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Messages - Haystack

1
User Rides / Re: My 85 TBird
That thing is going to be killer when it's done. Looks really good man, and congrats on it moving, big milestone.
2
Engine Tech / Re: Strong engine stumble
I checked my storage today, my oil pan was smashed, and I already stole the good one and forgot about it, sorry. If you want a front sump smashed oil pan that leaks, I'll send it to you for shipping cost. It isn't smashed badly, motor mounts ripped out and the front corner washiznitting the sway bar and I didn't notice until it was leaking.

When I was 16, knew nothing about cars and was a pen 15y know it all, I decided I was going to do an h.o. swap and bought a brand new (remanufactured) engine.

When I got married, money obviously was tight, I ended up buying a car with a bad engine, I was really excited to throw all the parts at it. I got it all put together, dropped it in the car, and not only was the engine bad, but so was the transmission. Had a very badly skipping first gear and 3 neutrals. Didn't even make it around the block.

After trying to save up for a new or rebuilt trans, I gave up, picked up another cheap t-bird that was listed as "non-running" food trans, which I got for a song, I think I paid $150 for the whole car due to an "electrical fire", sight unseen. After it got dropped off, it was in much better shape.

Since I already had an extra wiring harness on the stand, I figured it might be cool to see if it will try to start and verify the engine works before I swapped cars, so I decided to see how bad the harness was.

Single bad fuseable link, replaced that and the car fired right up, it had lower miles, and was in much better shape, but also removed the reason why I "needed" to swap the engine, so the now ex-wife said we'll just save it for now, and when it blows you can spend money to put it in. So I ended up saving the engine and junking the other car.

Since then (about 2006), I have only changed the oil if it was a needed thing, meaning I had to drop the oil pan for some reason, and I have tried as hard as I could to blow up every cougarbird since. My current 86, the one with 275k miles, I drove it home, 50 miles on the highway when I bought it in first gear bouncing off the rev limiter. I figured for sure it would fail, it had a bit of a stumble, and a bit of an exhaust tick, so I was sure it had a bad lifter.

I drove it as is, hard as I could, trying to blow it up. If the oil got low, I'd wait until the oil light was flickering at idle, and keep driving it until I got done with whatever I was doing that day, and then I would throw 1 quart of the cheapest oil I could get at it. I don't think I ever once pulled the dipstick. Again, that was 135k when I bought it, after 9 years, it's at over 275k last I checked, the dash lights have been burned up so I can't read it for the last 4 or 5 years and I haven't checked since.

Eventually the exhaust tick and stumble got really bad, I also started blowing coolant. Again, I topped it off when the engine seized from overheating, otherwise I just drove it as is. It got bad enough I started blowing radiators and heater cores, so I decided to pop the valve cover to see how bad it was.

With how much I beat on it, and overheated it, I was sure it was a blown head gasket, secretly hoping for a cracked head. Instead, I found that it was missing a head bolt, just one between two cylinders. Engine looked mint, no metal shavings, I even pulled a few lifters and they had some wear, but it was really clean and even, hardly a single scratch on them.

I pulled off the head, head gasket wasn't even blown, but I already bought the kit, so I replaced it anyways. Only replaced the gaskets and the one busted head bolt, and it ran like a top, minus an occasional stutter that came and went, which is what ended up being the o2 sensor harness. After I fixed the O2 sensor harness, car still ran good, only used about a quart of oil a tank, so I just topped it off. Oil filter is rusted with almost no paint left on it last I looked,  but has a thick layer of black gunk, likely oil mixed with dirt (I often drove on dirt roads). About a year ago, I think the valve stem seals all have up, that or the oil rings. Now I can't keep oil in it, blue smoke everywhere, uses a full 5 quarts in half a tank, not worth driving anymore with the cost of the oil so I parked it.
3
Lounge / Re: Evmt's
Thanks for what you guys do. Now that I am back into computers, I'll save and upload all this stuff somewhere so I don't have to keep asking.
4
Lounge / Re: Evmt's
Thank you so much! The 87 one will get me by for now, I have two 86's, one wrecked now, and an 88.

My winter project will be getting the wrecked car to the wrecker after I swap the parts I want. Trying to decide if it's worth it for the entire base to digital dash cluster or not before I tear it all down.
5
Lounge / Evmt's
Hopefully this isn't a copyright thing, but I have depended on the evmt's for troubleshooting on here for years, saved in a chrome page. I went to look something up, and all the links are dead now. Anyone got one kicking around still?
6
Engine Tech / Re: Strong engine stumble
I know everyone's been dying for an update on this.

It was definitely the O2 sensor harness. I took a much closer look at it last winter, and the old harness had a sharp solder joint that could touch the bare ground. The power and ground wires are spliced right at the "t" and looks like some sort of solder connection. When it shorted out, it killed the computer, and was causing the intermittent stumble I was fighting for so long. Mileage is up, went from 20-25 to a new best of 29, averaging between 25-28 mpg highway.

