Popular Post Lord Gruntfuttock Posted November 18, 2020 Author Popular Post Share Posted November 18, 2020 Oh fuck yes. I'm a wizard, Barry... 8 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Lord Gruntfuttock Posted November 18, 2020 Author Popular Post Share Posted November 18, 2020 About a quarter of a teaspoon of oil in the separator can after a good hoon on the way home, so relieved, used to fill up in a very short time. Great feeling of accomplishment, tempered by the fact the whole reason I pulled the engine 3 yrs ago was cos it was oily. Could've fixed baffle and been using it... Then again, the compression was wonky and I've replaced all the front suspension, so not a wasted exercise. It should be good for a while now though. Time to look at tidying up the appearance and wiring etc after a tune... 15 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Lord Gruntfuttock Posted January 18, 2021 Author Popular Post Share Posted January 18, 2021 Car going great, gave her a slight tune (timing and setting idle via vacuum) and seems to be running well. It's never had a choke and doesn't really need one, always starts and a few applications of the loud pedal warms her up enough to start driving. Now it's in the house garage though and I start work early I thought a working choke might be more considerate. The cable clamp on my quick-change spring housing had broke yrs ago, so I bought a Holley manual clamp... I know this wouldn't fit as it was for mechanical secondary carbs, so cut and welded some extra metal in to clear the vacuum gubbins... And made up a bracket for the knob under the dash... Paint still wet here... And voila, working choke... Also put my xmas presents on, a new boot carpet to replace the split original rubber mat... And a shiny new spoiler to replace the faithful old alloy job that's been on there for decades... Turns out the old one just bent to fit but the new straight one looks wonky, so will have to adjust brackets to get it looking right, looks good though... Quite nice doing cosmetic things for a change Next is replacing the headlight chrome and reinstalling the driving lights, then replacing the old tape deck as it refuses to play tapes any more... 21 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Lord Gruntfuttock Posted January 25, 2021 Author Popular Post Share Posted January 25, 2021 Still tidying things up, sadly my old sanyo tape deck had failed, couldn't change stations and wouldn't play tapes. That saddened me cos I have boxes of old tapes I was gonna punish the kids with... So pulled it out, was impressed with the stainless mounting plate I'd made yrs ago, all perfectly square, scribed lines, chassis punched holes... And putting in a cheap Ali stereo, taking the opportunity to tidy up some old wiring... There were also no front speakers under the speaker covers. Obviously nobody had taken any care in cutting holes in the kick panels... Chucked in some JVCs that fitted the space available on mdf spacers... And put the old covers back on for old school feel. You can get repro kick panels but not overly fussed on these details... And new sounds in and working... Quite nice having a stereo that works, also has bluetooth, usb port, aux and memory card input. All for around $26 delivered, unreal really... I've toyed with the idea of installing a retro-looking push button radio but they're spendy, esp with bluetooth, and lots of them have usb ports at the rear which would suck. Pretty happy with the cheap retro-look job, and sound is great for what I spent... Will do for a while anyway. 20 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Lord Gruntfuttock Posted February 21, 2021 Author Popular Post Share Posted February 21, 2021 Been using the car a bit and one of the few modern things I miss is central locking. I'd bought a kit years ago but never put it in as it was a bit cheap looking, so shouted myself a new high-torque kit from Bluewire (Aus) that is supposed to be great for classic cars... And pulled a rear door card off, looks like back in the day I'd used masking/insul tape and almost gladwrap-spec plastic sheet as a moisture/dust barrier... So thought I'd do it properly, scraping off all the old mastic and cleaning things up first... And pulled the door mechanism out. Also wanted to free things up a bit as kids struggle to operate the doors, pretty much just 50 yr old car life... Plus the latch mech had been painted at some stage, which bothered me... Gummed up... Chucked the bits in my Ultrasonic cleaner, so good for things like this, came out mint... And door all cleaned up and mech temporarily put back in, operates much better now, solid clunk and noticeably easier to operate. Will grab some lithium grease and lube things properly before final install, should probably clean and lube the window mech as well. The central locking motor will have to push-pull the horizontal rod covered in fibreglass tape, looks do-able by mounting it left of the central vertical section of door... And latch looks better cleaned of paint, prob need new rubbers as well. You can see the new polythene sheet I will use on the back seat, all of $4.98/m from the Mitre 10 garden centre... And the lever arm contact part of the internal handle is quite worn (seen here from inside of door). Operates ok, but it's around AU$26 for a new one so have ordered some. Prob should have ordered new chrome knobs and rubbers at same time but can do that later. Have also ordered some butyl sealant that stays plastic, not sure what tape to use on edges, will look into it. Next update after fitting motor unit and testing... 21 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Lord Gruntfuttock Posted February 23, 2021 Author Popular Post Share Posted February 23, 2021 Rigged up a trial run last night, looks like it will go ok, lots of clearance for the window and nice straight line operation with a simple bend in the connecting rod. The supplied bracket was too flimsy though and bent at the indentations of the door panel when I tightened the screws, meaning the plunger fouled against the edge... So made up a sturdier alloy bracket to fix that at lunchtime today, bar was thick enough to tap the csk mounting scews. Tried operating it with a small 12V battery from one of the kids toys, but didn't have enough grunt to lock/unlock. Hopefully a better test supply will fix that... Next problem will be how do I get wiring into the doors, would like a neat solution that doesn't stress any wires, so looked at flexible rubber boots. Thought it'd be a doddle to find some common Ford part that would be a couple of bucks, but apparently not. Obviously these things don't fail enough for pattern parts to be a thing. Also don't want a big fat tube from modern cars as there's only a couple of wires. Disappointed the smallish Fox-body 'stang boots aren't readily available, but found a universal set that should do the job, and ordered... But how to drill the holes? Rear door 'should' be do-able, if a bit fiddly, but the front looked impossible to get at, even with my Ali-spec 90 deg drill adapter... Solution? Drill from inside the door, gotta love fat old car doors at times. There's a moulded dimple on the door I'd like to use so it's the same each side, so wrangled the drill inside and pilot hole is drilled ok... Will wait till the boots arrive before completing the job so the sizes are right. Hopefully can drill the body side from inside the car, will have to remove the speaker to see if it's possible, otherwise it's a doors off job... [Edit] found my old 'dumb' battery charger and touched terminals, satisfying clunk and it works... 