1989 Mustang GT Convertible #56

Update your progress on your various car projects.

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Basement Paul
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Re: 1989 Mustang GT Convertible #56

Post by Basement Paul »

I got the exterior detail finished. Rubbed out the whole car, touched up all the nicks and light scratches, then gave it a good coat of wax. I also wiped down all the interior and cleaned the glass. All I have left to do is vacuum it (and hit a couple more touch up spots I missed initially), install the parade boot, and call it done.
Turned out pretty good imo.

-BP
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Basement Paul
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Re: 1989 Mustang GT Convertible #56

Post by Basement Paul »

Got the interior vacuumed out tonight. I decided to give the "dust cover" as the factory calls it, a shot. Fits pretty well. I treated it all up and will leave it on overnight to smooth out. I figure this hasn't been on the car in probably at least 13 years or more.

At this point I'm ready to cruise. It's an old car so stuff will come up, and I'll probably try to charge the A/C at some point (it's already been converted to 134) as it doesn't do anything right now.

-BP
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GMJohnny
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Re: 1989 Mustang GT Convertible #56

Post by GMJohnny »

Pull that out of the garage on Wednesday when it’s going to be 95* and that
parade boot will stretch out perfectly! Looks great!

GM
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Basement Paul
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Re: 1989 Mustang GT Convertible #56

Post by Basement Paul »

Today was the first day I drove it with the top down for real. Put about 80 miles running errands. It was a perfect morning for it. It's super mellow, even at 70mph. I ended up eventually at 32Vs place, then home for lunch.
Things of concern: the exhaust still tweets a little, so I'll have to find the black spot and figure it out, it still starts to miss above about 4200rpm, and there's a new and annoying squeek from the passenger's door over every imperfection.
The miss will initially be addressed with a new coil and a new ignition module. Both are prone to failure, and will be replaced because either way, they're real old. If that doesn't fix it, there's a couple other less obvious things. For about $110, it will probably keep me from getting stranded even if it's not my performance problem.

-BP
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Basement Paul
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Re: 1989 Mustang GT Convertible #56

Post by Basement Paul »

The new coil and ignition module showed up on Friday late morning and by Friday afternoon I attempted to install them. The coil installation was first and took about 10 minutes. The ignition module requires the distributor to be turned hard counterclockwise to reach the screws. When I was installing the new one, I realized I didn't have the insulating goo that goes between the module and distributor, so I scraped as much as I could off the old one and installed it.
I started the car, and while it was running I was getting my new timing light set up when the car died. I restarted it and it died again after only about 30 sec this time. Another restart lasted about 5 sec. I put my money on a bad module, but decided to get the correct heat sink compound (the goo) before I called it bad.
The AutoZone in Mentor had it in stock. So after a quick YouTube video I cleaned up all the old crap off the smooth surfaces and applied the goo and reinstalled.
Back to getting the timing let ready, and I was right about to turn the timing light on when the car died again. This prompted me to install the old and 33 year old one back in the car, and it's running fine again. Keep in mind I bought a new, USA made, Motorcraft module. Junk.
Anyway, after resetting the timing, a test drive showed that the coil was my high rpm problem, so now the car runs as designed IMO. I drove it to breakfast Saturday with the top down despite the mid-50 degree temps. Worth it!
After my trip, I'll get Summit to send me a new module and hopefully it's better than the first one. But I won't be throwing the original away any time soon.

-BP
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MostMint
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Re: 1989 Mustang GT Convertible #56

Post by MostMint »

Once we started having failures in the race car of the Autozone sensors/electronic components, I switched over to NAPA products. I have not had a failure yet. I can't give them a 100% endorsement as my sample size is small, but so far so good.
[quote="Basement Paul"]Is that a mint rocketship on the hood?? :shock:
-BP[/quote]
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Basement Paul
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Re: 1989 Mustang GT Convertible #56

Post by Basement Paul »

I figured I'd stick with Genuine Ford Motorcraft made in USA and I'd be ok. It looks like cheap China though. No more embossed MOTORCRAFT logo on it either. I know from Kevin that the MSD version is garbage too. I'll have to read reviews on other ones to see if others are failing. Unfortunately I don't care for the customer service at our local Napa so I've pretty much boycotted them at this point.

-BP
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MostMint
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Re: 1989 Mustang GT Convertible #56

Post by MostMint »

LOL I was on a multi decade boycott of the local NAPA - I once had a bad alternator that was overcharging and they wouldn't warranty it. Yikes that was so long ago I forgot about the bad alternator. Then they went out of business and a new one popped up in a different location with different owners. It was too bad too since they had a machine shop.

