What Have You Done To Your Other Vehicle Lately?

[Josh_GL_Limited 130]

Oh I've done something alright. Meet my new ride, a Lightning Blue Metallic 2017 Ford Fusion Sport AWD. 325HP, 380TQ. The car was on the lot for 162 days, so they discounted the price a bunch, and they were able to get me 0% APR!  Dad is taking over the remainder of the loan on the Sable (it's not much) and Betty White is becoming my sister's car.  

Edited August 3, 2017 by Josh_GL_Limited

[mmmfloorpie 110]

1 hour ago, Josh_GL_Limited said:

Oh I've done something alright. Meet my new ride, a Lightning Blue Metallic 2017 Ford Fusion Sport AWD. 325HP, 380TQ. The car was on the lot for 162 days, so they discounted the price a bunch, and they were able to get me 0% APR!  Dad is taking over the remainder of the loan on the Sable (it's not much) and Betty White is becoming my sister's car.  

http://www.2gfusions.net/member.php?action=register&referrer=1392

Easily the best 2g Fusion forum there is.

[SHOenough 171]

5 hours ago, Josh_GL_Limited said:

Oh I've done something alright. Meet my new ride, a Lightning Blue Metallic 2017 Ford Fusion Sport AWD. 325HP, 380TQ. The car was on the lot for 162 days, so they discounted the price a bunch, and they were able to get me 0% APR!  Dad is taking over the remainder of the loan on the Sable (it's not much) and Betty White is becoming my sister's car.  

 

So, when does it get tuned?

[Kodachrome Wolf 475]

The '87 has got me right here:

 

The other day I really was able drive it. That pesky rough idle BS came back. Today I tried blocking off the EGR using a penny, just to confirm that wasn't the root cause. Car still ran stupid.

So of course I'm running through ideas with the folks on GMN. Someone mentioned to me to check to see what the alternator is putting out when it starts running poorly. An interesting tie in to that theory is I swapped out the dash lights for LEDs. The grounds on that car aren't super, so if you have the turn signal on, the dash will brighten and dim a little with each blink. When I was driving it back to storage, and I halted at a light, the dash was flickering hard when it started chugging and loping, and I couldn't tell if the headlights were flickering too. The rough idle also doesn't come on hard right away, it actually gets worse the longer you remain stopped. Now I'm really curious if my junkyard 3G may be junk.

I'll break out the multimeter when I have enough time to run over there and look at it, weather permitting. Since it's the worst in drive, I'll set the parking brake, chock the front wheels, and try to depress the brake by shoving a handle or something between the seat and the pedal, so I can be outside of the car measuring output. I could see a low voltage condition be high enough to not trigger the AMP light, but be low enough to throw off the electronics.

Frustrating thing.

[Spridget 498]

My wife names all the cars. Here are Heinrich and Heidi.

 

[Jeff 386]

I got one of my new rear shocks installed on the 14 Fusion this evening.  I waited too late to start so I didn't tear down the other side as dark would've overtaken me.  I bought Monroe Sensa Trac shocks and bought the upper mount from my local Ford dealer.  My only symptom really was a squeak from the rear shock during turning maneuvers and also at highway speed the rear of the car seemed to want to wonder some.  I'll swap in the other tomorrow after work.  The LH shock looked fine once removed....however my noise is coming from the RH side so we shall see if this fixes my very minor issue.  It wouldn't be an issue if I drove with my radio up more often, but it's usually turned really low which is how I heard the noise.  The wandering or loose feeling I noticed a while back, and it seems others have experienced this and new shocks fixed the issue.  For less than $120 I'll take the gamble.  The car now has 47k on it and is probably close to the suspension needing some attention to keep it riding like new anyways.

[zenriddles 148]

Patched a hole in an exhaust pipe on my 1986 Lincoln Towncar. Just behind the catalytic converter on the drivers' side. Not gonna hold for long.

Really need to replace the cats, but would rather put in a straight pipe on both sides.

Anybody sell pre-made "off-road pipes"? These would need to be flanged on both ends.

[Brian_05_SEL 1417]

I know that many companies do for Fox platform cars... never seen one meant for Panthers though. 

[Bull Geek 812]

I have a set of "down pipes" that someone welded to an h pipe. Bolt and go clamp mufflers on and enjoy.

not aware of any down pipes with flanges.  Any custom exhaust place can fab some up using the cat as a template.

