Progress Thread Fixing Up A '93 Gt - Project Done

I've been enjoying driving the car with the suspension upgrades. Much better.

Today, the AC blew up. It has been working just fine lately, pulled out of the restaurant after lunch and the compressor started squealing and smoke was coming out from under the hood. Shut down the AC and popped the hood. The top of the compressor and corner of the intake were covered in oil. One of the valves appears to have blown off. Hot ride back to the office.

Now I need to decide what to do about it. Not sure what's damaged, . Best bet is probably one of the conversion kits, but really didn't want to throw down $700 on that.

Today I fixed the hinges on the driver door. I was hoping I'd get both doors done, but it was kind of a PITA.

Here's a shot of the finished deal. Door works like new now. If you want to read about doing the job, keep going.



I followed the LMR video instructions. It says to cut the hinge pins with a dremel and knock them out. I think I burned out my Dremel. Get plenty of cutting wheels. Cutting the top hinge isn't a problem. I cut it dead center. The lower hinge has the door hold roller in the way. I suggest cutting it as low as possible (keep reading). The problem is the dremel won't fit in there and cut low with the door curve. So you need either the flex shaft or a right angle attachment to get in there. Still can't make a nice straight cut so you have to kind of rotate it in. Buy plenty of cutting wheels (in case you missed that). I wound up having to make multiple cuts. Those pins are hard. Wheels get trashed easy once you get 2/3 of the way through
The top of each hinge pin will pop right out no problem once you cut it. The bottom is swaged in and you need to beat it to get it out. It's hard to do that though, not much room. I wound up using the edge of a pry bar on the pin and beating the pry bar. The pin had to be really short for it to work. You only have to get it to move enough so you can get the edge of a flathead screwdriver into the head of the pin and pry it out. Once you're there you are home free. But, it sucks to get there. The rest was easy. I used a floor jack with a piece of cardboard on it and a couple jackstands with cardboard on it. My son held the door. To avoid messing with the wiring, I just moved the door so it was 180 degrees from the closed position. That gave pretty good access to get the roller out and back in as well as knock the bushings out. Oh yeah, make sure you have a punch of some kind to do that. I have a nice big flat one that worked great. Getting the lower pin in with the roller there takes a little manipulation of the door. Getting the hinge pins out took me a couple hours since I had to go to the hardware store and get more dremel wheels (did I mention to have 5 or 6 of those handy). Took about 25 minutes from there to test closing the door. Hopefully I don't need a new dremel, ugh.

I also found the broken wire that was keeping my stock radio from working. At least I have something in there now. Once I fix the locks I will improve the tunes.

Stupid blown out AC, massive ball sweat when I got back from lunch yesterday. The AC in my building works well to over chill them later.

There's a difference on the passenger side. The difficult to remove part is at the top instead of the bottom.

This weekend, I replaced the guts of my driver door. No pics. I was too busy sweating through clothing. I put in a new door lock actuator, window motor, and window bushings. I also put in a new door handle as the old one was bolted on and making all kinds of rattling sounds. Bolts weren't the problem, but it was missing a plastic bushing. Bolts were not entirely tight though. Getting started on the stereo now that I can lock the door and be able to get back in.

If your locks are difficult to open with the key even though the power locks work - door lock actuator.
If your windows get saggy when they are down part way, but go up/down - window motor.
If your windows don't stay straight (can push the back or front down) - window bushings.
Jittery window operation - don't know yet. Mine is still jittery. Rubber/felt window seals I'm guessing?

Got everything from LMR (5.0 resto brand). All seems well right now.

Since the A/C blew up, the compressor started making noises even when it was off. I was going to wait until next year, but now something needed to be done. So I ordered up the LMR A/C conversion kit. It comes with everything except the evaporator. Since the radiator had to be drained, I figured it would be a good time to install the SVE silicon hose kit I had sitting around waiting for a reason to get installed.

Things went pretty smooth during the install. Almost went without a hitch. But, that never happens to me.

