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Queen_Combat
Jan 15, 2011
Spec is .055, .045 for CNG. They actually measured within spec.

I gapped the new ones to .053.

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Queen_Combat
Jan 15, 2011
I designed and printed little pull handles for the blinds, too. So instead of having to pull one or the other, you put your hand on the bar, and twist your wrist. Also shows which way it's drawn by the angle it's sitting at, so you know which direction to twist immediately.



Nothing much, but helps. And the holes are in case I decide to hang a weight or something on them to pull the drawstrings taut.

randomidiot
May 12, 2006

by Fluffdaddy

(and can't post for 11 years!)

Was gonna say, those old plugs don't look bad at all. Aside from the oil on the threads, they look almost new.

Darchangel
Feb 12, 2009

Tell him about the blower!


I figured that there was a tool for adjusting those damned headlights, but I didn't realize it was that cheap. It was a pain adjusting my new black housings, since a 4mm wrench is typically like 4" long. I was actually pulling them out, adjusting, and reinstalling. Gave up at "close enough."
Ordered one from Amazon.

Queen_Combat
Jan 15, 2011
At some point during the coil swap, while unplugging and re plugging connectors, I fixed the fire suppression system. No error codes anymore.

E: I just realized both my cars have fire suppression systems.

Queen_Combat fucked around with this message at 21:06 on Mar 13, 2017

Queen_Combat
Jan 15, 2011
Not much, and badly done, but I chemically stripped, and then spray painted, the hood. Rust-Oleum white appliance epoxy. Close enough, better than big primer spots.

Liquid Communism
Mar 9, 2004


Out here, everything hurts.




Not bad at all, MGS.

Seat Safety Switch
May 27, 2008

MY RELIGION IS THE SMALL BLOCK V8 AND COMMANDMENTS ONE THROUGH TEN ARE NEVER LIFT.

Pillbug
Looks pretty good. After a few months in the sun that appliance epoxy will probably fade to be closer, but even if not it's still much better than it was.

How's the roof?

Queen_Combat
Jan 15, 2011
The roof is much better. Faded, and crazed, but no missing paint.

This car will never look nice. It's officially my beater. I know this is Arizona, but I just don't want open metal. There are a few other spots to hit, but they're all more difficult areas (bottom corners of rear window, side fender line) to strip and paint piecemeal.

I'll give this a few weeks to harden and outgas fully, then maybe hit the entire car with a buffer and two cans of whatever the cheapest turtle wax knockoff is at the time.

E: I got 20 mpg this fillup. A lot of that was burnouts and idling, and 3/4 of that was with the bad coils. Eh.

Queen_Combat fucked around with this message at 20:31 on Mar 14, 2017

angryrobots
Mar 31, 2005

Wow. That's better than I would have expected.

EvellSnoats
Oct 22, 2010

Metal Geir Skogul posted:


I also bought an FM Modulator (not a transmitter, strictly speaking) that jacks in-between the radio antenna and the headunit. This lets you add an aux port to pretty much any stereo. I don't see anything particularly wrong with the stock Ford headunit, so I thought this would be a good, cost-conscious compromise until I get a bug up my rear end (and money back in my bank account) and finally decide to replace it with something else. I really just listen to podcasts (shout out to Reply All and The Dollop!), along with occasional NPR. Except for maybe a subwoofer in the future, this is all I really need. Though, it is weird that the 45-year-old Volkswagen bus has a better, bluetooth-enabled stereo and sound system than a 2008 Crown Victoria. :shrug:








Today was a busy, good day.

Based on this rec, I ordered the same modulator, and when it came in without the audio jack another $16 bucks or so for that. Took about 3 hours to hack it in to the old PI wiring and now I have Pandora over the stock radio. I put my on/off switch and jack next to the power port below the ashtray. Will post a pic if anyone is interested.

Metal, found the black back seat in storage should you want it. Just shipping from 38655. Again, no hurry.\\

EvellSnoats fucked around with this message at 05:13 on Mar 17, 2017

Queen_Combat
Jan 15, 2011
Forgot to mention the kit. That was a gotcha for me.


Quality is good enough for my work.

E: vvvv there is a TON of room to hide your weed behind the stock radio

Queen_Combat fucked around with this message at 20:04 on Mar 17, 2017

EvellSnoats
Oct 22, 2010
Here is mine:

[img]<blockquote class="imgur-embed-pub" lang="en" data-id="a/

Its the plate below the ashtray so you really don't see it unless you are looking. There was an enormous amount of room behind the stock radio to put the actual unit. I will probably duplicate this set up in our old Suburban as well.

