Never judge a book by its cover. I have always found this to be sage advice, whether dealing with people or cars.
This might look like just another clean, stock ’61-’63 Thunderbird, but upon closer inspection, it’s anything but. If the bag-of-snakes intake and large plastic intake elbow haven’t already tipped you off, here’s an even better look:
This car’s owner has apparently replaced the stock FE-series lump with the 4.6 liter, four-cam, 32-valve modular engine out of a later Ford vehicle, most likely a Lincoln Mark VIII or Mustang Cobra. As all motorheads know, the Ford modular engine is a pretty hefty chunk of machinery. While it’s around 100 lbs. lighter than the old FE-series big block that once resided here, it’s considerably wider- especially the four-cam version. Getting it to fit in the vintage T-Bird’s cramped engine bay must have required major surgery to the car’s unibody shell, not to mention fabrication of new custom engine and transmission mounts. See that little plastic reservoir next to the driver’s side hood hinge? That has to be for a hydraulic clutch. Manual transmission, anyone?
While I probably wouldn’t do something quite this radical if I owned this car, the owner did a first-rate job. The installation is neat and clean, and everything fits. With its plain white exterior hiding a potent late-model drivetrain underneath, this particular Dearborn classic could be the ultimate bird of prey.
That’s a 5.0 Coyote (2011-current Mustang GT), the older 4.6 Cobra engines are even BIGGER. Very nice, best of both worlds!
I was just thinking that all of the InTech 4.6 engines had the alternator front and center, right about where this one keeps its intake duct. (Well all the non-supercharged ones, anyway.)
Good to see that they’ve kept the “bag of snakes” look though!
I tip my hat to the loving owner for solving both the unibody issues *and* dealing with the modern electronics–thanks for sharing.
Oddly enough, when the 1962 Ford showed up in Jason S’s post the other day, I found this Aug. 1961 forecast in Popular Mechanics–I know the Cardinal never quite happened, but has anyone ever heard (elsewhere) about FWD planning for the Bullet Birds?
Ford had seriously considered a front-wheel-drive Thunderbird in the early 1960s. Cost considerations, along with concerns that a personal luxury coupe wasn’t the best format to show off the packaging advantages of a front-wheel-drive layout, killed the idea at Ford.
The question is whether GM used Ford’s research and engineering efforts while developing the Toronado.
The original four seat Thunderbird turned the necessary high tunnel into a really cool console with four bucket seats. FWD in such a car does nothing much other than make for more trunk space. It was pretty pointless in the Toronado also.
The funny thing is that the cool console ultimately trumped the flat floor packaging FWD heavily touted in the early days. The FWD layout became much more dominant for the all weather traction advantages while the big console came to (literally)dominate interior packaging for it’s luxury connotations instead. Gotta hand it to Ford marketing, that was a cheap and dirty solution to an unwanted problem, while pioneering FWD layouts were hard fought engineering marvels.
The big question is whether the Toronado’s UPP was sufficiently distinct to get around patents filed by Ford engineers Fred Hooven and later George Muller for a very similar concept. (If anybody’s interested, I’m talking about U.S. Patents 3,052,313 and 3,213,958) Hooven’s layout, which as I understand it is what Ford was considering for the T-Bird, splits the transmission in the same way the Toronado/Eldorado did and puts one driveshaft through the oil pan, à la Honda Vigor.
I don’t honestly know if GM decided to hedge their bets by making some kind of licensing agreement with Ford. I’ve seen rumors to that effect, but nothing definitive.
It might be wider, but look at how few vacuum tubes there are! I’m used to a spaghetti under the hood of these older cars.
“…look at how few vacuum tubes there are!”
I’m certain they have been transistorized by now!
Not too many vacuum lines in the early ’60s. The underhood ‘spaghetti’ heyday lasted from about the mid ’70s through the ’80s, especially with the emission-strangled carbed cars.
Happy motoring, Mark
If these were similar to the unit body Continental from the same time the heat/AC used about a million vacuum servos. Two just for temperature. Also vacuum power locks, which the Ford probably didn’t have.
That’s a heck of a clean installation, and that is advanced vehicle surgery. I like that it looks mostly stock on the outside except for its stance and a bit of a ’60s NASCAR vibe.
This is a very nice and clean bullet-‘Bird, but for my taste, if it has in fact been converted to a manual tranny, it’s out of place for a luxury liner like this.
Some of the under-hood mods are clearly visible. Major surgery, indeed!
Wow, that is some major under-hood fabrication. These cars had huge shock towers/inner fenders (as the random online picture shows) that made fitting that FE block fit pretty snugly. I wonder what the suspension looks like on this car now.
Can you not put links in these posts????
Put this into YouTube 1963 Ford Thunderbird 5.0 Coyote V8 Powered Restomod
Yes; very easy. Just copy and paste the url, like this.Did that not work for you?
It never showed up when i did just that.
That video,,,,, that BIRD,,, man, I WANT THAT THING !!
