Then and Now. '88 LX

[88LX5.Oh]

When I installed my lower intake a couple weeks ago I used a small amount of copper RTV sealant in between the head and the intake gasket, just to hold it in place. I also used (4) studs that were about 5" long and threaded into the block. I used those to line up the intake manifold and drop it down onto the gaskets in the proper place, and square. Worked like a charm (at least I don't see any leaks).

I'm gonna do the stud trick this time around to make sure they won't move around too much. I looked at my passenger side intake gasket and I could see where the gasket slipped forward and wasn't letting the intake ports seal off properly, and I think I could see where the water leak was. There's a good chance that new gaskets will fix the popping issue.

Also, factory gaskets don't match up well with my Edelbrock heads and BBK intake. The gasket hole is smaller than the intake ports, so I'm having O'reilly's send me like 4 sizes tomorrow morning so I can find which set will work best for me

 

[95BlueStallion]

When I installed my lower intake a couple weeks ago I used a small amount of copper RTV sealant in between the head and the intake gasket, just to hold it in place. I also used (4) studs that were about 5" long and threaded into the block. I used those to line up the intake manifold and drop it down onto the gaskets in the proper place, and square. Worked like a charm (at least I don't see any leaks).

Now you went and jinxed yourself.

OP, why not just buy the Eddy gaskets that would match the head/intake combo? May not be perfect for the intake, but would match the head ports.

 

[88LX5.Oh]

Got it all together. Went to start it and had my dad play with the distributor because I knew it wasn't gonna be spot on. It would turn just a little and then just grind all to hell. that happened about 3 times. So I went to pull the starter. couldn't get it out, even with the header unbolted and pulled out of the way. I ended up having to pull the trans clutch and flywheel just to pull the starter. I don't know how I snaked that fat ass starter up there when I originally put it together, but it wasn't coming out with the trans in the way. So as of right now, I have no clue if I fixed the exhaust popping issue. and I've just about had enough of this thing. I've decided that if I don't have the popping fixed, I'm gonna get rid of the car

 

[88LX5.Oh]

Oh and the fly wheel has some Knicks on the teeth but my starter was absolutely screwed. And I was looking at my pressure plate and fly wheel. they have some hot spots in them. so I guess the clutch kit I got isn't holding up like it should. because I only have like 10 miles on the car at the most and I shouldn't have hot spots in that little of time. If its not one thing going wrong with this car, it's another.

 

[88LX5.Oh]

Alright small update. have a newer smaller started installed and in working order. like 93-95 style or something like that? Anyways, old starter was all kinds of screwed up. I don't even see how it spun the flywheel at all with how the teeth were so chewed up. and it wasn't wanting to go out all the way (I tested it out of the car and watched it) so sometime soon I'll have it put back together and I'll see if the popping issue is gone

 

[88LX5.Oh]

Went in to the shop a little early this morning and threw the car together. I love how simple these fox's are in the transmission department
Oh and while I had the intake off, I went ahead and took each plug out and cleaned them all. It runs as smooth as it should and no more popping! So that made my morning very good. Then I get this semi pulling in the parking lot and I was thinking to myself "what the f*ck did I order?" well, I got this shipped to me

It's a prerunner style winch bumper for my Bronco. Took them 6 freakin' weeks to build it. And I know it's unrelated to my car, but this bumper coming in and the popping issue fixed has really got me excited to start putting things together. I'm gonna be doing a lot this weekend, that's for sure.

Oh and a random car picture after it lowered and a good washing
View attachment 128863

 

[95BlueStallion]

Glad to hear about your good luck. You have come too far to get rid of the car, thats for sure! Sweet bumper too.

 

[gearheadboy]

Boy has that car came a LOOOOOOONNNNNNGGGGGGG way. Great Job!

