1982 Ford LTD-S 351W Police Car

[packman]

Yah, that will indeed look awesome when it's all said and done

[Brown_Muscle]

UPDATES!

So rear brake line is replaced (thanks to John once more!) I was running into some major EMI/RFI. I relocated the coil to the fender and replaced it with a factory ford one with a capacitor/condensor. I the wrapped the front of the Sniper unit in foil... problem solved! I have to make a custom metal shield for the front, I've seen a couple people online do this.

I was running into further tuning issues, i was able to compensate, but AFR would fluctuate a stupid amount around stoich cruising, and i had to compensate for a tip in lean condition in ways that a person with no tuning experience would be able to do without a lot of learning... Turns out I had selected a Sniper 2X4 system (2 sniper units on one intake) in the beginning. I'm kinda impressed i was able to tune around the setup lacking an entire other sniper unit. It drove WAY better with almost no modification using the stock fuel table with the correct configuration selected...

I still have to mount some stuff properly and make that shield, but I'm so far happy with the system now that its "right"

[sly]

Yeah... selecting the correct "as installed" setup tends to help.

[gadget73]

is the unit not metal ? Seems that would be standard specifically for shielding reasons. Bitchy electronics like Faraday cages.

[Brown_Muscle]

Yeah that was a "DOH!" moment.. I'm not sure how it happened

It is aluminum, but it's not enough. It's a pretty common issue, especially on Fords where the dizzy and coil are right in front of the computer. I wish it was remotely mounted.

Next up is swapping the centerlink/pitman arm/tie rod sleeves to the newer style. I'll report on the improvements. Then wheels and tires, big brakes, and rear discs...then that should hopefully be it for a long time mechanically speaking

[gadget73]

Very curious what you get out of the steering bits. I'm running old style stuff on mine. Its all in good shape but if it actually produces something worthwhile I'd consider swapping it whenever it needs to be rebuilt.

[Brown_Muscle]

So I've got most of the wiring cleaned up in the engine bay (still some minor details to take care of). Everything is mounted.



I built a metal shield out of 16ga metal for the front of the sniper unit, just have to paint it.



My new 17" Dodge Challenger/300 rims came. The dog dishes will fit perfectly on them once I weld some small tabs around the circular center piece. I'm going with 235/55's up front and 255/50's in the rear, it will be nice to get some traction!

[gadget73]

Big wheels with stock dog dishes, I like it. Can tell its not stock if you look close but certainly not anything that would be obvious to someone who doesn't really know what they are looking at.

[87gtVIC]

Nice work Phil. Looking great. Those wheels are going to look awesome with the stock centers!

[Brown_Muscle]

Thanks guys

That's the goal, to have it almost look like it could be stock, but have better/more performance oriented tires. Most people will never know the difference

[Arquemann]

How's the offset on those mopar steelies?

[Brown_Muscle]

So I didn’t measure the difference in offset but I will. I can tell you that the mounting area of the Dodge wheel is half an inch closer to the outer lip of the rim compared to my stock rims. So they should stick inward half an inch. The Dodge wheels backspacing is 4.75

[Brown_Muscle]

So the offset is +20mm, so if they don't look right I could always get 20, or 25mm adapter/spacers.

Was having trouble with the sniper unit. Tune was perfect, then BAM, AFR wasn't right at all. It was fairly consistent though...Contacted support and they found a couple minor things wrong with my tune. It wasn't the problem though, ended up being nothing wrong with the sniper, but a misfire from a bad spark plug. I've always had lean spikes when cruising since installing the unit, I assumed this was just normal engine operation, they weren't (usually) extreme. Once I replaced the plug the AFR line tracked the target so smoothly... hurrah! The guy I talked to at EFIsystempro.com (where I bought the unit from) was extremely helpful

[gadget73]

Under all the electronics, its still an engine designed in the 1950s with the same problems they have always had. Interesting it would read lean though, I'd have expected un-burned fuel to spike it rich

[Brown_Muscle]

New Center link, pitman arm, and tie rod adjusting sleeves are in from 95-02 panther models. I had the stock box stuff before with the HPP steering box. Here are my thoughts:

+Steering is more responsive, less input in the wheel is needed to get the vehicle to move, but it's not overly sensitive, if anything it inspires more confidence.
+It seems to track better/in a straight line better, especially at highway speed
+Turning radius is tighter. I should have counted lock to lock before i did it... however previously it didn't seem to want to reach the bump stops without some extra force, now it reaches them easily and as a result my turning radius is significantly tighter.
+It may or may not handle bumps better... I'll need to drive it more, however bump steer MAY be reduced.

All in all I highly recommend it to anyone doing the steering box upgrade. It's more cost...but it really completes the package, and makes it feel like a modern car.

[87gtVIC]

Appreciate the info. I'll grab all those parts once my current setup is worn. Currently just have the police spec 02 steering box with the factory box pieces tying everything together.

[86VickyLX]

Under all the electronics, its still an engine designed in the 1950s with the same problems they have always had. Interesting it would read lean though, I'd have expected un-burned fuel to spike it rich

Yup. Misfires would show up as a lean condition. Remember, oxygen sensors read the amount of oxygen in the exhaust stream not the fuel. Combustion uses up that oxygen. So a misfire would show greater concentration of oxygen.