EvellSnoats fucked around with this message at 18:41 on Mar 17, 2017

Queen_Combat
Jan 15, 2011
Bought a lovely knockoff center console from Amazon





I removed, and then drilled out to size, the lock that it came with. And then installed a 12V port in its place.



I also installed the dash cam



Last night, I cleaned out the car. Vacuumed up maybe a few cups of just plain gravel and dog hair. And I found quite a few of these:




I didn't get any photos, but there were quite a few .556 / .223 cases, as well. But they were old and tarnished, whereas the .40 S&W shells seemed fairly clean. I also found evidence of when the car was last used:





Hell yeah, you eat that baconator, Meter Mike.

Darchangel
Feb 12, 2009

Tell him about the blower!


Metal Geir Skogul posted:

Not much, and badly done, but I chemically stripped, and then spray painted, the hood. Rust-Oleum white appliance epoxy. Close enough, better than big primer spots.



If you want an actual match, like for the smaller spots, O'Reilly's has Duplicolor in cans and touch up bottles, two-stage. The clear seems to dry matte, though. Looks like they want you to color sand it, which is annoying. Match seems pretty good on the plug for the hole in my roof I painted.
This stuff: https://duplicolor.com/scratchfix/products?color=WT&id=20818
also on Amazon: https://smile.amazon.com/Dupli-Color-BFM0335-Performance-Exact-Match-Automotive/dp/B00407RSN6

Ain't cheap, mind you.

Metal Geir Skogul posted:

E: I got 20 mpg this fillup. A lot of that was burnouts and idling, and 3/4 of that was with the bad coils. Eh.

I'm averaging 16.4 MPG, according to Fuelly, best of 19.5. Almost all city-ish driving. I'd love to take a long trip in it to see what it'll do. The 19.5 was from a nice long drive.
I've changed the plugs, may need coils. I suppose I could do that before I assume the rough idle is from the timing chain.

Metal Geir Skogul posted:

Forgot to mention the kit. That was a gotcha for me.


Quality is good enough for my work.

E: vvvv there is a TON of room to hide your weed behind the stock radio

I know right? It's comically thin without a transport mechanism. My Pioneer mechless is almost as shallow. The Pioneer has rear USB and aux, so I bought a marine input jack and put it beside the lower power point, like EvellSnoats.
Somehow, I don't have a picture.
One of these:
https://www.amazon.com/USB-Mount-Cable-Extention-Motorcycle/dp/B00VAIEAUM/

Totally putting one of these in the console, ith a switch to toggle battery or ignition sourced:
https://www.amazon.com/zowaysoon-PJH-RS-0377-Digital-Voltmeter-Socket/dp/B00WLFU7QY

Oh, hey, one with a switch!:
https://www.amazon.com/Cllena-Charger-Voltmeter-Functions-Vehicles/dp/B01N4QWJUO/ref=cm_wl_huc_item

Darchangel
Feb 12, 2009

Tell him about the blower!


Metal Geir Skogul posted:

Bought a lovely knockoff center console from Amazon





I removed, and then drilled out to size, the lock that it came with. And then installed a 12V port in its place.



Not bad. Looks a bit sturdier than my WalMart special, maybe? Any metal in it, or all plastic?
I think I'd prefer the flip top on that as opposed to the slider on mine, and I've already had to reattach the bit that bridges over the slider with the arm rest and rear cupholders. It contains actual metal for support, now.

scuz
Aug 29, 2003

You can't be angry ALL the time!




Fun Shoe
The center console in our band van is a wooden end-table that I secured to the floor via angle brackets and drywall screws. Your console, by comparison, is Quite Good.

Darchangel
Feb 12, 2009

Tell him about the blower!


scuz posted:

The center console in our band van is a wooden end-table that I secured to the floor via angle brackets and drywall screws. Your console, by comparison, is Quite Good.

This is acceptable, as long as there is shag carpet, and additional wood furniture and/or staircase railings in the van, ala The Seventies.

Queen_Combat
Jan 15, 2011
It's actually made of Real Wood on the bottom, and MDF the rest. Unfortunately, the fabric...Isn't. like, a plastic denim.

Queen_Combat
Jan 15, 2011

I have the three-port one in my bus, with a switch. Works well enough.

