What Next? 1973 Ford Contry Sedan

Man, you definitely will make yourself happier by swapping in a Pertronix setup.

BTW, this is at Paul Allen's aviation/armor museum here in Everett:



The pilot that flew it in Viet Nam was there; he had a bad brush with a Russian Flying Telephone Pole, which had blown off the majority of the aircraft's tail, and he nursed it back home to tell the tale!

 

That's an "F",not a WW,right? Near me here in New England,there is an F-105D in the New England Air Museum,I'd take it home,but my yard's not big enough. If you go on to Youtube,F-105 driver Marty Case gives a great walkaround of the machine.
In other news,today I disconnected more of the primitive attempts at controlling emissions. The amplifier underdash,the speed sensor on the speedo cable,the vacuum EGR device they control,the charcoal canister...I am trying to suss out how important fuel tank venting really is. The shop manual is all Nervous Nellie about the government and emissions--every page! Anyway,there's no way vapors could escape that old dead canister,AFAIK.
Mike at Townline Motors said that about Pertronix too,but riddle me this: if the points are functioning as designed,why would they be the problem?

 

Wild Weasels were the "G" variant (I think all were), but yes, this one is an "F" variant. The points set itself is not what totally governs dwell and timing. The breaker plate and the point set attaching screws can change things in a snap. That's why the Pertronix install has you lock down the breaker plate--to keep dwell from changing. Then it uses its own tech to trigger coil charge/discharge. That means, no slip in dwell adjustment anytime which also means no timing change, no points float at 3500 RPM while getting on the freeway, no 'maintenance schedule' to deal with (and believe me when I say, a well-maintained point-condenser ignition needs attention every 5000 miles!), and a Pertronix has a warranty.

http://pertronix.com/prod/ig/ignitor3/default.aspx This is the newest version, with multi-spark capability, rev limiting feature, longer spark burn time (severely limited even in the best-set points). even if you went with Ignitor I, it still will be tons better than points. Points are a damned headache, and obsolete technology.

 

I did order the basic Pertronix today. I will have to bypass the resistor wire (in the optional diagram they show resistor wire still going to coil and bypass full voltage wire to the Pertronix unit). They don't say anything about locking down the plate. Standing on my head and figuring out that underdash & through the firewall wiring bundle is the only PITA on this job,as I suppose. If this doesn't work,the whole car goes to Mike's Townline Motors,since he says he can fix it. Again,I have had many of these Fords with points ignition,and never had a problem like this--they always ran. And on this car, it has never had anywhere near even 1000 miles on any one tune-up.
Maybe it is just that the 400 was a POS from the beginning,as everyone says. Man,I miss my 272/292/312s & FE engines from the old days...If I could wave a magic wand,I'd put a 428 SCJ under the hood of this wagon. Wonder if the motor mounts would match up?

 

Well,so I did do the Pertronix conversion. What I discovered after tearing my hair out and unbundling wires,was that,yes,there is an actual resistance wire,and it goes to/from the ignition switch. AFAIK,its other end is at the fusebox. I had always visualized it as being from On to the coil,but why would they do something so simple? Anyway,in reading the wiring diagram you sent me (Andrew),I realized that what they showed as wiring was actually inside the ignition switch. From there,I realized that the hot in "On" to the EGR control wire was not a resisted part of the circuit,so I utilized that to go to the Pertronix Red wire,and let the resisted wire go to the coil as Pertronix suggests. The EGR power wire is on the intake by the firewall,so it was convenient. Bear in mind that all the EGR and ignition controls are disconnected! I road tested the new setup with and without the dreaded vacuum advance,and found it works better with the vacuum advance connected. My reading of various online forums shows that the backspitting/shuddering at low speed /light throttle happens a lot to people with the vacuum advance on. Anyway,my experience so far suggests to me that this engine DIDN'T LIKE contact points ignition,never did. How the previous owners ever drove it is beyond me. (When I got it,the distributor was frozen in the block & the exhaust manifolds were both cracked). I also can't understand how it can be so hypersensitive and explode its muffler periodically (like some women I've known). Y'all can laugh at me now,I probably deserve it for holding out against Pertronix for so long,but no Ford ever treated me like this before!
The most recent backfire didn't totally blow out the muffler,but you can see where the case had a fold in it and it was hissing from its seams. So: bought another muffler,and crawled under there (hacksaw,brass hammer,implements of destruction) and managed to get it off by sunset. The outlet doesn't want to mate with the hop-up over the axle,but we'll take care of that bright and early.God willing and the creek don't rise.

 

Hosanna and Hallelujah! Frankly, I don't know how it did, either, but it almost sounds like someone was trying to eliminate the emissions gear and made such a bloody rat's nest, it couldn't run right if it wanted to. It's good to hear everything is ironing out to make your wagon a pleasure, rather than a pain. Congratulations!

 

Yay! Congrats buddy, I knew you'd chase that rabbit down!
Now go out and cruise that road boat!

 

No,the emissions gear wasn't entirely functional,but it hadn't been messed with. I disconnected/disabled most of it myself. Maybe the poor running/backfires/exploded mufflers/stalling etc. is just a 400 thing. I put like,maybe, the fifth muffler on it today,and I hope no backfires,'cause I ache all over & I am too old to be crawling under cars anymore anyway!

 

Yeah, my knees are my bad spots that keep me from shinnying under cars nowadays.

 

The light at the end of the tunnel!!!! Congratulations!

 

'The light at the end of the tunnel' are the truck's approaching headlights. Make sure you stay as far to the right as possible.

 

*honk! honk!* watch out for the big brown truck!


Wait that's not a truck!

 

On to other things...I had both upper control arm bushings replaced,but I still hear the same clunk as when they were needed. Sounds like the left side. And the salvage yard hasn't gotten back to me on those wheels and DFRS,so I still have two wobbly wheels in back,and not yet the option of putting the most annoying passengers way back there. And this car still needs a rear axle rebuild (supposed to be expensive).

 

A rear differential might run 300-400 for the parts? The hardest part is getting the planetary gears lined back up, also you'll have cool new additions for the tiki statue

 

Yeah,plus it's a Trac-Lok axle. The Locking part still works fine (I drive this car all winter!),but there is a clunk when put in gear sometimes,and the expert said it needed a total rebuild (he jacked it up and got down in there). Anyway,what do I care,I have the engine running normally now. My experimentation indicates to me that the way this engine was designed,it wants the Spark Delay Valve (SDV) between the spark port and the distributor. This setup shows a definite improvement on cold engine running,and because going richer on idle mixture doesn't make anything better. A good part of the spark control system is nonexistent on this car,such as the door jamb ambient temperature sensor and the check valve and normally open solenoid which is a secondary route around the SDV. If those things had been there,there would be evidence,so I persist in my theory that some MY 1973 running changes got left out,such that the car on the line before mine was one way,and the car behind had the latest!