The start of my ford 5.0 T5 swap and restoration

[BKB94]

This has been something I have been planning for about 25 years and I guess I'm finally ready to start it. I pulled my front clip in with my home made tractor for mock up of the 5.0, T5 trans, and rack and pinion.  Sounds good and dead nuts reliable is the plan, will probably be around 300 RWHP. I have rack & Pinion I will be installing after I map out factory steering box bump steer and ackerman. I will be using a lot of the mustang factory wiring harness to control A/C, Fan, Engine. As I proceed I will update with what works and what does not, So you might want to re-read this a few times. I have no planed completion date and 100% of all work is done by me so expect a slow build. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited January 24, 2024 by BKB94

[kev]

Cool!   Best of luck with the project.   

Will probably  have to use an older 302 front sump style oil pan setup for it to fit in a CQ.  

[obsolete]

I've already taken some bump steer and ackermann measurements with the factory steering box and linkage. I used the laser and mirror method. It was my first attempt at anything like this and I made some mistakes, but I tried to document everything as well as I could, and I made some spreadsheets that might be useful to you.

Bump steer: https://grassrootsmotorsports.com/forum/build-projects-and-project-cars/1988-chrysler-conquest-ecotec-swap/178574/page9/#post3424183

Ackermann: https://grassrootsmotorsports.com/forum/build-projects-and-project-cars/1988-chrysler-conquest-ecotec-swap/178574/page10/#post3433160

[BKB94]

My parts list, will edit as I go and confirm it all works. AGAIN THIS IS THE LIST IN MY BRAIN NOT ALL IS PROVEN YET

1994 5.0 MAS air and very compact accessory drive. 88K miles yea right. $500

1993 Fox Body T-5 trans 5/8 shorter then 94-95. These Pictures are with the longer 94-95 T5 because I was sold the wrong trans. Both put the shifter in the hole no cutting.

Stock 94 mustang motor mounts just swapped L for R.

1968 302 oil pan 5 quart and pick up melling 68S

Saturn SC2 R&P cardone 22-153 you will need the sensor that goes on the side $150 ( I tapped the sensor hole for NPT plug )

17mm FORD to 3/4 DD steering U-joint, DD shaft, 3/4 to 3/4 U-joint $70.00

AcDelco 45A0181 outer tie rod ends ( thread is larger than original need to drill the top of knuckle a tad larger ).

SRX_Ford50L_EFI_EngLift 5.0 engine lift plate This makes life easy $40 

S14 SR20 cheap ebay radiator $105 ( ports are reversed and will need to be cut off and welded ) SR20DET might work better

255 lph walbro pump GSS340BX sock filter VPN-125-135B

Fuel fitting adapters 6AN male to M14x1.5mm Female Inverted flare qty2 ( ebay )

-6AN male flare bulk head to 5/16 hose barb ( tank fuel bulkhead ebay )

ATL CFD-504 fuel tank wiring bulkhead ( ebay )

My trans came with a Green 8t internal speedometer gear and i would need a 23t VSS gear. The 23t teeth get thin and fail in 10k miles. The fix is to install a 7t Yellow gear E3ZZ-17285-A and for stock SQ rear and tires i would use a 20t VSS gear C1DZ-17271-A. 

The VSS you can use a 87-93 Fox or 94-95 mustang and lots of other fords. If it has the electrical plug and a spot for the cable but its plugged just pull the plug and a speedo cable will fit.

Speedo cable ATP-Y805 87-93 Fox 

Trans mount C6 AOD old car stuff seems low profile and most important rubber. Trans mount is no place for poly. C4DZ-6068-A

M14 #6 hose straight Beadlock fitting. AC evaporator line to universal AC

Gates 18906 heater core hoses fit pretty nice.

Prothane 19-1119 belt sander to make them fit the rear ST swaybar.

wilwood 260-10373 13/16 clutch master cylinder Bolt in, tapped clevis for 5/16-24 shaft. $99.75

Ford oil pressure sensor FOX E4ZZ-9278-A

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited January 14, 2024 by BKB94

[kev]

Sounds like it's going to be a fun project...and looks like you already thought about the oil pan and having it planned out.    Best of luck on the swap.  I'm looking forward to hearing how it goes.   

[BKB94]

VSS cable looks good. It does not have the clip in the proper place for the back of the cluster. I removed the mitsubishi blue clip and cut most of it off, drilled a hole to match the original. Using a zip tie for now but might use safety wire. It clips into the cluster just like the original and if you need to remove it in the car it's a simple one hand job. Pic of the VSS I'm using so the EEC gets its speed input it needs for proper IAC control. Without VSS the EEC can't operate dashpot function and you can get stalling at stop sighs and lights.

Rad came in today and I'm happy for $105. Outlets look great and I have lots of room but using a Ford OEM puller fan might be out. I'm not opposed to moving the rad and AC in front of the rad support but less work would be best. I'm purchasing a AC hose crimping tool so I can make my own hoses. The AC compressor is on the lower drivers side and the battery tray is in the way, moving the battery is not an option for me. There is a ton of room on the passenger side and it would clean up the AC hoses a lot. Might use the smog pump bracket to mount the AC to. Also looking into a universal condenser with both lines on the passenger side. New clean parts that reduce lines, hose, couplers and don't need to be flushed out for R-134 conversion.

