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Hey what'd you expect for $200? a show car!?!
Here is my latest car, it
is a 1978 Mercury Zephyr Z7! It is a little
pretty rough and I know you may be laughing now but this will be a
sleeper and I always wanted a sleeper.
Yes that is rust on the top and on the trunk. It is not pretty by any means which is why there will not be anymore pictures of the car while it is in this condition. The body is very straight and the rust is only surface rust and is not any kind of body cancer so don't worry.
8/2000
Lots of parts have been purchased here lately, I have acquired a 1987 5.0L Mustang engine with 90,000 miles on it for $400. I have also got a pair of V-8 springs as well as a near perfect dash pad for the car from the salvage yard for $20. I have been cleaning and sanding this thing like mad trying to get it ready for a cheap paint job. I have never had a car painted before and I don't want to throw a huge amount of money at one just yet. Other parts accumulated include, a Edelbrock performer intake manifold (used), traded for a flex plate and engine separator plate for an automatic tranny with a guy that needed the same parts for a 5-speed, also I have purchased a set of ten hole Mustang LX wheels with tires for $100. I have purchased a used Mustang radiator that only has 25000 miles on it for $40! I was trying to work a deal with a fellow here locally that has an 8.8 rear end from a Mustang that was wrecked with only 33,000 miles on it but we couldn't reach an agreement. I realized here recently that the transmission I was going to use only has a 24 spline input shaft (need 26)and too small of a bell housing so now I will have to locate either a good used unit or bite the bullet and buy a rebuilt one. I still need to find a torque converter as well.
9/2000
Not a lot done this month. I have been cleaning/sanding on the car in prep for the cheapo paint job. This is much more work and much slower going than I thought it would be, I have a newfound respect for bodywork people everywhere. I have had help with a paint and body guy that I work with so that has helped. I did however acquire an 8.8 rear end from a fellow in the local paper that was parting out a Mustang GT, I paid $100 for it. I sold my 750 vacuum secondary carburetor on ebay and have bid on a couple of 650 double pump carburetors. I missed out on the first one and the next one is still up for grabs. I did get some paintwork done in the engine area and it is looking pretty good for a rattle can job. I also have routed the main harness and horn into the inside of the fenders where it is out of sight. I managed to route the brake warning switch pigtail through a hole in the fender well and hook it up, hopefully it will work ok I realize this seems kind of silly but hey its got it it may as well work. I still have the dilemma of what to do about a transmission but its not a big concern as of yet. I hope to begin the rear end install in the very near future. I have also found out that the gas tank that is in the car had been changed quite a while back (5+years ago) so I may go with a fuel cell fitted in the spare tire well.
10/2000
Woohoo! I won the bidding on the second carburetor I was trying to get on ebay. It is a Holley 650 double pump carburetor that some guy was using for circle track purposes so I will have to change out the floats as he was using wedge style floats. With the recent sale of my 750 Holley I can use that money to purchase the 650 and have very little out of pocket expense. I now am in need of an ignition system and I don't know what I am going to do about that as of yet but I will just have to see. On another note I removed the headliner and had new material added to it and the sun visors to make them look just like new. A friend of mine works at a trim shop nearby and he got the material the right color, did the work and got it back to me within two days. total out of my pocket......nada.
It pays to have friends in the right places. :)
11/2000
Progress has been going slowly here lately (its been raining every weekend) I did win another auction on ebay for a new pair of door hinges, the old ones sag pretty bad and the ones I bought were nos (new/old stock) I paid $22.50 for them. I have worked a deal with Bryan to purchase an MSD 6A box from him for $75 but we haven't hooked up on that deal yet. I need to get some pictures of the engine bay posted it is looking MUCH better since the day I brought it home. I am off this next week so barring more rain I will make an attempt to get more work done on the rear end install and other miscellaneous stuff. I have changed jobs so hopefully the Zephyr will find a new resting place where I can work on it easier and get my garage back to normal. I have also traced a new package tray on a 4x8 sheet of hardboard, the old one was deteriorating so I will need to trial fit it to determine if any trimming will be necessary.
