What Next? 1973 Ford Contry Sedan

Damn. I feel for you, I'd be frothing at the mouth already.

 

It was a hard frost this morning. I ended up thawing the driver's window too quickly or something--it dropped down in the door. I'll fix that later. I got to the Ford dealer,they did the LOF and looked at the steering box. It seems the seal above the Pitman arm could be replaced if they can get one. I sure hope so. There is Type F ATF all over the yard here. The big car is indoors tonight,they are taking good care of me. Later,they'll take good care of my wallet! Still later,I'll go back for a STICKER (a big deal in this state). Need one that says 12/17. No tailpipe sniffer anymore,so it's usually easy.

 

Yeah, Babe (in my avatar) doesn't get sniffed either. Then again, Babe doesn't drive these days, either.

 

Now it seems that the parts expert who knows the microfiche is away on a hunting trip! The crux of the problem is to see if the sector shaft seal exists in the Ford parts world. I myself don't have a part number for this seal. When I looked online yesterday,the one that seemed right said it was for manual steering,which is weird because there was only power steering in these cars then.

 

Actually, you could order a car then with manual steering, even the full-size cars. You provided the power....

 

Wow,that would be strange. Two of my '56 Fords had manual steering,but they were 2900-3500 lb. cars. The '73 Ford brochure I have here lists power steering as standard equipment,even on a Ranch Wagon,which was at least 4700 lbs. Our new 1969 Mustang Super Cobra Jet Drag-Pak didn't have it,and it should have,although that is a bit of a different animal.
Meanwhile,the '73 Country Sedan sits inside at the Ford dealer,waiting for its Sector Shaft Seal.

 

You can still call Green Sales Co. in Ohio. They have the microfiches and the possibility of having the seals.

 

I found one,but it turned out to be not quite the right seal. The job is started,but awaiting the right seal. Another delay--I may have it midweek. Meanwhile,while I was there, I was offered a mint set of '73 Ford Car Service manuals. Wow. They are interesting reading,and quite to the point for the car I have. Surprisingly,they don't seem to have wiring diagrams--I guess those were published elsewhere.

 

How many volumes? IIRC, there's five. I had four of the five '74 manuals way long ago.

 

Oh, and there's a salvage liquidator here in Everett who had a partial set of '73 manuals for fifty bucks, but I don't know if he still has them.

 

Yeah,it is the whole set of 5 with two specification booklets,one of which is the March 1973 update,which is funny,'cause that's when my car was built.

 

I believe I have the electrical manual with my set, I'll have to take a look. I don't have the supplemental update manual though whats in it?

 

It's a booklet with specifications for the Automatic Transmissions,Ignition System,Fuel System,etc.
So,but anyway,I got the car back today. My goal was to get the driver's door apart and reattach the glass to the mechanism. Not an easy task! There are no clues given,and everything's blind mounted,and the worst of it is the manual just says "Remove trim and watershield." And that cockamamie door handle under the armrest makes it all twice as worse.
The assumption is that everybody knows there is a thin piece like paper covering two screws under the finger grip with which you close the door,after you've been prying up on the grip itself. And does the armrest come off with the panel or is it removed somehow,like every other car? It is at least partly bolted on from inside,as I got one bolt out at the back edge (all the little wiry clips are out from the door).
The car stalled again. On the restart,the idiot lights were flickering while I was cranking it and the engine didn't catch right away. When it did start,it made a knocking sound the way engines do sometimes on start.
I am thinking to get yet another distributor...

 

Dude, ya gotta do an Ignitor II and Blaster coil. You'll be so much better off when the damned ignition control is not mechanical.

 

Yes,but the Chinese "new,not rebuilt" distributor on the engine now has that plate that doesn't always return to its static position after the vacuum has been applied/released. This could be the problem? I don't know. The original distributor and the first (reman) replacement had the opposite problem of the floppy plate that really messed up the timing. And when you install the Pertronix,doesn't the vacuum advance still move the plate?
I did get the door back together after gluing together various broken plastic armrest parts. The mechanism to lower the window needed white lube, and with the window inside the door,if you keep cranking,the ball on the regulator arm will pop out of its run. Sometime when it is not so cold out,I'll maybe move the lower stop up a little higher. To remove the trim panel,they want you to realize that there are two screws hidden in the armrest,one screw behind the door handle,and most importantly,the handle has to be removed (one bolt). The armrest stays attached to the panel the whole time. The rest is just the usual little wiry clips. My reward for all this? The build sheet was in there! Code says "C4",data plate on the car says "C6" transmission. Go figure.