project "single dad rebuild"

[ponyboi]

hopefully some of you have read the few things that i have posted here..i really enjoy this site and have managed to acquire alot of knowledge in a short time. thank you to those that have tried to offer help. i know that i most sound pretty desperate, thats probably because i am! my intention with this car(93 GT)isn't to race or anything like that, well not in the near future and i have owned mustangs in the past...i'm so so on the mechanical side of things, right now i'm just a single dad and that is my only car a i use it to shuffle my 5 year old to and from school 160 miles roundtrip. i am just trying to get this car to be somewhat reliable right now. i live near Washington D.C. and was wondering if anyone knew someone or if anyone is willing to bad together and help me to get this car running by next wed. thats when i have my son again. i have no garage or place to work properly on a car. please help me to get the word out. i am hoping that with all of your help this can get done. there is a speed shop 5 minutes from my house with all the parts i will need. i can afford to pay a little bit but i hate getting ripped off by shops. so to any of you that may decide to help me...all i can offer is a couple of cases of beer...mine and my sons thanks...a steak dinner, and the chance to tell a great story. some of the best people i have ever met were mustang people and i'm hoping thats still the case. i can drive anywhere up to about 100 miles from D.C. but i really need to be done asap! love you guys.. and thanks for at least reading this!

 

[sgarlic]

What's in need of repair on the car? Maybe that would help us understand your situation a little better... I would think 160 miles round trip once a week shouldn't be a big deal.

 

[Daggar]

--moved to talk--

 

[5.0 Nostalgia]

Good luck with the build. To keep this technical, what exactly is wrong with the car that needs to be fixed? If I was any closer, I would be glad to help you out. But we can help out with tips and explanations on how to do things. I was able to do a number of projects myself just by getting questions answered here.

Good Luck.

 

[ponyboi]

sorry that i wasn't more clear on the repairs needed. the engine basically needs to be freshn'd up. probably rings, bearings, and a valve job. also its 160 miles every other week from wed- monday to get the kid.

 

[Mr. Rustypwnz]

you are saying you need to rebuild the engine, it can be done, Hmmm Try to find either a wrecked explorer or 5.0 stang ranging from 87-95 (stang) or a 96-01 (explorer) these are a perfect match to what you need this will be faster and more economical than just puting bearings and rings in it especially if you want this done next week, what is exactly wrong with it? smokin? leaking stuff? just no power? Tell us these things and we'll help ya the most we can, I bought a 01 explorer shortblock cheap, I have prolly $1k in my engine, complete with cam heads intake and shortblock, so you can definaltely do it on a budget!!! Just make sure everything is done right, and it will last for a long time!!

Josh

 

[5.0 Nostalgia]

I agree with slow95gt. Try to find a nice used engine out of an explorer or another mustang. It will be a nice drop in project that can be done in a couple of days. Then you can put the original engine on a stand and slowly build a nice motor for a rainy day.

 

[87_stang]

Sorry I cant really help out in person but I am sure you can find someone on here to come help you out. Just give it a few days for someone near you to find this and keep it toward the top. Just swapping engines would probably be the easiest but you can get ring, bearing and all the gaskets in a kit from you're local Advanced aut or Oreilly's for $250-$300 but depending on you're knowledge of this it may be harder w/out help. You can start in the morning and have it done by the next after noon pretty easily if you take your time and keep at it. I would advise you to go ahead and replace the crank while at it $150 at Oreilly's as I have noticed alot of high mileage cars get new bearings and they don't work as the crank is out of round. But anyways, I would guess you can replace the engine w/ used for $700-1000 or freshen it up for about $450, just depends on how much work you want to do. Good luck with it and I hope everything works out for ya.

 

[ponyboi]

thanks for the advice everyone...i just hope i can put it to some good use. i just wanted to be clear on what exactly is wrong so i guess i'll start from the beginning. i purchased this 93 gt from a guy that had to get rid of it..it was letting it go for a great deal that i couldn't pass up.(under a $1000), anyway, the car had a little body damage i was concerned with until i came across an old ford guy that just opened his own shop...he gave me a great deal on the body work to be done in the future. next was the nuts and bolts of the car. the guy who i bought the car from got it from somebody else and that person more than likely performed a few mods to the car. the most notable that i can tell are the cam, which is beefed up and the bbk long tube headers. beyond these two things i have really no clue. so i started the car at the guys house and after a few turns she kicked right over. he explained to me that the car had been sitting for the past few months...so this explained why it took a few trys to turn her over. once she was started she idled nicely, real deep and throatie but after a few minutes it began to smoke from the tailpipes. at first a little and then a lot..really cloudy, but me seeing a diamond in the rough was not turned off. the cobra R rims and the nitto drags were worth what i paid alone. so i revved it up a few times and she sounded great minus the smoke. by this time the car was nice and warm and i noticed smoke getting out from under the hood...i looked and it was coming from the area around the bbk's on the drivers side closest to the firewall. i checked both sides of the heads and headers and all signs of leakage. there was none except for the flange of the header closest to the firewall on the drivers side. there was traces of oil and soot, not alot but it was definitely noticeable in relationship to the rest of the heads and headers on both sides. it was just in this one particular area. now the front of the car is mustang typical and lowered so short of lifting the car to see where it was coming from i couldn't get underneath but later i notices that something was obviously dropping down on the header pipes up top somewhere and the hotter the pipe got the more smoke it made up front. but i'm not sure if the smoke up front is being caused by whatever is leaking down onto the pipe or if its something thats happening with that flange or the head or the ring in that one cylndr. or what. that problem aside..it still throws smoke out the back at the pipes. as it sits and idles, smoke, give it a little gas...smoke. something has got to be getting out of the combustion chamber in order to be coming back through the pipes, right? so my problem lies in where to start the repairs and what to repair. i don't have a garage...its about 15 degrees outside and while i have owned 5.0's in the past, i never really took them past a few bolt on upgrades. i know i could do the work myself and save me a lot of money , i just don't have the proper resources and expertise. a friend offered to perform a compression check and a leak down test for me at least to try and point mye in the right direction but anything short of a head gasket and i have to pull the engine. i'm not convinced that sthe car is a basket case, its definitely worth saving. right now it just seems like everything is against me...the weather, my lack of a proper place to work and most of all my effective knowledge on the repairs. with so little time to get the car done and ready.. thank you to all that actually read this and offered advice. i really appreciate it.

 

[302RollinHard]

compression/leakdown test is a good place to start. If I were you I would do as stated above and find yourself a good junkyard engine if the tests don't pan out. There are plenty out there and they aren't all that expensive. The best part about these cars is you can maintain them as cheaply and efficiently as about anything out there, or you can really put nice parts on them.
I would get the smoking problem taken care of before I dig into too much else. Sounds like you got a good deal.
I will say a AAA membership may not be a bad investment with that much driving with your kid and all. These cars can be very reliable, they can also be a pain in the butt.

 

[cenok is family]

i'm kinda in the same boat as you...my car is in need of a major overhaul. i've already decided on finding a somewhat "low mileage" motor somewhere (under 100k miles), replace EVERY gasket in the thing and then dropping it in. It's the quickest, cheapest, and easiest way i can think to do it. My only question is whether or not i would have to have any machine work done such as re-decking...hopefully not.