mustangmatt98's '87 black turbo build thread

[mustangmatt98]

Well it's been a while and I've been busy with other things but I'm slowly making progress. I got the head back, they took .010 and the block got .008 so I ordered the proper cometec gasket. I put everything back together, all the bearings and rods were in spec on the first try and the pistons went in smooth without too much trouble. Got the head back on the block and torqued to 90 ft/lbs per ARP then relized I made a boo-boo and didn't put the timing cover back on the block before the head was bolted down so I had to loosen the head and put the timing cover on and re-torque. I did shim the oil pump before I installed it. I painted a lot of the parts and i'm quite happy with how they turned out.

I don't need to order anymore parts for the engine to be completed but I have not ordered the trans rebuild kit yet. I decided after I paid a lot of bills with my tax return I was going to start putting money into my savings and pretend it doesnt exist, so i've been a little stapped for cash lately. Still trying to decide which trans rebuild kit to order so that's also part of it. The transmission shifted fine aside from not shifting out of first at WOT but it also has 212k on it and the fluid was dark. Don't know if I want just clutches or clutches, bands, and modulator....

anyway onto the good stuff:




I also made some changes on my mustang, exhaust was too loud so I removed the glass packs and put some trush turbo mufflers, sounds much better and doesn't give me a headache when I drive it now. I adjusted the carb, and changed the worn out rag joint and took it for a ride. I was rolling slowly through an empty parking lot and floored it and it started spinning the tires like crazy. This car scares the crap out of me.

 

[mustangmatt98]

well made a lot of progress and I was waiting until it was running to post an update. I put the motor in the weekend before last then worked on it a little after work each day and finished it up last weekend. I couldn't get the car to start. I had fuel I had spark but she wouldn't fire up. I thought maybe I lost all my fuel so I put 3 more gallons in and nothing, sprayed starting fluid in the brake booster hose still nothing. I thought maybe I wasn't getting enough juice to turn it over quick enough from my sisters explorer so I pulled my truck up and still nothing. I had a co-worker (whom worked for Toyota) come over last night and he verified spark (which I had already done) then he asked how I installed my cam sensor. As soon as he said that I had a duhhh moment I had no idea it had to be indexed. He pulled it out and adjusted it and the car started right up on the first crank. I have good oil pressure, no check engine lights, and no knocks or squeaks. However I do have a few coolant leaks I need to chase down. All in all I'm very excited to have her running again and can't wait to start driving her again.

I was advised by my girlfriends father (who owned a transmission shop for a few years) to pull the pan off the transmission and check it before just rebuilding it especially since I plan to swap it to a 5speed later. It turned out to be in good condition, I opted to put a new filter in it and fresh fluid. This is what I found:





here's the motor moments after being back in the car:



it was rainy here last weekend but that wouldn't keep me from working on getting the car back together



here's the miles at the time of rebuild:



And finally here's a video of the car running for the first time. It has nothing behind the down pipe and the coolant leak up top is due to a loose clamp.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qHEiTICw9bo&list=UUpSy_Q9z3ifFqiHg8aJDvJg

Edit: I can't figure out how to make the video show up on the thread

 

[mustangmatt98]

Small update:

I timed the car to what I thought was 10 degrees but it still has a hesitation. I found 3 coolant leaks and replaced rubber lines and replaced worn out clamps with worm drive clamps. The battery keeps going dead so I thought maybe the battery was bad even though it sat on my shelf for 4 months while I built the motor and still have 11.4 volts when I put it back in. I took the car to the parts store and had the battery tested. It was a 500 cca battery and it still has 496 cca but only had 12.1 volts. I had them check the alternator (which I just purchased from them 2 weeks ago) it was only putting out 12.7 volts at idle so I need to take that back to them. I did the first pull and its boosting less than half of the factory gauge. The transmission still wont shift out of first at WOT. The tires are either flat spotted from sitting or severely out of balance, when I hit about 55 the wheel shakes pretty hard. When I got back home I parked the car and went inside for about 10 minutes when I came back outside and there was a puddle under the car and running down the driveway. I didn't really have time to check it out but my suspicion based on where it looked like it was coming from was the overflow bottle after I shut the motor down since I purposely overfilled the overflow just in case I didn't bleed all the air out.

Tomorrow I'm going to try to pressure test the cooling system and try to time it up better. I need to buy a a-pillar gauge pod so I can hook up my gauges and see how far off the factory boost gauge is. Plus I want to see where the air/fuel is.

 

[mustangmatt98]

Been a while since I updated. I found and fixed all the coolant leaks, and now have about 100 miles on the motor since rebuild. I found a boost leak where the previous owner cut a hole in the stock intercooler plastic pipe and jb welded a blow off valve in. A co-worker made me a new pipe out of exhaust tubing but we only had 2.5 inch pipe so I ordered new silicone fittings with 2 inch on one side and 2.5 of the other. I'm waiting for that to come in before I can drive the car some more. The battery going dead turned out to be my bad headlight switch which I've replaced. I've been busy getting parts off supras in the junkyards around me. My interior is now complete, the broken head light bracket has been replaced, I have another set of turn signals and a grill to install but I want to pull the nose piece off and properly paint it.


I got another set of tail lights that were near perfect.


hard to see, but someone painted the tail lights in a strange way. I didn't like it.


found one of these, already cleaned it up and put it on


some of the score from the Atlanta junkyard


I have this same sticker on my '70 mustang. I thought it was suiting.

also took my truck off road at durhamtown. what I learned was that crew cab diesel full size trucks DO NOT belong in the woods on a trail. too long, too wide, too heavy. I won't be taking my truck off road again. We spent more time getting my truck unstuck than actually driving on the trail. The biggest problem was that it was too heavy to pull it self out of the ruts.


before.


after.


this is the first time I got stuck. Also the only picture I have because after the first time I was pissed off and ready to get out of there. Turning back was not an option.

 

[mustangmatt98]

Haven't updated in a while mostly due to lack of feedback.

The break in period is about over. Recently I've installed the boost and A/F ratio gauge a boost controller and a turbo timer. I didn't realize how useless a narrow band gauge was. I set the boost at 10 psi and now the car seems quicker than my 98 mustang does. I'm happy with how the car is running now so I turned my attention to the front end. I found that the metal part under the nose piece was for an 89+ which prevented my replacement 86-88 turn signals and grill from being installed. I replaced that and re-painted the nose piece. The headlight hinge was broken because of the wreck so I also replaced that but the radiator support is bent so the headlight doesn't sit flush. It looks much better but still not perfect.




before




after

 

[Quin]

You got the timing cover decked with the block right? FIPG'd the top of it? You reused a 212k mile oil pump?

 

[mustangmatt98]

Another update: car keeps popping the EFI fuse but only happens at random when I shut the car off the tach won't move the next time I try to crank it up.

You got the timing cover decked with the block right? FIPG'd the top of it? You reused a 212k mile oil pump?

The timing cover was decked with the block. I did re-use the oil pump but I checked it per. specs outlined in the tsrm with the help of my girlfriends father. I have good oil pressure across the board. I think this motor has been into before because of the one main cap that was backward.