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Barkentine's 1993 Taurus Project Car

63K views 254 replies 29 participants last post by  Barkentine 
#1 · (Edited)
Today is a "NTD" (New Taurus Day). Got bitten by the Gen II bug when I spotted this 1993 LX on Craigslist. The seller clearly stated the engine overheats. But the car is still a good value, imho.

The second time I went to look at it, I bought it.

I'm going to do the "Good, Bad, and Ugly" thing again.

The Good:

-It's a Ford Taurus, and an LX to boot. 37K miles on the odometer. No 100K digit. So I'll take the seller's word that it's 137, 000 miles.

-It does not need a paint job like the "Brown Beater" (Sorry "B.B., I used the paint job money to buy the LX). There is not a single Wally World ding or scrape on it anywhere. And the clear coat is still shiny.

-There is no damage to the body and no rust. (This is one of the reasons I moved to South Carolina, minor reason, but still a reason. A local car here can last a lifetime without rust.)

-Interior is black (yes, BLACK) leather seats and in very good condition. Door panels are near perfect.

-The headliner does not need to be replaced.

-It has the console shifter, which is slick to use.

-The dash is not cracked.

-All the lights, turn signals, headlights, wipers, chimes, radio, power door locks, power windows, power mirrors, power drivers seat, etc. all work. I have not tried the keyless entry yet.
A little curiosity that came with the car is a Ford cassette tape with music on it. The tape may have come with the car. It still looks like new. I plan on trying it sometime. (Was this to entertain the new owner as he/she left the car lot?)

-Owners manual and Ford build sheet were found in the glove box.

-Still has the OEM floor mats (again, black carpet) and are in very good condition.

-The trunk looks like it has never been used. Not even any lint or leaves.

-Door seals, trunk seal, all very good. No water leaks detected.

-Has 4-wheel disk brakes, anti-lock.

-Alloy wheels, OEM Ford.

-The engine compartment looks very good. No signs of half baked repairs, stripped wires, etc. It looks all original and fairly clean. Except where the squirrels left their stash of acorns. I hope they didn't chew on some wire....

-Engine starts instantly and runs fairly smooth. No bad noises.

-Came with a new battery.

-THE A/C WORKS......COLD, quiet. Does not even seem low on freon.

-The trans fluid needs changing, but it's not that dirty brown. What little I have driven the car, the trans seems to be fine.

**********************************

The Bad:

-It's not a 5-speed manual.:D

-It needs tires. The ones on it are down to 3/32", but fairly even wear, if these are the tires that were used on it. I found documentation in the glove box on General Tires and Michelins, but what the car came with are Firestones???

-The engine (3.8 Essex V6) crankcase has coolant mixed in the oil.

-The car overheats and blows steam out the tail pipe.

-It probably has a blown head gasket, and it could be worse than that, like a cracked head or cracked block, or all of these. If need be, it will get another 3.8 Liter long block.

-The cylinder heads are aluminum. I was not aware the 3.8 used those. IMHO, aluminum heads on a cast iron block is not as desirable as iron and iron, or aluminum and aluminum. Alum and cast iron have different rates of expansion that plays havoc with the head gaskets.

-The lower body trim moulding in front of the front right door is pulled away from the body a bit. It looks like it could be snapped back into place. I'll get to that some time. There is no damage or scratches to the body in that area, so I don't know how the moulding got like that.

-The leather should probably be treated with something to preserve it.

*****************************

The Ugly:

-The OEM alloys are really too plain looking. I thought they were wheel covers at first.

-Other than the wheels and the coolant in the oil, it's not an ugly car, inside or out.

-The carpet needs to be vacuumed.....

******************************

That's it for now, but more to come. I may not work on the car as quickly as I did the Brown Beater. The Beater is doing well and does not need to be replaced.
 

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#3 ·
r.f.:

I've already been informed that that is an unusual option. I'll scan the Ford build order and post it. I think it lists the black leather.

I think this car is worth fixing. I just hope gets reasonable fuel economy. I suspect it is not going to be as good as a 3.0.
 
#4 ·
Build sheet is a definite plus! Is it the detailed build sheet with production figures, or the basic?

Yeah, that's one of the reasons Mr. Essex eats headgaskets, or so I've heard-the iron block and aluminum head don't play well together.
 
#9 ·
Some people don't want to post it publicly on the internet, what's the big deal? His choice. When did you become the license plate police?

That is definitely a cool find. 1990-1993 Taurus/Sables had option for black interior. Wasn't seen again until 2000-2007. Barkentine really looked like he scored big time with this car. Nice looking car, good luck!
 
#10 · (Edited)
Yeah with all the identity theft and crap going on these days I'm not surprised when I see someone blackout their plate when a car is posted on the internet (smart move if you ask me and this is the internet after all and you just never know). And when someone does so, it defiantly does not hurt my feelings.

