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kishy's 1985 Country Squire

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    Yeah, I had started opening it and then saw how much crap was in there and shelved it. Circling back now, of course.

    Power steering pump, alternator, fan, radiator, shroud and hoses are on.
    It has only one rad mounting bracket because somehow the captive nut for the driver side one is just absent entirely, so there's nowhere to screw it down to. That will take some thinking. It isn't exactly easy to get those things out so the fix will probably not be re-inserting the captive nut.

    The heater core is bypassed. I am not foreseeing needing heat in this any time soon. But, it will be easy enough to add it in if desired.

    The starter is reinstalled. What a PITA. Here's hoping that original direct drive monster stays healthy for a long time.

    Right rear brake line finished. Front brakes assembled. System filled and bled. Pedal is solid and no leaks have been found.

    A battery has been charged and the electrics of the car minus starting have been verified again. Burnt out bulbs have been replaced.

    Rear shocks have been attached to the axle.

    I had installed a new "carb" gasket under the TB, but in addition to the phenolic spacer, which may or may not come to be a regrettable decision. But, this has resulted in the TV rod not being long enough so I will need to lengthen it somewhat from the trans end. No worry, as there is an adjustment to do this, but it means I will never actually be able to experience how the car shifted as it was configured when last driven. No biggie I guess.

    The holdup on the trunk floor is the metal prep. It takes so long, and it's such an unpleasant activity. There is a reasonable chance that because of this, I will only weld the front side (for clearance reasons vs the fuel tank) and might do some sort of fasteners on the rest of the perimeter. Haven't made that decision yet.



    Yes, the tailpipe rubs on the upper arm through its range of travel. This will become annoying, but I'm going to let it fade from my memory and come back to annoy me later. Not touching the exhaust at this time.

    "One Man Brake Bleeder" does it again:



    Such a simple thing, but absolutely wonderful. Conventional 2-person bleeding with the pump-open-close-repeat thing is such a pain by comparison. It keeps fluid available at the bleeder so you don't need to close the bleeder to prevent pulling air back in, because it just pulls fluid. Great concept.





    Soon...

    Current driver: Ranger
    Panthers: 83 GM 2dr | 84 TC | 85 CS
    | 88 TC | 91 GM
    Not Panthers: 85 Ranger | Ranger trailer | 91 Acclaim | 05 Focus
    Gone: 97 CV | 83 TC | 04 Focus | 86 GM
    | Junkyards

    Comment


      Keep it up man!

      Don't feel discouraged, you're making great progress. Even if it's one thing at a time, that still adds up to one less thing than before.
      1985 LTD Crown Victoria - SOLD
      1988 Town Car Signature - Current Party Barge

      Comment


        Some of us are living vicariously through you. Even if the progress feels slow to you, it's more progress than some of us are making. And by some of us I mean me.
        Vic

        ~ 1989 MGM LS Colony Park - Large Marge
        ~ 1998 MGM LS - new DD
        ~ 1991 MGM LS "The Scab"
        ~ 1991 MGM GS "The Ice Car"

        Comment


          Me too. I feel like I accomplished stuff this weekend though. Painted my JBL 128H woofers white like they're supposed to be. It's no AquaPlas but best I could manage. Took about six hours. Her truck also got an exhaust, from Y-pipe back.
          1985 LTD Crown Victoria - SOLD
          1988 Town Car Signature - Current Party Barge

          Comment


            Yes, this past weekend was productive for me as well... I got stuff done that intended to do a couple of years ago. LOL
            Vic

            ~ 1989 MGM LS Colony Park - Large Marge
            ~ 1998 MGM LS - new DD
            ~ 1991 MGM LS "The Scab"
            ~ 1991 MGM GS "The Ice Car"

            Comment


              Well, it no longer needs to be done! Definitely productive. Had that been us, we'd have treated ourselves to homemade Oreo blizzards.
              1985 LTD Crown Victoria - SOLD
              1988 Town Car Signature - Current Party Barge

              Comment


                Keep up the work kevin. I really am enjoying following along. Facebook and here give me a glimpse into CFI world.

