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Chronicaling the rebuild of an E0

69Boss302

Has mile high skills
Joined
Dec 26, 2001
Messages
2,630
Location
St.George, SC
It's been a very long time since I bought this car and have really never done much to it. Always one with more ambition then either money or time, I'm finally getting around to this car. Again. And the deeper I get into, the more I find that needs to be done. At 157,000 miles and sitting for almost 2 years things aren't spring fresh anymore.

Todays plan was to get the engine and trans finally out of the car. But after a longer look at the engine wiring harness, I decided to focus my attention on that. And hopefully I'll save myself $700 for not having to buy a new one.

It's a wonder this thing never caught on fire or even ran for that matter. But a roll of electrical tape, a can of electrical connector cleaner and 6 hours (4 of working) of my time I've gone from this

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To this.

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There weren't any broken wires but alot of the cracks or exposed parts. Of particular concern was all of the exposed and touching wires in and around the injectors. If there had been any leaks at all...:blackeye:

Almost every single wire was completely rewrapped and cleaned. No more oil, dirt or grim which makes this the cleanest part of the car so far.

The rest is where it gets really messy. There is so much oil and dirt in the engine bay that it will probably take me a good day to clean thoroughly. And I'll post more pics as it comes along.

So what do you think about for 6 hours while tearing apart a harness and inspecting every inch of it? How good cheap chinese food would be (and it was), is this really worth saving $700 and will it work?, is the girl from last night actually going to call about her classic mustang or is she going to sell my number to telemarketers? And it sure is nice to find out that another new girl you've just met and are texting right now is very shallow and immmature. That's all I can remember right now.
 
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literally... when I saw the difference I said out loud "woah"

Nice work man, you do some quality work on that car, that harness looks brand new and completely factory. Cant wait to see the car done again! good luck with all of the work :)
 
Thanks AJ. I like to take my time when I can and really try to pay attention to detail. Keeping things looking stock or at least like they belong is really important to me as well.

here are some other pics in case anyone new maybe watching.

The day I got the car. The car didn't run then either. I parked my truck on the downhill (in the mountains) and got a small running start to get the car on the trailer. It was at that point that the "custom" exhaust was ripped off and some small damage to the trailer.

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Back when I actually had at least one working SVT (and damn nice too)

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yeah, it was.



that being said, i think you did good on the harness, but if it were mine, i would have just replaced it.
 
not even that...it would just bother me knowing the condition it was in. even if i fixed it i'd still probably look to replace it at some point.
 
THE MOTOR IS OUT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!:shocked: :shocked: :shocked:


Only a year or so later. And I had an audience too. There were people standing out on their balconies watching me. I kinda wish some had offered to help but doing it alone is ok too.

Now it's time for a celebratory dinner of pan fried catfish fillets topped with toasted pine nuts, baked ricotta, honey and dill.

I'll get some pictures up tonight of the mess this engine is in. So completely filthy. mmm, yummy catfish....
 
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At first I thought oops! but it looks like it was a good oops and now I get to buy new axles. Might as well replace them both.

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Also removed the LCA's. Those need new ball joints. The steering end links also need to be replaced because they rubber is cracked.

The rest seemed to be ok. It really needs a good cleaning before getting put back together. Maybe Simple Green will sponsor me?

Yes the roof qualifies as a shelf. The paint in this car is so bad I'm not worried about anything sitting on it.
 
the tranny is the dirtiest part of the car. i wish i would have took mine out into the yard and hosed it down with engine brite and a pressure washer. but i didnt want water where it didnt need to be so i left her dirty ;)

and as for your LCA's..... your local parts store has some that are bolt in if you dont want to replace the whole LCA. they are about 30 bucks each and have a grease zerk in them so they are lubable. they make getting the suspension together a breeze!
 
the block is just as dirty. I'm really hoping that I don't need to rebuild the trans as well. The inside seems in good shape. The trans fluid was the cleanest fluid that has come out of this car but it was kind of watery. :shrug:

Rockauto.com is going to be making almost a $1000 on me before this car is back on the road.
 
please tell me your putting a 3L in. the trans will be fine, probably need a diff someday though. ;) makin good progress tho
 
of course. An 04 Taurus 3.0

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I've also got a new in the box OEM diff and shift forks. Although I've had them for awhile, I really don't want to go through the trans because I knowI'll just find more problems. I will go through it, but I just don't want to.
 
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lookin good!

my injector wire harness is in the same condition as yours [I've always blamed a failed water pump for that happening]. I've been avoiding replacing mine for 3 years now. Finally got around to doing it, wasnt that bad, definitely adds a lot of peice of mind knowing I no longer have cracked/exposed wiring.
 
and as for your LCA's..... your local parts store has some that are bolt in if you dont want to replace the whole LCA. they are about 30 bucks each and have a grease zerk in them so they are lubable. they make getting the suspension together a breeze!

you mean ball joints? Wouldn't he have to drill them out, which is kind of a pain?
 
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