Hello All, some questions and some help needed
03-06-2011, 12:19 AM
#1
Thread Starter
Join Date: Mar 2011
Location: NY
Posts: 12
Hello All, some questions and some help needed
Hello All,
My name is Mike and last week I purchased a 1988 GT 5spd Convertible, and like any "new" car I have found out some issues that weren't disclosed by the previous owner, lol. I've been looking for an 87 to 93 convertible for a long time, I am a child of the late 80's early 90's and its the car I grew up lusting after. I've been looking at this forum and a couple of others looking for info and ideas before and since I bought my mustang and by far this forum seems to be the most down to earth and active group. I am hoping you guys can help, I have done a lot of searching on the forums already, but I may have missed something, any help or ideas you guys can offer would be greatly appreciated.
The car history so you get an idea of where I'm starting from:
The seller, a high school kid, told me that he was the third owner, and he knows both the previous owners, and that the motor is bone stock and was his daily driver. Also it supposedly has a legit 91k miles. He did disclose that the tranny grinds going into 3rd and 4th, and may need a rebuild.
When I looked over the car it rode well and the tranny shifts fine as long as your not getting into it heavy, which is fine for me at the moment as it will be my only ride for a little while, so i wont be beating on it.
I don't have any crazy plans for the car. I am not looking to race, I want something that can be a daily driver, and eventually cleaned up and restored.
I've had the car on the road for 2 days now, and this is what I've found so far:
The Good:
The Bad:
My name is Mike and last week I purchased a 1988 GT 5spd Convertible, and like any "new" car I have found out some issues that weren't disclosed by the previous owner, lol. I've been looking for an 87 to 93 convertible for a long time, I am a child of the late 80's early 90's and its the car I grew up lusting after. I've been looking at this forum and a couple of others looking for info and ideas before and since I bought my mustang and by far this forum seems to be the most down to earth and active group. I am hoping you guys can help, I have done a lot of searching on the forums already, but I may have missed something, any help or ideas you guys can offer would be greatly appreciated.
The car history so you get an idea of where I'm starting from:
The seller, a high school kid, told me that he was the third owner, and he knows both the previous owners, and that the motor is bone stock and was his daily driver. Also it supposedly has a legit 91k miles. He did disclose that the tranny grinds going into 3rd and 4th, and may need a rebuild.
When I looked over the car it rode well and the tranny shifts fine as long as your not getting into it heavy, which is fine for me at the moment as it will be my only ride for a little while, so i wont be beating on it.
I don't have any crazy plans for the car. I am not looking to race, I want something that can be a daily driver, and eventually cleaned up and restored.
I've had the car on the road for 2 days now, and this is what I've found so far:
The Good:
it is a very solid car, the body is straight and complete
It has an LX (can see the old badging, apparently was originally black) trunk lid with luggage rack not gt trunk/wing
The floors underneath are clean, it must have been in a garage most of its life.
The top though far from new does not leak, and the top and all windows work.
Came with a clean set of pony rims.
It has an LX (can see the old badging, apparently was originally black) trunk lid with luggage rack not gt trunk/wing
The floors underneath are clean, it must have been in a garage most of its life.
The top though far from new does not leak, and the top and all windows work.
Came with a clean set of pony rims.
The Bad:
It's at best a 60ft'er, Someone apparently sprayed a single coat of some kind of black paint over the original red exterior, there are thin spots and missed spots, including the the door jambs.
The ONLY rust I have found on the car so far is at the bottom of the passenger strut tower on the inside of the Engine bay, its not gone but it looks like the top most layer is flaking away. I'm not sure how serious it is or if it might be related to another issue by maybe weakening the structure.
When the car gets to 50+ on the speedo, it gets a shake that I can feel in the steering wheel, and it feels like its coming from the front passenger side tire. The tire on that side does look like it has excessive wear on the outside edge like it was driven semi flat. Searching people have noted maybe a bad tire/ or balancing, but can a weak strut tower cause this? Just want to make sure the car is safe
The heater core has been bypassed, and is missing one of the outlets (going to try to replace tomorrow), im in New York and man I need a heater and tomorrow is going to be rainy but 50+ degrees.
