Callin her FREEBIRD! updated 7/29/09 June 30, 2009, 12:21:00 AM Anyhow already been working on my new to me T-BIRD. might have to get this one a different pet name. Gotta love it bought the cheap parts store brand open it up and it says Motorcraft on it. It did come with a new brush holder and brushes too. The new brush holder wasn't inset deep enough to work so I just robbed the Reg and the new brushes. Regulator replaced and all is well putting out 14.25vlts at idle. Can't beat that for $15.00 So I turned my attention to the front end light as they were rather nasty looking. BEFOREAFTER Then started paying attention to the rest of the car. Washed it and got all the nasty out of the Nooks and Crannies. Leaves were every where. All around cleaned things up. Before After I did find the air filter was trash. Full of baked on nasty tired to blow it out but that only wanted to make holes so I bought a new air filter $3 and put some gas with injector cleaner in the tank. All in all it runs pretty good. There is a Weird dead spot in the throttle like the TPS is worn but it seems to catch itself. Then when it starts to get any kinda of high rpm it seems to sorta just shake? Then when in drive and pull up to a light and stop it wants to shake a lot also? Any help with the 3.8CFI would be greatly appreciated! Thanks for lookingStuckman Quote Selected
Callin her FREEBIRD! updated 7/29/09 Reply #1 – June 30, 2009, 11:15:00 PM Looks good. The first few steps of recovery are always rewarding. Quote Selected
Callin her FREEBIRD! updated 7/29/09 Reply #2 – July 06, 2009, 12:12:59 AM Did some more stuff to Freebird here in the last couple days even though I worked and there was a Holiday. Nothing major but when I got the car it had 2 tranny filter kits for GOD KNOWS what in there and a bag with three ball joints for the car. Well I returned the tranny filter kits and one Ball joint it was a Moog brand. Got me some money out of that and got me some much needed stuff for the free bird. I bought her an oil change, a new ECU temp sensor, Wiper refills. I installed the Temp sender while on a smoke break today at work along with installed my wiper refills. Need to get the oil changed it is black as TAR! Since I change the temp sender she seems much more responsive to throttle input. Also doesn't seem to run near as rich smelling. I did throw some injector cleaner in the tank with some fresh gas. Anyhow with all the returned parts and the new ones along with the 5qt castrol and Fram filter I've got less than nothing invested! Got love it a free car with $100. of new returnable parts in the backseat. Talked with dale today, Thanked him again. Made him a hell of a deal on the parts and stuff he bought! Stuckman Quote Selected
Callin her FREEBIRD! updated 7/29/09 Reply #3 – July 06, 2009, 05:00:07 PM Man,can I tell you stories about building for free.LOL.Good luck with the car,and congrats on making progress. Quote Selected
Callin her FREEBIRD! updated 7/29/09 Reply #4 – July 07, 2009, 11:28:49 PM Did some more work on the FREEBIRD today. Changed the oil and took it to the car wash and sprayed down the underside to see what I have to deal with. I did notice that the rear driver side seems to sag some. I looked and didn't really seem to find anything that just sticks out and says HELLO! So I sprayed her down and crawled under there to see what it all looked like. All in all I think it looks pretty good. What do you guys think? Just need to figure out the hesitation now! Looks like I need to deep clean that engine and tranny and find those leaks. Stuckman Quote Selected
Callin her FREEBIRD! updated 7/29/09 Reply #5 – July 08, 2009, 08:28:22 AM Looks like you got a really solid car, and at that price you defenately can't complain. What's your plans for it? Quote Selected
Callin her FREEBIRD! updated 7/29/09 Reply #6 – July 08, 2009, 12:42:33 PM Looks pretty solid on the underside.You should give it to me. It was free and I can have a twin for my T-bird Quote Selected
Callin her FREEBIRD! updated 7/29/09 Reply #7 – July 08, 2009, 08:42:43 PM lol thats the name of my company Quote Selected