12/2000
Well I still haven't had a chance to get the rear installed in the car but I did manage to purchase a few more items for the car. I found and purchased a set of taillights on ebay for only $50! It is the entire rear panel of lights with reverse lights and a license plate mount. This may sound like something silly to get excited about but if you have ever tried to locate a set of these that are unharmed I can tell you its tough! I will be using Fairmont Futura lights instead of Zephyr Z7s that my car calls for because of how tough they are to find. I just want the thing to be legal! I also have acquired a heater core that is still in the Ford box...yes I am going to try to keep the heater it will help keep me warm in the winter not to mention help cool the turbos since I hope to plumb them for water. I figured why not since I got the core for $14 on ebay. I guess when I'm done I might call this thing the ebay car!
I managed to find two 85-86 5-speed T-bird turbo coupes in a wrecking yard! I went to get the coveted .63 A/R turbos but only scored one because it seems one of them had the impeller nut come off and the impeller imbedded itself in the housing no doubt the reason the car was in the junkyard in the first place, at least I made off with one and it only cost me $50.
12/2000
Looks like I have a double post for the month of December, but this is something somewhat substantial to report. I finally got the 8.8 traction lok rear swapped in to the car. It went in without any real trouble other than it was considerably heavier than the 7.5 to no one's surprise. The only thing involved was trading the brake lines from one rear to the other, other than that it was a direct bolt in. Before I started the install I decided to service the differential and replace a leaky pinion seal, to my surprise this $100 rear had 3.55 gears in it! They are Ford gears and I never expected to find anything other than stock. Actually I was hoping for stock 3.08s so it only makes sense that it have something else. I am fearful that this gear will be too steep for a twin turbo application but it will make for a fun naturally aspirated car until I get the turbo set-up going. I got all this done just in time because it is now snowy and icy outside (yes even in Texas) so I'm glad I took advantage of that 70° day yesterday.
Hang in there folks I hope to have some pictures soon on another page!
1/2001
Well I finally got started on the engine at least in disassembling it. It is a 1987 Mustang 5.0 roller engine I picked up for $400. I was assured that it was running fine at the time of purchase but I wanted to rebuild it now rather than later. This would also give me an idea what I had. Well its a good thing I did because the babbit was worn off of almost all the main bearings and was starting to wear thin on the rod bearings as well. More than likely there was no indication of this when the engine was last running except for possibly some noisy early morning start ups just before the oil pressure had a chance to come up. The cylinder walls looked ok but I won't know anything positive until I get it to the machine shop for a closer inspection. The usual things were there for a 90,000 mile engine, lots of slop in the timing chain and a ton of oil leaks but nothing that looked bad enough to make it unsalvageable. I plan to do a simple rebuild back to stock specs unless I score a good deal on an E303 FRPP camshaft. I would love to change to GT-40 heads and roller rockers but the current budget just does not warrant it, as things sit right now I just want to get it to run and drive as soon as possible and worry about mods later, besides with a pair of turbos it won't feel stock anyway!
I finally got to buy the MSD 6A from Bryan, my schedule hadn't allowed me to go get it until now so there's another piece of this puzzle out of the way. I also went to some more wrecking yards while I was on that side of town and I was unable to find any more turbos but I did snag some Zephyr Z7 emblems. My car didn't have any emblems on it when I got it and I wasn't going to worry with them but since I found those I may end up using them.
2/2001
I have scored a distributor from an 85' Mustang GT. 1985 was the last year for a carbureted Mustang 5.0 and it was only $50 so this was an obvious choice to use. I will more than likely not run any vacuum advance but something like 0* base or possibly 4* then see how far it throws out from there. All cars react differently to timing so I will just have to see what it likes/wants. As far as I know I have the ignition system now covered. Forrest mentioned that he knew of a place that sold used transmissions pretty cheap and they were guaranteed to work so I may go that route at first just to get the thing rolling.
