Here are the latest pictures of the '86.
I've cleaned and assembled the interior, installed the TC hood, and cleaned the engine. I've also removed some of the trim (all of it will come off) and I'm picking up some new tires this Saturday.
Lemmie know whatcha think.
Eye h8 ewe.
I'm jealous, but it's an awesome car.
The side shot. A set of turbines will go on and the 10-holes will undergo restoration.
Lookin' good :D
Was that molding hard to remove or was it pretty much ready to come off?
Also, did you fix the hood release already?
Are you going to tint this before CJ?
Thanks for the comments, everyone. I appreciate it.
It was very hard to remove. The adhesive tape that Ford used back must have been the best possible. I couldn't physically pull the trim off because I was worried about affecting the shape of the metal. No lie. I had to use a long razor blade and "saw" through the adhesive. Even the fishing line trick didn't work.
Yes. I also re-attached the fuse box and installed the insulation panel. Almost everything is assembled on the inside. I even replaced the light bulb in the stock radio for the LCD display.
I'm going to focus on the exterior before Cat Jam.
Most likely. This weekend will be tires, more body preparation and possibly tint.
, this dude aint screwing around.
So Zach when we gona fix that heater core of yours? Also, guess what I dug out of my garage... ze intercooler
Yeah, that molding is a bitch to remove....ugh.
Is the rag on the intake due to leaking injectors?
Car looks great so far! Can't wait to see it at Cat Jam.
Glad to see someone like you got such a rare car Zach. Is that rust I see peeking out at the bottom of the door there? If so, what are your plans for repairing it?
I would like to tackle it before Cat Jam, but I'm in no real hurry. I have to buy one first, and I know only to get Ford. I suppose I have to visit the dealership.
The intercooler swap should happen before Cat Jam. ;)
Nah. I stuffed 'em down there to soak up the water from cleaning the engine. The injectors have been replaced within the past few years. There was still masking tape on the wires with numbers written on 'em.
Yeah, it is. The "dew wipes" on both doors are totally shot. As a result, water gets into the door. The passenger door is fine, but the driver door needs some work.
I was thinking about cleaning it all out and laying fiberglass in the bottom of the door. Then I could grind out all the bad areas and try to patch it up.
I'm also keeping an eye out for some solid door(s) so I can just do a replacement.
Thanks again for all the comments!
Nice. I told you you'd be back into a fox eventually :D
Very cool. I know you liked your old 86 and it's definitely nice to see that you got a rare '86 XR7! So have you done the highly popular 20 lbs of boost mod, yet? :)
To quote nick:
:bowdown: [SIZE="7"]GOT BOOST??[/SIZE] :bowdown:
Zach, I'll get you the part numbers for the dew wipes this weekend and post them here. I'll also keep an eye out for the correct door panels. :)
Awesome.
Thanks a lot, everyone. It feels good to be back in a Fox again. Thanks again to Karl and Andrew, too. I wouldn't have this car if it weren't for them.
As promised...here ya go:
JC Whitney (http://"http://www.jcwhitney.com/") - 800-529-4486
Catalog 711B-06, page 77
1983-86 dew wipes (outside, mounts to aluminum piece, cut to fit; remove factory staples, drill new holes and pop rivet on):
KM819751 - $14.99 each - 2 required
Vent window felt (goes inside channel)
KM810358 - 26.99 - 1 required
That should do it for ya.
Geeze. I must have missed the memo about you getting back into Fox-land. And you've got boost now too ;)
Looking good. At least you got a 83-86, I certainly don't want to send you the taillights back ;) Haha.
Thanks again for all the comments.
I've been driving the car every day this week. I've installed new tires, new inner tie-rod ends, and a million other things I can't remember.
I have to get an alignment for it this weekend, then I can begin work on the body.
I've ordered the trim for the windows, so I should be getting to work on the doors by late next week.
Thanks again for the part numbers, Eric.
God, I love driving this car.
:D
It will be nice to see it at CatJam. I was seriously considering buying that, I guess you needed it more than me. Now I need to find a 96-97' 4.6 low mile Cat, after i sell the mach1.
