My first Post

[josrodes]

Hi everyone,

I have engaged in this great adventure too, I already have my hands full of grease, I'm just a late poster.

I found FFR a couple years ago and since been thinking about it, I bought an old 302 of craigslist 1 year ago, put it apart, cleaned it completely, and decided that I had to do it.

Goal is to have a running car that I make better as we grow, we start 302 but will do 351 and 427 as we go, will start with 4lugs but will get to 5 soon, will start rear drum but will get Wilwood in a year or two, so thats the idea, here is the story so far.

I decided, roadster base kit, I decided on donor bc I can't afford everything new and getting the parts from different places was not what I was looking for for now.

So I got an 87GT of craigslist and put it apart with my step father in two weekends, that was this last fall, before the winter kicked in I disassembled the engine clean it up, got a new crank new rings and bearings all around, hone the piston walls, and cleaned everything, I then assembled the crank and pistons to the block and prep it up for the winter this was in my shed house(not lucky to have a garage but that it is not stopping me). I took the other parts that wanted to clean steering rack/intake oil pan spindles rearend and so on down to my basement, I got space there, during the winter i cleaned up all the rust with everything and anything(from navy gel to steel brush), after the first craigslist block I was ready, so I did all this part to what I consider a good restoration level given the limitations(don't have a sandblaster or power coating equipment will get there one day). Planing for the future I always check craigslist for deals of stuff I know I want at some point, so I got this AFR 185 heads for a great deal, I know they are a little too big for 302 but a new cam is in the future.

A couple of weeks ago snow cleared out, and was able to get to my shed house again, opened the engine and it was ready, new harmonic balancer time chain, oil pump gaskets afr heads, cleaned cobra intake, arp bolts all around in a weekend, I'm now up to cleaning the alternator brackets and power steering pump.

I order the Kit in Dec 31, I should get it next weekend.

These are the parts I will use from the donor:
Gas Tank
Engine/Tran
Spindles/Brakes
RearEnd/Brakes
Steering Rack/Steering column
Brake Master
Full Wiring Harness/EFI stuff
Wheels/tires
Pedal Box
Handbrake
Gauges


Got on FFR promotion when I got the kit
Tubular Lower control arms
3 link rear bolt on

Will have to get from FFR
Driveshaft
Cooling system(radiator etc)
Windshield wiper kit

And thats pretty much it, and to prove it here are some pictures.

I have really enjoyed reading the forum and feels good to know there is a bunch of you willing to help out here, thanks in advance.

from Medford MA

11151116111811191120

[LuckyWinner]

Congrats!!! and welcome to the forum. Good luck with the build, these guys here are the greatest and will help you with anything.

[riptide motorsport]

Welcome aboard.

[josrodes]

thanks guys,
Riptide, thats a sick line up of cars you got right there, do you have some pictures of the lineup? link?
Lucky, thanks, I have really enjoyed reading your posts, I read you got your TKO 600 delivered, congrats sick tran, do you have a link with your target build or still figuring it out? I saw you were asking 302 vs 351.

4/2 kit pickup date can't wait!

[Gumball]

Congratulations and enjoy the pick-up. I went to FFR to get mine - my avatar photo is a shot of me pulling away and is in the FFR archives. I really enjoyed the trip and highly recommend a tour of the facilities for anyone considering going there to pick their kit up.

[Fifty-Two]

CONGRATS!!!
I think you've got the right idea of starting with a base kit and upgrading as you go. Have fun with it and enjoy the journey!!! :D

[Mustang Man]

Congrats on the build! We're willing to help for sure, help spend your money! LOL

Go hide your credit card now and don't click on any pretty pictures you see or that donor build idea will go "poof" before you can say "braided billet powder coated muffler bearings"... :p

Mark

[josrodes]

Thanks,

At this point, I have all the donor parts ready, and yes, holding off on upgrading everything was one of the hardest things to do, I did what it made sense for the overall project.

One of the things that is still up for grabs is the wiring harness, using the donor one would mean that I would upgrade this at some point(thats my plan with all the parts, upgrade them better as I go), but upgrading the wiring hardness got to be the most difficult thing on this car, so I'm still debating whether to buy it or not.

Couple of question regarding this,
Would it be hard to upgrade? you can assume I will try to facilitate the upgrade process during my installation as much as possible.
What do you think I should do? you can assume that I would prefer not to spend this money now.
Do the one from FFR works for the EFI system?

Thanks,
Jose

[Mustang Man]

It's a tough question to answer. How good are you at electrical circuits, understanding wiring diagrams, etc? You're messing with 23 year old wiring, much of it exposed to the elements. You're going to have broken connectors, bad insulation, etc. They can be repaired, but it adds expense. If you can't do it you can have the harness "dieted" by several sources. Not sure of the cost, but I'm guessing several hundred dollars. They do a great job, it comes back clean with good connectors and ready to drop into the car.

Using an aftermarket harness offers a lot of flexibility, but again, requires some knowledge of how wiring works. If keeping EFI you'd need two harnesses, the main body harness and your EFI harness. Being an '87 and speed density, the harness does not have provisions for a mass air meter (best used for performance mods), but the wiring can be added in.

If ANY of this is greek to you find a local builder/friend who is good with wiring and have them inspect your donor harness and discuss the options with you in person (usually easier to understand)...

HTH...
Mark