Progress Thread 89 convertible. summer driver

[mustangmccance]

I'm sorry to hear about your dad. Mine's been gone three years now and I still miss him.

yeah most days I don't think about it too much, but some times I think "dang I wish I could give Dad a call and ask him about this". but all you can do is carry on and just remember them. I think the worst thing would be to pass and have no one care.

 

[mustangmccance]

Wow, you gave that AOD way more chances than I would've. Nice build,you should check out my 89' build.

I read through your thread last night. nice job. I would love one of those tremec transmissions, but at almost 3,000 for just the trans it was more than I was willing to pay at the moment. I have to pay the autobody guy pretty soon, and we all know how expensive that is. so I will go with this rebuilt trans and if it ever breaks I will upgrade.

 

[mustangmccance]

ok so I ordered the kit from Neo mustangs. and then I put the car on the lift and pulled the AOD. I tell you I am really good at pulling an aod out of one of these cars lol. after the first time I bought a 3 piece bassani mid pipe so pulling the exhaust is a lot easier. the hardest part initially was removing the top starter bolt, but I figured out how to access it with a long extension from in front of the a arm so that part was easier, removing the torque converter bolts are kind of a pain with my car because the supercharger pully makes it very difficult to access the harmonic balancer bolt to rotate the engine, I just use the torque converter bolts. I rotate it around so that I can get to two of them, remove one, rotate it with the one that is left until I can access two again, rinse and repeat. then I found that if you remove the crossmember and let the transmission hang down I can use this extension set up and my impact wrench and remove all the upper bellhousing bolts easily. this puts the ratchet out beyond the end of the tailhousing so it is really easy to crank on it to loosen or tighten them, then zip them off with the impact. then put the trans jack under there and remove the bottom two bell housing bolts. so I can pull the AOD out in pretty short order.



and of course the lift is a godsend for old guys like me. I also put a pan with a drain plug in it to reduce the mess a bit. and my harbor freight trans jack helps a lot. the hardest part for me is lifting the aod up onto the jack by myself without scratching the paint. I found if I stand on my tailgate I can lift it high enough to set it on the jack under control.

 

[mustangmccance]

once the trans was out I followed LMR's video instructions and went ahead and pulled the center console, both seats, and the steering column.

once I had the seats and steering column out I pulled the pedal assembly out. this was actually not as bad as I had been expecting. but it did put me in some pretty awkward positions. once again though, look at those floor pans. considering I don't know how long this car had a broken convertible top the floors are pristine. there is not even any surface rust to speak of.

 

[mustangmccance]

for some reason Dan from Neo mustangs said the clutch quadrant, did not come with the rest of the stuff from LMR that he includes in the kit. so when he sent the pedals and everything I had no clutch quadrant. LMR sent it a few days later, but I went ahead and put the pedals in anyway. once the clutch quadrant came in, it was pretty easy to slide it on. I went ahead and bought new pedal pads and accelerator pedals while I was at it. and since I intended to use an aftermarket shifter I bought the proper tunnel hump modification pan from LMR as well


for any of you who have done this, I am concerned that the gap between those panels is going to hold dirt and water and cause rust to form. has anyone used some of that spray foam to fill that gap?


.

 

[Rdub6]

Nice progress there!
I think those panels were made to be welded in?
But doing it that way, maybe some seam sealer around the edges (too and bottom sides) would do the trick.

 

[mustangmccance]

Nice progress there!
I think those panels were made to be welded in?
But doing it that way, maybe some seam sealer around the edges (too and bottom sides) would do the trick.

That is the way they show to do it in lmr’s video. They say it can be welded in but that’s not how they do it and the kit comes with the rivets. I am probably going to use some seam sealer. In there just to be on the safe side

 

[Monkeybutt2000]

I read through your thread last night. nice job. I would love one of those tremec transmissions, but at almost 3,000 for just the trans it was more than I was willing to pay at the moment. I have to pay the autobody guy pretty soon, and we all know how expensive that is. so I will go with this rebuilt trans and if it ever breaks I will upgrade.

I hear ya,it was a hard pill to swallow. But I knew I would break the T-5,been down that road. Keep up the good work man, you will love that 331 with a 5spd !

