My 1984 GT Refurbish/Upgrade Thread

[2nd chance cobra]

For what it's worth Brock, in all my years at gm I only replaced a couple map sensors, and usually those were aftermarket. I'm surprised a bit that it has that much authority on the engine running. If it's out of whack it should be smart enough to substitute a value. Run quality diminished for sure, but still run

[84StangSVT]

Congrats on getting her on the road! Seems like you can't ever just get a project car on the road without any hiccups can you?

Never! LOL! With the hiccups come mistakes. Had I of not been irritated at the situation, I would have thought to research a little more and realized I could have had my coworker run me a few blocks down the street to U-Pull It and this sensor is on pretty much every GM car from 98-03. I could have grabbed a handful of them for what I paid for this one. Their price is $8.

Oh well....never claimed to be smart but I will remember that for the future, as well as cross reference all of the other parts I might need.

[84StangSVT]

For what it's worth Brock, in all my years at gm I only replaced a couple map sensors, and usually those were aftermarket. I'm surprised a bit that it has that much authority on the engine running. If it's out of whack it should be smart enough to substitute a value. Run quality diminished for sure, but still run

For whatever reason, FAST has it set up that if this sensor fails, it locks it out and will not enable limp mode. Not sure why, but they did and have it labeled as a CRITICAL sensor.

I will be headed to the J/Y and get a couple GM sensors to have as a back up.

[magnum517]

Brock, that is the one down side to using an aftermarket stand alone FI system. They usually cut the sensor count down from the 20 plus that the OE's run to around 8-10 sensors. In doing that they now make each sensor very critical to proper operation. There isn't redundant sensors to fall back on like the OE set up. So when one fails, you get a no start issue. Especially a MAP sensor as that sensor is what the aftermarket uses to base all their fuel and timing calculations off of. Without it, their PCM is litterly left in the dark. I would JY pick a few to have as spares. GM MAP sensors very rarely fail so JY parts should be ok.
With that said, glad you are getting it sorted out and enjoying the car. That is awesome. Sometimes frustrating but awesome!


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[84StangSVT]

Haven't done much the past couple weeks as I was out of town for work and then we were busting @ss to get moved into a new house. The weather d@mn sure didn't cooperate this weekend as it rained all of it and was chilly. I had no choice but to drive the car in the rain to the new house and it was.......FUN! A bit sketchy on the wet pavement with old tires but a quick blip of the throttle set her back straight.

Got a ton of junk to get unpacked and out of the way, but it sure is nice having a larger garage without a stupid support pole in the middle of it. At least I can park wherever I please in this one without planning around that obstacle. The simple things in life make me happy...



Now to get the junk unpacked, unneeded household items sold, get my shelving and work areas set up to my liking, find all my tools again and permanently hang my extra lighting, then I should be ready to work on her again.

[wraithracing]

Congrats on the new house and getting moved! Oh! and getting the Mustang there safely!

I hate moving!!!!

[84StangSVT]

Congrats on the new house and getting moved! Oh! and getting the Mustang there safely!

I hate moving!!!!

Thanks Trey! It was a wild adventure for sure. 3 solid days of moving crap. retty much the wife and I did it solo and that was on top of cleaning, painting and getting the new house up to her standards before we even moved a thing. I hope it is a long time before we have to move again, but I just might call 2 men and a truck next time. She needs to purge some crap.

The final straw was the last day, she told me that she sold the fridge that we were just going to leave for the next owner. The deal was if she sold it, the people that bought it had to get it out of the house. 5 years ago, I swore I would never take that thing out of there because it was huge and it was a royal pain to get in the house.

I lost that battle......

She told me that the people were on the way to look at it and we needed to get it to the garage. The problem with that is, there is only one way in and out of the house with that monstrosity and that was up and down the deck that is 20' in the air.

On top of that, it is too wide to go through the sliding door and the doors on the fridge require major disassembly due to the ice and water dispenser. I asked her how long we have.......she tells me 15 minutes.

