Progress Thread Fixing Up A '93 Gt - Project Done

3/4" long bolts worked great for me. Stage 8 is the only logical option for your exhaust.


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There is a better way...

In the day of my youth I was an aircraft mechanic, so I still do some things that way. The bolt heads were drilled with a #52 drill bit (about .040) using a drill press and lots of WD40 to cool the bit. The head is drilled with the holes in a cross pattern at 90 degree angles to each other.

The bolts are 3/8 -16 thread stainless steel Allen head, 7/8" or 3/4" long depending on the thickness of the header flange that is on your headers.

I bought a 5/16" Bondhus Balldriver Allen wrench, it works like a universal joint. You can tighten up the Allen head bolts at 15-20 degrees off center angle and still get everything tight. Cut the "L" part off the wrench with a cutoff wheel and stuck the straight part in an Allen socket. This works great, because the Allen heads are smaller than even the 12 point bolt heads, and with my fancy tool I can tighten them up with a torque wrench.

Torque the bolts down and pull off about 12" of .032 stainless steel safety wire. Thread the wire through 2 holes, or just one if the other one is blocked by the header pipe. Pull the wire through until the ends are even. Twist up about 2" with your handy-dandy safety wire twister pliers, making sure that the wire pulls the bolt tighter as it routes across the header pipe. Make sure the twist ends at the wire hole in the next bolt, and that it pulls the bolt in the tightening direction. Thread it through and twist up about 3/4"of wire on the other side of the hole and cut it off evenly. Fold it over about midway so that the sharp end doesn't stick you.

The safety wire takes about 10-15 minutes a header pipe to do right and make it look good. The driver's side is easy, but you have to remove the mass air & smog pump air plumbing on the passenger side to have room to work.

safety-wiring-bolts-gif.55214


See
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XktwpWPFvHs

For those of you who haven’t drilled bolt heads for safety wire, here’s some more help. You can skip the countersinking of the holes as it really isn’t necessary.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hmX3uR96s_Y
 
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I've safety wired plenty of race bikes in the day and have all the stuff to do it. I think I'll try the stage 8 bolts first ;). If the bolts were already drilled ... maybe ... it's still a pretty tight area to fart around in. I don't know if the stage 8 bolts will be easier yet. I'll let you know.

For now, back to stereo wiring.
 
I've safety wired plenty of race bikes in the day and have all the stuff to do it. I think I'll try the stage 8 bolts first ;). If the bolts were already drilled ... maybe ... it's still a pretty tight area to fart around in. I don't know if the stage 8 bolts will be easier yet. I'll let you know.

For now, back to stereo wiring.

I've got stage 8 on my car. Next time the engine comes out the header bolts are getting wired. Thos stage 8 clips are a pain.
 
Lol lacing wire is a lil over engineered. I'm actually a Army mechanic and a lot of our equipment requires the use of lacing wire. It has its place but header bolts.... naw. Stage 8 takes all the guess work and work out of it. You would be at $50 either way after you bought all the supplies assuming you had a drill.


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Yeah, I would buy new bolts anyway since most of them are pretty corroded. But, I think a pack of drill bits would be the only thing I would need. So probably $35 instead of $55.

I agree that safety wire has its place, but I prefer not to if I can get away with it. I am not completely convinced the stage 8 bolts are easier, but I know I am not a fan of safety wiring in tight spaces.

Proper size Stage 8 bolts will be here tomorrow. If I don't like them, it wouldn't be the first time on this car I've done something 5 different ways before I was happy with it.
 
Drove the car to work today. Tach started jumping around and I couldn't rev the engine. Barely made it into the parking lot at work. Wound up having to leave the car there and getting a ride home. I'll pick it up with my trailer tomorrow.

