Mikey's new four-door

[1987cp]

Hmmmm....

I wonder what these things could be?

[Lincolnmania]

ruining a 3ag?

[1987cp]

Well, it's been running the small-case 3G you sent me (95A?), but now that I have a reasonable soldering tool I was FINALLY able to remove the shorted-out rectifier from the old large-case unit that TOTCG got from PA Performance years ago. Just kind of nice to have finally been able to do that.

Of course, it looks like a new rectifier is going to run me $50 (from either RJM Injection Tech or O'reilly's), which isn't that competitive now that even in my area car-part.com is listing good used units starting at $25. So that somewhat dampens my enthusiasm to fix the old alternator, but I still want to. Ho, hum.

[Lincolnmania]

i can probably ship some 3ag's as far west as possible via the gmn parts delivery service.....cheap cheap out here at ez pull

[1987cp]

Electricalness?

Cruddy cell phone video: http://s225.photobucket.com/albums/d...=moto_1275.mp4

Ingredients:

- '95 Windstar fusebox
- '95 Taurus fan (3.0L version pictured)
- Compressor Works 733653 adjustable thermal switch
- Lots of decrimping and soldering bigger wires and stuff


I changed the circuitry slightly from previous views in other threads: the SPST relay to turn on the fan gets its primary-side juice from a 10A mini fuse in the panel itself and is grounded via the thermal switch. The SPDT to power-down low speed and power-up high speed will likely get its juice off the A/C circuit, and is grounded on the downstream side of the thermal switch.

[1987cp]

Well, pivel. My relay wired as SPDT to switch the fan from low speed to high speed, has quit clicking. Dashed nuisance.

I notice that when searching NapaOnline, all the relays they show for a Windstar are basically identical, rated for 30A NO and 20A NC, including for radiator-fan application: http://www.napaonline.com/Search/Det...+50028+2028059 ...... so, this must be the approximate identy of all four of the relays that came with my fuse box. Hm....

[1987cp]

Funkiness ... when I acquired the car, TOTCG had included a relay in the goodie box in the trunk, and I hadn't paid much attention to it and pressed it into service as a horn relay. Turns out it's a 40/30 SPDT, so out it came to replace the cooked 30/20 Windstar relay. I couldn't find a 40A SPST in my possession, only two or three 30A units, so I bought a 40A SPST at AutoZone and should now be pretty much set ...... I hope! On the bright side, if the current does really go high enough to cook a relay, the fuse is 40A, so I'm hoping it should blow the fuse first.

Oddly, I couldn't find any maxi-fuses in the regular fuse display. I didn't bother asking about them, though, because I haven't yet figured up about what ratings I'm going to want.

[1987cp]

Most recent update: Mom (who's been keeping this car at her house basically full-time since I got the '81 going) brought the car over complaining of a fuel drip. Disassembled the pump and found that the diaphragms were fine but that one screw was stripped and others were probably too loose. I replaced most of the M5 Philips-head screws with hex-heads, and after drilling the stripped one bigger and stripping it again (like a dolt), said forget it and put a nut on it. No more drips.

I do, however, still need to replace the noisy-rattly water pump, install proper brake metering (at a cost of about $85), and one or two other annoying doodads. Didn't get a chance to ponder other things in person, though, because Mom sent the two-door back after smoke from the ignition switch made her nervous (and she says the Replace Engine light came on, which is odd since it's not hooked up to anything).

[1987cp]

Hm, need to update.

- Finally replaced the water pump. Cost $15. Not bad.

- Headache after replacing water pump: sheared off pulley bolt.

- Purchased cheap 90-degree driver attachment to drill bolt for removal (see attached)

- Discovered that, like a dolt, I'd drilled too far off-center and the easy-out was trying to dig into the flange instead of just the bolt

- Car sat for several days

- Finally got around to removing most of remainder of bolt with my cheap diamond die-grinder bits and finishing up with a tap to clean out the rest. This turned out to be the day before the transmission went kablooie on the other car, so now this one is getting driven again, even without the proper brake valves.

- Curiously, this car seems to be doing OK in the snow on the dreaded Eagle RS-As that had seemed to make the other car into a rolling death trap! Though, I haven't yet had a chance to test this car/tire combo in deep snow, as it hasn't snowed in about a week.

[1987cp]

Pete sent me something useful, got it in the mail today. Pics attached.

[85crownHPP]

Its huge! What did you wire into it?

[1987cp]

Just the fan so far, SPST relay for on/off and SPDT for high/low. The new arrival today was actually not the box but the lid. Can't remember where all my pics are, but this Windstar unit has space for six relays. On the annoying side, the fuse slots are all mini and maxi, no regular. Ho, hum.

I'm still not all that pleased with the fuse box's mounting location, but it seemed to be the best I could do unless I either try a different inner-fender or get a plastic welding kit and try modifying this one.

Reminds me, the temp gauge has been reading erratic temps, suggesting that perhaps fan response isn't quite as desired in the cold weather. On further reflection, though, this could be due to the gauge sender's location in the heater tube, as flow through the heater-core restrictor is probably quite limited when everything's all cold and sluggish, and the only thing with the fan is probably that the radiator-mounted probe doesn't heat up as fast as it did when the weather was warm, necessitating turning the switch knob counterclockwise a degree or two.

[1987cp]

Fuel line upgrade

Yep, finally got around to upgrading the fuel line. I'd been putting it off for what, at least a year and a half to two years since I bought the new tubing? Pathetic. Anyway, yesterday I noticed a new drip in a new location when I went to scrape ice off the car, so today I did the fuel line. Took a couple pics of the old stuff and need to get pics of the new stuff. I ended up basically doing a stock replacement in 3/8", with the exception that I brought the hardline forward of the #1 crossmember to make for a shorter hose to the pump. Both ends were bubbled slightly with my double flare mandrel to make for convenient clamping, and I managed to reuse most of the stock mounting clamps.

[1987cp]

Fuel line pics #1

Pics of old fuel line. Retainer bolt in third pic, on stamped rail forward of fuel tank, was nearly impossible to get out. I used a shorter bolt when reinstalling this retainer.

[1987cp]

Fuel line pics #2

Shots of new line, because TOTCG told me "pics or it didn't happen!"

1) Hose to pump
2) Coming down crossmember next to RF brake line
3) Location obvious
4) Heading back underneath floor pan (thingy on left is shift linkage)
5) Location obvious
6) Over tranny crossmember
7) Clippy thing under rear door
8) Heading inboard
9) Rear of tank; sender plug is dead center, rusty thing below is rear diff.
10) Looking out toward the LR wheel