takingmeback

Hi everyone, I am a big mustang lover, back when i was very young I had an 87 gt and a 72 coupe. My 72 was my baby, I did most of the work to it along with a friend. The 87 was foreign to me, my dad gifted me that and I barely drove it. Anyhow, I had to sell both when I had my kids, house, etc. life and I just purchased a project 87 GT convertible 5.0. It is running, it's loud, but it needs work. I have a couple issues I can't figure out, and being newer than I am use to working on I want to ask those who know more.

1) there is a water leak, big time leak, it was coming from water pump, replaced that this morning. Took it out, started smoking a little, stopped, it's leaking again! not from pump area this time. It looks like it is behind the water pump, I have been reading about head gaskets, cracked blocks, and timing covers leaking. The oil is clean, there is no smoke from the pipes and the car doesn't seem to have any power or stumbling issues. I also read about freeze plugs...It drips quite a bit when we hooked up the pressure gauge. Seems to be right above one of the bolts of the timing cover. The leak is also very clean, first coolant, then I had to use just water to drive it to my brothers garage to do the pump, on the way back it was leaking clear water.

2) From the guy that I bought it, dumb young kid who had a bunch of **** loose on it he said it had a stage 2 clutch, new to me, my 72 had a 351C with automatic C6 tranny. So clutches and stuff is all new to me. The clicking when you shift is loud, kinda like what I make fun of on Fast and the Furious movies because our Hardbody nissan makes no clicking on shift. Also that same click, If I am say on 5th and I release the gas because I think someone is slowing down and then I just press the gas again the same click sound is felt on the shift **** and heard slightly. Any ideas?

That's it for right now, I only want to tackle these two things before going into more.

Thanks guys!

I am so beyond excited, I barely drove my 87 back in the day I hated it and now that I had a chance to get a project I kinda wanted to make up for that and start with an 87 and then look for my older stang after. Any help is appreciated, advice, tips, etc. I can't stop cheesing when I go in the garage!

bluebeastsrt

sounds like you might have nicked the water pump gasket. Coming from the area you described it would be the only thing that could leak coolant. As far as a clicking sound. It's and old car and things aren't as tight as they were 25 years ago. As long as the clutch engages smoothly And the car shifts properly I wouldn't worry to much about it.

Maxwelhse

Leaks can be a pain to find sometimes and I've been "fooled" about location more than once. A trick I've used before is to get everything as dry as you can get it, cake it with baby powder (I mean cake it, make a huge mess of things) start it up for a second, shut it down, and see if you can follow the lines the leak makes in the powder back to the source. Your pressure tester might work good for this too since you can see water when you pump it up.

The clicking could be something as goofy as some pennies or screws down in the shifter boot. Without hearing it I wouldn't say it's abnormal but I've never noticed anything with mine. I'd probably check the condition of the engine and tranny mounts (you have 3 locations for soft transmission mounts... each end of the cross member and 1 at the transmission assuming that no one replace the cross member bushings with solid ones), make sure they're properly torqued, and check out the u-joints. If it all comes up good I wouldn't fuss too much over it. Like Blue said, it's an old car and it's going to moan, groan, and rattle a little but I would still investigate a little into some of the wear items. No harm in looking at stuff and making sure its tight. I was rather, uhhh, "impressed" with the condition of my mounts on my car in 2007 when I replaced them all. It's still making pretty much stock power today and the factory mounts were roasted... Engine mounts especially.

dawson1112

Did you use any rtv on the gaskets for the water pump?
Also did you make sure every bit of old gasket was cleaned off and the surfaces were good and clean? Did you also make sure that the bolt holes had no dirt or crud in them before tightening them up.


Ive always used rtv on water pumps especially around the coolant passages, and a little on the threads of the 4 bolts that secure the passages.
I guess its also possible that when you removed the old pump you disturbed the seal between the timing cover and coolant passage.

takingmeback

Thanks guys so here is the update. I was out there last night til 2am with a mirror trying to look around.

The water pump was leaking pretty bad so we did replace that as I mentioned, yes we scraped off all the old gasket, we did use rtv on it and cleaned off all bolts and area around the pump. I think our mistake was not hooking the pressure tester when we had things all off, we saw the water pump leaking so we were too confident.