I’ve had hit or miss results with it as well, just today in fact with the Maxima post I couldn’t get it to work, I edited it a couple times with the last being the link url.
Some of these forum comments sections on sites like this are funky that way.
If that were my BIRD and i had the $$$$ the only thing i’d want changed are the red emblems on the seats and that steering wheel,, BUT, i’d take it as is…
Happily………
I’d love to do that restomod on my 67′ Galaxie. minus the low profile tires.
Where i live ( HOUSTON ) there are NO glass smooth black top roads to glide across.
I was thinking the exact same thing! Toned down seats and perhaps a different steering wheel, but otherwise that Blackbird exactly the way it is presented in that video.
Just when you think you have seen it all, along comes…….the Blackbird!
Are you shitting me? The steering wheel and auto trans quadrant and lever are awesome. The skinny rim and larger wheel is part of the deal. Only problem is the same as the whole car – lack of safety, like a soft wheel and airbag.
OK, the new wheel they put in isn’t that bad, just bad. Can’t see where the quadrant went. And the red insignias on the seats are terrible.
I’m all for modern mechanicals in cars like this, but any esthetic changes are heresy. They were already perfect and reflecting the best of design of the period. It’s excellent mid-century modern, for chrissakes.
Only problem is the same as the whole car – lack of safety, like a soft wheel and airbag.
Yeesh, what is the world coming to! 😛
Love it! Just would like to have seen some how-to with it, like what suspension mods were made to go with the Coyote.
Seems like major surgery like this is out of place in a tbird. The executive’s rocket that glides you to the office and makes you feel like George Jetson doing it, has been butchered. It is as if was just an old truck to be got back into service with any old engine that can be had for cheap at the junkyard.
I bet if you drove em’ both for a while you’d pick the “new” one.
Economy, power, ease of starting and no stalls ever.
Especially here in Houston because HOT weather, modern gas, and carburetors don’t play well together..
I know.
I plan to do one of the new “returnless” fuel injection systems on my 67′ Galaxie..
It starts and runs like a dream every time,,,,, UNTIL it’s fully heatsoaked, shut off, and left for 10 mins or more give or take.
The modern crap gas boils in the carb and she needs lots of cranking to get started.
It’s never NOT started in this scenario but it’s been close.
Everybody i know with carbureted classics here in Houston has this issue and many things have been tried with limited success….
ONLY a return to the old school gas formulation ( NO ALCOHOL ) could actually remedy this and that ain’t happening……
On the one hand I agree since this one appears to have no HVAC system, no power brakes, and is a MT. Now give me one with a fully functioning HVAC, AT power brakes and steering and it would be an all around improvement, that I’d like to have.
Yes, and a modern automatic. Oh, modern brakes too. And stock looking everything.
The website Bring a Trailer recently featured an even older T-bird, a 56, with this same engine swap. That car had a similar “low key”, quasi-sleeper look to it.
And as I’ve said many times here and elsewhere: I love when folks update an older car with mechanicals from a newer car from the same manufacturer….instead of going for the cheap and/or obvious upgrade, like a Chevy LSx in everything.
Have to agree. Another example – albeit very expensive – are the German conversions on old W 111 coupes and cabriolets. Out goes the old in line 6 (they never convert the 3.5 V8 as they are too rare and valuable) and in with an AMG 5.0 V8, modern running gear, trans, upgraded suspension and brakes. The body and interior are then restored to original and in the end you have a magnificent fusion of period charm and modern performance. Alas, thus is a half million dollar proposition but from what I understand there are plenty of takers.
One of the big issues with OHC versus pushrod engines is the lack of low-end torque. It was a big reason the last Panther iteration of the Mercury Marauder sedan failed.
While the 390 Ford V8 was generally a slug, it did have plenty of torque down low to at least get those behemoths moving and I’d be very curious how it drives out now. It could also be a reason it has a manual transmission, i.e., to keep the engine ‘on the boil’.
Well there’s also a 98-108 deficit in cubic inches. The Marauder really needed more gear and gears to take advantage of the revvy engines.
A 5 or 6 speed transmission certainly would have helped in the Marauder. It had 3.55 gears already though–3.73 or 4.10 would probably have resulted in way too high RPM for highway cruising?
Probably the case. I never understood why Ford seemed to reserve their 5-6 speed automatics almost solely to SUVs in that period, 3.55s worked nicely with the stickshift DOHC Mustangs but on a heavy panther with 4R75w they were really lacking. Drivetrain being equal it’s a wonder they didn’t utilize the Australian Boss 260 engine (5.4 DOHC), all parts minus the intake manifold and camshafts were globally shared and that would definitely fix the torque deficit.
