A good way to see if your engine is strong enough to handle mods

A cylinder balance test done in the koer mode can reveal problems. Also a leakdown test. And compression test.

Wow, 60k is almost like new.

at 60k it should be begging for mods....
a compression test is good.

a haynes or chiltons book tells how, me and a friend a compression test to his car. we made sure there was NO SPARK (coil wire) and NO FUEL (salt and pepper plugs behind TB)

and pretty much take the plugs out and stick the guage in and crank her 6 times and its shows your compression....

Hahah, when I did my compression test I was leaning against the car and my arm was over the coil (with the wire unhooked). The damn thing shocked the hell out of me!

To quote a jrichker thread reply (http://forums.stangnet.com/showthread.php?t=531593):



How to do a compression test:

Only use a compression tester with a screw in adapter for the spark plug hole. The other type leaks too much to get an accurate reading.

With the engine warmed up, remove all spark plugs and prop the throttle wide open, crank the engine until it the gage reading stops increasing. On a cold engine, it will be hard to tell what's good & what's not. Some of the recent posts have numbers ranging from 140-170 psi. If the compression is low, squirt some oil in the cylinder and do it again – if it comes up, the rings are worn. There should be no more than 10% difference between cylinders. Use a blow down leak test (puts compressed air inside cylinders) on cylinders that have more than 10% difference.

Cylinders not firing:

Cylinder balance test:
Warm the car's engine up to normal operating temperature. Use a jumper wire or paper clip to put the computer into test mode. Start the engine and let it go through the normal diagnostic tests, then quickly press the throttle to the floor. The engine RPM should exceed 2500 RPM's for a brief second. The engine RPM's will increase to about 1450-1600 RPM and hold steady. The engine will shut off power to each injector, one at a time. When it has sequenced through all 8 injectors, it will flash 99 for everything OK, or the number of the failing cylinder such as 22 for cylinder #2. Quickly pressing the throttle again up to 2500 RPM’s will cause the test to re-run with smaller qualifying figures. Do it a third time, and if the same cylinder shows up, the cylinder is weak and isn’t putting out power like it should. See the Chilton’s Shop manual for the complete test procedure
Here's the link to dump the computer codes with only a jumper wire or paper clip and the check engine light, or test light or voltmeter. I’ve used it for years, and it works great.

See http://www.troublecodes.net/Ford/
OR
See http://www.dalidesign.com/hbook/eectest.html for more descriptive help
OR
See http://www.mustangworks.com/articles...-iv_codes.html

he's right, 60k is very low miles, i know ppl that modded their cars at 100k + and they were fine!

webshot said:

My 92 has 60k miles and some change on it.

Click to expand...

Well darn, 60k is nothing. Are you sure your odometer hasn't rolled over?

Mine reads 58,650... but I have a 1990, so i'm sure it has rolled over.

mine says 5,850 miles haha yea right its really 205,000

my 88 reads 15,000.....it is 215k haha

im sure his odo rolled over.


if it didnt, i started to mod at 140k miles. 60k miles is nothing.

i just tore down a 87k 87 complete engine. verified milage even from original owner, they wrecked the front.
had good maintenance records, blah, blah, blah.........

anyway...... the crank needs to be turned 30/30, and even then, all the scores may not come out. compression on that motor was fine. guaranty the oil pressure was not....... all the bearings are copper, no babbit or lead coating left. sludge everywhere (musta used penzoil!)...... anyway, point is, do all the leakdown in the world, wont tell ya jack squat about the lower end...........ohh, crosshatches clearly visible, and NO ridge on the top of the cyls. a 3 stone hone cleaned up perfectly, and machine shop took 7 thou off one deck, and five off the other to square it up, and put me 1 thou out the hole on the stock pistons. bought a used crank.

anyway, food for thought.

So... what's the best course of action? Do compression & leakdown tests, if they check out okay, mod it and just hope for the best? Obviously not everyone has the resources to tear apart the entire bottom end just to inspect it, and then do a rebuild if it's not in great shape...

BTW was your car in a magazine a while back nosmatt? I remember reading an article on a red LX with '96/97 Cobra wheels, and I think I recall the owner being a Ford tech...