Progress Thread 1989 GT Hatchback Restoration

KRUISR said:

So, currently with a 25.7" tall tire, 3.73 gears and a 0.72 overdrive (trans is from a '96 V6) - 65 mph is right around 2250 rpm. If your tires are taller that number would go down (stock 225/60/15 tire is 25.8" tall).

With 0.72 OD - With 0.68 OD - With 3.55 & 0.68 OD
50 mph - 1750 - 1600 - 1550
55 mph - 1900 - 1800 - 1700
60 mph - 2100 - 1950 - 1850
65 mph - 2250 - 2100 - 2000
70 mph - 2400 - 2300 - 2150

Your stock trans would be a 0.68 OD.

All RPM numbers rounded to nearest 50. These are calculated numbers and close enough given how accurate (or inaccurate) the stock tach is, but a good ballpark of what RPMs you would turn.

Click to expand...

Thank you! You're right- I'd forgotten, there are a LOT of other factors involved, like tire size and OD ratio.
I just spent a bit of time geeking out with this calculator: https://spicerparts.com/calculators/transmission-ratio-rpm-calculator

My car (and this seems accurate from my seat of pants experience and memory) w/3.08 gears, and using stock tire size you provided (cause I have basic 225/60/15s') and stock overdrive ratio (which REALLY seems like an overdrive when you shift to it!) got 1773RPM @ 65MPH.. With 373's, it would be 2147 @ 65MPH.. Not too bad..

I've been researching 8.8 stuff:
From the factory service manual, they list a "clunk" test where:
a) you jack up one side of your car, so that the rear passenger side is off the ground. Wheels blocked, car in neutral.
b) you rotate the tire to it's limit CCW, and mark with chalk your passenger tire 12" From center, adjacent to a fixed reference on your car.
c) you rotate the tire to it's limit CW, and mark it again 12" from center, then measure the distance between b & c. Spec. is 1" or less.
So, I need to check this stuff before more overthinking on my part.

###EDIT### measured 1 3/16" play.. Explains the "clunk" I think, of course, how much rotational play from the T5 is affecting this I don't know, but I'm thinking after the mileage I've got on it (and assuming original diff guts, she's earned it..) Pity- I mean, there's no leaks, and the traction lock is functioning.
Of course, if I'm pulling this dude apart and rebuilding, I will absolutely do all seals/bearings/races. BUT- spider gears? Ring and pinion, I'm guessing yes, even if staying the same ratio (still thinking about ratio, but leaning towards keeping her stock 3.08).. Cross pin? C-clips? AND, golden question: leave clutch packs alone because they're working? Or is that mega-stupid? Looks like a kit is 90 bucks, but not sure if you then need to re-shim the packs, looks like there's a fancy Ford tool involved to check, etc. LET MY OVERTHINKING BEGIN!

Rdub6 said:

Lookin good man! I did the same thing on my fuel filter clamp when I saw the Ford logo. Glad I’m not the only nut case out here! Lol
My car is nowhere near original, but I cared about that clamp!

Click to expand...

Hahahaha Thanks! Yes- I admired my completed handiwork for a minute, then admonished myself for spending perhaps 15 minutes on that clamp, when that 15 minutes could have been spent on the front suspension, or the rack and pinion, or the.........

Jason

Still way too hot outside for my wimpy butt to work on the car much (how on earth did I manage to do this every day, in un-air conditioned shops, when I was younger?)

I was inspired by houseofdula and gearhead704 YouTube channels (where Matt from foxresto.com shows how to remove the stock FI computer by first removing the airbox), and tired of random bits of whoknowswhat flying out of my vents when I put the fan on, so I removed the airbox, vacuumed it out (it was amazingly not too bad! I was thinking a rats nest for sure, but nope!) There were some fine leaf (I guess?) particulate bits, and some kind of grime on the fan blades.

Luckily the fan was in all one piece. Dish soap and water, Simple Green & water, and Ballistol (can you tell I really like that stuff?) were called into service, with a toothbrush and chain brush tool. Here's the end result- right before I re-installed it:



PS: that little banded on hose that cools the motor- neat design!

