kishy's 1985 Country Squire

[gadget73]

single best thing about the 307 / 4v is the noise they make if you flip the air cleaner lid. They work, but thats really about the most that can be said for them. That GM CCC system (the electronic q-jet) gets really shitty when the parts and vacuum lines start to fail, or when people tinker with it without knowing what they are doing. Kind of like CFI actually.


A 350 or a 403 swaps right in. Same external dimensions. The exhaust on those Olds engines has to be the most idiotic thing I've ever seen though. Instead of a Y pipe like a normal V8, it has a crossover pipe that connects one side to the other, then a single pipe out to the rest of the exhaust so 2 banks worth of gas are flowing through one manifold. I'm not a fluid dynamics expert but just looking at the turns and the sizes of the passages that has to be a massive restriction.

[Tiggie]

I have seen V8 flatheads with that exhaust arrangement. Same thoughts. Didn't realize it made it past depression era design. Maybe it was a cost savings thing.

[GM_Guy]

Neighbour had that era olds with the 307, he loved it, from his perspective, the thing had powah! He was also somebody who saw the gas pedal as a necessary evil, full throttle was probably only done during test drives by a mechanic, but he had a v8! Different time, different demographics.

[kishy]

I am sure that if the 307 is enabled to get more air in and out, that it can do better than it seems to in stock form in B-bodies. I know another guy with yet another 90 Custom Cruiser, and he finds his to be gutless as well.

But, stock-for-stock, with equal levels of factory emissions equipment removed (both have secondary air injection removed), the CFI 302 absolutely destroys the carb 307. Lots of factors involved and when carbs are in the picture there's always a tuning element, and the question of if it was messed with by the previous owner and so on. No clue on his rear gears either. But we've established that I'll beat him from a stop or any rolling speed and that's kind of fun.

Vic, I believe the specific part number module you bought is the "kit" version, including the additional wire. I have spools of wire in 8, 10, 14, 16, and 18...the obvious missing popular choice is 12. I doubt it will be a problem. 14 should be able to supply a trailer that is fairly well-lit and still uses incandescent bulbs...maybe with a little bit of dimming...but the trailer I own currently is, and any I will own in the future will be 100% LED-illuminated. I was sort of on the fence about maybe pulling 10ga to the rear and adding a small power distribution arrangement back there, perhaps a couple 12V sockets or USB charging ports, but decided that I have enough 12V access elsewhere in the car. If I change my mind later, pulling another wire will suck a bit but not too bad. I don't need to completely remove the interior quarter panel bits to do that much.

Starting to eye up the exhaust project for this one. Probably do it over winter (classic words I always say about projects that don't get done until the next year...)
I want to fix the high idle, which will necessitate removing the throttle body, as the screws all broke off for that #%$&ing hockey puck.
Try to establish that it is, in fact, running reasonably properly. Exhaust smells about right and it never smokes or anything, so I think it's probably fine, the exception being in the cold it idles weird because it's trying to stay running at what has to be 200 RPM.
Once I have reasonable confidence it's running decently, take the destroyed cats off, put new ones on, throw H-pipe on it...and not too sure what I'm doing after that point. Mufflers that don't do a whole heck of a lot are kind of the goal on this one, I think.

OTOH, I have a full sedan single exhaust kicking around. It could be altered to suit the needs of the wagon. But I might put that on the 2dr, since that car is sort of "the nice one" currently.

[VicCrownVic]

You may be right about the module, the one I got is the kit that came with all the installation stuff.
Agreed that you will probably be fine with the 14.

[kishy]

Installed more cheap LEDs from China via AliExpress...introducing the "1pcs w5w Led Panel Dome Reading Map Lamp COB Car Interior Lighting Auto Bulb Festoon 31mm 36mm 39mm 41mm T10 168 194 Adapter" in "DF-48LED" form: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005001950133703.html

Put these in both dome lights as I was not really satisfied with the solutions I had in them before. Looking directly at them, they are a little colder than I'd prefer, but the lenses are correcting that sufficiently. I might try to get my hands on one of the LMC clear covers for the front dome light, not decided yet.

No photos showing performance because it didn't really occur to me that that is more useful, but I'm happy with them so far.





I bought a handful of these to use for various projects so more will appear elsewhere over time.

Today there was a small "cars n coffee", but sort of minus the coffee...which is fine as I don't drink it, but odd to call it that. Anyway, mostly people I'm previously acquainted with pre-pandemic. Didn't lick anyone. Car "broke some necks" which is always fun. Only grabbed this pic after people started leaving. I like this angle on this car.

[Tiggie]

I believe you have a favorite Box...

[gadget73]

Hows the overall light output from that "festoon" LED ? Looking for something that will give more in the front light, and the ones that are more or less bulb-shaped just don't do much. Also what sort of color temp is that? Big fan of warm white bulbs, they look like conventional lamps

[kishy]

I believe you have a favorite Box...

Well...kinda sorta maybe. I think the "ratty resiliency" of this one just has a tendency to grow on people. Everyone loves this car and while it took me longer than most to love it, I definitely do.

That was kind of how I came to like the Lincoln as much as I did/do. That car is rough, but all its bits and pieces work, and I had done things to make it my own (the Mark VI conversion). Something something beater gonna beat?

