1983 Ford Taunus GT

AngryCorvair said:

Nice work, cool car, and good storytelling!

Thanks. I try to keep everything documented for myself while also writing an interesting story for those who want to follow it

The last picture is from this saturday. On sunday I got poisoned by the exhaust gasses, but before writing about that I need to catch up.

So, three weeks ago, It was sunday and I almost finished drying the floors. Got bored and texted my friend Pablo (lot's of posts where I write "a friend" it's actually him) too see if he wanted to go for a ride as it was the last day of having a valid tech inspection.

I passed by his house, he got in the car and we started driving around the neighborhood. There is no way we could've been driving hard as there was a lot of traffic, so I was just spinning the rear wheels and braking before hitting the car in front of me. After like 10 blocks of that, we got stopped by a police car. I had all the mandatory paperwork on me and police officers don't give tickets for that kind of things here, but they usually look for bribes, so I was a little nervous. One officer asked for the insurance papers, I showed her a binder with the insurance company logo and said "I have all this" and got told it was ok without actually showing anything legally valid. They also asked for the car registration, my license and Pablo's ID. Identifying the passengers isn't usually done in routinary stops, but I guess they did it because they had to follow us and beep the siren. That officer went to her car to check if everything was ok and the other one stayed with me. Within a second we were talking about cars and he told me to do this somewhere else, followed by two places where it wouldn't bother him.

I thought about explaining that I wasn't driving fast, I was just at WOT doing burnouts with an almost open exhaust, but it wasn't a good idea.

We went to a highway with two lanes each way. The speedometer marked 170 km/h but I think it was actually a little less. I'm impressed by both the high end power and the stability at high speed, but I know the state of the suspension and didn't want to push for more.

I took this exit and passed under the highway. I think there is a roundabout now after the bridge. I got the car sideways while turning left there but straightened it before attempting to turn right into the side street. Stopped here, next to the curb, turned the steering all the way to the left, floored the gas and tried to do a 180º turn. The car understeered, it took me a while to understand what was going on and we ended on the side of the road on top of some very sticky mud.

You can see what happened from the tire marks in the pictures:

Pablo went to the back to push but we couldn't get the car out of there. A guy named Jose, who was driving a berlingo, stopped just after 5 minutes of being there and offered to help. As none of us had a rope, he helped to push and the car moved a little, but not enough. Remember when I wrote about the old tires? and when I said the gas pedal felt too much like an on/off switch? well, those things, the heavy car and most of the weight being on the front axle made getting out of there hard.

Then Jose offered a very thin ratchet strap which I attached to the lower control arm. He was very worried about the strap breaking and damaging my hood, way more than me. He pulled my car out of there while I drove and Pablo pushed. Then we shook hands and Jose said "I'm a ford fan, I would never leave you there" and left. That's where we noticed he drove like 200m to get to us, he wasn't driving through there.

Pablo, myself and the car carpets were full of mud. Also, I had left the rubber mats at home, which made this a pain to clean.

All this wheel spinning without moving (the car wasn't digging on the mud, but mostly spinning the tires in the same place) made the car overheat, so we waited a few minutes for it to cool off while we took pictures.

My car ended up facing the wrong direction. Now, with the rear tires full of mud, I drove to the factory entrance you can see on street view, just to be sure there was enough space, and did the 180º turn I wanted. Really, it was more like 210º, I need to practice more.

The whole drive was done with the driver window down and the opposite side rear thing, which I don't know if qualifies a as window, open. That's because the passenger window won't go up without removing the door panel. I opened the other back window to get some airflow and remove some of the exhaust gases from inside the car, but a while later I had to stop because it detached from the front attachment points and was hanging just from one point. The glass could have been smashed against the rear quarter panel just by taking a bump too hard.

The timing got a little retarded while driving, so I stopped to fix it and get some fresh air. The radiator overflowed a little so we waited there a few minutes while letting the water cool off. Then we got the car home without any more problems

I was watching some videos and figured you guys might like them

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=soX7ffAoZZw

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oKRmv6cnDO4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xZaNlnv8tVU

I've  not been working much on the car but I'm driving it on the weekends.

Braking feels better than before, although the car still pulls hard to the right. Wheels on the same axis end with the same
temperature, while they were way different before. Maybe the previous owner wasn't using the car as much as he said. The engine is
idling better, I don't have to rev it  just after starting  now. No idea why, as I didn't touch the carb for a while. Remember the first video where I was fighting the car to keep it in a straight line? that doesn't happen anymore, but it may be me getting used to driving this car

One week ago I almost lost one headlight, it got home hanging from the wires. All the front lights are properly fixed now but I need to
buy parts to be able to regulate the beam height correctly.

