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If you're serious about getting one joining the EXP/LN7 Owners Group on Facebook is a must, I don't say it to promote the group but that's ONLY international source of EXP/LN7 listings. Anyone who sees any post it up there, and it's the only "forum" existing for these cars too :/ Today you also have to be fine with compromise or play the (LONG) waiting game, near-perfect or better examples are SO rarely listed because there's just so few in total so only 1 or 2 pop up a year. If you want one get the first non-parts car you see, or wait more decades. They all need love, everyone's seen my first 12 EXPs and 4 Escorts, it's not coincidence that they're all faded and mouse-raided it's just how the majority of them will be found. Over the next few days stay tuned, I just brought another EXP down late last night with MORE coming this weekend/week!! One of which will be my first ever 2nd gen EXP, good stuff, bear with me! Thanks for watching! Hope to hear your thoughts on the next few acquisitions :)

@@Belvedere12 wowza, that's a big conversion and it sadly won't work despite what it may look like in photos. The 86-90 cars have taller hoods clearanced for the taller 1.9 engines and that's the main catch because to have the 81-85 grille & lights you need the 81-85 hood and fenders. If you want to get a little closer you can swap to the 86-88 front end to have the shiny metal bumpers - this is a very common conversion on the 89-90 Escorts because those bumper covers are a type of plastic that's quite prone to cracking/shattering. I recently got an 88.5 (89) Escort, that will be in a few coming videos for me to show more comparisons, the famous front end conversion, and a few other topics. In the meantime here's the visual catalog I've made so everyone can see exactly what years+models have for differences between each. You'll have to look REAL close to see the fender+hood differences of 81-85 vs 86-90 (86-88 vs 89-90 for the fenders): docs.google.com/document/d/1Zzsy7Hkh-qtlXJ8BHl3O_S8bS4pW5x32r13HRCK9M34/edit?usp=drivesdk

@@MrGreen-hx8lp I could if you want! What are you hoping to see? I believe my "tear-down" covers everything but cam lube, cam seal, valve lapping, valve stem seal, and spring assembly. Those are all generic procedures but if you want to see it I can film my next one start to finish porting & all👍

@@The_1982_EXPert that would be great, you’ve been an invaluable resource! Does the cvh head use valve stem guides and do they need replaced? I bought a roller cam with lifters, thinking about replacing the seals with the top hat design if possible. Keeping my eye out for new valve springs but so far haven’t come across any.

@@Thevacomaticvacuumcorner Lately they've been coming to me! Haha If ypu join the EXP Owners Facebook group they're all over in varying conditions, that's literally the only place to see decent quantities of them. This is only the 2nd one we've found road-side, most come from the Facebook Group, Craigslist, or people who write me

@@The_1982_EXPert i see 2 Escort on ebay oh if i had the cash id buy em both

Not Mazda at all, the 2.5/3.0 Duratec is actually Porsche design but yeah it only mates to 4 transmissions on this planet. The bigger issue is the assembled package so big it can't fit in the front of the car

I got a good how-to video on those window scrappers too but yeah that's the process; remove trim, cut off the staples, discard the seal, rivet on new seal, screw trim back in. All of the window work I show is the same on the 81-90 Escorts, even using the same seals unless I specify otherwise. Might never see rain again but when you have it all done right boy the wind noise gets SO much quieter, door gaskets are the other huge step in making these closer to silent, foxbody Mustang door seals for those 👍 Definitely keep an eye out on my channel because I'm restoring so many EXPs and now Escorts that I'm making updates like this more frequently as parts I once used disappear 😕

Well, funny you say that because in 1975/1976 a few Mustang 2 concept cars were produced by Ford, still searching for more photos (I have only 1 of each car): One was heavily altered up front to have what looks like a Nissan Fairlady nose & hood Another has a more unique nose cone that's nearly identical to the 1982-1985 EXP/LN7, I'm hoping to update my EXP/LN7 history video by including this particular concept. Amazing to think it took 6 years for a concept *on a different car* come complete to a T!

Certainly would be, the problem with coolant-cooled oil coolers is the coolant is hotter than what you'd want the oil at. Ideal oil temp is something like 120F-150F depending on the oil, but the coolant supposedly cooling it is 165F+ so once the engine is at operating temp it's adding more heat than subtracting haha

Please send me an email for prompt help and reference photos 🙂 the1982expert@gmail.com

Oh yeah, the head has a Ford Motorsport/SVO part number and the pistons are supposed to be forged in the same building as the 2.3 SVO's (same story with the exhaust manifolds if that's true). The problem is the 2.3 is a good 3-4 inches longer than the CVHs, so while it would bolt right up if you cut up the inner fender area (frame) of the passenger side it makes hanging the bigger heavier engine pretty hard and that install method is pretty slopping to expect to sell to the public haha

They're all aluminum front & chrome steel rear, even for 86-88 with the body restyle. Some just have a really well polished front, the rears rot something fierce like you found 😕 Yeah parts availability is a growing curse, no more shocks from North America, no more rear bushings from North America, and no more radiators or gas tanks at all

Hey nice! Beware that if you don't have the bracket+electric sockets to mount it you'll need to improvise or fabricate something instead. Yep plain T10 or 194 light element for the dome light - as are all other dashboard lights, but fair warning be selective of where you put brighter LEDs because having the blinker indicators or high beam indicator as strong as the LED I show in the video is literally blinding after dark lol I think the map light bulb is an 1816? Factory wiring diagrams say it's the same spade type bulb "906" but it definitely isn't.... The map light is a bayonet style, I can double check some time but I'm pretty sure it's an 1816

None of mine no, but if you join FEOA or the EXP/LN7 Owners group in Facebook you'll see every one that is for sale - it's not many by the way so I always tell people that so long as it's more than just a parts car you need to get it or never get to have one.....

