Glad to hear you have the axles now, but bummer about the cross pin bolt breaking. I have no idea how to help.
Glad to hear you have the axles now, but bummer about the cross pin bolt breaking. I have no idea how to help.
Craig "IDMooseMan" Peters
1979 Mustang Ghia Notchback, 2.3L, Holley 5200, 4-spd, 3.08:1 7.5" diff, A/C, PS, PB, AM/FM/8-Track, Sunroof, Rear Defroster
USAF SSgt 63170 1983 - 1992; Co-Founder, Vice President, Omega Delta Sigma, ID-A 2/2015
To those that serve and have served, "Thank You", to those that haven't, "You're Welcome"
2.3L Horsepower Potential Thread
Buyer/Seller Experience Link
Build Thread
The Four-Eyed Game - 2018 Version
Ok guys, I know it's been ages, but with a new job and all the work I've been doing to the car along with life getting in the way I find myself forgetting to keep this updated for everyone. I was able to get the bolt out of the rear end. The car looks sooooo much better now that my wheels aren't pushed out a mile by the adapters I had. Now on to the better news. I had enough of that 2.3. It left me walking or waiting for a tow one too many times. 3 or 4 weeks ago it happened again. I thought it was my TFI module. Slapped on a new one and it fired up then died a few seconds after. Tried another TFI, nothing. Pickup in the dizzy went bad. Put another dizzy in and it fired up fine. But once driving it sounded like I was driving a giant popcorn maker down the road. Timing was fine. Firing order fine. Sick of spending money I ripped that pile of 2.3 out and tossed it in the backyard. I ran up the credit cards and threw my 347 build into overdrive. My infamous "Four Banger Stanger" now has a gorgeous V8 347 cubic inch engine along with a 5 speed. I had some woes with my first start. Backfired pretty bad out the carb and lit my top end on fire. Burnt up a couple wires and my fuel line (which made it that much worse). By far one of the scarier moments in my life. I'm sure my timing was too far advanced. Also my carb isn't working right. I'm sure I messed up somewhere when I rebuilt it. Edelbrock 1406. It's been in my garage for several years. I don't remember what was wrong with it before. Maybe the same issue, who knows. So anyway that's where I stand now guys. Waiting to save a few bucks for a new carb and a couple odds and ends. I am beyond excited for this car. The 347 looks amazing under the hood. Every day when I get home from work I pop that hood and choke up a little telling myself "I did this." I know I'm not the first to do it. But I'm proud of myself so far. Doing this swap alone for the first time. Building a V8 for the first time. Doing all of this outside crawling around on cardboard over the dirt. I can't wait until I can fire it up, correctly this time. I don't have exhaust yet so I'm sure the neighbors won't be as happy.
Quick and easy tip for first startup timing. Find TDC. Usually you can have someone turn by hand or bump with the start (with the coil wire off) while you stick you finger in the #1 spark plug hole. When you feel air pushing your finger out, you are on the compression stroke. Turn the timing marks to about 10 degrees before top dead center. BTDC. Then rotate the distributor so that the rotor tip points to the number one plug wire. You should be in the safe zone for it to start up. After it's running and broken in, you can tune the engine and adjust the timing to what it wants.
Good job so far....we need some pictures, though!
1985 GT, Sunroof, 5 Lug, Rear Discs, 01 Graphite Bullets, 88 forged piston shortblock, 2.02/1.60 Alum heads, Weiand Stealth, Holley C950 TBI, BBK Long tubes
DarranOriginally Posted by BLUECRAPI
1982-1C (Black) GT T-Top:http://vb.foureyedpride.com/showthre...he-Road-Thread
1986-9L (Oxford White) SVO: http://vb.foureyedpride.com/showthre...d-did-1986-SVO
1979 (85:Tangerine) Coupe (my son's): http://vb.foureyedpride.com/showthre...gerine-Machine
1979 (3F:Light Medium Blue) Coupe (one day to be my other son's!) http://vb.foureyedpride.com/showthre...um-Blue-Bomber!
I'll try to get some pictures today for you guys
Ripping that 2.3 out. I didn't think ahead of time how I would move the engine after getting it out. I work on dirt.... so I threw it on top of my go-kart and that worked pretty well lol
Some pics from the day I put my $50 block on the stand up until where I'm at right now. I need a couple more pieces to finish off the cooling system. I have to pull the tranny again. My clutch fork slips on and off the pivot ball far too easily. Not sure if I just didn't notice that when I first put it in or what happened. I'll need a longer clutch cable. After that it should be able to hit the road for the first time. Then I'll save my pennies for mufflers and exhaust. What do you guys think so far? I apologize for the sideways pictures. I can't figure out why they do that.
This weekend I'll be pulling the transmission. Or well hopefully, with it being memorial weekend I may not feel up to it. I'm hoping I can just unbolt the tranny from the bellhousing, mount, and remove the shifter to just slide the tranny back. and of course remove the driveshaft from the rear end. I really don't wanna remove the trans crossmember and drop the tranny entirely. I had the hardest time getting the new crossmember in the first time. So I don't wanna try it again. I'm also not the strongest guy in the world to be moving the tranny around while I'm rolling in the dirt under the car.
Took it for the first test drive. Backfires pretty bad. But only on the passenger side. Drivers side is just fine. Seems weird to me. I’m out of time for the day. I’ll pull the spark plugs on that side tomorrow and go from there.
