Fixin' Stuff on my 84 GT Turbo

[1984GTTurboVert]

Replaced and fixed some stuff on my gt turbo vert.





Replaced the PIP sensor and cleaned it up some on this junkyard distributor while i was at work so i can pull the original and rebuild that. Hopefully tomorrow ill get around to that.







Replaced the old coil with an original one.






The old TFI and idle air solenoid.

[ccurtin]

Nice, lots of good maintenance. While you have things apart how old is the fuel pressure regulator? I had mine not be able to hold up to the 255 pump and had to replace it. I don't think it was original, but it was at least a decade old.

[1984GTTurboVert]

I can only assume its original, i havent gotten to checking anything fuel related since some work was done before i got it on that. I replaced the turbo and exhaust manifold with nos parts except for the exhaust manifold bolts since i couldnt find them, and it took forever to locate a decent correct t3 oil return line. I wound up finding one after i put it back together and i really aint in the mood to go thru that again right now(maybe over the winter ill put it in).

[1984GTTurboVert]

Does anyone know if the t5 shifter in these cars are specific to them?
When i first got the car the shifter arm was so close to my leg i couldnt even shift it properly, so i assumed they bent it for a much smaller person to use it(they didnt). It had a bad shifter cup bushing and i bought a cheap short shifter that was more upright to replace the whole thing.






But, the car wasnt drivable then so i didnt get a chance to try it out untill recently and i hated the way it shifted so i removed that and reinstalled the original. After making a spacer to move the arm further away its tolerable now but i went and looked at some pics of t5 shifters and never saw these bent in this manner, except when looking at these specific turbo cars, not svo since they have a different shifter arm from what i saw. But, not all of them had it in the pics i could find, none of them had the flat of the shifter facing away from the driver like mine either. I read people flip them but when i had it out i can definately say they never bent the tabs to dismantle it and flip it around the other way.
My 91 4 banger t5 wasnt bent to the side like this one is.

[KevinK]

The shifter should be common to all of the other period mustangs. Usually the rubber bushings melt and the handle gets loose. Mine seemed to be a reach because I have the seat extenders putting me further from the dash.

[1984GTTurboVert]

Its really hard to describe properly just looking at it, i shouldve taken a picture of it in action.
Its like taking the shifter arm and bending it towards the driver to the point where shifting into 1st and 2nd has your thumb grinding against your thigh. The shifter and springs itself isnt broken and the cup inside isnt worn.
Very unnatural feeling but after putting a 3/4" spacer on the shifter arm to shifter stalk its manageable now.

[ccurtin]

Do you have a broken motor mount or transmission mount? Leaning that far to the left is unusual. Is the shifter itself parallel to the transmission tunnel or angled to the driver's side? Hard to tell from your pictures.

[1984GTTurboVert]

I know the pics are terrible i apologise the shifter base itself seems basically center in the trans tunnel hole for it, the shifter arm is very bent towards the driver.
Ill have to pull the center console back out and take a few pics next time.
I didnt see any broken motor mounts while under the hood, ill have to look at the trans mount next time im under the car.
Thatll have to wait untill i do something about the alternator harness, its in bad shape im not putting this back in like this.

[1984GTTurboVert]

Wasnt going to mangle the connector to pull the whole wire out so cleaned everything and used shrink tubing and one of those water tight connectors with solder in it already to repair it. Ill touch it all back up with liquid electrical tape just cause.
Tested continuity on all wires and its fine. Later on i may make a whole new thing for it just for safety reasons.

[1984GTTurboVert]

Went back to the garage today to finish putting in the distributor.
Followed the instructions on figuring out your timing from this video(https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=wElr-Y0Ko) recommended to me in the "i need help" thread i recently started.
Took the timing cover off to see where everything was at.






I replaced the TFI on the rebuilt distributor again, this time with a nos dy-425 i picked up recently and put it in.
I left my oil pen to mark positions at home so i stole a swab of the heatsink stuff off the TFI i took off and marked the distributor #1 and position of distributor with it, it got me where i needed to be.
Reinstalled the timing cover, alternator bracket and alternator and distributor hold down and plugged everything back in(except the spout) and went to start it.
Started up and stayed running long enough to start twisting the distributor and finding a good spot.
My timing light was completely unusable so i played it by ear, ill pick up another one.
Once it got running it was surging so i replaced the new idle air solenoid with the original one i cleaned up some and it finally runs good now.







I cant really find the "right way" to run the plug wires over the motor but under the intake like it shows in all the books i went over, aesthetics but its bugging me something awful.
I ran it and revved it up many times but it took over 30 minutes for the temp to go up enough to turn the fan on. It took about 5 last few times i tracked the fan to see if its working.
I cant really tell if its the ambient temp being cooler or its actually running cooler now. Reminds me that i got to flush this ones coolant and replace the thermostat.

[1984GTTurboVert]

I had a day off work and tried to make some time to atleast fix something on one of my cars, so i stopped by and decided to replace the bad fog light switch and relay that just happened out of nowhere awhile ago.





I still have one bulb not lighting up so i got some new 55w halogen h2 bulbs coming and in 20 minutes my foglights should be working as they should.
I also got around to replacing the drive belts since the old ones were splitting on the bottom and pulled the a/c belt since that aint worked in almost 20 years apparently.



The original belts number?



Im also pulling the original radio out, since the drivebelt to the tape player is gone and it cant hold a station very well, and replacing it with something from "the period" that wont look out of place like a modern aftermarket radio and should fit without trimming anything. Im not all commited to having bluetooth and the like and honestly a tape adapter is enough for me, provided the tape player works.
Ran it for a bit and got white smoke out the exhaust that never really cleared up, but its been sitting for awhile and it was cold in the garage so i dont want to assume too much but im getting a test kit for the coolant just in case.
Hopefully its nothing and im being paranoid because i never drive it.