Oh wow! I've heard of Shelby & Roush body kits for them but never seen anything outside the Pacific/dealer stuff and full custom. Do you have any pictures you can share with me? the1982expert@gmail.com I much prefer the 1st gen EXPs, far more character 🙂🐸 BUT, the 86-88 are far superior mechanically, but with both being fully compatible with each other you can always have the best/favorite of both!

Yeah sadly all the 1.6s are interference like that breaking belts like clockwork just over the 50k service interval too, all 1.9s are non-interference thanks to the block being casted about 1/4" taller. With the 1.9s around there's no need for the 1.6s but to d9nate their hemi heads to convert all 1.9s into 1.9 EFI HO spec haha Wowza ran that ATX hard!

I usually have a bean bag chair in my Blue '82 too, when propped against the seats the car is PERFECT for drive-in theaters with the hatch up!

Check your distributor's cap & rotor and check for pulses from the pickup coil inside the distributor too (if CDI check pickup coil off the cam by #4 intake port). And of course be sure your engine is grounded and the spark plugs are reliable (beware of fake NGKs when bought from small online outlets) and make sure the head is clean where the spark plugs snug up to the head - enough oxidation or oil here will prevent conductivity between the plug and the head to allow spark discharge. You're welcome to email me with photos to help you better 🙂 the1982EXPert@gmail.com

Cork eventually swells and squishes, and now that the only gaskets are NOS from 20-44 years ago they're hard out of the box and often are already cracked. All of that shape changing makes the bolts loose not the bolts naturally backing out. I've never seen any cork ones with little metal eyelet spacers, that's why some of the valve covers have the eyelets "built-in" to the bottom.

@@The_1982_EXPert genuine ford gaskets have metal reinforcement in them.and so do some of the aftermarket ones

@@MegaReddevil71 I used an unopened Ford top end gasket kit (dated 1982) in my Blue '82 and the gasket had no metal inserts just the cork alone, so far all of my cars are the same. Many North American 1.6 valve covers are stamped out in a way that they have a small metal sleeve for around the bolt to prevent you from over-torquing the gasket but they’re so thin they don't exactly succeed in their mission lol

Start by figuring out the year (by VIN not build date), any that are 81-85 gas engines need a new timing belt before you put any load on them since those are interference - you don't want the belts breaking on those, any that are 1986+ SOHC gas engines are fine as is being non-interference. Up to you if you want to bypass the fuel tank not knowing what's inside to drain later New oil & filter if possible would be extremely wise if you can handle the cost even if just cheap 10w30 tractor oil, firing it up with whatever's inside can be problematic. Before getting it up to temperature new coolant and thermostat is a must, new headgasket & heater core both eventually mandatory - but in the mean time running it for only 5-200 seconds ata time is not going to be an issue as far as coolant goes. Otherwise that's about it and again those aren't musts until you want to rev it up, get it warmed up, or take it down the road. But at that point you have to assess/address every other component on the car (namely every piece of rubber and wheel bearings), maybe I should get around a video on the revival process covering safe procedures and risks.

@@The_1982_EXPert well so far I have taken extra caution with it but some things are inevitable the timing belt has snapped not sure when I’m praying there is no valve damage.

Sorry but I wouldn't know, all my stuff is North American (different from all other markets) and our Mazda platform cars are of a different generation being incompatible with anything I have too: 81-90 vs 91-03ish

Those may be the "polycast" wheels where they're steelies that have a rubber-like material vulcanized to the steel surfaces to look like aluminum wheels. Very common on Tempos, and very forgiving to damage - biggest issue is the center caps don't like to cling to them forever haha Odd yours have split, steel may be rusting behind then

They absolutely were, so the core structural integrity of the rim must have just gave out over the years of sitting then.

The ONLY difference is that 84-88 has speakers in the doors and I don't know how that affects the door panel removal - otherwise they are indeed 100% identical from the armrests to the mirror adjusters to the door panels

My ford fiesta 1.4 cvh it's smoking what It's costing that end no power

"Let's meet, and have a baby now!" B-52s.

That's about what we always thought until last year - a photo surfaced of a mid 1970s Mustang 2 prototype that had an EXP nose cone on the front! So the genetic combination would probably be best described as: Mustang 2's kin the Foxbody meets 80s Escort

hello, If he doesnt end up wanting it and youre still willing to sell it, I would be interested in taking a look

Possibly.... Email me at: the1982expert@gmail.com 🙂

@@The_1982_EXPert just emailed you

@@k1tsune389 email?

Repairing it is very tricky, it's a hybrid blend of rubber & plastic much like the nose cone and rear bumper cover that doesn't plastic weld all that great. I've plastic welded the rear bumper cover but with limited results, you need the same material to patch in and being it doesn't melt very well and likes to evaporate while heating it's hard to even have a half successful welding operation :/ I'd make a fiberglass or carbon fiber replacement, make the mold reusable and the sales you'd make off replacements would fund any plans you have for your whole car haha