Life has really gotten in the way, I have been working out of state alot, and just haven't had the energy to really mess with the car. It's a bit over 275k miles now. It blows blue smoke and eats oil like crazy now, the longer you run it, the worse it is. For some reason, the transmission started neutral revving when it's below freezing. Still doesn't slip once warm, but it feels like it's on its last leg.

I also wrecked my other 86 (135k miles). No injuries, I drove it home after getting smashed between a lifted Chevy 3500 and a tow truck towing two cars. Every panel, tail light, trunk and door is smashed pretty good. Insurance called it a no fault accident, so I just ate the car.

It was pretty interesting driving it home though. The drivers side front fender got pushed up and over the tire.

Plan is to swap the running gear between the two, and drive the wrecked car with the bad engine to the junkyard down the road from me.

I do plan on dropping the oil and maybe taking a video just for fun before I pull it. Curious what a 150k mile oil change will look like.
7
General Computer Forum / Re: Long Term File Hosting Recommendations
We have a few that have been shared through a Google drive file, I believe one was provided by you.

I recently have gotten back into computers, mostly server and storage related. Eventually I want to get to the point of hosting files and information for these cars.
10
Suspension/Steering / Re: Stock rear brake drums
86 xr7 should have the larger 10" drums. These were hard to find about 10nuears ago, if you can find a replacement set, I would pick them up.
11
Site Suggestions / Image attachments?
With the demise of Photobucket, I no longer have a majority of my pictures. I noticed that the site now allows up to 512mb attachments, but what does this do for our hosting? Do we have plenty of hosting available, or would I be better off to find a picture hosting setup to not clog up the server?
12
Engine Tech / Re: cranks no start **Diagosed**
My old 86 had around 350k miles when something broke in the front suspension (car had lots of rust and was repaired from a bad accident badly) and the sway bar started banging against the oil pan. I swapped a ton of stuff in trying to repair it, even doing two oil pans from the sway bar rubbing a hole in it. Eventually, everything broke, and it just wasn't worth fixing anymore. In about a months time frame, I lost brakes, water pump, timing chain cover gasket, blew a hole in the radiator, heater core went, blower motor went, and the ignition switch melted. I could no longer daily drove it and gave up.

I purchased the car with around 250k miles. The valve stem seals were shot, and so were the oil rings. At first it used about 1 quart every tank of gas, but it quickly got to the point that I was dumping a quart in every 100 miles or so.

Eventually I just got to the point that I picked up a gallon of oil Everytime I went to Walmart, and I would wait until the oil light came on, and I would dump the whole gallon in after I got to my destination.

I mercilessly beat on that car. I have an 85 gt block that has been sitting on an engine stand, and I have tried to blow up every 302 I've owned hoping to get to use it. It's been on that stand for over 20 years now.

My most recent 86 tbird, I purchased with 130k miles or so, and I have daily driven it for almost 8 years. I have never changed the oil on it, even after taking it all apart to do the head gasket when I found a broken head bolt. I have not looked at that timing chain, but it's sitting at about 260k miles now, and I have parked it for a wintertime revamp, and I would be very interested to see what the timing chain looks like. I don't even know what the oil filter looks like, but I'm willing to bet it is starting to rust.

I am 100% sure you can get to the oil pump if you can get the pan out, but it really is much easier and quicker to pull the motor. I have done an oil pan gasket about 5 times trying to keep the motor in the car, and every time, I have ended up with a worse seal then when I started.
13
Lounge / Anyone still around?
Just curious how many people just lurk now. I check in every month or two, but have been horrible about actually logging in.

How many peeps we still got hanging around?
14
Engine Tech / Re: cranks no start **Diagosed**
Glad you got it figured out, but I am trying to figure out what you did to eat up the timing chain like that. I had to swap my timing chain cover gasket on my old 86 that had around 350k miles, and the chain was loose, but it did not have the sharp teeth like yours, and I beat the ever living  out of that car. It's interesting to see all the nylon, I only had a few flakes left on mine, and they were noticable orangish tan.

It took me about two 12 hours straight 2 days to swap the oil pan in car. It is much easier to pull the motor. If you leave the ac/ps bracket in the engine bay, I can had the motor out in about an hour. Much easier then fighting an engine stand/jacks if you have a motor lift.

Also, glad to see you are uploading, I went ahead and subscribed. We need more fox cougar bird stuff. I try to check the forums, but I rarely see enough traffic to feel like logging in and my saved login is always expired.

The double row h.o. timing chain also fits and last one I bought was the same price, I didn't see that mentioned, but also did not finish the video fully yet.
15
Electrical Tech / Re: 83 Digital Dash Fuel Sending Unit Options
Not saying this is the right way, but I had my fuel pump die on the side of the road and the clip disintegrated. I clipped off another clip, but there was not gasket at all. I ended up using a 20v hot glue gun.