Back on the Road: Formula VS Smog Check - Epilogue

A lot can happen in 5 months...

Back in December when I posted my last entry to this blog I wasn't sure what my future held.  All I had was hope and a belief that if I didn't give up things would eventually work out.

Which is exactly how I approached getting the Formula back on the road.

I'm not especially religious but I do believe the old adage that the good Lord doesn't give you anything you can't handle.

December is a pretty long time between posts but I haven't posted anything about the Formula since October of 2015!  That's because, well, honestly there was nothing to post about.

That changed recently.  I picked up some work in March which improved my fortunes.  Now the Formula was always at the top of my priority list but it became even more so as the weeks wore on and it became apparent that what I was driving to work was not ideal for the purpose.  

The Formula needed to be back on the road...Fast!

Of course that meant getting rid of the demons that had kept it chained to the garage for 2 years.  

Recall that we had already dealt with the Fuel Pressure regulator, EGR, got a new intake elbow and ran a few tanks of the proper octane fuel.  Sadly it wasn't enough.

The emissions testing results from 2015 while less than helpful at diagnosing the problem still pointed to a likely culprit.  A high HC reading, that's raw fuel.  High CO?  sloppy ignition system.  High NOx?  Combustion chamber temps too high.  All of them too high?  That points to a bad catalytic converter plain and simple.  

Lot's of things can go wrong with modern emissions control systems on cars but the symptoms would show up long before a failing smog test.  As in the car literally wouldn't run if you could get it to start at all if it was anything but the Cat.

1995 was an interesting year for auto makers.  It was the last year before they formally adopted the new ODB2 standard in emissions controls.  20 years later it's a pain in the ass.  For example, the Formula has a diagnostic port identical to an OBD2 connector but it isn't.  It's OBD1 which means you have a lot fewer codes to help point you in the direction of what's wrong.  Not to mention finding a scan tool that you can actually plug into it!

Still, there are basic emission codes that can be set if something was really going wrong and luckily none of them were set.  Although that's not definitive either since OBD1 has a far shallower pool of data to draw from.  That means things have to be really going sideways before you get any information out of that port.  By that time the code probably doesn't mean much to you.  

So...

Fast forward to the solution to my problem and we open on me in the parking lot of Mesa Muffler early on a Saturday morning.  


For less than $200 I was able to drive out with a new catalytic converter an hour later.  I immediately took the car out on the freeway to warm up the converter and then held my breath and got off on the exit that led to the emissions testing station.

As I pulled into the station, took my ticket and waited in a long line for my turn at the indignity of an Arizona emissions test my time had finally come.

I pulled up onto the rollers, turned off the car and dutifully retired to a cramped booth while the technician did his best to ruin my day...

He didn't.   At the end of it all I actually shook his hand and thanked him!  The Formula was finally legal after 2 years and all it took was a catalytic converter....



Oh yeah, and a MAP sensor, EGR, Fuel Pressure Regulator, Intake Elbow...

I documented the whole thing in the video below.  I'd have liked to get more of the actual test but I was rather forcefully discouraged by the technician.  

There was still work to do before the Formula started commuting duty, however.

We needed tires, badly.  We also needed a new belt tensioner pulley and weirdly a new gear for the headlight pop-up motor.  

So what's left?

I still need to deal with the fuel injectors as at least one is still leaking.  I still need to fix the headliner, get the hatch repainted.  All the normal stuff that a 20+ year old car would need.

In case you're interested, I've also included  a few videos below of the new tires and how I fixed the headlight motor.  I've been posting regular videos of my adventures with the Formula on my YouTube channel.  Check it out as I tend to update it more than this blog...obviously.

More as it happens!  

Mustangs aren't Mustangs Anymore!

There's no denying it, when most people think muscle cars it's likely the first image they think of is a Mustang.  That is, if they're under 40 and don't know any better.  

Oh yeah, the hallowed names of GTO, Chevelle and Challenger eventually show up in there somewhere but Ford's marketing department has done a bang up job of obscuring history with the Mustang. 

So is today's car the best engineered example of the breed in its 50+ year history?  Of course it is.  

The question is, can it really be called a Mustang?  In Ford's rush to globalize its offerings it seems the Mustang is destined to join the ranks of other fine examples of Ford's "world cars." [sic]  An "honor" bestowed on such legendary models like the Escort and Fiesta.  [even more sic-kening]

So is it any surprise that the 2015 redesign was so "sophisticated?"

It saw the first appearance of an independent rear suspension as standard equipment in a Mustang (except for 99-04 Cobras) which until now was a feature left to those "copycats" over at GM and Chrysler.  Coincidentally, both the Camaro and Challenger owe much of their engineering to "them civilized" folk in Australia and Europe.  European tastes won't tolerate a car with a live axle unless it's 100 years old and requires a crank handle to start it.

