Newbie to the forum

KdSaint

New Member
Jul 24, 2007
19
0
0
Florida
Hello all. I'm new to the forum and rather new to the World of Mustangs as well. My stepfather thought it would be a great idea if I learned how to work on cars, so he hooked me up with a nice little project car; a 1990 GT 302 HO. Cool, I thought, until I had to start replacing things. Whomever owned this car before used it as a dragster, a stock dragster from what I can tell. I have no idea what might be inside the engine (i.e. roller rockers, aftermarket camshaft.) All I can tell is that he put on some BBK Shorties, H-pipe with flowmasters and disconnected the AC completely while leaving the compressor. :bang: Anyways, if anyone has some tidbits of knowledge to throw my way, it would be most appreciated. Think I'm going to take the engine as far as it can go mechanically wise, but refrain from putting an Forced induction on it.

Saint
 
Welcome to Stangnet...

Not all of us know how to fix everything, but some of us know how to fix some things with excellence!

If you want to do the fix up & power up thing, make sure that you have some other form of reliable daily driver. That way the stang can sit while your wallet and hands take a rest from the last project that didn't quite get finished on that 3 day weekend. Things always cost more and take longer the first time you do them. Having some other working vehicle makes life easier since it isn't the big crush to get it running for the Monday morning drive to work or class.

Plan on spending some money on tools it you don't already have them. The stang has both metric and american fasteners, so you really need two sets of wrenches. A timing light, digital voltmeter, vacuum gauge, compression tester, fuel pressure test gauge and fuel line coupler tools are some of the test & tuning tools you'll need. Visit the pawn shops and sometimes you can find a deal on tools & test equipment if you stick to well known name brands.

A sheltered work area is almost a must, someplace that you can leave the car in pieces without upsetting anyone. Some guys here have changed a transmission in the parking lot of their apartment in a rainstorm, but they will tell you it wasn't fun. Depending on where you live, a warm dry garage is a nice place to do the winter projects that stangs tend to become.

EFI (Electronic Fuel Injection) Computer - every stang after 85 has or had one: don't let it intimidate you. The computer based EFI systems are not hard to fix and most of the time they tell you what's wrong with the engine. Here's a book that will get you started with how the Ford electronic engine control or "computer" works.

Ford Fuel Injection & Electronic Engine Control 1988-1993 by James Probst :ISBN 0-8376-0301-3.

It's about $20 from Borders.com see http://www.amazon.com/ . Select boo...e patience and though before you get started.
 
You'll learn quickly like I did to listen to Jrichker - he's usually dead on.

Welcome to the forum :nice:

Have you picked out your first project yet? With a new (used) car I like to start with the brake system first to make sure everything is a-oK. I'm glad I did, I found some scary things that had been done to the brakes on my '88GT!
 
Well, thanks for all that; i'll be sure to keep most of it in mind, especially what tools I'll need. Sometimes your basic set of hand tools just doesn't cut it. I'll try putting up some pics but most of them got washed away in a nice little power surge the other week. Gotta love florida. Let's see, I know I changed the front brakes from stock to a 2003 mustang set up, the backs are regular drums. The car has had the five lug conversion done to it. It has an 8.8 rear end with a 3.? gear ratio. I don't really know how to tell you the exact ratio as I've never had the differential cover off. It has a BBK short throw shifter with a clutch that probably needs to be replaced and the T5 tans. Other than that, I don't know what's been done to it mechanically wise. My first project is going to be replacing the battle boxes since the driver side one is junk and held together with more welds than a sky scrapper. Once I get a second car I would like to pull the engine so myself and my stepfather can rebuild it while adding all those wonderful goodies to it that take it from a pony to a stallion.