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Re: 90 Formula from derelict to street XXXXXXX Beater
Originally Posted by TTOP350
Nice to see you guys getting things done! I've seriously been slacking!!!!
You sir need to get Ole Yella tuned and be leaving stripes all over the midwest !
now I wanted your opinions on this - where to install bumper or edge of trunk lid- fits nice here! IMO
Re: 90 Formula from derelict to street XXXXXXX Beater
Looks like a perfect fit on the garage fridge or toolbox. I've got a full set of new reproduction emblems for the Mustang, somewhere. They're not on the car. I took all the emblems off the car, and filled the holes, including the indent in the front bumper cover for the FORD blue oval. I drove my Formula for awhile without the door decals, would have left it that way but I got sick of the riced out Neons trying to race me, and being a white car it was terribly bland without them.
Re: 90 Formula from derelict to street XXXXXXX Beater
Originally Posted by Drew
Which brings me to another topic close to my heart. This order came from three warehouses, and the practical jokers at @RockAuto had the audacity to only send two Collector's Series fridge magnets. Do you think this is a game, Rock Auto? They know as well as I do that he who dies with the most Rock Auto magnets wins. And while I'm sure my modest collection pales in comparison to some that are surely out there, it undermines my mission when I'm shorted. Perhaps the worst part is not that they only sent two magnets, but that one of the magnets is a display of Joe-Bob's Big Farmin' Truck. While I suppose I can get behind the idea of a dedicated farmer, slaving away to keep the old wreck going, I'm not sure how I feel about displaying a very visibly rusty Farm Truck with the rest of the range of daily drivers to classics, muscle cars, and show cars currently displayed on my garage fridge. I guess I just thought the criteria for appearing on a fridge magnet was high enough that a rusty farm truck wouldn't make the cut.
Of course, I understand that the magnets are a bonus, and not the reason to order from Rock Auto. The above is posted with tongue firmly in cheek. In other words, I'm just kidding and hope someone has a laugh at the absurdity of adults collecting fridge magnets. Rock Auto deserves extra credit for great prices, perpetual 5% off coupon codes, the fridge magnets, and great service.
Edit - had to add an overall up-to-date photo of the fridge... And with a single post I potentially instigate a war with the Farm Truckin' Forum.
Ok so not to clutter up Drew's build thread I have a couple magnets too
house fridge:
garage Kegorator
more Kegorator- side- Note: checkout my tire ashtray on top - back from my Goodyear days and I dont even smoke
shop cabinets
Re: 90 Formula from derelict to street XXXXXXX Beater
Dad worked his entire life for Yellow Freight. When he worked in the Topeka dock office, the Goodyear ashtrays were a staple on every desk. The ones I remember were truck tires, at least that's the impression I got, thirty odd years ago.
Edit - did a search, looks like Goodyear had ashtrays with truck tires, tractor tires, bias plys, and the Gatorback. Also funny to see the Goodyear blimp erasers, I must have enough of those somewhere in a junk box to fill a Folgers can. Good thing you don't smoke, if that ashtray is like everything else Gatorback, it'll probably fly off the road (your desk?) and collide with a tree, utility pole, or a parked car, when you really need it.
Re: 90 Formula from derelict to street XXXXXXX Beater
yeah they did do alot of truck tires I also have the lower left in front it was the American Eagle radial. I went to Akron once for training there and in their souvenir shop found and had to have the gatorback ash tray. performance tires just started getting good in late 70s with the pinstriped "Wingfoot" that then morphed to Eagle NCT blackwall then the Gatorback OE on the 83 oops make it the 84 crossfire corvette.
Re: 90 Formula from derelict to street XXXXXXX Beater
Originally Posted by Drew
Shhhh this is thirdgen.org, everyone knows the Gatorback debuted on the 84 15th anniversary Trans Am.
have any proof of that? In 84 did they have any 16" wheels? is that the one with the white GTA wheels?
Oh I see now
my 87 had same style but weren't white - they were Fugly! didn't they make some white GTA wheels?
Originally Posted by rgauder
HOW do you get out of the door on a car trailer like that?
