1982 Mustang #50

Update your progress on your various car projects.

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MostMint
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Re: 1982 Mustang #50

Post by MostMint »

Finally some good news on this front.
[quote="Basement Paul"]Is that a mint rocketship on the hood?? :shock:
-BP[/quote]
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Maverick
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Re: 1982 Mustang #50

Post by Maverick »

That is good news. Sounds like you have it figured out.

You might use a vacuum gauge to set the initial timing since you can't use the timing marks.
Maverick
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Basement Paul
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Re: 1982 Mustang #50

Post by Basement Paul »

I sent an email to Crane and asked them what the biggest Fireball hydraulic cam was for a 351C. They quickly and politely sent me back the specs:

Image


This seems pretty much legit as far as I could tell.

-BP
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Basement Paul
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Re: 1982 Mustang #50

Post by Basement Paul »

Friday night I procured a trailer from GMJohnny's place of employment (thanks!) and loaded up the Mustang for an early Saturday delivery at the our muffler guy's shop. As he had a late season xmas party at 4pm, he was unable to finish the work Saturday and around noon today he called me to tell me it was done. I also had him do a quickie alignment while it was there which was spot on I might add.
He was able to run a complete 3" system with my crossover pipe all the way out the back. It looks pretty cool, and it sounds great too.

On to the bad part (go figure, right). So I picked up 32V to help me get there and drive this thing home along with my other Mustang. We checked it out, paid the man, and drove to the gas station on the corner with no incident for a top off. Then about three miles down the road from there, I lost all control of my transmission... no weird noises, no leaks, no smoke, just nothing but neutral and park. Ugh. So we called a flatbed and the car is in my garage again, and not movable under it's own power.

Sometime this week I'll pull the pan and see what I can sell. The best case scenario is that the pickup on the filter fell out and it's just not picking anything up right now. Worst case, the front pump took a dump for some reason. I'm hoping for the former...

While it was running, I was thinking it didn't shift quite as hard as when I drove it home under moderate to light power application, but as I'm thinking about it now, I'm going to attribute that to a looser converter. I really like how the converter was working and think I made a good decision with it. The "new" rear axle ratio seems to be a good choice too as we were buzzing along at 50mph no problem. I still need a different speedo gear though.

I'll be really sad if the tranny took a dump for some reason. But I won't know much until I pull the pan. It's sad that I really didn't get to enjoy my new exhaust, and now it's going to be in the way. Sheesh. Oh well, the car will go back on the stands and I'll be back on my back this week.

-BP
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TireSmoker
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Re: 1982 Mustang #50

Post by TireSmoker »

that sucks dude... nothing has gone right with that car for you.

Maybe before pulling the pan, maybe just disconnect the cooler lines and see if you're getting any flow? That might give you a clue about the front pump.

-Dave
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GMJohnny
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Re: 1982 Mustang #50

Post by GMJohnny »

I'd call a trans shop and see what their take is on the whole thing.
Sometimes they can do a quick diagnosis over the phone. Even though
it sounds like the trans is toast, a guy who works on them all the time
can sometimes say "Try this first" and lead you in the correct direction.
Perhaps your exhaust guy would have a good idea also. Maybe he saw
something or bumped something under there that would cause a failure.
Are there any wires going to that trans that could've gotten scorched to
cause the issue? Pinched trans line perhaps? Remember, it drove BEFORE
the exhaust was repaired.

GM
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Basement Paul
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Re: 1982 Mustang #50

Post by Basement Paul »

After pulling the pan last night and seeing nothing out of the ordinary, I did some internet searching and found a few threads describing the same scenario I went through. What all these guys did that I didn't, was restart their cars a few minutes later, and they went into gear and drove for another mile or so before stopping again. Unfortunately, none of the threads were ever finished with a good solution to their problem. But one of the board members in one of the three threads talked about cavitation of the fluid. This is excessive air in the fluid. Working with hydraulic systems at work, I'm pretty familiar with this and what he was saying makes sense.
What I did was put a deep pan on, but did NOT put a deep pan filter on. This means my filter is pulling oil from the fluid at the top where all the air is and not from the bottom. Once it pulls in this air, and the air gets into the pump, it creates more bubbles, and eventually I'm not pulling in anything but bubbles. And bubbles won't drive a hydraulic system... I was also probably almost a quart over filled which most likely did not help the situation.

