Car Running Countdown

You tease you know what gets us excited.

 

Can't imagine how much time I would have saved if I had taken part-by-part shots during dismantling. If you don't have the factory manuals or a big Chilton or Motors manual, you'd be screwed!

The manuals say that you drill out the big aluminum rivets (1/4" shaft diameter) and replace with 1/4" X 20 Bolts with nuts and washers. I blew the milk budget and replaced them with that size, but in Stainless Steel and Lock nuts - never rust that way. They're 1-inch long, which I thought would need trimming, but the door recesses keep them back from the door panel.

Now, in my old age, I'm taking more in this install process, in case I get another one. You won't find a lot of these details anywhere else.

 

Rear fold-down seat tomorrow. It just started to rain with Thunder and lightening. And they say most of tomorrow. Inside tomorrow. I brought the seat back and hardware in this afternoon, in case. I was about 8 hours early, thank gawd. And this one will get lots of pics too.

 

Remember the washer stack on both sides? What a PITA! Room for two fingers and a four finger job! Have fun.

 

I wondered where they all went. Thanks. I was just reading the Ford Manuals on that very thing.

 

Ok, back to work, Normie!

 

A question Norman, what kind of sound insulator did you use?

 

I used Evercoat's Q-Pads:
http://www.evercoat.com/productDetail.aspx?pID=50

And ProForm's spray on and dum-dum, and Brush-on body sealer (creamy white quart)
http://www.proformproducts.com/en/products/detail/?id=26

And I installed a new hood liner.

There's a good comparison article here:
http://www.sounddeadenershowdown.com/

If you want pure music grade sound deadener, remember that the best Lincoln can only get down to 63 DB quietness, from road and engine noise. The extra cost to do that on an older car, just doesn't make sense. Not just the purchase cost of materials, but the everyday extra fuel cost in additional weight. I may have added 25 lbs. more in Undercoat and brush-on sealers. The sound pads are heavy - 29 lbs for 6 sq.ft. I only replaced the ones that were broken or loose with the same thickness and weight.

Companies that claim (and price accordingly) are B-Quiet, QuietRide and RAAMat:

http://www.quietride.com/acoustishield/articles/how-to-be-cool-and-quiet-too.htm

http://www.raamaudio.com/cgi-bin/index.cgi

http://www.b-quiet.com/ultimate.html

One of the more popular brands is Dynamat:
http://store.summitracing.com/egnsearch.asp?N=700+115+400319&D=400319

And one last solution that intrigued me was this one by Quiet Coat:
http://www.quietcoat.com/html/products.html

On an older car, the floor gets pitted, dented and you can't always get all that out, but that Quiet Coat makes a lot of sense to get the floor smoothed out, especially if you had to patch a new floor section in and fill the welded seams. Then you could use the pads more effectively, and water/humidity wouldn't accumulate in the lowest spots again. I only had one big (4" diam dent on the rear passenger floor, like somebody dropped a bowling ball made of lead and tapped it out, so I didn't buy that Quiet Coat product. It just made good sense, because you'd end up with a seamless sound barrier. The pads never align tightly edge-to-edge.

 

I have a sneaky suspicion that Pro-Form's brush-on body sealer is like the white glue used to install linoleum flooring or carpets. It smells, looks, works on and hardens the same way, and cleans up with mineral spirits just like the flooring glue. Maybe there's a shrinkage chemical, but I think the flooring glue has that as well. For the difference in price per quart, it's no big deal. I used one US quart and have about 10% left. It's a paintable seam sealer.

http://www.proformproducts.com/en/products/listing/?category=9

You need a spray on for the inside of the door panels. There's no way to get to all the cracks and corners. Since I had everything out and the doors off the car, I did the inside face of the interior steel panel as well, through the window sill. I did get my arm in to get under the steel reinforcement side rail and the far bottom and top corners. Just remember to open the drainage holes at the bottom edge.

The Dum-Dum is also a seam sealer, but it remains soft and pliable, so painting it is wasteful. I used it in places like the plastic dust shields, the cowl vent entry, around the firewall seals (wiring, vacuum lines) and power brake mounting, windshield wiper motor, fastener heads, etc., any place that gets installed after painting.

Keeping the dust out, means less accumulation of moisture, and that's what I needed for this snow-bound country.

 

Ok, this is off topic, but I wanted to show and tell my 'invention' penchant. Up here, we have to plug in our cars on timers (3-4 hours before you need the car. It's not law, it's just more efficient and saves a bundle on the hydro bill.

Well the new building/electrical code calls for a 20 AMP Ground Fault (GFCI) circuit for outside circuits. The idea is that if you get a shock and step in water, the cicuit will shut down before you fry. Never happened to me, so I have to trust it works.

The timer is put away (there's a special mounting fastener on the back that latches to a screw. I'd already gone through one expensive outdoor outlet after two years, so I figured I'd build a special cover that would look ok, allow the wires to hang below, stay shut during highspeed winds and keep snow and rain off without rusting. I made a marine plywood frame on the top, back and sides, and recessed it into the studs. Had to do it while I was installing the vinyl siding to line it up properly, but it's easy enough to do with existing siding. you have to locate the two studs behind to put some decent cross bracing.

Here it is closed:


Here it is opened:


I still have to wash off the contact cement. The little tabs are front the siding and they serve as the flap holders. The top hinge is made by the round form of the back lip of the siding - no metal = no rust. It's been up for 4 years.

Now for the Folding Rear Seat back challenge. I used the seat velour for my door panels from the front seat back and the rear seat back, but I figured I'd de-thread the vinyl gussets carefully and set them aside. Glad I did. They match the fabric colour and help me determine how they were located on the wooden backer (it staples to this hardboard, so the marks are still there. )

Original RH Gusset:


Original LH Gusset:


The sedan seat back is thicker (bottom with fabric) than the Original seat back, and it was wider, so I cut off about 2.5 inches on each side so that it would clear the armrests when it's flat down. Here's two pics to show the difference in thickness:

From the end:


From the bottom edge:


Here's the only two pages from Ford's 1978 Shop manuals on these folding Fairmont wagon seats:

Page 1:


Page 2:


So this I have to size and sew the gussets, and mount the cloth onto the wooden hardboard. Then the rest is with regular fasteners and screws. The last thing to go on is the carpet back on the plastic support board and the other carpet back on the metal (tan) support hinge panel.



Is it all worth it? Yeah, I'm a comfort creature. 2" of foam is not nearly as comfy as 6". I figure anyone sitting in the back should be comfy. The other nice part to this seat back is that it helps keep the passenger in his own seat, rather than being tossed side-to-side. It shouldn't take more than a couple hours to finish up, and another to install in the car.

More rain in the Morning, anyway.

 

You did a great job on the outlet.

 

Stefan, here we need a building permit for those.

Believe it or not, when you've got a Baseball team owner for a Mayor, he's too busy making the city a sports/concert centre. Collecting more revenue means bumping parking fines and home improvement police. They even fine you if you've weeds that other neighbours squawk about. He knows how to spend on makeup, not substance. Anyway, whatever I put up has to be permanent (one permit) or gazebo style 'tents' (no permit). Or pay to take it down, pay a fine, and buy the permit twice (once for the original erection, one for taking it down, and another if I want to put one up.

 

Got the gussets measured and chalked the sewing lines (I'll cut after) measure twice - cut once. The old gussets are already foam-padded and shaped for those same sides. They were made from real Naughahyde and still soft and not cracking or dried out. I don't know why Ford, Mexico went the extra mile, but I'm glad they did.

 

I wish I could say the same about mine. I'm thinking about going to the salvage yard to get a 350 and rebuild it then do everything under the hood.