A couple of disappointments regarding the engine, I managed to break a bolt off upon disassembly of the front cover and I was unable to drill it out so it looks as if the machine shop bill has just grown and the engine isn't even there yet! The other bummer was a bigger concern, one of the pistons will need replacing. The ring lands were distorted and the rings were broke on #5 so that ruins that nice forged piston. :( However, I need to get this thing to the machine shop soon to see if it needs to be bored or not, if it does then I need new pistons anyway, but if it doesn't I am going to be in need of a new piston for #5. If I end up having it bored I will try to go to another forged piston of course but I may try to find an 8:1 variety in order to run more boost more safely. :)
WOOHOO! I purchased a second $50 turbo! The funny thing is that this turbo was just a few blocks from where I work! I hadn't been to this particular yard but as it turns out my boss knows the people that run it so we simply made an inquiry and bingo they had what I needed! This turbo is identical to the first one I bought, Garrett T-3 with an A/R of .63. The odd thing about this one was where it came from, all along I had been looking for Thunderbird turbo coupes and I almost forgot that the Cougar of the same year model had the same engine option in an XR7! Sure enough I found an 86 Cougar XR7 5-speed 2.3 turbo car! My boss was with me so we snagged it on our lunch hour which turned into 2 hours! Good thing he was with me! Both turbochargers will need to be rebuilt I'm afraid but I believe they are salvageable.
3/2001
The engine is in the machine shop! It did need to be bored so I had to shell out some bucks for new pistons. I purchased Speed Pro Federal Mogul #TRW-L2305F30 .030 oversized forged aluminum slugs, they are OEM style replacements. This piston is advertised to provide a compression ratio of 8.92:1 with a 54cc head. My heads are 64cc so I should have a compression ratio of about 8.5:1 which is what I need for a boosted twin turbo setup. One thing that surprised me was that the #5 cylinder needed to be sleeved. That was the hole that had the broken rings in it so it did cost me even though I hoped the overbore would eliminate it, it was just too deep. (this is where most of my extra cash has been going) No worries though I have no fear of running a sleeved motor. If I were going to run 30 lbs of boost or add nitrous to the equation then I may have different feelings towards this but I only plan to run 15 psi at the most, starting at 8-10 psi. I haven't done much to the car itself because I want to get the paint done before I add anything else.
I planned on having some pictures before now but the ones I took came out terrible so I am going to be purchasing a digital camera shortly, hopefully just in time to document the engine buildup.
4/2001
OK engine is still in the machine shop, I expect to have it back soon. I had a cracked rod and 3 of the rods were out of round. Thanks to Forrest I scored all the replacements I could have needed. I gave him my seven good factory standard size forged pistons for a set of rods from and 86 5.0 Mustang. The rods are the same as what mine were so it all worked out. Also I will be using ARP rod bolts to help beef up a known problem area for any small block Windsor Ford motor. I have sent the heads in to be cleaned and checked for cracks, the first head got through with no problems. I was kinda worrisome about this since not much has gone my way by way of machine shop work! I haven't received the second head yet. I have been doing some light port work on the heads mainly just removing the thermactor bump in the exhaust port and I hope to perform some gasket matching at a later time. I purchased an Autometer tachometer on ebay for $75 new cost was close to $100 so it wasn't an awesome deal but a decent one. In addition to that I scored some SVO control arms with del alum bushings for $51! I had called a Ford dealer (I like having my intelligence insulted) to get a ballpark figure on what new control arms would cost, they wanted $330 each! I said thank you and hung up the phone. :) As promised I did purchase a digital camera but I only have one picture right now of the intake manifold. It is just about the only thing that is finished and ready to see it can be seen here.
4/2001
Zephyr picture page has arrived!
