Progress Thread Komo's 1990 GT - Parts Gathering Purgatory & Home Remodel

[nickyb]

So for my birthday, since my wife despises the large paint blemish on my hood, she is on board with me having the hood painted as to not be embarrassed driving in it. I was thinking, since it needs to be painted anyways, maybe now is the time to get a cowl hood. I'm really liking the Dynacorn steel 2" cowl hood with Saleen style hood vents. Price is reasonable around the $550-650 range depending on where you look.

However, the freight charges are astronomical. I can even have it shipped to my work which is a commercial building with a full on shipping/loading dock. BUT, does anyone have any good ideas on how i can even search if there is a place i could buy and pick it up in person? San Diego doesn't seem to have the best car scene, not a lot of shops that i know of down here. The $550 hood price turns into $950 once tax/shipping is applied. I did go to the Dynacorn website and filled out a 'wishlist' thing that says they will reach out to distributors or whatever. Maybe thats the best i can do.

If all-in (without paint) a new hood must be close to a grand, i'll probably keep my stock hood and just have it painted. I was hoping to get something that will help with heat dissipation, but if thats not in the financial cards then so be it.

So for my birthday, since my wife despises the large paint blemish on my hood, she is on board with me having the hood painted as to not be embarrassed driving in it. I was thinking, since it needs to be painted anyways, maybe now is the time to get a cowl hood. I'm really liking the Dynacorn steel 2" cowl hood with Saleen style hood vents. Price is reasonable around the $550-650 range depending on where you look.

However, the freight charges are astronomical. I can even have it shipped to my work which is a commercial building with a full on shipping/loading dock. BUT, does anyone have any good ideas on how i can even search if there is a place i could buy and pick it up in person? San Diego doesn't seem to have the best car scene, not a lot of shops that i know of down here. The $550 hood price turns into $950 once tax/shipping is applied. I did go to the Dynacorn website and filled out a 'wishlist' thing that says they will reach out to distributors or whatever. Maybe thats the best i can do.

If all-in (without paint) a new hood must be close to a grand, i'll probably keep my stock hood and just have it painted. I was hoping to get something that will help with heat dissipation, but if thats not in the financial cards then so be it.

So for my birthday, since my wife despises the large paint blemish on my hood, she is on board with me having the hood painted as to not be embarrassed driving in it. I was thinking, since it needs to be painted anyways, maybe now is the time to get a cowl hood. I'm really liking the Dynacorn steel 2" cowl hood with Saleen style hood vents. Price is reasonable around the $550-650 range depending on where you look.

However, the freight charges are astronomical. I can even have it shipped to my work which is a commercial building with a full on shipping/loading dock. BUT, does anyone have any good ideas on how i can even search if there is a place i could buy and pick it up in person? San Diego doesn't seem to have the best car scene, not a lot of shops that i know of down here. The $550 hood price turns into $950 once tax/shipping is applied. I did go to the Dynacorn website and filled out a 'wishlist' thing that says they will reach out to distributors or whatever. Maybe thats the best i can do.

If all-in (without paint) a new hood must be close to a grand, i'll probably keep my stock hood and just have it painted. I was hoping to get something that will help with heat dissipation, but if thats not in the financial cards then so be it.

So for my birthday, since my wife despises the large paint blemish on my hood, she is on board with me having the hood painted as to not be embarrassed driving in it. I was thinking, since it needs to be painted anyways, maybe now is the time to get a cowl hood. I'm really liking the Dynacorn steel 2" cowl hood with Saleen style hood vents. Price is reasonable around the $550-650 range depending on where you look.

However, the freight charges are astronomical. I can even have it shipped to my work which is a commercial building with a full on shipping/loading dock. BUT, does anyone have any good ideas on how i can even search if there is a place i could buy and pick it up in person? San Diego doesn't seem to have the best car scene, not a lot of shops that i know of down here. The $550 hood price turns into $950 once tax/shipping is applied. I did go to the Dynacorn website and filled out a 'wishlist' thing that says they will reach out to distributors or whatever. Maybe thats the best i can do.

If all-in (without paint) a new hood must be close to a grand, i'll probably keep my stock hood and just have it painted. I was hoping to get something that will help with heat dissipation, but if thats not in the financial cards then so be it.

If you want to get rid of some heat you could cut holes in the stock hood and rivet some louvers on it, I believe I watched a car show that did just that on a fox.

 

[gkomo]

If you want to get rid of some heat you could cut holes in the stock hood and rivet some louvers on it, I believe I watched a car show that did just that on a fox.

I’ve definitely thought about that. Haven’t found the right louvres to use yet though. Would be the most cost effective route.

 

[gkomo]

Ok making good progress. Got the throttle body and EGR spacer separated from the intake. Thank you @AeroCoupe for the post, because that’s exactly the method that ended up working to get the EGR spacer off the intake. Spinning the last stud out actually pulled the EGR spacer away, then I had to punch out the stuck in stud. The studs were soooo corroded!









Got all the mating surfaces free of old gaskets, now just need to clean up all the built up coolant and/or carbon build up out from inside of everything. Rear of the TB blade is pretty nasty!

Anything I can put on the new studs to keep them from corroding or no?

 

[Noobz347]

Ok making good progress. Got the throttle body and EGR spacer separated from the intake. Thank you @AeroCoupe for the post, because that’s exactly the method that ended up working to get the EGR spacer off the intake. Spinning the last stud out actually pulled the EGR spacer away, then I had to punch out the stuck in stud. The studs were soooo corroded!









