Automotive

1987 Shelby CSX #694 of 750

This is my 1987 Shelby CSX that I've owned since 1998.  It is number 694 out of 750 that were modified at Shelby Automobiles in Whittier, California.  You can read the back story here.  The car has somehow survived a move and a number of life change events, however I have not really done any serious work on it for about two decades.  That has recently started to change....

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The CSX: June 25, 2004

Posted on June 25, 2004.

Well, the car is back together.  While I had it apart, I swapped in the A520 that I had just rebuilt before getting rid of the Shadow.  It has the chrome moly bearing plate too, so it should hold up to this motor.  The taller overall gear ratio will be welcome.  Since it had the A568 in it before, I had to swap the shifter, cables, etc.  I also replaced the middle rear freeze plug with a rubber one, as it was starting to seep.  It was rusted through from the inside, just like the one behind the starter was.  I also replaced that first one as the rubber was looking cracked and shabby.

I couldn't see where the headgasket had blown into a coolant jacket, but it did blow between cylinders 3 and 4.  The gasket was still there, but it was burned between the gasket and the head.  That area of the head is still flat and intact, so it should be fine.  Unfortunately, I drove it to and from work and it still runs like crap except now it won't rev past 4500.  Grrr.

The CSX: June 11, 2004

Posted on June 11, 2004.

I fiddled with it some more, but now I am seeing that the coolant system is being pressurized with gas after driving it around the block.  Coolant is being pushed out out of the radiator.  Looks like my aggressive cal blew the headgasket.  I took it around the block again and it got even worse.  Perhaps this is why it is running bad.

The CSX: May 28, 2004

Posted on May 28, 2004.

I added a little spark to the cal and now the motor is not running well at all. The idle is very rough and it pings a lot.  I backed out the change, but the problems continue.  I then went back to the cal I was running during the winter, but it still didn't help.  I swapped the coil, wires, cap, rotor plugs.  No dice.  Next I decided to look at the timing it looked OK, but when I took off the belt cover, I noticed that the idler side of the belt was very loose.  I figured this was making the timing jump around, but even after fixing it and triple-checking the timing again, it still idles bad, pings in boost, and won't rev past 5k.

The CSX: May 10, 2004

Posted on May 10, 2004.

Driving the car again in the nice weather.  Hopefully I'll get a chance to do some work on the Daytona.  Tweaked a few things in the cal to fix some summertime "cold" start quirkiness and hopefully addressed a low boost stumble.

The CSX: November 30, 2003

Posted on November 30, 2003.

The original fuel pump croaked a couple of weeks ago.  Since this is my only running car, I had to fix it ASAP.  I ordered a new Walbro 190lbs/hr fuel pump from FWD Performance, but couldn't afford to wait for it to show up.  So, I dropped the tank and yanked the pump from the Daytona (same 190 unit, only 1 year old) and put it in the CSX.  Seems to be working fine.  I replaced the shifter cable bushings with the polyurethane "Booger Bushings", since the originals under the hood were long gone.  I also changed the oil, which was way overdue, swapped out the air filter, and gave everything a good looking over.  There are coolant leaks from just about everywhere one can have a coolant leak.  They are all slow, but add up to a quart or two of coolant every couple of weeks.  The freeze plug next to the one that blew before is starting to seep.  I REALLY need to swap this motor out soon.  It is on borrowed time.  The new cal is rocking along and gets better mileage than the ND unit did.  It's still lower than my Shadow was, but the CSX has smaller series tires and the short gears on the tranny.