Mike's TR7 Ford repower project

[Addicted]

http://youtu.be/74GUj20Zsb4

Not sure if this link will work, but I'll try.

[Addicted]

http://youtu.be/Ico0i6m3yuA

This isn't a great video, but the sound is more representative.

[mgb260]

Mike, Car looks and sounds great!

[Addicted]

Here are some pictures of how the underside turned out.  You will see I added a 3/16 plate and large washer to the center of my k-member.  The thin k-member was really beat up from years of jack use.  The plate gives a nice solid surface to lift under, and the washer is sized to fit a bottle jack in the center or floor jack around the outside.  I usually use a bottle jack on my lift, and it's nice having a secure spot to locate it.  

Above the axel, the tail pipes are about 1.5" from my fuel tank.  I decided to put some insulation on them.  In my usual fashion, I have two different styles on of insulation to see which one works better.  Driver side has aluminum faced fiberglass, and the passenger side has header wrap.  So far, both are working just fine.

[kscharf]

What a great build...Congrats Mike...

[Addicted]

Thanks.  My wife is probably wondering why this was done in 6 months, but the bathroom isn't done after several years.  Oh well.

[danmas]

My wife is probably wondering why this was done in 6 months, but the bathroom isn't done after several years.

Do you have a good answer, one that she will accept?  If so, please share it, we all could use it.

[Addicted]

Hah, not really.  My kids are convinced I ordered an entire car via UPS and FedEx boxes.  



I've driven the car about 10 miles now.  Once the bugs are worked out and I quit worrying about it, it is going to be a very fun car.  

The alternator seems to be doing ok now.  I snugged up the belt, so maybe that was part of the problem.  It still takes quite a while to get going (voltage goes up really slowly after startup), but it does get there eventually.  

The brakes are going to be fine.  The passenger side front caliper still had some air coming out on my last bleeding attempt.  The other three are finally flowing with no bubbles.  Even as they are now, the brakes feel incredible compared to the stock TR7 setup.

[bsa_m21]

Looks great Mike!

Question - How loud are those pipes?

On my V8 conversion, I did a two into one, with resonator and muffler.  Sounds great with the top down, but is very loud in the cab with the top up at 60mph (a deep drone).  I'm thinking I might look for something to quiet everything down.

(My build:  http://forum.britishv8.org/read.php?3,37579  )

M.

[Addicted]

Martin,
I've looked at your thread quite a bit over the past several months.  Your car looks great.  

Mine turned out quieter than I expected and I would say it's worth trying that muffler type.  (Magnaflow XL).  I used part number 13265, which was the biggest one I could fit.  The bigger the muffler volume, the quieter it is (for the same style muffler).  I linked a couple youtube videos earlier in this thread, if you didn't notice them.  

I need to make a decision on rear end gears, so I was paying attention to noise at different cruise speeds.  I consider it to be very quiet on the road up to a certain RPM (probably 2200-2400).  My tach isn't working, so I can't give a good answer on that.  I should receive my tach signal adapter today, so it should be working soon.  

I had a monza exhaust when I was running the stock 2.0 engine, and it seemed quite a bit louder and almost annoying on the road compared to my new setup.  

There are quite a few things I need to dial in and fine tune, but the exhaust isn't one of them.  I had planned on adding additional mufflers in the middle of the car if I needed them, but that's one thing I won't need to do.

[mgb260]

Mike, I don't know what you have for rear gears now but, the 3.55 is about right for the Ford T5. 3.35 first x 3.55 rear = 11.89. 11-12 being ideal for first. 3.55 x .68 fifth = 2.41. Excellent  cruising gear.

[kscharf]

Hi Mike...

How's the shakedown going...Dying to hear ...

[Addicted]

I haven't touched it in the past week.  It's sitting in my garage looking pretty right now.  I've had the drivetrain in my '54 chevy all apart, but that should be buttoned up tonight.  

I've got about 150 miles on the TR7, without any conversion / build related issues.  I want a quieter fuel pump, but that's no big deal.  The brakes and suspension are just right for what I want.  I put 150lb springs in the front, and it's very nice.  Roads around here are crappy, so I don't want any stiffer suspension than that.  With the adjustable spring seats, I was able to set the ride height right where I wanted it.  

I had it at a car show over Memorial Day weekend, and it was a hit.... "looks professional"   "looks like it came in the car"
That's how I build stuff.  

Issues to tackle:  

1.  Change rear end gears (I used the 4.10's that were in the axle I bought).  

2.  Low-ish oil pressure when hot.  I used a "free" 302 from a parts car I bought, and of course, I should have put bearings and an oil pump in it.  It had (and still has) good oil pressure for the first few miles of driving, but I must have never got the oil hot when I was evaluating the engine for re-use in this conversion.  My plan was to make sure everything worked out with the conversion, and then swap in another engine if I wanted to.  That's a pretty easy job, but it can get expensive.  I'm trying to decide whether I want to put an oil pump and bearings into this engine, or whether I should just bite the bullet and build a fresh engine with aluminum heads.  I will probably invest another Saturday and $100 into the current engine before I start shopping for a new one.