Tomorrow AM I'm heading to Summit to pick up a new deep pan filter, a drain plug, and also a shallow pan, just in case...

Hopefully by tomorrow afternoon, I'll know more. And hopefully by more, I mean I'm back on the road for good this time.

-BP
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Maverick
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Re: 1982 Mustang #50

Post by Maverick »

The C4 in the Maverick slipped badly near the end of 1st gear at the track once. Fluid was about 1/2" too high on the dip stick. I changed from store brand (Advance?) to Valvoline ATF and didn't overfill and it never happened again. Chose Valvoline after reading that some store brands might not have good anti-foaming additives.
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Basement Paul
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Re: 1982 Mustang #50

Post by Basement Paul »

So I ran to Summit this morning and got some parts to "remedy" what I thought was the problem. After installing the parts, I still have no tranny. So I guess I'm going to pull it out sometime and take it to a tranny shop. The thought of it makes me a little sick inside. The thought being that I have to spend ANOTHER chunk of change on this POS. Sadly, it isn't worth sh*t like it is, so I'll have to fix it.

After I put it all back together and learned what I learned, I started cleaning up around the garage. When I was dumping out the old oil from the drain pan, I found a lot more debris than I found in the tranny pan. Oh well.

-BP
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Basement Paul
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Re: 1982 Mustang #50

Post by Basement Paul »

I called the tranny shop this afternoon and have an appointment to drop the car off on the 14th. Now I just need to figure out how to get it there. They have a towing service in the same building as them, I'll call them first and see how much to flatbed it there. The tilt trailer I used from the rental store will be tough since I can't drive it on the trailer now.

He seems to think the pump took a dump for some reason... More to come.

-BP
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ttamrettus
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Re: 1982 Mustang #50

Post by ttamrettus »

Doesn't John have AAA ? You could also use a come-along to get it on the trailer.
Matt Sutter
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GMJohnny
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Re: 1982 Mustang #50

Post by GMJohnny »

The same rental store that you got the tilt bed trailer from happens to have a portable
winch set up that will run off of a 12 volt battery. It is effective in pulling 4000 lb. dead
scissor lifts up the trailer and should have no issue pulling that Mustang up the deck. It
might be a bit of a challenge rigging a chain up to the car but I'm certain it could be
accomplished. Also, your driveway slopes toward the road which would minimize the angle
of the deck making it easier to get up the trailer. Or maybe I'll just bring an excavator up
to your house and slam that Mustang on the trailer!

GM
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ttamrettus
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Re: 1982 Mustang #50

Post by ttamrettus »

GMJohnny wrote:Or maybe I'll just bring an excavator up
to your house and slam that Mustang on the trailer!

GM
In for pictures or video......................
Matt Sutter
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Basement Paul
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Re: 1982 Mustang #50

Post by Basement Paul »

The way the car is parked now, it's facing forward in the garage, so pulling it up by the rearend would be easy enough. And I know how to keep the bed tilted using a jack while loading the car alone. I have a tow strap too which might make it easier.

I'll call you about the timing of it all. This should save me a few hundred bucks in delivery charges, even if I pay full rental on the trailer.

Thanks,

-BP
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Basement Paul
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Re: 1982 Mustang #50

Post by Basement Paul »

I got pushed back another week by the trans shop... I'm hoping this act will help me save a few bucks. I'm also hoping it doesn't snow a bunch between now and then because this stirs their business and also clogs their lot.

-BP
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