I took the fog lights out, turns out both worked when connected directly to the battery. Anyway, they were full of rust and the paint
was peeling off, so I ordered a new pair online which cost less than the paint to fix the old ones. These came yesterday but one was broken, I'm waiting to know if the seller is sending another set or returning the money

New ones: https://articulo.mercadolibre.com.ar/MLA-609835945-faros-halogenos-antiniebla-blanco-o-ambar-101-juego-_JM

Old ones:

More E36 M3ty wiring:

I installed the battery top support which I bought months ago.

One day I got home and the sun had melted the plastic car cover all over the roof. It took around 3 hours to remove it and i bought a
better cover now.

Then, while washing the car, a lot of water got on the carpet again. I decided to take the wet parts out by cutting
them but noticed there is roof membrane between the floor and the carpet. I will remove everything later, but it's ok for now as it
will help preventing rust.

Lot of water is coming from around the windshield. I will have it and the rear glass re-sealed.

The guides for the windows are worn out and I couldn't find replacements. Everywhere I asked offered me the whole mechanism, which
costs a lot. I will try to 3d print the worn part. I've been riding without the passenger side window and door panel for a few weeks. I was surprised to find out that about half of the door weight comes from the glass

The auxiliary belt was loose but in my inexperience i wasn't noticing it. I took a stethoscope to the alternator while spinning it by
hand and decided to tighten the belt a little more. I was really close to disassemble the alternator. I recommend getting a cheap
stethoscope as it seems to be really useful to distinguish where the noises are coming from.

I had the project on hold for a while but the head gasket in my daily (1.6 corsa) blew and I had to leave that car in a shop. In a hurry I put the passenger window in the taunus and got it home. The car idling was bad and the exhaust fumes inside the car got me a headache. I was supposed to fix a few things while having the car in my garage but I only installed the heather fan support to keep the exhaust fumes outside. Spent this friday night fixing the car before getting it inspected on saturday

I finally figured how to remove the windshield wipers engine, cleaned it, added grease and reinstalled. Now the wipers actually push water. They also start moving by themselves at around 140km/h

Also had to run a wire from the ignition barrel to the wipers and horn switches because I was getting like 0.4V from the original wires.

On saturday, before going to the inspection I checked everything again, fixed a loose terminal going to a turn light and hoped for the best. Well, I got to the inspection plant and neither the rear lights or the turn signals worked. The guy working there didn't even got to ask me to turn the wipers on. Between that and the exhaust I got rejected. Good news is that the shocks and brakes somehow passed.

Now I need to get a new exhaust and will probably run new wiring all around. I will also go for modern fuses

I also found mismatched jets: one 35 and one 45. Put two 40's in and the idling got way better

Remember dad's buggy? We finally took it to the beach. The steering rack broke and there are lots of smaller things to fix, but compared to my sand rail it has way better traction because of the 14" utv tires, a wider power band, better ground clearance and better suspension. It feels sooo easy to drive.  I need to help my dad write a build thread. Here is a pic:

In reply to 2_3 :

keep at it, man!   i love when this thread makes it back to the top.

After the last post the car was parked for a few months. Early in august I took two weeks off work to fix a few things

I bought almost every suspension component new, even the front A arms and the crossmember were rotten. In my dad's garage I removed the wheels and brake hoses and decided to take the car to a professional shop. That isn't very grm, but without an engine hoist, little space to the sides of the car and help only from my dad I was right in path to become frustrated and leave a disassembled car in my dad's house for a while. At least I learned to bleed the brakes when putting the hoses back into the car. I think a big part of the brake problems of the car was just air in the system.

The new shocks are harder than stock and rebuildable. The new springs are lower and harder. Handling is good, confort is not. Braking sucks, maybe because of the old tires but at least it brakes in a straight path now. I need to change the steering wheel bushing. The steering rack was shot and it was replaced by a manual one. Saw the underside from a pit and there is rust and some holes, but at least the parts where the suspension mounts look good.

The old distributor had some play and also moved while driving. I tried a new, electronic and cheap one but it did not work, I have to return it.