Umm Carefully? my son probably had window down and climbed out I would have had to ride in it till we backed it off trailer
Re: 90 Formula from derelict to street XXXXXXX Beater
I ran the convex 16's on my 86 for awhile. It had some nasty aftermarket 15s, rolled on Firebird 15s awhile, GTA 16s, and the convex 16s. They are a bit of an acquired taste. I actually kind of liked them all polished up.
The convex 16's were the first 16" thirdgen wheel. The GTA wheels didn't come around until 86 IIRC.
Re: 90 Formula from derelict to street XXXXXXX Beater
Originally Posted by DynoDave43
Yes they did. At different times, they came in white, red, black and gold IIRC.
Thats what I thought, because 3 of the wheels on my 87 I bought as NOS wheels at a swap meet and they were white. Some of those special editions were so low production numbers they were rarely seen or remembered
Re: 90 Formula from derelict to street XXXXXXX Beater
Originally Posted by zman1969
Thats what I thought, because 3 of the wheels on my 87 I bought as NOS wheels at a swap meet and they were white. Some of those special editions were so low production numbers they were rarely seen or remembered
I have the red ones. 1988 only, 611 made. I've only seen one other on the road with them, and I don't know if those were original to the car or not.
I had no idea they were rare when I bought the car. I just liked them.
Re: 90 Formula from derelict to street XXXXXXX Beater
Jumped into this biotch today kind of been dreading it but hell time to get r dun got a set
of lt1 injectors I found 5 of the 20 runner/plenum bolts were MIA the little bit of fuel in rails still stank bad so I disassembled rails and cleaned them completely also hooked vacuum pump to fpr and wouldn't hold any vacuum so tried couple others that were gathering dust and we had one winner in the bunch. Cleaned everything up without going overboard I just want this to run gaskets were crap so it needed all this so bad. Also found the there was no map sensor bracket wiring had been cut like someone stole it. This is like humpty dumpty! Also replaced water pump and tensioner and put a belt on it
geeze I don't know maybe these gaskets are good to reuse ?
Wonder how a SD card would run without a map?
look what came out of lower radiator hose this car does not cease to surprise me
Time to order more parts from rock auto
like a case of coolant flush kits
Re: 90 Formula from derelict to street XXXXXXX Beater
Rock Auto has the Fel Pro upper plenum gasket set (everything from the runners up) dirt cheap on clearance. If you want a nicer used set, I could hook you up. LOL
The V6/TBI style map sensor mount is always an option if you can't find the 90-92 style. I think my 5spd harness has the MAP harness sheared off in the same spot. I ordered a pile of the green weatherpack shells, just need to get the right color wires and crimp terminals to fix the harness. Could always get the MAP plug and 6" of wires from any GM in the junkyard, should be plenty of Cavaliers and Corsicas in need of violence, just sinking away into the mud.
Now you've gone and made a clean spot with those nice new injectors and fuel rail. I sure hope you remembered to properly sacrifice a live chicken to the gods before bolting that on there, or you'll surely be made to pay later....
Re: 90 Formula from derelict to street XXXXXXX Beater
Well my daughter would be upset over a sacrificed chicken lol
so back at this again today but worked on the interior the headliner was in really bad shape so I pulled the cloth seats out to give me some room to work but every time I sat on the floor it was a calculated risk that this fat man might not make it out ugh well good news, I made it
found out its much easier to install it through the hatch then the upgrade to seats it took a while to find a nice set in Oklahoma so much more comfortable than the originals
well glad that's done! I'm really happy with results. Now the carpet looks like the weak link it's faded pretty bad but that will be way down the road
the door panels need attention but it will wait till the doors get swapped from the blue wreck this cars doors have so much minor damage
Re: 90 Formula from derelict to street XXXXXXX Beater
did a little fab today I made up some side aluminum air dams out of some sheet will need to watch how I park because these are thin but if something does get hit they will take the brunt of it, sprayed with semi-gloss - what you think?
Re: 90 Formula from derelict to street XXXXXXX Beater
Another day playing I made a raised hole for battery cables to enter cabin about 3-4" up from lower body hole but tried 2 hardware stores for a 1.5 grommet so used split vacuum line line
this car has 2-0 battery cable in it but negative was MIA but I did find a lug where was connected to exhaust bracket. I'll make another out of 1-0 cable I have and it'll only be about 18" not feet like positive cable is then went after wiring in MAP sensor and mounting it crimping and soldering ain't fun that far back on harness
there's a larger vacuum line at right side above that has nothing connected - I'm thinking a/c vacuum supply? I did run line from small port to FPR. I also replaced lower hose got sprayed from Nasty coolant decided I was done for today.