[ITdude87]

Im not all commited to having bluetooth and the like and honestly a tape adapter is enough for me, provided the tape player works.

Word of advice, don't use a ****ty tape adapter.

Grab yourself one of these bad boys if your antenna is still hooked up and decent. Works wonderfully in my car with the original cassette deck. I've had FM adapters that weren't worth a crap years ago, but they have really come a long way. Cheap and effective.

https://www.amazon.com/SmartCharge-B...2-d605505c9d1e

[1984GTTurboVert]

So i went back to the garage today to fix a few things, or atleast that was the plan.

My top doesnt fit right and is almost impossible to latch so i pulled the rear interior out to get to the top adjustments.



One of the bolts wasnt where it was supposed to be for some reason, meaning im not the first one thats been in here.






I have no clue what that plug near the seatbelt is for in the one pic on the passenger side, wire color was like black with green dots and i think orange or red with blue stripe, plug is corroded but can be cleaned.
What i didnt do was take a pic of the "literal" mountain of sunflower seeds that was under the rear seat, well over 2 pound of them conveniently stored there(and in the spare tire area i cleaned out awhile ago) but not much shredded fabric by i assume some mouse. I can only hope that was from before i got it because i havent seen any mice in the garage but you never know. What i DIDNT find but was hoping to was the build sheet, checked everywhere at this point but on top of the gas tank. Bummer.
Anyway...
Failed to get the top sitting right so i moved on to other things.
Namely tackling some maintenance and the white smoke situation.
Even though i only ran the car for a few seconds at a time to charge the battery every time i played with the top the radiator cap had lots of pressure being held back when i opened it. Upper radiator hose was stiff as well So i left the radiator cap off to observe if i get any bubbles/crud or just anything odd while i ran the car during messing with the top. The radiator cap was a nos correct part but im wondering if it is bad out of the box now.
Nothing on the radiator cap or oil cap indicating a blown head gasket, the overflow wasnt getting anything before despite all that pressure but now without the cap on it was, no more white smoke either but it was much warmer in the garage this time than last.
Since i had it in the trunk and its easy to get to i went to change the thermostat and housing so could feel like i got something done today.
Just remove the water pump pulley with a 1/2 wrench for the bolts, 9/16 for the alternator stuff to remove the belts, disconnect the hoses and a 10mm socket for the housing bolts and... SNAP, broke the top one off. Had plenty of soakings with pb blaster before the attempt but i knew i was going to pay at some point for getting all the header bolts out without breaking one.



Despite the way it looks in the pic there isnt any indication of a milky substance anywhere in there.





Old one compared to the new nos one with a cast housing i have to replace the original. Might look for another metal housing if i dont get back to this next weekend.



I didnt have anything to drill out the broken bolt there and it was getting late so i called it a night. Now i have to get my drills, gun and find new bolts to finish that job. Atleast its easy to get to.

[1984GTTurboVert]

Word of advice, don't use a ****ty tape adapter.

Grab yourself one of these bad boys if your antenna is still hooked up and decent. Works wonderfully in my car with the original cassette deck. I've had FM adapters that weren't worth a crap years ago, but they have really come a long way. Cheap and effective.

https://www.amazon.com/SmartCharge-B...2-d605505c9d1e

I am very skeptical of these considering how cheap they have become over the years. Is the quality there?
I had an fm transmitter back when they cost some money and its performance was so-so at best. These newer bluetooth ones i have no experience with.

[ITdude87]

I am very skeptical of these considering how cheap they have become over the years. Is the quality there?
I had an fm transmitter back when they cost some money and its performance was so-so at best. These newer bluetooth ones i have no experience with.

Totally understand. I used to be the same way. They used to be junk, but the last one I picked up (haven’t had a need for one in many years) actually works quite well. They’re pretty cheap too. They’ve come a long way. Stick to Anker brand IMHO.

Tape adapters just look and feel sloppy, plus most iPhones don’t come with a 3.5mm jack - you’d need to run two separate adapters. Yuck.

[1984GTTurboVert]

Today i went back to try to finish replacing the thermostat.

Assembled the necessary parts to drill out the broken bolt.



Didnt have a center punch to get a decent start and my screwgun was barely fitting in there, since the bolt was broken above the surface and had a step to it i had to hope i drilled it straight and center, close but didnt :P.
The cheap harbor frieght easy outs were worthless and wouldnt grab the bolt so into the trash theyll go.
The one time i had a bottoming tap and wished i had a regular one because all it did was push the scraps to the back instead of cutting into them.



Oh well, if it doesnt hold in the long term ill drill it up a size and retap it since i dont need to remove anything to get this one.



I tested the new thermostats action with a heat gun the other day, the old one had gouges and scrapes on it from dragging on the side during use so it was definately time to change it.







Need a new hose clamp for the outlet since this one came apart when i took it off.

After letting it sit for 2 hours to cure i torqued it up and ran the motor to see if it held up. No leaks so thats good but i might redo that bolt regardless.
The radiator and watching the water flow in it however was a different story. Definately clogged, water spraying out the tubes like faucets on full blast just idling the motor with the cap off before it fully warmed up. Can see where all the pressure is coming from so im getting a new radiator for it, modern flow hopefully not a plastic endtank junk if i can find an aluminum one that doesnt look like some guys welding project i can paint to look stock.
Since im going to restore and declog the one in my tbird ill just add this to that pile when i have the time for it to salvage it.

[1984GTTurboVert]

When i go back to fix that bolt again since the old water outlet cleaned up pretty nice with just brushing it, think im going to repaint it and put it back on.







Feels alot more stought than the cast one and i have like 5 more gaskets left in the pack so why not.