sticker.
Im anti ls swap but he ran 9s for a full season in a 4 door fairmont and spent alot of time hooning and doing random burnout contests. If its tuned well they seem too last.
Now off to order my berkeley your ls swap sticker.
this shows why my wife says i shouldnt be allowed to buy spray paint!
and just a photo from driving it to work when it was nice out.
power steering hose is finally in but im off work until monday or until they figure out whats going on with my knee.
moved the car today to put air in my kids tires, man i really need to clean this place up and organize. that power steering fluid lake is slippery!
Ordered tune up stuff today. 7 days to get a set of no xact brand plug wires. 
Well thanks to a co workers "help" im waiting on a new power steering pump. I hate when people touch my car.
new power steering pump went on without issue a few days ago (second one in 3 years)... missed out on a pair of potential engine donors so i decided to finally do some work on the little 6. The tune up i kept putting off was needed worse then i thought!
From this 
too this 
couldnt get the phone too focus but the plugs were all worn and very white. guess ill need to tear into the carb.
Forgot permatex so the valve cover gasket will get done tomorrow or thursday. open to ideas for painting the air cleaner and valve cover gasket. may just go back ford blue!
goofing off today with the ford blue i picked up for the valve cover. its the shiniest part on the car.
bad news is im getting audible spark knock with the fresh tune up, plugs looked lean before but its bad now. going to stick a timing light on it tomorrow and double check base timing. likely end up with a carb rebuild.
My "fix" for the rear brake line is also failing me, so im transplanting the prop valve off my parts car and trying to find a rubber line that takes a normal 3/8 fitting in, and splits too two out but without needing a banjo bolt. Any idea's?
Got the car back out last night and it was making a sound like a lifter failing. Babied it too work this morning and started looking at the accessory drives.
Turned out the number 6 plug had backed out enough too leak compression. Weird but its fixed!
Still putting a new valve cover gasket on it this evening. Be my first look inside this old 6. Its taken some abuse so im curious as too see what it looks like.
dropstep wrote: Turned out the number 6 plug had backed out enough too leak compression. Weird but its fixed!
Good catch and all it cost you was a turn of a wrench.
not much excitement but seeing inside the motor for the first time i was a bit suprised at how clean all the valvetrain was.
back together aside from the air cleaner, forgot the paint at home so just cleaned the valvecover up.
This one is just because its not often you get to work on your car next to a 36 ford
so yeah nothing big but after fixing the loose plug and this oil leak i should be good to focus on fixing the brake line situation permanently and fixing the exhaust on my truck!
After the tune up and valvecover gasket its no longer leaking oil and averaged 17mpg mostly city with an occasional burnout (yeah im immature). Parts car is at a friends house waiting to be shoved into the garage, hes keeping the motor and trans. the part out pictures will likely be the next update because im mostly just driving the car and collecting random parts.
Went and visited my parts car this morning, its sitting in line waiting for its turn.
now this spot is empty.
At 200 bucks for a new one i decided to try this one before ordering new
of course it couldnt go 100% smooth, transmission line fittings were diffrent sizes, so 4 dollars later at the parts store.
They didnt have fittings but they did have the adapters!
Now back home to get this thing moving again.
That massive fan shroud.
And the replacement is in.
The stock leaky single core.
I was picture happy today, took the kids and wife for icecream, hit the car wash and it seems to be working. im always a bit skeptical about adapters for fittings but so far so good.
Well 80 mile trip with no issues, fittings dont leak! As a happy bonus the replacement radiator is a dual core vs stock single core and the car stays at 180. No more temperature creep going down the highway. Just cruises along!
I found out why the oil pressure gauge leaked......
Yeah first time ive ever had that happen. 88 cents later and the car is back too leak free! and now carrys 50psi of cold oil pressure instead of 40.
I just found this thread and Subscribed. I picked up an '80 Fairmont wagon myself just a few weeks ago. I'm planning on a V8 swap for the future (and I already have the donor '85 V8 Mustang for the K-member and roller engine!). I'm glad to see another Fox wagon AND a guy who's projects move at a similar pace to mine!
Looking good...I'll be following!
ClemSparks wrote: I just found this thread and Subscribed. I picked up an '80 Fairmont wagon myself just a few weeks ago. I'm planning on a V8 swap for the future (and I already have the donor '85 V8 Mustang for the K-member and roller engine!). I'm glad to see another Fox wagon AND a guy who'd projects move at a similar pace to mine! Looking good...I'll be following!
Between time and money im in no rush, i still look around for a carb'd v8 mustang donor from time to time just to get the motor, trans and accessorys all at the same time! Honestly the 8.8 was the best upgrade possible, burnouts are a local pastime and single tracks arent near as much fun.
Finally hurt something, about 2k miles on the car this summer and it needs a rear u-joint. Being cheap i ordered it from rock auto. Likely change the bald rear tires again too.
Did you ever figure out a way to mount the bench?
Also I'm glad it was just a u-joint that needed replaced. I read the line about finally hurting something and feared a spun bearing!
The_Jed wrote: Did you ever figure out a way to mount the bench? Also I'm glad it was just a u-joint that needed replaced. I read the line about finally hurting something and feared a spun bearing!
I figured out the mounts but lost motivation. Supposed too cool off this weekend so i may get it done. I have trouble prioritizing interior work.
downfall to driving it everywere, bugs and road debri's have peeled most of the paint off the grill and i feel the need to wash it twice a week.
Nothing exciting, changed a U-joint but its otherwise been a trouble free summer. was just out at an old farm property visiting and thought it made for a cool photo. Atleast its not the car wash or burnout photos!
It's looking a lot better now than it did at the start of the summer. Good work all around.
I was just talking too the wife about how smooth the summer was going and i wake up this morning too a flat front tire. dryrot finally killed them. i was hoping to hold off and wait until spring but now the car has some really nice 205/75/14s on the front. 6 months old and i paid 10 bucks each. id post a picture but its just tires and it looks a bit goofy since the fronts are 2 inches taller then the rears right now!
Car goes back in the garage for the winter tomorrow. 2900 miles this summer with just one u joint, one set of front tires and 2 sets of rear tires. Ill miss doing donuts!
Hopefully make some progress this winter, my friend who was going to do the one spot of rust repair needed is having issues with his hand so ill see how it goes!
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