I got a free SC

ecyrbh

Registered User
Just Towed home 91 SC from In-laws for Free...........Car has not run since 02.Got it home and both Head Gaskets are blown after discussion with father-in-law.Tear down confirmed this.What i need is info on machining,mods,things to look for,etc.This is going to be a long term project for me and my son, so any help will be appreciated.to-do list is going to be a long one,but could not resist the offer of this car to our family.Too good to be true.......E-mail me at ecyrbh@satx.rr.com
 
Where you at, it might be good to find someone local to have a cold drink with and get a good look over it...
 
First thing I'd wanna know is if the bottom end cold soaked in the coolant..or was it drained and if so was more oil added for it to soak in...

Rick
 
Father in law said he drove the car home while steaming out of the exhaust,turned it off and checked fluids.No sign of water in oil but empty radiator.I'm an auto mechanic myself and when he told me what had happened,I knew what the problem was going to be.He claimed that he drained the engine of any fluids(water and oil)at that time.He later put new oil back in the motor along with tap water to see if a external leak could be found approx. after a weeks time.He attempted to start the car but it would not fire up.It hasnt been started in approx.4+ years.He did drain the water out of the block so that it would not freeze during winter.My tear down revealed several problems thus far.Head gaskets blown,Excessive play at pulley of blower while holding still,cam syncro has excessive play up and down,Oil pump drive gear at timing gear has 2 teeth missing and minor problems with brakes and drivetrain.The engine will rotate now that heads are off due to severity of HG failure.This is my first SC and first major hands on with a supercharged vehicle.Please help................
 
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I say get a engine stand rebuild it and your son will know everything there is to know about a pushrod engine. Invaluable learning.
 
While you've got it down...

You can get all the parts to rebuild the snout of the super charger from Wynn (tbird88) @ www.texasthunderbirds.com for around $50, including Supercharger oil. Or, You can ship it to him and he'll rebuild it for $75, but Wynn stays pretty busy. If the car has a LOT of miles, you may want to put a new coupler in the SC while you're at it. The pathetic factory exhaust is the cause of most of the HG failures in these cars. If you don't have emissions testing in TX, while you got Wynn on the phone, order a set of catless "dragpipes". They are $110 and will mate up perfectly to the existing resonator, or a flowmaster or Magnaflow resonator (recommended). If you do have emissions, Bill @ supercoupeperormance.com sells a great downtube with hi-flow cats. Also, while the engines out, cut the "lip" from the flange of the collector of the Exhaust manifolds with a die grinder, etc. If you don't spend a few bucks on the exhaust while you're at it, you will probably be doing the HG again pretty soon.
Oh, and when you go back, don't put 50/50 anti-freeze in. Use just enough coolant to "hold" down to 15-20 degrees or so (less if you can garage the car in the winter). The rest fill with tap or distilled water and add two bottles of redline "Water Wetter". Huge difference in temps including cylinder head temps, which is the #2 weakness in these cars IMHO.

Daspanka
 
just fix it back to original, get it running & go from there. a good running SC is the best thing you can have.
 
Fixing/Rebuilding an SC is basiclly no differenet than fixing a DIS 3.8, espically at this point for you. Really the only difference is that most of us lack OBD-II.
 
Areyou sure the excessive play on the blower is not the spring coupler? Is the slop you feel against a spring? Just wasn't sure if you were familiar with the spring coupler. The first one I check out was bad becasue the pulley had what I thought was slop from the spring.

So how old is you boy? Is he excited about it???
 
Your Right,Not familiar with the spring coupler,Was not aware.It does have slop at pulley before spring tension applies.No bearing movement or end play though.My boy is 10,agreed with father in law that car would be his when he turns of age.6-8 years for me to play before then...HA HA HA
 
About 30 mins north of San antonio? I have an SC parts car that has to be gone soon, if you need anything, let me know...

Hell stop on by the shop and take a look at what I got. I work at the Midas on Perrin-Beitel.
 
ecyrbh said:
Just Towed home 91 SC from In-laws for Free...........Car has not run since 02.Got it home and both Head Gaskets are blown after discussion with father-in-law.Tear down confirmed this.What i need is info on machining,mods,things to look for,etc.This is going to be a long term project for me and my son, so any help will be appreciated.to-do list is going to be a long one,but could not resist the offer of this car to our family.Too good to be true.......E-mail me at ecyrbh@satx.rr.com

I'm local to the S.A. area, and sent you a PM...
 
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