Progress Thread 83 Gt Getting Street Worthy

[83-gt-hatch]

Guess is time for a progress thread. It's turned into more of a project then I thought. This way it's not flooding the forum.. As a few of you have seen my previous posts and helped with the problems along with advice along the way I'll try to keep the whole story short.. Had some clutch cable issues and thank you for the much needed help getting me on the right path. Carburetor issues along with overheating and tight bolts. Thank you again for all your advice and help. I just left american motorsports which is very local to my job. They have a carb rebuild kit in stock for me so one payday rolls around im going to get on that. Also advised me about fuel pressure that could be helping the issue be a problem. Either way I need to look into that further. May charge the battery up and attempt a compression test tonite depending on weather.

 

[83-gt-hatch]

I've decided to wait until the weekend to attack the compression test everything's just too wet and have more time to mess with it this weekend. (Doing the compression test to see if I did any damage yesterday driving it. Luckily it overheated for a short time only.) Now I have the chance to write out what all needs to be done that I know of to get it road worthy.

1. Carburetor rebuilt
2. Thermostat and hopefully not head gaskets
3. Vacuume lines gone through completely
4. Fuel pressure checked to correct psi

By then it should drive right and hopefully not overheat or run hot anymore.

After that's taken care of and it's on the road or sooner if money is there for it it needs soon after

1. 2 front tires due to the used set I picked up for $100 the turbine wheels. One tire is toast
2. Battery
3. Tie rod ends
4. Header gaskets

 

[83-gt-hatch]

And the phone starts playing with me lol... I saw the right tie rod end has some play and bushing is gone. Battery is at least 5 and a half years old minimum. As I've had it that long and I bought it used. And one header gasket leaks way to much.. Shocks are nice and soft. Wiring needs attention here and there for now. A few other small thingsat the moment that needs attention soon. But not keeping it off the road

 

[83-gt-hatch]

A recap of what I've already done in the last few months since I've decided to tackle it now to make it my driver so I can retire the bike and bus route.
1. Pulled the motor due to broken pull dipstick tube broke off at block.
2. Got the set of turbine wheels with 3 decent tires
3. Freshened up the brake fluid and bleed it nice
4. Sway bar bushings and link end bushings
5. New motorcraft platinum plugs
6. Plug wires with new seperators
7. Valve cover gaskets and carb to manifold gasket
8. Peiced together new exhaust system welded up (temporary set up. Dynomax full length headers into bbk of road h pipe that unfortunately needed to be chopped up and covers welded since they wouldn't work easy enough under the car into flowmaster 40 series. All 2.5 inch)
9. Clutch cable issue
10. New coolant hoses
11. New rubber brake lines
12. New partial main wire harness I peiced together myself
13. Driving lights I had laying around I put on due to headlights have water in them and to dim to see anything
Think that's most of it for now. Just trying to get it drivable for now then I plan to make everything as right as I can. Then get a daily driver and hopefully do some restoration to it. Needs some body work as soon as I can.

 

[stang89bidges]

 

[stang89bidges]

I realized you had several other threads out there I missed. You've got a lot of things going on bro. Good luck with the stang!

 

[83-gt-hatch]

I did forget the pictures didn't I.. Oops!.

 

[83-gt-hatch]

Some more random pics

 

[83-gt-hatch]

And some of the visual that needs attention quickly. And for the record I don't plan to wash it or detail it until it's mechanically good to drive. Once it's good to drive I plan to clean up the motor bay the best I can. Later on down the road rewire everything and re hose everything so it looks good and not cluttered anymore. Even going to rewire the main harness that I just did since it looks weird. Ruin the wires around somewhere so it looks cleaner. Don't plan to tuck anything just make it look cleaner. Heavy buff to mid/light buff. The buff on some show car glaze and a nice coat of wax to get it looking good until I get around to the paint. Shampoo and clean up the interior the best I can. Re tint the hatch since the Florida heat from sitting messed that up. Even plan to do some touch up paint even though I don't like it. It will make it look better for now. I've tried a few large spots on the front bumper. And it matches better then if I got a can of spray paint. That's the only rust I've seen aside from surface rust on the frame. As soon as I can I'm gonna get it to my buddy to replace the metal

 

[83-gt-hatch]

I realized you had several other threads out there I missed. You've got a lot of things going on bro. Good luck with the stang!