Queen_Combat
Jan 15, 2011
I just got 16mpg on my last fillup. That's sad, because the 19mpg fillup was including the 60 miles I had a trailer attached and towed poo poo. In-between, I replaced the spark plugs and coils. However, I think there may be two factors to this:

1: All of my miles on this last fillup have been highway miles, but I've been lead-footed and have been cruising at around 80mph. This is bad, and I'll tone it down. I think it was getting 4 years of ACVW "60mph max" cruises out of my system.

2: I never reset the ECU after the coil and plug change. I guess this is important on new vehicles? Something about learning timing and ignition and other poo poo. I'm used to setting timing by rotating a mechanical 009 Bosch distributor from 1965, so this is quite a change.

Vanagoon
Jan 20, 2008


Best Dead Gay Forums
on the whole Internet!
The ECU on OBD2 vehicles stores current learned parameters in Keep Alive Memory. Disconnecting the battery for a bit clears it.

Resetting KAM "Keep Alive Memory" when doing mods to your Ford
http://stangsunited.com/showthread....9e8b0f23a25d1b7

Darchangel
Feb 12, 2009

Tell him about the blower!


Vanagoon posted:

The ECU on OBD2 vehicles stores current learned parameters in Keep Alive Memory. Disconnecting the battery for a bit clears it.

Resetting KAM "Keep Alive Memory" when doing mods to your Ford
http://stangsunited.com/showthread....9e8b0f23a25d1b7

Hmm. I might need to do that on mine.

clam ache
Sep 6, 2009

Darchangel posted:

This is acceptable, as long as there is shag carpet, and additional wood furniture and/or staircase railings in the van, ala The Seventies.

Naw just minesota levels of rust and the ever present smell of sweat. Also kickin tunes.

Queen_Combat
Jan 15, 2011
Minor updates to keep this from disappearing:

Still drive the bus once monthly, at the minimum, to drill. I work 1300-0100 the other side of town, and drill is also the other side of town on Saturday at 0500, so I sleep in it during the 4 hours between. Worth it.

Bus still has a random oil leak. I cannot for the life of me trace it. I think it's coming from inside the camshaft, weirdly enough, and out the fan. I'll spend a day disassembling it -- AGAIN --, to see if I can find it.

Crown vic has a transmission leak. Everything works perfectly after the coil pack change, and I threw some Ford Mercon V+ compatible stop leak in there, as the transmission was a quart low. That slowed it, but I think it's the transmission tail shaft housing gasket that's leaking, based solely on placement of the leak. Fel-pro has a replacement gasket that fixes it, but changing it means dropping my first driveshaft. (It's weird - you can do things like put FWD GM 3800 engines in the bed of old pickups, rebuild CV joints using nothing but a headlamp, a set of lovely rechargeable AAA's, and 18 hours until your next shift, weld transmission cable tubes on the roadside using your own built-in inverter and a couple of NAPA GOLD batteries, fly from Guantanamo directly to Portland to drive a 45-year-old VW to Phoenix in Army clothes, and daily-drive a Royal Enfield in Northern Idaho for two years straight without a car, but never touch something as basic as a U-joint driveshaft in a classic front engined, rear-wheel-drive American car). I read it's a pretty common problem with Crown Vics, especially those that alternate between sitting forever and getting toasty hot, and then getting thrashed on. You know, like a cop car.

I might take you up on that seat offer, EvellSnoats. I'm going to give it a first try go on Craigslist this monday. If not, I'll throw $150+ your way and make a trip to a greyhound station (? - I've never shipped greyhound). My goal is fabric but black vinyl isn't the end of the world by any means.

IOwnCalculus
Apr 2, 2003





It's just a one-piece shaft with a slip yoke on the transmission side, yeah? Literally just four bolts at the axle end to remove the straps, then shove the whole driveshaft towards the transmission to unseat it from the axle. Wrap the whole U-joint in electrical tape to keep the two free caps from flying off, then angle it clear of the axle and just pull it back out. Probably want to have a pan underneath the tailshaft to catch any drippings.

EvellSnoats
Oct 22, 2010

Metal Geir Skogul posted:

I might take you up on that seat offer, EvellSnoats. I'm going to give it a first try go on Craigslist this monday. If not, I'll throw $150+ your way and make a trip to a greyhound station (? - I've never shipped greyhound). My goal is fabric but black vinyl isn't the end of the world by any means.

Happy to help. Just email me at dixiebuyer at yahoo with where to ship.

Darchangel
Feb 12, 2009

Tell him about the blower!


IOwnCalculus posted:

It's just a one-piece shaft with a slip yoke on the transmission side, yeah? Literally just four bolts at the axle end to remove the straps, then shove the whole driveshaft towards the transmission to unseat it from the axle. Wrap the whole U-joint in electrical tape to keep the two free caps from flying off, then angle it clear of the axle and just pull it back out. Probably want to have a pan underneath the tailshaft to catch any drippings.