5/2001
I'm a little late with this months update, mainly because not much has been done with the car as of late. I have received all of my engine parts from the machine shop and I have painted my block and installed the crank, I have all of my rod bearings and ordered the piston rings a couple of days ago. A friend of mine I used to work with has done the valve job for me on my heads so that was a big help since I don't have access to valve grinding equipment at my new job. I need to get valve seals and a rear main seal for now as these are the only gaskets that are needed at this point. I didn't want to buy a gasket kit because I want graphite head gaskets and they are sold separately so if I bought a kit I would have some extras left over which I don't need.
Something rather surprising has happened this month though, I went to my local wrecking yard to see if there were any new cars since my last visit and there was. One of which was a 1979 Mercury Zephyr Z7! I couldn't believe it, it was even the same color interior as mine. When I saw it I was surprised but not overly excited after all there are tons of early fox bodies in the yards that's what makes this project easier not to mention cheap. My excitement was when I walked around to the back of the car and saw a perfect set of Z7 taillights! I had already purchased Fairmont Futura taillights because I never thought I would/could find an unmolested set of Z7s. I hadn't planned on buying anything but when they told me they wanted $40 for them I had to jump at this rare chance. I'll post some pictures on the picture page of both sets of lights so you can see the difference and I'll try to get off of my duff here this next month and get some work done so I will have more to report!
6/2001
I'm really late with this months update but I am currently in the middle of a move to Phoenix, Arizona where the Zephyr project will continue. I will still be working on the car and updating the web page. There is a good drag strip in Phoenix and I will no doubt find my way there very soon.
OK enough of that now for the car, I have been working on the interior and it is starting to pay off well, the dash and instrument panel are looking good. I finally got a chance to mount my monster tach in the instrument panel like Bryan did and it looks like it was supposed to be there from the factory! I am working like mad to get the engine finished up before we move and I am running out of time but I am making progress. I will have my new timing chain by the time you read this, it is a Cloyes true roller set. I have one cylinder head ready to be bolted on and the other will be ready shortly I'm told. I still need an oil pump and motor mounts and I am thinking about going to ARP head bolts as well, I'd like to do the head stud kit but the budget doesn't warrant it at this time if I break anything I'll know why but for now I have to take my chances somewhat. And yes I STILL need a transmission! I will post some pictures of the interior on the zephyr picture page 2 but I must admit they aren't that great because I still need carpet and I haven't finished wiring it yet.
I may be offline for a bit while we move (mid July time) but as soon as I get back online I will continue to update the page so please if you're following this and are interested keep checking back!
8/2001
Well I got myself moved out to Arizona and I have picked up on the car now that things are beginning to get back to normal. I was able to finish the engine before the move and drop it in the car, I was not able to get the ARP head bolts but I figured once its running I may very well upgrade to better heads, so if that happens I'll get some stronger bolts then. I didn't install the headers yet because I wanted to get spark plugs installed first I just installed the plugs tonight so the headers can go on now. I also couldn't seem to find all of my intake bolts so it is just sitting on the engine with a couple of bolts holding it on but a trip to the wrecking yard should solve that problem.
My turbos are being inspected here locally to give me an idea of the damage that I'm going to be looking at in order to get them street/track worthy. If all goes well I'll have them rebuilt soon so that could be a big thing out of the way.
The next thing on the list after the turbos are done could possibly be getting the car painted, I hate to mention it before it happens but I feel the reality of it is drawing closer, if it does indeed happen I'll be putting the trim back on it and adding the wheels for some pictures of the car again. (I know your on the edge of your seat for those! haha.)
8/2001
WOOHOO! Double post for the month of August! I got my turbos rebuilt and they look better than ever! Pictures of them can be found on yet another picture page for the Zephyr. I also scored a pair of used 15/8" shorty headers by JBA for $75! Retail was over $400 so I'm a happy camper about that! Pictures of the headers are pending until I can clean them up a little more. I hope to soon have the car ready to go to the paint shop because it needs a lot of attention there to look anything resembling decent or ok.
