Ownership Verified: My 1984 Ford Mustang SVO and tow rig...

Craig, I'm so happy for you. This will be really, really good.

I'm now off to mobile again.
 
YAY
 
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An engine was acquired yesterday. Low mileage rebuilt. Complete minus turbo. I've got my eyes on a disco potato, but I'll have to see if I can get the funds together for a new turbo. Should have a transmission on Friday.
 
Disco potato?
 
Was cool at the time, fills the void?
 
wanders off from FG for another few months, comes back

“Oh, look. Craig’s bought himself another Mustang. Nothing’s changed!” :p

All kidding aside, congrats, Mustang Sally! I’m looking forward to seeing what you do with it.
 
So I haven't been as productive on this as I should have, but I keep collecting parts for it's eventual rebuilding. Transmission was acquired late last year, picked up some 1994-1995 spindles to allow the use of 13" Cobra brakes and some lower control arms (since the SVO arms are non-serviceable). Also scored an aluminum driveshaft from an AWD Aerostar mini-van, it's a direct swap into the Mustang (actually found two, the other went to a friend's project).

Then this past weekend I found a couple SVOs in a Mustang salvage yard in Arkansas (same one I got the SVO back from) and pulled the marker lights out of one. These aren't currently reproduced, so I was happy to find a decent set as mine are a little tired.


Before sanding and polishing:

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After:

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The driver's side inner marker was broken on the car in the salvage, but I'll find one to replace my broken one at some point.
 
Still gathering parts, but getting close to start putting it together.

Ordered 13" Cobra style brakes for the front. These will go on the 1994 spindles and 1999-2004 control arms to replace all the worn original SVO parts. Control arms are getting new ball joints and bushings as the salvage yard units were well used.

I bought a $140 Chinese T3/T4 hybrid turbo and got rid of that Chinese tubular manifold that are known to crack in favor of a ported Ford E6 manifold from a later Thunderbird Turbo Coupe.

Still have a few larger dollar items to buy, tires for the 17" wheels (required to clear the aforementioned 13" brakes) and exhaust. I'm sure there's lots of nickel and dime stuff that I am missing, but I won't know what that is until I get there.

I did order something I had always wanted, a Marti Report. Gives me some ideas as to when it was built and where the car was sold.

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As you can see it was sold in a town about 75 miles from me, but looks like it sat on the lot for nearly a year before being sold. I also know from a previous report I got from the SVO Club of America that it was a fairly early car built on the production line, just the 251st SVO built.
 
Thirty-nine days behind schedule!
 
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Progress has been made. Supposed to rain tomorrow and should have time Saturday to try and drop this mess in place. Who knows what's missing and how well the 1986 engine harness will play with the 1984 body harness. I think I am missing battery cables, but that's fraily easy to overcome. What else is missing is to be found...
 
Who knows what's missing and how well the 1986 engine harness will play with the 1984 body harness. I think I am missing battery cables, but that's fraily easy to overcome. What else is missing is to be found...

Have you experienced problems before doing this swap? I would think with there not being any CANbus and each module not having a specific address that it wouldn't be a big deal, but I've never played with these older ecus like this.
 
Have you experienced problems before doing this swap? I would think with there not being any CANbus and each module not having a specific address that it wouldn't be a big deal, but I've never played with these older ecus like this.

Dunno, before I had the stock setup. I think I'll be fine, but there were a couple sensors added in 1986. The car has a 1988 T-Bird ECU too. So....

I'll need to drop the fuel tank and clean it out, check the pump (probably should replace it), before we'll know if it runs...
 
As I was afraid, the 1986 engine harness and the 1984 body harness do not play nice with each other. So.... here's the options:

One: Find a 1984 engine harness. Problem here is the 1984 harnesses are known for bad wiring. I can see this on this car, as the sheathing on the wires is turning brittle and falling off in places.

Zwei: Build my own engine harness. The plugs are standard Ford stuff and available. That fixes the engine side, but still leaves the body side questionable.

Three: The complete engine/body wiring harness is available new for about $500. This is not that bad of an idea, because the stock wiring (both in the car and on the engine) isn't in great shape after nearly 40 years. But, this still leaves me using nearly 40 year old computer technology (and I don't even know if the ECU in the car is still any good).

Four: (You know where this is going.) Aftermarket engine management. There's a supplier that is fairly near me that has a kit based on Megasquirt with wiring harness for $1400-1500, depending on options. This would give me modern computing power (capable of sequential rather than batch fire), modern air metering (no more VAM) and a new harness with no worries about frayed, cooked or bad wires. Downside is obvious, money and time.

Five: Build my own harness and go for a Speeduino ECU. No idea on cost, but has to be cheaper than the above, but would take more time on my end.

This still leaves the main car body harness to worry about, but that mostly seems to be the charging area that needs love. Might as well get away from the fire prone 1G alternator and upgrade to a 90 amp 3G.

This isn't running this year, is it?
 
Thinking about the harness for the rest of the car, found that Ron Francis sells a lot that is more or less plug and play. Perhaps it's time to do that as well. Just a complete require of the car. Lights, HVAC, everything.

Next thing I'll convince myself to start the body work... ?
 
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