and so the shakedown begins...

in addition to the leaky heater core, my car decided to die on me last night on the way to jack in the box. 6 blocks from the house, I've just made it down the hill and turned left, then all of a sudden the power dies and i can't move it. lluckily we broke down right in front of berkeley auto care, so me and my friend pushed it into their lot. while waiting for the tow truck, an old asian man came up to me to tell me he hadn't seen one of these in years. We started talking and lo and behold, someone who not just knowws intricate details of IIs, but also likes them. So at the end of the day, at least I got to meet someone who appreciates the II, and loves the fact that theres EFI in it.

if only she ran. sigh. I think i've spent more time stationary in the drivers seat than moving lol.

$100 and a 6 block tow truck ride later we got home. It was too dark to do much so I waited until this morning. Looked under the hood today and nothing seemed obviously out of place. theres no leaks, nothing to indicate she is any different now than she was yesterday when we set off. I even drove her the day before on a longer, more taxing drive and she handled it just fine.

though... i did notice that the fan doesnt immediately start to spool up with the key in the ON position, but i can't remember for the life of me if it did spool up the day before. Maybe I've blown some fuses.. I'll keep you guys posted

 

Gasp! an update!

that starting issue ended up never surfacing again. a little bit of starter fluid got her up and running no problem. that just left the leaky heater, which was a PITA to deal with, though not as bad as a latermodel. With coolant woes gone, I went and replaced the two bolts i had found missing in the front suspension. instead of just one LCA in the front, the II has a single LCA and a strut rod coming from rearward, and they mount together at the same place the sway bar endlinks go. the strut rod had two pressed in bolts, but i had to remove one a while back so i could rebuild the endlinks. somewhere along the way, the second stud coming out of it must have been removed too It could have been the mechanics, or (more likely) it was done by some idiot kid in his parents drivewat In any case, bolts are now in place and my suspenion is all connected as it should be lol.

however, ran into some other issues. It liked to start and run, intil it was put in gear where it would stall very quickly. I bumped up the timing a hair and raised the idle, though i don't know what it is (tachy no workey ) and that seemed to help well enough in D, but R still poses trouble. it will move now and not stall right away, but extended time stopped while in gear or braking at slow speeds in reverse especially, will still stall the car. If anyone has any clues to whats going on, let me know. as it stands now, I just shift into N at stoplights and treat it like a manual (which is great fun with the ratchet shifter anyway )

oh and plates!

 

The II thread lives...

Check for vacuum leaks.
Alot of times they'll show up when the engine is under load.

 

After I turned the idle up a ways, it's been driving great. until sunday

I guess I didn't realize it at the time but when i did the heater, i didn't fill the radiator as much as i thought i did

afternoon traffic thanks to the (awesome) niner game meant that after I paid the bridge toll, i broke down in the metering light area. I pushed it into the caltrans parking lot, where two caltrans employees in their tow trucks did nothing to help Called AAA, they said it would be there by 5:20. it was 4pm at this point.

well 6:30 rolls around and I call them again and they said AAA can't send a truck to the bridge, Caltrans has to get me off the bridge, THEN i have to call AAA again to pick me up from wherever caltrans dumps me. they said it'll be there by 7:20. awesome

finally I see a caltrans truck around 8. only its not here to help me, he's one of the unhelpful employees from before. after telling me i HAVE to move to the other lot, I reluctantly start her up and coast there. its been many hours and it gets cold on the bridge, so i felt alright doing that. I finally call AAA from the other lot and they said a truck is on its way... from fremont. At this point I remembered there was spare coolant in the trunk. didn't think to use it before because I still thought it was cooling down. At this point I deem it cool enough, and the sun is long gone, so I filled her up and drove home without a hitch. (though the rear tires are rubbing under weight and when i turn, but thats a seperate issue)

I even drove her to Church's chicken the next morning for breakfast Still, she got pretty hot on that drive, so I wonder if there are thermostat woes as well. only time will tell. But since its been raining all the time I still haven't replaced the Bullitt's fuel filter and she's been my regular transportation.. which is pure and simple: awesome

anyhow thats all i have for now. along with this picture of her broken down on the bridge

 

I approve of the Dallas Cowboys star on your plates Arin.

 

I thought you'd approve more of the 69

I chose the star because my other options were a cross and a heart and something so dull i can't even remember lol. the numbers and letters were random though. I thought I was pretty lucky to get what I did

 

What temp thermostat is installed? I found out today that mine is too low of a temp, I'm running a 160. They recommended I run 190-195 thermostat. Also what size fan is that on the front?

 

I'm not sure.. G&R mustangs handled all that. The receipts are all at my parents place but that might have it listed. I can measure the fans tomorrow for you though.

 

Ahh, the joys of owning and driving a project car... Since the II has the '90 engine/drivetrain/ECU, did you try checking for any DTCs regarding your stalling issues? And yes, getting a working tachometer installed. Hope that fan moves enough air through your radiator.