I cant tell if the the speedometer/odometer are right, when driving on a 55mph rd with traffic in front of me my speedometer says about 45mph, leading me to believe that the rearend was changed at some point, but it definitily seems to run out of gear quickly when driving.
Based on the trip meter, after I filled it i got only 125miles and now the pointer is at a third tank, where I started when I filled it yesterday. Does 10mpg sound right?
Perhaps the biggest issue is the temperature gauge scares the crap out of me. It seems to operate normally, say for 10 to 15mins if the car is cold, with the needle coming to rest usually at the slightly less than half way point. After 15mins it may stay in the same spot (my longest ride being about 50mins so far one way, with traffic lights and stop signs and some open driving at no more than 55mph). What it does more often is start to in the best way i can describe it climb up in stages. It will go up in about quarter inch stages, where it will hover for a few mins with the needle rising and falling in say about 10 seconds, and it will eventually go all the way to the red, and then drop back to the halfway point. It happens to fast I think to be an accurate reading of the coolant temperature. Of course when I saw that I checked fluids and even popped the release on the radiator cap expecting to find trouble, but everything was normal, the fluid didnt appear to be excessively hot and the motor ran like it should. The fluid was nice and bright green, I did top off the reservoir to hot full line. The motor does not appear to be giving me any sign that its actually over heating. The motor doesnt appear to be burning oil or coolant, no weird smells maybe a little rich. I unfortunately do not have access to any other kind of thermometer to read the engine temp. I read that there are some common problems with the gauges in the fox body mustangs, but is this a typical type problem and does it mean I should find another cluster?
Additional information:
The emissions system appears to have been completely bypassed. The exhaust appears to be aftermarket headers into straight pipes with mufflers, no cats. The check engine light is not on. The smog pump is physically there but has been bypassed with a smaller belt, but all the lines to the pump and vacuum lines are still installed. The tensioner how ever sits VERY close to the water pump pulley, and I cant tell how close the belt is to hitting its self but its DAMN close but does not appear to be rubbing, any ideas there? I did do some searching and it does appear based on diagrams posted here that it is routed the right way.
Today I did the standard tune up (plugs wires cap rotors). It surges a little bit at idle if cold, and if i dont let it warm up it does hesitate when trying to accelerate if not warm, but its brief and after its warm the power and response are there no hesitation. I replaced the temperature sending unit. It looked pretty fresh I think at least one of the previous owners tried finding fixing the issue. I cant be sure, but it looks like the water pump has been replaced at some point.
I'm sorry for the very long winded post I'm hoping the details will help, but I thank those of you who read it and can offer any insight. I dont have a lot of money or tools and I am very recently unemployed, so any ideas that can save me money or eliminate simple causes would help a lot.
Thank you,
Mike
The ONLY rust I have found on the car so far is at the bottom of the passenger strut tower on the inside of the Engine bay, its not gone but it looks like the top most layer is flaking away. I'm not sure how serious it is or if it might be related to another issue by maybe weakening the structure.
When the car gets to 50+ on the speedo, it gets a shake that I can feel in the steering wheel, and it feels like its coming from the front passenger side tire. The tire on that side does look like it has excessive wear on the outside edge like it was driven semi flat. Searching people have noted maybe a bad tire/ or balancing, but can a weak strut tower cause this? Just want to make sure the car is safe
The heater core has been bypassed, and is missing one of the outlets (going to try to replace tomorrow), im in New York and man I need a heater and tomorrow is going to be rainy but 50+ degrees.
I cant tell if the the speedometer/odometer are right, when driving on a 55mph rd with traffic in front of me my speedometer says about 45mph, leading me to believe that the rearend was changed at some point, but it definitily seems to run out of gear quickly when driving.