Got all the mating surfaces free of old gaskets, now just need to clean up all the built up coolant and/or carbon build up out from inside of everything. Rear of the TB blade is pretty nasty!

Anything I can put on the new studs to keep them from corroding or no?

You can always use Loctite Blue. It has a corrosion preventative in it.

 

[AeroCoupe]

Anti-seize works wonders and retorquing the nuts on the studs after a couple of head cycles will keep the water off the studs.

Louvers:

Race Louvers - Mustang Fox Hood Louvers & Fender Vents

Wind tunnel tested hybrid hood & fender extractors. Maximum cooling, maximum front downforce, best performing.

racelouvers.com

 

[gkomo]

Perfect, I have plenty of antisieze on hand. Only a little bit of blue loctite.

So tonight I was able to clean out a ton of gunk in the throttle body, EGR spacer and the opening of the intake. Not going for full on bead blasting quality, just getting what I can.

Then I prepped the intake for paint (degreased, sanded, scotch pad for hard to reach crevices, cleaned, and wiped everything down with alcohol). I’m sure better prep would be ideal but we’ll see how this goes. Sprayed the first coat of same color as the valve covers. Will do 2 more coats then 2 coats of clear.



My plan is to have the plaque the same color as the intake then I’ll fill in the letting with some sort of high temp black paint (or something) I can squirt.

If it sucks, I’ll deal with it later.

 

[General karthief]

So I got the drivers side valve cover loosely on with all the bolts. How can one be like 100% sure the gasket is seated correctly?

When it doesn't leak?
But that's just me

 

[gkomo]

When it doesn't leak?
But that's just me

Ah yes yes… I knew I was missing something!

Why can’t they make gaskets that like lock in place and don’t move around?

 

[Noobz347]

Why can’t they make gaskets that like lock in place and don’t move around?

Because it was made by man.

If we had that kind of technology we'd have used it our women already.

 

[General karthief]

Because it was made by man.

If we had that kind of technology we'd have used it our women already.

We have the technology,
WD-40 and Duct Tape
If it doesn't move and it should, use WD-40
If it moves and it shouldn't, use Duct Tape
This works with women too.......

 

[Noobz347]

I'm pretty sure there is some law against duct taping women without some sort of thousand page agreement signed in blood.


Now, I've tried the WD-40 thing and it works pretty good.

Comes with some noise though. Doesn't stop all the squeaking like with metal objects.

 

[gkomo]

I think I found out why I’m throwing code 44 (I think it was 44… need to look back in my thread):

*Thank you to whomever suggested the air pump crossover tube*

Passenger side (completely clogged):



Drivers side not as bad:



Old vs new:



Of course it couldn’t just be the tube. The hole in the head was completely clogged too, had to hold a mirror while digging out carbon buildup:

Before:



After:



Again, drivers side didn’t look as bad but I cleaned out the head holes as best I could. I basically used a really small flat head screw driver and poked and scraped the gunk out as best I could. Even with the mirror I can’t exactly see deep into the holes, but the screw driver freely went in as far as I could get it. Hopefully that buys me enough time not throwing a code before I swap heads anyways.

Wrapped up by getting the new tube in place but not yet bolted down.

 

[limp]

I had a Merkur XR4ti for about 10 years as a beater car... The last couple of years I had it it would not idle well.. Always idling high...
the guy I sold it to ( these cars have a following) had it fixed the next day.. A plugged up vacuum line.....

 

[General karthief]

You're not gonna reuse that thrashed EGR spacer are you?
Gotta be a ton of those that are in better shape, I've got a couple

 

[gkomo]

You're not gonna reuse that thrashed EGR spacer are you?
Gotta be a ton of those that are in better shape, I've got a couple

Since i took the photo i cleaned it up pretty good, and wire brushed the tubes where the hoses connect to. But to answer your question, yes i was going to reuse it, lol

All will get replaced when i go with a larger TB down the road.

 

[Trogdor]

Ah yes yes… I knew I was missing something!

Why can’t they make gaskets that like lock in place and don’t move around?

LS1?

 

[gkomo]

Got the air crossover tube installed and hooked back up to the smog pump tonight. Was kind of a pain in the ass. The one I bought came with gaskets, so lining up/holding the tube with one hand while trying to find the bolt hole to screw into with the other hand while the gasket is just hanging on the bolt, in the already super tight space was difficult. To get the gasket to line up properly (because it kinda just dangles there on the bolt) I got the tube ends like almost tight, then positioned the gasket with one finger, then held the tube tight against the head while tightening the bolt down.

I did the passenger side first because you can hold that side of the tube easier. Once one side is screwed in even a little bit, it makes the other side much easier to do.

 

[Noobz347]

I'm going to be [that] guy.

 

[gkomo]

I actually thought about it but I already positioned the tube where it needed to go loosely last night. Did not think I could even get a bottle of glue down there if I wanted to.

If I ever have to do it again I would glue/RTV the gaskets on first for sure.

 

[gkomo]

Got the intake back on and all the vacuum lines (except an easy one going out the front) and still need to connect the PCV hose. Bolts torqued to 21ft/lb. I think the intake turned out great, paint-wise.

My EGR spacer is drying so once that’s good I will get that put back on. Still need to do the passenger side valve cover gasket but it looks pretty easy to do without the intake tube and TB hooked up.