Hey, I recently saw a thread where someone mentioned my name and BBF. That put a smile on my face! I also have that sweet video of that dude tuning his BBF with fuel injection.
I'm writing this thread to let you know of the possibilities with BBFs in a fox body.
I'm currently "massaging" a 501 and TKO600 into my 85.
I'm kinda building this just to prove everyone wrong. I know most people just like to stuff a big block in a small car, throw a built auto behind it and run down a straight line all day. I thought, why can't I have the big block but still keep the sporty feel of a mustang or built canyon carver.
This project is a real pain in the butt, but I think I'm a bit of a trailblazer since info is so hard to find. I could only find one site that sells shortie or midlength headers for the swap, and only one site that sells the appropriate bellhousing and adapters, and so on and so on.
I just want to say that you can fairly easily put a BBF and manual transmission in your fox body, still run pump gas, get decent mileage, maintain front weight bias, and corner well.
You may ask, how did he do it? Well for starters, if you take a BBF and install aluminum heads, aluminum water pump and aluminum intake manifold, ditch the A/C and power steering and move the battery to the back, the front weight is very close to a factory fully loaded GT with a small block.
Another misconception is that the motor doesnt fit under the factory hood. Well, it does. I put an 82 hood scoop on the hood and cut a hole in the hood, but it looks good and it fits. If I have actually run a carb bonnet and piping I could have done it without touching the hood at all. I'm actually going to use a carb bonnet now because I'm using a strut tower brace and the air cleaner doesnt fit.
I've also heard that you can't or shouldnt put a stick behind that monster. Why not? I use to have a 69 Javelin with 390 and 4-speed, and I loved the way each gear hit with all that torque. I guess this car is a way of replicating that feel. Let me tell you, nothing feels better than jamming each gear with all that big block torque smashing your face in. I'm not building some Nitrous monster with crazy compression ratios. This engine is fairly mild to what I've seen floating around, and I have a TKO600 5-speed rated for 600 ft/lbs. There is no reason this transmission should fail unless I'm at the track every weekend with sub 1.50 60ft times.
Lastly, people say it won't corner. Why not? This car weighs far less than a new cobra or GT, and I have practically every suspension part you can get. The suspension now has QA1 coilovers, tubular A-arms, tubular K-member, strut tower brace, prothane bushings, C/C plates, subframe connectors, upper and lower control arms, and eibach rear springs. I also have a safety loop which also stiffens the body and I plan on torque boxes and an 8 point rollcage. Steering is provided by a flaming river manual rack. I had purchased X2 balljoints and a bumpsteer kit but cant do it with my current A-arms and 87 GT spindles so I'll wait on that. The only thing I'm missing is a Steeda 5-link rear suspension. I'm not sure how that would work with a 3 inch exhaust, but I need to call them and ask Steeda.
The exhaust is really fun. Its a custom mandrel bent 3-inch setup. How did I make it? Here is a parts breakdown.
1. Accufab midlengths
2. 90* mandrel pipe piece
3. 45* mandrel pipe piece
4. Summit Racing universal X-pipe kit, 3"
5. Flowmaster offset/offset mufflers, 3"
6. Flowmaster LX tailpipe kit, 3"
Installation problems: The accufab headers do not fit around the SFI approved bellhousing or the clutch cable so I had to "modify" them, read as beat the $%@$ out of them. The passenger side also made contact with a rear corner of the K-member so I ground off the K-member edge for clearance. I also had to grind down some of the bellhousing lip which technically voids the SFI certification. To further protect the clutch cable from contact and heat I wrapped it with a thermal spark plug boot, and the headers are also thermal wrapped for that old school race look.
I havent actually finished the exhaust, but I've made mandrel exhaust before by cutting prebent pieces and welding them together. It shouldnt be too hard since Flowmaster already did the back half for me, and the Universal X-pipe kit does some work too.
Next problem you may ask about: The tranny and mount. The bellhousing is basically a toploader unit so you'll need a one inch spacer between the bell and the tranny or get a toploader length input shaft. I'v reused the factory tranny support with a prothane tranny mount. The bolt holes should line right up with the factory slots in the support bracket. For the driveshaft, I'm using an unmodified Ford Racing Aluminum piece for Tremecs that have the right spline count. What is it like a 26 or 31 or something like that? A clearance problem I found was the speedo pickup. I'm using an electrical pickup for the Autometer electric speedo gauge, and the unit sticks out and hits the tranny. I had to grind down the tranny before it would slip in. The spot where you need to grind it is where the tranny mount bolts into the tranny. It should still be fine, and since everybody just uses the mechanical cable you shouldnt even have to worry about this part.
Another clearance problem I had was with the distributor. I have a Ford Motorsport unit made by MSD. I bought it used off of Ebay and it worked when I had the normal 460 installed, but I wanted a new shiny MSD for this project. Problem is that a standard MSD dizzy doesn't fit under the factory hood so I went back to the old one. I'll spice it up with a red cap and rotor from MSD instead of the grey unit.