Callin her FREEBIRD! updated 7/29/09 Reply #8 – July 12, 2009, 12:11:21 AM That is cool bearmax. I did do some work on the Freebird today. The Brakes were starting to squeak so I bought some cheap pads to throw on there. Hey its a LOW BUCK DEAL. Cheap pads are better than metal to metal. Gonna take the rotors in a turn them for free tomorrow at work. All in all everything seems pretty nice under there. Here are some more pics. TOOLS used other than flat blade screw driver.Took the wheels offGot the rotors off. She looks good down there even has the label on the spring. Whoa never expected this on a FREE car. The bearings are like new the grease inside was blackish but I could still see the red tint in it too. So need some new seals and to turn those rotors they have some warp to them on hard stops. I have forgotten how mushy the stock brakes are. Still for the price I will deal. I think is gonna become my daily driver and save the wife's Cherokee for other things it does have 235,000 on it and the freebird only has 158,000. She has inherited my 94 cougar because she has a longer drive to work. So I think this was the T-Bird/cougar Gods looking out for a Bird/Cougar lover to take care of this bird! Stuckman Quote Selected
Callin her FREEBIRD! updated 7/29/09 Reply #9 – July 12, 2009, 01:47:55 PM Finished up the front brakes this morning. I took the rotors down to work and got them nice and Smooth. They were warped but still no grooves or anything. So I did it the old school way and turned them by hand on the machine not the machine in control of the cutting bits. Once I got them near perfect I let the machine make the final cut to give me that nice finish. Bought me some new seals and brake cleaner long with a new set of caliper pins. The old ones worked but they were extremely hard to get out. Also the pads were toast on the outer ones and half gone one the inner ones. So that mean things were binding up and not sliding like they should. Came home cleaned and greased the old bearings and installed them and the new seals. I lubed the spindle and installed the rotors along with the nut, safety nut, cotter pin, and the caps. installed the new pads in the calipers. cleaned and lubed those Rubber boots the pins slide into. Then installed the caliper along with the New pins that also got a thin coating of grease. Installed the wheels let her down of the jack stands. Torqued the lug nuts tight installed those cheazy hub caps. Took her out for a short drive. WOW been so long since I used the factory brake setup. I also used a vac pump the bleed the front brakes just in case there was some air in there. There must have been because I don't even stock working this good with those small rotors and funky long factory brake lines. Thanks for lookingStuckman Quote Selected
Callin her FREEBIRD! updated 7/29/09 Reply #10 – July 12, 2009, 10:25:15 PM Things you'll love to hate about the 3.8. There are NO aftermarket mods to help that engine. You might buy a few HP by dropping the TBI from a 302 on it, but not real sure on that. jcassity can tell you more on that subject. TBI service kits can be fun to find. TBI was an abortion interim in the switch from carb to EFI. New intakes weren't ready when EEC was, so next best thing, take a carb and make it worse. The 3.8 turns out a whopping 112 BHP. Then, along comes the MFI intake and heads, and the EEC lagged requiring bank-firing (3 at a time on our 6 lungers) until Mass Air technology came along. The 3.5L in my company car (I won't blaspheme in here) is churning out 224 BHP. Double the HP with nearly 10% less displacement. Your seepage around the front will more than likely be the TC gaskets. This is a common problem with this engine, since four of the water pump bolts also comprise four of the TC fasteners. It can be remedied, but fix it REAL soon, lest the gasket fail and you start pumping coolant straight into the engine. You'll more than likely find some pitting on the block and TC from the caustic coolant and dissimilar metals (aluminum TC and cast iron block). Luckily, they fail leaking to the outside more often than not. I think the oil soaking into the gasket between the TC and the block has a lot to do with that. When you clean it up, use Permatex HyTak gasket sealer. That's the only thing I've found that will stand up to the oil and coolant both. RTV (silicone) is going to leave you repeating your efforts when it blows out again. It doesn't protect the gasket from the coolant, and I don't like any sealant that can make beads that will fall into my oil pan anyway. If you have a