This car i picked up for $300. the engine is almost dead. The interior has seen better days, the suspension tiny, But the body and paint are perfect, thus the reason for my purchase.
Look at those little 14 inch tires
Nothing done yet. First day at the house.
Just another shot, different side.
IT HAS BEGUN
What you are looking at here is a total suspention, brake, wheel and tire upgrade. Let me explain.
The Suspension
First off i want to thank DJ on turbo ford for all the info on the swaps i did. Ok, i'll begin with the rear, i dropped the 7.5 out of it and replaced it with the stronger 8.8 out of a 90 GT. the brake lines had to be removed off the 7.5 and put in replace on the 8.8 in order for them to hook up properly. Out of the same GT i pulled and installed athe rear sway bar. the notch was not equiped with one however, the mounting holes are already on the lower control arm. I also swapped the rear struts and installed the small quad shocks that also were not origionally equiped on the notch. Again the whole were already in the frame for the quad shock mounting bracket, but the bolt in the 90 GT would not thread in i had to go to Lowes and find a lightly smaller bolt.
Up front i replace the front rotors again all parts pulled from my 90 GT R..I.P. The rotor difference if from a 10 inch to a 11 inch. the rotors were not just a simple swap as they do not fit over the notch's spindles. so the spindles were swapped along with the rotors and calipers. the mounting for the front struts are different between these two cars as well so i also had to swap the GT struts to make everything work. the notch did come with a swaybar but it is cosiderably smaller than the GT swaybar so that was switched along with the rack-n-pinion. Under the hood the brake booster on the notch is about 1/2 the size of the one on the GT. since the brakes were upgraded and now bigger it seemed fesable to upgrade the booster as well. while swaping the booster the master cylinder and proportioning valve got replaced, to the GT.
Here is a shot of the 8.8 and under carrage after the swap
5 Lug Conversion and Cobra "R"
The 5 lug conversion is simple. iI used the front rotors out of an 82-84 Linclon Continental w/non ABS. They are the exact same rotor just in a five lug. i got the cross drilled ones for $140 for the set shipped to my door from Summit Racing.
To do the five lug in the rear. I used the rear LEFT HAND SIDE ONLY axle out of an 89 ford ranger(29 5/32"). It is the same as the RIGHT HAND SIDE of a ford aerostar(29 5/32"). Trust me it Works. I grabbed the 5 lug drums from the same yard i grabbed the axles. To instal I pull the rear diff cover off pull the clip slid the old axles out , put the new ones in and seal it back up.
The rims are The 1995 Cobra "R" rims. they are 17x9 with 5.95" backspacing. I have 245/45R17 BFGOODRICH Comp Z on oll 4 corners :D
Like I said the interior was toast, so i gutted it out. I Pulled every thing out and cleanned and scrubbed. it took the carpet 4 days to completely dry. i change the instrament cluster from the origonal 88 notch 85 mph one to the 90 GT 140 MPH one. i also change the teeth in the speedometer cable going into the tranny to compensate for the change in gear ratios between the two different rears, so the speedo is correct. Combined the black vents in the dash out of my old 90 GT, as well as used the TOP peices of the console, as the GT"s equipment was in much better shape. this is the reason for the difference in colors. All the origional seats were broken so i replaced them with yet again the GT seats. i would like to use a set of 86 TC seats(as they as more firm) but they are not a direct bolt in, and i am unsure if i want to deel with it. i am also unsue if i want to use the black door skin or the origonal tan door skin so right now i have one on each side until i figure out which one i want.
This thing is dead. I already have a spare svo block that i hopfully can begin rebuilding soon. I also have a complete 88 TC Head to go on it(after Rebuild) i have the LA3, 35lb injectors, Intakes (upper is being Rotated right now), E6 Exhaust manifold, Big Vam, the tranny it has is a t-5 exactly the same as the one found in 87TC right down to every gear, so it is really a matter of time.
Look how tiny that little radiator is. I am going to have to upgrade that too!
And there's the upgrade it is a radiator out of an 88 Turbo Coupe with both it's electric fans and shroud.
