Need help: looking at buying a 94 V6 Tbird

[RamSST]

Hi. New here. My fiance is looking at buying her first car from an uncle. It's a white with blue interior 1994 Ford Thunderbird. It's a V6 Auto. He says it ran great until 2 months ago when the head gasket blew. It still runs fine but the gaskets done so they don't drive it. If she gets this car it comes with a bunch of parts from a parts car(doors, cylinder heads, etc.). Me being the mechanical one I'll be the one for the next couple weeks who gets to put the new cylinder heads on and change the gaskets. now my question is I keep reading bad things about this car which alarm me because I don't want to have her driving around in a car thats unsafe for her. I've read about the engine problems but I want to know more about the transmission problems, and basically everything that could go wrong(I know everything could go wrong) but whats most common. She drives her dad's 1999 Hyundai Accent which has a bad O2 sensor and it'll cost her 300 to replace it(she doesn't like that car anyways it's manual and she tells me it's annoying to shift gears ) anyways that car gets worse gas mileage then my 84 Ramcharger with a V8 and with a curbweight at about 5000+ pounds. So she wants to trade up to a nicer car. Is this a good move? She'll always have the Hyundai as an extra vehicle in case something happens and for 200 bucks I figure you can't go wrong with that.

[97Bird]

Be sure the heads you install have been surfaced so you know they are straight. Check the block with a straight edge. Install new valve seals at least and Ford recommends new head bolts. As far as the tranny goes, I would think her uncle would be kind enough to tell her if he had had problems with it in the past. One thing that should be done is replace the fluid and filter. Don't forget to drain the torque converter while changing the fluid. Some people have used Sea-foam to clean the transmission before changing the fluid.

[RamSST]

how do you clean the transmission with sea foam?

[Decipha]

how many miles on it? if over 100k i wouldn't bother with the trany

as for the head gasket, thats a normal occurance on the ford 3.8s, i'd personally swap the engine but that may not be feasible in your situation, as 97bird said, be sure the block and heads are straight.

i like felpro gaskets

[97Bird]

I've never used Sea-foam but you just add it to the trans fluid and drive for so many miles before you drain the fluid.

[RamSST]

Originally Posted by Decipha

how many miles on it? if over 100k i wouldn't bother with the trany

as for the head gasket, thats a normal occurance on the ford 3.8s, i'd personally swap the engine but that may not be feasible in your situation, as 97bird said, be sure the block and heads are straight.

i like felpro gaskets

Do you mean not buy it at all if over 100k? I figure if it's over 100 that the tranny has probably already had it's problems as most reviews I've seen say it happens around 100K.

I figure I'll flush the tranny fluid, change the engine oil, then I'll get the stuff for the headgasket change, then after thats done, new distributor cap and rotor new spark plug wires and new spark plugs. Theres a rear differential in these cars right? I'll flush that fluid to.

Maybe I'll try that sea foam thing

[Decipha]

i meant the trany, if it has over 100k miles and the trany hasn't been properly maintained, flushing the fluid can do more harm than good, just check the dip stick and see if its red, if its discolored or burnt don't mess with the trany

the rest of your line up sounds good, enjoy

[RamSST]

Ok well she bought the car today. It's a 94 Tbird with a v6 auto. White with blue interior. It came with a pair of extra heads, intake(upper and lower? theres two parts to it) an extra transmission, extra doors, fender, rear bumper, dash w/guages, console, 3 extra wheels, extra complete front suspension, and an extra rear brake assembly. all for the grand total of 150 bucks. I'll post pics in a bit.

[Decipha]

jebuz, thats a steal, you could part it out and easily get 694748782111.1324x what you paid for it