 

[88LX5.Oh]

So I ordered some hatch hinges from Mustangs unlimited about 3 weeks ago. Within that time I never got a tracking number or any emails from them. I tried logging in to my account on there and it said my email was not on file. So I emailed them my order number and I got a reply saying my order had been cancelled due to their manufacturer had stopped producing the hatch hinges. That would have been nice to know a couple of weeks ago lol. Oh and one of my mounts broke on the hatch that holds the hatch strut on. So looks like I'll be going to the local Mustang graveyard sometime soon

 

[95BlueStallion]

The work never ends! Good luck man.

 

[88LX5.Oh]

The work never ends! Good luck man.

That's very true, but at least I finally have the major stuff done. It's just the little things to nickel and dime me now

 

[88LX5.Oh]

Haven't done much of anything to the car this past month. I did however go in today and put new tail light assemblies (literally fell apart while the car was sitting outside) on it and fix all the lighting/wiring issues at the back of the car. I now have working blinkers, tail lights, and reverse lights.
Also last week my car developed a slight popping out of the exhaust AGAIN so I went to tighten the intake bolts to see if any were a little loose. Couldn't get to the ones on the passengers side because of the upper plenum and the heater core tubes. So off goes the upper plenum for the 47 millionth time for me. Well I ripped the upper to lower plenum gasket and had to wait 3 days to get a new one. Well fixed that today as well and now officially all I have left to do is
1) sway bar end links on the front since I've been lazy and didn't put the end links on when I put the new sway bar on
2) interior (includes removing the dash again and messing with the vacuum hose routing)
3) get the title lol
Then I will be daily driving this thing. Or trying to I should say

 

[stykthyn]

brother every time I fix one thing 3 others break. lately its been 30 year electronics that have been crapping out causing no end of trouble.

 

[88LX5.Oh]

brother every time I fix one thing 3 others break. lately its been 30 year electronics that have been crapping out causing no end of trouble.

I hate wiring and electronics. I'm just glad that I haven't had to do much wiring patches on my car. The PO of my car did cut up some of the wires but nothing too bad

 

[88LX5.Oh]

And I did get a picture of the new assemblies. They look so much better than the originals and I honestly didn't think the originals looked bad. But these new ones put the old ones to shame. And the reverse lights are bright as hell even with ancient looking bulbs

 

[stykthyn]

nice

 

[88LX5.Oh]

Small little update. Got up some motivation the other morning and tried putting some of the interior pieces in. Realized I have no clue what I'm doing, what screws go where, and how everything actually goes so I gave up after 10 minutes

And another thing. Which I may get some hate for this, but it's how I wanted my car set up all along. I'm ditching the electric fan. Going back to a clutch style fan. I don't trust this fan at all and I just don't trust e fans period unless they're a factory installed unit. And I was going to go with like a Mark 8 fan, but I absolutely hate wiring. I don't enjoy doing it at all and I don't think I do a clean job of hiding or routing wires. And I don't care about the 10 HP I may lose or the gas mileage I may lose, I have the car to have fun and worrying about an E fan isn't fun for me. So I'm just gonna go back to a belt driven fan, and I really like the look of the stock shroud/overflow set up so this is a win-win for me. I'm gonna try to run my underdrive pulleys and see how the car acts with them. I have the stock pulleys still so if the car runs a little on the hot side with the UDP's I can swap back to factory

 

[88LX5.Oh]

These panels sucked to install. Well the drivers side did at least. I guess the panel had warped and wouldn't go into the weatherstripping as it should but I got it. Passenger side slid right into place perfectly.



It's good to be working on this thing again even if it's just for a few minutes a day.

 

[boostfrk]

Looking good man! I hear you on the electric fan. I've had my Mercury Villager e-fan installed for several months now but I watch my temp gauge, even though it's inaccurate as hell, like a hawk. I always breathe a sigh of relief when I hear the fan kick on.

 

[stykthyn]

the factory gauges always left me feeling scared. get some autometer phantoms. they are super cheap now and way more reliable/accurate than the stock units.