9/2001
Not anything big done this month, I got the JBA headers installed after a ton of grinding on them to make them fit in an upside down installation. I decided to not take any pictures of the headers by themselves because I got antsy to install them and never really made time to clean them up like I had planned. I bought and installed a lot of small things like distributor cap, rotor, plug wires, upper and lower radiator hoses, thermostat, and radiator cap. I did finally get me a 3G alternator from a 95 Mustang, I "indexed" the alternator bracket and it bolted right up. I still have to wire it but I don't think this will be a very tough task. I have made some contacts about the transmission that I want for the car, seems there is a local guy with a 10 second Mustang that builds transmissions on the side. I haven't met him yet but I will hopefully soon. I haven't gotten around to seeing about getting the car painted yet but it is high on my priorities list and as soon as the transmission thing gets going the paint will be next. Forrest should be getting me some control arms from a fox body Mustang and an H servo for my soon to have C4. It seems the SVO control arms I acquired are worth some money so instead of using them on the Zephyr I decided to use them to get more parts for the Zephyr. :) I'll post a picture of the engine compartment in its current state very soon so watch the picture pages.
10/2001
I've started assembling the fuel system. I have been ordering and receiving parts like mad but I haven't received everything yet. I am really excited about the arrival of my Aeromotive fuel pressure regulator. I contacted my supplier and they said that it was to be sent from Aeromotive direct so I hope it shows up soon! I have got some 10AN fuel line and a few fittings, I have also got some 3AN line to plumb my fuel injector for added fuel under boost. I still need to get a Hobbs switch to turn on the injector at a preset boost setting but I have a lead on a local supplier. I received my Lincoln MARK VIII cooling fan from Houston Performance and it looks very good and should keep things nice and cool here in the desert. There is a picture of it on picture page 4. I bolted the carburetor on and added the fuel fittings to it as well as a 1 inch spacer that was needed for clearance, I also had to get a throttle cable from a 6 cylinder car because my 4 cylinder piece wasn't long enough. I have added a newer picture on picture page 4 of the engine bay. I'm going to have to break down and get me a transmission it looks like because my hopeful contacts have not netted me diddly squat. :) I need to get the thing real soon because I hope to fire the car up once the fuel system is done, not to mention I need to get it so I can order a torque converter. If anyone has a large bellhousing C4 let me know! I need it to make use of my 164 tooth flexplate.
11/2001
Several of the parts I ordered have begun to arrive. I have received my Aeromotive fuel pressure regulator, oil gauge, water temp. gauge, and fuel gauge. I also received my 75amp relay for powering up my Lincoln MK VIII cooling fan. I was kind of disappointed in my fuel pressure regulator since it didn't come with the fittings shown on the website I saw it on. I contacted the manufacturer and they said that it didn't come with the fittings and that this would be addressed in the upcoming catalog to prevent any confusion. About my 75 amp relay, that sucker is huge! On the picture page I put a quarter next to it so the size can be seen, I thought it was kind of pricey at $18 but I can see it is very heavy duty and most likely worth the cash. I've added pictures of the new parts on the last picture page as usual.
I have been in contact with a body shop to possibly get to work on the car's appearance. I don't mind ugly but it may as well look as good as a 78' Zephyr can!
