Linson

i'm always doing projects on my 89 Formula 350, some big, some small, but if i make a thread about it, i always make the thread in whatever category the project fits - exhaust thread for exhaust work, brake thread for brake work, etc. while it might not compare to some of the 3rd Gens that reside in the top tier on TGO, i believe my Formula 350 (and my TTA for that matter) is definitely one of the nicer 3rd Gens that you'd see around. since all these big and small projects are coming together to create the 3rd Gen i've always wanted, i figure it makes more sense to create for this car its own thread.

first, a breif history of my obsession with muscle cars> F-Bodies> Third Gens> Formulas...

this is a picture of a picture of my first car:

this was the finished product. i bought the car in '95. this picture was taken probably in '98. yes, those are Indy Slot or Ansen Sprint wheels. yes, it had air shocks on the back. the car was an 87 Firebird w/ 305/Rochester dble bbl. at the time of the pic the car had a 355, Holly carb, intake, some sort of too big cam, L82 heads, 373 gears, B&M shift kit for its second trans overhaul, Viper Blue paint. the car ran like shyte and was unreliable. with all the thousands of dollars spent, not a dime went to addressing the totally shot out suspension (other than air shocks) and the brakes (posi-rear w/ discs, swapped from an 85 IROC) was a complete can of worms - car didnt stop very good at all. i learned alot from that project, mostly what not to do, but that's an important part of the learning process. one thing i did learn was that i would rather have had an IROC, TA, or Formula, and in particular a Formula for its sleek looks. when i ended up getting a 4th gen, i traded the '87 car for $2500 toward a 2000 Chevy cavalier for my wife. i was happy to get rid of it. however, i had not lost my love of Third Gens, i just knew that i was looking for a more well optioned model, particulary a black 89 Formula 350. and in 2002 or '03 i found one that barely ran for $750.

the car was actually in much worse shape than is apparent in this photo. while $750 was an outstanding deal on the car, this car represents classic mistake #2: tackling too large of a project than your budget, time, energy, or number of other projects can accomodate. i drug this non-running car from El Paso, TX to 250 miles away in west Texas, to Washington State before finally bailing on this project when i got my current '89 Formula 350 hardtop.

one of my favorite passtimes was perusing eBay for 1989 Formula 350s, and early in 2010 i found an eBay add for this car with only 29K original miles. car was supposed to be good as new. lets just say i got mixed up with a rip off artist and bought a car that had a perfect interior, very good exterior, but that hadnt been started or driven in...18 years or so.

this is the condition of the car when it arrived at my house. this is where it sat for another year at a local shop's storage lot while i formulated a plan and got the scratch together to get this car on the road.

some sludge that was found in the oil pan.

were it not for the very low mileage on the car, i would've and the fact that i had never truly experienced the drawbacks of TPI, i would've probably opted for an LS conversion, or at least a 383 w/ FIRST injection.

what i did/had done was overhaul the engine, which needed no over-boring, so it's still a 350 - not a 355 or anything. forged rods, hi-silicon pistons, aluminum Vortec (Fastburn) heads, ZZ4 cam, new roller lifters, pushrods, 1.5 roller rockers, Accel 24 lb injectors, Edelbrock vortec intake, Fluidampr, AS&M runners, rebuilt transmission w/ Transgo kit, are some of the things that first went into this car to get it on the road.

DynoDave43

iTrader: (11)

Good idea for a thread Linson. I always wondered what some of the history of your Formula was. Look forward to reading more about it.

Linson

thanks man. there's more to come. i'm actually off this second to have some new exhaust tips welded on. more on that later.

kymmee

Very cool. I'm beginning to like the Formula 350 alot, since aquiring one back in late fall. Very different from the other 3rd gens I have, but in a good way.
Looking forward to reading more about it.
I have to ask-any significance to the 666 in your license plate and your experience with the car purchase?

AssaulT/A

That certainly looks like a clean Formula! Also looking forwards to seeing more.

