Hey, my name is kyle.

I bought an 89 lx hatchback about three months agoand im in the beginning stanges of swaping in a 351 C. I have the motor, the front end of the car is completely stripped.

I heard that the stock k member would work. My plans are to maybe stiffen it up some by welding in some sheet metal or something along those lines.

Im going to be running a carb with msd distributer and igniton box so a major question i have is on wiring. I want to keeping it streetable. (Lights, Turnsignals, A/C, P/S, power windows) What would be the smartest way to do that?

I also have a 9" rearend with 3.50 gears. And a rebuilt c-4. I was wondering if I needed to get a custom made drive shaft or could i just order one?

Im not sure what to do as far as suspension goes.I have heard that a covertible suspension set up would work to compensate for the extra weight. I also want to convert the front to 5 lug. A buddy of mine races circle track and he said that the did his by getting a rotor and spindle from an older ford ranger. Would it bolt right up or would it need modification?

Any imput as appreciated.

Thanks.

 

anyone?

 

Clevelands are a completely different beast than the windsors. I have no experience swapping those, but as far as the 5 lug conversion goes, you can just buy a set of 5 lug rotors for the front(summit, ford, jegs), the rear u need a certain year ranger axles, the sn-95 axles will work, but increase your track width by half an inch i think it is, or u can order special 5 lug axles designed for the swap. With the wiring, if the turn signals and all are still there, leave them. The ignition stuff isn't that hard to wire in, just gotta know what you're doing, but you don't have to dismantle everything else

 

Thanks, what about the spindles for the front? Can i use the stock spindles? And for the rearend, my uncle drag races, and he has always used 9" rearends and he as a jig to shorten and reweld the mounts. He also said that you could respline the axles to whatever length you want for about 85 bucks each, and that they can withstand up to like 8 second passes. Does anyone have any experience with resplined axles?

 

ive never heard of resplining axles, but you can buy a brand new set for like.....180.....so thats like 15 more bucks, and you get all new studs

 

www.sn95brakes.com good info there. use 94-95 mustang spindles, calipers, rotors. maximum motorsports sells conversion hoses. you could use ranger/ aerostar axles and drums. the website goes into more detail. the sn95 rear axles are .75" longer per side. i used them and got a different backspace wheel to keep everything where its supposed to be (05 model year backspace rear wheels), need new master cyl and 3-2 port conversion with rear discs, will also need a proportioning valve. hope this helps.

 

Speaking of rear disk brakes, my teacher at my career school said that rear disk brakes from an older explorer would fit right up to the 9". I am 17 years old and im trying to go the less expensive way. Thanks for the input.

 

Does anyone have any experience with "smoothing" the engine bay? I know how to mig weld. But i just want some imput on it.

Thanks. Kyle.

 

well.... unless you are on a budget i would advise against a 351c, a windsor is simply a better motor, the only advantage a cleveland had was cylinder heads BUT with todays technology you can buy an out of the box aluminum head that outflows even 4V cleveland heads... the oiling system on a cleveland sux and aftermarket parts are not as plentiful as windsor... but if you want you can buy swap mounts and aoil pan as for headers i think i heard 72 mustang headers will work not sure on that though... BUT for the axle someone said ranger axles will work... sorry no, a ranger never had a 9 inch axle unless you talking a f150 ranger in witch case it still won't work.

 

yeah, i am on a budget, im looking to spend around 5,000$. I have the motor already, and thats why im looking to build a cleveland fox. maybe later on down the road, i might find and build a windsor.

About the oiling problem, does anyone know of a link of have any imput on this oiling problem. i havent heard much about it.

thanks. kyle.