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Messages - Chuck W

1
Suspension/Steering / Re: Front Struts
Quote from: EricCoolCats – on
Chuck, how does a 1980-82 Thunderbird/XR-7 strut compare to a 1983-86 car?
They used the same(or similar) style of strut mounts as the others did, so the same would apply. On the 2 that I had , one got a set of my custom strut mounts and the other got a set of the KYB/Moog like above. I probably used Fox KYBs struts. (It's been forever ago, and my notes are pictures are more limited on those builds)
2
Suspension/Steering / Re: Front Struts
Buy struts for an '86 Mustang and replace the strut mounts with ones like THESE.

The Mustang struts won't fit the TBird strut mounts, thus the need to swap them out.
3
Other Vehicles / Re: Oops, I did it again. I bought a new car. (1986 Ford LTD wagon)
Longtubes would've been even more of a hassle. The 6R80 is already tight enough the in the trans tunnel  :giggle: .

When I left off, I was going to toss the rack into the car, so I could get the steering shaft where it needed to be. Ran into a small snag.
I had to make more adjustments to my motor mounts, as the rack was running into the oil pan before I could get it into place.

Spent some time early this afternoon modifying the mounts to raise the engine up a touch (about 1/4"). That gave me the room I needed for the rack so I got it mocked up.

I found a 3" to 2-1/2" conical reducer that should do what I need. To test it, I 3D printed up a copy and dropped it all in place.


I might get more room with a regular stepped reducer, but I kind of like the flow of this one, and if I need a little "clearance" dent it shouldn't be too bad.
I'll need to extend it a bit past the end of the reducer, and then I need to turn down to clear the firewall and get under the car. I'll need to add a bung for the front O2 sensor and I'll probably make a (v-band) connection before the turn down.
The X-pipe is 2-1/2", so I'll just be keeping with that theme all the way to the back.

The downside of raising things up a bit is now the intake hits the hood. (Like thick paper contact). It's on one of the underhood support bits, so another clearancing dent should be sufficient.

Another thing I ran into while digging into wiring involves the fuel system.  I'm wanting to stay with the stock return-less set-up and use the stock FPCM.
I came across a possible issue with that involving the RCM (Restraints Control Module). Back in the late 00's, Ford did away with the intertia switch and replaced it with an "ENS" signal from the RCM to the FPCM. If the module, which is tied into crash sensors, ABS, SRS, etc) senses a problem or in a crash, it kills the FP through the FPCM. This car is from WAY before the implementation of all of that, so there's no RCM in the car.
All of Ford's "control packs" just are set up to run a return-type fuel system and don't deal with it.

After finding the copy of Ford's patent for the set-up, I may have a solution for spoofing that signal, though. Picking some brains bigger than mine on it and will know more when I have more parts in hand.
4
Other Vehicles / Re: Oops, I did it again. I bought a new car. (1986 Ford LTD wagon)
That lower section is telescoping (This is the fancy MM conversion steering shaft).

Shoving the upper portion into the receiver on the column more may allow for clearance of the u-joint, but the lower section still needs to angle more.
I need to toss the rack in there to see exactly where things fall, but some sort of modification is going to be needed.
5
Other Vehicles / Re: Oops, I did it again. I bought a new car. (1986 Ford LTD wagon)
So I had about an hour to work on this today (and the weather was decent)

Quickly pulled the DS manifold off and confirmed my suspicions that the contact was going to be even worse.



I took the cut-off to the 


My thought to use the angling of the bend there to rotate the exhaust away from the steering shaft isn't going to work. It does move the outlet away, but the  interference stays about the same. Going to have to extend the outlet past the steering shaft a bit, and then make the connection.


6
Other Vehicles / Re: Oops, I did it again. I bought a new car. (1986 Ford LTD wagon)
If the interference wasn't right at the stupid connection point, this would be a whole lot easier.

Got a bunch of TXL wire on the way so I can start connecting the dots.

Of course the weather is supposed to get frigid here this weekend. Going to have limited time to work on this anyway, we'll see what I can get done.
7
User Rides / Re: Work In Progress. '88 TC
It's usually good to have a little bit of flex in the exhaust. The engine moves around a bit on the stock mounts. That might've caused your leaking issue.

On your WG and actuator. Checking the WGA by applying pressure to it is a good route. Easier to see if it holds pressure and/or moves smoothly.

Removing the ball from your MBC just made it act like you had a direct connection between the turbo boost reference and the WGA. The limit will be whatever the WGA is stock.

I haven't gotten to the point to put mine away for the winter yet, but I think it's getting close.




8
Other Vehicles / Re: Oops, I did it again. I bought a new car. (1986 Ford LTD wagon)
While digging through the wiring, I did a recheck of the steering shaft to manifold clearance, which was a little bit of an issue when placing everything.
Well, the new MM steering shaft made things worse (the u-joint is bigger than the stock one) and I can't/don't want to move the engine any more to the pass side. The contact is basically right on the connection to the manifold outlet and the pipe . I'm gonna need like another 1/2" of clearance, which I don't have without a lot of rework of things.

Pondering ideas, I went looking into what aftermarket exhaust options there were. Looking around ebay, I found these---for $100



I thought, for that price I can afford to gamble on modifying them. Seeing as I have to custom build the connection between the manifolds and the X-pipe, I have a little bit of freedom. The X-pipe was another $100 Marketplace find for an SN-95


Two ideas.
The first is to cut right between the  and the collector, on the angle. I think I can possibly rotate the outlet towards the engine a bit to gain clearance.
Option two is to cut the  off and add a section of pipe to clear the steering shaft and then add a connection below that.

