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My 1987 Two Door Crown Victoria AKA THE BROWN BLOB

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    Goofy. Diodes.. there was one section in physics were we had to make calculations based on those things and resistors and what have you. Guess my solution would be to pull the diode. Ferd truck has those lil map lights for light anyway. Ford got a lot of mileage out of those combo door & map lights. Ah, I thought everything got MAF in '96 since OBDII took over. I'd settle for a I6. I like those things.
    1985 LTD Crown Victoria - SOLD
    1988 Town Car Signature - Current Party Barge

    Comment


      You're thinking capacitors, not diodes. Diodes are nothing more than 1-way check valves for electrons, you just choose one that's rated for the current it's supposed to carry and call it good. Caps tho, yeah, lots more fun can be had there But yeah, I love diodes, you can do all sorts of neat trickery with them.

      If your dome/map lights assembly looks like the one in your Towncar, ditch it, it sucks. Replace it with one from a Taurus, much better. They can be used on box Panthers as well, but look a bit outta place there, right at home in aeros tho.
      The ones who accomplish true greatness, are the foolish who keep pressing onward.
      The ones who accomplish nothing, are the wise who know when to quit.

      Comment


        They put them in as a sort of test, to see if you were paying attention when making your calculations.

        Yep. Which year Tauri?
        1985 LTD Crown Victoria - SOLD
        1988 Town Car Signature - Current Party Barge

        Comment


          The rounded goofy-looking ones, so late-'90s IIRC.
          The ones who accomplish true greatness, are the foolish who keep pressing onward.
          The ones who accomplish nothing, are the wise who know when to quit.

          Comment


            Originally posted by 87gtVIC View Post
            Yeah.....



            To be honest the new gauges use spade terminals so it works out fine in this situation.
            Maybe consider a multi-pin connector so you can just undo them without risk of mixing up the wiring. My S-W gauges are screw terminal, but those are tied to about a 12" long harness to a 6 pin connector that lets me yank the whole thing easily. I got a pack of them on ebay for cheap. No clue about their supposed weather-tight status but inside the car I don't much care.
            86 Lincoln Town Car (Galactica).
            5.0 HO, CompCams XE258,Scorpion 1.72 roller rockers, 3.55 K code rear, tow package, BHPerformance ported E7 heads, Tmoss Explorer intake, 65mm throttle body, Hedman 1 5/8" headers, 2.5" dual exhaust, ASP underdrive pulley

            91 Lincoln Mark VII LSC grandpa spec white and cranberry

            1984 Lincoln Continental TurboDiesel - rolls coal

            Originally posted by phayzer5
            I drive a Lincoln. I can't be bothered to shift like the peasants and rabble rousers

            Comment


              I actually removed the weather-tight seals between the two halves of the connectors for my switch panels, they were entirely too hard to disconnect with seals in place and I really don't have enough space to get a good grip of the connectors and pull like a beast till they separate. My connectors are Ford connectors for chassis harnesses, they typically live in areas where all sorts of nasty stuff gets flung onto them so they need to seal very tight - well, tight they do seal alright, too tight for my particular application.

              But yes, in this situation I would totally leave the bare minimum tracers in the printed circuit and run everything else via an external connector hard-spliced into the factory harness. That way if any gauge changes are being made later on, just repin the cluster side of said connector as needed. May be a good idea to use a connector with a few extra pin slots as well, like an 8-pin if you only need 6 pins for your current gauge setup.
              The ones who accomplish true greatness, are the foolish who keep pressing onward.
              The ones who accomplish nothing, are the wise who know when to quit.

              Comment


                Originally posted by DerekTheGreat View Post

                David, do you have any pics of the cluster in mock-up phase? Curious to see what it will look like from the other side.
                This is all I got...Current pics as it stands completed:





                Originally posted by DerekTheGreat View Post
                Oh, here are a few pics of the reading lights Townies got in the back..
                [ATTACH=CONFIG]47129[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]47130[/ATTACH]
                Thanks.