11 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Lord Gruntfuttock Posted February 25, 2021 Author Popular Post Share Posted February 25, 2021 Front door, cleaned up old mastic and masking tape, quite time consuming, ended up using WD40 on dry old tape remnants and scraping off with plastic card... And same deal, made up a flat alloy bracket more rigid than the supplied one. Bit trickier clearing window glass, this is how things will sit behind panel, but more to the left, operating on the vertical lock rod... And mounting bar installed, had to drill one larger hole for access to bottom screw of actuator, which is slightly angled to align with rod... And mounted up, putting it here gave access to clamp on lock rod too... And clearances ok inside, have to pull door/lock mechanisms out and clean up/lube yet, but lock works ok on 12v... So will repeat on other side, I made matching front/rear brackets at same time, so should be fairly easy, just time consuming. Have to wait for rubber boots and butyl rubber to arrive before can do anything else anyway. Suppose I could look at running wires though, not quite sure how to do that yet... 10 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Lord Gruntfuttock Posted March 10, 2021 Author Popular Post Share Posted March 10, 2021 Shifted the car so could work on driver's side, same deal, spent ages scraping all the old tape and mastic off... And found this in rear door, no idea what it is, prob been there for decades... Pulled grubby gubbins out of both doors, and cleaned up lots of grime with solvent and a bath in the ultrasonic cleaner... But the latch mech was very worn on the drivers door... Looked at welding up and cutting out new slot, but a little research found these... So ordered. Have also received my non-setting mastic/butyl and my shiny new handles... Plus the rubber boots, so I cut holes with a chassis punch, so neat. Door side positioned at the dimple mark I'd pre-drilled earlier... And there was a dimple on the side that lined up with a hole behind the kick panel, so cut that as well... But when I test fitted it, it was a bit stretched for my liking, so cut another hole in the door 50mm lower... And it's much better, seems to hold it's shape opening and closing ok. Shame I have a hole to fill but will just chuck a solid rubber grommet in it and install things properly on the other side... Have to figure out how to do the rear doors next... 14 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Lord Gruntfuttock Posted August 25, 2021 Author Popular Post Share Posted August 25, 2021 Oh yeah finished this ages ago. Rear doors were a bit of a pain, could get in on an angle then had to file out to size as the step drill bottomed out... But got both done, not much room for the rubber boot when the door's shut but will only be a couple of wires in there... And fished draw wires through everywhere in prep for installing the loom. Had to use bent bits of wire and quite a bit of swearing to get some through... And replaced the worn door latch bits, can see the difference between old and new... And made the loom up to match the diagram, laid it out on the driveway and soldered, taped as required where some extra length was needed... Then fitted my garden plastic and new mastic under the door cards... And done, handles, locks, windows all work so much better after a clean and lube... Work bloody well. I connected the optional siren output to a 12V piezo so get a single/double chirp on locking/unlocking, plus the indicator lamps flash in unison. Added a small switch under dash too so I can turn off the siren. Want it to operate when parking in town etc, but don't want it going at other times. Has made the car much more useable and so handy not having to lock each door/check kids have locked them... 14 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Lord Gruntfuttock Posted August 25, 2021 Author Popular Post Share Posted August 25, 2021 So the battery went flat as I was wombling about installing the central locking. No prob, I'll give it a charge but it took ages, so shouted myself a new one, thinking the 12 yr old one had done ok... But it started cranking slowly, and let me down once in town, requiring an embarrassing jumpstart. Testing showed low volts when running so I ordered a new alternator... Of course just after ordering it I thought I'd check the regulator, gave it a tap and volts shot up, but no harm in getting rid of the antiquated Ford external reg system. Before I started work I gave it a run with my Ali bluetooth battery monitor. Driving straight after a full charge with the lights on gave 11.68V, and cranking volts were around 9.8V. So out with the old, shame as I'd reconditioned it, is original, and am pretty sure it's working, but they were only ever 40A... And in with the new, a Bosch 70A, and it was a straight swap (luckily, as cost close to $400, came from Aus)... But how to wire it in? Wiring diagram with alternator was no help and the Ford diagram was confusing, till I realised they work on a balance system, with volts on both sides of the lamp, so when it's charging there's no potential difference and the lamp goes out. Was simpler to utilise one of the existing wires from alternator to regulator (connected to D+ on new alt.) and just short the ignition wire to the stator wire at the regulator plug for a test run... Great success, lamp comes on with key, then off as the engine starts, and look... Cranking voltage was over 11V too. Rapt with that, also started much easier, and ran far smoother, didn't need to warm it up near as much before driving off. Guess the electronic ignition needs a good voltage to operate. Really pleased with the battery monitor too, love seeing the status of things like that without wiring in extra gauges etc. I'll connect those wires properly and leave the old regulator in place for looks. Should prob get another WOF now in prep for sunny day cruising... 24 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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