By the way, how well does the hood fit? I might do that to my automatic version once my son is done with it.
Interesting. I will be selling the '96 within the next few months. I've done all of the required updates (tranny parts, aluminum intake, etc.). It has only 63k original miles. I also have three sets of wheels for the car, including a full set of 7-spokes with centercaps.
PM me if you're interested.
The hood fit is nearly perfect. I recall I had to grind down the AC bracket on the 5.0 in my '88 XR7, but it's perfect for the turbo 2.3 cars, for obvious reasons.
I just put up my mach1 for sale on the Auto trader last weekend. I will be looknig for a low mileage 96 or 97 as a dependable driver. I had a 94' with ground effects, sunroof, auto temp, and auto lights, ex-wife traded it for an SUV. I miss the car sometimes. When the mach1 sells, I'll post a looking for ad on here with the options I am looking for. Why would you sell yours? Looks pretty nice on your web site. Does it have the sunroof?
I'm selling the '96 because I won't be able to afford both cars. The '96 just doesn't make me enjoy driving like a Fox car does. It has a lot of cool options, but no moonroof.
It has:
-4.6
-8.8" rear with Traction-Lok 3.27 ratio
-Four-wheel disc
-Illuminated entry
-Auto Lamp
-Premium sound w/ power antenna
-Factory engine block heater
There's one option it doesn't have that's actually a good thing: traction control. I've heard nothing but negative things about it. This car does not have it, which I think is cool considering all of the other stuff it has.
Zach, if i dont see you or the car before catjam, i might have a few mods for ya by then, depending on if i get a few things done to mine by then ;)
I had traction on my 94'. It was a very, very nice feature. Car stopped very well in ice, and no issues taking off in bad weather either. I found it a great feature, so I am surprised to hear you say that. What cars will you be bringing to CatJam by the way?
I'll have the '86 with me. I suppose I could bring the '96, but I would need somebody to drive it.
Let me know if you're interested in the '96 when the time comes.
Update:
I painted the window trim, mirror and door handle today on the driver's side. It took me four hours, so I didn't have the energy to start on the passenger's side. I'll do that on Tuesday.
Wow Zach, that layed down nice! I'll have to check that out closely saturday.
Oh and the Cougar is back together... with some stiff new parts.... I'll have to show you some of our backroads now! heh
I looked for that Mar-Hyde trim paint that Jim had, but I couldn't find it. I bought the Dupli-Color stuff and it turned out great.
I'll have the passenger side done this week, along with the suspension. I bought the struts yesterday and the strut mounts should be in on Wednesday or Thursday.
I was thinking about gutting some of the AC stuff, too. Maybe we could try that or the heater core this coming weekend.
Update:
Cat Jam '06 is creeping ever closer, so I've tried to kick this thing into high gear (so to speak) with what free time I have.
Thanks to Claude and his big-ass junkyard, I was able to find the following:
-Correct door panels
-NICE shift and boot from a TC
-Mint taillights from another '86
-Silicone couplers for the intercooler
Those door panels are such a pain to work with, but I got them mostly assembled on the doors. The ones that were on there were from an '87-'88 and didn't fit well. In fact, I could barely lock the doors because of the stress they put on the lock rod.
I cleaned and conditioned the leather on the shift /boot and they look brand new. They're Ford parts, too.
I finished up all the painting on the door window trim. I will paint the trim around the windshield and rear glass within the next few days.
I also replaced the front struts and strut mounts, then I had it aligned. It feels like a new car.
Feel free to give criticism or whatever. I'm always open to ideas of where to take this car.
Here is the shift .
If anybody has an ATC climate control from a newer body-style Explorer, let Claude know. ;)
Looks like it's coming together pretty well.
Wow zach you work fast! So did you uhh do it in
that order? :rollin:
;)
Oh and I think we forgot to grab some screws while there.
I think we did, seeing as how those door panels require about 300 screws each. Luckily I had a bunch of them laying around in the top of my toolbox.