Linson

also, forgot to mention that from the onset of the overhaul, Alston SFCs and KYB shocks & struts were installed. also it got Dyno Don ceramic coated headers, ORYP, and Hooker cat-back exhaust. i highly recommend the Hooker Aero Chamber muffler for quiet cruising and screaming like a mountain lion when you get hit the gas. other little improvements include a Walbro 255 fuel pump, 4-wire O2 sensor, custom chip, SLP CAI, **** like that.

here's the motor. i really like the way flat black accents look against the vibrant blue body color. unfortunately, i had the plenum powdercoated more of a gloss black. i am going to have it redone in flat black after i get around to porting the plenum. i also have an aluminum distributor cover for that project. i think i will keep the runners that sort of anodized looking black, which was achieved by spraying brake cleaner on them when they were black chrome, which was more of a dark pewter. i was isolating a vaccum leak at the runners and noticed that the spray was discoloring the runners, so i said **** it, sprayed brake cleaner on a rag and wiped down the runners, and liked the results.

the interior is one thing that the previous owner didnt lie about - its basically a brand new car in that respect.

i did replace the steering wheel in favor of a LeCarra thick grip leather piece. as with almost everything else i've done, there were ****-ups on the part of the vendor. i made the emblem from a stencil - its flat black spray paint on satin black powder coat.

plus, i had to get a decent sounding stereo. Pioneer deck, Pioneer and Sony speakers, plus the 4x6s are a more expensive brand, but i dont remember what they're called - Pioneer amp for the sub woofers, nothing major, just decent. in this pic, you'll notice the sail panels are black. thats because in the year the car sat at the shop, the headliner began to sag, so i had it re-done in black along with the sail panels, and i got black Lloyds mats. the idea was to convert the entire interior to black, but i will probably change that all back to gray. the seets and carpet and everything are just too flawless/like new to justify changing them out for another color.

Linson

some exterior pics. although my ultimate dream was always a black formula 350, the medium blue metalic does have its advantages. for one thing, that color "pops" in sun or shade - and we have plenty of cloudy days here in western Washington. also, the flat black accents, and on again-off again goal of an all black interior, give it a very cool Black Mamba effect (black mambas [probably the world's deadliest snake] are not actually black. they are a kind of pale, yet vibrant gray color. only the inside of their mouths are black.)

when i bought the car it sat extremely high in the front. so high that the wheels and tires had a V-like attitude. having a single coil cut off the front springs gave the front of the car the perfect stance. i have bought a set of Hotchkis rear springs with a 1" drop to give the rear the perfect stance as well. those, along with the new Baer front brake kit go on tomorrow.

forgot to mention the car also has Hotchkis lower control arms and adjustable panhard bar, BMR torque arm, and a wonder bar.

AssaulT/A

Linson, I love that steering wheel! Is it noticeably thicker than the stocker? I hate the way my steering wheel feels. My mom's four cylinder Camry has a better feeling wheel.

Linson

speaking of the Baer brakes, that pretty much brings us up to speed as far as the mods go. right now it has an SSBC 1LE kit which just didnt work out, so a year later, Jegs has agreed to refund me, and i have a Hawks Baer "Black Label" kit, which is another way of saying 12" "Sport" kit. that stuff goes on the car tomorrow. when i ordered the drop springs from Summit, i also ordered some new Pace Setter exhaust tips. those went on today.

the tips that came off were Monza double dual tips too, 2.25" in / 2.5" out. looked a little dinky and i did not like the way i had them at a sort of upward angle to stay tight to the body. also, they had to be split in order to fit over the tail pipes - it looked a little sloppy. the new ones are 2.5" in / 3" out, and not quite as tight to the body. looks perfect i think.

the old stuff:


the new:


the new ones come the same way, with alot of black and yellow accents, which i dont think would look good on anything really.


i took the pair to the local powder coaters where they let me use their media blaster for free all the time. super cool folks, Steve and Laurie. got rid of all the black and yellow paint.


used the same silver VHT header paint Motobooks and i used on our TTA turbo shrouds.


honestly, something like this would have made more sense outta the box IMO.

