Finally got the bread for some upgrades!!!...Advice please.

[Dachipsta]

Hello..I am new to this board so hello to all. By the way, ya'll have some nice foxes from what I've seen... and it seems the folks on this board arent as hostile....lol, as some of the other boards so that is why I am posting this here......hahaha.....Just wanted to put up some props.....Anyways, here goes......

I have an 87 Gt....still Sd with oem cam, heads and bottom end. Do have Gt40 tubular intake non-ported as of yet anyways and fully open exaust so it does breath decent I suppose. Anyway, I recently settled a workmans comp case and will finally be getting a nice settlement check from the bast----rds....lol. I have really had my heart set on a mild blower setup. The engine does have around 120k on it but has been well maintained but is getting a bit tired in my opinion. Reason I say this I may or may not be correct but my oil pressure when fully warmed up sits around 30psi or so and around 55-60psi cold. I know I need to do a compresson test on all cyl. and that will be done here in the next couple days. I guess that should be where I get my opinion on the bottom end....eh?

Ok, what would you all suggest? Could I possibly stay with SD as long as I stayed with my stock cam and just opened things up a bit with some Gt40 heads? I would love to add on some Afr160's or twisted wedges but I really have to watch my spending so base your opinions around that please...

Since the miles on the bottom end are kinda up there and it is 22 years old....hahaha, do ya'll think it deserves some freshening up before adding the blower? Spending is limited to around 3k....I know it may pass that up a little but I really have to watch how much I spend on this job.

Maybe for that money, I should just stay normally aspirated and just add some nice alum. heads, go mass air w/ a nice custom cam and spend a little money on suspension work. It needs the welded subframe connectors plus upper and lowers upgraded on the rear end. I figure it doesnt make much sense to add all that power and not be able to get it to the ground.

Well, I guess thats it for now. I am going to check compression on the cyl. today and I will post my findings on that here later today. I hope ya'll can find the time to help out a fellow stang junkie and I would be most appriciative for ya'lls opinions so thank you in advance.......l8r

 

[TechSteele]

Sounds like you already have all your bases covered.
If your budget is only 3k, I think your second idea is best.
You would be tight no matter wich way you go.
A good blower is about 1800+/-, then everything else needed
Good Heads are 1400+/- then the parts for them.
I would do Cam, Lifters, Rockers, Rods, Springs and everything with the heads.

I am thinking the top end first, to get it ready for the blower later.
It all depends what you find out about the bottom end.
Compression is a start, will say how the rings and valve seats are.
No idea about berrings, cam, lifters, and so on.

 

[Dachipsta]

Thanks for the reply. Havent had a chance to do the compression test yet. Unfortunatley, yesterday was spent chasing down two coolant leaks that turned into 5.......hahahaha. Water neck was leaking like a siv......Wondering, has anyone else had issues with gt40 intakes..my lower is from an explorer....issues with where the water neck connects and water leaks there? I had a helluva time getting that thing to stop leaking, and that was with a new gasket and copper rtv. Anyways, enough crying about that. Another little tidbit....I have practically a brand new Mishimoto aluminum radiator that has a nice little leak in a weld where the upper hose goes on. That was a nice shot in the nuts. That and my water pump has leaks all over it in the 22 year old gasket dammit all to hell......lol. Anyways, I dumped in a huge bottle of bars leak and callled it a night....hahahaha.

Enough of the wining....lol. What do you think about the oil pressure? What does a fully rebuilt, fresh engine run at? I was thinking that 25-30 psi was a bit low..I have been out of work for 3 years so it takes a little while for the wheels to get spinning sometimes.....hahahaha....anyways...I got to thinking....the only thing I have to compare to is I do...hahaha...or did...commercial a/c for a living and have done plenty of work on the big compressors and they are basically like a gas engine and they are fine with 25-30 psi of oil pressure. Its when they drop below 10 psi is when we normaly have them shut down so thats all I have to compare. So.....25-30 psi may not be too damn bad actually.