When we did get the pressure tester last night after it loss water again we found one of the heater hoses was leaking so we replaced both just because they both were crap and had been cut from a cheap hose to fit.

Last night I looked in as far as i could without removing anything except the air filter to fit my hand and mirror around the sides. I don't want to be too confident that it is the timing cover but I guess until I remove everything again I won't know for sure.

I am just freaking out thinking it's something bad like a crack or head, sighs, if it is oh well, it is a project but I rather drive it around now! Anyone have the timing cover leak before? or a freeze plug? I won't have time again til mid week to mess with it, for now I will just add water to turn it on and at least ride it around the block.

It is hard to hear if there are any noises because it's so freaking loud, the headers and the turn down pipes make it sound like a thunderstorm. I can hear a slight click if I pay close attention but not loud enough to be something other than the typical valve tick.

Are there any clear symptoms if it was a cracked block or head ?

takingmeback

Thanks Maxwelhse, I think you might be right as far as the transmission wear items. It feels to me as if something is too loose down there. This is my first manual v8 but I have driven in others of car crazy friends and have heard and felt loose fly wheels and mounts. It is hard to hear things but I can feel them under me and at my hand on the **** as well as at the pedals. The shifting itself is decent, it engages with no problems, it's not hard to shift into a gear, no grinding no noise except the click of each gear.

When I brought it home and took out a couple plug wires and went to remove a plug it was so loose I didn't need anything but my fingers to unscrew it. Makes me sad this kid that had it didn't take better care of it. The car is complete though, everything is there, parts inside and outside, the interior is complete but man it rattles and squeaks like it's going to fall apart on a bump.

takingmeback

bluebeastsrt , yeah maybe I'm being too critical. I just love cars and it drives me crazy when they aren't properly taken care of. Looking at the condition it was in irritates me, such an awesome car. The gears go in no problem, doesn't stumble or hesitate or struggle in any gear, it's just noisier than I am use to but yeah I can't expect perfect from a 27 year old vehicle. It's my first project that is already running and more of a repair. My 72 was a shell so I put everything in and I knew exactly what was going in and how.

I will be taking it to my friends shop next week, have him put it on the lift and check it all out from the underside and test the transmission.

My main thing is I don't want to drive it around and cause more damage to something, yeah I know silly, I am scared of hurting my car hahahaha

Maxwelhse

I've had a failed freeze plug, but not a on Fox, and not anything newer than about 40 years old come to think of it (usually equipment that people leave sit outside their entire lives). I wouldn't think there would be anything special about a 302 vs. anything else. I don't believe its a common problem. I wouldn't expect a cracked block or head unless something really silly happened (stripped bolt, no bolts, wrong torque, etc) or someone put a bunch of power to it.

On my car it was somewhat obvious the motor mounts were torched (the shifter would donkey punch at the passenger if I shifted hard) but I had no idea how bad until I pulled them out. The tranny mounts weren't *that* bad, but got replaced that fall. Yours may be fine? It's free to check.

----

Oh man.. Complaining about Fox interior rattles and squeeks!!! You'd better sell it now! It can be helped, but you're literally fighting the beast itself on that one. I've never been in a 'vert Fox with the top up, but with it down it wasn't a "quiet" by any stretch and I don't mean wind noise. I would call it, with the top down, a good bit better than my hatch but worse than the cheapest Hyundai you could buy new today.

takingmeback

now that I think of it the 87 I had back in 2000 was the same thing, the freaking noise inside and it wasn't a convertible. My brother has Hyundais hahahha yea they suck and they are newer 2000 models too. He tried to clown on my project and I had to remind him that his car is in worse shape than mine and it's only 7 yrs old. I felt at home though driving it yesterday for the first time. I had it sitting in the garage for two days scared to get in it. I have been driving a jeep commander and a new caravan and some days a 91 hardbody so it was strange sitting so low and having so much power at my feet, forgot how awesome it feels.

88 orangepeel notch

Does your car have an aftermarket chrome thermostat housing ? They are made of a much softer material that will warp/bow the o-ring gasket surface and never seal if overtightened. That's was the cause of my leak, and only under pressure.