First glitch - The instructions for the kit say the compressor is shipped dry and you should put 10oz of oil in the system. The compressor has a sticker on it that says it shipped with 3oz of oil in it. Yep, there is oil in there. I sent an email to LMR on Friday asking for advice, but no response. So, I added 7oz of new oil and installed the system. On Monday I got a response that said I should've poured the oil out and added 10oz of new oil. Doh. Too late.

Second glitch - Some of the smaller silicon hoses shipped too long. I had to test fit and trim them to get everything in right. The 4 smaller hoses are installed in tight spots. Just a 1/4" here and maybe a 1/2" there and it all fit fine. But, made the install time double what it would've taken to install a set of stockers. Especially since they are installed essentially as pairs of hoses and sometimes had to remove both hoses to trim the one that needed it.

So, I wound up here.



Pretty nice. But am I going to get things to work ... Mike's finger says no.

Pulled a vacuum and left it sit. All was good.
Stuck a can on, purged the line, and started the car. Opened the valve and the car starts sputtering. Crap. I don't know what I did, maybe damaged a vacuum line? (the car still isn't idling right). So, I had to get in the car and keep it running while trying to charge the system. Not ideal.
System says 24oz of freon. So, first 12oz can goes in. I switch cans, get back in and run the car some more. Suddenly, a tea kettle sound. Jump out and the pressure release valve on the compressor is spitting out refrigerant and oil. Quick look at the gauges and the high-side meter looks pegged, then the car stalls.

So, I gave up. Unhooked everything and will take the car to a trusted mechanic to have the system looked at. @#$%!!!!!

The next few nights were taken up with kids activities, band rehersals and other family activities. Finally got back out there to clean up. We've had a mouse for about a month now. Got two with the snap traps, but seems like one is on to us. Well ...



First time I've ever thought I was going to throw up while pouring used coolant into a transport container. That is some nasty smell of death there.

After the AC debacle, I've been using the hack manual switch that came with the car to make sure the fan is running while the AC is on.

Here's a shot of the awesome fan switch the PO installed. I have a collection of fan controllers now, but haven't liked any of them enough to install one. I had a Ron Francis controller I liked, but it doesn't have AC control. I think I finally got the one I'm going to use (Flex-A-Lite 31173).



Last week, on a nice cool morning, I noticed the car getting hot while sitting at a light so I flipped on the fan. No cooling, but I got to work OK. I have a habit of flipping the fan on/off after I shut it off since the relay control is not wired to a switched circuit. But, no fan. I carefully drove home a lesser traveled road and made it home without it getting too hot. Since I think I finally have THE fan controller, I ordered the other parts (including some weather pack connectors and crimpers) to do a decent quality install. I parked the car and expect to do the install this weekend.

Today, my wife's brand new 3-week old VW broke down. I quickly pulled the relay out to see if I could figure out why it wasn't working so she could use my truck. I think I figured it out:



Don't think I've ever seen a fuse quite so blown. Impressive.

Yeah, I guess it won't be fixed until this weekend.

Over the last 6 months I've owned the car, I've bought 3 different fan controllers. But the switch in the post above has remained. The first one (Derale) I didn't like the quality and the fact that it needed to be jammed through the radiator. The second one (Ron Francis) had a fixed temperature switch and I wasn't sure it would turn on/off correctly. I would have still tried it because I liked it, but then I figured out I needed the AC to turn the fan on also. So, I bought the 3rd (Flex-A-Lite 31173) along with a switch to override it. I started planning out the install. It's a good sized unit and I was having trouble figuring out where to put it so it would be near what it needed to be near and still have a non-intrusive run for power, AC signal, and override switch wiring. I don't want wires hanging all over the place. I was buying little parts, connectors, wire trying to make everything "right". Then I had an epiphany and just bought this. This might be my best mod yet.



Someday, I'll go back to electric. I sure like being able to access the front of the engine quickly and easily. I plan to upgrade to the SVE radiator/fan setup and then I'll get my new controller installed right.


