Here's my 1980 Futura

It's a 1980 Futura, 6cyl, AT, PS, PB, PW and Locks and AC. Here's the best part, only 27k miles. I just picked it up this past December from a dealer in Tennessee. Other than drive line and suspension mods the car will look as close to original as possible (I'll have to get rid of the stock AM radio though). Plans for this year call for swapping out the 7.5 for an 8.8, that I'm currently in the process of building and changing the spindles, front brakes, front and rear springs and front and rear sway bars from a '90 Mustang GT. The 302 swap will be next years project.

This is how it looked when I picked it up.




Here's what it looks like now.





And here's the project I just finished last October.



I'm looking forward to spending some time here, learning what I can and sharing my experiences as well.

Rich

Nice to see ya here Rich !!

Wow! Great find on the Z!!

And I love the Cobra...which kit is it? After I complete my Fairmont I want to move to one of these so I'd love ot hear about it as well.

Don

detroitiron2000 wrote:

Wow! Great find on the Z!!

And I love the Cobra...which kit is it? After I complete my Fairmont I want to move to one of these so I'd love ot hear about it as well.

Don

Don,

It's factory Five MKIII Roadster. It's got a 306 with an E303 cam, GT40P heads, Mass-Flo EFI, T5 with 2.95 first gear, 8.8 with 3.55's, 4 wheel disk brakes from a '96 GT Mustang and a bunch of other goodies. I did everything on it except build the transmission and shoot the paint. The car is an absolute blast to drive. Talk about an attention getter?
Here's a link to the ffcobra.com forum with more pictures and info on the car.
http://www.ffcobra.com/forums/showthread.php?t=197843

Rich

Rich;

OMG! You're the owner of the Cobra I downloaded ALL of the pics of! I've been visiting the ffcobra site for several years now and when I saw your post in Oct I grabbed all the pics. I wanted to paint the one I build as you did so I downloaded all of the pics from that site! Well, it truly is my honor and pleasure to meet you, at least virtually.

It's a beautiful car and your workmanship is outstanding.

I've been looking at the FF kit as well. I originally wanted to build an FE (428) powered one but have changed my plans to a Clevor small block for the look. I've got a really long list of parts and sources for parts. When FF visited Rousch here in Mich several years ago I went over for the gathering. Met the guys from FF, seem like a decent group. And in fact, if I weren't so deep in my Fairmont with several thousand dollars in parts lying around I'd have bought a kit while they were on sale this past month.

Which oil cooler did you use?

Thanks for posting it up!
Don

Don,

I'm glad you like the car. I told you it was an attention getter I don't recall the brand of oil cooler we used as I bought it from a forum member here in CT to use on the car. Although it's not functional these cars just wouldn't be the same without an oil cooler filling up that hole. The car's got a 7.5 qt Canton rear sump pan and remote oil filter, so with 8.5+ quarts of oil and that big pan I was concerned that the oil wouldn't come up to temp. So far no problems.

Are you anywhere near the Wayne County Airport? I'm flying through there next Friday afternoon on my way back to Ct.

Rich;

Nope, no where near that. I was raised not too far from there but I now live on the other side of the state. Right on Lake Michigan and about 16 miles north of Indiana. Too bad, it would have been cool to meet up, have osme dinner and chat while you were on layover.

I have a cooler that has both lines coming out one end and I'm going to install it in my car behind my customized bumper but I like the ones with the lines out the opposite ends so I thought I'd ask. Installation will be easier with mine since I can orient the lines toward the adapter.

If you ever get into Chicago let me know. I can run over there in about an hour.

Travel safely,
Don

Beautiful Futura, Cobra ain't bad either!

-Mike S.

beautiful! I'm loving the 2 door, seeing this one has sparked some ideas in my mind that are way out of my budget. Nice work and I like how everything shines!

Rich, have you ever dynoed the Cobra? I've built an engine with GT40P heads (with big valves, 1.95"intake), a Comp XE270HR cam, and a 575 Speed Demon carb, and I'd like to know what to expect.

Aug wrote:

Rich, have you ever dynoed the Cobra? I've built an engine with GT40P heads (with big valves, 1.95"intake), a Comp XE270HR cam, and a 575 Speed Demon carb, and I'd like to know what to expect.

I haven't dynoed it yet but I may in June at Factory Five's Open House. They bring in a portable dyno and for about $40 you get 2 pulls. I did talk with Gordon Levy from Levy Racing about it and he estimated it at 310 to 320 fwhp. Given his knowledge I'd say it's pretty close to that.

http://www.levyracing.com/

Rich

Dang! I can't imagine how much horsepower it makes at the REAR wheels if that much bleeds over onto the fronts!

Luckiely, eye nefer mak typeoes.

Later,
Mike.

I thought he meant Flywheel HP but now that I think about it, with the combo he has it's got to be more.

Looking forward to the numbers.

And I am STILL so freakin jealous of that car!

Don

Aug wrote:

Dang! I can't imagine how much horsepower it makes at the REAR wheels if that much bleeds over onto the fronts!

Luckiely, eye nefer mak typeoes.

Later,
Mike.

I'm sorry, did I forget to mention that it's all wheel drive?

Don,

I'm glad someone understands....

I've been hanging out with ricers too much, I guess.