Progress Thread 91 coupe aka money pit

coupe 677

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Mar 7, 2018
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Here is my 91 that I have owned since 06. For the first 9 years it was my daily driver and only car. The next two years it was parked simply because I didn't have the money to fix the things that had broken. Over the past year to year and a half I've been working on fixing it back up into good, driving condition. This is the most current picture, and it doesn't show how bad of shape the paint actually is. I'm back to driving it on a daily basis now though there are still some things to fix. I will update more later after work.
 

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Welcome!
I am in the same boat as you are as I have had mine since 03, and was my DD for 8 years. I then put it off to the side for 2 years, and then picked it back up in DD status again. I just decided to replace/update everything as I go, since I have no desire for the newer cars. I look forward to your progress and can help as needed.
 
So what got the car parked to begin with was a faulty fuel guage, exhaust leaks, and new brakes along with needing to have the rear rebuilt. Not the worst of issues but it all added up. After getting the ok to work on my own car at the shop I was working at (a dealership's collision repair shop) I ordered new BBK long tube headers, x-pipe, and Bassani cat back to replace my old exhaust that was riddled with leaks. For the brakes and rear I found a 94/95 5 lug swap and picked up a new 3.55 gear set/install kit and new spider gears. For wheels and tires I bought a set of 06 GT wheels from someone local and put Dunlop Direzza sport Z1 tires on them, 225/45/17 on the front and 245/45/17 on the rear. I also decided to upgrade to an electric fan and got an SVE aluminum radiator/dual fan upgrade kit.
Somewhere, somehow, during installing all this the car developed a no start problem. I wound up replacing the fuel pump, filter, and float, because of low fuel pressure and the guage problem, which didn't fix the gauge but did fix the fuel pressure. The car still wouldn't start so in goes a new ignition switch starter. Now the car will turn over but won't stay running. Vacuum checks out, fuel is good, it's getting spark, so the distributor now gets a new cap/rotor and module, with plugs and Ford Racing wires for tune up reasons, just in case the problem is there and not in my A9L like I'm thinking. Unfortunately it turns out that the A9L is the problem and I have to send it out to be repaired since I can't find a replacement at the time. (I was on a time crunch doing all this because I would be moving to the opposite side of the state in a few short months from the time I started working on the car.). Thankfully this solved the problems and I now had a streetable car again.
Fast forward a little bit to after I've moved and I'm trying to fix little things here and there as I go. The biggest issue was the front tires scrubbing at extreme turning angles. After discussing the problem with tech support at Maximum Motorsport I ordered MM road and track springs, spring isolators, and Bilstein HD dampers. This would actually raise the front of my car up and lower the rear slightly to where it sits level now. I went ahead and got a couple of wishlist items while I was at it, the MM full length subframe connectors and steering shaft assembly/bushings. I really like how the car drives and handles now. Future suspension/handling upgrades will come in the future. At least that's the plan as of now.
Just last week my harmonic balancer went to crap and had to replace that. Currently I'm working on an issue with how the car runs. The throttle response isn't good, especially at low rpm and partial throttle. It kind of feels like you aren't going anywhere for a second before it kicks in and the car really gets moving. It isn't consistent though and I'm not sure if something is slipping before catching and engaging suddenly or if the motor isn't running just quite right. I've been told by the shop that replaced my harmonic balancer that the car is running lean and causing the problem and new fuel injectors might fix the problem so I'm looking into getting 24# injectors, a cobra/gt-40 intake, and possibly some aluminum heads. If I do pick up an intake and heads I'd like to have the intake ported, but I'm not sure where to get that done. Whenever I finish getting the car running and driving good again I'll be able to start thinking about fixing the paint.
 
Got a good deal on this intake yesterday. I've never ported one before but would try it out if I can't find some one good to do this one for me.
 

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Just picked these up at a good price. Holley systemax 2 heads and crane gold 1.6s. Can't be too picky when working on a tight budget. Would anyone here know if I can reuse the factory valve covers or will I need to find new ones? Still on the checklist are to get the lower intake ported, buy arp head bolts, a phenolic spacer, injectors, gaskets, and potentially valve covers.
 

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I haven't posted in a while because I've been busy with a few different things lately but I finally have all my top end parts I'm going to install minus gaskets. Can anyone recommend head gaskets to use with Holley systemax 2 heads and gt-40 intake?