Bought a dog of a pony

[robbie]

Hello, new member here. Can anyone recommend an engine rebuilder on the north coast (Lismore/Ballina/Byron Bay area)

After several weeks wait I finally had my 67 mustang delivered tonight, freighted up from Sydney. The car I bought used to belong to Lance Weiss till it was bought by the guy I bought it off. It would seem that in the time between me buying the car and it arriving up here, the engine has been flogged, and I took receipt this evening of a car that overheated in seconds and has oil the colour of milky coffee. Absolutely gutted...and I don't think I have any recourse?

Anyway, if anyone knows a good performance-related mechanic up this way, please let me know. Desperate to get this car back on the road.

[GLENN 70]

Welcome to the forum and sorry to hear about your new mustang .  Sounds like it has a blown head gasket .  Not a huge job but not a quick fix either .  I don't know anyone down that way only up on the Gold Coast .

[robbie]

thanks mate, hoping like hell it's only a gasket though the motors only done 11,000 miles. Wouldn't have thought a gasket would go that soon?

Such a shame, only got to sit in the car for 5 minutes before it was taken away again on another truck! Awesome car in every other respect, quick as lightning.

[Dwayne]

Crap, sorry to hear you've had such a bad start to mustang ownership. Hopefully some of the NSW members can give you some guidance.

[GLENN 70]

It could only be an intake manifold problem also .  It might have needed the bolts re tightened  on the intake or the heads seeing it had a recent rebuild . But the over heating may be the head gasket .

[robbie]

let's hope so - more to the point, hope I find a reliable mechanic who doesn't see an opportunity to swindle me into a full engine rebuild if it's not required. Oh well, not much sleep tonight.

[Pedro]

Sean McDonagh (http://www.bosskraft.com/) used to live in Port Macquarie and should be able to point you in the right direction.

[mussy65]

Lance Weiss and Sean McDonagh were very close friends and I presume, still are.  I think Sean would have played a big part in the restoration of Lance's vehicle although this is purely supposition on my part. 

Sean does NOT live in or around Port Macquarie - he was in Douglas Park in the Southern Highlands, just south of Sydney.  I believe Sean is now living in the US and his business interests are now being moved there as well.

We have a fairly active regional membership based in Port Macquarie with members living in various locations along the coastline from Port and north to the Qld border.  I would suggest you email our Port Macquarie (Mid North Coast) representative or our Coffs Harbour (Far North Coast) representative and they may be able to point you in the right direction.  See the NSW Committee page for the email (http://nsw.mustang.org.au/committee/nsw-committee).  Mind, if you are talking Lismore, Ballina and Byron Bay area, I would be far more inclined to take some recommendations from the Gold Coast members and perhaps use a mechanic from the Gold Coast.

Good luck and please keep us informed as to the outcome.

[tim_morrison82]

The blue coupe? Great car! but that is terrible news! i hope it is only minor damage. did the transport company note the miles on pickup? and you note the miles on delivery? if it happened during transport, you could get them for it, but if it had the same miles when it arrived, the previous owner may have had a long goodbye with the car...

[mussy65]

I think this is probably the car ... the one with the bonnet down has Lance sitting behind the vehicle (just if you needed to know  )

[barnett468]

To be brief, as mentioned, it is most likely the head gasket, however, most engines that overheat quickly that have a bad head gasket also pour a lot of steam out the tail pipe . I would also remove the radiator cap and lower the water level until I could see the tops of the tubes and see it they look plugged up.

If it has an aluminum intake, I would also use the steel reinforced Fel-Pro intake gaskets.

 

[robbie]

@mussy65 - that's the car. Thanks to everyone who's posted suggestions, will keep you posted as soon as I've found someone to take a look at it.

[GLENN 70]

I would contact the seller / the person you bought it from and have a talk to him about it .  Be nice and ask if he would be willing to put some dollars in for the repair , you never know and if I had sold it I would .  It's not like you have had the car for a while or done high Klms in it . I'm sure it's a head gasket ,but if so it would pay to get both done at the same time .

[j1autotech]

Welcome to the forum Robbie,

I saw this car a few times during its build and the attention to detail and fabrication was amazing. Lance built it to what he wanted.

Other than the motor issue which hopefully isn't to much, you have a cracker of a car.

J1

[robbie]

cheers. I guess I was just p#ssed off last night when I got home, I'm not calling the whole car a dog, it's far from that. Was just worried I'd bought an engine that had been blown up. It's at the mechanics today and already being pulled apart. We're looking at timing cover/water pump areas first on the front of the motor before looking at heads, so fingers crossed.

[HEVEN67]

Hi Robbie
Welcome to the world of high performance vintage mustangs, well anything high performance to that matter, they are magnificent when all is good and a pain when things go pear shape, I remember when lance was building this car from scratch and its had some bucks spent on it, ive never seen it on the road myself but I had heard it idling and it had a nice note.
Just one other thing, if you have vintage mustang, its either gotta be a big dollar car that you nurse or a low dollar car that you luv to fix, if its a big dollar car which you like to drive in lets say a spirited manner you either gotta have a sound knowledge of cars and luv to fix em or deep pockets.
Sounds like you don't have a sound knowledge of cars so its deep pockets, what ever you do, don't take short cuts, stick with it and it will come good.

Here you go, just so you don't think your alone, one of my many engine rebuilds.....


luvhev

[mwizz]

Welcome to the forum. Hope it works out for you. Love the grabber blue colour.

[shaunp]

 
That car would have done no miles at all I would think. I'd suggest it may well be just the intake leaking

[robbie]

it's done about 11k miles. It's all in the hands of my mechanic now, won't know for sure till next week now. I might actually get to drive this some time this year... :P

[shaunp]

I can't remember the engine spec now but I assume it's a stroker 347 or similar

[robbie]

so it looks like there's a ton of corrosion in the cast-iron heads. I was told (and the odomoter shows)the motor had done 11k miles since the rebuild, but my mechanic suggests there's a lot more miles have been put on it.

Wondering what the right thing to do here is,

a) ditch the motor altogether and replace it
b) just ditch the heads and hope the rest of the block isn't corroded as well
c) quit whining, there's nothing to worry about, this is all normal!

[unilec5544]

That does not look good at all, have you removed the heads and looked at the condition of the block and pistons, replacement heads and inlet would be the way to go if the rest is ok.

[robbie]

not yet, main goal atm is just to get the thing running so I can get it registered. What you say makes sense and may well be the next step.

[robbie]

Anyone know Lance's username here? Perhaps if I pm him he'll get an email. We're having trouble getting the right valley gaskets and could use some info on the type of heads on the car. Or if anyone knows him and can put me in touch, I'd be mighty appreciative. - found his username here, sent him a PM, who knows he might get it and reply.

[barnett468]

why does your mechanic think there is a lot more than 11k miles on it?

the rust is not a definitive indicator of mileage . it can in fact have 11k and still have lot of rust . it is best not to jump to conclusions.

as mentioned, only a disassembly can determine wear, but once it is disassembled, some new parts should be installed . if you do remove the cylinder heads you should do a compression test.

i don't see "a lot" of corrosion in your heads because the passage is clear, not plugged up . all cast iron has some degree of surface rust inside.

.