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Messages
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Messages - EricCoolCats
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Body/Appearance/Interior / Re: Under hood mat/insulation
My only suggestion would be to get brand new clips to hold it in. LMR has ones for a Mustang that are identical to ours, even down to the part number stamped on them.
https://lmr.com/item/PE-974/1983-93-Mustang-Under-Hood-Insulator-Retainers-Pack-Of-14
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Body/Appearance/Interior / Re: 83-84 Instrument Cluster - Anyone Installed Aftermarket Gauges?
Just FYI, I had to cut out the back of the dash area on the '86 to get my Autometers to fit. I commend you for trying to not do that here...but if it comes down to it, you may need to. Just saying.
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Misc Tech / Re: HR980 A/C Issues
Also I still need a new condenser and one of the lines. This year is probably going to be all about parts acspoogeulation and then, with some luck, everything might get installed in the fall.
Quote
Toss the acspoogeulator and buy a new one. You don't want a 25+ year old desiccant bag.
You just can't let me celebrate my victory, can you?
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Body/Appearance/Interior / Re: 83-84 Instrument Cluster - Anyone Installed Aftermarket Gauges?
Had to do something similar on my '86 when I put the aftermarket gauges in. I was all excited to finally have them calibrated and working that I forgot about hooking up the wires for the old warning light. Funny how I remembered so clearly when I was 45 minutes from home and had to be flat-bedded back on the tow truck due to a dead battery from the alternator not charging. D'oh!
Anyway, all I did was just connect the wires with no resistor. There have been zero ill effects form that, and the alternator charges perfectly. FWIW.
Your setup looks awesome BTW. Can't wait to see the final product.
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Body/Appearance/Interior / Re: 83-84 Instrument Cluster - Anyone Installed Aftermarket Gauges?
https://www.coolcats.net/modifying/#interior
Click the 'Custom Gauges' tab. The photos were from pro-street cars that pretty much eliminated the vents but it does give some cool ideas nonetheless.
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Drivetrain Tech / Re: Front 5 lug disk question
Complete Brake Service from Columbus, OH seems to have a new website:
https://www.completebra48887801-246977.hibustudio.com
You may need to call and confirm that they still carry the 10" 5-lug Fox rotors.
The only other solutions I've seen to get 5-lug is to shave down a Ranger rotor (10.25") or try a Mazda MPV front rotor.
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Misc Tech / Re: HR980 A/C Issues
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Misc Tech / Re: HR980 A/C Issues
I've been digging and digging on the intarwebz for any possible solution to converting an HR980 setup to an FS-6 system. It seems that the only real practical conversion would be to acquire all the parts from a donor car. So we're talking a 1985 V6 Cougar/T-Bird, possibly an LTD/Marquis (Fox chassis) as the donor vehicle. You would need everything off the driver's side of the motor: brackets, bolts, compressor, power steering pulley, belt, and of course the a/c lines. It would be a rather straightforward swap but you MUST have all the parts or else it's a no-go.
So it seems that Ford had the foresight to put these parts into a package sold at dealerships. I happened to be at the right place at the right time and procured said kit (it cost as much to buy this kit as it did to buy my car). It is p/n YC-172 (formerly YC-111). Personally if you're in this situation I would not hold out hope of finding one of these kits as they were discontinued over 25 years ago and are probably extremely rare.
Some photos:
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Body/Appearance/Interior / Re: LED 9004 bulbs
Hopefully one of our electrical gurus here can give us some better insight.
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Other Vehicles / Re: 1969 Mustang Fastback - Restoring the Body
Must be nice to open up a catalog and order new parts for your car! Pretty jelly of that, I tell you...
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Body/Appearance/Interior / Re: Hood Hinges???
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Body/Appearance/Interior / Re: Hood Hinges???
The Mark VII had the same hood hinges as the 1983-86 Cougar/T-Bird except for one thing: they had a bolt-on coil section to help keep the hood up. The coil spring looks just like those on older GM vehicles but it's lower tension.
This is the section on my own hood:
The 1987-88 Cougar/T-Bird hinges are redesigned and have a higher-tension coil. That's fine for a stock hood, but in my case, they were pushing up the aftermarket fiberglass hood too much when it was down. The corners stuck up like 3-4". I also did not want the prop rod solution either. So one day in the boneyard I found the Mark VII hinges and tried them out. For me they're not perfect as the hood does come up just a bit, but it's way better than the 1987-88 hinges. It's a nice solution for any hood though...so long as you can find them.
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User Rides / Re: The Cougar Helps with The Chip shortage
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