The oil pan is from Canton, its a 7-quart setup and I'm also using an oil cooler and remote dual filter unit. I'm really going overkill this time, but I really want this engine to be good in hot traffic.
Cooling is provided by a universal Summit aluminum radiator with Flexalite dual electric fans. They clear the pulleys by about an inch or 2, and the fans just happened to be the exact same width as the radiator core. I could not have planned it any better. It looks very professional. This time around I measured the core support and examined closely what Summit had to offer so this time I have a radiator a few inches bigger than the old one I got from Summit. I'm really taking advantage of every inch available for the radiator. I think the old radiator could have done the job, but I'm starting fresh with a better eye for detail and so why not squeeze in a little more cooling affect.
The previous motor blew the V-belt and overheated. I believe this caused the Number 1 piston wrist pin to slide out and groove the cylinder wall. I think the whole time I was driving the car it was wearing into the cylinder wall. That's where my cooling was going, and that probably caused the poor showings at the dyno. I didn't even catch it until I had the motor out to clean it up and redo it with aluminum heads. I originally thought a head gasket caused the problem and since I had money I got aluminum heads. Right before I put it all back together I turned the engine over by hand to get it to top dead when I suddenly saw this huge groove like a quarter had been jammed between the wall and the piston.
So for the engine, this time its a steel billet crank, H-beam eagle rods, hyper. Keith black pistons and spirolocks and full floating wrist pins. Cubes come out to 501, and the comp should be around 9.5. I've added 35 cubes, aftermarket heads, a little more compression, headers and 3" instead of 2.5 inch exhaust.
As for the V-belt blowing off, this time its a March serpentine pully and bracket kit. For accessories all I have is the alternator which is a 135amp Power Master unit. I do have a clearance issue with the back of the alternator and the aluminum valve covers. Once I get a belt and verify that the brackets and pullies are flush and good, I'll either space everything with 1/8th inch washers or grind on the valve cover.
Lastly, I'm using short finned aluminum valve covers and roller tipped rockers. I want roller rockers, but that would require tall valve covers which means I couldn't keep the power brakes. I wanted something power optioned so I didn't do the roller rockers.
That should be enough to digest for now, but if you have any questions let me know. I kinda know this car and the swap inside and out, and I'm pretty anal about this build so I have lots of info and research I can answer questions with. If you bug me enough I can get you all the part numbers I've used and post some of the thousand pictures I've taken. Thanks everyone, Scot Rod
I'm writing this thread to let you know of the possibilities with BBFs in a fox body.
I'm currently "massaging" a 501 and TKO600 into my 85.
I'm kinda building this just to prove everyone wrong. I know most people just like to stuff a big block in a small car, throw a built auto behind it and run down a straight line all day. I thought, why can't I have the big block but still keep the sporty feel of a mustang or built canyon carver.
This project is a real pain in the butt, but I think I'm a bit of a trailblazer since info is so hard to find. I could only find one site that sells shortie or midlength headers for the swap, and only one site that sells the appropriate bellhousing and adapters, and so on and so on.
I just want to say that you can fairly easily put a BBF and manual transmission in your fox body, still run pump gas, get decent mileage, maintain front weight bias, and corner well.
You may ask, how did he do it? Well for starters, if you take a BBF and install aluminum heads, aluminum water pump and aluminum intake manifold, ditch the A/C and power steering and move the battery to the back, the front weight is very close to a factory fully loaded GT with a small block.
Another misconception is that the motor doesnt fit under the factory hood. Well, it does. I put an 82 hood scoop on the hood and cut a hole in the hood, but it looks good and it fits. If I have actually run a carb bonnet and piping I could have done it without touching the hood at all. I'm actually going to use a carb bonnet now because I'm using a strut tower brace and the air cleaner doesnt fit.
I've also heard that you can't or shouldnt put a stick behind that monster. Why not? I use to have a 69 Javelin with 390 and 4-speed, and I loved the way each gear hit with all that torque. I guess this car is a way of replicating that feel. Let me tell you, nothing feels better than jamming each gear with all that big block torque smashing your face in. I'm not building some Nitrous monster with crazy compression ratios. This engine is fairly mild to what I've seen floating around, and I have a TKO600 5-speed rated for 600 ft/lbs. There is no reason this transmission should fail unless I'm at the track every weekend with sub 1.50 60ft times.
Lastly, people say it won't corner. Why not? This car weighs far less than a new cobra or GT, and I have practically every suspension part you can get. The suspension now has QA1 coilovers, tubular A-arms, tubular K-member, strut tower brace, prothane bushings, C/C plates, subframe connectors, upper and lower control arms, and eibach rear springs. I also have a safety loop which also stiffens the body and I plan on torque boxes and an 8 point rollcage. Steering is provided by a flaming river manual rack. I had purchased X2 balljoints and a bumpsteer kit but cant do it with my current A-arms and 87 GT spindles so I'll wait on that. The only thing I'm missing is a Steeda 5-link rear suspension. I'm not sure how that would work with a 3 inch exhaust, but I need to call them and ask Steeda.
