Well, I made the trip from Los Angeles to Memphis, Tennessee with my
1983 Mustang GLX, so my girlfriend could see her aging grandmother for Christmas. The hot water hose from the engine I rigged did a so-so job of keeping the cabin warm in the 30 degree temperatures. Add to that the need for new rubber around the doors and windows. We had a bad time with over-heating. I had gotten a new radiator fan motor, radiator, water pump, hoses, thermostadt---even tried a shoud and fan on the water pump again, and abandoned it when the loss of horsepower went dramatically down. I had the head pressure-checked, and it passed: it still got hot.We would get 100 miles or so and the temp that held at middle would go hot and I would pull over and put water in the radiator and do it again. There were no signs of where the water was going. When we got there, 1,900 miles and 3 days later, I took it to the shop and just had a local mechanic tear down the motor, and sure enough, the heads were warped. Why didn't this show on the pressure test? Is there such a thing as a hot engine head test? The job cost me $810, and the engine is cool all the time now, except when I had to go 95 mph to let a tailgater go by while the guy in the next lane over was going 85mph. The engine immediately after this short burst of speed---which astonished the tailgater (GLX's don't look like Mustangs...)---the engine got medium warm again for ten minutes, then went directly to the left like it was just started up in the morning. It was worth every dime: I've got a great car again. Although the mechanic did me a great favor by fixing it on New Year's Day---and he certainly got paid very well for it---we got home after cruising 80mph all the way, using that lovely thing called a cruise control, and enjoyed the hanging heater core I rigged over the passenger leg area through 30 degree snow and blustery weather, after we got home and loaded everything back in the house, and went shopping, and got a few blocks: The car filled with smoke and I pulled over and investigated. It was very easy to diagnose that one of the nuts that holds the idler pulley had not been tightened and had worked its way down and jammed, broken and froze that pulley. How incredibly fortunate for us it didn't happen out in the wilderness around Flagstaff, Arizona. That would have been horrendous. Thank you God! I fixed it the next morning in 15 minutes for $28. I'm thankful enough for the mechanic working on his day off that I decided I certainly wouldn't charge him for the part, but I did let him know, so he will be mindful of it in the future.
Also, just before I left from the trip, I was going about 75mph down a local freeway when I saw a truck run over a piece of metal about 2" X
1/4" X 10", which flew up into the air about ten feet way off in front of me, and I didn't have swerving room, so I held for the hit I saw coming. I heard a CHUNK!, and looked in my rear view mirror and didn't see it behind me. I imagined it sticking in my air conditioner condenser, and sure enough, when I parked: there it was, sticking into my air conditioner condenser. This is somewhat of a miracle, considering the odd shape of the object and the tiny chink in my grill it had to slip into; it was hard to slide it back in by hand after it was removed. It made a perfect bullseye with a fraction of a milimeter to spare, smashing one of the aluminum tubes in the unit. My question is, now that I have a very cooled down engine: what's the best way to judge a condenser at the wrecking yard? How much do they usually sell them for? Is it better to go brand new, or are they usually sound units.I appreciate your responses.
voice from the past