We used to replace the display illumination bulb on the Ford head units all the time when I worked at home and car audio shop back in the early 90's. Super simple on how to do it and this is about the best I can find on what bulb to get and how to do it. The Bronco's basically had the same radio so hopefully this will help.
Bulb is okay. It is the florescent display that doesn't light up. With the front cover off I see there is some IC chips by the display which might be associated with the display not lighting up. Several places by me repair electronics but not going back to 1987.
Since the bottom portion of both intake manifolds are the same the H.O. Manifold bolted right on with no problems. Added the H.O. Throttle Body and EGR Spacer and then just switched over the Non H.O. TPS, Idle Control Solenoid and EGR. Made a little adjustments on the TPS position and base idle screw and engine runs fine. No surging or off idle stumble. All this may of been a wasted effort because I don't notice any more HP even with 1.7 ratio Rocker Arms. I've got shorty headers and the H.O. Mustang Cat forward exhaust I could install but that probably won't add any HP either. For any real HP gains I guess I'll have to open the engine up and put in a different Cam and Heads that have a higher compression ratio. 150 stock HP just doesn't cut it on the road anymore. It's okay in the city and it gets great MPG on the highway. Can still get 30 Highway MPG after 31 years. Just have to be careful when passing other cars.
The display on my Ford OEM radio has burned out and the EATC Module won't hold the temperature it is set to after the car is turned off. Always comes back to 75 degrees. The local Ford Dealer Service Dept won't even look at my car because of its age. 1987 T-Bird. I know I could get a modern radio with its more options but I want to keep the car stock. So does anyone know who can repair these old radios? About the electronic EATC Module has anyone had the same problem I've described and has fix the problem or do you know who repairs these Modules?
I am in the process of replacing for the second time the heater core on my 87 T-Bird. The original OEM one lasted only about 8 years. The replacement I got back then from Trak Auto has now failed after 23 years. I had noticed for awhile the smell of antifreeze so I put some radiator stop leak in hoping that would seal the heater core. That didn't work because the heater core erupted while driving and the inside of my car filled with steam. It looked like the NASCAR winners car after they do their victory burnout or a bad Cheech and Chong movie. Thankfully I wasn't that far from home. What I've found so far is that the inlet pipe came completely unsoldered. It pulled out of the firewall as I was pulling the hoses off. Since I knew the heater core was leaking and I figured I'd have to replace it so I had purchased a Motorcraft HC5 heater core but it has a problem with the inlet pipe not being straight so it will need fixing. I was wondering if there is a way to strengthen the heater core so it won't fail again? Because, I may not be physically able to replace the heater core the next time it fails.
Had the alignment on my 87 T-Bird checked today and the readings the Shop gave me are wacky and the reason they gave me for these values was the ball joints were bad and they wanted $450 to do the repair.
Got around to looking under the car at both ball joints. This "so called" alignment shop was just trying to rip me off. Both ball joints still had grease from the last lube all over the under side of the joints. Going by how the Ford Manual says to check for wear they would of had to wipe the grease off to see the Wear Indicators. Both indicators stuck out and measured near new. Tell me if Ford is wrong in how to check for ball joint wear.
I'd been feeling a looseness in the drivers seat on my 87 Tbird for a while now. I thought it was something worn out in seat track. What I found was that both of the front seat track bolts which mount the drivers seat track to the floor were loose. Went to tighten them but both of the welded in mounting nuts in the floor are stripped out. I could not get a good look at the nuts because they are under the carpet. For those of you that have had the carpet out of your cars or anyone that knows what those mounting nuts look like, can the nuts be repaired with a Helicoil thread insert?
Had the alignment on my 87 T-Bird checked today and the readings the Shop gave me are wacky and the reason they gave me for these values was the ball joints were bad and they wanted $450 to do the repair.
