Hey there, Well kind of a update and a sad story for me.
After near 7 years I finally drove the car tonight Yay!
But in the process of towing it out with the strap to the street, my perfect front valence and the left front fender is now trash.
See I had to tow it out of my apartment so I could run it long enough to check the trans fluid (now way to high BTW). In the process I told the wife to stop by giving her the "stop" hand through the rear window. Instead of stopping, she just slowed, ran over the strap and then it proceeded to try to tear off the front valance and buckled the fender where it bolts to it.
Prett much all my fault as i should have told her to slow us with the pinto brakes to keep the strap tight ,and also i thought id be smart and run the strap through the valance to the "hook loops" that are right behind the front bumper bracket to keep the strap from bending the valence up in the first place. Well it worked good. Till she ran over the strap. :'(
Now i need another perfect front valence and now a "perfect" L front fender. SIGH!
Im having other issues also. Its not wanting to start. "Clik clik clik"
It has a CSR High performance starter, big cable to the starter from the trunk, and all good connections. Also the Ford Solenoid is gone completely as I took it out when I rewired the car. So thats not an issue. Now its probably the CSR starters solenoid!! ARRRHHHHGGG! Of course that one is down on the starter where its hard to get to. :mad:
However when it finally decides to engage it fires Right up.
Still have to hook up the "coolant can" cause she pukes up good once its warm with a full radiator.
Have to get it alined as it veeres back and forth on the freeway.
So far cooling seems to be working. Gets a bit warm at 200ish idling, but once at over 30mph it gets near 160. So far at night.
The old mallory tach im not sure about. Seems a bit off, plus it hung up for a second or 2 after reving it a few times. I Have nothing to compare to though. (Id like a neat Ford script Auto Meter one anyways)
With my tailpipe plugs in it wants to run hard but you can tell it feels a bit dragged down. Im going to pull them off next time out when i get out to the street.
Need to install my front anti roll bar as its wishy washy while changing lanes.
I have to tell you guys that i thought id be waaaayyyy more elated to drive this thing, but instead im just stressed out to the max cause im afraid that something big is going to go wrong. LOL
Oh yah and i have to come up with a hood latching system as im trying to keep the hood clear of hood pins. God thats going to be tough!
So sorry to hear of the damage. But at least your driving. No you will have a chance to work those bugs out. Dont get stressed just do them one at a time. You will get em.
Hello all again,
Drove it to work! Its a 25 mile hike on the freeway and it was an experiance!LOL
First im holding the hood down with a ratchet strap from underneath. I thought it was ok only having one side strapped down but as i got on the freeway the passenger side was flapping up and down about 4 inches!! So i slowed down to about 50 55 mph to avoid loosing the hood. Its very darty as i said preiviously so its to the alignment shop before i take it back to work or on any frw journeys.
On the plus side the temp in the summer heat is a solid 190 to 210. So things are working pretty good. And it hauls buttox!! Not so much on the fwy but from stop sign to stop sign Woohh.. And she aint tuned yet. Still abit lean during around town driving.
However it has the perfect sound at idle. Ohhh Yeahhh!! bumpaba bumpapa bumpaba bumpapa! Car shaking all over the place LOL!! For hydraulic Roller cams that are easy to put in and go the ol B303 Ford motorsport cam is hard to beat. Has the perfect idle, super fast throttle response and easy on the valve train.
On a fun note a buddy at work has a 84 SVO Mustang and he road races it. Hes got a serious turbo 4 banger detuned to around 300hp for the class hes running. Hes dumped a ton of cash and time into his car and is a sweet ride (hell the roll cage he has in it is nicer looking than my engine LOL!) Hes had a thrown rod, cracked head, defective Esslinger aluminum head, etc etc. So hes pretty comitted to his car in the current state. He got pretty discouraged and almost ripped out the engine and went 5.0 with it. But he perservered and not its pretty rock solid. THE FUN PART. He comes up to me yesterday and tells me
"Mann you got me all messed up!! I Looove that sound of Flowmasters and that cam! After hearing your car i almost asked to trade drivetrains out with someone else!! Man that soounds great!!"