 

nice to hear you are cruising around in a 96 Town Slab!

[Josh_GL_Limited 130]

20% window tint and light painting photography! Cannot wait to remove that ugly front plate!
http://i1253.photobucket.com/albums/hh591/joshschmitt98/_IMG1261_zpsw2ylnqip.jpg

 

Bonus shot:
http://i1253.photobucket.com/albums/hh591/joshschmitt98/_IMG1295_zpsf5sakjxm.jpg

Edited August 11, 2017 by Josh_GL_Limited

[zenriddles 148]

Josh

Ditch the Avatar, I know where that car sleeps now. And it will be cold. Very COLD.

;-)

 

Nick

It's a '86, not '96. First year of the Multiport Fuel Injected 5.0. I expect to finally turn 100,000 miles before the end of the month.

Kind of a 'Christine' thing. Car has been in the family since mile 3.

Car loves me.

I saved it from a flood in 1987 at the expense of letting my 1969 Mach 1 drown right next to it.

I took it to my reception after my wedding.

25 years later me and my bride went back to the same place with the same car and took pictures with the same owner. Lifetime photo on the wall of fame at that restaurant.

 

I can get the cats off Rockauto.com for $85.00 each plus shipping, etc, but they are not OEM and I don't think I am that interested in paying for 30 yr old OEM parts... Leaning towards that route right now, car is totally intact and I hate putting in aftermarket parts.

 

[Thub 673]

The F150 got its sea legs last weekend. I think its kinda neat when a vehicle gets to leave the pavement and move across the water. With a full load of cars that ferry ride was pretty smooth, the first leg of the trip the ferry was only half loaded and you could really tell the extra weight smooths things out, but also slows the ferry down considerably.

This weekend I removed the massive lower air valance, so now it looks like the truck actually has some ground clearance.

[SHOenough 171]

12 hours ago, Thub said:

This weekend I removed the massive lower air valance, so now it looks like the truck actually has some ground clearance

I'll be interested to know what that does for MPG's

[Thub 673]

On 8/14/2017 at 7:47 AM, SHOenough said:

I'll be interested to know what that does for MPG's

I have a big road trip coming up next week I'll keep track of how the truck does but I doubt a 6" piece of plastic has a big effect on that 6000lb big brick of a truck.

[SHOenough 171]

11 hours ago, Thub said:

I have a big road trip coming up next week I'll keep track of how the truck does but I doubt a 6" piece of plastic has a big effect on that 6000lb big brick of a truck.

I'll be interested to find out

[Thub 673]

12 hours ago, SHOenough said:

I'll be interested to find out

The truck is averaging 16 mpg with my mixed city and highway driving, I try to drive for economy but its really not my style, I just have a more spirited driving style. I've been going around 250-275 miles between fillups, I won't run much past half a tank on that thing, its sickening to pay to fill that 36 gallon tank up from empty. So 500 or so miles on a full tank is pretty good. Max range is supposed to be around 800 miles on a tank and I can believe that because when you drive it really nice it will pull 20mpg easy.

So I drive the F150 to work and then I hop in the same year of Chevy Silverado equipped the same as my truck, crew cab short box 4x4 with the 5.3L V8. Now it is a work truck so it takes more abuse but the power, handling, steering control, feedback, its like night and day. I could be a bit biased but I honestly don't know why anyone would have bought a GM truck during the 2011 to 2014 period because the F150 is superior in every single aspect hands down. Last year I really kinda liked the Silverado and thought it was pretty decent, thank goodness my senses took over and I test drove an F150. I think GM let that GMT900 chassis drag out 2-3 years too long it was not competitive at all in its final years, I think it only sold due to the (GM fan factor) and GM knew that, how else could you explain a refresh and then a total redesign 9 months later. The GMT 800 was definitely better than the F150 of that era, but once Ford ditched the Trition engines things changed. I think GM has tried really hard to catch back up but using that same chassis for 8 years without any major updates really cost them, meanwhile Ford and even Chrysler were cooking up a lot better ideas.

I didn't want that to seem like a rant but its almost hard to explain how 2 trucks that compete head to head from the same MY can be so different.

 

[zenriddles 148]

Following up on 1986 Lincoln Towncar.

Putting new Walker Cats, sourced from Rockauto.com

Nice items. Would be even more nice if they fit perfect. They fit close, Blow torch and a mallet and the bends will be better.

Flanges way off from square.