Linson

on the way to the shop for the exhaust. actually, its the same shop where the car got the overhaul done. i've just recently starting gravitating back there because i swore i'd never go back there again, but the owner finally fired "the problem."

on the rack today.

once everything was welded into place, i ran to the autoparts store, which was within running distance + i was wearing sweats, and picked up another can of VHT header paint. seemed like painting the whole system - muffler (which was black) and tail pipes, the same color as the front half of the tips made alot of sense. super happy with the results.

this was taken before i painted the muffler and tail pipes. we lowered the rack so i could eye-ball the fitment. but this, i think, is the perfect size tail pipes and angle. i'll try to take a picture of the finished product on the car tomorrow.

Linson

forgot to mention the car also has a Hawks fiberglass wing.

on to the brakes that are going on the car tomorrow. SO GLAD i didnt sell my stock spindles when i had the SSBC kit on the car. and a bit of advise for guys that are considering brake upgrades. if you can help it, dont get a kit for a Third Gen that "comes with spindles" unless youre prepared to wait a very long time. Ed at Fly'n'bye, and in my experience, SSBC - thats the hold up, is waiting to get their hands on a set of 82-92 spindles. with the Baer Kit, you have to modify your stock spindles. this cost me $100 in machine work BTW.

the picture in the Hawks catalog and website, plus the moniker "Black Label" led me to beleive that the calipers on these were painted or powder coated black. but they arrived natural steel gray in color. i sexied up the modified stock spindles (which i had media blasted) and the calipers with black caliper paint, plus a blue paint marker for the lettering.




the Hotchkis 1" drop springs came powder coated gray. i had them re-done in black.

Linson

no. back in '99 when i was having my 96 Camaro registered, the lady at the licensing place handed me a plate that ended in 666. i said "cool!" come to find out, a lot of people reject those when they get them for religious/superstitious reasons. i request them. its a way to have a menacing tag while not having to get a custom plate.

Linson

very noticeably. i didnt like the stock steering wheel at all. besides being very thin, its just not very sporty looking at all - doesnt seem like something that would come on a sports car / muscle car.

LHernandezJr

...

maks10

Cool history on car....nice work as well

DynoDave43

iTrader: (11)

That looks very nice to my eye...very neat / clean.

Of all the forums I hang out at, this one BY FAR uses the most acronyms. Sometimes I can't keep up. What's an ORYP?

My factory muffler is on it's last legs. So I'm always interested in what muffler people are using. You wouldn't happen to have a .wav file, or YouTube clip of this car / muffler would you?

Linson

[quote=DynoDave43;5784350]

thank you very much. its not a daily driven car, so i can afford to be very picky about keeping it super clean.

Off-Road Y-Pipe, meaning that the catalytic converter(s) have been removed.

i did look into that for you and if you log onto YouTube and enter Hooker Cat Back, several come up. most are on 4th Gens, which sound a little different, but a few are on 3rd Gens. none of those cars sounded precisely like mine though, as mine is set up differently. i've never uploaded a video file to anything. maybe i'll look into that. on my car, doing revs while in park sounds good and all, but its while cruising and i drop it down a gear or two while giving it some gas that the magic happens.

Linson

i did get the Baer brakes and 1" drop springs on today. in classic fashion, it was a ****ing nightmare.

the plan: drop the car off at the shop (12 miles from my house) at 8:00 AM. then take the wife and kids to breakfast (4 miles from my house, but in the other direction from the shop). then get dropped off at the house while my wife takes the kids to the doctors office for checkups, then wait for the phone call that the car is ready. step one and two complete, but uh oh, wait, whats this? a missed phone call from the shop. there's been a snag. the spindles which have already been modified exactly as prescribed in the instructions, would not accept the caliper brackets. they cant get a hold of Baer because they didnt open until 10 AM (Arizona doesnt observe daylight savings time) and Hawks doesnt answer their phones until 10 AM either (1PM EST). they had already done the rear springs, but they didnt have time to wait to get ahold of the vendors for clarification of their vague, incomplete, or incorrect instructions, so they needed me to come get my car. here was the issue:
if you look at the modified spindle, it has three prongs. the smallest one at the top/left has that little notch protruding up. that notch is the steering stop. that steering stop is right where the bolt hole to attach the caliper bracket (bracket B) to the brake kit bracket (bracket A). remove that steering stop and the some part of the caliper becomes the steering stop, hense the technician's apprehensiveness to go ahead and do so.