Readings were: [table="width: 600, class: grid, align: left"] [tr] [td]Camber L = -4.2 deg[/td] [td]Cross Camber = -7.2 deg[/td] [td]Camber R = +3.0 deg[/td] [/tr] [tr] [td]Caster L = +2.1 deg[/td] [td]Cross Caster = +0.5 deg[/td] [td]Caster R = +1.6 deg[/td] [/tr] [tr] [td]Toe L = +1.55 deg[/td] [td]Cross Toe = +1.28 deg[/td] [td]Toe R = -0.27 deg[/td] [/tr] [/table]
The last alignment readings from a different Shop were: [table="width: 600, class: grid, align: left"] [tr] [td]Camber L = -1.6 deg[/td] [td]Cross Camber = +0.4 deg[/td] [td]Camber R = -2.0 deg[/td] [/tr] [tr] [td]Caster L = +0.6 deg[/td] [td]Cross Caster = +0.1 deg[/td] [td]Caster R = +0.5 deg[/td] [/tr] [tr] [td]Toe L = -0.39 deg[/td] [td]Cross Toe = -0.81 deg[/td] [td]Toe R = -0.41 deg[/td] [/tr] [/table]
On the right front Camber I don't even think it is possible to get a +3.0 deg reading without having the car damaged in some way. Reason for the recheck was new front springs were installed and the car was pulling to the left slightly. The new springs did raise the front end a little. I'm not worried about the Camber reading because I don't believe those are accurate. My question is going by the Toe readings from today would those readings result in the car to pulling to the left? As for possible bad ball joints I'll check them myself before relying on what this Shop said.
Been running the Maximum Motorsports CC plates on my 93 coupe for over 17 years and on the Bird for about the same amount of time and never a slip. These CC plates are put on all out road race cars with radical alignments and do not slip unless the poor putz did not assemble or torque them correctly. Here is a shot of them on my Bird:
Do you mind saying what your caster and camber settings are? From the photo submitted it looks the camber is very negative going by the position of the strut shaft. Also can tell your caster setting is at the max negative is this also correct?
Has anyone been so bold as to installing a drowndraft efi 8 stack intake system? If so, did you have any problems with the install and how does it run.
TheFoeYouKnow I think we first need to know how you got so much negative camber.
Lowered front springs caused the greater negative values.
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Chuck W If the strut mounts slip, you have other issues besides a missing rivet.
Metal to metal will slip unless it is serrated. So it's better to play it safe and keep the rivet feature than be sorry from a pot-hole hit or just the car vibrations.
Alignment check shows camber is -1.5 to -2 degrees. How much movement is needed to bring camber within spec? Is it an 1/8" 3/16" 1/4"? Will drill new hole for a new rivet to keep camber plate from slipping back. If the needed movement to correct camber is greater than what's available with the OEM setup well then the MMS plates with the smaller strut mount will be needed for the added clearance.
How much does the camber change when the pop rivet is drilled out on the OEM camber plate and then the camber plate and strut is moved and then the pop rivet is installed in different hole on an 87 T-Bird?
After 3 attempts in trying to get an undamaged rebuilt R&P unit I've finally got the R&P installed and have taken car to alignment shop. The alignment settings in the attached photo show camber is not as bad as I thought back -1.6L and -2.0R verses what I initially thought of -5.0. May have to get the adjustable caster/camber plates if these camber settings cause tires to wear. Caster changed a little, not as much as my prior alignment records on car indicated. Toe reading is from me reattaching the outer tie rod ends on the R&P unit and doing the best I could. Still have to take car back to body shop for them to see why car still tilts.
Don't know if there is something wrong with the R&P unit just installed. Engine drops some 200 to 400 RPMs at idle when turning the steering wheel. Something else for me to worry about.
WARNING to those who purchase a R&P and have it shipped to your home. It probably will come damaged. I purchased from Autozone and there was nothing in the R&P box to secure the unit from flopping around. Had 2 R&P's arrive which had a crushed or broken hydraulic transfer tube.
Repairs keep popping up. The battery disconnect switch that I'd installed several years ago went bad last month and killed the 11 year old car battery. Then yesterday when I was going to get the alignment checked one of the rack & pinion hydraulic transfer tubes failed. Spewed oil all over the underside of the engine bay. I figure the tube got damaged when I had to move the Rack while changing the Ctrl Arm bushings. This is what brought me back to the forum today. I was searching to see if there was some place that sold inexpensive transfer tubes. Google search only turned up places that were selling both tubes for nearly $50. I hate to replace the still good original Ford rack & pinion for some reman unit. But when a new life time warranty reman unit can be bought for around $85 it don't make sense to buy just the tubes for $50. Then I'm going to have to buy new P/S hoses since they too are originals and then I'll also have to clean out the P/S pump. Would not want to contaminate a new rack. I'm thankful I can do these repairs myself otherwise I'd probably have to dish out over $300 bucks at some shop.
If anyone knows where to buy inexpensive rack & pinion transfer tubes feel free to respond.