 

[Ryuk]

Seam sealer should do the trick.

 

[deathb4dismount]

Great build man. Did you have any issues with the chinese Cobra intake pulling oil through the PCV system? That's one of the reasons I switched to a Systemax. I love the look of the cobra intake even more than the tubular gt40. Wish I didnt sell it off now.

 

[mustangmccance]

Great build man. Did you have any issues with the chinese Cobra intake pulling oil through the PCV system? That's one of the reasons I switched to a Systemax. I love the look of the cobra intake even more than the tubular gt40. Wish I didnt sell it off now.

since I added the supercharger I put a pcv valve from a turbo coupe in it, and so far I have had no issues. I also found out that the breather cap I had placed in my valve cover was not a good idea. it was running fine, but I was told that allowed unmetered air into the system by bypassing the mass airflow sensor. so I replaced it and ran a hose from the valve cover below the cap that used to go to the intake, into the elbow between the anderson power pipe and the supercharger. If that makes any sense. I had a lot of problems on my 65 when I built it sucking oil into the pcv. one of the things I found was that the baffles inside the valve cover are important lol. on this car the baffles were contacting my comp cams roller rockers so I had to modify the baffle a bit, but I did not remove it. if you remove the baffle you will have a lot more issues with sucking oil down the pcv. so far I have had no issues with it, and I have had this engine in there for about 4 years. not a lot of miles but several oil changes.

 

[mustangmccance]

I finally got all the parts delivered., and it is all buttoned up, I adjusted the clutch to where it feels good as it sits. I will probably have to adjust it some more once I get it out and drive it, but it is 2:30 AM and I decided that is probably not the best time to take a test drive. so It will have to wait till tomorrow. but I am anxious to take it for a spin. I used to think this car was extremely heavy. it was really hard to push. I would put it in neutral to push it into place in my garage, and I really had to work to move it. now it pushes very easily. I know something was not right in that trans from the beginning. I can hardly wait to feel the difference in the performance. here are a few pictures of todays progress.

 

[Steel1]

Just read through your thread, nice work !
Sorry about the loss of your mom and dad.

 

[Monkeybutt2000]

You're gonna love it with the 5spd, SO much more fun to drive.

 

[mustangmccance]

Just read through your thread, nice work !
Sorry about the loss of your mom and dad.

thanks.

 

[mustangmccance]

You're gonna love it with the 5spd, SO much more fun to drive.

first test drive was great. the clutch for some reason seems to be adjusted perfectly, I have no leaks anywhere, the electronics are all working properly. it feels great to drive. all in all it seems to be perfect. which means I must have screwed something up really bad because nothing ever goes perfect for me on these jobs, I always have to fix something. lol. the one thing I will say is I might have to replace that shift lever, it seems to sit a bit higher than I like. I will drive it for a while, and see if I get used to it.

 

[Gs1987GT]

Great build, story and pics. Thanks. Sorry for the loss of your dad. Mine will be gone 20 yrs this August. He passed on at 55 from ALS.

I still miss him big time. He was my main dude, so I get it.. It will get easier, but there will be times that something makes you think of him and you'll get choked up. I still do. The memories will always be there.

I bought my 87GT last year as a throwback to my youth. I've done some work to it, but have a lot to do.
I'm going to be ordering parts to rebuild the front and rear suspension soon. Going back stock, will probably get one of the kits from LMR.

Keep up the good work!

 

[mustangmccance]

The car is an entirely different animal now. What a beast. My tires are in trouble. I may have to swap to the tremek sooner than i thought. And I definitely need to get those battle boxes installed and probably upgrade the lower control arms. But wow is it fun to drive. My daughter is learning to drive it also and she loves it too. So far two thumbs up

 

[Rdub6]

Have fun til you blow up the T-5 !!

 

[Monkeybutt2000]

The car is an entirely different animal now. What a beast. My tires are in trouble. I may have to swap to the tremek sooner than i thought. And I definitely need to get those battle boxes installed and probably upgrade the lower control arms. But wow is it fun to drive. My daughter is learning to drive it also and she loves it too. So far two thumbs up

Oh yeah told ya man!! Keep a sticky tire off it,it'll live awhile.