Got an amazon header earlier this year but then noticed it's for ported heads and ends with a 3" diameter. I don't think it makes sense to use that for my build and will be selling it

Called two places to get a full exhaust but nobody wanted to build the manifold. If I knew it earlier I could have ordered one online, but wanting to drive the car and with my vacation time running out, I just took it to a shop to get a pipe with a silencer installed from the middle of the car to the back. With the new exhaust I can hear new noises: the gearbox mount is broken in two pieces and there is another noise which i suspect comes from the water pump. The pump is leaking and the engine is always cold, so I will change both the water pump and the thermostat at the same time.

On the way to that shop I lost a wheel. Turns out all 8 rear wheel nuts were loose. I felt lots of oversteer but thought it could be related to the new components, at least now I know how it feels when the nuts are loose and should be able to stop earlier next time.

I'm trying to buy a D port head from a 2.3 sierra

I have some pictures, will upload them soon

It's pictures time

After:

With the new height, the wheel well cover was rubbing against the tires when turning and compressing the suspension at the same time. It was because the cover was badly attached. I removed it, found some rust and did a fast paint job. I think the same will happen to the other 3. You can see the lack of the aluminum border in the first two pictures

When jacking the car up, this happened:

I'm not sure what is going on here. Could it be the hinges? or should I start looking into reinforcing the nose?

Some before pictures:

Here is how the low part of the exaust looked after removing it:

Got a speed ticket, which not only means my car moves, it moves fast enough to be considered dangerous. berkeley yeah!

Not related, but I bought this thing in march:

WTF is "this thing" you bought?

That's a brama. Made in the 70's when everybody was going crazy about fiberglass buggies, in mar del plata. I don't know the production numbers but I'm pretty sure they are in the low three digits.

Body is made of fiberglass, windshield is from an opel k 180 and the rest of the windows are made of plastic. It has a nice tube chassis (mine is rotten) and used renault gordini components

Don't expect a build thread soon, I have enough trying to fix the ford

Here comes another boring update. TL;DR: I can see at night, changed the water pump and parts sellers suck

This weekend I changed the plastics that are used to adjust the lights and now I can see the street when driving at night, which feels way safer. Installed auxiliary lights, similar to the ones it came with but new. Aimed as high as possible, they still are too low but at least they look good

The water pump was leaking and I changed it for a new one. That took less time than the last time and I was able to do it without removing the AC radiator

The car has problems staying over 60ºC at highway speeds, but I tested the thermostat on the stove and it was working, I have no idea what is going on. Got a new thermostat but the seller berkeleyed up and gave me a falcon one, which opens at 82º instead of 88º. I added an o-ring that came with the new one and used the old one.

I changed the non functioning distributor for a new one, tried to get it into the car and notice it's for a 6 cylinder car. While doing the swap, somehow the coil broke and was setting the points on fire. Like, the springs got hot as berkeley and started a real fire inside the distributor, not cool

Here you can appreciate the new lights and the improvised cardboard thermostat

In reply to 2_3 :

Great story about the progress of your Taunus and your detailed timeline of events. After reading about your Taunus I'm hoping you can maybe help me with some information and possibly some parts for a 2.3l Taunus like yours. More specifically cylinder heads and intake manifolds. I'm in the states and have found minimal information and parts for one. I am looking for the Ford intake manifold casting number for an intake identical to the one you had posted pictures of and possibly purchase one like it as well. I am also looking for a specific cylinder head which i have pictures of one that i need as well as needing the Ford casting numbers off of it instead of the numbers I have to go by in the pictures I have. Please let me know if this is something you may be able to help me with or put me in touch with someo who may be able to. PS: I am a new member to this forum so please excuse my ignorance. I tried to private message you instead of posting this here but was unable to due to needing prior approval from admin. 

Post the picture of the head, maybe me or somebody else here can help.

Do casting numbers change between factories? I'm asking because these parts were made locally and if the numbers changed they won't be useful to you

I tried to find the intake numbers online but the only one I found is 85BR9424C which is only linked from the website where i found it. I will try to find them on my intake.

You can find the intake in mercadolibre.com.ar, both used and new replicas, but finding a seller who wants to ship internationally will be hard. I tried to send some fiat parts to other forum members using dhl but the shipping costs were crazy

I'm curious why you want these parts when you can find better and probably cheaper ones locally, my intake doesn't look fast.

Can you write spanish? there are facebook groups and forums where you can ask

In reply to 2_3 :

Unfortunately I do not speak or write Spanish. I'm interested in the intake manifold and the particular cylinder head for racing purposes. The intake runners are supposed to be approximately 1"-1 1/2" longer than the standard 2300 carbureted intake here in the states and the head I am looking for is an oval port head with a closed combustion chamber. It was supposedly a replacement head for the '79 turbo cars that were having problems with cracked heads. The only number i have for it is M13 which is under the valve cover but there is supposed to be a casting number cast throughout all 4 spark plug holes on the outside. 

