85 Speedy Vintage Moto Hauler

[2.3efi]

So to get down to the nitty gritty, the game plan is a Super Coupe 3.8 swap with a single turbo setup in place of the supercharger.

Before you roll your eyes, a bit of some background haha. In 08' we got the itch to turbo our buddy's perfectly good Super Coupe. Ended up running a holset with a megasquirt for the fuel management. Life happened and the car has sat for the last 8 years.

I made the mistake of buying a car in the dark and picked up my 85 Ranger with a very tired 302 that was leaking anything and everything. I probably payed too much and as I tore into it I found that the motor was shot.

Making the best of it, I'm planning on swapping the 3.8 with the M5R2. I managed to pick up the pedal assembly here, just need to find a top shift assembly now since the S/C has the shifter hanging off the tailshaft.

Look forward to keeping this thread updated.

 

[2.3efi]

Made a little progress. Pulled the core support in preparation for the new engine. Hoping to get it this weekend. Also power-washed the engine bay, the 302 had a bad rear main seal that covered everything in oil.

 

[2.3efi]

So I pulled the motor and trans for the Ranger build out of the donor Supercoupe on Sunday.

Motor has probably less than a thousand miles on it since it was rebuilt, but the car sat parked for nearly 8 years behind my buddy's house. Motor still turns freely, will be cleaning it up and going over it before tossing it in the truck.

And what's a garage turbo build with out a holset? This was also installed in the Supercoupe.

I'm probably going to build a log style intake for it and use some sort of GM throttle body, it was using an N/A 3.8 intake and throttle body.

 

[2.3efi]

Started mocking up the engine, hence the awesome wood motor mounts haha.

I am using a set of 94/95 3.8 Mustang motor mounts. Need to tweak the driver side a bit still.

Also will have to relocate the oil filter and come up with some new exhaust manifolds to clear the steering. Will probably see if I can modify a set of later 3.8 manifolds from a mustang. If anyone has a set laying around, I'd be interested.

 

[proz07]

Man i love the pics and showing everything. keep it up. This definitely shows ill have work cut out for me when i do my swap... A gen III GM motor is a bit larger, lol.

z

 

[2.3efi]

Made some good progress tonight.

I modified my driver side mount to fit the frame and was able to get the motor and trans to slip in.

Still need to finalize the mount, need to get some button top allens for clearance. I was only able to get two of the three bolts in for right now.

I may also cut and drop the mounts a little to help level out the motor a bit more. right now it's sitting at roughly a 7 degree angle, but this is with out anything on the front end.

Next stuff I need to tackle is adapting the trans mount, figuring out shifter and steering column/exhaust clearance.