This Merc ain't FROZEN!!!

[Jesus Freak]

My 21yr old daughter has a really sweet 88 cougar that we bought her as a graduation present almost 4yrs ago now. The original owner took meticulous care of this machine and hopped it up just enough.......if you know what I mean. Not a drag car, but if you want to feel a old school foxy ford hook up it's got a 65mm Edelbrock intake thingy and nice sounding real dual exhaust. But anyhoo, a while back the flex plate started to go and I told her to deal with for a while until she couldn't stand it or the starter wouldn't grab and a couple weeks back she bought a temporary car and laid the cougar up. It also needs the power steering pump replaced and valve covers tightened, etc.

So here's ole' dad fixing her car. Nothing too exciting except I came to a certain situation and says to myself, "self, you better hit up the oil burners and see what they think". Never met a more level headed bunch of guys, so here's the thing:

The smog pump is frozen, I don't see a reason for it to remain and have looked into smog pump delete thingys. They are becoming rare. I did find one, but was curious if any of y'all had one on the shelf, or know a better option. Apparently I can hollow it out, but just wanted your opinions. I tried looking at other forums and a bunch of mustang forums showed up and we'll..........those guys just didn't "fit my style" if you catch my drift.....

Oh yeah, how bout that thread title?

And what's up with a teal torque converter?

 

[XOLATEM]

You can disassemble the smog pump and loosen it up...it is just a huge, simple vane air pump....you will be surprised with how primitive it looks...I was...

Without it and the rest of the system working...it would wind up taking you down a road where one thing would lead to another and another and another...

I did not used to be this way...but keeping it fairly stock for DD street use...it is better to go with what the factory intended...I feel...because the ECM system is calibrated to 'see' all sorts of stuff that would be affected by pitching the pump...

The air pump's job is to add air to the exhaust during times when it is expected to have an excess of unburned hydrocarbons running to the catalytic convertor to assist it in burning the extra fuel off and not clogging the cat with too much buildup...I believe it would also help inhibit backfiring exhaust...which could blow the mufflers wide open...

All of the above is just my humble opinion...

On the torque convertor...by the way...see the imprint of the crank bolts on the front of it..? Remember me talking about that some time ago...?

Either someone painted it for whatever reason...or it is a rebuilt unit...

I don't remember if I ever saw that color on a rebuilt TC...but it sure is a girl color...did the daughter see it...?

 

[Jesus Freak]

Well, I did open it up and I did loosen it up so it would rotate.......BUT I destroyed the veins so it's just a spinning barrel anymore. I just didn't trust it too much the way it was corroded in there. If it does create problems more than a "check engine" light she can get another one that doesn't have a bunch of white aluminum corrosion dust stuff in it, it'd be pretty simple to swap out.

It's definitely a rebuilt transmission. The whole thing has been spray painted, and we used to do that at Mr Transmission a long time ago when I worked there. But yeah, teal torque converter is different. She'll see it tomorrow when we're discussing all the stuff she's gotta buy.

I didn't notice the bolt endention until you said something. I wonder if it's a C5 flex plate or whatever else? It's getting a new one, I'll have her look into the brand you mentioned.

 

[Old Goat]

Needs a ZF-5 with Cup Holders.


Goat

 

[Rdnck84_03]

I normally just remove the smog pump completely and get a shorter belt. Unfortunately it has been years since I have done this and I don't remember the required belt length. When I first did this I found my info from the foxbody mustang groups.

James

 

[Jesus Freak]

Needs a ZF-5 with Cup Holders.


Goat

And a 4cyl Perkins diesel!

 

[Jesus Freak]

I normally just remove the smog pump completely and get a shorter belt. Unfortunately it has been years since I have done this and I don't remember the required belt length. When I first did this I found my info from the foxbody mustang groups.

James

I saw the shorter belt idea mentioned. My concern was that instead of 70% of the fan pulley surface being run by the belt only about 25% of the pulley would be covered. That might not amount to a hill of beans, it's just how I saw it. It does appear to be a legit option though.

 

[Rdnck84_03]

I ran that way on 2 different trucks for a number of years without issues.

James

 

[Jesus Freak]

Well, yesterday morning my daughter called and her car wouldn't crank up...... the fuel pump died. So I had to go get it and bring it here to put a pump in.

I decided against dropping the tank because the truck area of her car is really rusted out and I felt like if I took the tank out I'd be married to a BIG PROJECT! So I cut a hole in the truck area, which is LEGIT!

What's crazy is that her car is exceptionally rust free except the floor of the trunk.

Oh well, I thawed the Merc out and pulled the pump and put in a new one. Made a simple cover and "strongly admonished" my daughter to curb the rust.

Here's some pics.

 

[Jesus Freak]

Check out the fuel pump I pulled out. It's Ford hose clamps, Ford sender housing, do y'all think it's the original from 1988? If so, that's crazy!

The pump itself is a Bosch "made in Germany"

The filter is really different compared to what you get these days to. And look at the rust accumulation on the top!

 

[Jesus Freak]

And here's a picture of my Big Red and my son's Big Reds being guarded by Andrew Jackson.....

 

[Clb]

Salt sux
I had a bumpside dually once, the prior owner used to haul an aluminum boat with, being a C.O.B. he would launch the boat by backing up till it floated outta the bed...
Needless to say that when it needd rear brakes it went away.
Everything was salt welded in situ.

 

[Jesus Freak]

Salt sux
I had a bumpside dually once, the prior owner used to haul an aluminum boat with, being a C.O.B. he would launch the boat by backing up till it floated outta the bed...
Needless to say that when it needd rear brakes it went away.
Everything was salt welded in situ.

I'm not sure that it's salt though. The rest of the undercarriage is perfect, it's just the trunk. I don't think the original owner used it for launching boats either, lol.... maybe something corrosive leaked in the trunk, but even that doesn't make sense because the carpet is nice in there, I don't know, I just know that I told her that her engine/transmission has another 250K+ in them with good maintenance and care, she just put(or I should say I helped her score, because I got a Knight Rider friend that manages a tire store) a new set of BFG Radial T/As that'll be good for 50K miles, but if her car rust to pieces......who cares how great you're drive train is....?

 

[Cant Write]

How’d the smog pump situation play out? Check engine lights?

Sweet Cougar!! Dad had a Thunderbird growing up and my buddy had the turbo-4, was that a super coupe or turbo coupe.

 

[Jesus Freak]

How’d the smog pump situation play out? Check engine lights?

Sweet Cougar!! Dad had a Thunderbird growing up and my buddy had the turbo-4, was that a super coupe or turbo coupe.

No issue with the smog pump. I'm not sure about a check engine light, her car runs perfect so I disregard a "check engine light" on that generation of vehicles.

I had a 84 XR-7 cougar which is the turbo charged 2.3 version as well as an 88 turbo coupe t-bird several years ago as well.