   

The white cap can be removed to install spedo cable

 

  My $105 ebay radiator next to my $500 mustang radiator that leaks so bad it was not salvageable. 

Edited August 14, 2022 by BKB94

[techboy]

I was wondering if you were ever going to start this project.  Look forward to following along.

[BKB94]

11 hours ago, techboy said:

I was wondering if you were ever going to start this project.  Look forward to following along.

Well maybe if you ever came over in your car it would have motivated me. Im super glad I waited till everything quadrupled in price to start a project. Paint has gotten stupid.

[tux]

oh no..

[techboy]

On 5/23/2022 at 9:33 PM, BKB94 said:

Well maybe if you ever came over in your car it would have motivated me. Im super glad I waited till everything quadrupled in price to start a project. Paint has gotten stupid.

My problem is my car looks pretty, but it never runs.  There's always some problem and I'm always taking something back apart.  Makes it hard to drive it over.

[BKB94]

And that is the reason Im going with my 5.0, simple easy and dead nuts reliable. The 2.6 was a fresh rebuild in this car and ran decent most of the time. Wiring harness was butchered and all sensors were in different stages of failing. Hit a bump it died, raining out it wouldn't start. I beeped every wire to the ECU correcting all the damage from the last owner but when the MAF started failing I sold the complete driveline to a good home. I thought about re-wiring the car with a Honda or Ford ECU since i can tune those and go MPFI, a huge plus getting rid of all the outdated no longer available sensors and adding true weather proof connectors.  But this car needs a V8 rumble in my opinion. 

   I dont have much for updates. The engine seems to be in a good spot, plenty of clearance around the sway bar and crossmember. Behind the engine i can see the bolts in the bellhousing like i can on a Mustang. Trans tunnel is tight but I only had to hammer one little spot on the drivers side where the internal support has the 3 humps. Looks like it belongs in the engine bay until you try to put headers on. Im focusing on the R&P right now to see if this saturn rack is usable, at first look its not good but I will pull the motor and see if i can get bump steer under control.

[BKB94]

The 5.0

 I was told this engine had 88k miles and at $500 for a complete engine with BBK shorty headers and full wiring harness I can't complain. The plan was to pulled the last rod cap and look at the bearings and re-seal the engine, well it did not look good at all. Ordered main and rods in STD. Went cheap rebuilder grade ($45.00 shipped) not my typical Clevite 77 babbitt bearings so just kept it clean during assembly. I did pull a valve cover and stamped rockers so no goodies there. Because of the condition of everything I'm guessing this engine has 130-160K miles on it. I'm not worried but do to these findings I will do a leak down test to make sure rings, valves are good. 

 

Update - Leak down was horrible as in I don't think this engine would run. Best cylinder was 15%, average was probably 35% all out the exhaust valves. I'm used to 1-3% on the engines I built. Now I'm really pissed I didn't buy those new aluminum heads for $550 shipped black Friday special. I have been spending money like crazy on other projects so the engine will probably be done after the shell is painted.  

Edited January 24, 2024 by BKB94

[BKB94]

I have been working on other things and just looked at the rack tonight. I'm still shocked how such small adjustments in height of the rack can change it from bump out to bump in. If I was smart I would just drill out the knuckles and do Heims so I can adjust bump on that end but I want to try and stick to OEM style tie rods for now. My biggest problem is the steel lines on top of this rack and the fact that I will need to modify the oil pan to make it work. I need to fix my lathe to make some mounts get the rack in position and see If I have the height in the pan / engine to use this rack. 

[obsolete]

Which rack are you using? Saturn? I know it's been successfully swapped before, but not with a Ford 5.0 as far as I know.

If you want a power rack, the Dodge Shadow rack is another one that I know I've seen used.

[BKB94]

It’s the Saturn rack. I’m pretty sure the person that did the Saturn rack is using it as a manual and capped the lines. Shadow rack was my 3rd choice but many of these racks are getting very hard to find or pushing $400. Also other then you I don’t believe I have seen anyone else even look at bumpsteer. I was just shocked that a 1/4 inch in height would put me from massive bump out to equally massive bump in. I am leaning the rack back 15’ so it makes the mounts a bit interesting. 

[BKB94]

Stupid me thought this would be a fun project that I could take my time. I quickly realized I don't work well without some kind of due date or urgency. So put the car on the lift and tore it apart, I now must complete the underpinnings If I want my lift back. I'm not going to turn this into a restoration section ( I have decided this site is so dead I will clutter this up with more pictures of the restoration ) but will update when major milestones are completed. So the plan is

1. Paint complete undercarriage, No rust repair needed.

2. Install most of my full poly bushing kit.

3. Fuel tank rehab ( Its rusted bad inside ) clean inside and out paint / seal, internal pump. Update tank was so bad I purchased a used one.

4. Suspension / axle full disassembly of everything, paint and powder coat, bearings and seals replaced.

5. paint engine compartment, I have a color but need to pick a system. PPG will not be getting my money. 

