Headed to the Junkyard

[Boedy1]

Okay fellas, I apologize for being all over the place, but this seems to be the only forum that could act as a catch all. So anyway, if you don’t know or can’t remember, I’m Boedy and I drive a 65 Ranchero that is absolutely my little pickup truck, so my build direction is probably a bit different than most of y’alls. I have a ’75 250 block in the basement that will hopefully snuggle down in the Ranchero, but I have many other things to do first. I already have an 8” from a 71 Maverick with 2.79 gears waiting as well. Today, I go back to the salvage yard to get a few items and that’s why I’m writing this. Ultimately, I want to end up with fuel injection so I want to tackle this as easy as possible first. I also want the 4 cylinder T-5 and a trac-loc 3.25 for the rear end. With these goals, I have some questions. I’ll list them in order of importance.

1. I know the yard has a couple of 85-86 Taurus’. I will be looking for the TBI from the 4 cylinder that will fit on my 250’s head. What all do I need to get if I have this weird fantasy that I can use as much of the Taurus fuel injection equipment as possible and just bolt it up as cheaply as possible for a easy and cheap intro to fuel injection? Computer? Sensors? Or just the TB?
2. They have an 85 Thunderbird, but I think it is a V8. Should I still get this driveshaft for future use? The T-5 conversion sticky says to get one from a Cougar/Thunderbird with a V6. Is the V8 different? I’m sure I’ll still have to lengthen or cut the shaft cause my Ranchero may be a different length than the Mustang that the sticky was written for, so I’m mostly thinking of the yolk and ends of the shaft.
3. They have a 4 cylinder Mustang with the T-5. They charge $100 for a manual transmission. Is it worth the risk to get one like this? There’s a guy here locally that has one he says works for $300, but that seems kinda steep for the 4 cylinder T-5 and the risk is not much different to me. But that’s more of a personal choice. The real question here is, can the Mustang clutch be used or do I NEED to get a whole new setup?
4. If I find a car with an 8” rear end, how can I tell if it is a trac-loc? I know to look on the metal tag, but what letters do I look for? If I find one, I’ll likely snatch the whole diff.
5. Also, there is a complete 83 Fairmont/LTD with a 200. Looks like it’s in great shape, definitely has the manifold with the big ‘ol collector and it is all complete. Should I snatch anything off of this thing? I mean sure, I’d like to have the whole engine, but that’s not gonna be possible. But just incase the TBI project is a bust, is the carb a good one? Is the head good enough to go through the trouble of snatching? Stuff like that.

Thanks in advance all!
Boedy

 

[rocklord]

Okay fellas, I apologize for being all over the place, but this seems to be the only forum that could act as a catch all. So anyway, if you don’t know or can’t remember, I’m Boedy and I drive a 65 Ranchero that is absolutely my little pickup truck, so my build direction is probably a bit different than most of y’alls. I have a ’75 250 block in the basement that will hopefully snuggle down in the Ranchero, but I have many other things to do first. I already have an 8” from a 71 Maverick with 2.79 gears waiting as well. Today, I go back to the salvage yard to get a few items and that’s why I’m writing this. Ultimately, I want to end up with fuel injection so I want to tackle this as easy as possible first. I also want the 4 cylinder T-5 and a trac-loc 3.25 for the rear end. With these goals, I have some questions. I’ll list them in order of importance.

1. I know the yard has a couple of 85-86 Taurus’. I will be looking for the TBI from the 4 cylinder that will fit on my 250’s head. What all do I need to get if I have this weird fantasy that I can use as much of the Taurus fuel injection equipment as possible and just bolt it up as cheaply as possible for a easy and cheap intro to fuel injection? Computer? Sensors? Or just the TB?
2. They have an 85 Thunderbird, but I think it is a V8. Should I still get this driveshaft for future use? The T-5 conversion sticky says to get one from a Cougar/Thunderbird with a V6. Is the V8 different? I’m sure I’ll still have to lengthen or cut the shaft cause my Ranchero may be a different length than the Mustang that the sticky was written for, so I’m mostly thinking of the yolk and ends of the shaft.
3. They have a 4 cylinder Mustang with the T-5. They charge $100 for a manual transmission. Is it worth the risk to get one like this? There’s a guy here locally that has one he says works for $300, but that seems kinda steep for the 4 cylinder T-5 and the risk is not much different to me. But that’s more of a personal choice. The real question here is, can the Mustang clutch be used or do I NEED to get a whole new setup?
4. If I find a car with an 8” rear end, how can I tell if it is a trac-loc? I know to look on the metal tag, but what letters do I look for? If I find one, I’ll likely snatch the whole diff.
5. Also, there is a complete 83 Fairmont/LTD with a 200. Looks like it’s in great shape, definitely has the manifold with the big ‘ol collector and it is all complete. Should I snatch anything off of this thing? I mean sure, I’d like to have the whole engine, but that’s not gonna be possible. But just incase the TBI project is a bust, is the carb a good one? Is the head good enough to go through the trouble of snatching? Stuff like that.