I forgot to add that I cleaned up those taillights. I flushed the insides with the hose and shook the hell out of 'em. They look nice and clean on the inside now. The final step will be polishing the plastic and installing them.
Thanks again, Claude. It seems like most of the work I've done to the car has had you involved in one way or another.
That's looking really really nice Zach. Thanks for taking the time to share the pics with us.
Here's an update on the car:
I finally fixed the passenger vent window (it was loose). I scored the spring and washer from a boneyard T-Bird and installed the parts onto my window. It went very well and now I can drive with both vent windows open.
The interior is almost complete, save for the correct door panels refinishing some trim pieces, such as the console switch panel.
I was finally able to locate a genuine Ford heater core and install it. The job wasn't so bad, to be honest. The worst part was keeping track of all the bolts and pieces.
Next steps will include finding the boost leak, updating to the bigger VAM/computer, engine rebuild, paint, yadda yadda yadda. ;)
I went a little photo crazy tonight, so here ya go!
I call this one, "Bad Moon Risin'."
Thanks again for letting me know how to fix that. A great contribution to our community, one which I will use on my '85!
Wow, that '86 is looking real good. Glad the heater box replacement went well.
I thought I would bring this back up again.
Since the head gasket went on the car, I decided have the head cleaned up and rebuilt.
While it's been at the machine shop, I went through and cleaned everything. The top of the block and pistons are spotless; I chased and flushed all of the bolt holes in the top of the block; I polished many parts while they've been off the car; I painted brackets and pulleys; and I removed most of the cooling system.
The radiator, thermostat/housing, and some of the lines will be replaced. All of the passages in the head and lower intake manifold have been cleaned and flushed, and I filled up the block with vinegar tonight (Chuck's idea).
I can't wait to install the head this weekend!
Here are some pictures of the head.
I also found some old bearings in the basp00get (early '70s) and busted out laughing at what was on them.
Not just one, but two hilarious words.
Enjoy!
Hehe :pbb:
Hopefully it all works out well when you get it back together.
gonna get rid of those rough edges on the ports Zach?
looks good man
I was going to ask if you were going to smooth out the ports as well. While you have it apart are you going to smooth out the intake manifold ports as well?
Hehe was in response to the ball bearings.
I never even thought of that! It would be pretty wise to do it while the head is off the car, right?
The only problem is that I don't have the tools or know-how to do it myself. I also don't want to take it back to the machine shop... I'm too impatient and pressed for cash to have any extra work done.
I'm thinking I would burn up my Dremel if I tried it with that...
nah.. thats what i used on my E6's, it'll work fine
Since the head is all assembled with the valvetrain, just leave well enough alone. The ports on the intake are smaller than the ports on the head, so it's not going to cause you any problems.
I got the lower intake bolted to the head, the head bolted to the block, and the fuel rail bolted to the manifold.
I installed a brand new radiator, but I'm waiting on the exhaust manifold gasket and coolant hoses to arrive at my local NAPA. Once I get those on Saturday, I can put 'er all back together and have some fun.
By the way, Chuck. The vinegar in the block worked very well. When I unplugged the lower radiator hose (I used a shift accumulator piston to plug it), a bunch of brown fluid shot out of it. It definately did its job. Now I will have a coolant system that is almost totally clean and new, including the heater core.
Glad to hear.
I still need to figure out what I'm doing with mine....
You dont need an exhaust manifold gasket. These cars didnt use them from the factory. I use a thin thin thin bead of copper gasket sealant. A gasket wont hurt, but if you dont have one, dont worry about it.
Nice. :D
There's good news and bad news.
I got everything back together and figured out the timing tonight.
I was able to rotate the distributor, rotor, and redo the spark plug wires.
I searched for the spout plug on the TFI harness, but I couldn't find anything that looked like the spout in the picture at NATO.
Instead, I found a plug with one wire going in and one going out. I believe the wire was dark with a green stripe. It came directly out of the TFI plug harness. All of the other wires went into a loom.
Because I couldn't find the spout that looked like the one in the picture, I just disconnected this other thing and set the timing.
