Swapping a Coyote V8 into a Classic Thunderbird

Photo credit: V8 Speed & Restoration Shop

When the owner of this Thunderbird came to Kevin Oeste of V8 Speed & Restoration Shop to put together this 1955 Ford Thunderbird, he had lofty expectations. Then 75 years old, the owner wanted a machine to revisit his youth; he had a T-Bird back in the sixties. However, this man was quite different from many enthusiasts longing to relive their halcyon years. This man was a engineer who once ground his own camshafts, so calling him detail-oriented would be an understatement.

He’d taken it to other builders, but being concerned with the weight distribution of his Thunderbird, he wasn’t too thrilled with the other shops’ suggestions of big blocks. What caught his eye was the lightweight Coyote motor, which would give him plenty of grunt without mounting an anchor in engine bay, an Oeste agreed wholeheartedly. At only 412 pounds, the 5.0-liter crate engine, backed by a Richmond 6-speed manual transmission, would give this old ‘Bird new wings. To complement the added thrust, they wisely added a power rack & pinion steering system from Flaming River, a Hydratech hydroboost brake system, and quite a lot more.

To suit the constraints of the engine bay and all the surrounding ancillaries, they first ordered a custom radiator for more airflow. The airdam was modified to funnel air to the radiator core, which had been relocated from the stock position, and then custom designed an airbox to fit over and in front of the radiator, which looks spiffy and generates a little more flow over the factory airbox.

Turning their attentions to the interior, they contacted Auto Meter and designed a tachometer that suited the ’50s aesthetic with the Auto Meter Custom Shop Online Program. This allows the user to choose gauge styles, bezels, glass shape, background color, pointer style, and the font/ticking and their colors. With a piece that looked near-factory, they fitted this within the original clock location.

New door panels, door sills, carpeting, gauge faces, dash trim, and other restoration parts were purchased from Larry’s Thunderbird and Mustang, and the door panels were perforated for the speakers hidden subtly behind.

With all the systems in working order, the wiring finished, and all the holes drilled, they took the Thunderbird apart to address some of the corners cut by previous shops and owners, douse the hide in candy apple red, and give the underbody a coating of truck bed liner. Once they filled in the holes in the trunk, they dropped the body—with a team of cautious men—back onto the frame very deliberately to ensure no part of the drivetrain was damaged in the process.

Tuning wasn’t the easiest, since the airbox and Magnaflow exhaust weren’t factory pieces and didn’t fit neatly. They took Magnaflow’s 2.5-inch, mandrel-bent builder’s kits, a bunch of J-bends, and some straight sections of tube, and built their own. Because the Thunderbird is a convertible, it uses an x-member which makes it tough to run pipes and completely impossible to run an x-pipe. Nevertheless, they bent the pipes to fit within the standard passages for the exhaust, and fitted them to match the factory Ford headers.

The motor cranked over quite easily, but they still had their share of teething problems. At first, the motor would die under deceleration. Putting their heads together, they realized their airbox wasn’t providing the right airflow characteristics that the motor demanded. So, they redesigned theirs to emulate the pathway of the factory piece. With SCT Tuners, they were able to clean up the air-fuel ratio and make the car a little more tractable–specifically with the cam timing–in a variety of conditions. Additionally, a defective exhaust flange left to a significant leak, which was addressed before sorting out the finer points of the tune.

Wheelhop was initially an issue with the power on demand and the limitations of the stock suspension. Riding on KYB shocks, the lowered leafsprings would wrap up under acceleration, but the addition of a CalTracs traction bar straightened the driveshaft under acceleration and allow the tires to spin freely without any distressing hop.

Up front, V8 Speed & Restoration added a tubular control arm to fit around the wide Coyote motor. The Flaming River steering kit added plenty of confidence and clarity, but at the cost of a reluctance to re-center. Even with gobs of castor thrown at it, the steering wouldn’t return to center willingly. However, the car tracked straight wonderfully, and wouldn’t cause the owner any distress while barreling down long country lanes.

Which is exactly what he does. As of today, V8 Speed & Restoration handles the periodic maintenance with the car, which has since been nicknamed the CoyoTBird, and every time it returns, it’s caked in mud. With the owner being a meticulous man, they’ve done regular tweaking—a backup camera and upgraded gear ratios to name a few—and it’s clear the man wants to get the most from his creation. If I’m half that cool when I’m nearing ninety, I’ll be able to die a happy man.

About the author

Tommy Parry

Tommy Parry has been racing and writing about racing cars for the past seven years. As an automotive enthusiast from a young age, he worked jobs revolving around cars throughout high school, and tried his hand on the race track on his 20th birthday. After winning his first outdoor kart race, Tommy began working as an apprentice mechanic to amateur racers in the Bay Area to sharpen his mechanical understanding. He has worked as a track day instructor and automotive writer since 2012, and continues to race karts, formula cars, sedans, and rally cars in the San Francisco region.
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