New Owner help...

Copied from Turbo Fords...

Well the other day i bought a MINT '86 TC 5 speed with 47k on it. Its a great car and everything. I'm just curious what i should do to it. I did do alot of reading and stuff, so i know them better then before i bought one. It runs pretty well, and everything. Right now, its got a '87/88 hood on it along with a top mount intercooler. Also has a MBC set at 18 psi. I think i'm choking the fuel though, cause it will run great till bought 4k, then it starts to stumble. So i think i'm running out of fuel. The car sat for a little. So i think the injectors are a bit dirty. Its been running better and better everytime i drive it. So thats good. Few questions though...

- How much boost should i be running? 18 seems a bit much for the stock fuel system, intake and exhaust. So i thinking of turning it down some.

- Where is the oil temp (or is is pressure?) sensor? Cause the gauge doesn't seem to go up much, at all. Kinda worried bout that.

- Where should the Volt gauge be? Mines sits right in the middle. Is that fine?

- When the tank is filled. The gauge doesn't go fully to the top. Dunno why it does that.

- The brake pedal is pretty.. mushy? I think the sealin the MAster is bad from it sitting. It seems to be coming back the more i drive it. But i'm still curious about it.

My next thing is to pull the intercooler so i can get to the plugs and take a look at them, also probably replace the wires and the plugs too. Then i want to run some injector cleaner though it and change the fuel filter and see if that fixes the stumble problem.

I ran into a problem yesterday. The car would not start, just crank. So i pulled the dissy cap and noticed the rotor wasn't spinning. So i'm thinking either the pin holding the gear on the shaft is gone or the gear itself is gone. Any help?

Also, i need a new front end.. The part where the grill is. Like the whole thing (headlight assembly and all that). While towing it, mine got killed.

Other then that. I LOVE the car. Very glade i got it.

-Mike

Is this the car from Howie in NJ? I was about a day too late for the purchase. Good luck with it and the people here can help out with the tech problems.
Jim

Hi and welcome.

If the rotor doesn't turn when you crank it, it could be a problem with the dist gear. However I would check the cam belt first. If the cam doesn't turn while cranking (look at the circular thing on the front of the cam from the backside of the cover, or remove the rubber plug from the front cover and watch the cam pulley),
the belt may be broken or teeth stripped off. The belt should be changed every 60K miles
Cam belt replacement info here:
http://www.turbotbird.com/techinfo/CamTi...t%20Up.htm

Once it's running I would do a tuneup on it including replaceing wire and plugs. You can find the appropriate part numbers in the part number forum. Some injector cleaner would be good also.

18 psi of boost is OK with an intercooler, providied the fuel system can keep up. Do a tuneup and see if you still have the stumble. If so then you might want to run the fuel system diagnostics;
http://www.turbotbird.com/techinfo/Fuel_...ostics.htm

The oil pressure sensor is behind the upper intake. Sometimes the guage reads lower and lower as the sending units fail. Try taking the wire on and off a couple times and see if that improves the reading. Also see the response by Jeff K in this post. If you replace the sender it is a good idea to temp hook up a diagnostic oil pressure gauge and get some readings, both cold and hot. Be sure to get a hot reading at about 2K rpms. Then put the new sending unit in.

http://natomessageboard.com/ultimatebb.p...093#000003

See pic http://natomessageboard.com/uploads/0000...ngunit.JPG

It's not a voltage gauge it's an amp meter. A few work, many don't do much.

Fuel gauge; may be a sending unit problem or a wiring problem. The sending unit is in the tank

Brakes Be sure to check the fluid level in the resevoir and check the system for leaks. Check the condition of the lines also.

Originally posted by thundr306:
Is this the car from Howie in NJ? I was about a day too late for the purchase. Good luck with it and the people here can help out with the tech problems.
Jim

Yes. This is Howie's old car. I'm trying my best with it now.

-Mike

Pete the cam does turn. So the belt did not break. I'll definably be check all those links out and doing a lot of reading.

-Mike

So i pulled the dissy.. Bad news, the gear is trashed. So i'm thinking the oil pump siezed. The motor still cranks, so its not locked up. Which is deffinably a good thing. I guess i am going to pull the pan and clean all that out. Replace the pump, and check the shafts put it all back togeather and pray. igh:

-Mike

just in case there is a guy on the bay selling nos auxillary shafts. im going through the same issue. got mine 26 shipped to the house.

Cam, i'll keep that in mind. Shouldn't be too hard to figure out.

-Mike