Thank you, it's a work in progress. I will keep everyone updated on here as it progresses. I'm on hold at the moment for another week until payday. Plus my back is too bad to bend over at the moment. Or bend at all. Tomorrow I'm gonna play with it some. Compression test and looking up some info and specs and planning what to do and how to go about things. Stuff like that

 

[83-gt-hatch]

I do plan to have it entered in a car show July 12. With a little luck that is

 

[jrichker]

A recap of what I've already done in the last few months since I've decided to tackle it now to make it my driver so I can retire the bike and bus route.
1. Pulled the motor due to broken pull dipstick tube broke off at block.
2. Got the set of turbine wheels with 3 decent tires
3. Freshened up the brake fluid and bleed it nice
4. Sway bar bushings and link end bushings
5. New motorcraft platinum plugs
6. Plug wires with new seperators
7. Valve cover gaskets and carb to manifold gasket
8. Peiced together new exhaust system welded up (temporary set up. Dynomax full length headers into bbk of road h pipe that unfortunately needed to be chopped up and covers welded since they wouldn't work easy enough under the car into flowmaster 40 series. All 2.5 inch)
9. Clutch cable issue
10. New coolant hoses
11. New rubber brake lines
12. New partial main wire harness I peiced together myself
13. Driving lights I had laying around I put on due to headlights have water in them and to dim to see anything
Think that's most of it for now. Just trying to get it drivable for now then I plan to make everything as right as I can. Then get a daily driver and hopefully do some restoration to it. Needs some body work as soon as I can.

The first one would have been an easy fix and saved you a lot of time & effort. Find a lag bolt that doesn't quite fit into the broken dipstick tube. Screw the lag bolt in tight and use a pair of vise grip pliers to pull it out. You may have to remove the driver's side header, but that is a lot easier than pulling the engine.

 

[83-gt-hatch]

I tried everything I could think of. Didn't think of a lag bolt. Motor out made it easier to fit the new header in though

 

[83-gt-hatch]

Only thing I've had the chance to work on so far was to try and start it up. Good spark, (checked coil and to cyl 1 only. But no start. Did get as far as looking at the fuel gauge I have inline in the rear and the fuel filter which is just one of those old design clear ones. Gauge read 5 psi which if I remember right it's after the filter and pump. The filter had plenty of fuel in it and didn't see anything. Then my ride got there and had to bail. Will pop the fuel line off and check for fuel tomorrow getting to the carb. I'm willing to bet it's the carb though. If so next weekend I will go up to american racing and pick up

 

[83-gt-hatch]

A rebuild kit along with a new fuel psi gauge and 2 new filters and start running an extra filter by the carb. Defiantly won't hurt. The extra 3 bucks from advance and 3 bucks cheaper then napa is worth it. At least they are knowledgeable staff and happy to help. Plan to go there for now on for parts. If I can get it running I plan to do the compression test and find the water leak that's new. Near the water pump/ thermostat housing area. I'll let you know how it goes tomorrow

 

[83-gt-hatch]

I'm getting fuel to the carburetor. As pictured it doesn't look normal. Granted the white bubbles on the bottom could be partially a mix with some water when i just rinsed the coke bottle out. Don't see any debris in this portion of fuel. It smells somewhat normal except seems stronger then normal. I have ran a couple strong seafoam mixes recently. Granted the car has sat very long which will bring the orange look to it. But as it sat I did run it s often as I could which has lead to write a few run outs over the years. What are your takes on the fuel? I'm not sure what to think. Aside from seeing fuel getting to the carb was kinda reliving

 

[83-gt-hatch]

Exciting update of the day: it fired up so u warmed it up and did the compression test. Ran it twice just as a possessional preference for accuracy. The lowest I got was cyl 1 152-153 and the highest was 164-165 on cyl 6. On the 2nd go for cyl 1 was 158-159. Appears no head gasket damage to speak of. In the process once of the spark plug wires broke. Just got back from the local advance where I swapped the new bad set for a new set. Drove pretty good. At least it will run to my buddies house next weekend to rebuild the carb and figure out the water situation since it suddenly stopped leaking water somehow. For now so I'll check into that in more detail later on. I know it was leaking bad the other day. Then figure out the thermostat bolt and the overheating and should be good to go

 

[stang89bidges]

Ah, you haven't got the water housing bolt figured out yet. Dude I would just cut the head off with a small hack saw or best option a cutting wheel. Then the housing will slide right off(if there are no accessories in the way). Then you have all that bolt sticking out of the intake to deal with. Probably much easier to get a pair of vise grips on that bolt. Or, weld a nut on the end of it like your buddy was saying. Either way more room and bolt to work with.

EDIT: You can also use a diamond bit burr in a die grinder too to cut that bolt head off.

 

[83-gt-hatch]

That might be what I do. Sure will look into it. Will need to go buy a smaller hack saw once I look and see how much room I have to work with. Hopefully it will spin with the vice grips though. I know I grabbed right on the round head. Granted it is a round head but did dent some groves into it. Just couldn't keep it from spinning. Will let you know how it goes. I just hope my buddy can spare the time this weekend. I can get it there if I watch the temp. Wide open country roads. Although it seems to heat up more moving then idling

 

[83-gt-hatch]

I'd been a few years since I've messed with overheating issues. When I did it was a 4 cyl 1bbl ranger. I flushed it a few times. Upgraded radiator different temp thermostats. All new hoses. A big paddle belt fan and a electric out front. New shroud everything. Still overheated lol