Based on the trip meter, after I filled it i got only 125miles and now the pointer is at a third tank, where I started when I filled it yesterday. Does 10mpg sound right?
Perhaps the biggest issue is the temperature gauge scares the crap out of me. It seems to operate normally, say for 10 to 15mins if the car is cold, with the needle coming to rest usually at the slightly less than half way point. After 15mins it may stay in the same spot (my longest ride being about 50mins so far one way, with traffic lights and stop signs and some open driving at no more than 55mph). What it does more often is start to in the best way i can describe it climb up in stages. It will go up in about quarter inch stages, where it will hover for a few mins with the needle rising and falling in say about 10 seconds, and it will eventually go all the way to the red, and then drop back to the halfway point. It happens to fast I think to be an accurate reading of the coolant temperature. Of course when I saw that I checked fluids and even popped the release on the radiator cap expecting to find trouble, but everything was normal, the fluid didnt appear to be excessively hot and the motor ran like it should. The fluid was nice and bright green, I did top off the reservoir to hot full line. The motor does not appear to be giving me any sign that its actually over heating. The motor doesnt appear to be burning oil or coolant, no weird smells maybe a little rich. I unfortunately do not have access to any other kind of thermometer to read the engine temp. I read that there are some common problems with the gauges in the fox body mustangs, but is this a typical type problem and does it mean I should find another cluster?
Additional information:
The emissions system appears to have been completely bypassed. The exhaust appears to be aftermarket headers into straight pipes with mufflers, no cats. The check engine light is not on. The smog pump is physically there but has been bypassed with a smaller belt, but all the lines to the pump and vacuum lines are still installed. The tensioner how ever sits VERY close to the water pump pulley, and I cant tell how close the belt is to hitting its self but its DAMN close but does not appear to be rubbing, any ideas there? I did do some searching and it does appear based on diagrams posted here that it is routed the right way.
Today I did the standard tune up (plugs wires cap rotors). It surges a little bit at idle if cold, and if i dont let it warm up it does hesitate when trying to accelerate if not warm, but its brief and after its warm the power and response are there no hesitation. I replaced the temperature sending unit. It looked pretty fresh I think at least one of the previous owners tried finding fixing the issue. I cant be sure, but it looks like the water pump has been replaced at some point.
I'm sorry for the very long winded post I'm hoping the details will help, but I thank those of you who read it and can offer any insight. I dont have a lot of money or tools and I am very recently unemployed, so any ideas that can save me money or eliminate simple causes would help a lot.
Thank you,
Mike
03-08-2011, 11:40 AM
#4
Thread Starter
Join Date: Mar 2011
Location: NY
Posts: 12
Sorry for the long post before, it was late and I was frustrated/maybe too much captain in me, but I've been working on my temperature gauge issue.
I replaced the thermostat, and the one that came out of it was new and shiny and 195 degree thermostat, but it had something unusual on it and the gasket, it wasnt the typical RTV sealer im used to seeing but a white almost plastic like where it was thin and a little rubbery, effectively gluing the gasket and the thermostat to the upper water neck. I think it might have been put on TOO generously and may have been messing up the thermostat.
I put the new one in, nice and cleanly, and since I put it in yesterday the temp guage has hovered between the half way mark and the tick right above it that seems to be the new range.
I went a good 50 miles round trip with lots of red lights for half of it, so it seems to be a good sign.
Mike
I replaced the thermostat, and the one that came out of it was new and shiny and 195 degree thermostat, but it had something unusual on it and the gasket, it wasnt the typical RTV sealer im used to seeing but a white almost plastic like where it was thin and a little rubbery, effectively gluing the gasket and the thermostat to the upper water neck. I think it might have been put on TOO generously and may have been messing up the thermostat.
I put the new one in, nice and cleanly, and since I put it in yesterday the temp guage has hovered between the half way mark and the tick right above it that seems to be the new range.
I went a good 50 miles round trip with lots of red lights for half of it, so it seems to be a good sign.
Mike
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