so, my wife drops me off and leaves, as my last instructions were that i had to make another appointment for the car, so i would be driving it home momentarilly. by this time i'm on the phone with Baer, and they were very helpful once i was able to get a hold of them. they sent me a picture of a modified spindle, which indicated that the steering stop was to be removed (this was not indicated in the instructions.) another problem with the instructions was that it indicated a 1.74 thread pitch was needed on bolt holes. that is not a thing. 1.75 is what it should have read. i took the spindles to a couple different machine shops before figuring that out.

what ended up happening was they had to put later appointments ahead of me and start my car in the afternoon. meanwhile, i had to hang out at the shop all morning until around 1:00 in the afternoon when i had my wife come pick me up. then we milled about town for a couple hours until the car was done. and by the time the car was ready, it had started raining and didnt appear that it was going to stop so i had to drive halfway home in the rain. after the halfway point, and at my place, the roads and weather conditions were as if it hadnt rained at all.

on the bright side, the owner of the shop had been through the whole SSBC brake fiasco with me and wanted to work with me on this job, so i got the drop springs and the brake kit installed for $150 cash. salvaged an otherwise crappy day.

i took a couple pics when i got the car home today. i'll try to get better pics of the brakes and everything when the weather isnt shyte.

Zane M

iTrader: (1)

I love this car. Looking forward to this thread progressing.

Linson

Thank you, thank you. its a nice feeling to have a fellow Third Gen'r appreciate your vision.

Linson

forgot to mention this car is a blast to drive. even compared to the TTA, this one has the fun factor. both will have you up to about 70-80 mph once you hit 4th gear just at moderate throttle. i would say the TTA pulls harder longer and has more to give from a 50 mph start, but with the Formula the throttle response is "right now" and it sounds killer. plus it has stereo system with decent speakers, amp driven subs, and a modern head unit vs. the stock tape deck for now on the TTA, which = no tunes.

in the process of breaking in (seasoning) the new rotors. will get a good pic of the brakes through the wheels soon.

future plans are: new tires, probably going to upgrade to some better sub-woofers, wheel re-finishing, may port the plenum, may also go in for a FIRST injection system. a set of Ronal R15s are not completely "off the table" but i am a fan of the stock Formula wheels.

AssaulT/A

Is there any chance a T-56 will find it's way into the car at some point?

Linson

...i would say that it is unlikely, unless i found too good of a deal on one. i would be more likely to do a T-56 swap if it were attached to an LS engine. and then there is the fact that if/when i do find the right LS engine/trans, it will likely go in my '67 which has been a rolling chassis with new paint, body since 2007. i really need to get that project moving.

Linson

the '67.

Javier87z28

iTrader: (1)

Beautiful car bud and well your garage speaks for itself!! Subscribed!

AssaulT/A

That '67 is beautiful! I love the color.

Linson

very happy with the Hotchkis 1" drop rear springs that went on the Formula along with the Baer brakes. the progressive rate springs are advertised as maintaining factory ride comfort, and they deliver on that. they actually seem to ride less harsh than the factory springs that they replaced.

also, while i'm still tempering/braking-in the new brakes, i can feel that these ones are going to deliver the improved performance i was after.

so, there were problems with the installation instructions with the brakes, and i had to powder coat the gray Hotchkis coil springs black. but overall, i would say two good products.

82tarecaro

iTrader: (4)

I am digging the little lx in the background...

