The Black Pearl - Progress Thread

Don't tempt me to change my mind again.

Picking up outer tie rod ends today (the pulling to the left and the dead spot in the middle of the steering needs to be fixed, regardless of my plans for it). Gonna see how much I have left after stuffs to see if I can afford a set of tires for this animal, as well - gonna have them mounted on the painted 10-holes and then keep the turbines around for spares. Although the temptation to toss on a muffler of whatever sort is really eating at me. The tires could wait another week or two, actually, if I can find a Magnaflow (or similar) muffler locally and poke it on there. (The Michelins on there aren't bald at all, they're just the wrong damned size.) If I wind up selling it later, it'll at least make the car more appealing when it doesn't sound like a Crown Vic instead of a Mustang, and it'll make it more enjoyable for me to drive in the meantime.

I've had two sets of Kumho Ecsta 712's in the past on two different cars - '91 Trans Am and '94 Probe GT - and liked 'em in both cases. But I'm not throwing $400+ worth of tires on this car because there's no way in hell I've got that kind of money. I'm buying used - somewhere in the ballpark of $175. Fancy-schmancy tires are reserved for teh Notch (I'm loving the BFG Traction T/A's that are on the back of it right now). As long as they're the proper size and have plenty of tread, I'm not really concerned about the performance aspects of tires on my DD car, just something to get me to/from work safely.

Lynn's giving me hell for wanting to put a different muffler on the car - "If you're going to do it, do it RIGHT!" she says. But sorry, I don't have $500+ to blow on a full exhaust setup on the car to convert it to duals ... aside from the fact that it really wouldn't gain me much performance over a 2.5" single outlet, anyway. (Remember, I'm running CFI, so I can only push so much air through the thing, regardless of how much I open up the exhaust.) But again, making the exhaust AUDIBLE will not only make the car more appealing later on, but will make me smile in the meantime, and switching to duals isn't necessary to accomplish that. I'm hoping to do this as cheaply as possible, as this will be about the only actual upgrade I'll have spent anything on for the car. (The 3G only cost me about $40 total and the poly bushings were less than $30, and both of those stock parts were in need of replacement, anyhow.)

I know either setup will look somewhat retarded, so I'm just wondering what would look LESS retarded: a single side-exit, or a single LX-style (non-stainless) tailpipe.

For reference, here's what the single side-outlet would look like (just imagine it on a four-eye hatch instead of an Aero notch):

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On a side note, completely aside from the exhaust crap, I'm thinking of swapping out the cracked, scuffed-up, and hazing-over stock lenses I have on the '84 for the LX tail lenses I have sitting in the closet leftover from Lynn's Capri de-conversion. Yea or nay?

Maybe I should put both items up on two separate poll threads...?

New outer tie rod ends are on. One pair by McQuay-Norris (no relation to Chuck Norris, unfortunately) from Checker for $16 apiece. Screwed 'em on, counted threads, and made minor adjustments by eyeball to get it as close as I could. Surprisingly, the thing is not only as tight and as responsive as teh Notch (which also has all-new front-end parts), I actually got the alignment close enough that it drives straight and the steering wheel is almost perfectly centered. Still got to run it in for an alignment, but it'll be interesting to see exactly how far off I was from dead-on just by counting threads and tweaking it a bit by eye.

Hopefully I can get it in to the local shop tomorrow morning - waking up before 7am SUCKS for me - and if so, I might get a chance to throw on a set of tires tomorrow and be all set as far as that goes. Going to try farting around with the speedo cable a bit to see if I can get it to stop making that damned squeaky noise and to get the needle to stop bouncing under 30 MPH.

Anyone know if Flowmaster 44 Series mufflers have the same amount of drone as (or worse than) their 40 Series muffs? They sound nice on the YouTube clips I've heard, but if they're as drone-prone as the regular 40 Series, then I don't want anything to do with 'em...

stykthyn said:

single gt tailpipe with a turndown right at the bumper.kind of like a 4 cyl car.

there is a 4 banger here that has a single lx tip and it looks retarded. if i can get a pic ill put it up to show you.

Click to expand...

I was considering a GT tailpipe at one point until I realized it would basically look like a screwed-up LX tail. It'll be completely visible from behind the rear tire to the tip. It'd be nice if someone still made a stock-style tailpipe for the '79-'84 Mustangs with single exhaust, but every one of them I've looked up online from manufacturers like Walker/Dynomax show that fake dual setup (Y-pipe splitting off to two mufflers). I don't wanna spend the kind of coin it would take to have a muffler shop bend up a custom tailpipe, because at that point it'd be enough money that I may as well just convert to duals. Trying to keep this as cheap as possible.

The more I think about it, the side-exit idea wouldn't be too cool with a single outlet. I've got pretty good ground clearance with the stock exhaust right now, and the side-exit setup cuts clearance by about 2", and since we have speed bumps around where I live ... nah. So, it's gonna have to be a rear-exit of some kind ... and I'm leaning towards the single LX tail. Again, not looking to put on a stainless tail, just a cheap aluminized one, so I wonder if painting it black with some high-temp paint would help it not to stand out so much...?

Got the front end aligned today (fiddy bucks). Drives straight n' true like a brand-new Fox.

Got the steering wheel horn button to fit on properly now by removing that "nub" on the end of the steering shaft that was preventing it from seating on there all the way. (Got tired of the thing randomly popping off when I was turning.) Also started raiding the spare room for old parts again to see if anything could be made useful. Lynn's LX tails left over from her Capri de-conversion project have a new home now.

Crappy old scuffed-up, flaking-off, cracked-all-to-hell stock tails:

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And my not-period-appropriate-but-who-gives-a-damn-they-aren't-all-busted-up-and-they-were-free LX tails:

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Was going to get tires today, but they don't have a set of used tires in a matched set or even two matched pairs in the size I'm looking for (225/60/R15). Guess I'll just wait and check back next weekend and see if they get anything different in stock.

I'm bored, the car is clean, and I have fresh batteries. Time fer sum pitchers, boys n 'girls!

I cleaned 'er up and realized I don't have any current pics of the thing as it sits when it's not filthy. So, with the new tail lenses, here it be:

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With the groovy 3G alt in there:

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My ghetto-riffic overflow canister and washer reservoir/universal washer fluid pump setup, in addition to my (probably useless) mounting of the transmission cooler (I figure, even if it doesn't cool things any better than it could, at least it isn't making the fluid any hotter):

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The chunk missing from the top of the timing cover that the prior owner apparently broke off while replacing the water pump. They were semi-smart enough to put a washer and nut on the back of it to (I guess) help sammich the water pump's backing plate to the pump housing, but as you can see it's got a mild leak going on and loses about 1/2 a quart every week. Leaves dried-up goopy green snot all over the underside of the pump, the timing pointer, and the lower radiator hose.

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Two things I HATE about this car at present - the external fuel pump and the stupid undersized single muffler some moron put on this car:

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Notice how it downsizes the pipe diameter by at least 1/4" when it goes from the flow tube to the muffler? Ugh. Peoples is so stoopid...

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The part where the crossover portion of my stock Y-pipe either got squashed by road debris at some point in history, or where it (I guess) is crimped from the factory to make room for the tranny bellhousing. This has GOT to be choking things quite a bit - it's probably only like 1.5" thick in the middle.

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You know your motor mounts are shot when your fan sits this far down in the shroud...

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...and it's so far down you have to cut this much off the bottom half just to make the damned thing clear so it's not hitting the shroud like a buzzsaw.

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