Ok, just waiting for it to cool off- then will get started on front suspension I think.
Jason

Ok, got some time in on the car. First- a friend with a lift put it in the air, and allowed me to admire my work so far. It's getting there! Areas that I've touched up look pretty snazzy and clean! Areas which did not have rust, but have some remnants of the original undercoating look not so clean, but since there's no rust, I like that too! I'm also proud of how the car is shaping up! When I got the tires installed pre-floor pan replacement, the shop made me sign a waver, and the sheet said the entire underside of the car was nothing but rust, and I'd not hold them liable for anything. Well- here's how she looks now:



So, in my opinion, there's no more wavers necessary! Of course, there's some, ahem, other stuff that perhaps is best remaining out of site? Like the crazy cherry bomb mufflers, stepped down with booger welds? Also, the broken hanger requiring a muffler clamp on the H pipe (this was fixed while it was up on a lift- nice looking mig welds put that hanger back on, and also another one that was broken, and the clamp disco'd. The T5 appears to be leaking from the front and the back Also, remaining cleanup of the axle housing (I'd just did a quick rust knock off on the axle tubes and rear end cover. Gotta do that housing, and maybe paint the whole thing with ospho? Perhaps I'll save that for the rear end rebuild which will happen at some point.

So, I examined stuff under the car, and also enlisted my buddies to help me prioritize things: The traction lock clutches in the rear end are good/functional, it is not leaking from the pinion, and once on a lift, doesn't seem quite so loose? Not perfect, but, probably still serviceable for now. The exhaust is not leaking, but I'd like to clean it up a little bit, and at least have the tailpipes aligned at the right level. But, no sense in aligning the tailpipes if the motor mounts need replacement (they do...) The front suspension looks tired/control arm bushings cracked. AND, we discovered: Big play in the inner tie-rods. Gadzooks! No bueno- gotta be first priority.

I'd been collecting up parts for the past year+ to do this work. So, time to get started:



Here we see the front driver's side suspension disassembled, I got nerdy and cleaned/painted where the control arm goes. Of note- those plates that sit on either side of the spindle-to-strut mounts.. The new KYB strut I have does not appear to have the space for these to be used.. are these needed? Do these adjust camber or something kooky like that? ALSO: When I removed the tie rod just after this pic taken, there was fluid in the boot. Yay me! I'd previously bought a clean used rack at a Mustang junk yard somewhat near me (I talked about this in a previous post in this thread), and saw them remove that rack from a "show car" mustang that unfortunately had gotten wrecked. The rack and tie rods look ok/un-damaged, very clean (as was the rest of that donor car), and the tie rods appear new and tight. I later got home, and saw the "Cardone" sticker on that rack. I initially did not want to use it, preferring factory parts- but, I think I will use it after all: It will allow me to get the car together now, it hopefully was reliable (does not appear to have any leaks/issues, and made it past infancy failure risk on the donor car).. Plus- it was comparatively cheap, and I have it "in stock"..



New parts lined up with the spindle and those plates I told ya about. Relying heavily on Moog and energy suspension for the control arm with ball joints and bushings, and then the spring isolators/strut bushings, etc. Also, got LMR bolts & nuts for the control arm and the spindle. I had one control arm bolt stuck, and I was a bit nervous about this all along after watching some YouTube vids online- where they had to use a sawsall to cut out the old bolt! BUT, my old neglected air hammer came to the rescue. I was able to put the nut back on, just threaded on enough to cover the end, but then air-hammered on the flange of the nut- and that worked the bolt out of the old control arm bushing inner without any more drama. WHEW!



I just knew saving those 2x4 scraps would pay off! Also- after watching a friend try to use two spring compressors, and also knowing the energy these compressed springs hold- I did my usual (over-thinking this stuff!) and after trying to rent an OTC 7045B unsuccessfully for a while, I freakin ponied up and bought one. Here it is in action. It is indeed the right tool for the job, so thank you to all the people who've mentioned this in the other threads where people are attempting various different methods of compressing the spring and getting it installed. I'm not throwing shade at the folks who make due- I think y'all are some brave mofos!!! I am not ashamed to admit, I'm a huge chicken, and found a way that made me feel safe.. Now, I will return to my safe place and sip my chamomile tea thank you!