puller, you can yank the harmonic balancer off, and that job can be done in about 12 hours, including the time to clean everything up. You don't have to, but I recommend pulling the radiator to give you a couple more inches knuckle room, and that's a good time to flush the rad out real good too. You have to pull the upper and lower hoses anyway, so all that's left is the tranny cooler lines and two bolts in the clamps on top. EVERYTHING will have to come off the front of that engine. AC, Alternator, PS Pump, and ALL brackets, but you don't have to disconnect the AC or PS Pump. I took my alternator out because I just found it too easy to not do. Pull the dizzy too. Just make sure to roll the engine to #1 cylinder sitting at TDC, mark the position of the rotor on the dizzy, and the position of the dizzy on the block somewhere so it's easy to get the timing close when you get it reassembled. You'll still have to reset it with a light, though. BEWARE the infamous OP drive shaft. It should have a clip on it if the TC's never been off before, to hold it in the block. If not, when the dizzy lets go of the TC, the OP drive will probably go flying over your shoulder. That's actually a good thing as opposed to falling inside the TC. But, since you'd be disassembling anyway, not a real big problem. It's only a problem if it happens when stabbing the dizzy back in. then, you get to pull the TC back off again. Best solution there, is coat the dizzy end of that shaft with thick grease, and stick it up in the dizzy. That will hold it until you get the dizzy back in. If it hasn't been done yet, while you have the front off the engine, I'd recommend pulling the TBI and intake too. There is a short cork gasket on each end of the intake that likes to pop out after it gets old. Massive oil leaks front and rear then. That would also be the optimum time to clean the EGR plate. You WILL find it caked up with crud, because the PCV suction is right above it. Hot exhaust plus oily vapors equals massive HARD crud. That plugs the EGR, and will cause erratic throttle response and bumpy idle. If you can get the TBI kit, go ahead and freshen all the gaskets on it while you're at it. The 3.8 likes to leak. Point blank. I always say mine doesn't leak, it's just marking it's territory. You can stop it for a while with all new topside and front gaskets, but it'll just find somewhere else. Leaks aside, and poor performance a foregone conclusion, the 3.8 TBI is a TOUGH engine, and a lot less pr0ne to blown head gaskets than it's later generations with MFI intake and heads, and certainly the supercharged badboy 3.8. Don't expect neck breaking acceleration, but it will still go fast enough if you have the patience. I have some photos of the job somewhere. I had a long-block put in mine in 2004, and the Ford Dealer used RTV on everything for gasket sealer. Needless to say, it did not hold up, and I wound up cleaning up their work. I also wound up with a cover for a 1984 Bird, which apparently was still equipped with mechanical fuel pump. That is my current oil leak source, which the dealership tried to compensate for by bolting a piece of tin can over the hole. It didn't work. Quote Selected
Callin her FREEBIRD! updated 7/29/09 Reply #11 – July 13, 2009, 11:00:56 AM Thanks for the tips that should help me a lot. I was wondering if the later 88 EFI setup bolt on to the 86 block and heads. I have a whole 88 efi system including computer at my disposal. I even have the 88 block and tranny but the heads are gone. I know when that 88 cougar was running it was much better than this CFI . Stuckman Quote Selected
Callin her FREEBIRD! updated 7/29/09 Reply #12 – July 13, 2009, 10:09:23 PM Quote from: ipsd;282022Thanks for the tips that should help me a lot. I was wondering if the later 88 EFI setup bolt on to the 86 block and heads. I have a whole 88 efi system including computer at my disposal. I even have the 88 block and tranny but the heads are gone. I know when that 88 cougar was running it was much better than this CFI . Stuckman Unfortunately, no, it won't. Different deck height on the heads for starters, and a whole different shape to the intake. Quite a bit of difference in the heads for the two engines. Otherwise, I would have done what you're talking about a long time ago. I HATE CFI simply because it strangles what should be a