OK, so I couldn't wait for the rain to stop, so I took some photos today. Keep in mind the car is extremely dirty, having just been driven in the rain, on the dirt road to the cottage. If the sun ever comes out again I will take some more pics.
I've still got some minor things to finish, including cleaning up and painting the B-pillars (you can see in one pic where the factory covering has peeled off), reinstalling the rear window trim, and reinstalling/painting the side trim. I've also got to refinish and install the TC snowflakes, so the 10-holes are still on it for now. And without further delay, I present my finally-almost-finished 3-year project.
Front: (note the insects... and they're not even bad yet)
(http://www.foxthundercats.net/images/88bird/tbirdfront2may1009.jpg)
Right side (those stains are just dirt,and the vertical streaks under the mirrors are from sitting in the yard in the rain without having a bath, so the dirt streaked)
(http://www.foxthundercats.net/images/88bird/tbirdrightside2may1009.jpg)
(http://www.foxthundercats.net/images/88bird/tbirdrightside3may1009.jpg)
Rear (gotta remove the web address from the back window, that website doesn't work anymore anyway):
(http://www.foxthundercats.net/images/88bird/tbirdrearmay1009.jpg)
Left side (again, the stains are dirt):
(http://www.foxthundercats.net/images/88bird/tbirdleftside3may1009.jpg)
(http://www.foxthundercats.net/images/88bird/tbirdleftside4may1009.jpg)
(http://www.foxthundercats.net/images/88bird/tbirdleftside2may1009.jpg)
aside from the dirt.... Looks good.
Very nice.I remember when my Sport's TC header panel didn't have a hole in it.You have to be feeling pretty good.
Wish my hood lined up flush in the back near the window like yours.....It's time for new springs on mine. No amount of adjustment will make it go down.
Hey maybe its a little dirty but still nice to see pictures of it, be reminded its still there lol :D
She's a looker!
There we go, Nice car, hows the paint holding up?
The paint is holding up well. I keep forgetting it's almost been two years since I painted this - since I hadn't driven it, it still seems like "new paint" to me :hick:
I forgot to mention, I did get two out of the three major issued I'd had on my first drive solved. The driveline vibration was indeed the driveshaft I'd installed from my parts TC. I reinstalled the original and the vibration is gone. I had installed the TC driveshaft because I figured T5 tranny and TC rear, the TC shaft would have been a better match (and it had two new U-joints in it). I guess it must have been bent, or a balancing lug must have come off.
The speedo problem was indeed the VSS. It had literally come apart - the metal "base" corroded away. Once again, this was from the parts TC - I'd figured that the TC's VSS would be a better match to the T5. Luckily the AOD unit is the same, I just swapped the speedo gears and installed it. Now I've got to replace the speedo gear anyway - the TC T5 had a 6-tooth drive gear, the Mustang T5 has a 7 tooth, so the speedo is off. It shows 120 km/hr when I'm really driving about 90. I ordered the proper black 20-tooth gear tonight (the TC's was white 17 tooth).
I also treated it to a brand new stereo. It was a spur-of-the-moment thing: I was in Canadian Tire and saw a Chinese no-name stereo marked 50% off. It has USB and SD card ports and 4 RCA pre-outs plus a subwoofer output, so it's just about perfect for me with my 4-channel Alpine amp and mono PPI subwoofer amp. Not bad for $75, an it actually sounds quite good.
That just leaves me with the stalling problem. No codes, the TPS tests OK, the IAC is moving freely, but it stalls when coming to a stop. Here's the rub though: it only stalls if I gear down to stop. If I coast with my foot on the clutch it does not stall. It's almost like when the engine drops in RPM suddenly it doesn't know when to stop dropping and just stalls. This is why I was originally thinking IAC - it's acting like the IAC closes up completely when the idle RPM is higher than the EEC expects (such as when gearing down to a stop) and is slow or sticking when opening again. Even though the IAC seems to be in good shape I might try the spare one off my HO intake to see if that helps.
I might even take the EGR valve off and see if the pintle is moving freely. If the EGR is bad that sucker's getting blocked off :hick:
man this almost brings a tear to my eye.makes me remeber my old bird
Looks good, but the snowflakes will make it better.
