"The Black Pearl" - '84 LX 5.0

[darkwriter77]

Just thought I'd throw up some shots of what I started with a month or so ago and where my car currently sits. I know the pinstriping isn't complete - I'm trying to find someplace that has the same color/size as what's on there so I don't have to strip all the current stuff off that the PO put on there - and it still needs a lot of other minor things (proper-sized tires, dual exhaust, repainted air cleaner/valve covers, etc.), but all in all, it's better than it was, at least. A whole lotta soap, Purple Power, wax, blue shop towels, and Black Magic were involved.

First few pics are when I first got it...









...and here 'tis as it sits, presently...













YARRRRRR!

[MY 85 GT]

Car looks great...Nice a way a car can turn out with a little hard work...Something how people let a car get isnt...Keep us posted on any upgrades you do...

[gdniel]

Came out pretty good.

[No5.0]

Amazing what a good cleanin will do

[tORMENtOR]

Nice job,one of my favorite things when I buy an new stang is the 1st clean up..

[darkwriter77]

Thanks.

Had some time to kill and some materials laying around, so I polished up the pizza pan ... er, I mean, air cleaner lid and painted the air cleaner assembly. Came out pretty darned good, I think...

[69SCJ]

It looks great!!! Cleaning up the air cleaner is a huge improvement to the engine compartment.

Anybody know what the correct color finish is?

Tyler

[AT6svo]

Looking good!

Man do I love me some desert southwest scenery.

[darkwriter77]

Pretty sure that factory is gloss black - at least that's how I've always seen it in all of the OEM pics of older 5.0's. I didn't paint it FLAT black, just semi-gloss - it won't chalk up and show every little smudge and scuff, anyway. I could never get rattle-can gloss in any color to spray consistently, anyhow...

[darkwriter77]

Minor update ... cleaned/painted the valve covers while I had 'em off to put on new gaskets, and I ditched the pinstriping. Here's the latest views:

[Truxton]

Could you enlighten me as to the technique used to get your valve covers looking that good?
Masking tape?
Paint thinner soaked rag?
Thanks!

[82HATCH]

Very nice. What's your future plans for it?

[white1983GT]

looks real good. always my favorites with a new car, the cleaning, and for some reason, the first tank of gas.

[SchoolBoy]

Not to bad at all man, It cleaned up really well! But how did you go about painting the valve covers?






Now is that frankenstang's capri in the background?.......Busted

[NAVYCAT]

real nice, cleaned up great, but you need to get a better anti theft thing, those things are use less

[Red84GT]

looking good, you planning on going carbed to ditch that CFI?

[darkwriter77]

Yup, that's Frankenstang's Capristang in the background. Still working on getting the bits together to swap it back to all-Capri, though she's saving money to get the '89 notch back on the road first.

The CFI shall die someday - oh yes, it shall die a terrible, terrible death - and I plan to swap to a carb'ed setup, but it's a ways off from now. I'm in no financial position to do a whole lot with the car right now other than clean it up and fix the little things on it.

Future plans aren't big, just hoping to swap to duals at some point, then later on an 8.8" rear with 3.73's or 4.10's, and of course a carb swap - I'll see how it drives then before I go putting any more parts/money into it. But again, that's all quite a ways off ... too poor to do much these days.

I know the anti-theft thing sucks, but it's all I can afford right now - it was a freebie from the AJ Police Department a few years back.

For the valve covers, I used semi-gloss black hi-temp spray paint (I think VHT is the brand). I first went over the covers with a scraper to get the heavy oil n' crap off, then wire-brushed the rest off, and finally used brake cleaner to get the oil residue off as best I could. Sprayed the covers, let 'em sit for a couple of hours while I messed around with the speedo cable and such, and then I carefully took some medium grit sandpaper (120?) and sanded just the raised portions of the valve covers and followed it with a finer grit (220) to give it kind of a machined look. Got the idea from some of those Cobra valve covers I've seen from Ford Racing catalogs. The sanding was the most time-consuming part because I was being very careful not to accidentally scuff the outer edge (that last raised "stripe" isn't flat like the rest and wouldn't have looked right if I'd sanded it, too). Cleaned it off with a toothbrush to get the dust out from between the stripes and lettering, and threw 'em back on the motor. Took maybe 2 hours total labor - 4 hours if you account for paint-drying time.