....almost there....



Booya! I did it! (whew, I did it!) So, couple notes, and a question for the masters.. a) I had to remove the rearward control arm bolt, to get just enough lean to then use my pry bar to pop the top of the spring into place in the upper spring isolator, which nicely could stick to the upper mount with just the smidge of interference fit it had. b) then put that bolt back in- had to lightly nudge the rear of the control arm with the jack, to align the bushing into the mount. c) both control arm bolts are currently loose, until I can put the car on it's tires, then I'll torque those. d) It was a bit difficult to get the top of the spindle aligned into the strut- but I was able to do it- that ball joint is tight! e) I first torqued the ball joint nut. Then I torqued the spindle-to-strut bolts. Last I tightened the strut upper nut*

Here's my question: Is it normal for this to all be very tight after new ball joint & strut? By tight, I mean, without the wheel installed, I can "steer" the spindle, but it takes a lot of effort- like, I almost need to put the wheel on to get the leverage kinda effort. I've not yet greased the lower ball joint. I'm pretty sure all the dust boot/jounce bumper/jounce cup/lower insulator and then upper insulator/spacer/upper washer/nut are installed correctly. As I said, those side plates for the spindle-to-strut bolts would not fit in the strut mount, so I'm assuming they're only needed with some brands of struts? *I tried to torque the upper stut mount, but only managed perhaps 40 foot pounds (spec is 55-90 or 55-75 depending where in the service manual you look?) until the strut started spinning the shaft with the nut. It's a nylock nut, so there's that...

What do you guys think? Normal spindle steer tightness from Moog ball joints?

Caliper overhauled, spruced up a tiny bit, and after a fight with getting rotors that actually work with these cars (where I made another thread just to whine and snivel about it, but got much needed moral support!) I got wheel bearings and races, inner bearing seal, outer bearing plate/nut/castle/cotter pin/dust cap installed.

Old coming out, disassembled:


Cleaned up, painted:


Looks halfway decent!


Piston seal, NOS piston, dust boot installed.. Gearhead704's youtube vid here: caliper rebuild ..at the 9:54 mark, shows a great trick for getting the dust seal installed over the piston with air pressure. Holy crap! I never tried it this way, and made the assembly about a 1000 times easier!

Finally, new rotor installed:

Update time!
First things first: I installed the caliper on the driver's side, replaced the flexible brake hose- and snug it all up with new banjo copper washers. Hurray- it's do........ wait a minute, little bit of brake fluid leak here.. I'll just snug up a little more and it's don..... Hmm, more leaking. I proceed to nerd out and investigate/over-think/yell curse words.. I noticed the copper washers that came with the brake line were a bit on the thin side. Also, they were a bit too tight of a fit around the banjo bolt maybe? I know we want tight (all guys want tight, right?) ;-) But, too tight, and the washer may not seat all the way against the head of the banjo? I don't know, but I found some thicker copper washers, that were ever so slightly bigger I.D., and still fit well/perfectly inside the recess in the caliper for the washer. I heated them until they glowed bright orange with propane torch, then let them cool via just waiting (no water quench).. Then installed them, and while tightening, I moved it against the stopper on the back of the line a bit back and forth to perhaps enhance the "bite"? I don't think it's leaking currently, but still watching carefully.



(At this point, I realize, this is taking me way too many tools to do this simple of a job? Remember when I said back in the day, I used to be a Ford tech? Well, this is why I'm not a mechanic now- I overthink EVERYTHING! You cannot make money as a mechanic and be as anal retentive as I am? Well- I'm know some guys can work fast/efficiently, and do a great and thorough job! I was just not fast enough to make the big money working on cars. In my own garage, I think I'm holding my own- maybe? I digress)

Next, on to the passenger side, where hopefully previous lessons learned, muscle memory, and having my tools laid out already in the working area instead of making 400 trips back to the tool box may help? Nah- it's cramped on the passenger side in my garage. Despite my sleepy snail's pace, I finally finish:



Ok, on to the rack, which needed to be replaced because a) the inner tie-rods had maybe a quarter inch of play each side, and b) there was a lot of fluid in each bellows boot. I knew I could replace just the inner tie-rods, but the leaky rack sealed the deal- I wanted to use the rack I bought used. However, I knew it was in a car that got wrecked/parted, and it was an un-known quantity as far as how long would it last after being wrecked (and it possibly took a hit?) and then sat. I decided to just pony up for a new rack (not a mondo expensive, I went with another Cardone one from AdvancedAuto), and use the used rack as a core return. My reasoning is- this is a ton of work, may as well start with a new/warrantied rack, than gamble on used, and have to do it again if it failed. Plus, I got a 20% off coupon, and 111.00 back for the core refund, so brand new (well, reman'd) rack for around 100 bucks.

I started the rack replacement process by doing a ridiculous amount of cleaning. Here's 30 years of dried grease from previous leaks, and dirt, and maybe a piece of Santa's beard was in there too? I don't know- it was NASTY!



...no real rust though, thank goodness (see? sometimes oil leaks are our friend!) This pic doesn't even do this mess justice- there was actual height buildup to the mound of dirt! I love working on cardboard- I just folded that crap up when I was done, and dispatched it to the trash/recycle/not in my garage bin... Next, I wire wheeled the rack mounting bolts, washers, and nuts.. This pic was taken mid-last-bolt cleanup, for dramatic flair! Notice I've also got the rust-reformer paint out, for a quick spruce up of those rack washers...



You know.. At this point- I should mention, I ought to search to see, there surely must already be a thread for us to all show what's in our toolboxes? When I was starting out in the 1990's, I bought a Craftsman upper box, and later a Craftsman lower box. I started with Craftsman tools, and if I broke something more than once (back then they'd replace ANY tool no questions asked, but you had to go to Sears) I'd buy a replacement off the tool trucks- mostly Mac. I still got made fun of in the shop for being "Team Craftsman", but, back then the Craftsman stuff was all made in USA too- and it seemed decent. As the years have gone by, I've picked up some Mac ratchets, and they feel really nice with their high resolution, but honestly, I think the Craftsman ones still work just as well. I'm also not ashamed to admit- Harbor Freight has it's place too- especially (in my opinion) that extra long breaker bar for 30 bucks, the bearing race installer kit. In other words, the simple hand tools..

Well.. I can tell you, if you find yourself on the fence about the Harbor Freight tap & die set, I think it's pretty OK, at least for non-professional but home mechanic use. I've used mine many many times, so far the components have stayed sharp/held up. Honestly, a really good investment (unless you've got like Oprah money and you want a SnapOn variant of this tap and die set- in which case, yeah, yours will most definitely better, but this one works ok for the tightwad I am!) The rack nuts and bolt threads got a little bit of a clean up. (I also used it to clean up the input shaft pinch bolt too, but that's not pictured here)



The cardone rack came with some rubber rack bushings, but I had bought Energy Suspension rack bushings when I made a RockAuto order a few months back. I've essentially been accumulating the parts to do this work for literally a year or more! RockAuto sale here, LMR sale there, etc. etc. etc.

Continued....

Well, I had been a little nervous about changing the rack out, as I was worried the input shaft would utterly refuse to come out of the pinch bolt. And- last time I'd done a rack, I had a lift, and was like 20, was blaring rock music, and was too dumb to be too worried about anything! This time, I'm older/fatter, this car is old, and I'm laying down in my garage under my car on jack stands, listening to some freakin podcast. And as I mentioned before, I think too much- so I put this kinda work off. I should not have been too worried after all- I simply crawled in under the car a little further, and from behind the rack, you can actually see and access the rag joint and input shaft fairly well. The pinch bolt came right out with a pre-emptive spray of PB Blaster, and using a 1/2" impact. Some light "persuasion" and only a few curse words (and not even the really bad ones!) and the shaft came out just fine.

I was pleased to see the Cardone rack came with the metal power steering connection lines (I think these don't always come with racks? But this one did, so I didn't have to harvest that off the other racks.. I will hang on to my original Ford rack, in case I ever get tempted to rebuild it..) I put the o-rings that came with the new lines on the lines, and installed them (I used Gates brand- no ideas if they are the go-to, but they seemed high quality, and both high pressure and return line were together under 30 bucks..) And I installed the rack.