Man there is so much missing! how'd even run without a MAP sensor ?? I'm just chipping away at what I see wrong
Re: 90 Formula from derelict to street XXXXXXX Beater
Not much of an update decided to replace upper hose and thermostat and was greeted with this mess.
Not sure why this had an aluminum spacer between housing and manifold? I'm happy that t-stat bolts came out and left threads in intake. Little things can make your day.
This car used to have battery on drivers side of trunk, looks like a stellar install with this tray and support
so I decided that was a half *** way to do it so dug through my parts bins and found this repo metal tray and bolted it in securely. Also made new negative cable and crimped new ends on and heat shrink also new end on positive cable. This took a lot longer than I expected but I'm happy with it now
getting real close to powering this up and turning the key
Re: 90 Formula from derelict to street XXXXXXX Beater
Had a buddy that's good at electrical help power this up Yay no meltdown, which is nice. he grounded the field coil on starter relay so relay operates the starter. It cranks and has spark good! I did find fuel leak at fuel rail so gonna take it apart again. These injectors are supposed to be lt1 and compatible with tpi but see picture, and there seems to be more vertical movement than there should be? Maybe you experienced people can chime in here.
just trying to get this figured out so I can get parts if needed to do next weekend thanks guys
Re: 90 Formula from derelict to street XXXXXXX Beater
Originally Posted by Tuned Performance
since the injectors aren't from southbay. they need to have double O-rings on the bottom two groves
Ahh that's it? dang, that would of been good to know beforehand OK, still learning here FWIW the gas that leaked out still had some stink to it
I also need to make sure ECM is pulsing the injectors cause when we were cranking it didn't even have any sign of firing - none
Re: 90 Formula from derelict to street XXXXXXX Beater
Fuel leak has been stopped but not out of the woods yet. Pump pegged gage then dropped to zero found has power to injectors at 100% and that was stopping it from holding pressure unplugged all injectors and now its steady @ 40psi and was still at 30 couple hours later. Guessing maybe it's ecm or who knows? Leaving it apart for now
Re: 90 Formula from derelict to street XXXXXXX Beater
Originally Posted by zman1969
Fuel leak has been stopped but not out of the woods yet. Pump pegged gage then dropped to zero found has power to injectors at 100% and that was stopping it from holding pressure unplugged all injectors and now its steady @ 40psi and was still at 30 couple hours later. Guessing maybe it's ecm or who knows? Leaving it apart for now
I'm going to say ecm, as long as you are sure everything is wired correctly. I love the look of our TPI intakes, but working on them is almost never fun. Mostly, it's just frustrating.
DR.K.
Re: 90 Formula from derelict to street XXXXXXX Beater
Yeah at one point after I bought it I was seriously considering parting this out. It's amazing how much decay this has for sitting 16 years. But I know when stuff is fixed it'll be good for many more years to come
oh and happy Father's day to all afflicted
Re: 90 Formula from derelict to street XXXXXXX Beater
Little progress I think fuel system is good now I had return line to tank improperly connected to the vent line with the rollover?? Valve line instead where it should have been I'll take the blame here- ignorance is bliss? Learning here all it cost me was 40$ fuel pressure diaphragm which no telling when that would rupture anyway. Spent this afternoon putting spark plugs in and hooking up wires, also installed runners and plenum. I'm getting a little tired of working on this without something little popping or banging or vroom vroom. I've been little worried that trans could be burnt due to the previous modified TV cable anyway I lost about a quart of fluid while it was dark it didn't smell burnt, which is nice!