                Hope to see this chariot in September!
                -Nick M.
                Columbia, SC

                66 Squire, 89 Colony Park, 90 TC, 03 TC, 06 TC, 07 TC (2x)
                03 BMW 540iT, 07 Toyota Tundra SR5 Dbl Cab/5.7 2WD

                Comment


                  The DD starter in my car was installed in 2006 when it had about 130k on it. Its slightly north of 200k these days. They last a long time if you don't have to crank the BS out of it.
                  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 had fully intended to have a trunk pan (albeit crappily and incompletely) attached to the car tonight. My body had other plans and put me directly to sleep upon arrival at home. Absolute garbage.

                    I spent 500 USD on Marti reports last night, so fingers crossed they look interesting and tell me cool stuff.

                    The starter, well...it's a Ford original part marked with an E2 part number so there's a reasonable probability it's factory original. We've established the car is not low mileage. Truthfully I prefer the way the chubby ones sound, I just like the fact that a 90% dead battery will easily spin and fire a 5.0 with a PMGR starter where it will just lazily chatter the starter relay on a DD example. The obvious response is to use better batteries, but PMGR is a surprisingly effective way to get longer life out of crappy ones.

                    Current driver: Ranger
                    Panthers: 83 GM 2dr | 84 TC | 85 CS
                    | 88 TC | 91 GM
                    Not Panthers: 85 Ranger | Ranger trailer | 91 Acclaim | 05 Focus
                    Gone: 97 CV | 83 TC | 04 Focus | 86 GM
                    | Junkyards

                    Comment


                      Well, be sure to post them!
                      I spent the dough on one for my Town Car, learned it was one of 43 and a custom ordered car.

                      I agree about the newer starter and using that on a daily driver. But I do like the way the older style starter sounds. I've heard that sometimes if you just bridge the relay with say a screwdriver, it'll fire if there is a enough juice to spin the engine over. I've always just got the battery charger out when the battery is that low.
                      1985 LTD Crown Victoria - SOLD
                      1988 Town Car Signature - Current Party Barge

                      Comment


                        Originally posted by kishy View Post
                        I had fully intended to have a trunk pan (albeit crappily and incompletely) attached to the car tonight. My body had other plans and put me directly to sleep upon arrival at home. Absolute garbage.

                        I spent 500 USD on Marti reports last night, so fingers crossed they look interesting and tell me cool stuff.

                        The starter, well...it's a Ford original part marked with an E2 part number so there's a reasonable probability it's factory original. We've established the car is not low mileage. Truthfully I prefer the way the chubby ones sound, I just like the fact that a 90% dead battery will easily spin and fire a 5.0 with a PMGR starter where it will just lazily chatter the starter relay on a DD example. The obvious response is to use better batteries, but PMGR is a surprisingly effective way to get longer life out of crappy ones.
                        $500 ?!! Last I knew those were under 100 bucks.

                        the Mark VII has one of those PMGR starters. Sounds funny but works. The Conti has a gear reducer but its not permanant magnet. NPMGR? FMGR? WTFBS? That one is a strange duck. The spinny guts I believe are Ford Escort, the nose cone is specific to the ZF/BMW transmission. I put another of the same thing on because it was cheaper than the BMW starter. Between the time I failed at the rebuild, ordered another one, I was able to get the old one repaired so I've got a spare.
                        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


                          5 vehicles
                          $46 per report ordered on 5/5
                          $60 per personalized stats sheet ordered on 4/5 where available
                          $4 per report printing fee (in retrospect, this was idiotic, I have access to nice colour printers)

                          91 was built new with PMGR starter; it was a partial year 90 change in Panthers.
                          I replaced 91 with new, the 91's old one went into the 83, so 83 is PMGR also.
                          84 I replaced it because it was giving me attitude very early in owning the car, so that's also PMGR.
                          Even the Ranger got swapped, at the same time as its engine swap, although I could have swapped the starter earlier.
                          The wagon will be my only vehicle with the old school chubby starter.

