85 351 4door Vic **DUW**

[P72Ford]

Do the impala tails, and add some 45s to the end for tailpipes.

My Dad did this with my old '90 that he uses as a winter car, and it looks delightfully stock (although different from stock).

I've considered doing it with my '87.

[Brown_Muscle]

Nice! I did what Nate is suggesting with the tailpipes, and it does look good. As far as making the rod linkage work with the new carb, I'm fairly confident if you use the linkage on the VV carb, and attach it to the new throttle plate rod at the correct angle, it will work. But of course that means hacking up your old carb. I'm curious, how much did those heads set you back?

[87gtVIC]

I would not run the risk of destroying the tire to make them look like white walls. Just turn to the black side.

[johnunit]

Do the impala tails, and add some 45s to the end for tailpipes.

My Dad did this with my old '90 that he uses as a winter car, and it looks delightfully stock (although different from stock).

I've considered doing it with my '87.

Is it really just a straight pipe with a turndown at the end to meet the bumper?

[johnunit]

Nice! I did what Nate is suggesting with the tailpipes, and it does look good. As far as making the rod linkage work with the new carb, I'm fairly confident if you use the linkage on the VV carb, and attach it to the new throttle plate rod at the correct angle, it will work. But of course that means hacking up your old carb. I'm curious, how much did those heads set you back?

Heads, rockers, and hardware was 500. I did OK but no screaming deal

And I'll definitely try to reuse the vv throttle stuff.I have yet to mock any of this up on the car so who knows

[johnunit]

I would not run the risk of destroying the tire to make them look like white walls. Just turn to the black side.

I haveto dig up the how-to on it, to see if it's workable withmy tires and the goal of narrower whites. Nostalgia hot rod guys do this with other tires to get wide whites. I may well chicken out and go black wall as you suggest.

[packman]

Nice parts list! I got the Lokar AOD cable and am currently trying to figure out how to get it to work with my throttle/TV cable bracket.


Packman

[87gtVIC]

I'll chime in about the exhaust as I have the impy tails on my car. Just an extension and a turn down on my car to reach the bumper.

[Brown_Muscle]

X2^

and I recommend welding what you can have welded. Clamps are messy. I was able to get both tails (4 welds total) for $50 from a local welding shop, and they did a bang up job. However I did use stainless MEGA CLAMPS at my mufflers with high temp RTV, so that I can easily swap out muffler at a whim if i want to. Just another idea.

Not a bad price for the heads and hardware considering what all that would cost new and rebuilt.

[johnunit]

I had looked at the impala pipes and assumed I needed more to get them just peaking out. Excellent to know.

I have a guy who is actually a welder by trade at work, so yes I'll be getting as much welded as is practical. I also may modify the left downpipe so that it clears the trans crossmember better.

[1990LTD]

X2^

and I recommend welding what you can have welded. Clamps are messy. I was able to get both tails (4 welds total) for $50 from a local welding shop, and they did a bang up job. However I did use stainless MEGA CLAMPS at my mufflers with high temp RTV, so that I can easily swap out muffler at a whim if i want to. Just another idea.

Not a bad price for the heads and hardware considering what all that would cost new and rebuilt.

I clamp anything I might need to replace in the future. Usually mufflers. Weld the rest.

Sometimes getting the welder in places is a bitch too.

[pantera77]

I had looked at the impala pipes and assumed I needed more to get them just peaking out.

It depends how you hang them really. Mine hang low, but that's the look I was going for. Most people tuck them up.

[johnunit]

The car is at work now, getting as much done on it as I can. I wanna hopefully maybe let's see get it done for STAP, june 13th.



headlines:

More frame rot found, will have to fix that. I'm going to hopefully get my shop's welding guy to do it.

The car will have the 255/295 whitewall and hidden draglites tire setup before hitting the road

Got the rear police sway bar installed. It and the front bar are probably the shiniest things under there

I have pulled literally every brake and fuel line aside from a couple connected to the distribution block thing on the frame. Mr. Bean's box's old frame has kindly donated 95% rust free lines, as well as the master cylinder, booster, and steering gear. My old MC has about a 1/4 inch of silt in the bottom, despite having flushed the front brakes 3-4 years and 3000km ago. Nasty.

The rear brake line wasn't that crusty, but it blew because whoever replaced it didn't tie it to anything at all. It was just kinda sitting on the frame. The leak point showed signs of rubbing. Total butchery in general, but he'd tucked it enough away to not be obvious.

I won't be throwing the 3.27 gears in before STAP, nor the 9.4-1 mildly ported heads. It will, however, have the 4 barrel intake and carb unless something really stupid happens.

The leaky tank (the original reason it was taken off the road) has been pulled, and I've shot the first coat of bedliner on it's replacement. Incidentally, Rockauto has the wrong part listed under tank straps for these cars. Maybe they fit a wagon but they don't even come close on my tank. I hit those with undercoating before checking fit though, so there's nothing I can do. The old straps are salvageable, for now.

The smaller starter (asked for one for a 91 5.0 vic) is in, with 10 gauge wiring from the starter cable post on the fender to the solenoid on the starter. The sound isn't as old-school but there's WAY more room to prevent heat soak and facilitate wrenching, and it seems to draw less power. I also replaced the thick starter cable and some other wiring while I was in there.

The rear tires, pending hoonage-related rub testing, fit without spacers. The fronts do not, and I have 1.25" spacers waiting at my dad's. The rear tires alone totally transform the stance and feel of the car. If the car wasn't close to stock I'd be tempted to keep the 205's up front and run the insane stagger. Combined with the rear swaybar, and new steering gear, it should feel like a car transformed.

I'll also be throwing in new Wagner shoes and all new hardware in the rear. So counting the new calipers, rotors, and pads that went in not long before it was parked, I will have an entirely new or good-used brake system.

I found out the 90 or 91 boxes got -0.5 degrees of camber instead of positive camber for older cars, so if anyone wants a bit more handling and grip next time they do an alignment, just try and convince them to align it as a 91. Toe specs are the same or close to it across various years.

Oh, and a random thank you to Rockauto for being fucking fantastic. Seriously, the delivery times are good, their new system for automatically finding the cheapest of a given part type works very well, and they have literally always undercut buying locally. I got insane deals this time, like 1.28 or so for PCV valves, about 10 bucks for ALL new parking brake cables, 127 dollars for a new gas tank, etc.

Questions:
What the heck holds in that distribution block for the brakes? The one directly below the master cylinder. Is there a bolt inside the frame I'm missing?

Any tips for installing the steering box not totally crooked aside from straightening the steering wheel, straightening the front wheels, and hoping for the best? I'll be doing my own alignment, so I'd rather not hog the rack while I futz around too long.

My vacuum hoses to my climate control are all sorts of messed up and the thing lets heat in through the floors now matter what. Is there a reason I couldn't put a plug or even a manually closing valve in the heater hose as a temp fix? I know some people loop the hose but that's just one step too ghetto-rigged for me.

[P72Ford]

Why not do the heads and intake at the same time?

If the intake is off, all you have left is the exhaust.

[johnunit]

Haven't checked the valve springs it came with (came off a 10 second mustang) and am running out of time and money for head gaskets and all that.