My '85 MGM, "Maisa"

[Arquemann]

I got a chance to drive a stock '84 Crown Vic wagon on Friday... Ended up parking it on a curb and crawling underneath it.
The thing felt FAST compared to my sedan!

Factory CFI 302, nothing special in any way on the car, smog stuff intact and all. Slickside white wagon, kinda base spec. Since the owner didn't know, I had to crawl underneath the car to check the axle tag; and it said 3.08. JUST. LIKE. MINE.
Ended up trying a 0-100kmh (62mph) run a couple times in my own car afterwards. Without brake boosting, I got a time of about 19-20 seconds...

So the pig-rich CFI is doing more than just ruining my fuel economy, who would've guessed...

[gadget73]

'85 had slightly better heads than 84 did too. HP is up by 10 I think.

[Arquemann]

I snagged the first piece of the carb conversion puzzle.



There was an FHRA swap meet in Malmi today, and I managed to buy this thing. It's a Holley 80570, 570cfm Street Avenger, was taken off a well-running mopar 383 in August.
Looks a bit scruffy being dirty and with the mismatched bowl, but it's actually a MY07 so it's pretty new. And I paid only 200€ for it, new these are about 600€ in Finland.
It's a bit on the big side for a stock LoPo, but it should still offer good driveability when properly adjusted. And I won't be running out of carb too fast if I get bit by the go-fast bug. Headers, cam, maybe even heads?

Also bought a Mr Gasket phenolic spacer for 10€ from the swap meet. It's painted orange for whatever reason. There would've been an old used Edelbrock Performer for 200€ aswell, but I ran out of cash and those old farts never have a mobile pay system. TBH 200€ for it felt kinda high.

[Tiggie]

I think that carb will be perfect. Hopefully they didn't mess with it too much. I think 97% of people bolt it on and roll (including myself).

[Arquemann]

I think that carb will be perfect. Hopefully they didn't mess with it too much. I think 97% of people bolt it on and roll (including myself).

He said it was tuned for the mild-ish 383, but didn't mention anything about jetting. I'll of course check what jets are in it before and change them outright if deemed necessary.
I've got a lot of studying to do, I don't know much about carbs.

[sly]

Make sure to swap over the throttle lever for the proper geometry (or mod the one on the carb).

[matth825]

Very nice! Holley’s are great because they can be very finely tuned. You made a good buy with that carb.

Have you picked out a 4bbl intake yet? If not I’d look into the edelbrock performer.


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[Arquemann]

Make sure to swap over the throttle lever for the proper geometry (or mod the one on the carb).

You mean the AOD TV-stuff? For that I'll be getting the Lokar cable with Sonnax AS4-04K corrector bracket and AS6-01 throttle and TV cable bracket. Simplest setup I can come up with, but a bit spendy. The Sonnax brackets can actually be bought through RockAuto, which is great for me. Cable and some other bits and bobs most likely coming via Summit.

Have you picked out a 4bbl intake yet? If not I’d look into the edelbrock performer.

Not yet, the performer is somewhat common to find used here, so I'll most likely be getting one of those. Don't really want to roll the dice on a chinesium intake, even if they're cheap.
There's a used performer RPM for sale aswell, but I fear that the stock air cleaner won't fit on the carb with the taller intake plus the phenolic spacer. But do correct me if I'm wrong in that.

[sly]

You mean the AOD TV-stuff? For that I'll be getting the Lokar cable with Sonnax AS4-04K corrector bracket and AS6-01 throttle and TV cable bracket. Simplest setup I can come up with, but a bit spendy. The Sonnax brackets can actually be bought through RockAuto, which is great for me. Cable and some other bits and bobs most likely coming via Summit.

Nice.

[Arquemann]

Wouldn't have minded to make things work with the TV-rod, but in addition to having to bend it, the hardest part would be to figure out the ratio completely mirrored, as on the holley the bracket aod nub will pull instead of push as with the CFI.

[matth825]

I don’t believe the RPM version of the performer intake will fit. I do seem to remember it being taller. It’s rev range is 1500-6500 so that’s not good either. The performer 289 is the one you’d want. There should be no clearance issues and it’s rev range is idle-5500.

For the trans TV linkage the Lokar setup requires their bracket. The Sonnax bracket is made to work with a factory Ford truck style AOD TV cable. IMO it’s a better setup than Lokar but you’d need to find the correct linkage to connect the TV cable down at the trans.


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[Arquemann]

For the trans TV linkage the Lokar setup requires their bracket. The Sonnax bracket is made to work with a factory Ford truck style AOD TV cable. IMO it’s a better setup than Lokar but you’d need to find the correct linkage to connect the TV cable down at the trans.

So this one would be the bracket to go with the Lokar cable:

https://www.summitracing.com/parts/lok-srk-4000

But will the stock throttle cable work with that? And cruise control?

I'm not yet opposed to changing from the Lokar stuff, but if I have to go ordering a bajillion different bracket from a dozen retailers, I'd just go with the Lokar stuff.

[Arquemann]

So, the carb has size 68 main jets and 65 secondary jets, factory would be 64 main and 68 secondary. And no I didn't have the carb the wrong way lol.
I think just swapping those around would be an okay place to start, then get the car running.

[matth825]

My '85 MGM, "Maisa"

That’s the correct bracket. You’ll have to use the Lokar throttle cable with it as well which means you probably won’t be able to keep the cruise control. If you can fab a bracket to make the Lokar TV cable work along with the stock throttle cable then you’d be able to keep cruise. Here’s what the Lokar setup looks like assembled in there instructions.



Here is the Lokar stuff installed on a carb swapped 85 CV




Lokar would be the best way to go. The only way you’ll be able to get the correct TV bracket for the transmission end to use the Ford truck TV cable is by scrounging the junkyard.



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[Arquemann]

I might be more inclined to reuse the factory throttle cable bracket. To me it seems easier to figure out a bracket for the lokar cable vs. having to buy another damn cable and getting boned with the cruise.
Looks like the Lokar TV cable just needs a hole straight back from the linkages and it doesn't seem to be as dependant on the distance between the linkage stud and bracket vs. the factory box throttle cable.