                          The BMW everything about that car is just weird...the entire concept of those cars is weird. Of all the diesel manufacturers at the time, how did Ford arrive at that choice for a mass production car? Not saying domestics knew how to do diesel in 1984 because they certainly didn't, but BMW is such an out of the way choice.

                          ---

                          Today, I cut some corners. I'm not proud of this, but I needed to see progress happen faster, and corner-cutting gets me there. It's not a Concours car so whatever.

                          The trunk floor is now attached. Not welded, but attached. More to be done in this area still, but it is aligned correctly and firmly attached in place. Fuel tank alignment has been verified.

                          Refurbished a fuel level sender. This involved piecing two together as I broke the wiper on one. Smooth resistance scale from empty to full and back, no breaks and no jumps, very happy with it. New plastic float installed.

                          Assembled the fuel pump hanger, mostly.

                          Still need to figure out where that evap PCV-like valve went for the top of the tank, I know I've got a couple hanging around with the grommets somewhere.








                          Current driver: Ranger
                          Panthers: 83 GM 2dr | 84 TC | 85 CS
                          | 88 TC | 91 GM
                          Not Panthers: 85 Ranger | Ranger trailer | 91 Acclaim | 05 Focus
                          Gone: 97 CV | 83 TC | 04 Focus | 86 GM
                          | Junkyards

                          Comment


                            This is definitely one of my favorite build threads. Keep up the good work!

                            Curious on more info on your one man brake bleeder. To set that up, do you just make sure the hose connected to the bleeder valve is always full of brake fluid? I'd like to try it in the future. In the past I've always either gravity bled them or did the ol' two person pump deally.

                            '78 LTD | '87 Grand Marquis | '89 Crown Vic (RIP) | '91 Grand Marquis (RIP) | '94 Town Car (RIP) | '97 Town Car (RIP)

                            Comment


                              Originally posted by slack View Post
                              This is definitely one of my favorite build threads. Keep up the good work!

                              Curious on more info on your one man brake bleeder. To set that up, do you just make sure the hose connected to the bleeder valve is always full of brake fluid? I'd like to try it in the future. In the past I've always either gravity bled them or did the ol' two person pump deally.
                              It's kind of an interesting project, when I take a step back and look at what I'm doing. No reasonable person would bring this car back from as dead as it was.

                              The "one man brake bleeder" is a product that is actually sold as such, although you could probably make an equivalent. This isn't where I bought mine, but it appears to probably be the same actual parts:

                              https://www.canadiantire.ca/en/pdp/1...-0250131p.html
                              (although mine only is used with one needle thingy)

                              The use of the needle fitting piece allows you to connect to the inside of the brake bleeder rather than needing different hose sizes to hook onto the outside of various size bleeders. I had doubts it'd do the job at first but it's become a tool I'd be very upset not to have.

                              Position the bottle above the bleeder, put a wrench on the bleeder, put the needle fitting into the bleeder. Open it, pump the brakes until fluid is coming out into the bottle. The hose allows you to see any air bubbles as they come out, and because the bottle is positioned higher, the air won't get pulled back down into the wheel cylinder. There is a tube inside the cap that goes to the bottom of the bottle so it will pull fluid back up rather than air.

                              There's some mention of there being a check valve but I'm not sure that's the case. Maybe. I do wish the bottle was bigger, it needs to be emptied very frequently. Filling a completely new system like this car, I just take it and dump it back into the master, since there's nothing old in there to begin with.

                              Current driver: Ranger
                              Panthers: 83 GM 2dr | 84 TC | 85 CS
                              | 88 TC | 91 GM
                              Not Panthers: 85 Ranger | Ranger trailer | 91 Acclaim | 05 Focus
                              Gone: 97 CV | 83 TC | 04 Focus | 86 GM
                              | Junkyards

                              Comment


                                could probably swap the jar if its just a jar. Pickle or jelly jars are a good size.

                                No idea why BMW, but its possible they had the only thing available, or were the only ones willing to work with Ford on the project.

                                Whats the personalized report, is that the one that tries to peg it to a 1 of x number of cars one? I've been meaning to get a Marti if only to have a solid number of how many diesel Continentals were made. I don't really care how many were precisely like mine.
                                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

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