I feel kinda dumb... I had the number 4 and 8 plug wires backwards. Took it for another test drive. Wow.... I am beyond impressed the difference now from the 2.3. I’m still open header so I didn’t drive around the neighborhood too long. Just from those few minutes I fell in love with my car all over again and forgot about all the troubles I’ve had doing this alone. . I finally have a mustang with some power. I can’t wait until I have exhaust and have the engine fully broken in.
I’ve decided on some Spintech 9000 mufflers for the car and probably 2.5” for them and the pipes. We don’t seem to be drawing much attention in this thread... so I’ll be taking a break from posting. I’ll be back to update this when I get the exhaust done. I’m not sure when. I’m short on funds after speeding up the build.
Ok I got the exhaust on. I went with 2.5 inch with an x pipe no cats. No emission laws here. Sounds pretty good. I'm happy with the spintechs. I like them so much more than the flowmaster 40 series I have on another vehicle. On to the bad news. The tranny looks like it has shifted over to the right. Drives fine but I need to see what happened. I also smoked the tires for the first time ever. Maybe I should say tire.. Still running the open diff. Something happened with the brakes on that rear wheel. Pedal goes almost to the floor and grinds when rolling. I assume I broke some hardware in there somehow during the short burnout. More money (sigh). Before that the car ran well. I have nearly 250 miles on it so far. It'll stay parked until I find out and fix what happened with the brakes and find out why the tranny has shifted to the right.
Making progress, keep up the good work!
-Randy
'83 Mustang GL notchback - 351w - T5Z
'84 Mustang GT350 20th Anniversary Hatch #2808 - 302 - T5
''92 Mustang LX Hatch - 2.3t - IRS (in progress)
Took that wheel off. Broke the self adjuster and a spring. I’ll also need a new drum. This one won’t be able to get resurfaced very well. The parts rolling around in there gashed it up pretty bad. I haven’t looked into why the transmission shifted to the right yet. I told myself I would take it easy with this 347 until I upgraded everything else. But obviously my foot has other plans in mind haha
Great progress man.
The brake parts won't cost too much at Oreilly's or some other parts store.
Lot more fun than a four cylinder though, huh?
Last edited by chevelle21; 06-24-2018 at 01:04 PM.
Well another broken part added to the list. The driver sway bar bracket is toast. Either the bolt broke or was loose and fell off. The bracket is all bent outta shape now. Nothing major just a bummer the list keeps piling up.
Last edited by chevelle21; 06-24-2018 at 05:12 PM.
Reading this really brought back memories of fooling around with my fox’s when I was younger.
My first car was an ‘88 2.3L 5 speed, next was an ‘86 2.3L automatic.
Then when I was 20 I bought my ‘83 GLX Convertible with 3.8L v6. 16 years later I’ve still got the Convertible, now with a v8 and t5. It’s had 5 transmissions since I’ve had the car.
I spent a lot of time in high school and university waiting for tow trucks and fixing mustangs in marking lots.
Keep at it, you’ve got perseverance and commitment, and that all you need to get the job done.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Last edited by chevelle21; 06-27-2018 at 07:53 AM.
Another problem I’ve been having that I haven’t mentioned is the car barely wants to start or doesn’t at all when it’s at running temp. The starter drags bad. Sometimes so bad my wires at the solenoid start smoking. I reworked my grounds and that helped a bit. It doesn’t drag as harshly anymore. But I still don’t like taking the car anywhere if I have to turn it off before I’m home. My timing isn’t off. I assume this is heat soak. When I was running it just off the shorty headers I didn’t have this problem. Now that I have exhaust pipes the issue is there. Im gonna wait till next payday and get a mini starter at the parts store. I’ll warranty this big clunker I have now and I’ll end up paying around 50 bucks for a new mini. I might get some starter heat wrap too. Maybe it’s overkill but since I’m already in there I may as well.
Well I decided to settle for ramen noodles for dinner for a few days. I went and got the new mini starter. I was impressed with how much smaller and lighter it is compared to the old style. I was able to install this one much easier. Not sure if it solved my hot start issues yet. I broke a terminal on my fender solenoid. I'm really bummed about that because I'm positive it was the original one. I need the car running tonight so I'll get one from O'reilly. Nobody close has a motorcraft in stock but I'm still going to order one.
That's probably a good thing. That solenoid was probably getting old and brittle. Better to find it in your driveway that have it break off after you hit a bump!!!
1985 GT, Sunroof, 5 Lug, Rear Discs, 01 Graphite Bullets, 88 forged piston shortblock, 2.02/1.60 Alum heads, Weiand Stealth, Holley C950 TBI, BBK Long tubes
Ok guys an update. The new mini starter solved my starting issues. The heat no longer gives me problems. The car starts much quicker hot and cold. I love this starter. It sounds much better cranking as well. And on a sad note... I work almost 50 miles from home. Decided to take the car to work to show off a bit. The guys loved it. On the way home the car died just as a storm came in. Couldn’t figure it out fast enough. Called my boss. He came for me and had one of our guys bring the tow truck to take the car back to work. I was only a handful of miles away. I work at a ford dealership by the way (doesn’t help me much by way of parts for this car). My boss and the truck driver stayed late to help me figure out the issue and helped me fix it. It was a simple issue and I kicked myself in the rear for it. The power wire for my MSD box came out of my ring terminal on the battery. I used cheap connectors. We put some good ones on there now. Drove the car home fine. Only thing still hurting is my pride a bit. Showed the car off at work to only have it towed back... but oh well things happen. I owe my boss huge for doing all of that for me. Picking me up, getting the tow done, allowing me to work on the car in the shop after hours, and for getting his hands dirty with me.
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