It's even easier than that. It should be a flange, so no u-joint straps or danger of the caps falling off. 4 bolts and that's it.

Queen_Combat
Jan 15, 2011
I bought the seals today. I didn't know which was which, but I think I got the output shaft seal, tailshaft gasket, tailshaft seal, and pinion seals. Along with transmission filter and another bonded, OEM gasket. Just in case.

Darchangel
Feb 12, 2009

Tell him about the blower!


Metal Geir Skogul posted:

I bought the seals today. I didn't know which was which, but I think I got the output shaft seal, tailshaft gasket, tailshaft seal, and pinion seals. Along with transmission filter and another bonded, OEM gasket. Just in case.

Remember to be ready for the transmission to puke an amazing amount of fluid when you pull the slip yoke out. Whether that mean a container to catch it, or just "keep your face out of the way" is up to you.

Queen_Combat
Jan 15, 2011

EvellSnoats posted:

Happy to help. Just email me at dixiebuyer at yahoo with where to ship.

Email sent

EvellSnoats
Oct 22, 2010
Got you. Will see if I can get a firm quote to get it out next week. i just checked seat as I have to change storage due to my old one getting torn down soon. It is in good shape. Hope it works out.

Queen_Combat
Jan 15, 2011
Coolio beans, thanks

Queen_Combat
Jan 15, 2011
So, I purchased all of those driveshaft and tailshaft seals, and it turns out



Only a little wetness around the seal, and nothing new. Probably and old leaks since fixed.

But the pan, and transmission crossmember, are all super wet







And just to double check, I pulled the torque converter inspection plug





So, I went to pull the transmission pan because I had purchased a new gasket and transmission filter anyway, and all of the transmission bolts were barely finger-tight. I know that they have a fairly low torque spec anyway, but not that low. Probably the source of all of my leaks.

I pulled the pan (fluid everywhere!), put a new gasket on there with some Great Stuff on one side, and refilled. Along with two cans of carburetor cleaner to make it all pretty and to check for future leaks.

Queen_Combat
Jan 15, 2011
Today I took the fan off of the bus again, replaced the O-ring that goes underneath the fan hub to crank taper flange (it was cracked), and re-sealed (using some red lithium grease and Right Stuff) a few of the pushrod tubes. It keeps leaving stains everywhere :argh:.

The crown vic, on the other hand, no longer leaks.

Darchangel
Feb 12, 2009

Tell him about the blower!


Metal Geir Skogul posted:

Today I took the fan off of the bus again, replaced the O-ring that goes underneath the fan hub to crank taper flange (it was cracked), and re-sealed (using some red lithium grease and Right Stuff) a few of the pushrod tubes. It keeps leaving stains everywhere :argh:.

The crown vic, on the other hand, no longer leaks.

More-than-finger-tight bolts and good sealant will do that. F-ing POs, eh?

Queen_Combat
Jan 15, 2011

Darchangel posted:

More-than-finger-tight bolts and good sealant will do that. F-ing POs, eh?

If Phoenix PD (or DPS, I'm learning more about this car as time goes on) are even half as bad as the fleet maintenance at Rural/Metro-AMR-Envision-PMT Ambulance, then I have a lot more in store :jebstare:.


I just can't believe I wasted about a quart a week on transmission fluid thinking it was leaking from the output shaft seals, and now have non-returnable seals and an empty wallet :eng99:.

Queen_Combat
Jan 15, 2011
All right, so an Epic Journey is happening with the rear seat for the Crown Vic, supplied by EvellSnoats. A lost tracking number and chaos is the name of the game.


More chaos is happening behind the scenes, though.







It's a 101.20200, which is made by Atlas, sold under the Craftsman brand.

I spent a night fixing the power feed, and then 2 minutes breaking the traverse gear with the power feed. Whoops. New parts on order ($50 from ebay, drat what I'll pay to keep this going). It's like adult playdoh. Feeling the HSS bit, that I ground myself and leveled with a 3D printed level, dig into a bar of aluminum was pretty awesome.

Queen_Combat fucked around with this message at 19:33 on May 22, 2017

IOwnCalculus
Apr 2, 2003





I finally catch up by getting a 3D printer, and you go and get a lathe.

Very nice.

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The Locator
Sep 12, 2004

Out here, everything hurts.





Sweet!

I think my lathe would probably fit on the bed of your lathe. :)

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