Hows the overall light output from that "festoon" LED ? Looking for something that will give more in the front light, and the ones that are more or less bulb-shaped just don't do much. Also what sort of color temp is that? Big fan of warm white bulbs, they look like conventional lamps

No festoon bulbs/sockets on this year...I think that started in 88 (maybe 86 since you asked). Both the dome lights use a 168 (or the others that fit the same) mini wedge bulb prior to the year they changed. In this case the LED panels include adapters to plug into either the wedge base or the "internal" festoon type, whereas the festoon type used in boxes has the wire loops on the end of the bulb instead...so this would not be plug-n-play with the boxes that use festoon bulbs.

Colour temp I'm going to guesstimate at 5500-6000 referencing the chart here: https://www.photographymad.com/pages...ur-temperature
It's colder than I prefer, but it's not blue enough that I dislike it. It also only really looks blue looking directly into it, the light it casts in the car feels a lot more like just normal daylight. The front dome lens is quite yellowed so it's definitely playing in, but even with the lens off it didn't feel awful. Keep in mind I already have a blue interior though, so the light might seem "bluer" in others.

[Kodachrome Wolf]

Also, the window only occasionally works with the key, in either direction. Very irritating. I may apply power to the spare tailgate (I have a complete spare one) and see if it behaves better. I don't really want to put the mismatched tailgate on but having this work would be nice.

Was reading through this thread and caught this. I experienced a similar issue on my replacement gate, except the window only went down and quickly stopped responding to the key or dash switch.

Come to find out it was the switch in the gate that the key actuates...

D9AZ-14529-D

It would seem it handles much of power window control goes through this switch. It has a rubber boot that should protect the innards, but the one I pulled out of my replacement gate had a small tear and allowed water in. I swapped my good one in from the damaged gate and window operation was as expected in both directions. Removing it from its bracket also allows for easy testing of the window componentry since it'll run the window regardless if the car is on or not.

Like many have said, the tailgate is just an awful mess to make it all work correctly inside. I borrowed a lot of "known working" components out of my old gate either to fix stuff long since dead or for spares. I figured it might be worth taking another look in there by taking that switch off it's mount and testing it's operation. If it's become unreliable, that might be half the battle.

[kishy]

Thank you, I appreciate having the part number of this guy handy. In my case, it worked completely fine until I un-seized the lock, and the reason for this is because when the lock is engaged, the distance the mechanism swings to push on the switch is longer. Part of the mechanism is worn, introducing slop, and that slop takes away from the amount of "push" that is applied to the switch. I believe a new switch will behave the same as the existing one until the slop can be eliminated. The slop is not in a serviceable component, so a NOS latch is the proper fix, but a tiny tack weld in the right spot would also do it.

Everything is somehow currently in a happy place where it all works, but I had to bend things a bit to arrive in this place and I expect as the slop worsens it will go back to not working again.

[gadget73]

if a blob of weld fixes the problem, its serviceable

[kishy]

The passenger front power window motor has been troublesome since I put it in. The motor that went in, way-back-when, is the shorter variant of the chubby style motor. It was rebuilt with new plug things in the gear. It has always been a decently quick and smooth motor, but the trouble it gives me is that at very specific and consistent heights, it likes to get stuck if I stop it at those spots. Clearly, a bad spot on the commutator, or bad brush contact. One of those trouble spots is with the window almost entirely in the door, still poking out about 1/4 of an inch or so. It became stuck at that height last night after dark.

Historically, I've been able to re-awaken it by holding the window switch and slamming the door, but that did not work this time. The lights dim when I operate the switch, so the motor is connecting a load, which makes me think maybe it has now failed in another way such as the magnets coming unglued. In any event, motor no good in its current state anymore.

I peeled open the door last night and put in a good motor I had kicking around. The 'new' motor is a Denso unit and is built considerably differently, but is a genuine Ford item. I don't recall what I took it out of but I think it was a 2-door Fox platform vehicle, maybe a Mark VII. I don't know exactly how the gear shock absorption works on this but it does not have the 3 plastic plugs.

Put that in, but found the screws/bolts used on the previous motor were stripping out the holes. The self-tapping (I think?) nature of those screws mean they have a weird shape, if you look at the end of the screw it isn't actually round, it's like a pentagram. Found some longer screws of the same thread that are normal round ones, and those did the job. 2 screws only, as the third hole has the alignment problem you see when mixing older and newer cars and motors.

Unfortunately, the extended interior dampness of this car that I can't seem to resolve has taken a toll on the previously-perfect junkyard door card. I expect the others may have similar problems. The cardboard is warped from water damage and there is mold; this is why I got rid of the original door cards to begin with. Scrubbed it with some bleach and put it back together, the permanent fix is to make the car stop being wet inside and until I can achieve that, there's no point being more thorough.

[gadget73]

not familiar with that style motor. My Mark VII's have the same type motor Panthers have with the plastic plugs and all that.

I've had some luck pulling the rotor out and polishing the commutator with sandpaper or Scotchbrite to make them go again. Only works if the problem is crusty contact though, obviously can't fix an open winding or a detatched magnet. I've seen magnets come loose, usually the motor goes but very slowly and sounds awful while doing it.

[kishy]

A quick Google of the part number finds them as take-offs from Fox T-birds. Makes sense as I once pulled motors from a Turbo Coupe. They have a different connector, which explains why I had swapped on the Panther pigtail previously.
Not a very fast motor but it's smooth and works, so that's good enough for me.

The driver one is acting up now.

To clarify the earlier bit about water, the water damage to the door card is likely from humidity. The door does not fill with water and pool or anything like that, the moisture attacking the door card(s) is coming from the wet carpet and resulting sauna after heavy rain.