I took my 'new' car to the shop and had them change the tranny fluid and filter, along with oil, plugs and such. The mechanic, which I obviously trust, says the engine is leaking at the intake and valve cover areas. I just bought the car on Saturday and it does drip a little oil. Sometimes, when I turn it off I hear a slight hissing sound for a second or two.
He says that is common on these year cars because of a screen that feeds to the pvc system near the intake. He says the correct way to fix it is removal of the intake and cleaning the screen. Does this make sense to you guys? Of course I told him I'd think about it and picked up the car.
I think if I need to take off the intake and such, I should see about putting on some better parts instead of just putting the stock parts back on? I am on a tight budget, but maybe some used parts, aftermarket or factory H.O. ?
there is a screen before the pcv to help prevent the pcv from failing, just after 20 years, that screen gets clogged. dont bother cleaning the screen, just rip it out. im not sure who makes it (mac i think) makes a tool to do so, it pretty much a screwdriver with a screw welded on, screw it into the screen, rip it out. you can probably make the tool yourself with an old screwdriver you dont need anymore. taking off the intake isnt nessessary, but it does help alot. your better off to take off the intake, rip out the screen, and get a H.O. upper to put back on in its place. thats excactly what i did.;)
Agreed. No need to pull the intake. If you have some long needle nose pliers, you can use them to get the screen out. I picked up my new screen at the Ford dealer for well under $10.
It will be slightly easier to do without the upper intake in the way but it isn't necessary to remove. If you do, an HO upper, Spacer and TB would do you good if you can swing it.
Thanks for the information.
spacer,, seems kinda bogus in a way. Its purpose is so that you can delete the coolant feed and not heat up the upper as bad.
I have no coolant lines,and my spacer goes back on tomorrow after the cam swap.Mainly because I'm installing taller valve covers.
88fiveo,how mechanically inclined are you?If your car is leaking any oil,it's really not hard to change out the intake and valve cover gaskets.Use the rubber valve cover gaskets and a good set of FelPro intake gaskets.I personally don't use the rubber or cork end gaskets for the lower intake.I clean the block real good,then apply a good bead of RTV.Never had a problem with that method.
No problem doing the job, I've built a fair shair of engines and transmissions...problem is money and a place to work on it. I don't have one at my house, that means finding some poor soul who will let me tear her down in their driveway or whatever...sucks!
I have never touched a 80's engine, other than an 84 tbird with the v-6. The owner warped the heads and of course that was an easy fix. I drove that car for 3 years or so, until that dump truck ran the stop sign....ouch:mad:
Sorry, should have clarified. I meant Throttle Body Spacer not intake manifold spacer. ;)
OK, So I'm gonna take the intakes off to fix the vacuum leak and take out the suspect screen. So how much am I going to spend to 'convert' this thing to HO status, as far as intakes, throttle body, maf and such? Would 1995 HO stuff work? I'm seeing used 5.0 stuff like crazy on sleeze bay.
all you need is the throttlebody and upper intake, a 87-93 will fit for sure, i think a 94-95 should work but u need to get rid of that elbow in between the tb and upper(since im not sure, pretty much forget about the 94-95 part i said). you do not need a MAF sensor unless you feel like upgrading to mass air...but thats a completely different thing there. you really shouldnt spend much, most mustang guys upgrade thier intakes and will give u thier old one for next to nothing.
You can find cheap H.O cams on Corral or Ebay,and I see H.O intake going for $20.00 or less all the time.The H.O throttlebody (60mm) can be had for $10.00.The factory headers (which are jusyt fine) go for ultra cheap as well.Usually $20.00 or so plus shipping.E-7 heads you can find on any 5.0 fuel injected Ford pickup,or the 351 powered EFI pickups.If you get the heads from a 351,you'll need special bolts or hole inserts because the head bolts used on a 351 are larger than a 5.0,although in every other way the head is the same as a 5.0 truck.You'll also need 19# injectors and a Stang or Mark VII Speed Density computer.All plug and play.The cam swap would be the hardest part,and it's not really that bad of a problem.Total,including gaskets and fluids,probably can be done for less than $225.00 or so,if you search ebay and the Corral,you can get out cheap.Exhaust work will cost extra to mate your exhaust to the headers,and you really need true dual exhaust.You could keep the factory manifolds for the exhaust you have now,but that would really suck.
So the used HO cam will work with my used 5.0 lifters? Also, the mustang headers will work on the tbird?
Thanks for the info, Ill start collecting parts forthwith...
On the roller cams and lifters,they are usually in good shape,and you can reuse them easily.yes,the Mustang headers will work on our cars,BUT,you may have some header to shift linkage interferance if you have a column shifter,but it can be done.You can also use a Mark VII or Mustang H-Pipe as a bolt on.You'll have to have the intermediate pipes welded up,but that's easy work for any good ler shop.
I think I remember taking the oil-clogged screen in the PCV system in my '88 XR7 and soaking it in lacquer thinner. It seemed to clean it out somewhat. Then again, I'm pretty cheap. You may consider buying a new screen.