So THAT was what all the fuss was about?! November 03, 2004, 02:53:32 PM In other words, it's finally here. The $130 (that probably cost more than that just to get here) wonder-car that started out as my intended parts car and became (at least at this point, I've decided) my project car. Almost killed me getting back here, but now it's finally in the yard. Those of you from up north who have already seen the white stuff or at least all the green stuff start to die off, you're not allowed to kill me for seeing lots of green around the car. :p (besides, the grass will all be pretty much dead/dormant in a month anyway.. the fire season approacheth.. and, my lawn is a disaster pretty much all year 'round)I'll put it in User Rides when I have a more clear-cut idea of where I'm going with the project. (oh, I have plenty of ideas.. I just want to lay them all out after I've looked over the car a bit more thoroughly)Yeah, it looks horrible with the shot clearcoat.. and it has one dent in it. But otherwise it looks serviceable to me. Quote Selected
Re: So THAT was what all the fuss was about?! Reply #1 – November 03, 2004, 03:45:52 PM I noticed you said you had trouble with it on the tow dolly. How were you towing it?I have towed RWD cars to Indy from Tulsa, Dayton, Chicago and western Maryland without issue with a tow dolly...at up to 75-80mph too. I tow them rear down and disconnect the d/s if necc. Quote Selected
Re: So THAT was what all the fuss was about?! Reply #2 – November 03, 2004, 03:53:33 PM We had to tow it front end down. A certain friend in charge of the project told me I didn't need to bring any tools.. which of course we needed once we got there. We locked the steering wheel and tied it off with a heavy rope.The tow dolly had a pivot in the center of it. We're still trying to figure out why they designed the trailers like that.. because it didn't seem to help matters much. Made the whole thing about as rigid as a wet noodle. Quote Selected
Re: So THAT was what all the fuss was about?! Reply #3 – November 03, 2004, 03:59:08 PM Well that's the problem...front down. Next to impossible to tow them like that with the weight over the wheels that are on the ground.The dolly's pivot like that so they turn better (ie tighter)..but you CAN'T back them up. They need to make them (and I'm sure they do) where you can lock the pivot if you need to. Quote Selected
Re: So THAT was what all the fuss was about?! Reply #4 – November 03, 2004, 04:08:29 PM Oh yeah, we definitely needed to be able to lock the pivot. Getting it into a decent spot in my yard late last night was hideous.We didn't have a lot of options available since the guy doing the towing told me I didn't need to bring any tools. I suppose we could've asked to borrow some from the neighbor that helped the seller and us get the car onto the dolly, (we had to push it up there) but 20/20 hindsight and all that. Quote Selected
Re: So THAT was what all the fuss was about?! Reply #5 – November 03, 2004, 04:14:31 PM Now I have the trickle-charger on the battery.. 2 amps for as long as I need it. Hopefully the battery isn't completely shot, but I'm concerned. It's less than a year old, but it got a LOT of cranking from trying to start this thing several times over the past week. The seller put his neighbor's charger on it after I left there last Tuesday, but who knows how he went about it. (the neighbor's charger was a beast.. 2/10/start for the settings.. mine's just a 2/6 amp, and I almost never use 6) Even though it was charged up, it still ped out pretty quickly when we tried to start it last night. (got less than half a dozen attempts out of it) Plus, we left the parking lights on (minus 6 of the rear lights, which we disconnected to save juice.. since we were towing it backwards) until they were barely visible.If I can get that going and slap a fresh set of plugs in it, maybe I can get it moving again long enough to get it into a better spot in the yard for working on it. Quote Selected
Re: So THAT was what all the fuss was about?! Reply #6 – November 03, 2004, 08:42:02 PM How long did the car sit?I imagine unless the gas has turned to varnish and not locked up all the injectors, you should be able to get it to start w/o much trouble once you have enough juice. Just for giggles you might spray a little starting fluid (or spurt some fresh gas in there) and see if it tries to fire. Giving the injectors a couple taps might help free them up as well if they have gotten stuck. Quote Selected
Re: So THAT was what all the fuss was about?! Reply #7 – November 03, 2004, 08:55:16 PM The details of the engine's condition were in the "Is this even close to right?" thread I put in the engine section.. but the summary:- Originally I was interested in using this as a parts car for the V8 swap into my V6 'Bird.. but seeing that the body was in pretty good (and even less rusted than my '86) condition, I decided I'd work on just repairing the '86, and make this '88 my "project car".- Car belonged to the girlfriend/fiance of the previous owner.. she transferred the title to him at some point, and he tried to get it operational again via mechanics.- Car sat for several months, but had been having running problems for some time before that. - Previous owner had several things worked on, both related to and unrelated to the problems. New plugs and wires apparently made the car run better for a short time, but it soon went back to its old behavior.