12/2001
Not much done this month as far as work on the car. I still am collecting parts for it so hopefully after the first of the year I can start to get something done. I had a paint job set up with a guy but he is moving now so that plan has gone out the window. I hope to get it painted before too long so it wont be such an eyesore. I'd like to work on it in the driveway instead of being cooped up in the garage all the time, but with it looking the way it does now that will not be possible. In the part accumulating progress I now have a Hobbs switch for powering up the injector under boost. The JAZ fuel cell has arrived as well as a Flowmaster Y pipe for joining the two turbos together before they enter the carburetor. I also have received a carburetor bonnet, (thanks Forrest!) it is an ATI piece and fits the carburetor nicely and looks good to boot. I have received and installed my oil drains for the turbos and weld flanges in order to mount the turbos to the headers. I also made a trip to my local auto parts and hardware stores and scored some brake lines and necessary fittings to plumb the oil feed system to the turbochargers. T-bolt type hose clamps have been purchased as well to help insure that the hoses wont pop off under boost. Pictures of these parts that are not already on the picture page will be added shortly.
1/2002
The Zephyr is going to get painted! I am taking it to the painter tomorrow, whom I met through a guy I work with. I'm sure this will give me more incentive to get the thing going when I get it back as well as allow me to work on it in the driveway instead of the garage. I have not yet put any of my new parts in or on the car because I wanted the paint work to be done first. I have reinstalled the headliner and quarter trim panels and assembled the dash which all got a good cleaning. I can't wait to put my wheels on it when I get it back in order to get a good idea of how it will look and sit. I have been considering a D&D cross member and suspension but first things first. I have made arrangements to receive a C4 bellhousing that will bolt up to my engine which uses a 164 tooth flywheel. I have located a few more salvage yards that allow you to go in and pull your own parts. (hard to believe that's a tough task!) Once the paint is done the #1 priority will be getting a transmission and firing the thing off. Most likely it will be fired the first time without the turbos because of the extra welding to be done but they'll find their way on there soon enough don't worry! ;)
2/2002
I may possibly be receiving some pictures of the car in different stages of paint and body completion, when I do I'll post up the pictures. I haven't heard from my painter and I'm not going to call him because I want him to take his time and do me a good job. There has been a significant purchase in the meantime though, I bought a D&D suspension kit!! I got it on a group purchase from JDsPerformance. It is an all tubular setup with a coil over strut suspension, it will not only save weight and upgrade the suspension parts that are original but it will also allow much more room for other things as well as access to do some wrenching. Pictures of it are on the picture page. The kit is and was designed for a Mustang but as we all know by now if it can bolt to a 79-93 Mustang it can bolt to a Fairmont or Zephyr! :)
3/2002
I have added a page showing some progress of paint and body for the Zephyr. Finally I am getting something big done! It is starting to shape up and look almost respectable. Here is a direct link to picture page 7 showing the work done, it shouldn't be much longer before its ready. For anyone that has been following along on this lengthy buildup, I am not a total slacker I just wanted to get the paint and body done before I added any of my accumulated parts because I didn't know where I was going to have the paint done therefore didn't want to install any expensive parts before leaving my car with someone I didn't know. As things turn out the car is in excellent hands and I have no worries of its security or any previously installed parts, I wish I had known it would have been in good hands like these sooner. If I had I could have done more to it, hang in there though when I get it back I'm going to wrench on it like mad! :)
4/2002
Finally!! I have a transmission for the TT Zephyr!! I finally got off my butt and went to the junkyard (of course where else?) and bought me a C4 transmission. It is out of a 1978 Ford Granada with a 302 V8. It has all the features I needed except for the H servo apply piston (which is usually found in trucks). It has a 26 spline input shaft, big bell housing to fit my 164 tooth flywheel in, and it is a case fill variety which denotes late a model. I was told it was guaranteed for 90 days and that it worked but I'll feel better going through it anyway and beefing up a few things in it. Once I get a chance to clean it up I'll post some pictures. I wanted to go with a trans brake valve body but it seems that the Ford automatic hasn't quite reached the popularity of the simple and lightweight gm powerglide as displayed by price, so I will most likely go with a manual reverse valve body to get things up and running. After I get it rebuilt I will be looking at a TCI torque converter part #451505 which will be a 3000 stall 26 spline 11 7/16 bolt pattern for use with my 5.0 flexplate. I'll also be in need of a shifter as well.