fairly powerful engine (see previous statement about 224 BHP from a 3.5L). Plan B would be to find a set of EFI heads, but they're rare as hen's teeth because the lower mounting bosses break off so easy. That's one of the main reasons for HG failures on those heads. The 3.8 CFI is what it is. It may leak like a sieve, but it will ALWAYS start, and will ALWAYS get you where you're going. If I had it all to do again, I would bite the bullet on the insurance when I bought my 86 brand new, and got the 5.0. There's a WORLD of options for that engine. I just didn't want to pay the difference in the insurance at the time. The 5.0 reclassified the car in this state from sedan to coupe, and was another $700/yr on insurance. Knowing what I know now, and having been through it twice, next time I need a water pump, the timing cover's coming off too, and getting fresh gaskets again. Right now, though, the Blue Duck is laid up with worn inner ball joints. I'm figuring on just replacing the entire steering system. Tires are bald, and I don't want new sneakers until I correct the steeriing issue. Then maybe, if I can find 'em, some 10 holers to replace the alloy stock steelies. I wanna bump up a rim size, and lower the tire profile to get more out of what these cars were designed for. I have a rebuilt CFI waiting to go on mine as well. I've got some of the same symptoms I've linked to a plugged up egr plate and leaking intake before. Runs great until it gets to operating temp and goes closed loop. Then, light throttle, it acts like it's out of fuel. At WOT, though, it takes off like a scalded cat (with a 3.8L CFI). Feathering the throttle will sometimes compensate, but that ain't so good for the rest of the drivetrain. Wouldn't hurt to change the EGO's too, but the passenger side is a real PITA to get to. I picked up 2 EEC's at the local yard too, so may swap one of those in to find out if that helps with the hesitation when hot. I have gotten a KAM memory checksum error from the original before, so it's possible there are dead spots in the EEC's KAM. The hesitation isn't there at highway speeds, just city traffic. Got lots to do to it, and no time to do any of it. Too busy at work right now, and the weather's too hot to be monkeying around with it. Need more shop space too. My garage is very small, and currently has a VW waiting for some TLC too. Quote Selected
Callin her FREEBIRD! updated 7/29/09 Reply #13 – July 13, 2009, 11:37:42 PM I did some more digging and cleaning one her today. I used some of that STP OUMPH! cleaner. The door panels are Light gray again. It like super clean took all the black/brown sticky stuff off there. Even took it off the steering wheel too. So I cleaned her up better inside. Need to vac but my shop vac died. No pics yet but they I'll get some soon. I turned to the engine bay to look and see what all I could find just look and poking and prodding about. Seems like everything is in order in there. The dash temp gauge wasn't working so I grounded the sensor wire and it went full hot so I assume that means I need a new gauge temp sender. The A/c compressor is locked up solid. Even though I did a quick test of the valve and there seems to be something not much but something went psht really quite. That is good but bad all in one. It is the old HR980 compressor. Good thing I have 3 spares on my shelf. Maybe they aren't new but they all work and create suction. Also I did notice that the PS pump line seem to be leaking like a lot right where it bolts into the pump. Then the housing is loose too. So on with my diggin. The wirring is NASTY. I installed the correct battery for the car and got rid of the core bat I used to get her home. I also think she need ball joints. New ones came with the car just wanna get most everything simple worked out before I put that much hard labor into her. I know DaBird sitting there watching me work on Freebird, isn't the best for DaBird. But maybe DaBird will learn to straighten up! LOL StuckmanP.S, Can you bolt the newer 89up 3.8 heads onto the 3.8 CFI block? Quote Selected
Callin her FREEBIRD! updated 7/29/09 Reply #14 – July 14, 2009, 07:35:55 AM Just poke around your local salvage yard and keep an eye on CL until you find a nice, affordable Supercoupe, the swap!Shiny Side Up!Bill Quote Selected
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