James86
New Member
- Joined
- May 6, 2009
- Messages
- 889
- Reaction score
- 10
- Points
- 0
- Location
- 55381, Minnesota
- Vehicle Year
-
1999,
2012,
- Make / Model
-
Ford,
Ford,
- Engine Size
- 3.0 Flex Fuel, 2.5L, 3.3 Flex Fuel
- Transmission
- Automatic
- My credo
- WHY DO I KEEP BUYING DODGES?!?!?
Wasn't sure if I could tuck this under "4-bangers" or just under a non RBV thread, but anywho, here it goes.
I recently got a 1988 Ford Mustang 2.3L auto for about $250. It's been sitting for 6 years, but we went out, threw in a battery, and managed to start it right up. Now I know it's going to need a lot of work just from sitting (the brakes are locked so it won't move at all), but the main issue is the reason it's been sitting all this time.
My old roommate got it as a graduation present from his Grandma in Kansas before he moved in with me, so it's seen little if any salt, and it ran great with plenty of power, but it started overheating. It gets hot after about 20min or so of driving and the shop he took it to claimed the head gasket was bad and quoted him about $1000 or more to fix it, and lacking funds, he parked it and got a different vehicle. It's sat at another friends farm since mid '06, and the farm owners are kinda sick of seeing it sit there, so I worked out a deal where I got the car. I need to figure out the best way to break the wheels loose to trailer it to my parents where I can at least work on it in a garage, and then get down to figuring out the overheating issue. I know the heater core was possibly bad at one point, because it fogged up the windows, but he put in bar's leak AFTER the overheating issues started, so while not sure if it's relevant, I'll still mention it. Being it's sat about 6 years, nobody remembers if the fan kicks on -it's electric- but the 10-15min I had it running the other day it never kicked on, and it was about 60 or so degrees out. The oil still looks surprisingly good, the coolant is the greenest I've ever seen, and it's full as well. Honestly, we only have the word of the shop that it was ever burning coolant, otherwise it ran awesome and eagerly spun the tires.
Here is the only pic I have handy form the day I went and started it:
Paint is faded to hell, but the body is otherwise sound and there were those who wanted to buy it off him just for the body and a 5.0 swap, but I plan to leave it pretty much stock for now. It's just a project car so time isn't really of the essence, but it's safe to say I've never taken on a project this big.... but we all gotta start somewhere right?
I'm thinking of checking the obvious stuff like fan relay and thermostat before I start tearing into the motor.
It currently has 178,000 miles on it.
Any pointers and suggestions appreciated.
I recently got a 1988 Ford Mustang 2.3L auto for about $250. It's been sitting for 6 years, but we went out, threw in a battery, and managed to start it right up. Now I know it's going to need a lot of work just from sitting (the brakes are locked so it won't move at all), but the main issue is the reason it's been sitting all this time.
My old roommate got it as a graduation present from his Grandma in Kansas before he moved in with me, so it's seen little if any salt, and it ran great with plenty of power, but it started overheating. It gets hot after about 20min or so of driving and the shop he took it to claimed the head gasket was bad and quoted him about $1000 or more to fix it, and lacking funds, he parked it and got a different vehicle. It's sat at another friends farm since mid '06, and the farm owners are kinda sick of seeing it sit there, so I worked out a deal where I got the car. I need to figure out the best way to break the wheels loose to trailer it to my parents where I can at least work on it in a garage, and then get down to figuring out the overheating issue. I know the heater core was possibly bad at one point, because it fogged up the windows, but he put in bar's leak AFTER the overheating issues started, so while not sure if it's relevant, I'll still mention it. Being it's sat about 6 years, nobody remembers if the fan kicks on -it's electric- but the 10-15min I had it running the other day it never kicked on, and it was about 60 or so degrees out. The oil still looks surprisingly good, the coolant is the greenest I've ever seen, and it's full as well. Honestly, we only have the word of the shop that it was ever burning coolant, otherwise it ran awesome and eagerly spun the tires.
Here is the only pic I have handy form the day I went and started it:
Paint is faded to hell, but the body is otherwise sound and there were those who wanted to buy it off him just for the body and a 5.0 swap, but I plan to leave it pretty much stock for now. It's just a project car so time isn't really of the essence, but it's safe to say I've never taken on a project this big.... but we all gotta start somewhere right?
I'm thinking of checking the obvious stuff like fan relay and thermostat before I start tearing into the motor.
It currently has 178,000 miles on it.
Any pointers and suggestions appreciated.
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