How do you plan to refinish the 'flakes? In your own patented method? (which I've used with great success)? Just clear over the aluminum with black accents?
I would try swapping the IAC, and I would also check for vaccuumm lines. I have a couple of bad lines on my car. It appears they all go to the ATC thingy.
The Bird is looking good... You gonna but the Fire Chicken back on the hood??? :hick: That ought to stir up some comments... :D
If the speed sensor is still connected to the EEC, your stalling problem may be normal, have to remember the SO EEC isn't expecting to see sudden RPM drops... With the AOD you'd have to pull it to low and then throw it into neutral to duplicate down shifting with a manual... I'd check base idle and set to 600 RPMs with the IAC disconnected and try that...
BTW don't really know about the SO EEC, but with the speed sensor connected, a HO MAF EEC will hold the RPMs to approx 1200 until the vehicle completely stops... This includes both auto and manual versions I've tried...
Glad to see you getting seat time in the car finally.
+1
Just can't beat flakes on the 87/88 birds. Looking forward to more pics when those are done!
I will be using my patented method, but with a twist. Instead of clearcoat and black I'm doing them white and gunmetal, since I plan on painting the lower part of the car gunmetal once the trim's on. I love white wheels on a white car, and it's a decidedly 80's retro look, which is pretty much what I'm going for anyway.
Cripes, the Firechicken was on it when I bought it, I took it off the day I bought it, and I still haven't lived it down :punchballs: I do have some NOS Volvo emblems in the garage, maybe I'll shag everyone up and put those on :mullet:
That's certainly not a bad idea. The EEC doesn't need to know how fast I'm going anyway. I don't care about the speed limiter (I have little use to drive over 110 anyway, the car certainly wouldn't reach that in the 1/4) so it's still connected, but if it's causing my grief, or if there's even the remotest chance it's causing my grief, I can do without it. I will try cutting that wire at the EEC connector (I need to cut it there, because I've got other things in the car that rely on it, including the tripminder and the overhead console). I'll also try setting the base idle at 600RPM as you mentioned.
No, no, no... Guess I wasn't as clear as I should have been, wasn't suggesting it should be disconnected... If it is disconnected, the EEC has no Idea the car is in motion, and stalling is a possibility with quick throttle closure at high RPM... If the car is moving, idle should hold to approx 1200 RPM then settle to normal idle as the car stops...The Mustang rags have said for years that disconnecting the speed sensor will cause stalling(but I never had a problem with my 5 speed GT and it didn't even have a speed senso)...
Again I don't know if the "idle up" feature of the MAF EECs are included in the SD EEC(87 EECs doesn't have a SC input, but '88s do)... Easy enough to tell, let it coast out of gear and see where the idle is...
Sweet! You answered my next question. Cannot wait to see how those turn out. Have you considered completely 'whiting out' the car? For example window trim? Door Handles? (I think those are the only non-white parts left._
Car looks good. You should like the Snowflakes when they are done. When I put mine on the handeling went up 100% over the stock 14s. Then again you already have 10 holes so you may not see much of an improvement.
My passenger side spring is like that. If you find some springs let me know :hick:
Ahh, I see. Actually, when I think about it, the VSS being connected can't be the issue anyway, because I drove about 80 of those 100 miles with the VSS not not working at all. There was no difference with the new one installed anyway. Now I'm leaning back toward the IAC, but I will definitely do that idle adustment thing before changing anything
I thought about it, briefly, but I've never been a fan of that look. Any time I've seen cars done like that the first thought in my mind was "Oh yeah, he couldn't be bothered taping it so he painted over everything". I WAS going to paint the mirrors white, but didn't because I was in a hurry to get them back on and it was too cold to paint at the time :hick: Now I think about it, it's probably better to leave them black, as every stone chip would have really stood out with them white.
