So its been a while since Ive posted. Ive recently caught the bug again to get my red/black 93 back on the street/strip, its basically been sitting for 15+ years in the garage, under a cover. As you can imagine its got some issues:
*Rear main leak
*coolant leak (while sitting collecting in the same drip pan as the oil from the rear main)
*phantom power draw that will kill a battery if left sitting and connected (all the electrical seem to work fine when the truck is running)
*loud vacuum leak that may be more that just a vacuum line
*possible exhaust leaks, but this could be in my head
*It runs like crap, especially on cold start. This is pretty certainly due to poor tuning
*Would like to reinstall the front sway bar
I PM'ed Jamie and he wisely suggesting posting to the group for the collective wisdom. So here I am. Honestly, I've been thinking of taking it somewhere and having all the work done and sucking up the (large) bill just to be done with it, but surprisingly few shops, in MI at least, will touch it. Its in that weird to old so we cant work on it, but to new for the muscle cars shops.
About the truck: Its a stock block stroker (now 395"), forged domed pistons I bought off of Jeff S. many years ago, a custom roller cam, Canfield heads, welded and ported GT40 intake (bad, bad decision), 70mm body, PMAS Mass-air conversion using a Mustang EEC-IV w/75mm meter, Stock trans w/shift kit, Baumann TCS and custom converter, Custom external fuel system, 30lb injectors? (red top), and exhaust from Dave P (modified long tubes and side exist exhaust. Suspension is a 3/4 drop w/Bilstein shocks and LFP long bars.
https://share.icloud.com/photos/0WNrY6WGkJ73ewm_EXDQTXc8w
https://share.icloud.com/photos/0-W6yFsOD0O1QMqEqacaMGGxg
My goal was/is running 12's on drag radials NA (maybe mid 11's boosted eventually).
I've been concerned the raised ports on the Canfield heads might be an issue, causing fit issues with the exhaust, and Im not sure the angle of the heads 100% matches the stock lower intake. TFS heads might (and intake?) be a worthwhile swap.
A more modern EFI (Holley, or PimpxShift) might be a wise investment. Almost nobody still tunes EEC-IV professionally. I know there are options if you want to tune yourself. I had the fuel system done, and Im not really happy with some parts of how they ran the lines
The good:
1. The body, interior, rear end, driveshaft, trans and bottom end are all good as far as I know. Its a very solid truck, as it should be for having only 30k miles.
2. The truck runs and is drivable
The bad:
1. See aabove
2. Since its been many years since Ive wrenched on this thing, I feel a bit nervous about doing the work. I did most of it when I was younger, was even a certified mechanic for a short time when I was young, but the past (many) years I've either been playing with basically stock "sport cars" for (road) track days, or various Harleys with bolt on's (shocks, stage 1 kit, mufflers, trim, etc), so no real wrenching.
Based on what you're reading, what do you think I should do? What would you do if it was your truck?
*Rear main leak
*coolant leak (while sitting collecting in the same drip pan as the oil from the rear main)
*phantom power draw that will kill a battery if left sitting and connected (all the electrical seem to work fine when the truck is running)
*loud vacuum leak that may be more that just a vacuum line
*possible exhaust leaks, but this could be in my head
*It runs like crap, especially on cold start. This is pretty certainly due to poor tuning
*Would like to reinstall the front sway bar
I PM'ed Jamie and he wisely suggesting posting to the group for the collective wisdom. So here I am. Honestly, I've been thinking of taking it somewhere and having all the work done and sucking up the (large) bill just to be done with it, but surprisingly few shops, in MI at least, will touch it. Its in that weird to old so we cant work on it, but to new for the muscle cars shops.
About the truck: Its a stock block stroker (now 395"), forged domed pistons I bought off of Jeff S. many years ago, a custom roller cam, Canfield heads, welded and ported GT40 intake (bad, bad decision), 70mm body, PMAS Mass-air conversion using a Mustang EEC-IV w/75mm meter, Stock trans w/shift kit, Baumann TCS and custom converter, Custom external fuel system, 30lb injectors? (red top), and exhaust from Dave P (modified long tubes and side exist exhaust. Suspension is a 3/4 drop w/Bilstein shocks and LFP long bars.
https://share.icloud.com/photos/0WNrY6WGkJ73ewm_EXDQTXc8w
https://share.icloud.com/photos/0-W6yFsOD0O1QMqEqacaMGGxg
My goal was/is running 12's on drag radials NA (maybe mid 11's boosted eventually).
I've been concerned the raised ports on the Canfield heads might be an issue, causing fit issues with the exhaust, and Im not sure the angle of the heads 100% matches the stock lower intake. TFS heads might (and intake?) be a worthwhile swap.
A more modern EFI (Holley, or PimpxShift) might be a wise investment. Almost nobody still tunes EEC-IV professionally. I know there are options if you want to tune yourself. I had the fuel system done, and Im not really happy with some parts of how they ran the lines
The good:
1. The body, interior, rear end, driveshaft, trans and bottom end are all good as far as I know. Its a very solid truck, as it should be for having only 30k miles.
2. The truck runs and is drivable
The bad:
1. See aabove
2. Since its been many years since Ive wrenched on this thing, I feel a bit nervous about doing the work. I did most of it when I was younger, was even a certified mechanic for a short time when I was young, but the past (many) years I've either been playing with basically stock "sport cars" for (road) track days, or various Harleys with bolt on's (shocks, stage 1 kit, mufflers, trim, etc), so no real wrenching.
Based on what you're reading, what do you think I should do? What would you do if it was your truck?
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