It seems to be only the Panther cars that didn’t get the newer transmissions when the Explorer etc plus Mustang got them, and I can’t say I’m surprised about that (wanting to keep costs low and avoiding change for fleet/police sales that drove the majority of sales)
The Boss 260 (& 290 of course) was basically hand-built in Australia, I had a tour of the engine assembly line years ago. The engine cylinder heads were described as based on the Mustang Cobra R, I’m not sure if this was the same as the Navigator, but theoretically a Navigator engine plus the Boss intake required a bulge in the hood to fit in the Falcon. The 3-valve SOHC was also available at the time, and like the DOHC wasn’t known for the low-down torque.
Mustangs got them in 2005, after the Marauder’s production ended, prior to that they too used the 4R7xw. The Lincoln LS and retro Tbird seemed to be the only “car” apps that got the 5R55 as early as 2002. The thing that always made the lack of investment questionable is the departments buying them were the first ones to complain about the poor economy and lack of power of the aging drivetrains. When Ford was trying really hard to push the rent-a-cop Taurus police interceptor as the replacement circa 2012 they basically threw the Crown Vic under the bus in measures they could have easily addressed in intervening years.
The Boss engine as I understand it uses the same exact heads the 03 Mach 1/Marauder/Cobra/Aviator used, which were an improved version of the 99-01 tumble port head(i.e. C head). The intake manifold is the part that seems to be derived heavily off of the 2000 Cobra R, with it’s tall tunnel-ram like runners, as well as the cams which I assume had similar specs. So the vast majority of parts would have been readily available for NA production. FWIW The only vehicles that got the Cobra R head were the 2000 R(duh), the Ford GT supercar, and the Shelby GT500, while the Coyote 5.0 heads are quite similar as well despite their major external differences.
Just because an engine is OHC does not mean that it has a lack of low end torque, it is just that most OHC and in particular multivalve OHC engines are tuned for high rpm and high power.
The Marauder was designed for 4.10 gears, part of the reason for that was the staggered tire choice that gave them rear tires that were much taller than used in lesser Panthers. However the bean counters nixed those 4.10 gears mainly due to CAFE concerns. Unfortunately those 3.55 gears combined with the tall tires meas that the revs per mile are down near the 2V HPP cars. They at least could have slipped the 3.73s in there if they were going to keep the tall rear tires.
I also wonder why they didn’t put the 5R55 in Panthers or at least the Marauder and maybe TC. The Aviator got the 5R55 behind what is essentially the same engine as the Marauder and of course it went behind the 2V and 3V 4.6’s in the Explorer and all of those vehicles weighed even more and had much higher tow ratings than the Panther.
Of course in retrospect I’m happy that they kept the durable and dependable 4R7x family in all the Panthers.
The reason for no 4V 5.4 is the fact that it is even wider and taller and thus presents clearance problems with the HVAC box.
I swear no matter how many times I’m reminded of it I always forget about that box. Good point. Amazing they couldn’t get that thing into the cabin of those cars like they did everything else.
I can’t imagine that it would have cost that much extra to make a new box or part of the box. But then again the bean counters nixed the Addco sway bars and specific H pipe too.
That is indeed some nice fabrication, however it sure looks hard to steer, stop and such.
did anybody watch the video?
Youtube
1963 Ford Thunderbird 5.0 Coyote V8 Powered Restomod
yep. black one in video is nice.
The black one in the video looks like it corners better than any stock ’63 Thunderbird I have ever seen.
I see absolutely nothing wrong with this–in fact I quite like it. It’s not like it’s a rare car; there are plenty of bullet ‘Birds with stock 390 power to be had, so I applaud the owner for doing something different, and something that probably makes it a lot easier to live with in modern traffic. The considerable fabrication work needed looks quite clean also–and I haven’t watched the video but I imagine there’s probably been some suspension surgery too!
Just so long as they didn’t mess up the interior. While not quite as amazing as the next generation, the ’61-’63 interior is a fantastic piece of early 60’s design and should not be trifled with!
I really really really really really really really really really really really really really like that
Apparently, there are people on this site who have never driven a 300hp 390 Ford FE engine. Their loss, all I can say
Or a 406 which is treat in itself. I have although it was over 45 years ago in a ’62 Galaxie. It was the same night that I drove a ’67 Vette 427 tripower 4spd, both in street drags. And people today think they invented them. A couple of the people on here would know that north of the highway 101 & 18 Otis interchange is a very straight stretch of highway where it crosses the Salmon River before curves and climbs over Cascade Head, In the late 60’s-eary 70’s we had a quarter mile marked off on 101. Had one person with a light stationed right after what is today the hwy 18 interchange and another one about where 3 rocks road is. When they both gave the all clear two cars would race. You would have had to have been there to believe it. Cars lining on both sides of the highways shoulders, the noise, the lights and the general atmosphere I can still see and feel it today like it was only yesterday. Nobody got hurt and there were no accidents as far as I knew. And I still kick myself for not buying the ’39 Ford PU with a 389 tripower and B&M 4spd hydro floor shift for $300.00, the only thing it really needed was the paint as the body and interior had been completely redone and the body was in primer.
Well it was a 61-63 Thunderbird but no more.