[kscharf]

Sound amazing...Congrats Mike...

Will start mine I Sept...Have most driveline parts...Purchased a drivetrain out of an 89 Cobra (everything but the diff) with 42000 km on it (Tree fell on it and wrote it off) already converted to carb and MSD dizzy...Just the Diff to locate now....You sure set the bar pretty high but provide a great example of how to do it right...

[Dan Jones]

> Purchased a drivetrain out of an 89 Cobra

The first year for the Mustang Cobra 5.0L was 1993.  Are the heads GT40 iron castings and do they have Ford part number bolt down 1.7:1 roller rockers?

Dan Jones

[Addicted]

Well, I've swapped out the 4.10 gears for a set of 3.15's. The new ratio is great for my setup, and my driving style.  I had trouble getting desirable contact patterns on both drive and coast side, and I compromised on the cost side.  Sure enough, it whines when I'm coasting.  Oh well.  If I get sick of it, I'll have to spend $150 on another set of gears (probably more common 3.08's next time).  

I'm also working on putting in new seats today.  I have brackets just about done for the conversion.  I got "real leather" racing seats from Amazon for around $350.  Upon inspection, the seating surfaces and side bolsters are indeed real leather.  They look pretty nice.  I'll post some pictures later today.

[Addicted]

Here are the new seats.  I'm pretty happy with them.  

I have the 8.8 back apart after 40 miles, and I think I have resolved my issues.  I'm going to put new spider gears in while its apart this time, so I'm waiting for those to come in the mail now.

[kscharf]

There was no Foxbody "Cobra" in the U.S. until the '93 Cobra but many GT's in CANADA were labeled "Cobra GT" from 84-92.

If the car is from Canada it can be a "Cobra GT".....There is no mechanical difference between it and a "standard" U.S. Mustang GT and is not a higher performance vehicle than a "standard" GT....

Here is a Canadian window sticker from a 1990 Cobra GT

[Dan B]

Mike,
What did you have to do to get the explorer master cylinder to fit?  Got any pics?

[BCwedge]

Mike,  I've had the Volvo brake conversion on my radar for some time,  but I really like your 5 bolt wheel conversion with Mustang PBR brakes much  better.  The use of a trailer hub is nice out of the box thinking...I've read all of your posts that I could find, and still have some questions.  I hope you can help me with some additional answers.

Would you know the manufacturer and model number of the hub that you used?   I assume that the inner bearing matches the TR7 (L44649/L44610 ).  

What did you need to do to match the hubs rear bearing grease seal to the TR7 spindle?

I see that you appear to have sleeved the spindle for the larger outer bearing and there appears to be a wheel spacer as well, which I assume was necessary to match your ET 40 wheels.  

What machining did you perform on the hub itself?  

Does the brake disc mount directly to the hub or did you need to space the disc out from the hub to properly locate the caliper?  

Was there a reason you used a bolt on  wheel spacer, rather than just holding everything together with longer wheel studs?

Any additional pictures of the individual custom components attached to the hub would be really helpful to see how you did it.


regards

Mark

[trgrrr8]

At 340 pounds complete, I would use the late Rover 4 bolt main stroked with a 300 Buick crank as D & D has done. It is all aluminum 294 cubes and just the same as the factory TR8 in size. Basically except for the late 4.0 or 4.6 L block the parts are American.  ...  the Ford is good too but the Rover / Buick / Olds block is already engineered and done in Merry Olde England all the time   Basically you create a Triumph TR8. The 75 pound T5 is the trans to use in both cases but only the V8 version.    Cheers,  C. Bruce Strock  267 999 1179     .... There are headers [long tube] for the 215 > 4.6L blocks.

[Addicted]

Sorry guys, I've been away for a few weeks.  

Dan - I changed boosters, and fitting the master cylinder will depend on what you plan to do for a booster.  

For what I did, I had to oblong the two master cylinder mounting holes, and I made a custom length pushrod to go between the master cylinder and the booster.  The Ford tube fittings are also different, so you will need to make new lines or find adapters.

[Addicted]

Mark,
The hub I used was Reliable BT150A Short.  The bearings are spaced closer together on that hub than most other trailer hubs.  

Mine came with the correct inner bearing and seal to fit the TR7 spindle.  There are couple different ID seals available.  

The outer bearing requires a collar to adapt the OD of the spindle to the ID of the bearing race.  

You may be able to get by just mounting that hub on your spindle, but I chose to modify my hubs by boring the bearing location further into the hub.  Without modifying the hub, about half of the outer bearing is hanging out over the threads on the end of the TR7 spindle.  I moved my bearings in by 0.300 inches.

[Dan B]

What is the advantage of changing to the Ranger master, other than cost of course?

[Addicted]

Dan,
I wanted the 1" diameter master cylinder.   That was why I did it.  Now that it is set up, it will be easier to find replacements down the road.  Its also lighter, being aluminum.