It used to be a pinned thread (X number of years ago). I had an 81 capri, so same car, different body, same engine and trans. I miss it but the salt cancer got it. I'll see if I can't find that thread.
You can also bomb around fordsix.com/forums there is a ton of info there. Xtacsy is essentially an inline 6 encyclopedia.
I'll see if I can't find it for you and link back here. I understand you are picky, but it might be fun to see what you can do with the 6. There are T5 adapters to fit one on, most people like the 4 cyl T5 due to the lower first gear, it fits nice with the low end torque of the I6.
In reply to FunkyCricket :
Not that I'm picky, just trying to think of most bang for the buck as this is a possible challenge car and I'd need to drive it there and back which is 4200 miles roughly so I was thinking big lazy v8 for low stress performance.
I really like the idea of boosting the 200 though so I'll be doing a bunch of homework on that. Honestly if I can convince myself that the car would take boost and survive the trip I'd pretty much jump on it.
okay. I just spent way too much time at work looking for that post. I was refreshing daily following it a few years ago, I can't seem to find anything from a "links200" on the board. I wonder if there was a deletion.
Does10s also has a bad ass 250 inline falcon that was doing 10's but they kept blowing stuff up, still lots of good info in their threads.
I'm going to keep an eye on this thread though. I not nearly as awesome as anyone else on this board, but I have a minor problem with ford inlines, so I at least have a base knowledge or know where to go find answers.
I put 1K on my 200 with 2 spun bearings and it was still making 35 lbs of oil pressure. These engines are pretty solid as long as you have a good running base, and don't push it too hard, it will just keep going.
First problem found. Leaking heater core. I hope this car is as easy to work on as possible. I swear if bolts start breaking I'll light it on fire.
The linc thread was apparently lost but this guy in here copied most of the build. Using a junkyard turbo and a bit less boost hes running 14.20 reliably
https://fordsix.com/viewtopic.php?f=22&t=78696
the fordsix board has crashed a few times, and I know at least once after AzCoupe's passing, in the access and recovery efforts. That is a bummer, that thread had ALOT of good info in it.
The heater cores on fox bodies are pretty common issue. The dash is a pain on the capri, never taken out of a granada but it looks like there might be more access to it. Keep us posted!
If the heater core was leaking, check the head gasket at the back (firewall side - cyl 6) passenger side near the log intake, make sure you don't see an seep there. The heater core leaking and introduce a bubble and it can sit back there and cause a hot spot.
In reply to FunkyCricket :
Good info and thanks for the tip bout the head gasket. Honestly it wouldn't be the end of the world to pull the head, just a good excuse to convert to a 2bbl.
Car is registered and insured. My mom is currently between cars (dependable cars that is, since the CJ2A is unfinished, the beetle is just a roller, and the Kaiser is far from daily-status, but I digress) so she'll be driving it for a bit while some decisions are made. The more I think about it the more I like the 200. Tons of cam kits available, we're sitting on a good motorcraft 2bbl that would be a good addition, and I really enjoy building exhaust systems from scratch.
Anyone know a good source for >14" wheels for this 4-lug slug?
Minor news. My dad, in an effort to help speed the heater core replacement process, let out all the R12.
In other minor news, we acquired another old Ford. This time it is a 79 Thunderbird with no engine or trans. But it was just free enough so there is that. Pics when I get a chance.
barefootskater said:
Car is registered and insured. My mom is currently between cars (dependable cars that is, since the CJ2A is unfinished, the beetle is just a roller, and the Kaiser is far from daily-status, but I digress) so she'll be driving it for a bit while some decisions are made. The more I think about it the more I like the 200. Tons of cam kits available, we're sitting on a good motorcraft 2bbl that would be a good addition, and I really enjoy building exhaust systems from scratch.
Anyone know a good source for >14" wheels for this 4-lug slug?
16 inch pony's are the easy route. 15 inch ten holes are what I really wanted but people price them crazy. Just know if you go 16s it wont clear a 225/60 up front because of the difference in fenders between it and a mustang.
The Tbird is waiting for us to come remove the 351 and trans before we can haul it to the compound. More on that in the next couple weeks. Looks like that'll be our 2020 contender, and with that in mind we did something today to make that car move again, hopefully.
Got to this dude's place and looked the thing over. Motor turned freely and the fluids all looked good. Dude says "You ready to make a deal? I'll make you a deal, you take the bumpers off and switch one of those alright wheels out for this bald one and get it out of here today and I'll take $100."
So we got a van.
Back on board with this thread after the mx-6 got junked.
I like the fit a lot. There's a couple of very good autocrossers in my area that run them. An amusing side effect of that is that whenever I look at a fit, a whisper comes from somewhere in my brain, "racecar."
As for the Fairmont, I think that's a great score. A beige crew cab Fairmont is just about the ultimate sleeper. I've gotten over my foxbody wishes, except for fairmonts.
Looks like the easy way to go for cheap reliable power is that nearly free Chevy 350 at this point. That year of van, might be a turbo 350 transmission, I think you're a few years too early for a 700 r4. The latter could be found cheap, though.
