Looking at an SC tomorrow

1956Wildcat

Registered User
I'm new to the SC scene. I'm going to look at a 93 tomorrow. I do have one main question though, What do I really need to pay attention to. I know about the head gaskets and ball joints, I have an 89 LX. What else do I need to look at. I got burned a little when I bought my current daily driver (94 lightning) but it wasn't that bad to fix. They are asking $1500. It has ~160K on the clock, and is missing the right rear quarter panel ground effect. The interior, from what I could tell, was perfect. It's red (same color as my L) with grey cloth interior. Does it sound like a good deal? Thanks for any help.
 
Other than the HG's there isn't much to worry about. If it's an AOD then you need to see how it goes through its shifts, if it's a 5spd you need to see if it shifts okay without any grinding.
 
My 90 SC auto made it to 182k before the original head gaskets blew. I took it apart and it had Ford gaskets on it. It's been a good car.

I always drive it easy till the coolant is up to normal temp. It is a daily driver. It now has 231k on it. The trans was replaced with a used unit and I put a shift kit and new filter in it. I have since changed the valve body and I change the fluid and filter once a year.

It had the fuel pump go out at 164k miles so I put in a 190lph unit. The water pump went out around 130k miles. I think the original tranny made it 140k.

When I bought it back in 2001 I paid $3000 for it with 160k miles on it. I knew the previous owner and was very familiar with the car so I guess thats why I didn't feel bad paying more for it. I could have found a cheaper one, but that one was in my town and I knew how it was maintained.

You can get the ground effect piece off ebay or the classified section of this website. Shouldn't cost you too much.

When you get it I'd recommend some basic maintenance if you can do the work yourself.

At that mileage I'd start on this right away.

Plugs and wires
180 degree t-stat
new coolant
new belts
new hoses
new oil and filter
new pcv valve
new trans fluid and filter
new fuel filter
adjust the TV cable if its an Auto check tccoa.com for instructions.

If you do the work yourself you are looking at around $100 or less for those parts. But the piece of mind is well worth that.

Then if you have a compression tester while you are doing the plugs you could check the compression. Just to see how the engine is holding up

I say thats a fair price. I'd offer him $1200 and see if he bites.

Oh and ask if and when the head gaskets have been replaced.
 
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Thanks! I was figuring on changing the plugs and such if I get it. I did that on the Lightning when I got it. It ran me about $130 on the tune up on it. The car is an AOD car. I'm not too scared with the maintenance, or even if the trans is out. I've been around cars all my life. I've built probably 15 or so AOD, most of them in higher horsepower apps. Currently I'm working on a 03 lightning powered 56 F-100. So if I get the car I'll have to wait on wheels and tires for the truck, I guess.
 
Deffinately check out the harmonic balancer to make sure its not wobbling. After that I would make sure the ABS and brake lights dont come on when you press on the brake peddle. Head gaskets and the tranny are always things to look for. Rust!! Oil leaks and supercharger seal leakage needs to be looked into. Hope this helps.

Shane
 
I'll look at the balancer also. I forgot that they were a problem. I'm also going to run the vin number. I do know that the 8th vin has to be an 'R' same as the lightning. I'm sure everyone will hear from me again if I do indeed purchase the car.
 
quick35th said:
Deffinately check out the harmonic balancer to make sure its not wobbling. After that I would make sure the ABS and brake lights dont come on when you press on the brake peddle. Head gaskets and the tranny are always things to look for. Rust!! Oil leaks and supercharger seal leakage needs to be looked into. Hope this helps.

Shane
I know about the ABS light, but what would cause the red brake light to come on (besides the hand brake being on, I mean) ??

Ira
 
In mine when it had a bad accumulator both the ABS and BRAKE lights would come on if I had to slam on the brakes.

If the car gets low on brake fluid the BRAKE light will come on when you accelerate fast since the fluid sloshes in the resovoir and sets off the light for a second till it levels back out.
 
Update from the test drive.

Well, I looked at it closer when I got back to it. The owner told me that when he got it he had them put a "new" supercharger on it. It didn't look new. Oh and he's only owned it for 3 months. So I drove it, it has a small vibration when it is idling, would this be the balancer? Also it drove like my 89 bird right before the lower ball joint snapped out of the socket (tight steering). On the up side, there wasn't any issue with the brake system. I figured, roughly, in my head what it would cost to bring the car back into shape and came out to 1K. That would be some paint, ball joints, complete tune up, balancer, and the various interior pieces that it is needing. The guy really didn't seem like he wanted to sell it, and I'm still thinking. I ran a Carfax on it since the tags on the car don't match the county he is from, it came back good except it showed it was wrecked in Ohio back in 97. I did find a black 90 locally also with the driver's side window smashed out of it. I may call them about it. Other than the wiring, which I don't have a problem with doing, is there anything internal to the motors NA 3.8 as compared to an SC 3.8 that would make putting the SC on my old 89? :) Thanks for all the help.
 
The vibration that you felt is likely a sign of bad motor mounts not a failing balancer. Did you look under the hood with the motor running to see if the balancer was wobbling?

Shane
 
Yeah, I looked at the pulley and it had no visible wobble. The motor didn't appear to be rocking, but I didn't have the owner hold the brake and put it in gear to check the mounts. That may be what it was.
 
1956Wildcat said:
Yeah, I looked at the pulley and it had no visible wobble. The motor didn't appear to be rocking, but I didn't have the owner hold the brake and put it in gear to check the mounts. That may be what it was.
If the motor mounts are bad then the oil filter would be a PITA to get off. Just crawl underneath there and see if it would be a pain to get off. The motor would sit a little lower and the oil filter would be against the cross memeber.
 
CMac89 said:
If the motor mounts are bad then the oil filter would be a PITA to get off. Just crawl underneath there and see if it would be a pain to get off. The motor would sit a little lower and the oil filter would be against the cross memeber.

Plus the oil pan will hang down past the kmember some.

Shane
 
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