My 12V US Scorpio

[Chuck W]

Well since I haven't posted too many pics of the car and the mods, I figure I might.  It's a definite work in progress though.  It's an '88 Scorpio (US-Spec, 2.9 12V, auto, 2WD).  I picked it up a couple years ago for $250US.  

I don't have too many of the full car, mainly because it has some cosmetic issues.

A year ago-ish I got rid of the nasty US-Spec headlights for something a bit more useful


Earlier this year I converted the front suspension to coil-overs with 275# springs (stock is about 100#).  Also the front brakes have been upgraded to 12" C4 Corvette pieces.


This past week I got into the rear suspension and replaced the beam/differential mounts with solid mounts and installed uprated springs (about 850#).  Much quieter than one would think, but I imagine all the sound deadening helps.  

This is a pic of the diff mount I built


And I lowered the car a touch, but not much.  The ride is nice and stiff though.
This picture shows the wheels  I have installed (from a Mustang (17"x8").  When I replace the tires I'm going to clean them up and repaint them.


Some other mods include uprated suspension bushes, a performance exhaust and a 1-piece AL driveshaft.  I also made some poly motor mounts for it as well


However, while working on the rear suspension, I found a 3" diameter rusted out hole in the frame right next to the beam mount on the pass side....so it promted me to find this....



It's another 88 Scorpio that is the twin to my car save for it has cloth interior (prefered anyway) and 100K LESS miles on it and no rust.  I'll be picking it up the beginning of next month and swapping over my mods to it and stripping and scrapping this rusted shell I have.

Future mods include swapping in a manual gearbox (preferably a T-5) and a TT conversion on the 2.9.  There are some other smaller mods planned such as the converting to the 12" C4 rear disk brakes and some minor suspension tweaks.

Anyway, just thought I'd put my ride out there (well one of them)

Chuck

[Damocos]

I didnt know you got the scorpio/granada out there, you done some pukka mods to it and i agree with ya about them dodgy us spec lamps   The clean 1 in the last pic is certainly a minter, good luck with the project

[Chuck W]

We got them for 2 years (88-89), but none of the really cool ones (no 4x4, no 24V).

[piston broke]

nice work mate ,keep the pictures coming.

[TwinTurbo]

Lots of Euro cars were uglified with US lights....

Good to see a Scorpio over the pond, I guess the 2.9L engine is a bit of a baby over there... Bet you did not get the 1.8 Pinto....

TT

[xr4man]

nope no pinto for us in the scor. we only got the 2.9.

hmmm, those pics look familiar chuck. and still beautiful.

everytime i see it i want a scorp more and more. i think i would need some cossie power though.  

[Chuck W]

Hey xr4man.  I'm not sure my car is "beautiful"....but the new one will be better

Thanks for the compliments guys.

[Taps]

Nice work there Chuck, when I remember to bring my camera home will post pic up of the 24V mount but would think the mounts and arms you have done for yours will do the job for us here.

[Chuck W]

Taps, a pic and perhaps some dimensions so I can compare to the US-spec mounts will probably work.

[Chuck W]

Well I finally got the lights swapped to the new car


and once I get the rest of these done...


...the big brakes and the rest of the suspension will be going on the car from the old one.

[Chris]

Taps, a pic and perhaps some dimensions so I can compare to the US-spec mounts will probably work.

Hi Chuck

I have a pair of UK engine mounts (not the rubber part) sitting in my garage doing nothing....   They were on the 24V engine I had shipped over.  If you want me to send them your way, let me know....

[Chuck W]

Hi Chuck

I have a pair of UK engine mounts (not the rubber part) sitting in my garage doing nothing....   They were on the 24V engine I had shipped over.  If you want me to send them your way, let me know....

Chris-
Taps and I already compared notes on these and the arms were the same as the ones used on the 12V 2.9 in the Scorpio here in the US.  I actually designed them over a year ago for my car and just needed to refine them this time around.
Thanks for the offer though.

[Taps]

Chuck them headlights look so much better, like the wheels.

[Chris]

Chris-
Taps and I already compared notes on these and the arms were the same as the ones used on the 12V 2.9 in the Scorpio here in the US.  I actually designed them over a year ago for my car and just needed to refine them this time around.
Thanks for the offer though.

OK, no worries....

Chris

[Owain]

thats looking good chuck, keep up the good work mate

[Chuck W]

Well, the new wheels and tires are finally installed.



They're 17x8's with 235/45 front and 245/45 rear.

Now I can get the big brakes and coil overs back on the front and get to working on the big rears :D

[Taps]

Nice, I've just noticed your Scorps got them ugly number plate lights as well, what ever was Ford playing at fitting them instead of in the Bumper like ours.

[Chuck W]

Well after 1000+ miles of dealing with the warped rotor, I finally was able to get the 12" Vette front brakes swapped onto the new car.

Along with those came the front coil overs with the stiffer springs (275#).  While I was under there I also swapped the AL steering rack bushings.

It's much more of a joy to drive now.

I do have an ABS light that comes on, but braking is not affected.  It's possible one of the sensors got knackered up upon trying to remove them as they were in the old spindles pretty well.

I need to tweak a few thing on the rear beam and get it powdercoated before I swap back in the stiff/solid set-up I had in the previous car, but at least now it's a more tolerable drive :D

Another mod I'm working on for the rear are these...



The 12" rear mates to the front brakes.  The brackets look to be pretty easy and from a preliminary glance, I might be able to use the existing Scorpio parking brake cables.

Scorpio 1.0 is supposed to leave my driveway next weekend, so that will help move along a couple more projects (exhaust, engine mounts...)