Barkentine, do you have any pics of this black gen 2 interior? I'd love to see it, I can't say I've ever seen a black gen 2 interior.
 
#22 ·
Yeah with all the identity theft and crap going on these days I'm not surprised when I see someone blackout their plate when a car is posted on the internet (smart move if you ask me and this is the internet after all and you just never know).
*shrugs*

Pretty sure the people who drive anywhere near your car have the internet available to them either on the phone in their pocket, or on their computer as soon as they get home.

You'd might as well coverup your car's Ford emblem.
 
#11 · (Edited)
S: "Barkentine, the suspense is killin' me! What'd you have to pay for this 93 3.8 project?"

Not only do you (not you S) want the SELLER's license plate number, but you folks want to know the cost. The seller was a decent and honest man. I would not want to violate his right to privacy.

I'll not provide the license number, but I paid $550 cash for it. There, y'all happy? LOL.
 
#14 ·
That thing would be worth more than that in parts alone. 550 is a really good deal for the whole car in the shape it's in.
 
#15 ·
Okay.

Here is the build schedule (or order sheet?). Note there is a discrepancy as it calls out both cloth and leather for the interior. Maybe I should check to see if there is cloth under the leather?

Also, some interior shots I just took. I have not had time to vacuum it out, but you get the idea of what a black interior looks like.

B.G.: If you are passing thru this area in the next month or so, you are welcome to look the LX over. I welcome a critical eye and suggestions.

But, I intend to start driving this one to TCCA chapter events.
 

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#16 ·
That's because Cloth was the standard for the LX, while Leather was part of the option package you have. Early 93 model, I see, since you have the non-SHO wheel.
 
#21 ·
y'all: The interior is nice. In a way, the colour gives it an un-Taurus look, but that may be a stretch. Not use to seeing black in these cars.

I do not know much of the history of this car, but I suspect it stayed in a big garage with plenty of room. No way a 20 year old car can look this good if it sat outside in the S.C. sun.
 
#24 ·
That is one of the nicest gen 2 cars I have personally seen! I have seen a black leather interior personally once in a 93 Sable LS. It was very striking. It was also very trashed and in the pullapart yard in Memphis. :( That car donated its ac vents to my 92(resprayed with blue dye paint to match my interior). Also donated its weatherstripping, and taillight assemblies to my project as well. You have a great car there! I hope once you get it back on the road it'll give you flawless service for a very long time. Looking forward to seeing how it all turns out.

Jeff
 
#25 · (Edited)
1992 Sable GS, thanks for the complement. I plan on going thru the repairs and documenting it on this thread. I will have an update in the next day or so.

I don't plan on driving this car a lot, in order to preserve it. I don't anticipate long mean time-between-failures regarding the Essex 3.8L. 100,00 miles is probably a reasonable guess as to when the head gaskets will fail again.

But at 140 HP, and lots of low-end torque (?), it's going to be fun to drive until they do.

Edit: I had quoted the hp as 190, but that was for a later Mustang, not the Taurus. Taurus is 140 HP, same as the 3.0 Vulcan. (The Mustang apparently uses different heads)
 
#26 ·
Definitely a nice find! I like the color, and that interior is fantastic. I love that steering wheel too, don't ask why, it's just one of my favorite steering wheel designs from Ford. :dunno:


I found a music cassette from Oldsmobile at a thrift shop once. It was given away with the purchase of one of their models. It featured a few different styles of music to advertise the sound quality of the stereo system in the car the owner of the tape had already purchased.

I assume your Ford tape is largely the same.
 
#27 ·
D Kahn: Here's a photo of the Ford tape that was in the cassette storage.

Also, a photo of one of the two new Ford cylinder heads I bought today off of CL. My thanks to Bull Geek for emailing me the link. Whatever engine powers this LX is going to have these cylinder heads on it.

Even if I end up having to buy a replacement engine, it will be worth it to put new head gaskets on it and these new heads. Peace of mind.
 

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#28 · (Edited)
I'll add a comment about the Ford demonstration tape:

I played some of it on my home stereo. It is a very high quality tape and it is apparent that good dubbing equipment was used to produce it. It was dubbed to include, and add the equivalent of about 5 watts of pure bass to any stereo system. I have (4) speakers with 10" and 15" cones to handle the bass. I had to turn the bass down just to play this tape. It's obvious they mixed this tape to enhance the tone and output of the OEM Ford system. I have hundreds of tapes in my collection, and few match the recording quality of this Ford tape. But most of my tapes exceed quality of repertoire on the Ford tape.

(I wish all music tapes were of this same recording/dubbing quality, but they aren't.)

Edit: Sorry about rambling over really old technology. CD's are even old tech now.
 
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