8d5 AHB Gran Fury

[8d5 Gran Fury]

Scored a very clean AHB car for some cash and a trade (a Jeep engine). Has the 4-bbl, dual spotlights, certified speedo, coolers galore, et cetera. The county used it as a fire inspectors car then it ended up in a friend's collection (he has 35+ vehicles), which is where I got it with 92K on the odometer. The only thing it really needs is a paint job- the clear coat is peeling in weird splotches in the same fashion as how Micheal Jackson started going semi-white in the early-1990s'. Other than that, the body is extremely straight and the interior is like a time capsule. Other changes I would like to do is to slide a warmed-over roller cam 360 (w/308 heads,rebuilt 800 CFM thermoquad, and an Edelbrock Performer intake), address the choked-down exhaust system, suspension upgrades, the 11.75" discs upgrade(my Valiant has 'em, great "Value" swap), and trash the lean-burn. Anybody out there ever do something similar with a GF/Dippy? I have about 3 weeks before I will be removing it from the barn and starting on it in my buddy's shop, so shared experience/veteran opinions would be appreciated- this is the first one I've ever owned, although I use to rob parts off them quite abit a few years back (not to mention cut them up...maybe this is attonement of some sort?)

[DobaMark]

The one thing missing on your list if you want decent performance is compression. For what was supposed to be a performance engine, the 318-4 has low compression. If you want to take advantage of a cam and exhaust you need a bit more than the factory 8.4:1 compression.

[8d5 Gran Fury]

Yeah, I figured about 9.5-1 would be decent enough for a street/performance motor. I've even contacted Comp Cams to see what roller cam they would suggest to use w/this set-up (the cam spec's @ being for the 1200-5500 RPM range, 2200-2500 stall on the converter, stock tire height). Appreciate the suggestions, keep the ideas/thoughts coming

[restinose]

Drop me an email restinose@aol.com . I am almost done w/ my 84/diplomat/87/Gran Fury, family guy hotrod, should be on the road this month. Just took it out of winter cobwebs, had a starting issue, but that has been resolved. It runs like a son of a bitch in the driveway,can't wait to street it!!!!!!!!!!

[Bblock]

Sounds like a cool car. No doubt police package even though the FD used it.

[restinose]

The best part is that even though the cops(most) don't use these cars anymore,people STILL slow down and get out of the way! That grill and those "dog-dish" hubcaps must be ingrained in "the collective conscience".

[8d5 Gran Fury]

I will have to e-mail you, restinose. A buddy of mine has an '86 Crown Vic (351, Edelbrock intake and carb) and people still do a double take when he rolls it around. Can't say I'm going to make it any easier,though- I just got him a red spotlight bulb/lense for his birthday. He worked for the sherrif's department here for awhile and then became a park ranger (aka "COP"). Oh, I have a set of gloss white cop ralleys' that just got done and I've got a set of the 16"x7" 'turbine' style wheels off an '88 Lincoln LSC that I refinished in a color that makes it look like they are magnesium (have a matching spare and the center caps are painted magnesium/grey where Ford had a silver color on them). Just finished the metal section of the upper dash, too. Took a panel from a 5th Ave (w/speaker grates on the sides), put the cop single speaker panel on top, drilled out matching holes on the 5th Ave panel, and got it painted in the factory blue. Now when I put a scanner in it, I can have the sound come out the top of the dash, not the bottom, and transmissions will be more clear.