Took the first trip around town with the RRS kit

Originally Posted by valleydude

I went with Ron Morris's cause he did me right on the coil over but its a simple upgrade you do . If you have the plug for the alternator all you have to do is loop the F and I wires off the old voltage regulator , that keeps your alt light working in the dash gauges then find the 12 volt key on wire in the 3 wire plug from the old harness next to the starter solenoid run that wire to the 12 volt sensing wire to the new alt, add a heavy 12 gauge wire to the battery and your set . Rons harness was a little pricey at 90.00 but then again its nice and clean well fused so no concerns of burning up the car. Also Torino420 I live in Salida which is a blur north of Modesto where abouts are you ?

Yeah i've been thinking about talking to him about a 5 speed conversion. I'm in Tracy, not too far

Well 420 if you aren't in a hurry I have a TKO 600 sitting in the garage. Proabably one to two months out on that conversion. I've done a lot fo research so at this point I think I know exactly what is needed to best fit the tranny in the Torino. Of course there may be some differences due to my FE vs your Windsor.

No, no hurry at all. Definetly keep us posted on that. I will do the tko600 also if i end up going that route. I would love to have a stick in this car, would be much more fun to drive. What type of clutch actuation you gonna use? Stock linkage? Hydraulic? or Cable?
I dont mind cutting the tunnel if i have to, what are you thoughts on tunnel mods needed ?

Well my car is a factory 4 speed so I'm going to stick with a slightly modified version of my stock linkage. It's worked for 38 years so if I freshen it up and address the weak link (Z bar) it should work fine. I looking at sealed bearings on the pedal shafts, one piece crites Z bar and I'll probably fab some new linkage pieces from the pedal to Z bar and Z bar to clutch. Dark Horse says you can fit a TKO in a Fairlane/Torino tunnel without cutting. I have been under my 4 speed and measeure the clearance round the Toploader and I think he is right. There may be a slight clearance issue around the shifter. The removable tunnel hump should be the only modification (I hope).

Originally Posted by fefairlane

Well my car is a factory 4 speed so I'm going to stick with a slightly modified version of my stock linkage. It's worked for 38 years so if I freshen it up and address the weak link (Z bar) it should work fine. I looking at sealed bearings on the pedal shafts, one piece crites Z bar and I'll probably fab some new linkage pieces from the pedal to Z bar and Z bar to clutch. Dark Horse says you can fit a TKO in a Fairlane/Torino tunnel without cutting. I have been under my 4 speed and measeure the clearance round the Toploader and I think he is right. There may be a slight clearance issue around the shifter. The removable tunnel hump should be the only modification (I hope).

Good news on the tunnel, that would help out alot.

Got some drive time on the RRS kit while I sorted out some cooling issues. The suspension rides smooth over the potholes and rounded bumbs. It is a little harsh on sharp edged bumps such as road dots. When you cross lanes it's harsh but over potholes or other road irregulateties it is smooth. With the 1" stambar and coilovers ther really isn't any noticable body roll. I shoved the car into a big cloverleaf onramp and it didn't push, turned right in. Of course the detroit locker,caltracts and Koni rear shocks along with some torque from the 390 helped the rear lighten up the front. So far so good. I think the cooling issues are fixed so I can put some miles on it and figure out if I should mess with adjusting the front shocks.

Sounds like its working out well for you . When I talked to Ron Morris about the wiring harness for the 3g alt he asked me how I liked the coil over he sold me , I told him I liked it except it was a little harsh and more road noise , he gave me some new parts he is trying out for the lower control arms which have rubber in them, What a difference in the ride made a huge difference.

It is hard to compare my stock set up with the RRS since I didn't really drive it enought wiht the 17" 45 series tires and stock suspension to figure out how much of the harsh feeling is the low profile tires. Overall I wouldn't call the ride harsh but it does feel very controlled.

I know what you mean. I have the stock rims and some close to stock T.A.'s on mine and after the coil over change the handling and overall feel of the front end was like night and day compared to the stock suspension. Now after changing to the rubber on the lower control arms I like mine so much better.