HaV

I asked a bit ago about replacement of the head gasket.. looked at the car again today, actually with the owner. He popped the hood for me.. and I got a suprise:





Forgot to take more body shots of the car.. this is the best one..



Wasnt expecting it to have the kid open the hood and start it up.. see a totally different top side of the motor. The drivers side headgasket is for sure gone.. you can see the spot where it blew out... but it idles great.. has a great exhaust tone and lope to it.. The kid bought it as a project car from someone and has no idea whats in it. I do know it has a brand new water pump that he did... but other than that just labels. Obviously trick flow heads.

The car itself does not currently have power steering.. The compressor is still in place, but I kind of doubt its working. The body is.. meh. its straight everywhere but the rear bumper cover, which is nothing. No real noticeable issues other than the door handles not working quite right and the hatch needs some work to stay in place.. Knowing me it'll probably just get welded shut. Interior isnt bad at all, would be easy to fix up or to just gut and cage.


What do you guys think restoring the powersteering would cost? I would most likely do that on my own as well.

I am a complete newbie to 5.0's. I had a little experience with one in the past.. but never anything more than an alternator swap out, etc.. so I'll be asking tons of questions.

Looks like I can pick it up for a little over a grand...

*edit: oops, forgot it was a 91 gt hatch.. thought it was a little older than that. Also, only 89000 miles.

HaV

Forgot to add, it looks lowered, has new shocks/struts in the front for sure, and if I forgot to mention it, it does have the hookups for nitrous.

mattdel

well, i can see the belt going down to where the power steering location would be, so whats there?

secondly, before you hand over any cash bring that car to a shop and have it gone over thoroughly. less than 90k and its modified like that with the problems you speak of, this car might have had its *** handed to it, a long time ago.

HaV

pump is still there, but I dont think its working.. no whining at all from it like you would normally get.

Im sure its been abused.. No question about htat.. but still runs and feels plenty powerful.. so yeah. really torn on it. lol

95vertGTS

I'd like to point out that if my car had only 5 digits for mileage, it'd only have 60,000 miles.
There's no way it only has 90k... look at it.

HaV

it was wrecked in the front end.. thats pretty obvious in person. Looks like all after market panels were put in.... needs paint bad. Other than the front end and a broken tail light.. body looks fine.
Wouldnt suprise me if it had rolled over once or twice either.. but ive seen low mileage cars with motors in worse shape also just from sitting for to long... One bad thing about OK titles.. after 100k, you can have them move it to "exempt" and it will no longer list the mileage.

PJB

A power steering pump isnt all that expensive.
I just had one put in last week when I took the car for an alignment.

PRO50SC

Hav, it really depends on how much you want to end up spending. If you have a max figure in mind, that may help you decide if it's something you want to invest in. However, compared to the 4.6 you are used to working on, the 5.0 foxbody is one of the simplest cars to work on. The parts are generally plentiful and cheap.

What's the intentions for the car, street rod, all out race car, a lil of both. That will also determine the direction you take w/ the car and how mush you'll be shelling out. If it needs a lot of body/paint work, that could be a few grand right there. Putting head gaskets on the car is a sinple job. Something that could easily be done in a weekend.

Determine what's wrong w/ the power steering. Even if it needed a rack and a pump, you're only talikg about 2-400 bucks depending where you buy and the quality of the parts.

Is the car drivable at all? If not, that could be a problem cuz there could be underlying problems you don't know about until you try to drive it. You say it's been wrecked, how badly? There's def a lot to think about when buying a car in this condition. Could be a huge can of worms, maybe it'sa needle in a hay stack. Really tough to say.

HaV

Thanks Pro

It will be an almost strictly track car... more road course than drag strip most likely.. I plan on doing adjustable struts/shocks like i had on the vert to handle the differences.

The body damage isnt bad.. some moldings but the main damage is the rear bumper cover. not an expensive piece to replace by any means.. door handles as well, but they arent to bad. For all I care I could nascar it and weld the things shut.. remove the windows. lol.

The car was wrecked in the front end. I did not see any frame damage, atleast none that was noticeable. Looks liek a low speed colision.. the bumper, front quarter panel, and hood are all solid black, and they are unpainted.. like aftermarket pieces. that part is actualy straight as well.. just needs painted.

Not sure what the actual problem with the PS pump is.. it may be that this car was going to be a drag only car and had it removed. nothing looks out of the ordinary on it but I didnt pull it apart.

I did drive the car around the parking lot.. didnt want to let it get hot. it turned well for no PS.. idled fine, revved fine, shifted fine.. dont know if it will have more problems once it gets warmed up or not.. we'll have to see.

shawnk007

It may not have Trick Flow heads, just the fancy valve covers.....