81 Mercury Zephyr burnout machine

Figured i'd start a buid thread on my project since i started getting some work done on it, and to keep me motivated. I'm building it to have fun, and go drag racing when they have the street car nights. I'm shooting for 500-600 HP to the rear wheels.

It's an 1981 Mercury Zephyr that I'm swapping a 5.3 LS along with a turbo with a th400 behind it. I found the car 4 hours away and the guy said it was in good shape. Show up and it has rust all over the doors, and just looks terrible, however it ran and drove great and for some unexplained reason the subframes and floor pans were totally clean and rust free. So I bought it and drove it back issue free.

I bought it in august, an after that i just started collecting parts for it. Picked up a 5.3 with 200k, a th400 and an 8.8 out of a mustang, as well as an MS3 goldbox for an ecu. I went through the heads and put different valve springs, and use ls9 gaskets, but other than that it's all stock.

The last couple of days however I finally got some work done to it. I took it to our family farm, where they have a shop with a lift and lots of tools.

Started off buy getting the engine pulled. Everything went pretty smoothly and it was out withthin a couple of hours.

After that we went to put the new drivetrain in. We tried to get the engine and trans in together but wasn't able to make that work, so we ended up doing them desperately. We got some engine mounts made, and then after struggling to get the transmission back on, we got a trans mount made.

After that we started work on the rear axle. This decided to fight us every step of the way. All the bolts were rusted, and two of them ended up snapping. Then, when we tried to get the bolts out the rubber bushings wouldn't let the bolts come out. Eventually we got tired of messing with it and we cut the lower arm mounts off with a torch and used an air chisel to get the mounts out.

That's where we ended for the night. The next morning we put the new axle in, which of course only took 30 mins.

After that we plasma cut a whole in the trunk for the gas tank, and that's all we were able to accomplish for this weekend.

I still have to build the turbo kit, and get subframe connectors welded in but that should be it for the big stuff.

I have similar dreams for my Volvo wagons.

You should check out sloppy mechanics if you haven't.

Sllleeeeeeeeppppppppeeeeeerrrrrrrr!

Cool project. I've got a Fairmont Wagon...this thread will help motivate me ;)

This is great. Are you going to leave the dirty steel wheels on it? You should leave the dirty steel wheels on it.

BrokenYugo wrote: This is great. Are you going to leave the dirty steel wheels on it? You should leave the dirty steel wheels on it.

I'm thinking other than mechanicals and safety, this thing shouldn't even get washed when it's done. Let alone any sort of visual update.

Love sleeper/budget builds like this one

In reply to Greg Voth:

I don't think I'd would have started this project if it wasn't for Sloppy Mechanics. He's great, and so knowledgeable!

In reply to ClemSparks:

I would have loved to find a wagon, unfortunately they can be hard to find.

In reply to BrokenYugo:

That's the plan! However only partly because I can't afford anything else!

NBraun wrote: In reply to ClemSparks: I would have loved to find a wagon, unfortunately they can be hard to find.

Isn't that the truth! I had to pay real money for mine...more than I do most daily drivers, in fact. Even 4 door sedans like yours are rare nowadays.

I must have gotten my wagon just in time then.

Got some more work done to it throughout the week.

Started off by trying to install the new shifter. This should have been and easy and straightforward task, but as it turns out, it requires two people. So got about as far as i could with that project.

The other thing I wanted to complete was the turbo hotside. I underestimated how difficult this would be. I managed to get it all tacked up, and started to weld it but i'm a terrible fabricator so there are some gaps, which is a pain to weld.

To make that gap easier to weld, cut a short section of tube, about a inch long, then cut it into two halves. You will then have two half round patch pieces, clamp that on and do overlap welds, much easier/better than attempting to fill that gap.

Finished getting the hot side welded up and got the turbo mounted. However, I ran into an issue. I bought the biggest radiator I could fit in the stock location. Which is 3 inches thick, and 31 inches wide. It fits perfect where the old one sat. However, my turbo flange sits about 1/4 too close the front of the vehicle and hits the radiator. I'm trying to avoid reworking the hot side, or buying a different radiator. Any tips or opinions on what I could do?

NBraun wrote: Finished getting the hot side welded up and got the turbo mounted. However, I ran into an issue. I bought the biggest radiator I could fit in the stock location. Which is 3 inches thick, and 31 inches wide. It fits perfect where the old one sat. However, my turbo flange sits about 1/4 too close the front of the vehicle and hits the radiator. I'm trying to avoid reworking the hot side, or buying a different radiator. Any tips or opinions on what I could do?

The correct answer is, more often than not, to take the harder of the two options and do what you don't want to do.

Can the rad and or rad support be moved forward? Leaned forward?

Pictures of the area might help with suggestions.

maybe cut out/ re-work the core support so that you can move/lean the radiator forward to get some more room?

also i have to say that i love this build

I'll have to grab some pictures when I work on it tonight. I didn't think about just notching the core support to lean it forward, that might work.

Superb use of the universal feline turbo size scale.

I may have progressed slightly tonight.

I notched out the core support for the end tanks, and cut a lip off that was also in the way. That was enough to get the rad and turbo to share the same space, though it still needs some massaging to get it where i want it.

As you can see, the passenger side of the rad isnt sitting up against the support.

re-install the hood and check it's clearance... But I think you will have to cut and adjust the exhaust to fit.

Only other thing to consider is -ANY flexing possible of the engine mounts under load so the turbo winds up hitting that radiator? don't want vibration or repeated impact against aluminum...Great project, by the way

Thanks for the opinions guys. I don't plan on running a hood at first though, as the truck intake and alternator both very much stick through.

I may be able to make the radiator work without moving the exhaust, but I will more than likely need to change the exhaust.

I did work on it some more this weekend. I finished some small stuff, Mounted the fuel cell and started on the fuel system. Unfortunately, I discovered I was about 2 foot short of line of what I needed so that project was done for the day.

After that I started mounting the intercooler and tried to get the pipes ran. I discovered I bought the wrong throttle body coupler than what I needed too.

I will say that it seems every time I finish something, 2 other smaller things seem to pop up. Slightly discouraging to be honest. However I've been making myself work on it everyday, even if it's only for an hour or two. The first street car night at the local drag strip is May 19th, so I hope to have it driving by the end of April to give me time to get the kinks worked out of it. Well see if I end up making that happen.

Finally decided that i'm going to have to fix the hotside. After mulling it over for a while I think i'm just going to take a 1/2 inch out just before the vbands and that should move the whole hot side back.

I've also decided that i'm going to try and get it fired up by next weekend. I have the oil lines, manifolds done, so i should just need to wire it up and that should be enough to get it to fire.

Yeah...I'm learning that I basically need to work on a project frequently so I find the inevitable dead ends and can get parts coming for that sub-project while hopefully making progress on another aspect of it.

I chopped up the manifold last night in an effort to get the turbo closer to the engine. I was able to get everything tacked up back in place but then ran out of welding gas.

I also have a quick question. I crawled underneath last night to look at the transmission and noticed there was quite the gap between the flexplate and torque converter. Is this big of a gap normal?

As I recall, most LSx crank flywheel flanges are shorter than a SBC, so you need an adapter flexplate or a spacer to run a Gen 1/2 trans. I think there is some production truck part for this that you can order for cheap though, I know that's the case for running an old manual behind one.

I actually bought an ATP flexplate which I was told the correct one so I Would be able to run the th400. That's why i'm a little unsure of whether or not this is normal.

Just did a little googling, as i should have to begin with and it appears it's normal. The torque converter slides forward to the plate so there is a gap between the converter and pump.