Thanks in advance all!
Boedy

I'll try to answer as many questions as i can:

1. As far as the 4cyl Taurus TBI; the post where rmoe88 installed one on his 200, he only used the TBI from the Tempo/Taurus 4cyl with a Megasquirt ECU. No one has yet tried the ECU from the donor vehicle; whether it will work with our 6cyl is unknown. The minimum you should get is the TBI and ALL of the wire connectors that attach to the TBI; the connectors can be a bear to find aftermarket (cut as much of the wire from the harness as you can) or get the whole wiring harness from the donor vehicle for the TBI. If want to try the donor vehicle's ECU, then get TBI, engine harness, and all of the sensors. If you decide to go the Megasquirt route, the sensors should work with it, but Megasquirt was designed with GM sensors in mind.

2. Haven't read the T-5 conversion sticky, but the V8 driveshaft should give you yokes to fit the 8-inch Maverick. Hopefully, someone else on here will chime in.

3. Both 4cyl T-5s would be a gamble so I'd go with the JY one; $300 is kind of steep for one unless it is a rebuilt unit. Get the slip yoke that goes into the back of the T-5 from the 4cyl Mustang while you're at it; or the whole driveshaft if it's cheap. The Mustang clutch cannot be used with your 250. The 250 uses the same size flywheel, clutch disc, and pressure plate as a SBF V8 (289/302).

4. If the wheels on the rear axle can be rotated, a simple test is to rotate one of the tires and see what the other side does; if the other tire rotates in the same direction it should be a trac-loc, is it rotates in the opposite direction it is an open differential.

5. Get the head from the 200. Check the casting code on the head located on the intake manifold; it should have a code starting with E0 or E1. These heads have the largest intake volume as any of the previous heads, 1420cc, and will flow more stock than a modified small log head.

Hope this helps.

 

[rbohm]

Okay fellas, I apologize for being all over the place, but this seems to be the only forum that could act as a catch all. So anyway, if you don’t know or can’t remember, I’m Boedy and I drive a 65 Ranchero that is absolutely my little pickup truck, so my build direction is probably a bit different than most of y’alls. I have a ’75 250 block in the basement that will hopefully snuggle down in the Ranchero, but I have many other things to do first. I already have an 8” from a 71 Maverick with 2.79 gears waiting as well. Today, I go back to the salvage yard to get a few items and that’s why I’m writing this. Ultimately, I want to end up with fuel injection so I want to tackle this as easy as possible first. I also want the 4 cylinder T-5 and a trac-loc 3.25 for the rear end. With these goals, I have some questions. I’ll list them in order of importance.

1. I know the yard has a couple of 85-86 Taurus’. I will be looking for the TBI from the 4 cylinder that will fit on my 250’s head. What all do I need to get if I have this weird fantasy that I can use as much of the Taurus fuel injection equipment as possible and just bolt it up as cheaply as possible for a easy and cheap intro to fuel injection? Computer? Sensors? Or just the TB?

personally i would get just the throttle body, and run it with the megasquirt controller. that way you can tune the program to get the engine to run just like you want, rather than try to adapt the wiring harness and ecu to your application. it will cost more in money to do it that way, but it will be much better overall.

2. They have an 85 Thunderbird, but I think it is a V8. Should I still get this driveshaft for future use? The T-5 conversion sticky says to get one from a Cougar/Thunderbird with a V6. Is the V8 different? I’m sure I’ll still have to lengthen or cut the shaft cause my Ranchero may be a different length than the Mustang that the sticky was written for, so I’m mostly thinking of the yolk and ends of the shaft.

yes go ahead and grad the drive shaft. best to get the one from the car that you get the transmission out of though that way the output yoke is matched to the trans.

3. They have a 4 cylinder Mustang with the T-5. They charge $100 for a manual transmission. Is it worth the risk to get one like this? There’s a guy here locally that has one he says works for $300, but that seems kinda steep for the 4 cylinder T-5 and the risk is not much different to me. But that’s more of a personal choice. The real question here is, can the Mustang clutch be used or do I NEED to get a whole new setup?

i would use the V8 T5 with the 250 as the gearing is better. the 4 cylinder T5 is better for a 144-200. since you plan on using the 250, you are going to use a larger flywheel, which will use the mustang clutch. in fact grab the flywheel from the V8 you grab the T5 from, bell housing also by the way, and have the flywheel zero balanced to work with the 250.

