67 Country Squire - Adventure in poor impulse control

Discussion in 'Station Wagon Projects' started by jkrnld, Feb 19, 2020.

  1. jkrnld

    jkrnld New Member

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    yea, thinking a new wiring harness is in my future this winter. Didn't make much progress yesterday - installed the endlinks, and put the load helper shocks I had sitting around in up front. None of these are long for the car, since working on the replacement upper and lower arms, and a bigger front bar. I slammed a muffler on my head last night, so going to run the car up to a local shop to clean up the install.
     
  2. jkrnld

    jkrnld New Member

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    So exhaust is finished. ended up only being bits of the kit used. Buddy put in a wideband o2 bung, but the location isn't going to work, since 90*. Will be enough to get the EFI kit started though. Overall pretty happy. May end up putting on quieter mufflers, since its a bit much first thing in the morning.

    [​IMG]IMG_20200307_135726 by Jacob Ronald, on Flickr


    Took the car up to VT to go snowboarding. Cruises way easier at 70ish. 15ish mpg, even with the mountain driving. Ride with the new helper shocks and attached swaybar was a lot better! Ordered a set of the Moog load carrier springs for the rear to help control it a bit better. Hoping to get them in this week, for another trip north this weekend.
     
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  3. OrthmannJ

    OrthmannJ Always looking for old ford crew cabs

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    Exhaust looks good. I think it's neat you're using (and enjoying) this car regardless of the time of year and the weather.
     
  4. Silvertwinkiehobo

    Silvertwinkiehobo "Everything that breaks starts with 'F.'"

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    Yes, looks good. And who cares, if the mufflers are a bit agressive first thing in the morning? If you have to be up, so should your neighbors....
     
  5. OrthmannJ

    OrthmannJ Always looking for old ford crew cabs

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    I am getting older and find that there are some things that I thought were "cool" when I was younger, but not so much anymore.
    Loud exhaust is not one of those things. I still love it. If you love the way it sounds, then why change it? I doubt anyone else is worrying about what you think of their decisions right?
     
  6. jkrnld

    jkrnld New Member

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    I'm torn on the exhaust - going to have a few people in the car for this weekend, so will get additional impressions. Slight leak on the header is starting, retightening the bolts, but also ordered a remflex gasket just in case. Use them on the autox cars and they've been fantastic at sealing warped/pitted flanges. The mufflers are a straight through design, so aren't doing much.

    Other minor fixes - took the main power window switch panel apart, and cleaned the contacts. fixed the master lockout, so back to having front windows work in addition to the rear hatch.

    Redid the front door seals - with the front vent window adjustment latch broken, there is still an air leak there. going to try and temp seal it for the trip with some extra 1/16th neoprene I ordered for gasket making. Long term, going to redo the window seals, pull the vent window our and weld it back to the frame.
     
  7. jkrnld

    jkrnld New Member

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    [​IMG]

    Back from the trip, and mostly trouble free - with the upcoming time at home, going to likely get a start on redoing the wiring in the car, with appropriate weather proofing. Friend took the roller photos - lighting wasn't cooperative, but still looks pretty good to me.

    Have everything to get started with the EFI install this week. Hoping to have it apart tomorrow given the good weather, and continue it through the not so good. Coil died on me today, but thankfully was next to a Napa that had one on the shelf.

    Looking at autocross capable wheels/tires - planning on the Nexen 275/40/18 in the "drift" compound. ends up being slightly shorter than the 215/70/15s I have on there in this photo (27.1 vs 26.7), but significantly wider. During test fitting, noticed rubbing on the upper control arm with the 15x8 +0 bullitts I had on there (with a 7mm spacer to clear the calipers). Test fitting a single 18x10.5 +22 with a 2" spacer shows similar wheel spacing. I've run the 15x8s with the spacer upfront to see if pushing the 215 out 2" would rub, and no surprise it does on the inner fender hex heads.

    [​IMG]

    I did run into a small issue before leaving for the trip, Was going to swap the radiator out as it was leaking a bit. unfortunately, the transmission lines were twisting with the fittings, so stopped before damaging anything. I've used inline tube in the past for my 97 f250, and they make stainless lines for the galaxie / country squire. Started with just the transmission lines, but will likely get the brake lines when it comes time to convert the rears to disc, and service the fronts.

    Going to mockup a shroud for a 16" electric fan, if I can get molding supplies.
     
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  8. OrthmannJ

    OrthmannJ Always looking for old ford crew cabs

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    Even with "bad lighting" your car looks fantastic in motion.
     