The timing went well and the engine was running fantastic, so I hooked it back up and it seemed fine.
The bad news:
There is a very loud tapping noise coming from under the valve cover. It sounds like a stuck valve or something. This is a freshly rebuilt head! As far as the frequency of the tapping, I would say there are four to five taps a second... if that makes sense.
I pulled the valve cover and looked around, but everything looked perfect. I didn't even see any small metal shavings or anything. What the hell could it be?
I'm very frustrated about this, as I paid $200 for that head to be rebuilt, and about another $200-$300 in other engine parts.
I'm tired of f**king around with this engine. Most of my patience is gone.
In summary:
-I really hope that was the spout plug I found, because it was the only thing down there that could have been it.
-I'm calling the machine shop tomorrow to ask them what that noise could be. I'm at a total loss here...
Take the valve cover off
Turn the engine over manually, with a breaker bar or something similar
Keep an eye on the cam, followers, and valves. Watch each one carefully for at least two full revolutions of the crankshaft (one for the cam) and make sure that everything is contacting inside there properly. Make sure one or more of your followers aren't falling over the edge of valve tip. Kinda sounds like that's what you're hearing. Could also be the hydraulic portion of the "lifter" not yet pumped up. What does your oil pressure look like? What weight are you running?
Yes that was the SPOUT plug. The earlier cars did not have the little jumper pill.
Most 2.3s will tap for a short bit up top until the HLAs get fully pumped on a new start. How long did you let it run?
Motorcraft 10W-30 Full Synthetic.
I only let it run for about 10-15 minutes total. I got too worried when it didn't go away so I shut it off and left it for the night.
I think you guys are right. I called the machine shop this morning and he told me the same thing. I'm just supposed to let it idle and wait for the HLAs to return to normal.
This is something I simply didn't know... I was pretty worried, too.
I'm glad that was the spout plug. Now I can be sure that the timing is just right, and the tapping isn't anything bad.
I'm going to flush out the entire cooling system tonight (again) and change the oil. Then I should be go for launch.
Thanks for the help!
UPDATE:
I was able to completely flush the cooling system. Backflushing the heater core (which is almost brand new) gave me brown fluid out of one end. I am very glad I took the time to do that. I suggest this procedure to anybody.
While I added fresh coolant and distilled water, I let the engine run and waited for the thermostat to open.
Guess what? That tapping noise went away completely and the engine is running the best it ever has.
Again, thanks to everybody for their help.
One thing...
It didn't seem like the thermostat actually opened. I filled up the radiator and ran the engine, but the level never went down in the radiator. However, all of the other hoses in the engine had coolant. A gentle squeeze on one of the heater core hoses would "pulse" the level in the radiator. Also, I had hot heat from the vents.
Maybe the thermostat was already open somehow? Maybe some coolant is just getting past it. It seemed a little loose in its new housing, which is of poor quality.
One more thing...
The temperature gauge never went past the blue line. It worked before the HG change, so I'm wondering if I damaged the sensor when I was cleaning the lower manifold.
do you guys ever have a cougar greet and meet or a cat jam in the hurricane state of fl!
Not as of yet, but we do have a few members down there!
In fact, Florida is where my '86 came from - the city of Inverness, to be exact.
sorry for the thread hijack..
http://www.foxtbirdcougarforums.com/showthread.php?t=5889
Nick
Here is a quick update.
I installed the '83 turn signals on the car. I also painted the junkyard Marchal fog covers and put 'em on. Now I just need to paint the rest of the car.
I also installed a boost gauge where the clock used to be. This is a temporary location, as I plan to get a nice pillar-mount gauge pod for the car.
Looking good zach.
You mind me using a pic for the calendar?
Sure, if you would like to.
Zach he should use one of the pictures you took of both our cars at autozone!!
Good call, Claude.
(http://www.foxtbirdcougarforums.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=8807&d=1164508968)
Here's an update.
(http://members.tccoa.com/cougarcragar/claude_86pizza.jpg)
I drove out to Claude's house this past weekend and we performed some upgrades on the car. On went the '88 8UA computer, bigger VAM, and the 35 lb. injectors. Thanks to Claude's and Jim's help, the process went smoothly and the car is running very well.