5. Also, there is a complete 83 Fairmont/LTD with a 200. Looks like it’s in great shape, definitely has the manifold with the big ‘ol collector and it is all complete. Should I snatch anything off of this thing? I mean sure, I’d like to have the whole engine, but that’s not gonna be possible. But just incase the TBI project is a bust, is the carb a good one? Is the head good enough to go through the trouble of snatching? Stuff like that.

take the whole engine. why do i say this? you can use the head, carb, and exhaust from this engine in your swap, and then you can sell the short block to someone here to make back a little of the money you will spend on this project.

 

[JackFish]

That late Fairmont block will be a low-starter, suitable for manual transmission options or maybe an AOD.

 

[MustangSix]

1. I know the yard has a couple of 85-86 Taurus’. I will be looking for the TBI from the 4 cylinder that will fit on my 250’s head. What all do I need to get if I have this weird fantasy that I can use as much of the Taurus fuel injection equipment as possible and just bolt it up as cheaply as possible for a easy and cheap intro to fuel injection? Computer? Sensors? Or just the TB?

I would skip the one bbl TBI. Even with a big bump in fuel pressure it can only support about 140 hp with the injectors available. Its only advantage is that it has a 1bbl base that fits the large 1bbl opening. Skip the stock ECU and sensors too. Nothing useable or adaptable.

2. They have an 85 Thunderbird, but I think it is a V8. Should I still get this driveshaft for future use? The T-5 conversion sticky says to get one from a Cougar/Thunderbird with a V6. Is the V8 different? I’m sure I’ll still have to lengthen or cut the shaft cause my Ranchero may be a different length than the Mustang that the sticky was written for, so I’m mostly thinking of the yolk and ends of the shaft.

If the V8 has a 2bbl TBI, grab that. It has the Autolite/Holley 2bbl base and will work well with megasquirt.

The V6 and V8 driveshafts are the same on that car. The length will probably be wrong for your car. Easy to shorten, hard to stretch, though.

3. They have a 4 cylinder Mustang with the T-5. They charge $100 for a manual transmission. Is it worth the risk to get one like this? There’s a guy here locally that has one he says works for $300, but that seems kinda steep for the 4 cylinder T-5 and the risk is not much different to me. But that’s more of a personal choice. The real question here is, can the Mustang clutch be used or do I NEED to get a whole new setup?

The T5 should be ok and for $100 you may as well. Check the input to make sure it isn't too worn on the pilot. The clutch won't work for a 200.

4. If I find a car with an 8” rear end, how can I tell if it is a trac-loc? I know to look on the metal tag, but what letters do I look for? If I find one, I’ll likely snatch the whole diff.

On the tag on the lower left are the ratio numbers. Should look like 3 40. If there is a letter separating the first number from the last two, like 3H40 it is a Trac Lok.

5. Also, there is a complete 83 Fairmont/LTD with a 200. Looks like it’s in great shape, definitely has the manifold with the big ‘ol collector and it is all complete. Should I snatch anything off of this thing? I mean sure, I’d like to have the whole engine, but that’s not gonna be possible. But just incase the TBI project is a bust, is the carb a good one? Is the head good enough to go through the trouble of snatching? Stuff like that.

The head would be worth taking. These engines are getting old. They haven't built any in over 30 years. If you seriously think you might do a build, you should grab it. They just aren't common anymore. Imagine looking for flathead V8's in the junkyard in 1988. That's where we are.

 

[Boedy1]

Update!

So, I ended up snatching the cylinder head and manifold from the ’83 LTD/Fairmont. I also got the CFI/TBI from the Thunderbird and made sure to leave all kinds of extra wire. That’s all I was able to get at this time. I remember reading a post on here somewhere that the manifolds with the big ‘ol canister/collector thingy where actually really excellent. Am I really mistaken? It’s got all kinds of smog stuff on it and it’s really awkward looking, but if it flows good, I’ll use it. Or at least would like another option other than headers. It also seems like it would be easy enough to use those smog pipes for the exhaust sensor for the TBI. As far as the TBI goes, it’s got a couple of large do-hickies on either side, so you can’t really mount it in either direction to avoid them hitting the valve cover. Are either of them useless for my purposes so that I can hack them off?

Boedy

 

[rbohm]

8) that canister is actually the catalytic converter. what some people do is open it up and remove the catalyst. as to whether it does that much or not i dont know. just remember to recycle the catalyst.