I was out for a drive today and the car was running pretty rough. I've been trying different things, but ever since the AC upgrade it hasn't been right. It's rough idle and surging while cruising on the highway. Usually the highway driving has been fine, but I even had the idle pretty reasonable prior the the AC upgrade.
Last time I shot the timing it was good, this time it was terrible. Probably running around 18-20 degrees. Grabbed the distributor and turned it. Doh. Thightening the distributor helps ... just a little.

Took the car to an autocross this weekend. It was pretty fun, but far from fast. I think the crappy Fusion tires were the biggest stumbling block for the car. I learned nothing about the actual handling except there will be body roll. For the most part, it was turn the wheel and nothing happens except the tires scream. Let off the gas for weight transfer and the car starts to turn. Press the accelerator and the back wheels start to spin. Drift the car and repeat.
If the tires were even good enough to smoke when the brakes locked or back wheels spun, it would've been a drift show instead of an autocross. The back wheels were clawing for grip pretty much the whole time. When I had to dump throttle to get some weight on the front wheels, they would slide around since there was no weight on them. Once I hit the gas to transfer weight back, it was a game of on/off throttle to control the drift and hope to regain some traction.
I'm used to driving a momentum car (Miata), so I really had to adjust my driving style to a point and shoot style for this car. I picked up 10 seconds between the 1st and last run, but that was still only good enough for 2nd to last overall. Someone showed up with a Crown Vic police cruiser, but couldn't get clean runs. His runs were faster than mine, but he kept getting DQ'ed, I think he was cutting the course. He had some decent rubber on his car though.

On the drive home, the car sounded like an old hoopty. All 8 driver side header bolts were showing threads. I've tightened them back down and ordered some new header gaskets and the stage 8 bolts. Hopefully that'll take care of that problem once and for all. Otherwise, the car stayed together and made it home. I probably won't do another (at least with the Mustang) until next year. Hopefully by then I have 5-lug converted and gotten some good new wider rubber on the car. Then I'll see the real handling of the car. The MM steering shaft did show it's worth though, I was working that wheel.

Even though every time I've stated to think about a radio the car has broken somewhere else, it's time for a radio in this thing. The stock radio occasionally works, but usually not. Sometimes it shows the wrong time, sometimes not. I think I've narrowed it to the radio itself and verified the stock wiring is OK ... I think.

Anyway, on to the install itself. I bought a Kenwood head unit and got the install kit with it. It came with a Metra radio panel. When I test fitted the Metra panel I was unimpressed. It's passable, but not a great fit. I'm looking for ideas for a better fitting setup.
I found this one at LMR, and I do eventually want to put a real temperature gauge into the car. https://lmr.com/item/LRS-04371C/87-93-Mustang-Radio-Gauge-Panel-2-1-16

But, I don't know if I would ever fill all 3 slots with gauges. My amp has an optional subwoofer volume knob that I may use if I find the radio sub control too cumbersome, but I can hide that somewhere else. The only other thing I might want to put into the area is an override switch for a fan controller if I go back to an electric fan. I don't think hacking switches and knobs into plastic instrument covers will look great. Are there any other good options for install kits that might leave me space for an instrument and/or switches?

The experience of failure may have finally made me a little wiser ... maybe. Today I caught one BEFORE it bit me.

I have been having the header bolts back out pretty regularly, so I ordered the "Extreme Exhaust Gasket Kit" from LMR (this one https://lmr.com/item/LRS-9450C-K/1979-95-Mustang-50-58L-Extreme-Exhaust-Gasket-Kit). I was kind of dreading changing the gaskets out, but figured they were probably original and would be falling apart. I got out a light and started examining the thing and it looks like the gaskets are nice and new. So really all I needed to do was replace the bolts. So, I pulled one out. Hmmmmmmmm,



Sure enough, that new bolt won't go in when the headers are fully bolted on. The pipes interfere. Turns out Stage 8 makes both 3/4" and 1" versions. I think I'll get the 3/4" version instead of this and save myself some future hassles.

Agree, I'll get the Stage 8 3/4" bolts instead of the 1" ones that came with the kit. Hopefully they will clear.