I still have to drill and tap a hole in the intake for the ACT sensor (it's hanging out in the engine bay for now), but everything seems to be great.
I also saw Claude's new Turbo Coupe, which has LOADS of potential.
There's a Nova under there...
(http://members.tccoa.com/cougarcragar/claude_nova.jpg)
Today I was able to mount my new gauge pod ('94-'95 Mustang) and relocate my boost gauge. I also mounted the A/F gauge and ran its wires into the dash, but I have a few more connections to make.
(http://members.tccoa.com/cougarcragar/gaugepod1.jpg)
(http://members.tccoa.com/cougarcragar/gaugepod2.jpg)
got a i/c for it yet? if ur not far from west virgina my dad has like 5 laying around
I want that nova.
and your cat is gonna kill man.
Yeah, it now has the '87-'88 intercooler and hood. It works pretty well, but I do plan on a front-mount in the next few months.
man seeing u build that up makes me wish my 88 wasn't rotted and picked apart
Is that Pizza Hut? Ewwww. Being in Chicago we have so many good pizza resturants that the chains taste like to me.
Car is comming along nice though. :cool:
No that pizza is from a local pizza place. Very good :)
Here is Zach working on the upper.
(http://i104.photobucket.com/albums/m167/CougarSE/zachs%20car/DSC00725.jpg)
Here is me working on something. (note to self, work out more often)
(http://i104.photobucket.com/albums/m167/CougarSE/zachs%20car/DSC00724.jpg)
Here is me working on the harness repin.
(http://i104.photobucket.com/albums/m167/CougarSE/zachs%20car/DSC00728.jpg)
Bout to do some repinage.
(http://i104.photobucket.com/albums/m167/CougarSE/zachs%20car/DSC00715.jpg)
Either buttoning back up or tearing apart.
(http://i104.photobucket.com/albums/m167/CougarSE/zachs%20car/DSC00714.jpg)
Enjoying a job well done :D
(http://i104.photobucket.com/albums/m167/CougarSE/zachs%20car/DSC00726.jpg)
And the best picture of the night. Here is Jim enjoying working on his car.
(http://i104.photobucket.com/albums/m167/CougarSE/zachs%20car/DSC00719.jpg)
It's time to revive this thing.
You guys are going to love this. The paint on this car is in pretty poor shape. It's safe to say that the clearcoat is totally MIA on the top panels, and the primer is showing on the roof.
However, some of the clearcoat was left on the side panels, but it was very foggy. It looked like flat-finish paint.
After some compounding and a two-stage polishing process, I was able to breathe new life into the side panels.
Hey... I can't afford paint, so I'm doing the best I can. :shakeass:
Oh, yeah. I was able to fix most of the hood gap.
Wow it looks good man!!
MAACO.I know,I know.They can suck.The paint on my blue car in the banner was painted at Maaco,$285.00 in and out.I did the bodywork,they painted,gave me a 2 year warranty,and it lasted very nicely for 4 years before I stripped the car and shipped it out.
How's the bottom of the driver's side door lookin? My eye always seems drawn to it when I look at the photos.
I've strongly considered Maaco for a repaint. It may not be show-winning, but it would look a hell of a lot better.
I could do most of the bodywork, too. $285 is very reasonable.
It's pretty hairy. If you pull the door panel and look down towards the bottom, you can see daylight peeking through in some areas. I still haven't decided if I want to try and fix it or find a rust-free door as a replacement. Any ideas on how to fix it? I didn't think the ol' Bondo and fiberglass trick would work on such progressive rust.
Cut & Weld, Bubba, Cut & Weld......
I would at least get as much rust off of it as possible, and seal it up, so it doesnt get worse.
I have to say Zach, that car found the right owner.
wow very sweet good looking 4 eye
Clean out the inside with engine cleaner, hose, parts brush, etc. Then after it dries, paint on some sort of rust stop.
Gotta say though, I didn't think the sides coming out like that was possible. Wow dude.