87 Foxbody 4.6 3v swap.

[smokinford]

Hello I am new to this site. I have been collecting parts for some time and I am getting ready to do the 3v swap. First thing though is I have to clean my garage up.

I have a had a few 5.0 fox. But have always wanted to try a swap like this. I got rid of my GT and started searching for 4 cylinder fox. It took me a little while, but I finally came across a 1 owner 87 notch 4 cylinder auto car. 88,000 original miles for 900 bucks.

I will post some pics when I get my thread count up.

 

[Bill]

Sounds like a good start to a great project. Welcome to the party.

 

[smokinford]

Well I thought that I got a awesome deal on the car. I looked the car over real well except for the cowl panel. I guess setting it under a pine tree for a few years can ruin anything. I finally started cleaning the car up and bought five lug conversion parts and the cowl is rust out. This car doesn't have any rust anywhere else but the cowl. I hate to throw the car away. I guess I will just have to fix it. Any ideas about the best way to go would be much appreciated.

 

[Bill]

There is no doubt the cowl is a pain in the ass to replace. how much of it is rusted. If you are doing the dash replacement from you donor car, the cowl can be fixed from the inside. I can either way, but you have to take the dash out to fix it from the inside.

 

[whiteponygt]

I cut mine out and replaced it, it was a royal pita,and time consuming,if it's not that bad patch and Bondo it.if it plum eat up bite the bullet and dive in.oh btw get u a really good set of bits to drill out the spot welds it will save u a lot of time.

 

[Bill]

My last one had two spots about the size of softballs that were bad. Of course there are not flat spots to work with. I went the local salvage yard and cut one out with a sawsall. I used a dremel tool to grind the rust away and the same tool with a cutting wheel to cut the pieces I needed out of the junk one. I tack welded the patches in and used POR15 to prevent future rust. The POR15 also sealed the seam (use plenty). I've never replace a complete cowl, so I have no idea on that one.

 

[smokinford]

The bottom piece to the cowl will have to at least be patched. I am going to take out the dash. I had already planned to do so. I was going to try and install the hydro boost first thing. So I might be able to do it from the inside. But I am not sure. It rusted out in the front corners. When I pulled out the computer I was wondering how and why the computer had a wet looking ring on it. I replaced it and the motor fired right up. I was hoping that I could get it cleaned up and drive it to work for a while. Oh well. I will document the process. There isn't a lot of info on what to.

 

[Bill]

Sounds like a plan. Mine was not in a corner, so I didn't have to deal with that.