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This working plan stems from
my desire to convert my tired little coupe with 147,000+ miles on it to a
super handling, quick, and fast semi-sleeper. It has to remain street (and
emissions) legal as I plan to continue driving it indefinitely. This plan
will change... (and it has.... screw the emissions... I'll go through the
referee process... I can build it cleaner my way anyway....)
Power plant:
Replace the current stock 2.3L
normally aspirated engine with a 2.3L Turbo engine from a donor car ('88
TC). The only way to keep my car emissions legal is to use an '89
Merkur engine (referee process). I suspect that I can likely use a
powerplant from something like an '88 TurboCoupe as long as I fit the
emissions setup as they are in the '89 Merkur. This is all based on the
California requirement that replacement engines be either a) replacement
engines from like model, like year, or b) replacement engine from another
model from the same manufacturer of the same model year or newer, WITH all
emissions provisions installed and functional... AND must pass a referee
station inspection and the sniffer test (which as I understand it has just
been increased to a dynamic loading test (DYNO) as opposed to the old
sniffer in the tail pipe in neutral gig. The donor engine will of course
be treated to a complete rebuild prior to taking up residence in the
Coupe's engine bay.
Transmission:
For now, I plan to stick with
the T5 since the donor car will deliver the third unit into my little
inventory. That will give me two to rebuild while I use the third. I will
upgrade the T5's to handle the anticipated increase in horsepower. torque,
and "increased demand" I intend to put on them. 
I will install an aluminum flywheel, Stage III clutch and aluminum drive
shaft.
Differential:
I intend to swap the stock
7.5" for the 8.8" in the donor car ('88TC). The axles are
a bit longer, but I'm planning to convert to 5-lug anyway...
Chassis:
I've already replaced the
lower control arms with a set from Maximum Motorsports (being replaced
with adjustable sperical rod-end bearing LCAs... (custom made). I intend
to make a fairly serious investment of time and $$ in the chassis: in
frame subframe connectors, 8/10-point roll cage, torque arm, panhard bar,
coil-over shocks, tubular k-member, tubular a-arms, front coilovers,
caster/camber plates, etc.
Interior:
Basically the entire interior
will eventually be replaced with a much more Spartan and hopefully much
lighter components.
Exterior:
While I already have virtually
a complete NOS (New Old Stock) set of exterior trim parts on the way, I'm
considering serious exterior mods to eliminate as much of the exterior
trim (and weight) as possible. I'd like to eliminate the body side molding
altogether along with the adjacent body panel folds as well. I also plan
to eliminate stuff like the exterior radio antenna (gone), door handles,
fuel filler door, etc. The paint scheme hasn't even been seriously
considered yet, but the entire car WILL be stripped to bare metal and
repainted. The undercoating will be stripped as well (necessary so that
all seams can be welded). The entire inspection/stripping process will
allow the thorough search for and elimination of oxidation of any kind.
Weight reduction:
(Moved to Weight
Reduction page) |
