warthogdriver

ok, so today i figured out it wasnt the timing...it was the idiot with the tool.
so timing checks out.

i got the spark tester back out and did the rest of the coil pack...fired great on all 6 outputs. nice bluish purple spark on tester..a hint of yellow but mostly blue.
(dont know if the color matters or not)....i had the tester set above gap, i figured if it could jump more then gap then the power is there to fire the plugs.

i swapped in a diff iac...got one from a buddy, cant beat a freebie...no change.

i am going to take egr out and clean it ...see if that helps.
after that i am gonna take out injectors and clean them out, pressure test first of course.

i just hate wasting great summer driving weather on "hide and seek" issues.

ohhhh and i also stumbled across something weird...if i push pedal straight to floor real fast i get no response at all...but if i slowly push it and pump it a little the car will shoot up to 2000 rpm and away i go...real smooth like nothing is wrong at all. after that at idle i can pump pedal and i get a response immediately, but it will drop as soon as i let clutch out to drive. if i then shut the car off and wait a minute and fire it up it is back to dead response on pedal unless i slowly pump the pedal again to work it back up.
now i have replaced the tps...i had this dead response earlier so that was not it.

i know that throwing parts at a problem is the wrong way to do this but with 196k on the clock i figure it cant hurt here and there.

TheStefanOrand

My car did the same thing... at first we though it was a blown head.. unfortunately i paid for new heads and i didn't need it because, come to find out, it was the brain in the car... my car had low mpg, same thing with the rpms, and ran basically like a piece of S. The mechanic that fixed my car actually replaced a lot of things before he found out it was the brain.. pretty sad but now its running great and has many more years of driving to come!

warthogdriver

your talking about the unit behind the passenger kick panel??
i tossed in a junkyard donor...

was there a way to test it?

warthogdriver

ok well, i found out what has been going on.
the car finally hit rock bottom last week.
total loss of power...so i redid the compression check, i was advised my head gaskets were probally on the way out.
sure enough, driver side head gaskets are now blown. only good news is that there seems to be minimal damage...i have no fluid cross contamination it appears that it has blown out between middle and rear cylinder on drivers side.

so now my options...just do head gasket job and hope that this fixes the problem.
rebuild...with almost 200k on the clock i dont think it would be a waste of time.

my questions are these....

if i go head gasket repair..what kit would you guys recommend? i was thinking felpro for sure, but i have seen some threads talk about using 99+ gaskets??

rebuild?? any good kits?? where to get them??

also i should mention that this will be a daily driver, summer duty only.
i will put on about 100-150 miles a week on this in the summer...so yearly mileage might be...2000-3000 a year total.

i am not looking to make a quarter mile monster, or dump a ton of cash into this....just something with some pep. thats fun to drive.

labor is not an issue in price, i can handle that on my own, also i have time as well..no rush.

any advice as to what course or parts would be greatly appreciated.

thank you.

Stang562

I would say if you can go for a 99-04 engine, not too much trouble to make it work and they have a little more pep

warthogdriver

i wanted to avoid a swap if possible.
what i am thinking now is depending on heads warped or not of course, is all new gaskets.

right now for about 120.00 from rockauto i can get

the fel pro gasket kit, head bolts and i timing kit (figured i am in that far why not)

i am just trying to keep from back tracking, and like i said really dont want to dump a ton of cash on this....the only other thing i was looking to do originally is some 3.73 gears.

i think maybe i will stick with this plan for now, the gears will give me some kick, later down the road.

anyone have any ideas/recommendations on anything else i should do while its tore down that might add a little on the cheap??

after searching alot lately i am guessing no, short of a supersix power pack...
man budgets suck.

Matt's 95 Stang

3.73's with a short shift (I have a Steeda Tri Axe and LOVE it) would give you a nice pu off the line and with acceleration. If you want to go power pack from SSM be warned that without the cam you only get about 20 HP gains out of heads and intake. Trust me I know.

Matthew

warthogdriver

actually matthew i saw some of your posts regarding the camless dilemma you were in.

i really dont know what to do...it seems like each step is only a couple hundred more than the next.
getting her back on the road is of course cheaper but perhaps not easiest...
i was against the swap to a 99-04 swap....but the more i look into it and the prices for those engines with 100k on them is in the 500-600 range...very tempting now.

stang 562:
i am looking for a parts/shopping list for what is involved in the swap...or if anyone has done it would like to chime in or offer up a how to link to save me some digging...hint hint.

i am what you might call a crossroads...several options all with benefits/drawbacks

i may just do a swap...depends on what i can find.
either way i have decided to pull the engine and tranny and clean out the bay and dress it up with some paint and looms....while i think this thru.

i will keep looking for a deal on a 99+ and see what i find.

Stang562

I have no personal experience with the swap, a few here have though. I think You might want to message Neotokyo since he did it on his 96.

Matt's 95 Stang

Yes I kick myself all the time for not doing the cam when I did the heads butttttttt that being said it would have been a waiste now that I have my 4.2 so it worked out after all. As for the swap...Im more an old school guy and want to stay single port so I would go with a power pack and call it a day.

Matthew