New to Mustangs from Central VA

I just bought my first Mustang, a 1995 GT (convertible). I live in Central VA. I'm 42 years old and decided to buy the car that came out when I was in high school and really wanted one at the time. So I figured it was finally time to get a toy. I also have a Honda VTX 1300, but with 2 young kids, the motorcycle just doesn't get ridden very often. I'm used to working on the motorcycle, but it is carbureted and has very simple electronics. So working on a "modern" fuel injected vehicle is a little intimidating. I'm having some electrical issues, which I will start a thread on.


A few notes on the car:

• The interior, paint, body, and frame are in great shape.
• It has some mechanical issues from sitting for a long time.
• I put on a new fuel tank, fuel pump, and fuel filter.
• I'm upgrading the front brakes to the Cobra brakes.
• The car needs a new top. The current top is the original and is now 28 years old. If you know of a good place in Central VA that can replace the top, let me know. (don't want to do that job myself)
• The steering also has a lot of play in it, so I'm looking for someone who can diagnose and fix that as well. (I don't want to do this job myself either)

I've learned a lot reading on this site, so I figured I might as well join! Thanks for having me.

I may have failed to mention that the car is not currently running...a minor detail right? I wasn't sure about etiquette here and didn't want to get into technical issues on the Welcome board. Here is some add'l background:

The day I bought the car, it fired right up and I drove it home. But it wasn't running all that great. The idle was a bit erratic, and on the high side (didn't go below 1500 rpm and would rev to 2000 between shifts). It also didn't feel like it was making good power. I had read that the Idle Air Control can lead to high idle, so I decided to throw a part at the problem. This was a month ago, I hadn't read this forum yet, so forgive me After putting the IAC on, and changing the oil, the car wouldn't start. It would crank, but not actually start. That's when I noticed that fuel pump was not priming when I turned the key to the run position.

So...I gave the sniff test to the gas tank it smelled like bad gas, you know that varnish smell. That's what led me to drop the gas tank, I wanted to see what it looked like in there. It wasn't terrible, but did have some light rust, so I went ahead and installed a new tank. I also installed a new fuel pump (Walbro 255 lph) and a new fuel filter. My thinking at the time was that it had a bad fuel pump, and that's why it didn't prime. Well, I guess that was not the problem. Nonetheless, I don't regret it because the gas tank needed to be replaced and the stock fuel pump is now upgraded.


The prior owner had done an engine swap, but I don't have much info on it. It is a rebuilt 302, bored to 306. It has Trick Flow intake, unknown heads and cam. I can see that it has TF 1.6 roller rockers by shining a flashlight in the oil fill. They appeared to have a done a good job. It is clean, and the wiring appears to be neatly done.

Oh, I also bought a remanufactured CCRM from O'Reilly's, but it didn't fix it. You know, throw more parts at the problem So that's where it stands today. In the meantime of trying to figure that out, I'm moving forward with the brake upgrade just to keep the ball rolling on this car that has now become a "project car".

Thanks!

Noobz347 said:

Also... Are the heads aluminum or cast iron?

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I'm not sure. How would I tell? Put a magnet on it?

Here is a pic of the engine bay. I would guess aluminum, because of the intake and rockers. Also has BBK 65mm throttle body.

Noobz347 said:

You can pretty much just look at them:

The one on the bottom is aluminum.

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I'll take a closer look when I get home tonight.

AeroCoupe said:

Have you checked the inertia switch in the trunk?

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Yes, the button is fully depressed.

AeroCoupe said:

Have you checked for codes?

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No, I have not made it that far yet. I will need to purchase the proper tool, as I don't currently have one.

A couple more things to mention. With the CCRM unplugged and the key in the run position:

1. I used a multimeter to confirm 12 volts on Pin 11.
2. I jumped Pin 11 to Pin 5 and the fuel pump came to life.

That's why I thought the CCRM was bad. Obviously, I did not have a full understanding of how things work. But this does confirm that the wiring from the CCRM to the FP and inertia switch is good. I'm not sure if it tells me anything other than that.

Thanks for the links! I will be reading them to see what I can learn and might try next.

I should also mention that when the key is in the Run position, the Check Engine light does not light up. The Low Coolant light does come on, but nothing else.

AeroCoupe said:

This in now way is contributing to your fuel pump issue but thought I would mention it. Just saw the engine bay picture and the one thing that I saw immediately was the breather style oil fill cap on the valve cover. This is not a good thing at all as it will allow air to enter the motor that is unmetered by the MAF. The tube that used to connect the stock filler neck to the throttle body appears to have been removed from the throttle body and filled with epoxy or most likely JB Weld.

I learned this the hard way on my car and fixed it which brought my idle back to controllable. I had the breather style oil fill cap on mine due to the Motorsport tall aluminum valve covers which do not have the connection for the line from the filler neck to the throttle body. To fix it I ordered a Trick Flow filler neck and cap:

https://www.trickflow.com/parts/tfs-51400806

https://www.trickflow.com/parts/tfs-51400807

Then ordered an aluminum 1/4" NPT bung and got a brass 1/4" NPT host barb. Had the filler neck welded to the valve cover and the bung welded to the filler neck (drilled the hole first). Here is a picture of it:

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Thanks for the tip! What you don't see is that there is a second breather on the same cylinder bank, but closer to the cabin, so its not visible in the pic. They had one for the oil fill and another just as a dedicated breather.

AeroCoupe said:

Yeah, get rid of them both as the EEC cannot compensate for the unmetered air they are letting in. Hopefully the PCV system is still intact?

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I'll have to check on that when I get home tonight.