Slightly remembered how we got it up there by that point and took the handles off the fridge and sliding doors to gain enough room to squeeze it through.
Strapped it to an improper dolly and got it to the deck. Facing the stairs, we only had one chance to make this right, or else we are going to need an ambulance. With me on the top side holding the dolly for all I'm worth and her on the down side just to try and keep that dude going straight so each tire rolls off the step at the same time, we commence.

1 step, 2 step so far so good even though I'm pretty sure my wrists are snapping, my arms are getting pulled out of the shoulder sockets and this is going to end badly. In what seems like a 100 stairs down, we make it and didn't call 911.

In the end, she made some money and was happy.

NEVER AGAIN will I do that!

[magnum517]

Congrats on the move and the new house. I agree, moving sucks! Always such chaos. We moved my oldest son and his fiancé out of our house and into a condo this weekend and then moved my foster son back home for a six month recoup and regroup with the parents. Had Saturday to get them all moved as I left for Connecticut Sunday morning with Joe B and Mike E to go to the Mustangs Unlimited show. So the mad thrash was on as they only had about a third of their stuff packed and ready to move. But we got it done in one day. Whew. And they had a ton more stuff than I thought they did too!!! Told them, next time they hire movers. Haha. Know that ain't gonna happen.
So now you get the next month sorting and reorganizing. Have fun with that. Lol. But at least it's done and you have a better garage. That's what counts !!


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[Davedacarpainter]

Congratulations on making it through the ordeal and not flattening your wife with the fridge.

i think that's what keeps my wife from divorcing me is that she hates moving too.

[erratic50]

Congrats on the move Brock!

You need to call a bruiser like me over for stuff like moving a fridge my friend. I pretty much just grab ahold of them, toss them on a dolly, and walk away

And we owe you one for the help with Devon's Mustang too....

Ive put overgrown 335+ lb gun safes in the back of my truck by myself... so how bad can a little ol fridge be!?

Anyway - call me if you ever need a hand. You had our back when we needed it - we'll have yours, just ask.

[84StangSVT]

Well, I have put about 230 miles on the car since I have had it back together and, all in all, it has been fun. One thing that has remained a constant, is this cars blatant dislike of rapid throttle movements. It usually will accept a slow roll into the throttle without much issue but if you quickly stab it or roll quickly into it with a decent load on it, the thing will cough, sputter, breakup and buck like a rodeo bull. There really doesn't seem to be a main trigger point (RPM, etc.) that causes this but the best I can tell by a quick glance down at the handheld is it goes EXTREMELY RICH when it happens. The handheld will show anywhere between 9.0 and 11.0 AFR when it does this.

I checked all the sensors and recalibrated them on the EFI system thinking that maybe I might have another one going out, but they check fine. Fuel pressure and delivery seem to be good also, holding the recommended 43 psi the system wants. Checked the exhaust system for leaks thinking that maybe it had some that was fooling the O2 sensor, but again didn't find any.

One thing I did notice, is right before this happens, performance seems to die off a few seconds before the issue. Almost like the car starts running a bit flat and chokes. I hooked up the timing light to the car when I got home and checked it since the car had just had a 20 mile drive and was up to operating temp. Unhooked the vac advance and checked base timing. Still around 13-14 degrees. Slowly raised the RPM's until mechanical advance kicked in. It seemed to be fully advanced at around 3000 rpm. HMMMMM.....the best I pulled was around 24-25 degrees advanced. I'm wondering if this is not my issue with the bucking and choking of the car. I'm going to have to look at this closer and see if there is something going on inside the distributor, or if maybe my math was way off on the mod I did to the advance arm to close up the massive gap in it.

Might be awhile before I can dive deeper into this as the wife has a honey do list for the new house that puts a law book to shame. Oh yeah...and it all has to be done in time for my oldest sons H.S. Graduation Party at the end of this month.