I know I noticed a huge difference between the 14's and 15's, but I'm not expecting much difference with the 16's because the actual tire width and sidewall height will not be changing (it's got 225/60R15's on it now, and will be getting 225/60R16's). Eventually I'd like to bump the size of the rears up, say, to 275/50R16, which would be pretty much the same height as the 225/60R16's but much wider
I can relate to the hood hinges, too. My T-Bird's hinges are fine but my first and second cars, both second generation Firebirds, had bad hinges. They're known for that problem - looked like welfare cowl induction
I've never heard or seen this? I've used the stock A9P code, along with an A9L modified base with no hanging idle rpm's. I'm not using a stick but my rpm's fall at the same pace whether I'm at 10mph or 2mph if I'm in the same gear (2nd). I haven't seen such a setting anywhere in Binary Editor either but I also haven't specifically looked. Cold startup it only keeps a high rpm for about 5 seconds before dropping to ~750 in open loop/625 warm closed.
Edit:
Here is a listing of all RPM-scalars available in the GUF1-Rev.43z definition file:
CLICK ME (http://"http://home.comcast.net/~seekproj/BE_RPM.png")
All I can say it happens in my car with both A9P & A9L computers... Of course I have to put the AOD in neutral since I run a automatic... I do keep the idle up around 800 in gear(prob 950 out) but the idle stays higher as long as the car is moving...
Either way, I'm interested in hearing more. Any idea of a place where this was talked about online?
Edit:
I will say that I've heard of an EEC holding an rpm for a second when it falls too quick (like sudden stops) in order to help prevent it from stalling out but not be noticeable under normal driving conditions. I think this was only with the automatic EEC's. Beyond this, I had an issue with a hanging idle when the EEC wasn't going into closed loop and sticking in open. Once this was fixed, the rpm's dropped with the speed/gear as you would assume they would mathematically. The above issue did not show up in codes although you would think it would...the tuning software is what showed me I was stuck in open loop. I got 27mpg in open loop, 30+ in closed after it was taken care of so it wasn't like the vehicle ran bad or was undriveable during any of this. Lastly, my engine is setup (properly) where the engine will NOT run with the IAC disconnected, just barely. I was surprised to find out that this is the original design and how to properly adjust the throttle body butterfly screw isn't what is spread by people out there as fact (along with the whole "adjust your tps voltage" thing). I'm using a stock HO cam though so I can stick with the proper way, unlike all the people with more aggressive ones.
This happened with both the HO speed density and mass air computers. I don't recall what the stock EEC did as that was years ago and on an old worn out motor/transmission.
I would look at scalars RPMCTL, IDRPMH, and ISLBND - It's hard to tell exactly what the last two are or when they're used but they could account for a hanging idle. I will also note that my EEC shows 625rpm while my stock tach is up in the vicinity of ~700. The stock ones are very far from accurate. According to the RPMCRL scalar, the IAC isn't capable of adjusting the rpm's much over stock base idle so I'm still not sure where 1200 comes from.
Ok, I got the stalling problem solved. First, because it was easiest to do, I tried the TPS off the Mustang intake and it immedately turned the check engine light on. I reinstalled the T-Bird TPS and the light went back off. I took the IAC off and took it apart, gave it a soaking in combustion chamber cleaner, and cleaned it all up. A quick test drive showed no difference. After that I did as Tom suggested and adjusted the idle to ~600 RPM (according to the tach, so by no means scientific) with the IAC installed but not connected. When I plugged the IAC back in the idle went up to 1000RPM, which is a bit high, but I can live with it if it prevents that ed stalling. Unexpectedly losing power steering in a low speed turn can be quite unnerving.
Took it for a drive, downshifted rather aggressively several times (IE stood the car on its nose) to try to get the car to stall, and it would not. It would appear the problem is solved. Now the only issue is that the RPM's hang at about 2000RPM when shifting. I can live with that, too, though (many new cars do that in the name of emissions anyway). It'll have to suffice until I get the HO conversion done, and get my DA1 EEC installed, which will know how to deal with a standard tranny...
The bird looks good Thunder!!!!!............ Now you gotta get the outside to match the inside!!!!
Well if the idle hangs high enough to be annoying, you could back it down a bit... Could be say 550 is the sweet spot where it doesn't stall and idle isn't high between gears... May want to just drive it though, it may need to relearn idle while car is moving...
BTW I tried my Lightning this evening and it idles at 1100 in neutral, while truck is moving... As soon as it stops, idle drops to 850 by the tach, but I don't think it's actually idling that high... Where ever it is I'm leaving it alone, as it runs great and has perfect manners in traffic...