 

 

Edited November 6, 2022 by BKB94

[BKB94]

So the plan is to get as much body work done as possible and get the shell in color. I will be converting the shed and house 3 car garage into paint booths. The shed will handle all black chassis parts and the garage all body color parts. Anyone in the PA area can help with paint supplies let me know, looking for a new paint system and striking out so far. I did stop buy Colours to see what PPG would run and im at $2200 using the lowest quality of everything possible. Im looking into different colors and that could drop it a few hundred. 

      I'm cleaning out the engine compartment and eliminating wiring / brackets that won't be used. The whole conquest passenger side harness will not be used and was pulled. On the inside kick panel, the EEC relay is also your fuel pump feed and the other connector feeds fused power and ignition switch power to the EEC that will come in handy for the Ford EEC. The Ford engine harness will occupie this space and will probably require a lot of modifications to look OEM.  The harness on the drivers side I was very disappointed it continues behind the dash and is not easily pulled. I decided to just slice open sections to remove all the unused connectors and wires. Not planning on a wire tuck at this time just clean up what's there and do something about the bundle of fusible links.

 

 

B-30 is the connector going to the large gold relay you can see in the above wiring harness. Coming out of that relay is the power feed going to the fuel pump on the single wire spade connector. B-38 is the white connector that has lots of fused and ignition power that I will use for the Ford EEC. The yellow and blue connectors go the Conquest ECI that was removed a long time ago. 

Edited July 27, 2022 by BKB94

[techboy]

Love the progress your making and will enjoy watching this.

[BKB94]

This car had a coating like rusty jones or something and its on everything. The sections that were dry like the wheel wells you could scape it off pretty easy and then MEK, WD-40, GAS, Diesel would wipe it off. But the tunnel where oil was flung everywhere it was a very nasty tar like substance that just smeared everywhere. So I threw it on the trailer and pressure washed everything. The dry sections came out nice and the gooey sections are better. I will roll it out again and wipe it all down with rags soaked in Gas while smoking. Then use final prep to get it really clean. 

Update - Days of wiping this crap off with gas and its just a mess. I will be buying a case of brakeclean to try and blast this stuff out of the seams and behind brackets. I expected to have the bottom painted by now but its not going to happen by this weekend. 

Edited July 27, 2022 by BKB94

[BKB94]

Frame repair from improper jack location.

Cleaning this stuff off has taken way too long and is pushing things back. By now the bottom of the car was to be painted and this week I should be painting suspension parts. Any brown or black areas are the anti-rust coating so I still have most of the floorboards to clean. Went threw 2.5 gallons of 93. Pushed the wrong button on the pump, I keep telling myself it cleans better then 87. Going to roll it out again and pressure wash it good one more time. After that I will start wiping with final prep and then start scuffing everything up. I have a mustang hydroboost and master that will be going on, no more paint peeling. 

For anyone that wants to do something similar I suggest you confirm you have insurance, tow drag or drive said car to a remote location, use said gas to burn the car to the ground, have a good alibi, report car stollen in the morning. Take the money and buy a Honda. It's been a rough few weeks and I am bitter. 

For real if this is something you need to tackle a pressure washer is really the key, renting a Hotsy would be even better if you could get the car high enough. Gas was the secret sauce for me along with terry cloths. For some of the dried on stuff around the exhaust I had some bug N tar remover in a can that I would spray on let it sit 15 min and pressure wash off. Brake clean was useless, It worked on the oily mess in seams but did nothing to this coating. I tried wire brushes and gas with little sucess, pneumatic wire wheels splattered the stuff everywhere and for me made way to big of a mess. 

Edited August 14, 2022 by BKB94

[BKB94]

Im happy its done but not happy with the results. Lots of things went wrong and I miss calculated how much more material would get wasted painting outside. Not that anyone will know once everything is back together. 

[obsolete]

Dang, that's purdy. When I get to that point with mine, I am thinking of rolling on paint instead of spraying.

[BKB94]

I have brushed the frame, under cab, bed of my F350. After 4 coats of rust bullet I said I will never brush again. Now looking at these pictures im thinking I might have a problem with tearing things apart and painting things people don't see, My mustang is already in que to be torn apart and have the underside painted. You would think Im a body man but im an electronics engineer.

 

 

[BKB94]

I found new motivation, my heart valve is shot and I need open heart surgery for a mechanical valve and to repair my aorta aneurism. I find out in a few months when the surgery will be. Between that and my Dad being in and out of the hospital the last few months let's just say every day feels like monday. But Im trying to get as much done before my 3 month vacation. I found a supplier for my paint and its looking like 1/2 the price. The problem with deals like this is it's been weeks and I still don't have paint. I have been clearing the good parts on the car including all steel lines and all hardware. I blasted and painted or powder coated all suspension parts.  Still need to burn out some bushings and clean up a few more parts for black paint. 

Edited December 4, 2022 by BKB94
Picture issues

[BKB94]

It was worth the wait for the paint at about 1/4 the cost of PPG. since this is just an engine compartment I did lay everything on thin with most parts getting one coat of clear. All the nooks and crannies used up more product than I was expecting.