In reply to Travis :

I don't think we have those high compression heads over here

I took a look at my intake and found this: 82 B8425-A Ford

From the parts manual:

The steering rack bushings broke and moved a few months ago. The sensation when steering without those bushings suck, as the rack moves around and tires don't respond predictably to driver input. It took me long to replace them but I learned a few things, one of those being that the steering rack exits to the driver side. I had to reassemble everything to move the car away from a wall in order to remove it

Was able to get an original ford bushing. Autolatina closed in 1995

Lost the glass of one headlight while driving and then the bulb broke when it touched rain. As the light casings where moving around all the time and it was impossible to properly adjust them, I bought new parts for both sides. The new bulbs are osram night breakers. Had to extend one mounting bracket as seen in the picture. I did not try these at night but at least everything is firm

The rubber part of the gearbox support was shot and the metallic part was dirty and rusty. The gearbox was resting on the support, but it was free to move upward

After:

Made a bracket for the carb return spring

This car needed a catch can asap, I installed one yesterday. The oil cap is from a 2.3 falcon and surprisingly it fits too lose. I hammered the locking part and glued some rubber as a supplement

Tried to disassemble the wheels using a jack as seen on youtube but at the end went to a tire shop. Next update should be about wheels

In the back is dad's motorhome. F350 chassis and Mercedes 1620 engine. Feels like it could tow a house

That's a cool car! I really like the fastback roofline. I would import one of these to the US if I could.

I'm confused as to how your catch can is going to work if I'm looking at this right. It doesn't appear to have and inlet and outlet that passes through the can, just an inlet after a T so vacuum is just going to pull the vapor straight down the T and never make it to the catch can.

Are you talking about intake vacuum? there isn't vacuum there, one hose goes to the valve cover and the other one to the block just above the crankcase. You can see the original oil trap left of the distributor in this pic:

A few days ago I cleaned the catch can and there were only a few mm of some ugly gray goo, it looked like diluted oil. I guess most of the oil falls down back to the crankcase

Front brake job. Everything was rusty and dirty, calipers were painted only on the outside, hoses and seals were dry, pistons were almost seized and one bracket was cracked

After:

Bump stop doing it's work:

The brakes were feeling good for a while, but then they started pushing hard. First to the left and then to the right. Got home, saw some smoke and found lots of grease getting out of the hub and on the disks. I cleaned everything and removed some grease from the hubs, but I was told better grease should not liquefy like that

Got the car inspected and drove it for a while.

Last saturday, while driving a bit hard, the head gasket finally gave up and a bunch of oil mixed with the water. Emptied the radiator, got clean water into it and ran the car for a few minutes, just to find oil floating in the water again. I think it's time for a full rebuild, which means the car will be parked for a while

I'm glad this thread was bumped, as I missed it the first time around. This looks like a very cool car, and it's one we never see in the US.

MadScientistMatt said:

I'm glad this thread was bumped, as I missed it the first time around. This looks like a very cool car, and it's one we never see in the US.

I was reading through the thread in order to update it. Saw your name, then your signature, then your name again... that name sounds familiar... I'm in the middle of reading performance fuel injection systems

The car is not running yet, the engine is in pieces, but there has been progress. Before removing parts, I cleaned and organized the garage

Removed the engine, gearbox, AC, heater, battery tray, seats, front lights, everything electric under the hood and a buch other things. I might have a tendency towards scoope creep. The pictures might not be actual, I lost a lot of them

These AC relays are so old, that the case broke on disassembly

Removed the gauge pod, on the reverse it says vw gol - senda. The connections, like all around the car, were crap. The oil gauge was sealed with epoxy

I don't know a lot about clutches but this one was working, hope it's ok for reuse

I'm working on some 3d printed plugs for the holes in the firewall

Made a engine stand. It's a bit dangerous but i'm still healthy. I need to find a finished picture but you get the idea: the block is bolted to two angles, which are soldered to a tube. That tube gets inside another, slightly bigger tube, which is welded to a bracket which is bolted somewhere safe

With the block on the stand I took a lot of measurements. The bearings show use but are std size. They also smell bad, like overcooked oil. The crankshaft and pistons are stock sizes and show just some wear. The cylinders are ovalized and conical, biggest reading was 96.185mm