Thanks again for all the info.

Car should be on the trailer Monday, I'll have it by next weekend. Such a timeless design. I think I got a little lucky, as it seems these low mileage original FDs are becoming scarce. And the price point is certainly shooting up.

Looking forward to officially being a part of the club.

 

Congrats on the FD. I bought a 95 Fd in 2005 with 6500 miles. First thing I did was a coated downpipe to keep the rubber soft because as stock, it will shorten the life of the rubber. The converter under the hood gets way too hot. Then I did the ast and radiator replacement(KOYO). Then a bigger better stock mount intercooler. Next a Powerfc with a Racing Beat Catback. Tuned to 295 hp on a Mustang dyno. I kept the cat converter. I now have 17300 miles with perfect compression numbers checked today by the way. I say "I" but I had Chris at Banzai do the work. I was there today because I had an igniter go bad. Why it went bad we do not know but that's really the only problem I've had.
If you only want reliability mods, downpipe, ast, and radiator. Before I did the radiator, my temps were really high in the summer with a/c on. Like high 90s plus. Now with hot day and ac on it goes no higher than 87. 83 on normal days. With my setup I pay attention to the temps outside and I never max out the power on cold or hot days. I like 65 to 80 degrees. That's just me. I'm not saying that's a rule for everyone. Oh, and I have never premixed. I did with an FC I had that did not have an oil metering pump. Change your coolant every couple of years. That is important I believe. Hope this helps.

 

yep this certainly helps. I just got the car Thursday. And yep I noticed right away how these cars run freaking hot. I did the oil change and I'm strongly considering the radiator as I need to flush the coolant.

 

If you're doing it yourself, I recommend a Lisle funnel and also removing the coolant line to the throttle body when filling, helps speed things up.

 

Our '94 has 116 K miles on the car and 3 K miles on a new crate 13B engine (details below). The OMP is stock, plus we pre-mix at a rate of 8 oz per 14 gallons (usual fill-up volume). I use an O'Reilly-carried brand named "MasterPro 2-cycle Marine Engine Oil, certified TC-W3." It's inexpensive, has "mL" and "oz" markings on the bottle edge, and holds a quart. This one happens to be sitting at 16 oz at the moment. The stuff is blue, but I don't see that as a problem. Since our car is mostly a garage queen, I usually wait until it needs gas, then add the 8 ounces of pre-mix in our garage just before visiting the gas station on the corner. (Just following the recommendations of Yoshiya at Neptune Speed.)

 

I haven't decided if I was going to premix yet. Still reading up on the benefits of that. I know a lot of folks do.

 

Couple pics 93 touring MB Just under 46k miles.

 

Beautiful FD Sir.

 

thanks

 

I got my 95 with around 6500 miles in 2005 and the first thing I did was put a DP, coated inside and out. That keeps out a ton of heat. Then I got a better radiator and a steel ast. To me these changes are necessary.

 

I assuming I'll fail smog (California) with an aftermarket DP? I just passed...

 

Nope. If the OEM cat is in place and the engine is running well, it should pass. Ours has a Bonez DP replacing the pre-cat and has been okay as long as the cat was OEM. After-market cat (Bonez) not good, even new. Make sure your engine is fully warmed up, though. A cold FD might fail.



This year's test (Huntington Beach, STAR facility)

 

I was looking at the Bonez. It runs great and the main cat is original in good condition. Thanks for the information!

 

As an FYI the pre-cat's function is to assist in emissions while the main cat is still cold. That is why we can still pass the sniffer test. Technically replacing the pre-cat with a DP whether it is a bonez or not, fails visual inspection. But it takes a very eagle eyed (or insert whatever adjective you deem fit ) technician to spot that and I've only heard of it happening once on all the years I've been here.

 

I bought a very nice 29K touring model last year, all stock except for the poor aftermarket cat-back. The obvious problems with heat rapidly became apparent, the car was scary to use in warm weather, and made rumbling sounds after driving that sounded like Mt. Vesuvius. To make matters worse, the guard around the main cat was loose and rattled like mad, and the exhaust sounded terrible.
So...I took the plunge and replaced the pre-cat and main cat with Bonez items, installed a RB twin-pipe cat back, did the FC thermoswitch install, replaced the ast, and flushed the cooling system using one of the Lisle air removers to get the air out. Now she runs great with probably 15-20 more hp(I was surprised!), no rattles, and sounds great. No more rumbling, and the fans will stay running after shutdown if needed. I drove it 150 miles last weekend and it was sublime.
I was actually thinking about selling the car but not anymore.
I did one other thing that may be controversial, I started running Idemitsu 20/50 weight in the engine. I am in hopes that a modern purpose-designed synthetic will allow the car to live. But obviously son't know for sure. I stopped short of pre-mixing.
Feel free to critique what I've done, I'd always be willing to learn. Thanks.

 

I'm using idemitsu 20/50.. just did the oil change a couple days ago doing the plugs, wires, flushing the coolant, new OE thermostat and new OEM AST and hoses this weekend. I'll be ordering a DP in the coming weeks. I plan do the coolant evey 12-15 months, next time around I may go aluminum AST and koyo rad. We'll see...

 

Hi MarcZ55, what you're doing sounds great to me. If you are going for a DP, I can tell you my Bonez pipe was easier to install that many of them, and it's very unobtrusive. I had mine ceramic coated and I'm glad I did...the engine bay after a run no longer feels like I'm 3 feet from the sun! You know,I haven't changed the thermostat and that might be a good idea.
You might want to get one of the Lisle units to get most of the air out of the coolant, and I have as many have recommended, pulling off the back hose to the throttle body when you're doing the coolant flush.
Have mercy, that Montego Blue car is GORGEOUS! I have a VR/tan and really like it, but that car just gleams. I just can't say enough about yours, way to go!
Ed

 

Thanks Ed. I literally just ordered the Bonez DP! You're right, I need to get it coated. Thanks for replying. VR,Tans are an awesome combo 👌