[magnum517]

It does sound like a timing advance issue brings everything is checking out. Have had timing advance cause some headaches for me in the past. I was always told, all in by 2800 and should be a nice steady increase up to 28-32 total on a worked small block Ford.
On the honey do list, best of luck. Have been down that road with three kids that graduated and wife wanted stuff done the month before every one of their parties. So I know your pain. Haha.


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[84StangSVT]

It does sound like a timing advance issue brings everything is checking out. Have had timing advance cause some headaches for me in the past. I was always told, all in by 2800 and should be a nice steady increase up to 28-32 total on a worked small block Ford.
On the honey do list, best of luck. Have been down that road with three kids that graduated and wife wanted stuff done the month before every one of their parties. So I know your pain. Haha.

The good news is the advancement seems to be smooth, just not near enough of it. I really suspect I need to work the mod some more.

On the home front, by time this is said and done, I hope to never see a paint brush again in my life....

[5.0 notchback]

Wow, Brock! I haven't checked in for a while. Looking good! Glad you have on the street. I just moved too. The condo association will be glad to have me gone. They didn't care for welding in the garages, go figure! I've got a big two car now, once I get the house remodeled I'll be trying to catch up with you. Great job!

[Davedacarpainter]

The good news is the advancement seems to be smooth, just not near enough of it. I really suspect I need to work the mod some more.

On the home front, by time this is said and done, I hope to never see a paint brush again in my life....

Maybe a paint gun though?

[84StangSVT]

Wow, Brock! I haven't checked in for a while. Looking good! Glad you have on the street. I just moved too. The condo association will be glad to have me gone. They didn't care for welding in the garages, go figure! I've got a big two car now, once I get the house remodeled I'll be trying to catch up with you. Great job!

Thanks bud! Glad to hear you got a place to work on your ride also! Hopefully you, Shane and I can get our stuff working right and have a good weekend cruise.

[84StangSVT]

Maybe a paint gun though?

LOL! At this point in time, I don't even want to see paint. Painting and welding are 2 things I prefer to have in moderation. I would just assume turn wrenches over the previously mentioned activities.

[84StangSVT]

Looks to be, I had better get these rear fenders rolled sooner than later.



Obviously, I never had an issue with these 265's when the car was at stock ride height, but now that she is dropped down 1.5"+ she is playing Pac-Man with the tires. While driving the car by myself, the rub isn't too bad unless you hit a pretty large bump or dip.

Let me tell ya, that changes fast with another person in the car.

The youngest son had a parade Saturday that he had to be in for his H.S. marching band. Since I took the car out to the Coffee Cruise on Sat. morning, I was parked behind my truck and didn't feel like playing musical cars so I could take and drop him off at the school to make the bus to the parade. Naturally, in true fashion around our house, it was going to be tight to get him to school on time as he was running behind. He gets that from his mother.

It was apparent from the first corner out of the neighborhood, that this was going to be a destructive trip and hopefully I could make it to the school and back home without destroying tires, paint and/or rear quarters. On the 5 mile trip to school, every corner and every little bump produced abnormal rubber on metal noises. Every large bump sounded like the car was going through a chipper/shredder and added a nice aroma of burning rubber. I honestly didn't think the tires were going to survive. Once I dropped him off and got the extra weight out of the car, it was at least minimal tire rub on the way home.

The wife wanted to take the car to the parade, I promptly told her there was no way we would make it there and back and still have the tires be intact. She wasn't thrilled, but understood the issue.

I'm going to try and do this the old fashioned way with a baseball bat, so hopefully I can get enough clearance to alleviate this issue in the future. I guess I could go back to a closer to stock sized tire on the back, but I like the wide look of the 265.

[magnum517]

I had the same tire rub issue with my old rim and tire combo. So me and my oldest son did the baseball bat trick to the quarters. Worked well actually. Haha. Since then we actually bought the fender lip roller from Eastwood company. We used it on his WRX and it works slick.


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[84StangSVT]

Decided to take the car out for a bit last night and put a few miles on her. Hooked the battery up as usual and when I hopped in the car and turned the key, it acted a bit funny and didn't want to start. In fact, electrically it was acting bizarre. Flickering, buzzer acting weird and it finally cranked and fired. Shut it off and checked the battery cables to make sure they were tight and they were. Hopped back in and hit the key and fired right up with nothing out of the ordinary.