I now also recall a Corvette fuel pump that I got from there that was defective. It worked for a short time then didn't - pretty sure that was in the backup Corvette.

No one is safe.
[quote="Basement Paul"]Is that a mint rocketship on the hood?? :shock:
-BP[/quote]
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Basement Paul
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Re: 1989 Mustang GT Convertible #56

Post by Basement Paul »

I noticed a couple drops of coolant on the floor last week, but a quick inspection didn't show me much so I drove it. And I think even raced it. Then I parked it for a couple days with nothing underneath, but today I went to drive it and a slightly larger puddle appeared. So I looked harder and found the radiator leaking on the passenger's side, about 2/3 of the way up. So I ordered a new one from Rockauto today.
Also, Summit processed the return on my ignition module and sent a new one out today. So I should have some work to do early next week.

-BP
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Basement Paul
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Re: 1989 Mustang GT Convertible #56

Post by Basement Paul »

The new radiator came in from Rock Auto in a reasonable time, and is now residing in the Mustang. Pretty simple job really and everything amazingly fit where it was supposed to. The new radiator is aluminum vs copper, and is slightly thicker in the core section. It currently holds coolant and the tranny lines aren't leaking. I haven't driven it, but it does have at least 15min of run time in the driveway and moving in and out of the garage.
I also received the 2nd Motorcraft ignition module from Summit, along with a tube of heat sink paste from Amazon so I decided to replace that too. This time, the "new" part lasted less than one minute on it's first try before it stalled. I restarted the car and it didn't last 10 seconds. That's worse than the first one I put in. Made in USA Motorcraft is apparently garbage. What a disappointment. So I went and put the original one back in and it still runs fine again. Unfortunately all this in and out, and I've stripped out the threads on the LH side of the module where it threads into the distributor. UGH. It holds a little, and the RH screw still works, but eventually, I'm fearing I'll need a new distributor as the screw and hole are so small, and making the hole bigger are not an option. I'll cross that bridge when it becomes a problem.
In the meantime, I called Summit customer service instead of eating another $9 return shipping label and asked them if they could send me a label which they politely did. They're also sending me out a different brand module that has only two reviews, but they are both good at least. As I go back to read the Motorcraft ratings, it's two stars, with multiple people complaining of the same issues I did. I also put in a review of the product so hopefully others won't buy them. The sad thing is that NOBODY seems to be able to make this module with any consistency, as Pertronix, MSD, Accel all have crappy reviews too.

-BP
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Basement Paul
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Re: 1989 Mustang GT Convertible #56

Post by Basement Paul »

So my third ignition module arrived. I think it was made by Standard Automotive Products or something like that. Anyway, it's garbage too. Didn't last 20seconds before the car stalled. I started reading more forums on the issue and lots of people are saying the same thing, that the only one that works with any reliability is the original gray, Motorcraft embossed module which is what I'm running. I'll start looking into either a remote module setup, or a new replacement distributor this week. It runs fine like it is, but I don't trust it in the long run, so I'll upgrade once I find something I'm satisfied will work.

-BP
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MostMint
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Re: 1989 Mustang GT Convertible #56

Post by MostMint »

Since I've had issues with electrical components I started using NAPA parts

https://www.napaonline.com/en/p/ECHTP31 ... sionRank=3

No guarantee its better but if it was mine I'd try it.
[quote="Basement Paul"]Is that a mint rocketship on the hood?? :shock:
-BP[/quote]
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Basement Paul
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Re: 1989 Mustang GT Convertible #56

Post by Basement Paul »

So I guess the only real solution is to install the module remotely:

https://www.autosafety.org/1983-1995-fo ... -stalling/

Seems like this is the logical cure according to lots of people:

https://lmr.com/item/FF-423706B/mustang ... 93-423706b

I'll probably order it this week sometime.

-BP
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MostMint
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Re: 1989 Mustang GT Convertible #56

Post by MostMint »

Looks promising. Seems like you could confirm this by running it hard before it warms up too much.
[quote="Basement Paul"]Is that a mint rocketship on the hood?? :shock:
-BP[/quote]
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Basement Paul
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Re: 1989 Mustang GT Convertible #56

Post by Basement Paul »

As of right now, it runs good the way it sits. The ultimate problem, is that most of these new modules are junk and die within the first couple minutes before I even leave the garage. This relocation kit won't fix that, but hopefully will prolong the life of my original module. I'll keep trying new modules until I find one that will work as a suitable backup, but this should make any of them last significantly longer.
Jeff from LMR.com told me a new distributor is not the solution either. But I will consult with him to see if they have any modules that they sell that actually function over time.

-BP
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