had a free weekend and decided to work on the car, as usual it fought me along the way. :swordfight: I started with finishing up the exhaust, installed the new o2 sensor, took the old o2 sensors out of the old BBK X, and hooked up the MIL eliminators, topped off brake, power steering and coolant fluids. That was about all that went in without a fight. After i had buttoned that all up I wanted to finally start the car for the first time since I pulled the motor out, just to make sure it would start.
So i put the battery back in, jump inside and crank the key. it fires right up, initially have a grin on my face for about .2 seconds before my father yells "shut it off" repeatedly. i get out and see a massive oil pool on the ground. Turns out the O-ring on the oil filter gave way and shot about 3 qts of fresh clean oil out. I've changed the oil in my 99 GT a dozen times, it's pretty hard to mess up, its possible i didn't tighten it or over tightened the filter. all i know is the O-ring/gasket looks out of round? I should have noticed that when i put it on. Oh well, bought a new filter and topped off the oil.
Fired it up again, no leaks this time! However I noticed it vibrating terribly, not a drivetrain vibration, it felt more like an exhaust issue. At this point the car shut itself off, and would keep turning off after about 5 seconds of idling. tracked it down to two different broken vacuum lines. I slipped some rubber hose over the leak to fix it.
Now with the vacuum leak fixed, I put the car back in the air looking for what part of the exhaust it hitting causing the vibration. Turns out its hitting all over the damn place :facepalm: the first place i notice was the passenger side muffler is hitting the frame rail, okay no big deal just unbolt it from the H-pipe twist it so it isn't and bolt it up right? nope. I can't twist it because it is ALSO hitting on the passenger side rear upper control arm. at this point i realize the entire passenger side cat back is crooked for whatever reason, even though it fit before with the long tubes and BBK X-pipe. But wait there's more! the driver side H-pipe is hitting the trans crossmember. I tried unbolting it from the header moving it and bolting it back up, which did help a bit but not enough. it seems the crossmember is angled? and its hitting where it turns down. I'm thinking someone modified the cat back to work with the long tubes and shorty X-pipe and now that it has a normal midpipe it doesn't fit properly. Not exactly sure what im going to do about this. i really don't want to have to buy a new catback. The catback is a Flowmaster American Thunder for those wondering, or at least that what it seems to be. I would just put dumps on the back of the mufflers and run it like that but i can't because it wont pass PA state inspection.
At this point i'm beyond frustrated, when I notice a small pool of the fresh coolant i had just poured into the system forming on the floor. its leaking from somewhere against the passenger side firewall and cylinder head. I lower the car and find one of the heater core hoses has a small hole in it. Must have gotten snagged on something when the motor went back in.
The only joy i got out of working on the car was seeing the 1967 fastback that came in for paint get picked up by its owner. Some of you might remember the car from a few posts back. the car came out beautifully! pictures don't do it justice.
So i put the battery back in, jump inside and crank the key. it fires right up, initially have a grin on my face for about .2 seconds before my father yells "shut it off" repeatedly. i get out and see a massive oil pool on the ground. Turns out the O-ring on the oil filter gave way and shot about 3 qts of fresh clean oil out. I've changed the oil in my 99 GT a dozen times, it's pretty hard to mess up, its possible i didn't tighten it or over tightened the filter. all i know is the O-ring/gasket looks out of round? I should have noticed that when i put it on. Oh well, bought a new filter and topped off the oil.
Fired it up again, no leaks this time! However I noticed it vibrating terribly, not a drivetrain vibration, it felt more like an exhaust issue. At this point the car shut itself off, and would keep turning off after about 5 seconds of idling. tracked it down to two different broken vacuum lines. I slipped some rubber hose over the leak to fix it.
Now with the vacuum leak fixed, I put the car back in the air looking for what part of the exhaust it hitting causing the vibration. Turns out its hitting all over the damn place :facepalm: the first place i notice was the passenger side muffler is hitting the frame rail, okay no big deal just unbolt it from the H-pipe twist it so it isn't and bolt it up right? nope. I can't twist it because it is ALSO hitting on the passenger side rear upper control arm. at this point i realize the entire passenger side cat back is crooked for whatever reason, even though it fit before with the long tubes and BBK X-pipe. But wait there's more! the driver side H-pipe is hitting the trans crossmember. I tried unbolting it from the header moving it and bolting it back up, which did help a bit but not enough. it seems the crossmember is angled? and its hitting where it turns down. I'm thinking someone modified the cat back to work with the long tubes and shorty X-pipe and now that it has a normal midpipe it doesn't fit properly. Not exactly sure what im going to do about this. i really don't want to have to buy a new catback. The catback is a Flowmaster American Thunder for those wondering, or at least that what it seems to be. I would just put dumps on the back of the mufflers and run it like that but i can't because it wont pass PA state inspection.
At this point i'm beyond frustrated, when I notice a small pool of the fresh coolant i had just poured into the system forming on the floor. its leaking from somewhere against the passenger side firewall and cylinder head. I lower the car and find one of the heater core hoses has a small hole in it. Must have gotten snagged on something when the motor went back in.
The only joy i got out of working on the car was seeing the 1967 fastback that came in for paint get picked up by its owner. Some of you might remember the car from a few posts back. the car came out beautifully! pictures don't do it justice.
