2seater

Is this an extension of the previous RWD thread or the later FWD iteration? It is certainly your car and your vision so I will reserve comment on that vision The only comment I can make for sure is: I have had a few vehicles over the years (I am older than you are) with poor or inadequate ventilation systems, '63 VW Beetle, '53 Willys wagon and '51 Ford shoebox to name just a few that were miserable to keep the windows clear in cool or damp weather if anyone in the car actually exhaled.

Gutted cat eh? Did it look like it was original or had been removed at some time? Original is a resistance weld around an internal stub pipe.

These are a couple of poor photos of the two styles of tensioner. The new style, severely worn and the original 92k miles tensioner installed in place of the new one for comparison. They "should" be interchangeable unless the mounting hole is somehow different. The very dark pic is of the face of the engine block where the tensioner mounts. Not easy to see, but the best I have at the moment.

Sounds good, thanks for letting us know.

I have used it a couple of times, but have had wear issues with it as can be seen in the photo at 38k miles. As far as fitment, I have had no issues. I do not know of any differences between the '88 timing cover and later models but have not had an '88 apart.

That is the new style tensioner. Judging by the picture, the hole in the block should be flat, with just a slight chamfer around the hole. Does yours have a larger counter-bore with the threads recessed a distance? If that is the case, you may get away with a small flat washer to stop the shoulder from falling into the hole, although I have never tried this? The tensioner does not line up with the chain in the center of the shoe. It actually rides off center toward the outside edge. This is a byproduct of the narrower chain necessitated by the addition of the balance shaft. Photo of new and old style tensioner.

A photo of what you have would be helpful, but there are two different styles of mounting. One has a chamfered hole in the block, the other is for a flat or flush hole. If memory serves, the bolt should have a shoulder to tighten without binding the spring. Does the new bolt match the one you took out? It sounds like it doesn't.

Generally straight up, 1/2 scale , under almost all conditions. It may go one bar above after idling in traffic, but fans take it back down, no issue. This with an intercooler, transmission cooler and oil cooler directly behind the grill. In all fairness though, I live in a temperate climate.

Maybe a bit of a tangent but related to the subject: Has anyone rebuilt the original compressor themselves and if so, what was the result?

You had me doubting myself for a moment, so I went and checked. My socket definitely has dual contacts . 1004 is a dual contact bulb, but it does not have offset pins such as the 1157. I'm pretty sure if a single contact is installed I would get a dead short if it hit both contacts. I checked the bulb and it will only light if power and ground are applied to the contacts, no case ground. My trunk lid harness has three wires in it, orange/black trace to trunk lock and separate light gauge orange and black wires to the light. Seems like I have an oddball and that's why I asked.

On a trunk light related issue: Does anyone have a dual contact bulb, a 1004 I believe, instead of the single contact 1003 called for in the manual? My '90 has the dual contact but my '89 has the 1003. Perhaps this was a running change due to the issue mentioned above?

The bellhousing pattern is the same as the 60 degree V6 GM engines like the 2.8, 3.1 et. al.

I figured you would get a kick out of that! By the way, did you know the new nine or ten speed automatic for the top dawg Camaro and Mustang is a joint development between Ford and GM? Who'da thunk it? By the way, the Ford pistons would be good for an E85 build, about 13:1+ compression ratio unless modified some.

I am glad you understood the spirit in which my comments were offered. I made a somewhat similar error on a previous rebuild, so perfection is not my middle name Only one other comment if getting into the internals at some point. The late '90's-'00 Ford 3.8 pistons will work in our engine as well, weird huh? They have a compression height between the vin C and the '93-'95 vin L pistons (+.033"), the pin is the correct diameter and offset but they have a substantially smaller dish in the piston, 6cc vs 26cc-30cc if the catalog info. is correct. The ring pack is the same as the vin C and since the bore is a tiny bit larger than the Buick 3800, it sets up the possibility of some oddball overbores if needed.

Jimbo, I reviewed that engine build in a little more detail. It sounds like you are pretty experienced in this sort of build so I only mention this because of my personal experience with the same engine. If you decide to do internal mods, measure the original parts when planning the new ones. What piqued my interests is the statement about the piston compression height difference. I went through this issue maybe 15 years ago or so, and it made me question my own research at that time, but I thought perhaps the parts availability had changed. The photograph of the piston in the bore didn't match the description, rather it looked like the ones I had used, '93-'95 vin L. I checked his part number and while it is a different brand, (I used Silvolite), the specs are exactly the same as mine. Where he made his mistake is in using the catalog values for the difference in compression height , +.080". Many aftermarket pistons are "destroked" as they call it, assuming the block will be decked, it's right in the catalog. The stock pistons are actually just under 0.030" taller than the catalog value, so the actual compression height increase is right about @ 0.050", or approx. zero deck. The point being of this is that his actual compression ratio is more in the 8.8-9.0:1 range, depending on what head gasket he used. The .030" overbore adds a tiny amount but if a FelPro gasket was used, it is a big loser. All of what was done will certainly work, as he proved, it is just not what he thinks it is.

