I really want to work on my 'stang...but at the moment i'm totally broke. What are some things i could do just for fun, and to make me not so bored. I was thinking I may start to polish parts in my engine bay...is this hard/time consuming? Any advice?

 

For performance... I'd ditch the air silencer if it hasn't already been done, and bump the ignition timing to 14* if you don't mind running premium fuel...

As for polishing, its not hard but it certainly is time consuming. Much faster with a dremel and some cartridge rolls... then break out the 1000, then 1500, then 2000 grit and then hit it with polishing compound.

 

i dont run premium with 14* of timing and it doesnt ping under acceleration

 

Well right now I have the timing at 12* running premium. I already took the silencer out and bypassed the air pump. The pump and everythings still in there right now...so maybe ill take all that out when I get some time. Only thing is I dont know what to do with the part that connects to the back of the heads. Do i just gotta plug them holes somehow?

 

take your smog pump out, plug up everything you see there, and i'd remove that egr, basicly anything smog legal i'd get rid of.... and i would put the timing to 14ish... im running mine around 16 with premium... and set the TPS to .98-.99....... anything other then that costs $$$

 

Those tubes that go to the back of the heads...well...let me tell you what...


You can take them off using a 13mm or 1/2 inch wrench and racthet/socket. Then since you're obviously keeping the heads, you need to cut the tubes off flush to the blocks that were bolted to the heads. Next, you need to clean all the carbon out of the innards of the block so that it won't burst into flames when you fill weld the blocks. Once they're filled up with weld (or you may be able to use high temp JB weld or something if you can't use a welder), bolt them back on after really cleaning the mating surfaces really well so they don't leak. I didn't use any gaskets, cause Ford didn't either, but I also cleaned them well. You could use high temp RTV or something for insurance I guess. But that's what you can do for the smog injection tubes.

The EGR valve: you need to have access to some scrap metal and be able to cut it to shape for the operation on removing the EGR. Simple...unbolt the EGR valve from the throttle body, and cut a decent gauged piece of metal to the shape of the valve area and drill holes for where the bolts go through. Unplug any of the wiring that the EGR used. My 86 doesn't have a check engine light so I don't know of it tripped any codes until I hook scan tool to it, so you may have to get an EGR eliminator to keep from getting code, which could cost some money, but it was free for me besides the time involved.

 

actually u can take the tubes out form behind the heads and juss plug them up with the same size bolt and some thread seeler

 

it won't cost you any money to go through the car and remove all the dead weight that is there in the sound deadening materials under the carpets and behind the plastic side panels. all you need is a screwdriver, a heat gun, and some putty knives to scrape up the stuff thats glued down, the stuff in the side panesl is loose, all you do is pull it out once you get it uncovered. you can remove the rear seats easily enough to get it out from under and behind them and if you don't need em, leave them out too! every pound of dead weight you remove will increase performance and save some gas too!