A performer intake off of Craigslist, some sort of Holley 4-barrel, a cam and some headers will wake that thing up. I wouldn't be surprised if there's SBC swap into Fox body headers available somewhere.
The cheapest performance heads for the small block Chevy are the stock vortec heads. They are excellent heads for an iron factory head.
They need some work to take extra valve lift from a cam, and can be prone to cracking when buying used. They also need a specific intake manifold.
Even even bought new, SBC stuff is cheap.
And a deal has been struck for the Zephyr. Selling it to my folks for my sister to use. She'll be 16 this summer and completely unable to exceed the speed limit.
I dunno if you find a long flat road mine will do 85! There so simple I think it will make her a reliable first car.
In reply to barefootskater :
Good choice, although I wouldn't want to get hit in one.
I have to admit though, I was really looking forward to seeing it at the Challenge.
In reply to dropstep :
No flat roads around here
. In fact, from school to home she has about a 1200ft elevation change in six miles.
In reply to Floating Doc :
I was pretty excited about it at first. But then I decided I liked the 200 (so no swap) and making it fast* and reliable enough to drive across country didn't seem possible in budget. And my teammate/dad always said it had too many doors. Then sis showed an interest and you know the story.
*Ish, I mean without boost there is not really any real power to be had out of that otherwise interesting motor.
Nice find on the Merc!!! I love those cars, I'd love to find a good clean station wagon example to play with. I love the orange paint on your Fit!!! My DD is a 2015 Fit EX 6MT that I bought as a CPO. I had a terrible time finding a good CPO example with the manual gearbox (the CVT Fit is terrible!!!), but I knew that the Manual and CVT Fits were totally different driving experiences, so I held out 6 months while my local Honda dealer found me one.
The Honda Fit with the manual gearbox is one of the great "smiles per gallon" bargains on the market right now IMHO. I've done about 30K on mine now, including a Alabama to San Francisco epic road trip and the silly little car continues to delight me. Make no mistake the Fit is NOT a fast car, but it FEELS fast, kinda like a go-cart with doors..... It handles wonderfully. Stable, predictable, sure-footed (particularly for such a SWB car) and it just loves to be tossed around. The little 1.5 GDI doesn't make a ton of power but it loves to rev, and the gear ratios are well-spaced so keeling it in the 4500+ RPM zone, where it does make it's power is easy. About the only thing about the car that disappointed me were the front brakes, (also the lousy cupholder positioning) the stock rotors warped under "spirited" driving conditions. Had the turned, for free, but they warped again almost immediately. Apparently this is a pretty common issue with these cars. A new set of slotted and cross-drilled rotors and upgraded pads fixed that issue and was only about $30 more than OEM-quality replacements. Personally, I think the Fit doesn't get the "fun car"credit that it is due. It;s a blast, particularly at the price, and as a bonus, it may just be the most practical vehicle I have ever owned. It;s amazing how much stuff you can cram into this that little car, and, driven gently, it will return high-30's MPG on the highway.
In reply to mikedd969 :
I really like the Fit. Lots of smiles just driving to work.
In other news, the van. Took the alu. running boards to the scrapper for $15, so this thing cost $85. The engine cover is missing, and we finally got around to looking up the casting number because "Maybe this guy screwed us and it might be a 305."
Casting no. 330817. 400cid. Score.
We cut the van. I don't think we hurt resale value though.
Then we pushed it out to the street so the scrapper can come get it. My dad says "maybe someone will buy it before the scrapper comes.” Somehow I doubt that.
All that effort for this:
TH350 and a big-small block chevy. Kinda crusty but we'll fix that. Progress is progress.
Those old big boat tbirds are a hoot.
Got the lump degreased and cleanish. Separated the trans. Pulled the oil pan and a bearing cap. Not super fresh but not terrible. Hard to see from the bottom but the bores looked ok and there was no play in any of the rods. Measured the piston skirts, not the most scientific method but enough to know that this motor is overbored by about .030. No crud in the oil or in the pickup.
So, rebuilt engine. Not hugely concerning since it obviously has more that a little run time and everything seems fine. Hoping the cam was replaced with something decent when it was rebuilt. We're just going to run it as is with some cheap headers and see what we see.
Got our Thunderbird de-engined and dragged it home. Just in time too since it really started to rain just as we finished. Sorry for the grainy pictures.
So there it is. A racing car. Step one: Diet.
Speaking of diet, I have goals for this car. Lofty goals, possibly unreasonable goals. The car supposedly weighs just shy of 4000lbs in stock factory trim. What we need is everything to make it go, stop, turn, keep most weather out, seat two, and still be "street legal" as we plan to drive it 2200 miles to gainesville in 2020.
My threshold for discomfort is pretty high and with aggressive rear gearing and no OD it's not like we're going to be rattling our brains out doing 85 on the interstate.
My goal is 3000lbs. Am I nuts?
Weight loss started. TIL that the sunroof assembly in a tbird weighs 50#
