XR4Ti 302 V8 swap

[nathankershaw]

Had a bit of a mental block about making brake lines because I've never done it before.....pretty much like everything in this swap!

Anyway....I shot down to the scrappies and whipped the lines off the Scorp that's in there and they're hooked up!

[MODEL-Turbo]

Sweet. Welcome to owning a v8. I was raised on them. Being American most usually are in the mid west. I just want the reliable power of a 302. Not that the 2.3 is not. But i know a mean 302 build for auto x.

Keep it up. It looks great and will continue to follow.
Any chance of Carlisle next year?

[nathankershaw]

Sweet. Welcome to owning a v8. I was raised on them. Being American most usually are in the mid west. I just want the reliable power of a 302. Not that the 2.3 is not. But i know a mean 302 build for auto x.

Keep it up. It looks great and will continue to follow.
Any chance of Carlisle next year?

Ha! Carlisle in my XR? No no no......
It's just a local play toy and track car.........no heating, A/C or interior.
I really wanna go one day, maybe a Scorpio with a V8/Auto and all the bells and whistles.

[nathankershaw]

So I took the Scorpio partially apart to put some brake cleaner through it and it was surprisingly clean so hopefully thats all good now.

I also organized the dash harnes a bit more and relocated the fuse box inside. I think I'll have a few clearance issues once the dash is in but I'll cross that bridge when I get to it!



I also ran the wires around the chassis legs so the engine and tranny may go in on Monday if I can muster the man power!

It's nice to see the garage floor getting a little clearer as I put the bits back on the car?

[nathankershaw]

So after I ran the dash wiring around the front of the car then tried to offer up the Mustang Radiatir again the wiring was in the way.

I planned on getting rid of the X brace and inner light mounts as I plan on running something that does both jobs in place of the Xr outer lamp.



So I opened up a pathway at the end of the chassis leg in the drivers side so the wiring can go around the outside of the slam panel support and then along the front crossmember as ford intended.

[nathankershaw]

So, before I dropped the engine in I wanted to see how the rad fit with the wiring removed.



I put the grille on just to see if I had any more room forward.
There is at least another inch if I trim the vertical panels inside the headlamps.

[nathankershaw]

And she's in!

The tranny's on an axle stand for now and that will be the next job to fabricate.



Like you have all said using the foxbody accessories makes clearance super tight.

The only real issue is that the foxbody tensioner hits the front panel, so I think I'm going to sue the smog pump as a tensioner as there is a threaded hole in the back that I don't think is used right now.

The foxbody exhaust manifolds fit and clear everything but the angle on the passenger side is going to make, making the exhaust interesting!

[nathankershaw]

Finished but not painted.

She's ugly but strong!



I couldn't resist putting the gear lever and sitting in to see what it felt like.

[Ray]

How did you disconnect the fuse box under the hood?

[DPDISXR4Ti]

I also organized the dash harnes a bit more and relocated the fuse box inside. I think I'll have a few clearance issues once the dash is in but I'll cross that bridge when I get to it!

That's pretty much the approach I'm taking with the Scorpio steering column in the XR. Just get it in place and then work around it as needed.

BTW, I do have the same question as Ray re: how you got the box inside. I tried all sorts of pin removal tools with no luck, so that's when I resorted to cutting the box into chunks.

[nathankershaw]

How did you disconnect the fuse box under the hood?

I wrestled with the devil clips that hold the box to the bulkhead and then pulled the entire dash harness out through the hole that the fuse box sat in.

Then I did a bit of dash harness thinning.

So now the fuse box sits up against the a pillar and sits on the bar that goes from the steering column to the A pillar.

It's a Ziptie Racing original design! Lol!

[nathankershaw]

Ok, so gave up on wiring for now as I find it ultimately confusing so I thought I'd make it look ore like a car again.

radiator progress

got the cradle started



it gives me about 2 1/4" clearance to squeeze a fan in there.





Doesn't stick out from the bottom of the bumper which is a bonus



A little more car like

[nathankershaw]

hooked up some of the Smog vacuum hoses as well.

[MODEL-Turbo]

Whats the radiator out of?

[nathankershaw]

Whats the radiator out of?

The same 89 Mustang that everything else came out of! lol!