The exhaust is really fun. Its a custom mandrel bent 3-inch setup. How did I make it? Here is a parts breakdown.
1. Accufab midlengths
2. 90* mandrel pipe piece
3. 45* mandrel pipe piece
4. Summit Racing universal X-pipe kit, 3"
5. Flowmaster offset/offset mufflers, 3"
6. Flowmaster LX tailpipe kit, 3"
Installation problems: The accufab headers do not fit around the SFI approved bellhousing or the clutch cable so I had to "modify" them, read as beat the $%@$ out of them. The passenger side also made contact with a rear corner of the K-member so I ground off the K-member edge for clearance. I also had to grind down some of the bellhousing lip which technically voids the SFI certification. To further protect the clutch cable from contact and heat I wrapped it with a thermal spark plug boot, and the headers are also thermal wrapped for that old school race look.
I havent actually finished the exhaust, but I've made mandrel exhaust before by cutting prebent pieces and welding them together. It shouldnt be too hard since Flowmaster already did the back half for me, and the Universal X-pipe kit does some work too.
Next problem you may ask about: The tranny and mount. The bellhousing is basically a toploader unit so you'll need a one inch spacer between the bell and the tranny or get a toploader length input shaft. I'v reused the factory tranny support with a prothane tranny mount. The bolt holes should line right up with the factory slots in the support bracket. For the driveshaft, I'm using an unmodified Ford Racing Aluminum piece for Tremecs that have the right spline count. What is it like a 26 or 31 or something like that? A clearance problem I found was the speedo pickup. I'm using an electrical pickup for the Autometer electric speedo gauge, and the unit sticks out and hits the tranny. I had to grind down the tranny before it would slip in. The spot where you need to grind it is where the tranny mount bolts into the tranny. It should still be fine, and since everybody just uses the mechanical cable you shouldnt even have to worry about this part.
Another clearance problem I had was with the distributor. I have a Ford Motorsport unit made by MSD. I bought it used off of Ebay and it worked when I had the normal 460 installed, but I wanted a new shiny MSD for this project. Problem is that a standard MSD dizzy doesn't fit under the factory hood so I went back to the old one. I'll spice it up with a red cap and rotor from MSD instead of the grey unit.
The oil pan is from Canton, its a 7-quart setup and I'm also using an oil cooler and remote dual filter unit. I'm really going overkill this time, but I really want this engine to be good in hot traffic.
Cooling is provided by a universal Summit aluminum radiator with Flexalite dual electric fans. They clear the pulleys by about an inch or 2, and the fans just happened to be the exact same width as the radiator core. I could not have planned it any better. It looks very professional. This time around I measured the core support and examined closely what Summit had to offer so this time I have a radiator a few inches bigger than the old one I got from Summit. I'm really taking advantage of every inch available for the radiator. I think the old radiator could have done the job, but I'm starting fresh with a better eye for detail and so why not squeeze in a little more cooling affect.
The previous motor blew the V-belt and overheated. I believe this caused the Number 1 piston wrist pin to slide out and groove the cylinder wall. I think the whole time I was driving the car it was wearing into the cylinder wall. That's where my cooling was going, and that probably caused the poor showings at the dyno. I didn't even catch it until I had the motor out to clean it up and redo it with aluminum heads. I originally thought a head gasket caused the problem and since I had money I got aluminum heads. Right before I put it all back together I turned the engine over by hand to get it to top dead when I suddenly saw this huge groove like a quarter had been jammed between the wall and the piston.
So for the engine, this time its a steel billet crank, H-beam eagle rods, hyper. Keith black pistons and spirolocks and full floating wrist pins. Cubes come out to 501, and the comp should be around 9.5. I've added 35 cubes, aftermarket heads, a little more compression, headers and 3" instead of 2.5 inch exhaust.
As for the V-belt blowing off, this time its a March serpentine pully and bracket kit. For accessories all I have is the alternator which is a 135amp Power Master unit. I do have a clearance issue with the back of the alternator and the aluminum valve covers. Once I get a belt and verify that the brackets and pullies are flush and good, I'll either space everything with 1/8th inch washers or grind on the valve cover.
Lastly, I'm using short finned aluminum valve covers and roller tipped rockers. I want roller rockers, but that would require tall valve covers which means I couldn't keep the power brakes. I wanted something power optioned so I didn't do the roller rockers.
That should be enough to digest for now, but if you have any questions let me know. I kinda know this car and the swap inside and out, and I'm pretty anal about this build so I have lots of info and research I can answer questions with. If you bug me enough I can get you all the part numbers I've used and post some of the thousand pictures I've taken. Thanks everyone, Scot Rod