Overall, I've been spending lots of time and money just trying to make this thing a fun car to drive. Given my desired use is to share all driving duties with my truck and be the more fun vehicle, part of fun is also reliable. Every time I think I have something taken care of it seems to come back around. If you look back over my thread, I've replaced almost all of the ignition system. Today I ordered a new distributor, which as far as I know is the last piece I haven't replaced. I still haven't gotten through a week of driving it without a problem, whether major or extremely minor.
My '86 GT was one of the best cars I've ever owned. I did have to rebuild the T-5 at 85K, but I've always attributed that to many miles of burnouts. I did not have TFI modules burning out regularly and header bolts that back off every couple hundred miles. I started pretty steadfast in my desire to make this car a reliable car I can have fun with. It's starting to wear on me. Feel like I'm polishing a turd. I came home from work today and started looking at ads for '05-'09s and C5 Vettes.

I may just be ranting because I'm frustrated ... not sure. I do know that I'm putting all my modification plans on hold until I feel like this thing will run more often than it is awaiting repairs.
 
Drove the car to work today. Tach started jumping around and I couldn't rev the engine. Barely made it into the parking lot at work. Wound up having to leave the car there and getting a ride home. I'll pick it up with my trailer tomorrow.

Overall, I've been spending lots of time and money just trying to make this thing a fun car to drive. Given my desired use is to share all driving duties with my truck and be the more fun vehicle, part of fun is also reliable. Every time I think I have something taken care of it seems to come back around. If you look back over my thread, I've replaced almost all of the ignition system. Today I ordered a new distributor, which as far as I know is the last piece I haven't replaced. I still haven't gotten through a week of driving it without a problem, whether major or extremely minor.
My '86 GT was one of the best cars I've ever owned. I did have to rebuild the T-5 at 85K, but I've always attributed that to many miles of burnouts. I did not have TFI modules burning out regularly and header bolts that back off every couple hundred miles. I started pretty steadfast in my desire to make this car a reliable car I can have fun with. It's starting to wear on me. Feel like I'm polishing a turd. I came home from work today and started looking at ads for '05-'09s and C5 Vettes.

I may just be ranting because I'm frustrated ... not sure. I do know that I'm putting all my modification plans on hold until I feel like this thing will run more often than it is awaiting repairs.
Had this same issue. Aging electronics, inferior replacement parts, shoddy work from a then no so knowledgeable me. The single largest thing I did to fix my issues and not have them return was replace all the China stuff with motorcraft parts. " fixed" systems are now staying " fixed".
 
I've been going back to stock lately and unmodding the car. I feel like something just isn't right with this car. Aside from the dumbass previous owners mods, I am seeing signs that maybe it sat for a long time or something like that. There are other noises and minor issues that concern me also, not to mention a state law change that may mean I need emissions equipment. I can see easily throwing a few more grand at it and still maybe not having a very good car.
 
I've been going back to stock lately and unmodding the car. I feel like something just isn't right with this car. Aside from the dumbass previous owners mods, I am seeing signs that maybe it sat for a long time or something like that. There are other noises and minor issues that concern me also, not to mention a state law change that may mean I need emissions equipment. I can see easily throwing a few more grand at it and still maybe not having a very good car.
May be time to part ways with it. Wait and see what the distributor does.
 
Guess I got lucky and got an unmolested 89 gt and just replaced the worn out stuff, clutch stuff, rebuilt wc t5, brakes, tires, shocks and the like. Only issues I have encountered were self inflicted. Best buck I spent was a assembly manuel from motorbooks. 14 years and it has over 150k on it. Yes, I beat on it every chance I get! Been hang'n round here a while and you people rock! Respectful responses even when someone does the 'it won't run whats do you think is wrong' thing
 
Guess I got lucky and got an unmolested 89 gt and just replaced the worn out stuff, clutch stuff, rebuilt wc t5, brakes, tires, shocks and the like. Only issues I have encountered were self inflicted. Best buck I spent was a assembly manuel from motorbooks. 14 years and it has over 150k on it. Yes, I beat on it every chance I get! Been hang'n round here a while and you people rock! Respectful responses even when someone does the 'it won't run whats do you think is wrong' thing
It seems there are cars that are bullet proof and others that wait to inconvenience you. I have the latter. It's at the point now where nothing major has come up, but for a while it would break down every hundred miles or so.
 
It seems there are cars that are bullet proof and others that wait to inconvenience you. I have the latter. It's at the point now where nothing major has come up, but for a while it would break down every hundred miles or so.