Thanks for the tip Dave. If it wasn't such a booger to get the cam out of a fwd, I would think about it although some yards want to sell the entire engine. I don't really need another entire engine but the raggedy '89 I have seems to have a wounded cylinder (#6), maybe a crack or head gasket? My wife has some health issues that preclude any major purchase until we get a better handle on it. Sorry for the meander off topic.

Thanks for the link. I am having a bit of difficulty getting all of the photos to come across so one of our servers is not doing any favors. I don't see much different than mine although arrived at differently and some minor discrepancies. It obviously worked so all is good. One thing did bring a tear to my eye was that was an '88 engine which already has a bit more aggressive lobes on the cam and are impossible to find used.

You're a funny man Padgett I still have my original setup which has a looser turbine A/R that uses all of the exhaust. That one goes on the 8.5:1 original engine with large intake plenum. This one is very low boost now being tried on the higher compression engine with the modified TPI manifold. Results aren't in with that yet. The low boost deal was on the 8.5 engine with the '88 cam when that screenshot in the other post was recorded.

You will definitely hear it! It actually works pretty good as a pedestrian warning in parking lots as well. Just blip the throttle and they will also hear it

Sound is one of the subjective selling tools as well as a very personal preference I suppose. Ford's flat plane crank and odd looking tubular manifold are a case in point, as well as the combination exhaust with some out the rear and some out the side, not to mention piping it in via the sound system. Some like, or even covet, the uneven sound of a Harley, others, not so much. Mine has a sort of peculiar sound since the front three cylinders drive a turbocharger which knocks some of the energy out and the rear three cylinders are a bit more obvious. Sounds pretty good to me, but others???

Hmm, I have one of the ELM 327 Bluetooth adapters and it works great on OBDII. I use the Torque app which I think Padgett alluded to a few years ago, but I don't think it will work with OBDI, at least I don't know of any software for it? My ALDL adapter was homemade and I used the serial design as it is a more robust connection to the old laptop I use for my garage stuff as it gets sort of knocked around during testing (I really need a mount of some sort). My adapter is really very simple, just two wires connect to the ALDL, just one pin for the serial data in the ALDL and I use the ground in the ALDL for the cable shield. Pins to stick in the ALDL made from flattened solid copper wire soldered to the cable to the laptop. One other thing, one of the guys at TunerPro was kind enough to modify the software for me to send a command to cut the ECM/BCM communications for a faster and more real time recording. That kills the speedometer and is one of the dials I chose to have on screen so I had a speed reference while testing. You can choose what you watch and in many different forms, but all are available afterwards when you watch a recording. I am interested in the piston/cam change since I did mid-'90's L27 pistons (+.052" CH) and an '88 cam several years ago but they are in in two different engines. Ronnie, I just leave it in drive and that is probably right about where it will shift. I grabbed that shot because the MAF was maxed out at that point. If I remember right, I was indicating 3-4psi of boost at that point but I have no way to record that synchronized with the other recording

Well, they took the road less traveled, and I respect that. I am a bit surprised with the amount of effort that went into it with the custom exterior touches that the engine install wasn't scienced out before doing the swap unless it showed up after it was too late? I thought the performance wasn't too bad looking but the Northstar isn't a particularly torquey engine, somewhere around 300lb/ft and probably at a bit higher rpm to get the hp. That isn't light years more than the L67 V6 which peaks at a lower rpm. I don't think it's a slouch but it would seem an L67 with a few tweaks and a smaller pulley would be a close match performance wise. Different strokes I guess.

This is the screenshot from the laptop during a run. The Tunerpro software is free and you need the RT version to read real time data, but you also will need the correct .bin file too, but I had help with that

OMJ, could you share a link to the video you referred too? I have a TunerPro RT program for recording although it is nowhere near as versatile as modern OBDII. I am pretty sure it can be used to make changes for a new chip if desired but have never dabbled with that myself. I "think" there is a an emulator from Craig Moates that will allow running the engine via laptop but will likely be complicated by the ECM/BCM communications. I have an EEPROM with a ZIF socket done for me by Ryan at GM Tuners/Sinister Performance that allows just changing the actual chip portion of the Prom and would also probably allow laptop access?? Only a '91 with electronic trans. control might allow changing shifting but that would be an L27 engine if it's a Reatta. Very curious as to what was being done? I have a screenshot of it somewhere and will post when I find it.

Does the light close electrically after being raised manually? Does the replacement module have the correct part number? I don't have an early manual but I think I remember the early and late models use a different module, although I would think neither light would work if that was the case.