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Putting together a field-parked Fox

It's been a while since I've really had V-8 torque under my right foot, and I'm thinking of getting one of my old 5.0s (a 1986 Mercury Capri

5-speed) put back together again. it's been sitting in a field for quite some time, though, and other than the paint and interior issues, what other things should be looked at while trying to make it a road-worthy car? When it was parked, the only things wrong were a missing header-to-H-pipe stud (MAC headers and H-pipe) and a bad ball joint. The 2-chamber Flowmasters are probably rotted to shreds by now, so I'm assuming something will need to replace them, and somewhere in the back of the fuel line area, something has chewed through (hopefully the rubber hose) and a small-drip gas leak occurs when the car is running. The last time it was started was probably two years ago, and it hasn't really seen road duty for about 7 years. If the chassis appears to not be rotting away, the engine will probably be removed for a complete oil-control gasket job (pan, rear main, intake, valve covers, front cover, etc) and all of the above things will be taken care of.

Is there anything else to take into consideration on a car that's been parked outside in the grass for years on end?

JS

Reply to
JS
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Well first of all oil, grease, gas needs to be changed, filters too, probably all of the rubber in the suspension is shot so at least ball joints will need to be changed. Must likely hoses will need to be changed and all the belts, tune up with wires and cap replaced. fuel filter replaced, cooling system flushed and refilled, back flush the heater core too. That would be minimal place to start to get the car ready to drive.

Reply to
Les Benn

If you had much gas in the gas tank, it probably got water in the bottom of it, and could have rusted some parts out, fuel pump stuff too. Expect the fuel system to be full of crap, tar like stuff, shellac, lots of grit etc. I got a car out of a field after sitting for 18 months, all tires were bad.

Reply to
chumley

If you lived here in Tucson you would need to get the 4 tons of pack rat stuff out of everything:)

Al

Reply to
Big Al

Thanks for the run-down, guys. I'll get a belt and a hose kit for it and do the coolant flush... ball joints were planned to come out due to their pre-parked failed state. Fuel system needs inspected due to the leak... but apparently it had been running last year and there was Stabil dumped in when I parked it... no telling how much that actually helped after this long.

Thanks again. Here's hoping for a good resurrection, provided the body is willing.

JS

Reply to
JS

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