- Engine is slightly overfull on oil. Not quite a full quart.- Engine blows oil into the throttle body via the vent tube running between the TB and the oil filler neck. The amount is significant, because less than 60 seconds of operation is enough to coat the inside bottom of the TB in oil. We narrowed the problem there down to either bad rings or plugged oil drainback passages. I haven't yet put it to the test to figure out which. (but will once I change the plugs and juice up the battery)- I went down there thinking it was bad gas, as you thought. It only had 2 gallons of bad gas in it.. which I dealt with by adding two bottles of injector cleaner, a full tank of premium, and a new fuel filter. Still no go.- I intend to change plugs, change the PCV, and perhaps give it an oil change (removing the extra oil in the process) and see if I can clear some of this up.Once the car is able to move under its own power again, I'll probably locate it in a place where I can really rip into it, and just start gutting and cleaning what I can. I'll work on the interior first, which is pretty rough.. although all the power stuff works. I can also work on fixing the problems with the window.. it came unglued from the clips that hold it and such. In other words, cheap (or free) fixes at first, and then once more money is coming in, I'll work on the serious changes. (engine work, strengthening the body, strategic lightening, reupholstery, etc.) Quote Selected
Re: So THAT was what all the fuss was about?! Reply #8 – November 03, 2004, 10:32:37 PM its nice to have a project to work on. I could imagine that id be right there with ya if it were one piece at at a time restoration.these cars are getting crused daily and it makes me wonder how many of them are left.wonder if DMV could query that info? Quote Selected
Re: So THAT was what all the fuss was about?! Reply #9 – November 03, 2004, 11:48:08 PM Well, this won't exactly be a by-the-book restoration. However..I will be gutting the interior and hopefully restoring it to a gray leather, like it is now.I will be stripping all the paint, but this is the car I'd like to paint deep jewel green w/ pewter two-tone.I may make that 302 disappear and stuff my 351W in its place, along with the gear splitter and the rest of my rule-the-open-road plan. :pI see such things as subframe connectors, tubular K-members and A-arms, a Mustang quick-ratio rack, 3.55 rear gears with a possible PowerTrax locker, and lots of Dynamat in this car's future.BTW.. does anyone know the official weight bias on a '88 T-bird LX 5.0 like this? I mean percentages, like 52%/48%. Quote Selected
Re: So THAT was what all the fuss was about?! Reply #10 – November 04, 2004, 12:31:25 AM Quote from: jcassityits nice to have a project to work on. I could imagine that id be right there with ya if it were one piece at at a time restoration.these cars are getting crused daily and it makes me wonder how many of them are left.wonder if DMV could query that info?Around here I see them all the time. Some days I see up to 10 83-88 tbirds themselves, along with almost the same number of cougars. Newer tbirds, I see them every few minutes. This is with 40-45 minutes of driving total a day. More time, the numbers increase. I envy all the TC's I see around though...they always look top notch (compared to the 87 v8's or v6's I see which seem to all have had poor body upkeep - looks like they've never been waxed)Looks like I have replacement parts for years to come :p Quote Selected
Re: So THAT was what all the fuss was about?! Reply #11 – November 04, 2004, 08:02:10 AM If you are going to put new plugs in it you might want to spring for a new distributor cap. I've seen the contacts pit on these caps. It looks good to look at but under the top crust the contacts are all pitted. Quote Selected
Re: So THAT was what all the fuss was about?! Reply #12 – November 04, 2004, 08:06:23 PM Well, it ran today.. for all of about 20-30 seconds. I stepped on the gas and it died, and wouldn't start again. (battery was running low by then) I really need to get it moved.. it's parked on a huge black ant pile. I have probably a dozen bites on my leg now. (at least it's not fire ants, but still..) Could smell gas after it cranked for awhile.. but not from any particular source. Quote Selected
Re: So THAT was what all the fuss was about?! Reply #13 – November 05, 2004, 07:14:13 PM Thave you checked the exaust system??? I'm bettin the catalitic converters are plugged up. Quote Selected
Re: So THAT was what all the fuss was about?! Reply #14 – November 05, 2004, 07:22:38 PM Only thing I know about the exhaust at present is that the left exhaust tip was bent (just cosmetically) when we took the car off the tow dolly.Unfortunately, right now the car is in a low spot in the yard.. not too much bigger than the car itself.. makes it very hard to get underneath the car and do anything. (also makes it difficult to push it anywhere, even though I just put a bit more air into all the tires so it would roll easier)If you think the exhaust may be causing this, or exacerbating the situation, I may have to pull the car out by itshiznitch. Quote Selected
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