Either way, I'll also be adding a flex section at the front of the X, to give these thin-walled headers a bit of protection.


My evenings lately have been pouring over wiring diagrams, sorting out what needs to go where. Luckily, most of the engine and transmission/starter/charging wiring is all contained in the existing engine harness. I really only need to focus on the "body" harness connector.


41 wire connections that most of which I'll probably be using. the MAF sensor wiring comes into this, as well as the connections for the FPCM and the EVAP stuff (Yes, I'm keeping full emissions stuff on this) and the DataLink (OBDII) connection. I've put together a chart with all of the terminations and whether they're a "Cabin" or "Engine Bay" connection.

I made the discovery that I already have a power feed for the Volvo electric PS pump, since the Mustangs used an electric PS rack. Both also are controlled via CANBUS, so I got to wondering if I can use the Ford signal to control the pump (based on speed, or what-have-you). Haven't sorted that detail out yet. Worst case, I have a little stand-alone controller I can use and set to a constant assist value.

Anyway, this stuff is fun, right?  :toothless:



9
Other Vehicles / Re: Oops, I did it again. I bought a new car. (1986 Ford LTD wagon)
Back at it for a bit today. mainly sorting out wiring details and a couple other bits.



Trying to sort out all of the needed wiring I need to save or repurpose from the LTD stuff. Need to save things like power feeds, AC control stuff, and separating the lighting wiring from the other stuff that's not going to be needed.

For the lighting, I'm planning on doing an H4 conversion, like I did on the TBird, and run the headlamp power from the battery, through relays, and just use the old circuits from the headlight switch as triggers.


This is all of the front end light wiring. I'm going to remove the extra bits from the cornering lamps that aren't used and remove the headlight plugs, as I'll be replacing them with a new, uprated harness.

This pic may cause some folks a bit of stress, but there's a method to my madness.


Seeing as I'll be needing to add relays, etc for fan(s), lighting, fuel system, I thought I'd go a different route instead of piecing together another aftermarket set-up (like on the TBird)

I picked up a fuse box for a 2011 Mustang and will use that, to take advantage of some of the wiring and circuit protection already being in place.



The extra circuits/relays I can repurpose to run things like the lighting circuits, as well as repurpose some of the unused J-case fuses to replace the fusible links on the power circuits I need to reuse from the LTD.

Gonna be a little tedious to sort through, but I think I can manage it ;)

To finish up, I bolted the later intake on with the throttle body. Just to have something fun to look at (and close up the intake).
11
Misc Tech / Re: Air Conditioning Update Question.
Did they spray foam in the evaporator tubes?

I *think* the box is the the same, but you shouldn't need to do more that replace the evaporator (and the heater core, since you'll have it apart)
12
User Rides / Re: Chuck's '83 TBird
Thanks!

The side view is obviously a bit more subtle, and tartan isn't some glaring contrasting color.

The GLI Recaros in it have little hints of red in the inserts, so it kind of ties together a bit.
13
Other Vehicles / Re: Oops, I did it again. I bought a new car. (1986 Ford LTD wagon)
Quote from: jcassity – on
its amazing how good of shap that lower rad core support is in.  you amaze me with your quarky appreciation for the odd fox box platforms.  im sure you will turn it into a gem!

Well, there is a bit of damage hiding on the bottom rear of the passenger side of it, but nothing I wanted to mess with.  This is a car that is going to get DRIVEN, so I wanted to make sire things were sealed/fresh.

Truth be told. If I didn't have the '83 TBird, I'd be building up another 80-82 Box TBird/Cougar XR-7 in its place.  :toothless:
14
Other Vehicles / Re: Oops, I did it again. I bought a new car. (1986 Ford LTD wagon)
Since the other site is down, I'll update here.

Been going in circles this past few months trying to work between several projects.

This one needed to get the K-member mods done and I accomplished that. (Pic of it in primer)

Relocated the FCA mounts inboard 3/4", since I was going to use the SN-95 arms, and the stock width between the control arm mounts was the same between the LTD and the Mod K-members. I was going to have fender contact if I tried to leave them as-is.


I talked myself into thinking that I needed to clean up the engine bay before I dropped the drivetrain back in the car, so I needed to address that, and got it knocked out this past weekend.



I need to remove a bunch of un-needed wiring and do a few more things, so it wasn't a bad idea to strip everything out.


I hit it with a couple rounds of scuff and clean with some grey ScotchBrite pads and treated any remaining corrosion areas with some Corroseal.


The primed and painted it with some Seymour MRO paints.



Next task is to get the drivetrain back in the car and out of my way in the garage.
15
Other Vehicles / Re: Added another Fox to the fleet - 1985 Marquis LTS
Been a minute since an update.
As mentioned in the LTD wagon thread, the 3.7/6R80 is going there and this is staying as-is drivetrain wise for a bit.

Not too much to report, just been driving it and doing a little maintenance work. Nothing exciting.

We did take it up to Detroit for the Motor City Fox Fest back in July. Did great on the trip.





It'll get parked when the snow/salt starts to fly, but I do have a couple projects for it when I can get more done on the wagon engine swap.