Next, I topped up the power steering pump with fluid, and removed the serpentine belt, so I could manually spin the p/s pulley, adding fluid a few times as it was worked into the system. I quickly added the zerk fittings to the lower ball joints and outer tie-rods, greased them up, put the serpentine belt back on, and then started the car. No loud groan/whine, and NO LEAKS! I could not believe it! Did some side to side steering with the car still on jack stands of course, to finish bleeding the system- but it was quiet*, and so far is still not leaking!!! Man.. For the first time in the 3 years or so I've owned the car, the power steering is not freaking leaking. Halleluiah! What a relief! (*by quiet, I mean, yes you can hear it, but it no longer sounds like the Ecto-1 siren from Ghostbusters!)

Ok- home stretch! Now to wire wheel, sand, and then prime the sway bar:



..and now for paint:



I should mention- to get the sway bar out, those goofy plastic nut holders Ford used were long gone. I was able to use a wrench from underneath to hold the nuts, despite the fact that they had those weird points made on to them (I guess to hold the plastic nut holders?) More wire wheel tap & die action to clean the bolts up, but I replaced the M10 1.5 nuts with class 10.9 ones found at AdvancedAuto (I'm apparently a regular there you know..) They were nice and yellow zinc coated. They cost way too much. But, well, yeah, Bob's actually my dad and not my uncle. True story. Wait- what?

Moog K80097 sway bar bushings went into the original sway bar bushing mounts, which cleaned up nicely with just some WD-40 and a rag. I put the sway bar back in, torqued it down, and topped this whole project off by installing new Moog end-links. I have no idea why they made the end-link bushing white? I figure that will stay white in use for like a day. But, sure looks nice freshly installed!



Just bled the brakes, and then put the wheels on, and lowered the car back on it's feet. I will let the front suspension settle over night, and then tomorrow after work put the front wheels on ramps/back end on jack stands to lift it up (but keep the front suspension normal ride height/load) and do the final torque of the lower control arm bolts. I need to do a string alignment as well before driving the car, and just give another once-over to ensure I've not forgotten anything. But, here's how she looks tonight:





Wow- that was a lot of work.. I think that may have surpassed my previously all-at-one-time-work record, when I rebuilt the cooling system and had the dash out to replace the heater core.

Since I'm going for stock/mostly stock/stock style, the ride height matches the recently rebuilt-to-stock specs rear ride height, and I am pleased. For those curious- here's the parts I used:
-Moog front lower control arms w/bushings and ball joints
-Moog coil springs
-Moog outer tie-rods
-Moog swaybar end links
-Moog swaybar bushings
-Energy suspension spring seats, polyurethane
-Energy suspension rack bushings, polyurethane
-Energy suspension jounce bumpers & strut bushing/install kits
-Cardone power steering rack w/inner tie-rods
-Gates power steering pressure and return lines
-KYB struts
-Wagner caliper seal and dust boot
-Raybestos flexible front brake lines
-Raybestos caliper pin boots/bushings
-Ford NOS caliper pistons
-Motorcraft brake pads
-ACDelco banjo bolts
-(don't remember brand) caliper pins, bleeder screws, disc rotor dust cover caps, copper brake washers
-NAPA front disc rotors
-Timken inner and outer wheel bearings, and races, and inner bearing seals
-Dorman disc rotor lock washer, nut, castle lock, and cotter pin kits
-Dorman M10/1.5/class10.9 flange hex nuts
-LMR lower control arm bolts and nuts, strut-to-spindle bolts and nuts
-Valvoline FORD-spec moly grease for bearings, ball joints, and tie-rods
-Sil-Glyde for caliper slide pins
-Permatex anti-seize for rack bolt shafts, lower control arm bolt shafts, strut-to-spindle bolt shafts
-Type F power steering fluid, DOT 3 brake fluid, blue lock tite.

Next steps for the car:
-real alignment
-replace motor mounts and trans mounts
-Install flowmaster 40's and new factory style rear tailpipes.