Thanks for the compliments!

[Shelby1]

Looks great keep up the good work! Sure is good to see another 84 GT from AZ!

You say that you are getting rid of the CFI... That is good but why not switch it over to one of the new fuel injection setups floating around out there? (Holley, Edelbrock, FAST, etc) I think that would be a pretty trick setup and nobody would really know that you put EFI on the car instead of a carb!

I know money is a problem though trust me! I have and occasionally am still there! Good luck with everything!

[Puter]

why not switch it over to one of the new fuel injection setups floating around out there? (Holley, Edelbrock, FAST, etc)

Have you priced those things?
That's a few thousand.

Nice work on that 84.

[Shelby1]

Yup, he can buy the universal Holley Multi Point for around $1500 or he can get the Professional Products Powerjection, all in all it would be pretty sweet!

[darkwriter77]

If I ever get around to swapping out the CFI setup and decide to go EFI again, I'll just be using an '87-'93 setup ... in which case I'd probably just drop in a complete motor from one of those years and fight with the whole main wiring harness forever. But alas, that's in a fantasy world where I'd have tons of free time, a garage, engine stand and lift, etc.

Actually, in light of a recent change of vehicles, it looks like I'll be DD'ing the '84 and getting back my '89 notch (once was mine, traded the GF for an '86 GT 'vert, now she wants to trade me the notch for my truck so her son can buy it off her) and using that as my weekend toy. I know, seems silly to DD the car with the lower miles, but I've put WAY more time, money, work, and parts into the '89 than I have into the '84, and I don't want to have to re-do all that stuff again if some bozo pulls out in front of me or runs a red light or something and wrecks my notch. Y'know? (Worse comes to worse, it's a LOT easier to find a four-eyed LX hatch than ANY notch around these parts, anyhow.) Anyway...

On a side note, I upgraded to a mini-starter (from a '91 Crown Vic, $40) this afternoon. Cranks up MUCH nicer now than it did with that crappy direct-drive unit, and it was WAY easier to lift and hold that thing in place to bolt it up than that 20-pound chunk of solid friggin' iron I took outta there. Also, it isn't as noisy when cranking - it no longer sounds like a WWII bomber engine being turned over, now. Got a lead on a double-hump crossmember that I might pick up tomorrow, as well - then all I'll need is a cat-back of some kind (plus related hangers), a later-model rear crossover brake line, and then I get to figure out how to relocate the external fuel pump and filter to somewhere higher in the driveline tunnel or something ... maybe switch to a single in-tank pump setup, I dunno.

[Shelby1]

You can't wrong swapping over the EFI from a 87-93 either! Let me tell you though I know exactly what you mean about fantasy land with the lifts and endless money! Darn reality gets in the way!!!

I also agree with you on finding notches down there. I was looking and looking for a nice clean notch in AZ and ended up finding one that was really rugged... I am glad I did not buy it! But where did all the clean examples go? Hiding in garages from Tucson to Phoenix?!

[darkwriter77]

Actually, the more I think about it, since this will be my DD, I think I'll just keep the CFI for now because it'll probably give me better gas mileage and driveability over a carb'ed setup (at the expense of power, of course) and because I don't want to have to tinker with getting the mixture right on a carb to get through smog and stuff. Besides, I have my '89 notch for a weekend beast, so no need to put a ton of money and parts into this thing.

FINALLY have the thing running properly, now. Swapped out the EGR valve and EVP for ones that I saved off my '89 notch (surprisingly, everything bolts right up and has the same sensor connector) and lo and behold, my surging idle and surge-at-cruise issues are gone. Re-installed the add-on transmission oil cooler (making sure this time it won't leak), replaced the lower radiator hose, sealed and fully bolted down the rear hatch wing, and finally got around to painting the dash and the passenger-side upper door panel (to match what the prior owner did to the driver's side door panel)...



Just gotta decide what to do about the headliner (or lack thereof), throw on some better tires at some point, and eventually maybe get around to replacing the heater core, and I should be all set. Need to see if the A/C system can be recharged, too - I'm pretty sure it's already retrofitted to R134, just need to see how low the charge is.