                Originally posted by His Royal Ghostliness View Post
                Good grief that's a lot of wok on that cluster! But it is what it is, if there ain't no other way to get it how you want it you gotta endure... (says the guy with solid week's worth of wiring aux switches and relays and shit). Dumb question/concern, but if the gauges are so deep, and they have spade terminals sticking out the back, do double-check depth availability in the dash there - you need at least 1/2" on top of combined gauge+cluster thickness for the spade connectors and the wires. May also be a good idea to use right-angle spade connectors, if it will allow for wiring to be tidier.
                This is the next step. Fincding out what I have to work with space wise. I know Johnnie blaze had autometers in his dash like this so there is a way! I just need to find it.

                Originally posted by gadget73 View Post
                Maybe consider a multi-pin connector so you can just undo them without risk of mixing up the wiring. My S-W gauges are screw terminal, but those are tied to about a 12" long harness to a 6 pin connector that lets me yank the whole thing easily. I got a pack of them on ebay for cheap. No clue about their supposed weather-tight status but inside the car I don't much care.
                Good point. Hope to not remove the damned thing again really. I have label machine and the wires will (I say that now but probably wont) be labeled to avoid such confusion.

                Originally posted by His Royal Ghostliness View Post
                I actually removed the weather-tight seals between the two halves of the connectors for my switch panels, they were entirely too hard to disconnect with seals in place and I really don't have enough space to get a good grip of the connectors and pull like a beast till they separate. My connectors are Ford connectors for chassis harnesses, they typically live in areas where all sorts of nasty stuff gets flung onto them so they need to seal very tight - well, tight they do seal alright, too tight for my particular application.

                But yes, in this situation I would totally leave the bare minimum tracers in the printed circuit and run everything else via an external connector hard-spliced into the factory harness. That way if any gauge changes are being made later on, just repin the cluster side of said connector as needed. May be a good idea to use a connector with a few extra pin slots as well, like an 8-pin if you only need 6 pins for your current gauge setup.
                I'll see how it all goes once I get them clearanced in the dash.
                ~David~

                My 1987 Crown Victoria Coupe: The Brown Blob
                My 2004 Mercedes Benz E320:The Benz

                Originally posted by ootdega
                My life is a long series of "nevermind" and "I guess not."

                Originally posted by DerekTheGreat
                But, that's just coming from me, this site's biggest pessimist. Best of luck

                Originally posted by gadget73
                my car starts and it has AC. Yours doesn't start and it has no AC. Seems obvious to me.




                Comment


                  Originally posted by His Royal Ghostliness View Post
                  I actually removed the weather-tight seals between the two halves of the connectors for my switch panels, they were entirely too hard to disconnect with seals in place
                  cheap-ass China "weatherpak" connectors come apart fairly easy. Thats why I seriously doubt their weather tight claims. I think I paid 10 bucks for 6 or 8 of them. No faith in high current capability but for meter signal they do fine.
                  86 Lincoln Town Car (Galactica).
                  5.0 HO, CompCams XE258,Scorpion 1.72 roller rockers, 3.55 K code rear, tow package, BHPerformance ported E7 heads, Tmoss Explorer intake, 65mm throttle body, Hedman 1 5/8" headers, 2.5" dual exhaust, ASP underdrive pulley

                  91 Lincoln Mark VII LSC grandpa spec white and cranberry

                  1984 Lincoln Continental TurboDiesel - rolls coal

                  Originally posted by phayzer5
                  I drive a Lincoln. I can't be bothered to shift like the peasants and rabble rousers

                  Comment


                    Oops.

                    Anyone spot what I missed?
















                    Thanks goodness I found this now or I would have been pissed!

                    Easy fix:



                    All better:




                    High beam indicator and top left illumination bulb would have NEVER worked without a ground.

                    Now its back to normal, kinda. Ground spun all around the printed circuit starting at the connector (obviously) the heading out to everything on the right ride of the cluster then looped way back around and hit up the left turn indicator as well as the lowest left illumination bulb THEN went back and met up with the high beam and top left illumination bulb.

                    I just bypassed the BIG loop at the left turn indicator etc.