[Bull Geek 812]

Walker stuff is generally pretty close.  Manipulation required haha.

 

cool that you got it installed. That 86 is a cream puff.

when are you moving south to Illinois?

[Angrod 280]

Changed the oil in the Suzuki. The clutch is getting very bad. It doesn't sound like any friction material is left on the disc so I'm not exactly sure what makes it stick.

Also noticed that the timing cover is blown at the bottom, right where it ends above the oil pan. It leaks a small amount of oil but doesn't seem bad so I'm not going to do anything about it.

[Kodachrome Wolf 475]

Wagon is doing better. All my issues were related to a bad pickup in the distributor. The pickup wasn't dead enough to shut the car down, but dead enough the output was flaky and the computer wasn't able to adjust the timing properly. It would run okay-ish without the SPOUT connector plugged in. I had to swap out two distributors. The first new one I got went bad moments after starting. The replacement had no problems. It got a lot of Motorcraft stuff stuck on it, too. Swapped Autolite plugs for Motorcraft and put a Motorcraft TFI module on. I'm not a fan of the mating surface upon which the TFI sits (rather rough and pitted, not smooth), so a remote mount setup will be a "sooner-than-later" deal. I'd rather not fry a good TFI, especially on the road. That type of surface is not going to promote great heat transfer.

I got the oil changed a few days ago. I figured out that it'll always read a half-quart low after an oil change. It was the same way the first time I changed the oil and I thought it used a good bit. I figure it might have something to do with the large FL-1A filter. Happy the oil level stays consistent in this 302. I'm sticking with Motorcraft 10W-30, but I may try a FL400S filter over the FL-1A on the next change. A little less volume to fill and should make that first start after the oil change gentler on the engine.

I've got to re-check the timing. I left the timing a bit retarded and I need to advance it a few degrees. I expected I'd be off a touch after having three distributors in and out of it.

 

The sedan needs to go in for warranty A/C work. As much as I'd rather not have those clowns dicking around the engine bay again, I've got to get the A/C functional again. I manage without it, but it's an inconvenience for passengers and long distance trips. The compressor is short cycling, so either it's low on refrigerant, or there's a clog creating high pressure.

[Thub 673]

On 8/14/2017 at 7:47 AM, SHOenough said:

I'll be interested to know what that does for MPG's

Here's the outcome. Green Bay to Kansas City, I 41 to US 151 to I 80 to I 35. Most of the open road driving was above 75mph, long stretches with cruise set at close to 80mph. I wouldn't say I babied it at all, there were multiple higher rpm take overs and passes completed. The math works out based on my receipts for gas, mpg dropped as we got closer to Kansas city, I started to drive faster as we got closer. Though Wisconsin and Iowa it was averaging right around 20mpg.

[Brian_05_SEL 1417]

The Mustang got a new, leaner styled rear bumper today. Stock GT vs. '93 SVT Cobra as shown below. 

 

 

And yes, I will be replacing those old turndown exhaust tips soon.  

[mmmfloorpie 110]

Brought her home a little baby brother:

Also did this yesterday so they'd match:

Edited September 5, 2017 by mmmfloorpie

[machausta 155]

Found a puddle in the driveway under the beetle...replaced all the plastic coolant manifolds, hoses, etc...

 

Not a hard job, but a lot of busted knuckles.

[Kodachrome Wolf 475]

I've now given the wagon the ability to show me how quickly it'll drink gas:

Handy-dandy Ford Tripminder. Gives you a clock with the time, day of the week, and month. You can do elapsed time for a trip. You can get Insta-MPG or average MPG. You can get your average speed or a digital trip odometer. Final function is a fuel consumed function. It essentially offers a lot features seen in later Ford digidashes, and even now in new cars. Obviously it's super '80s, but completely functional, and it only uses two extra wires over the traditional digital clock. One wire is for fuel flow input, the other is the vehicle speed input.

In reality, the wagon isn't that terrible on gas, I just took that picture climbing a steep hill. Cruising around at 40 MPH, it was holding a steady 17 MPG on the read out.

This is where it was at after driving in slow traffic in a hilly residential area:

Should be useful in determining where the sweet spots are while cruising down the highway.

 

I also installed hood weatherstripping that goes at the wiper cowl. I didn't realize there was supposed to be weatherstripping there until I was looking at the '89 LTD CV I've been taking parts off of. Lots of little pieces from that LTD are surviving on in the wagon.