N00b Here With A Couple Of Questions

[123motasim]

Hello everyone,

I'm new to this forum, I'm 22 years old and I have a 1987 5.0 fox body that I recently purchased...I bought it modded (GT40 heads, F cam, longtubes with full exhaust, BBK intake, underdrive pullies, 3.73's, BBK 70mm throttle body).

Couple of questions and concerns that I have are:

1 - I have an idle problem, changed the IAC and the problem is still there. The car is untuned so would a tune fix that?

2 - The car shuts off when Im slowing down and put it in neutral almost every time.

3 - The current clutch I have on now is very stiff and hard to engage, the downside is I dont know what clutch it currently has but I do know that it is an aftermarket clutch. Any suggestions for a lighter clutch or any tricks I can do to lighten it up?

4 - The speedometer doesnt work, is this a common problem with these cars and how can it be fixed?

Thanks ahead!

 

[rebelboy194]

King cobra clutches are nice for non heavily modded engines. They have a stock pedal feel to them. You could also try the clutch adjuster, and the firewall quadrant. Is your car still speed density? What is your timing set up at? I know a lot of cams dont work too well with speed density cars, however, there are those guys out there that can do a basic tune without hooking up a computer and run the cams all day long very well. Your best bet here though is to convert to mass air flow. That could be your idle and stalling problems.

 

[123motasim]

King cobra clutches are nice for non heavily modded engines. They have a stock pedal feel to them. You could also try the clutch adjuster, and the firewall quadrant. Is your car still speed density? What is your timing set up at? I know a lot of cams dont work too well with speed density cars, however, there are those guys out there that can do a basic tune without hooking up a computer and run the cams all day long very well. Your best bet here though is to convert to mass air flow. That could be your idle and stalling problems.

Its not speed density, its converted to mass air...im guessing a tune would fix that hopefully?

as for the clutch I heard king cobra were pretty stiff and heard good things about the steeda clutch adjustment kit...as for the clutch itself, I also heard that the ram hdx clutch is good as well as spec clutches, any experience with those?

 

[HISSIN50]

Any codes?
I would run Jrichker's Idle Surge checklist.

An ancillary issue you might find is that the O2's are cooling off at idle. Tuning around that (idling in open loop, etc) might help (when you get your tuning done).

Before you replace the clutch, see if you have a Ford cable installed. Aftermarket cables can cause a stiff(er) pedal.

Welcome to the boards and good luck.

 

[f8tlfiveo]

Its not speed density, its converted to mass air...im guessing a tune would fix that hopefully?

as for the clutch I heard king cobra were pretty stiff and heard good things about the steeda clutch adjustment kit...as for the clutch itself, I also heard that the ram hdx clutch is good as well as spec clutches, any experience with those?

I have a spec stage 2...it's pretty easy to push in. My bro has a king cobra and it feels harder to me. The clutch quadrant on both cars are aftermarket.

 

[2000xp8]

A tune should never be used to repair a problem.
You have basic off the shelf parts, run jrickers checklist and you will find the real problem. Which will be a hell of alot cheaper than paying someone for a tune that you don't really need.

The king cobra is a pretty good clutch, but IMO, unless your cable is shot, leave the clutch parts alone until you need a new one, no need spending a couple hundred bucks on parts unless you have too. While it may feel heavy now, you will get used to it.

The speedometer is not a real tough fix, but you have to know what's broken.
It's a cable with a gear on it that goes into the trans and into the back of the speedo itself.
Quite often the gear gets chewed up, that's the first place i would look.

 

[HISSIN50]

Edit: NM. Not going to get off on a tangent.

 

[jrichker]

See the "Surging Idle Checklist” for help with all your idle/stall problems. You can guess at the problem and throw parts at it, or you can use the checklist to help you find the problem quickly and inexpensively. The checklist is right here in the Stangnet 5.0 Tech forum and you don’t have navigate to some other unknown web site. It‘s free and doesn’t cost anything: at last count there were more than 103,000 visits and still climbing

The quick and easy way to dump the codes is in there too, and all you need to do it is a paper clip! The first two posts contain all the fixes & updates. At last count there were 24 possible causes and fixes for surging idle/stall problems. I continue to update it as more people post fixes or ask questions.