Don't get me wrong, I've got nothing against IRS ( the suspension not the tax guys) but if your buyers don't care about carving corners at the Nürburgring then who are you really trying to impress with an American coupe?

Let's not forget such "must-haves" like that center mounted touch display with GPS and smart phone integration.  A feature no self-respecting BMW or Mercedes owner would be caught dead without.

Or the price.  This one's a sin all 3 current pony cars suffer from.  Instead of being within reach of "Joe Six Pack" the entry point of these cars is more in the realm of "Joe Six Figures."  Considering the average price of a pony car with a decent V8 hovered around 3 grand in 1969, you'd come up about 10 grand short (around 25%) in today's money when you adjust for inflation.    

I'm not even going to get into the very "euro" trend of sticking a damned turbocharged 4 banger in everything.  An option now available on the Mustang!  Yeah, Ford's done it before but nobody looks on those days with nostalgia.

Finally the look. 

Sorry, but the new Mustang isn't a Mustang at all.  It's a squished ripoff of an Aston Martin Vanquish.  Think I'm nuts?  Forget the goofy stripes or hood scoops and take a close look at the two photos below then tell me who the Mustang is really being aimed at.  It sure as hell isn't the traditional pony car buyer!

Nobody should be buying a Mustang thinking they're getting a cheap Aston Martin!

I've been screaming this from the rooftops since the first photos of the redesign leaked and nobody was listening.

I'm sure it has something to do with most buyers not getting past the engine compartment and 7" touch screen in the dash.

Ford is trying to upscale Mustang's market which is a mistake for a car as iconic to middle-class America as the VW Golf is to Europe.  

Get real, nobody looking at a Bimmer is going to consider a Mustang folks.  America's population is aging meaning the people with the cash to afford the gouging won't want it for much longer.  They'll go buy a 5 series BMW sporting big puffy seats with built in butt massagers.

That leaves the target demographic populated by debt-burdened millennials enamored more with smart phones and public transportation than an overpriced European wannabe.  

Offering up a 4 banger won't help either, especially when it costs 2 grand more than the base V6! 

The idiocy of it is stunning.

In short, the 2015 Mustang is all wrong.  It's only tenuous link to the mark's heritage is a throaty sounding powerplant wrapped in the bodywork of a cheap European knockoff.  It's more Ford Focus than Ford Mustang.  In fact, side by side it's hard to tell which one's styling is influencing the other.  My money is on the Focus...

Bottom line...It's a sellout with no redeeming features outside of its power train.

Not that it's all bad.  Take that power train and stick it in an '08 Mustang GT and you might have something!  Even the 2010-2014's retained more heritage than this car.  Those were cars I wasn't wild about either but at least they weren't trying to be a Ford Ka!  

Hopefully the Camaro and Challenger will stay true to their heritage and their market.

November's Interesting car videos.

This month I'm introducing a new regular feature to this blog.  I haven't come up with a cool name so for right now we're kind of stuck with, "Interesting Car Videos."  Still, we need some regular content in here and why not start off with a few cool rides that I happen to be personally acquainted with.

The First one is also the newest one.  My friend recently achieved his dream of ordering a brand new car exactly the way he wanted it.  The result, a 2014 Mustang V6 with more options and cool bits than most GT's.

Check it out....

The next is a sentimental favorite.  This video was actually taken the last day I owned this car and friends, that was a tough day for me.  Still I have the video and the memories.  It's a 2008 Mustang GT and my first and only Ford.  I'm pretty much a GM guy but for my money Ford never made a better Mustang than this car and I did't want it forgotten.  I actually have Greenlight Die Cast versions of this car.  Imagine owning a car that was immortalized in Die Cast!.

The next up is an old friend and constant companion....even if I can't always trust it.  It's my 1974 Chevrolet El Camino Classic and it's been with me for half of my life.  I've put a lot of blood, sweat and coin into this car and never regretted any of it even if I was occasionally riding in a tow truck.

Finally, my newest acquisition is actually an old family friend.  I bought this 1995 Formula from my mother who was the original owner.  In fact I was there the day she bought it new.  It's a cantankerous car that's less reliable than I'd like but when it works it works beautifully.  I've only owned it a year now so my restoration plans are still in the early stages. Meaning I'm still just trying to keep it running after living a life of commuter duty for over 150K miles.  So far it's needed a new radiator, distributor, ignition coil, ignition module, intake elbow, tires, hoses, some interior bits.... You get the picture, it's a project car.

 You'll see this car again, in fact you've already seen it as it's been the topic of a few articles on this blog already!