sputters then dies!!!...help!

[joeg92083]

ok bare with me all.....i just bought a 93 lx hatch 5spd......the car was originally 4 cyl but a 5.0 conversion was done........they put an 88 5.0 in it with mallery ignition and flowmaster pipes......when i bought it a couple days ago it needed a new belt so we could start it but being a conversion we couldnt find the right size belt so we makeshifted a belt in there ......belt is pretty tight...anyways car also needs valve stems says the seller cause it burns oil...about a quart every 2 weeks..........it def burns oil cause it smokes lightly out of the exhaust........so when i took it home it drove fine...started fine.....blah blah blah....then this mornin after going to work i was showing a couple buddies of mine and tried starting it for them and it would barely turn over...so i opened the hood wiggled a couple wires around and waited a minute then tried starting it up again and boom started beautiful.......couple starts before this morning it took a couple seconds for the motor to actually becopme running....motor would just turn for a couple seconds....anyways 2nite i went to leave my house and wouldnt start again......so i jumped it with my aurora and started right up.....so im on my way to my destination and all of a sudden it feels like im running out of gas...so luckily there is a gas station coming up....so i pull in keeping the car running but it was idling wierd......i started pumping the gas and car stalled......now i tried starting it and it wouldnt so i got another jump.......after a couple tries it started up and ran fine so i thought i just needed gas....so i travel about 30 seconds down the road and it feels like im running out of gas again.....so i pull in to nearest parking lot and park it......there was about a quarter tank of gas in there already befroe i put more gas in so there is plenty of gas in the car.......i just got the car a couple days ago and i dont know much about mustangs.......its a beautiful car and i really wanna keep it.....any suggestions on wut could be going wrong? electrical? fuel system? no spark? altgernator? i dont know....for sum reason it seems like battery isnt gettin charged...i dont know wut to do....any help or comments would be greatly appreciated..........since it needs valve stems my father said spark plugs could be shot and might cause that.....or could be fuel pump......i don tknow......im relying on u guys to help me out....thanx a lot

[BigDanTheMan]

how long had the previous owner used the car with the engine swap? i ask because if they used a weaker alternator than it could be quite possible that the battery isn't getting charged. i could see someone having a nice 130amp for themselves and when it times to sell they drop in the old 45 from their girlfriend's fiesta or something. people are jerks. certainly is showing symptoms of a charging system problem with the jumping, stalling and all. how is the volt gauge through all this?

once on the freeway my 3g (aftermarket 160amp) alternator shorted out under the hood. i didn't notice it for a day because the optima battery that i use kept the car running fine. when it kept needing jumps i checked the connections and i found that the post on the alternator had arched itself clean off!
so buy an optima battery and check the connections. also check to see what that alternator is all about. could be an issue with the voltage regulator or another small part.

[joeg92083]

ok so i had the alternator tested and it tested good.......when i took the alternator off i noticed that the smaller plug was sqooshed between the alternator and a piece of metal....so i unplugged the plug and noticed that one of the 3 wired was pretty much zapped in half......there is still sum wiring left and its still intact but you think that that could be the problem.....the wire isnt full anymore ...there is about 50% left

[BigDanTheMan]

absolutly

[joeg92083]

ok so i just replaced the plug with the bad wire and still not charging......when the plug got zapped is it possible that only a part of the alternator could stop working but it would still check out on the computer at autozone?????.....or is the wiring from the alternator fused????

[joeg92083]

ttt

[351wStang]

I've seen bad parts test good.

[joeg92083]

ok so after replacing the zapped plug still no good..so i took my alternator to an armature place and they said that the alternator was intermittent...so i bought a rebuilt one from them and still battery isnt gettin charged.....is it possible that the solenoid that all the wires go to before the battery could be shot???? or would nuthing work at all?

[351wStang]

Thats a starter solenoid. If it was messed up your starter wouldnt work.

[SkylineUSA]

If you have a new alt, and your battery is good, then it is the cables. You did make sure the bat was good, right?

[351wStang]

Got a good ground?

[joeg92083]

ok so just brough tit to a performabce shop down the road and he said that when the conversion was done they wired the whole car backwards...so he fixed a fusable link....rewired a couple things and 250 later charging issue is fixed and timing is all set....thanx for the help guys