 

A good way to see if your thermostat is bad is to pull it out and see what happens. It shouldnt over heat without a thermostat and if someone says that it does they are wrong cuz I drove for 2 years without one without a problem.

 

It'll overheat with no thermostat if there's other issues you haven't found. Or if the coolant is moving too quickly that it doesn't cool properly.

Seeing as you said it kept getting low and drained and all, I'd replace the stat right now though. From my experience, they don't like going from wet, to dry, then back wet and keep working properly

 

Well I've been driving it around town and it's been fine. I'm attributing the overheat to my own stupidity in not filling it all the way up And the stalling issue went almost entirely away when I adjusted the idle up. However, it occasionally has trouble when reversing.

also how long do people usually let their 5.0 warm up before getting on the road? It's definitely worse when it's not warmed up, but moreso than any other car I've driven. Idk if that's just how things are with a C4 or if theres an issue. but the reverse problem makes me wonder. Also I haven't been manually shifting it or even driving that spirited lately. unfortunately the 16" tires in the back rub since theyre on a newer wheel so I need to deal with either that or the soft rear suspension soon. or both

There's also alignment issues, but I'm going to let a shop deal with that. Never really knew this before but aligning this car is not like aligning an sn95. You apparently put shims in places where the control arm mounts But yeah, definitely letting a professional deal with that one. and theres also a bit of a popping noise when I turn the wheels too close to full lock. still a lot of work to be done

but despite all of the above, it really feels good to use this car as a car. finally.

 

The C4 in mine is extra temperamental when cold and in reverse but it just needs about a minute of idling and everything works without a hitch.

 

Well that's a good sign I suppose

 

I crank mine up and go, I usually rev it a few times before I start moving though. So maybe 15 seconds, I have a T5 behind mine.

 

Small update today. Finally put the cobra II reflector trim on the blue ghia fender. Also started work on a center console based on this cool Southern Comfort tray I found

Also finally ordered some tires for the 15" wheels that were flat. The 16's I put on out back are ok in terms of tire quality I guess, but the offset of the wheel makes it rub on the inside during any turns. Didn't have the problem with the 15s so I ordered two new tires which should be here this week.

Also those 16" V6 wheels are going to stick around, possibly as a drift set for the Bullitt (been thinking about going to one of the $40 Wednesday drift events at Infineon soon )

 

Much better update today.

discovered the causes of a lot of the issues i've been having. First, on full lock, occasionally the right tire would catch parts of the fender. There seemed to me like the only logical solution was the roll the fenders, so that was part one of today. I used a rubber mallet pressed up the the flat edge on the fender and hammered the inner lip up and folded it to be just about flush with thhe rest of the inside of the fender. when all that was said and done I threw some primer on to protect the bare metal and moved on to my other issues.





Next I wanted to investigate the KLUNK that my front end makes and why there was resistance at the very end of the steering, near full lock. turns out when fully turned the brake caliper was hitting the upper control arm:



I separated the upper ball joint from the spindle to grind some of the UCA and the caliper away. I dremeled a fair bit of it away




however, when i leaned on the UCA it completeley shifted (after it was disconnected from the rest of the suspension) and i thought to myself

"holy $$$$"

But then I remembered the shop telling me that the car wouldnt hold an alignment. The Mustang II control arm mounts to the chassis with a piece that is held in by the bushings. on one side of it, it is smooth flat steel, on the other side, it is knurled for gripping the body.

guess which way it was on

So after taking the UCA off, flipping the bar where it mounts, remounting it, aligning it to "good enough to get to the alignment shop" and tightening the living **** out of it I set her back down. I saw no rubbing and or contact after the work. The following are pictures of the contact area with and without a 230lb useless assistant sitting on the fender. no contact


no road testing yet, but tomorrow I'm going to tackle the other side, and probably roll the rears for good measure. I also got word the new tires arrived at Big O here in berkeley, so I'm going to go pick up those and have them installed. real progress people!

edit:

forgot to post this yesterday lol, picture of the problem area in the front after i'd dremeled it

 

Well I've got good news and bloody awful news

I woke up today and decided to take the car to get some gas and drive it to the shop to get the tires put on. Good news is she drives really well aside from the alignment not being right. No more grinding or clunking or anything.

i got to the shop to get the tires on and they said it would be a long wait. They suggested I come in early tomorrow morning and they could get it done a lot quicker, which sounded good to me. Drove back home... and thats where the trouble starts..



the left rear wheel fell off in the middle of the intersection. I nearly **** myself. as the car was sliding on its drum, i managed to slide it away from parked cars but **** man really messed up the brake and the back of the fenderwell. when the rain lets up ill maybe start tying to see whats wrong underneath. Shes at home now, and I'm gonna go get something to eat. god ****

 

...the hell?! At least you're in one piece!