I appriciate the advice tho....thank you. I think I may go with the naturally aspirated direction for now and then stick a blower on later after I have had more of a chance to get the suspension ready.

 

[dls322]

My oil pressure is about 35psi while hot idling. If yours is around that it's normal. It should go up with rpms though. Do you have an aftermarket oil pressure gauge to confirm this?

 

[dls322]

Fix that water pump leak! Get rid of the barrs too, that stuff screws up your hoses after a while. Maybe your thermostat neck was warped or something. I have the GT40 intakes and no problems...did it myslef.. ..had to tap and dye the thing to get the vacuum right.

Maybe try some JB weld on the radiator....it's worth a shot, or bring it to a local radiator shop to have them fix it.

 

[strtrcr50]

Quick piece of advice. Make sure you install the check valve in the line that goes to the MAP sensor. Speed density processors do not like to see boost at the map sensor.
Check Valve Assembly For Speed Density Vehicle | Vortech Superchargers

 

[Dachipsta]

Good to hear about the oil pressure. It in fact does move up with rpm's and idles hot in traffic about 30psi. Cold about 60psi. I have the 3 gauge setup in my pillar with aftermarket gauges. Had an oil pump fail on me about a year ago and the factory gauge screwed me. I wanted accuracy and the factory gauges absolutely suck. Just had an issue yesterday with the factory volt gauge reading 8 volts and luckily my other gauge was reading the proper 13.5 volts. Had I not had the other gauge I would have been pulling my hair out trying to track down a ghost.

Anyways, I know barrs leak is a definate nono but right now I dont feel like tearing the whole front of the motor apart to change the water pump when in a month I will be tearing it all apart again swapping heads and stuff. The barrs worked by the way. Plugged the leak in the water pump gasket and the pin hole in the radiator. Crossed fingers and toes included......lol. Cooling sys. working much better now that its able to pressurize. I dont know if it makes a difference but I predesolved the little turds in the barrs before I poured it in so not to clogg up anthing not intended to be.

I really apprciate the responses and I will post my compression findings here later this afternoon/evening as I get them. I dont have any smoke on startup so I guess that means my valve seals are intact. No smoke to speak of when its running either. One thing tho is when I'm on it pretty hard I can see some smoke in my rearview but I also dont have any cats being its open exaust so that may be where the cloud is coming from......hell, abit rich would do it too so who the hell knows. No sense sitting around and speculating....need the facts....hahahaha.

Thanks again and will post later......

Oops, forgot to mention that I finally got the water neck to stop leaking. It just took rackin down on it really good and it finally stopped. My back was so screwed up and hurtin when I was ready to do the intake swap so I had another guy do the work and around the time he was putting the water neck on I dont think he cleaned the intake surface good enough and just loaded it up with goop and called it a day. One thing tho is that thing just doesnt have very good tightening setup with just the two bolts. IF it had another around the bottom left side it wouldnt have any issues at all......l8r

 

[TechSteele]

Leaks definitely Suck.
Im chasing an oil leak right now.
I never have luck with valve cover gaskets.

A bit of black smoke on an older car when floored is almost normal.
Its just not burning fully.
Maybe a Full tune up should be your first step, before heads or something big, hehe.

 

[Dachipsta]

Ahh, who needs a tuneup......lol. I did tho replace the cap and rotor when I was wrenchin on the waterneck. While I was at it I changed out my Autolites with some new 25's. Inspected all the plugs and they showed all cyl. burning normal so I was happy bout that. I think I got the tuneup covered all except for the fuel filter which I did about a month ago. I am now getting the wacky idle when cold so I gotta pull my IAc and see whats up with that. I just replaced it with a new one last year some time so I'm kinda surprised it would be acting up already but you never know. Oh yeah, as far as the tuneup is concerned, I also replaced the TFi module on the dizzy with new and also changed out the harness cuz it lost the locking tab and I didnt care for it just floppin around on there. Checked timing and adjusted to 13* and so far so good with no pingi pingi on the el cheapo 87 gas which is all my broke as-s can afford.......lol. Anyways, Take care ya'll.