As I said, my old '86 was a great car. From what I recall, it left me stranded once in 10 years. This one, has left me stranded 5 or 6 times in the 9-10 months that I've owned it. But, more telling is the number of times I've limped home and absolutely had to fix something before I could even (or at least was willing to) drive it again. Seems like I can't drive it more than a few times before that happens. I usually can't get to it right away, so it has definitely spent more time sitting at the house waiting for me to fix it than being a functional/useful/fun vehicle.
 
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I had ordered a Cardone reman distributor from the local Autozone. Chose Cardone since it seems to be recommended by a number of people on this forum. Swung by at lunch to pick it up and they handed me an "OEM" branded reman. Apparently, anything with the same part number is fair game and all somehow crossref in the computer so picking your brand for an in-store order is not something they worry about. Ughh.
The "good news" is it was half the price of the Cardone at only $23. I guess I can use it as a diagnostic part and pick something better later, we'll see how it looks when I put it in. Somehow it's never easy for me :bang:

Is there a real difference in how these distributors are remanufactured? If it fixes the problem, should I replace it with something better for the long term? Usually, I don't worry about that. But, this car has proven to need a special parts diet.
 
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I had ordered a Cardone reman distributor from the local Autozone. Chose Cardone since it seems to be recommended by a number of people on this forum. Swung by at lunch to pick it up and they handed me an "OEM" branded reman. Apparently, anything with the same part number is fair game and all somehow crossref in the computer so picking your brand for an in-store order is not something they worry about. Ughh.
The "good news" is it was half the price of the Cardone at only $23. I guess I can use it as a diagnostic part and pick something better later, we'll see how it looks when I put it in. Somehow it's never easy for me :bang:

Is there a real difference in how these distributors are remanufactured? If it fixes the problem, should I replace it with something better for the long term? Usually, I don't worry about that. But, this car has proven to need a special parts diet.

You never know if they replaced parts are only those that are out of tolerance/spec with off brand, and you don't know the quality of the parts used. I would pay the price for a Cardone if it were me. Did you try rockauto.com? They stock Cardone units.
 
What about a reman from Ford? Are they available? I've had good luck with cardone window motors and other parts. The other option is to rebuild your original with new Ford or quality parts made in U.S. Their are shops that can do that for you, if not equipped to do yourself. If you want cardone. Their available online if your local parts house is playing switcharoo on you.


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I was trying to get one quickly. Autozone said Cardone on their site, but it's not what I got. I spend a lot of time waiting for parts. Amazon has Cardone, but it's out of stock and delivery time shows weeks. Rock Auto is typically around 5 days for me. LMR is 4-5. Summit is inconsistent, but 2-5 days.

I gue$$ I could call the dealer, they u$ually get $tuff in a couple day$. It'$ ju$t a pain becau$e I have to go there and pay during their hour$, which aren't convenient. Then pick it up a day or two later during their inconvenient hour$. There'$ $ome other rea$on I avoid them al$o, but I can't put my finger on it thi$ $pecific $econd.
 
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As it tends to do, my junk sits waiting for parts. This time, I'm waiting for the McCully racing TFI remote mount/cooler. I got a shipping notification last Thursday and was hoping it would be here this weekend since it's only coming from a few hours away, but no.

I had a free couple hours, so I started putting the stage 8 bolts on the headers. It's a tedious high curse count job. I got the driver side done. I had to grind a little off about half of the securing rings to get them to fit. There are kinks and weld boogers on the headers that prevent them from sliding on. I don't know what headers these are, I'm assuming stock. The other side looks to have easier access so I'm hoping it will go a little faster. Those brake lines really tear up your arm when you get back there.

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Next up, I attached my additional ground. I really wanted to get to the cast mounting point instead of the one on the alternator bracket, but I haven't been able to figure out what the thread is on it. A 3/8-16 will start, but doesn't go far. It's definitely not a 3/8-24. The alternator bracket is a 3/8-16, so that's where it is for now. I tried some random metric bolts I have from various Miata parts, but none are quite right. One is close in size, but way too fine thread. It might be a coarse M9? A known M8 is too small.

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