  9. Doghead

    Doghead Well-Known Member

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    If that's ceramic coating, you really don't want to remove it, since doing so will rob horsepower. If it's just paint, removing it and then wrapping the headers with tape will add horsepower.
    Are you planning on installing a sheetmetal heat shield around the starter motor?
    I'd first try adding resonators. They're straight-throughs which shouldn't rob horsepower
     
    Last edited: Mar 18, 2020
  10. jkrnld

    jkrnld New Member

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    @Doghead - its quieted down a bit, as its caked in from running. The response from friends was leave it, as its good outside the car, just need to fix how it sounds a bit inside. The original carpeting is beyond shot - when I get to it, going to empty the interior (since I need to work on power bench wiring), clean and reseal the floors. Will be placing dynomat in places, and getting the new carpets with mass backing. I'm thinking a lot of it is coming through the back half around the tank / spare hatches. going to sound insulate the panels and try and get them to fit better (on the spare side).

    The coating was a black coat the manufacturer said was meant to burn off (protect in shipping only). I did clean them up with a ceramic grey spray coat, but I apparently didn't get all the aircraft stripper off, as its peeling in places. will revisit when I swap in the donor FE.

    I'm actually thinking instead of different mufflers, or resonators, adding a pair of 3" magnaflow spun metallic cats behind the collectors. We run them on the race cars to meet class requirements, and have seen minimal performance impact, while solving the fuel smell and helping with sound control.

    The starter airgap is pretty good, by grinding down a bit of the motor flange, its clocked so it has maximum room, will try and get a photo. I do have a DEI heat blanket for the starter I may put on. I've used header wrap in the past - with the fluid leaks in the car currently, more afraid of it being a candle wick at the moment. The drivers side header needed a bit of massaging to make work, but could also be a problem with twisted, sagging motor mounts. I may have something made up locally over the winter, worst case, get a second header and have it sent to swain for their coat process.
     
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  11. jkrnld

    jkrnld New Member

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    Welp, Slight setback this week - took the car shopping before MA closed up more shops - pulling back towards home, lower ball joint decided it was no longer friends with the arm:
    [​IMG]IMG_20200323_113635 by Jacob Ronald, on Flickr

    Unfortunately, wheel pushed back into the fender, so its bent / misaligned with the door.

    [​IMG]IMG_20200323_113639 by Jacob Ronald, on Flickr

    I've been fortunate to have gotten all the travel I did on original parts - worrying about this, I had already ordered an SKFbearing set for the front, along with new rotors / pads. Was procrastinating on the upper / lower arms - had found OEM style stamped replacements for $270/side for the lowers, which with the autozone discounts came down to ~$400ish for the pair. Since I was planning on the coil on shock conversion (and have the shock / spring setup sitting at the house already, trying to get hands on the updated aftermarket lowers, so I don't need to reinforce the stud pockets.

    I kind of wanted to do everything at once (rack conversion, upper / lower arms, shock/spring), but with everything going on, likely not the best time to spend all that.
     
  12. OrthmannJ

    OrthmannJ Always looking for old ford crew cabs

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    Holey carp man! Bet that scared the daylights out of you. It totally stinks that it caused some body damage, but I'd say it could have also been a lot worse. Looks like your time frame for some upgrades has moved up slightly.
     
  13. Doghead

    Doghead Well-Known Member

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    How sloppy was the steering, before that happened? I had the same thing happen on my Super Beetle. But, on the right-hand side. Losing control of the steering was quite frightening. Especially, because the steering was tight with that new Hecho en Mexico balljoint which popped out. That was my lesson for going cheap. When I returned the balljoint to where I bought it, the owner seemed embarrased and exchanged it for a German one
     
  14. jkrnld

    jkrnld New Member

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    Exactly - could have been, way, way worse (like on the highway offramp earlier that day, or on the ski trip in VT the weekend before in the mountains).

    Steering hasn't ever been exactly "tight", but thats comparing it most recently to a 1990 miata with a manual rack. Just assumed any play was part of the steering box that the seals have failed in (see the sludge in the photo above). While the tires were wearing evenly, I was noticing a hair more rub on the drivers side I should have investigated.

    I still had some steering after this - jacked the car up, took the wheel off, and lowered it back down on a 4x4 sheet of plywood and moved it to its current location. Those joints in the steering dont look any better. This isn't ideal timing for everything, but needs to be done to go safely down the road.

    Its a chance to clean up everything under neath at the same time, and plenty of downtime coming.
     
  15. Silvertwinkiehobo

    Silvertwinkiehobo "Everything that breaks starts with 'F.'"

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    This, to me, looks like the perfect opportunity to pull the engine in prep for the replacement engine, and then pulling the clip off, both to fix or replace the fender, but also to rebuild the steering and suspension.
     

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