TEDSgrad

iTrader: (4)

I'm biased, too
Clean lines to the car are not outdated, though you know what year it is.
I, too, thought of switching to black, but decided it was not worth it and I do prefer the grey carpet. I stayed with the dark grey, graphite, black colors, but I did remove all the "dove grey" - seats & door panels as they were too light.
I hear you with the wheels, but tire selection will eventually force us off them. I just can't decide on anything 'cause I just can't picture anything else in its place.

Linson

i know exactly what you mean on all fronts. as for replacement wheels, unless they come out with a 17" one off (unlikely), then the best options are looking like Ronals or 4th Gen 17"s.

Linson

it's an '89 too. i bought that car in '09 as a counter-part to an eventual '89 Formula 350. i paid $1600 for it, and it cleaned up very nice. with 165K on the car, the interior looks like the car has 40K, and after using a razor blade to carefully remove the tree sap, some rubbing compound and polish, and a six-piece set of clear headlights, the exterior looks really nice too. it has 265's on the back and 225's on the front.

i bought it from an older lady, which likely factored into the cars overall good structural condition, but it also likely factored into the car having an automatic transmission, which isnt a good thing on an 89 Mustang. it does have a 2400 stall converter and a rebuild which eliminated the third gear flop that these are known for, so it does shift nice and it also has a nice B&M Hammer shifter (much nicer looking that the dinky-looking stock shifter). other mechanical improvements include SSBC front brakes and rear drum to disc conversion kit, 3.55 gears, BBK SFC's, full exhaust: BBK chrome equal length shorties, ORHP, Flowmaster Force II cat-back, & BBK CAI, prolly a few other things. nice stereo too. i have a GT40 upper and lower intake for it, but am going to wait until i can just do the entire motor (heads, cam, rebuild).

Linson

what did you replace the door panel material with? and how did it turn out?

TEDSgrad

iTrader: (4)

All black above the arm rest, grey contrast and carpet below.

82tarecaro

iTrader: (4)

Looks to be in great shape for the mileage on it. I just picked up a 90 LX auto as my next project. It lost overdrive but I am swapping in a 5 speed anyway. I also have a turbocoupe rear going in. They are fun little cars. Probably not a popular sentiment here though.
[attach][/attach]

Linson

^ thats a nice one. i've never seen one that color before.

Linson

in the process of gasket matching/porting out a spare upper plenum. the plan is to port it out, then powder-coat it flat black and install it of the Formula in place of the original. here are some preliminary photos: will put up some more with progress and when finished.





the black marks around ports 1 and 2 are plastic from a large drill that i used. the smaller Dremiel tool works much better with its higher velocity. some findings and advice for anyone thinking of doing this or porting/grinding any other aluminum parts:

1. dip your bits in ATF (transmission fluid) or similar every couple minutes or so. it will prevent your metal cuting bits from being caked with aluminum and being rendered useless. i am using some B&M Trick Shift fluid that i have on hand. cannot stress this enough, it makes a HUGE difference.

2. if you're doing this (or similar) and there are going to be metal shavings getting everywhere, open-toed sandals may be a poor choice (unless you enjoy a nice metal sliver in your toe that you can't see but sure as hell can feel.

sc@hms

iTrader: (1)

Hey 82 tarecaro---I saw your Mustang. Those are fun to drive. It's like flying a captured MIG. Haha!! It's surprising how the 5.0 guys and third gen fans get along now. I was recently at a local cruise/show with my IROC and the Mustang guys were actually really friendly. They seemed more interested in it than most other people there. They were the same way with a guy who brought a killer, low-mile Grand National too. I guess we're all orphans of the same era. Sounds like you have a good plan for it.

visitor

You REALLY need to stop shopping for performance parts based.on color. What are you, 12?


You and motobooks share the same love of spraypaint, I see. Neat.

82tarecaro

iTrader: (4)

I never took sides in the pony car wars. I like them both.

sc@hms

iTrader: (1)

I'm with you. I've had a Mustang, Buick GN, '83 Hurst Olds. I like them all, too.