Got it back to the house and had to get out to open the garage door. When I hopped back in it to start it.....nothing. No click, crank, power for the EFI, fuel pump and the key buzzer was making a god awful noise. Shut the key off and tried again. More random noises and then the fuel pump tried to kick on but it sounded awful also. Would not click or crank. For some random reason, I tried the headlights. They didn't work either.

I'm not sure why all the sudden I have an electrical gremlin or what is causing it, but it's pretty bad. Weird since I have not had any issues the past few times and I have not touched anything since the last time I took it for a spin.

The ignition switch I'm going to take a hard look at. It is new, but it is a McParts store cheepie. I know..... It's what I had laying around and I figured it would be better than the separating FORD one that was in it.

I'm going to pick up a BWD one and replace it. Wouldn't be the first bad new part I have installed on this car lately.

Hopefully that cures it and life is good again.

Hopefully. I changed the ignition switch this am and so far so good on that end with limited use. The one that was in the car did in fact also come out of a BWD box like the new one I just put in, but the new one looks better built.

BUT WAIT THERES MORE!!!!

The weird electrical gremlin is back. Hopped in the car to pull it into the garage and nothing but weird buzzing and clicking. Things didn't work normally and it took a few cycles of the key to get them working correctly. This time while I was turning the key, it seemed odd. I rocked it back and forth and it seemed to have a buttload of play in it. I popped it out of the column and low and behold, I may have found the issue that has plagued me recently. While cycling the key cylinder in my hand, there is a fair amount of movement, forwards and backwards, and the end that goes in the gear doesn't move. I have a feeling the key is reaching the end of its travel but not advancing the column gear fully causing the erratic behavior.

I ordered a new cylinder so hopefully tomorrow that cures that issue.

Installed the new key cylinder and through multiple cycles it hasn't acted up. I think I have that issue resolved.

I guess I thought wrong! IT'S BAAACCCKKKKK!

Took it out the other night to meet up with a guy out by Elkhorn that was selling some parts off of an 84 Vert he is parting out. Stopped at a gas station to get some cold refreshments and when I hopped in, turned the key to run, the weird clicking and antics started up. Turn the key to start and everything quit and it did not crank. Electrically it was dead in start.

Cycled the key a few times and the antics remained. Just when I thought there was no hope, she fired to life. I met up with the guy, got the parts but I left the car running as I didn't trust it was going to start again and be stuck in some dudes driveway. Made it home and the last few times I have hit the key, it acts like there was never anything wrong and starts right up.

This one has me a bit perplexed and I haven't quite gotten to the source yet, I just know there is an issue lurking. I have triple checked all electrical and ground connections and they are nice and tight. It also has a new ignition switch and key cylinder. The new key cylinder seems like it has excess play in it now though, kinda like the old one did which brings me to these thoughts. Maybe either the key cylinder is junk as it was cheap, the rotating assembly in the column is worn down and excessively stiff causing an excess load on the cylinder or the gears in the column are worn down after 30+ years and 250,000 miles causing an excess amount of slop to where it doesn't engage the ignition switch quite properly.

I guess I need to find the time to investigate this as it sucks and I want to get it fixed.

[magnum517]

That does suck. Time for a push button start like the new cars. Lol.


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[84StangSVT]

That does suck. Time for a push button start like the new cars. Lol.

Oh sure......one more electrical thing to add to the mix.

Now hold on while I try to remember where I left that dang fob.......

[ZephyrEFI]

Man, that sucks. I can certainly relate to lingering problems. I've almost come to expect them at this point.

[magnum517]

Oh sure......one more electrical thing to add to the mix.

Now hold on while I try to remember where I left that dang fob.......

Yeah there is that. Haha


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[Davedacarpainter]

Jeez Brock, no rest for the weary, huh?

I wish you luck buddy.