Seems to me that if I was going to bother with all the hassle of swapping a mod motor into an early Fox, I'd just go straight for the Coyote 5.0. Surely there are enough of them in junkyards now that they aren't THAT much more money?
Seems to me that if I was going to bother with all the hassle of swapping a mod motor into an early Fox, I'd just go straight for the Coyote 5.0. Surely there are enough of them in junkyards now that they aren't THAT much more money?
A quick smurfing of car-part is showing that Coyotes from F150s are selling for $3000-4000ish, from a Mustang they are $6000-14,000, although $14k gets you a manual trans and wiring harness.
25 years ago, I worked with someone who had a '91 GT with a stock bore/stroke engine and a Liberty trans. He would not use the clutch, just pull back on the shift lever (or push forward, as appropriate) and when the engine hit the 8800rpm limiter it would snick into the next gear.
Still on stock, albeit heavily ported, iron heads... because that was pretty much all you could get.
Pete. (l33t FS) said:A quick smurfing of car-part is showing that Coyotes from F150s are selling for $3000-4000ish...
Looks like the Ecoboost 2.3s are in a similar price range. Decidedly NOT cheap.
Good News Everyone!
I mentioned about my Mustang online and someone local has an 86 shell and a storage unit full of Mustang bits that I can go through. They'll be selling me a complete uncut dash harness for 100 bucks, much better starting point then rewiring the current one (still might to have as a spare/ pratice wiring)
This is huge step forward because once all the electricals work and the engine is tuned, all that's left to make it at least driveable is tires and some extended seat rails so I'm not against the steering wheel.
Nice. That is good news.
My fox is getting some attention as well now that the latest toy is all set for the summer. Getting ready to dive into that one after having it sit for a bit.
So quick little update. Met a local Mustang enthusiast and they were willing to sell me an untampered dash harness for 100 bucks off an 86, so it should just be a plug n play affair to get rid of all the hacked up wiring under the dash. I also found someone local selling a pair of Cobra R style 16 inch wheels so I can get rid of the skinnies up front and run a square setup. Finally have a nice picture to post as well!
I had an 83 GT for a while back in the day.
these are great fun cars V8 manual trans what more could you want
I think some people don't recall what it's like to really have to build to a budget.
Mod motors are junk obviously LS is great if you can get over the whole Ford versus Chevy thing and if you have tons of money to drop into a swap
coyote is pretty great and huge and expensive to swap
you've got a decent running engine now so worry about power down the line
keep everything as light as possible, it's your biggest advantage in a world of 3900lbs "sports" cars
with low weight everything works better even stock brakes can get by on a light fox body
Some mods to consider
rear gears. Not too expensive if you can do the work yourself
think about relocating the battery to the back. It is a big weight distribution change that can make a noticeable difference.
Think about your eventual rear suspension plan you probably need to change to a torque arm three link type when you start to make the car really handle
if you did have any money to spend a set of inexpensive aluminum heads for your engine would give you an honest 350 hp and take maybe 60 pounds off the front of the car a big noticeable difference in handling and power
and remember what Colin Chapman said "any suspension can work as long as you don't let it"
so stiff springs stiff shocks stiff bars and that fox body will handle guaranteed
In reply to ExcessKuma :
That doesn't look as bad as I expected. Is that a Capri hood?
In reply to Stampie :
Early GTs had that power bump
In reply to Ando :
Learn something new everyday.
In reply to Ando :
That looks like an 82-83ish hood with an 87+ front dress.
I'm currently in the market for a 4-eye car, preferably a T-top, so I will be following with great interest.
IMO, stick with the good old 5.0. Several reasons, first is simplicity. It's already there, it already fits, all the plumbing is in place, etc. Second is aftermarket, you can do literally anything you want with these engines. Third is packaging. A mod or Coyote will fit, but you won't enjoy working on it afterwards. Fourth is cost. A Coyote especially is not a cheap proposition, especially once you get all the ancillaries needed for the swap. And finally, weight. Not only is the engine itself smaller and lighter, but you're talking about a car that hovers around 3000 lbs. A 400-plus HP Coyote is overkill unless you're building a drag racer or a hardcore road race car.
One last thing, I must admit, I've never been a fan of putting the aero nose on a 4-eye , but it's your car and your call. 
The car doesn't look too bad. I agree with the others...get it sorted and running and then worry about the rest after that.
It sounds like you have found somebody local who has some parts. It's still possible you can find some parts/wrecked cars that had lots of bolt ons. It cheaper to buy an entire junked car with goodies than to buy the pieces one at a time.
If you have some patience I'm sure you can score some good pieces cheaply.
The good news is that if you get it sorted and presentable it could have decent value when you are ready to sell it on.
Have fun!
In reply to Tom_Spangler (Forum Supporter) :
Eh, car came with the aero nose conversion already done and spending the money to go back to four eye is just unnecessary at the current moment. Plus I was given a spare aero nose front end with the car.
In reply to Loweguy5 :
Honestly the parts list of what I need is pretty short. Wiring harness, gauge cluster, bezel, front seat mount repair kit, and a few misc odds and ends. Parts cars are nice to have but I don't have the room
In reply to Stampie :
Factory 84 Turbo GT hood
Well I guess is the unofficial build thread on my fox while I work on it.
To all my 302 nerds out there, is a D80E/E7TE combo anything special? I've read about it in some of the old forums but not really conclusive on what the perks are. I'll be digging into the engine this weekend hopefully. Going to pull the passenger side valve cover off to reseat the HEI distributor that was installed and make sure the plug wires are in the correct order. Once that's done I'll set it to how it was in the videos I have of it running and get it to fire back up.
Have to give a shoutout to Quasi for sitting on a trailer with me at midnight and giving me inspiration to keep working on this dang thing.
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