That felt great to hear i tell ya. Really respect his opinon.
So now its going to sit abit while i gather up the cash for front suspension work. I need to get a bump steer kit, get my tires changed out to the 205/60/15s 245/60/15s and then change out the lower control arm bushings. Id also like to mount my 1" sway bar as well. Then drive it to the alingment shop. There is a guy in Chatsworth Ca, that specializes in old Mustang suspensions. He's apparenly Top notch and quoted me a price for the pinto of $65 to $85. Not bad considering that all the tire places want 60 plus they wont touch a old scool car anyways if it needs caster camber adjustment. the place is here http://www.fly-ford.com/index.html (http://www.fly-ford.com/index.html)
I have some coolant leaking issues as well. The outside head studs are leaking alot. I used some ARP teflon paste and i thought i had the perfect sealant. HA HA. Jokes on me. It seals great on tapered threads but for head studs this stuff is crap. I should have used some silicon sealant. Now i have to hope that some ceramic radiator sealant will plug them up. See the later 5.0 roller blocks have through studs while the earlier blocks have blind holes. Oh well. its going to have to stay for now. Pulling the studs would include the headers as well and draining all the coolant as well. Stuff i just cant do here.
Lastly for reliablity i have to replace the solenoid on the starter. a used CSR pro platinum and its a sticker. Click click click click click VAROOOOMM! Or sometimes just VAROOOM!
Always a work in progress but now i can drive it from time to time YAHHOOOO!
YEHAWWW. Glad to hear you got to drive her. I like the 303 cam myself great sound good response. I am about ready to get tires for mine been squirling away a few dallors at a time. I am going to try the 205/15s on the front to. Need 295/50/15s for the back was wanting BF Goodrich but cant find them any more looks like i am going to have to use mastercraft. What front shocks did you use?
Coolant leaks zoop, i use indian head shellac. Would be nice if you could drain it down about half and pull the studs one at a time. You need to move to WV we just pull the plug catch what we can. :lol: Have any old oil the neighbors use it to poor on the driveways to keep the dust down. Any ways glad to hear you got to enjoy it. I hope to get some time to get on mine soon.
Thanks man!
Heres the place you should get tires. Tire Rack can get them but they apparently wont ship till 10/16 though.
http://www.tirerack.com/tires/Compare1.jsp?width=295/&ratio=50&diameter=15&skipOver=true&y=15&ratio=50&skipOver=true&width=295/&diameter=15&x=114&startIndex=0&search=true&pagelen=20&pagenum=1&pagemark=1&RunFlat=All (http://www.tirerack.com/tires/Compare1.jsp?width=295/&ratio=50&diameter=15&skipOver=true&y=15&ratio=50&skipOver=true&width=295/&diameter=15&x=114&startIndex=0&search=true&pagelen=20&pagenum=1&pagemark=1&RunFlat=All)
The shocks i have are some near worn out konis. Bought them 14 years ago. KYB's are a great alternative or AFCO street 50/50 shocks could work well but i never verified it.
Yah time , a limited resource LOL! Dont get too discouraged if you dont get out there for a couple of months at a time. Or if you run out of money. Letting it sit isnt going to cost while you build up a little capital.
Ill be back at it when i save the near 200 for the suspension work i need to do.
Bump steer kit 150
Change tires, 60
Alignment 65 or so.
money money money ,SIGH!!
I forgot to mention that i found a very reasonably priced front Valance on from Miller Parts in NY $90 shipped. Sanded down the old 30 year primer and then rattle canned some Yellow paint that was "close" (Ha ha!) I then pulled the fender back close and bolted it up. Took some persuasion on the drivers side fender but got it to go. Almost cant tell.
It will do for the next year or so!
Thanks for the tire info, i can roll round the mickey thompson till then.