TTOP350

iTrader: (8)

When porting nonferrous metals and plastics use the proper bit.
(on left in photo below)
[attach][/attach]

Edit: For those wondering which bits to use.

Bob88GTA

iTrader: (2)

Linson.......Love the LeCarra Wheel! I want one!
Great Formula too!

Linson

Yep. I'm using the one on the left, and also a barrel (or cylindrical one).

Linson

That looks nice, TEDSgrad. i think it would look even better if there were a feasibly cost-effective way to replace the cut pile carpet portion (at the bottom, surrounding the pocket) with the same vinyl material.

*edit* maybe not though, because then you'd have a light gray pocket thingy contrasting against black material. i just never was too crazy about the whole carpet on the door (which i also have.)

Linson

finished porting the plenum. i think i accomplished the jist of what this mod is about.





next i will powder coat it flat black. i will also be powdercoating the valve covers flat black (they are currently powdercoated gloss black.) i may even have the TB done, which is currently spray painted flat black. i'll post up pics and performance results when finished.

Linson

i actually sued the previous owner for fraud. i won the lawsuit (i sued him for $5 grand + court costs, but he's ripped off ALOT of people, so its kinda like "get in line" for me - but still, it was the principle. it is infuriating to be taken by a sleeze like that. the dude lives in Oreana, IL near Decatur and is named Michael Sleeth. DO NOT do business with him or any of his relatives. Sleeth and his disgusting wife, Alice were arrested in 2011 for computer fraud (basically for several of their severaler eBay scams.) they were also hoarding cats...



again, DO NOT EVER do business with this man - especially on eBay. total scumbag. i would assume the Formula had such low mileage because this guy's @ss was in jail for several years. that, or the car was just sitting around as part of some hoarde.

TEDSgrad

iTrader: (4)

Yeah, we have to draw the line somewhere, and carpet near the shoes or kick panel area is OK - not great, but OK. It does tie the grey accents together. I've seen too many people go too far. I prefer understated look - resemble stock, but when investigated...

Linson

disassembled upper plenum & runners.

comparison of stock vs. ported runner ports:

TTOP350

iTrader: (8)

Someone mounted your coil to the engine ground strap bolt on the firewall. Looking good!

Linson

so, the extra plenum i had was off of an '86. i was trying to assertain what the difference was between an 85-88 and an 89-92. as i recall, all the aftermarket parts differentiate between 85-88/89-92. i was not really able to get a straight answer anywhere on what the difference was. a guy at Hawks (not Bruce) told me that '90-92 was different because of the MAP sensor, which sounded sensible, so i went with it. now, having both plenums off the car, i can see that he was incorrect. the differences are as follows:

the '86 on the left appears to be constructed of a different alloy than the '89 on the right. the '86 has the triangular shaped hole in the front which goes into the two small "mini-runners." it appears that both use the same TB gasket.

there is a port for a "mini-runner" on both sides on the '86, and only on the passenger side on the '89. for the aftermarket runners, they simply plug the "mini-runner" on both ends for '89 and up applications. and as you can see, the air passage way on the bottom is different on the earlier version to accomodate the second functional "mini-runner."

in this pic you can see the "mini-runners" i've been refering to, in case there is any confusion as to what i'm talking about. as you can see, on these aftermarket runners for an '89 application, the "mini-runner" on the Driver Side is plugged, and the one on the Passenger Side is functional.

while, logically, it seems that the fact the the Driver Side "mini-runner" is plugged, the problem is solved and the two plenums will therefore be inter-changeable - before i procede further i would like to ask the following of anyone who has first hand knowledge and experience in this matter:

1. what is the function of the "mini-runners" and why did they change it to only one side that functions for 89-92?
2. does the fact that the holes on the Driver Side "mini-runner" are plugged render the '86 plenum inter-changeable onto an '89 application? and if not, what else must be done?
3. will my '89 throttle body work on the '86 plenum? i know that, like any other TPI stuff, when ordering an aftermarket TB, it differentiates between 85-88 & 89-92. yet, it would appear that the '89 TB gasket covers the same areas on the '86...