Re: 90 Formula from derelict to street XXXXXXX Beater
So the Third gen God has struck me down with great vengeance and furious anger and deemed this engine to be junk little disappointed but we finally got injectors pulsing and few pops but while cranking i notices way too much air coming from valve cover pulled #1&4 had -60-70 psi at best and that was wet or dry no funny noises when cranking or anything but its hurt bad
we also still have something bad going on with fuel pressure when cranking today the pressure gage was bouncing from past pegged to 80 psi ever wanna toss a match in and watch it burn? LOL I gotta walk away from this for a while deciding what next move
maybe shoulda followed my first thought and parted it out
Re: 90 Formula from derelict to street XXXXXXX Beater
So I threw towel in on getting L98 to run and I've been thinking about my next move, I have all the parts except the heads to put together a 4 bolt ZZ383 short block and go forward with 383 and Super Ram. I also have been gathering some 5.3 parts not necessarily for this but Aluminum block, 4the gen rods, crank, ls6 cam, 799 heads oh- I also added a third T56 core to my collection a LS version so Hmm what to do... I like the thought of all aluminum LS as far as weight goes the easy power, but I think when I pop the hood would be, well, Yawn another LS swap. And all the conversion issues - mounts, exhaust, A/C, wiring, ECM but with a lot more tuning options there! Honestly I'm leaning SBC so looking for some inspiration, push or whatever in a direction to go.. Peeps! what are your thoughts, purists or progressives?
Re: 90 Formula from derelict to street XXXXXXX Beater
Originally Posted by 2slow5.0
I vote 383. Car already has goodies to go with it. I think its rarer to see a superram than an ls swap. Still has wow factor. But im biased
I agree always liked the Pizza box look
Originally Posted by QwkTrip
383 Super Ram with carefully chosen heads and cam is a strong combo. 5.3L LS is underwhelming in n/a form.
yeah I agree in my 69 bird LS6 swap I've done I bought a fast 78 manifold just because black plastic manifold is boring so I have decided to stay with 383 & Pizza! - who wants a slice?
Re: 90 Formula from derelict to street XXXXXXX Beater
Originally Posted by zman1969
I agree always liked the Pizza box look
yeah I agree in my 69 bird LS6 swap I've done I bought a fast 78 manifold just because black plastic manifold is boring so I have decided to stay with 383 & Pizza! - who wants a slice?
Wasnt Lingenfelter gettin like 525 crank hp out of his super ram 383 back in the day?
Re: 90 Formula from derelict to street XXXXXXX Beater
I like whatever works. I see these LS engines with the fancy Holley sheet metal intakes and all I can think about is how much torque under the curve they gave up. Then I see that huge, ugly MSD intake on my car and it makes me smile how much torque under the curve I gained.
Re: 90 Formula from derelict to street XXXXXXX Beater
I like the simplicity and reliability of an old SBC carbureted motor. No guess work as to whats wrong....either fuel or spark and both are easy to rectify.
Re: 90 Formula from derelict to street XXXXXXX Beater
Been a while since last update - months ago I parted a 90 Formula out basically bought all I wanted off it so I grabbed front X-member A-frames and spindles, well I already modded and have the 1LE brakes ready to go so Saturday I pulled X-member apart and cleaned and readied for POR this car lacks serious hygiene cleanup so it'll start soon as 69 goes to paint jail then it'll be teardown time so I'm getting ready for that day
Re: 90 Formula from derelict to street XXXXXXX Beater
Originally Posted by 2slow5.0
What did you decide on for an engine? See your superram was up for sale. Like the car alot. Reminds me of the old lingenfelter build.
Well I wasn't seriously going to go LS although a LS3 is in reach I am still going forward with a 383 Super Ram and Santa dropped these off at Summit with my name on them
Re: 90 Formula from derelict to street XXXXXXX Beater
and the rest of the fun and done need some POR applied next
on a sad note I think I killed my vice - wont close any farther than this without a lot of force from pressing bushings in. I bought it almost new and busted for $15 and beat the snot out of it for 30+ years RIP
if anyone has suggestions on new HD vice throw them up - although I can look for a good and OLD one some are $300 or more
05-04-2020, 06:47 AM
I've got a full set of new reproduction emblems for the Mustang, somewhere. They're not on the car. I took all the emblems off the car, and filled the holes, including the indent in the front bumper cover for the FORD blue oval. I drove my Formula for awhile without the door decals, would have left it that way but I got sick of the riced out Neons trying to race me, and being a white car it was terribly bland without them. 
decided I was done for today.
anyway I lost about a quart of fluid while it was dark it didn't smell burnt, which is nice!