                    Ugly weather so no progress inside the vehicle.
                    ~David~

                    My 1987 Crown Victoria Coupe: The Brown Blob
                    My 2004 Mercedes Benz E320:The Benz

                    Originally posted by ootdega
                    My life is a long series of "nevermind" and "I guess not."

                    Originally posted by DerekTheGreat
                    But, that's just coming from me, this site's biggest pessimist. Best of luck

                    Originally posted by gadget73
                    my car starts and it has AC. Yours doesn't start and it has no AC. Seems obvious to me.




                    Comment


                      Yup... That wouldn't have worked too well.

                      Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former. -- Albert Einstein
                      rides: 93 Crown Vic LX (The Red Velvet Cake), 2000 Crown Vic base model (Sandy), 2003 Expedition (the vacation beast)

                      Originally posted by gadget73
                      ... and it should all work like magic and unicorns and stuff.

                      Originally posted by dmccaig
                      Overhead, some poor bastards are flying in airplanes.

                      Comment


                        Being as OCD as you are, how can you even stand looking at that looong red wire looping over above the gauge? Thing is just begging to get snagged onto something as you're installing the cluster. Don't have to unsolder it to fix that, just swing it over the gauge and run it underneath it, give it a few creative bends to shorten its overall length as needed.
                        The ones who accomplish true greatness, are the foolish who keep pressing onward.
                        The ones who accomplish nothing, are the wise who know when to quit.

                        Comment


                          Its long so I can pull it out and replace the bulb easily. Its soldered directly to the bulb housing contact. There was no room for printed circuit to live there and attach to.
                          ~David~

                          My 1987 Crown Victoria Coupe: The Brown Blob
                          My 2004 Mercedes Benz E320:The Benz

                          Originally posted by ootdega
                          My life is a long series of "nevermind" and "I guess not."

                          Originally posted by DerekTheGreat
                          But, that's just coming from me, this site's biggest pessimist. Best of luck

                          Originally posted by gadget73
                          my car starts and it has AC. Yours doesn't start and it has no AC. Seems obvious to me.




                          Comment


                            That makes sense. I'd have still routed it under the gauge tho, more protected that way, cause remember you got a dash full of sharp edges to deal with around the cluster. Also why not switch the thing to LEDs while you have it out? Gadget said he used "warm white" 2800k LEDs and they make everything look exactly like regular 194 bulbs do. That's the way I'll be going too cause I got yellow and red colors on my gauges and colored LEDs will not play nice with those.
                            The ones who accomplish true greatness, are the foolish who keep pressing onward.
                            The ones who accomplish nothing, are the wise who know when to quit.

                            Comment


                              I have 5 way green LEDS in the 4 allotted illumination slots. Stock caps are removed.

                              The one in question is a turn signal indicator. I don't see the need for an LED and am unsure of what weirdness it would/could cause to the entire circuit, if anything.
                              ~David~

                              My 1987 Crown Victoria Coupe: The Brown Blob
                              My 2004 Mercedes Benz E320:The Benz

                              Originally posted by ootdega
                              My life is a long series of "nevermind" and "I guess not."

                              Originally posted by DerekTheGreat
                              But, that's just coming from me, this site's biggest pessimist. Best of luck

                              Originally posted by gadget73
                              my car starts and it has AC. Yours doesn't start and it has no AC. Seems obvious to me.




                              Comment


                                Electronic flasher, the solution to all your possible issues Those turn signal indicators are wired in parallel with the front turn signals - with or without the indicators, the circuit will work as intended since the resistance of a 194 bulb is negligible compared to that of the 1157s your turn signals have. That's actually why you're able to run side turn signals tied into the fronts, (the setup where you end up with a wig-wag pattern per side), which trick by the way also works with LEDs as side markers/blinkers as long as they're not polarity sensitive. Hell I took my entire rear stop/turn lamps out of the factory circuit via relays and everything still worked properly, courtesy of the electronic flasher.

                                All this FYI of course, I'm not trying to pressure you into anything you don't wanna be doing for whatever reason.
                                The ones who accomplish true greatness, are the foolish who keep pressing onward.
                                The ones who accomplish nothing, are the wise who know when to quit.

                                Comment

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