Funny Thought

I had a funny thought today. I thought it will be really cool next spring when I have a working speedometer and gas gauge. Isn't that funny how that happens? Little milestones like that can be really fun to reach on a project car. such as "wow! i have wipers!" stuff like that.

lol, mine is just getting rid of the "MSD" JUNK !!

Yeah, I know what you mean; I would like to have a rear window defroster, and power windows…..

You too can have working wipers if you use the same wiper motor that came with your dash, i.e. mustang. The old Fairmont wipers were off/low hi hardwired to the motor. The mustang uses a device called a wiper motor governor along with a different type of multi-function switch with various internal resistances to tell the governor how to operate/control the wiper motor. You should have a little white box under the dash on the driver side above the fuse panel. (that is the wiper governor).

You’ll need to swap in the mustang wiper motor to the body of the Fairmont, I believe the motor spindles are the same, if not they will swap. The wiper motor will not just bolt in, you will have to re-drill the holes, this is where the ass-ache begins. I got mine perfect the first time, no noise or jerking, smooth as silk operation etc. when we were ready to go out, I could not shut the hood as I had the motor up too high…….that was the kicker. I was able to lower the motor and position it a little over to the right side. I could send photos if you like. If you need a motor, they should be cheap in the salvage yards. I think all the linkages are all the same except for the driver side spindle, but I can’t remember for sure, I know I didn’t swap the driver side wiper spindle over, maybe the donors spindle was worn-out….

Fuel gauges are simple enough, so long as the resistive values of the tank and gauge are compatible.

I tried to make the later style Mustang gauge fit and operate with the Fairmont tank and sender, a lot of trial and error, I think I got it kind of close using an old ranger or Grand Marquis sender, had to modify the tanks straw to accept the newer style sender a lot of bending and shaping the hard wire for the float but I just decided in the end to fit the mustang tank. (It looked horrible trying to get the length and angle right and even though it was concealed inside of the tank, it, I always thought that in a thousand years when apes have taken over, “remember the world ends on Dec 21st” and when they dig the car up, no self-respecting ape would by a Ford) I pulled the fuel pump out of the mustang tank and made a stand-pipe to draw the juice. That was a blessing when it came time to fit the fuel injection, I just had to put the pump back in.

Maybe when you have time to figure out what is wrong and what needs replacing, I may have all the parts you need to fix the problems, I certainly have access to the wiring diagrams. Just send a private e-mail.

I wish you lived nearby; you could come grab what you need or want.

Anyway, good luck with the wipers and fuel gauge, you have a really good looker.

MSD stuff is really good, they have a great warranty if you keep your reciepts, its just an ass ache to wait up to a week and a half for the repair parts to arrive. however stock parts are readily avaialble, it's a common misconception that high power ignition systems run at full KV load all the time, not-so the spark plugs only take what they need, and they need the most KV under load. a 40KV coils can handle this load quite effectively. the good thing about MSD is the spark timing & delivery.you gotta admit they can fully charge and discharge at a crazy rate, all of my junk is too ignorant or passive to notice a couple of miliseconds. i'm not 100 percent certain but i think the original coils on the dura-spark system was only 17kV on a good day, leading to black smoke when you gassed it. i dont have a race car, so STOCK will ROCK! although you gotta like the way those little red boxes look......

I agree when MSD is actually working its great. But when its only 2 years old and with about 2000 miles on the parts and quit working leading to take out other parts...and is out of warranty! Then their service on getting it resolved is the worst.
I go threw two freaking days with them to make sure I am right...the part is not working, then tell me to retest it while I am on the phone with them ....ahh cant I am at work and car is at home and your hours suck ass so that cant happen.
So I finally get them to take the part and fix it.......3-4 weeks later it shows up fixed with a piece of paper showing a "pass / fail" testing but without exact note of its out puts which would be nice to know.
I hook up the MSD6AL box and triple check my wiring and all perfect as it was when working.....It fails to give me spark. Go through all the testing again and again....fail every time (Testing exactly as they want you to do it) so I call them, they said it cant be...bla bla bla.....So I buy another MSD6AL brand new out of the box ....works just fine but I discover now my MSD Distributor is not working.
So I call up MSD tell them I want to warranty their repairs on my old 6AL they supposedly fixed and that my distributor is not working. They argued on all of it....in the end they did fix the 6AL...UNDER WARRANTY ...I think as I will not hook it up again and will now sell it along with the bad distributor and the new 6al box..........Junk!
Want some paper wieghts ?

golly!!!! sounds like they should had issued some preperation H!!! normally they are pretty good stuff, are they made in china now? this kind of B/S really harms thier reputation and makes future buyers beware. however you may be able to diagnose the distributor yourself, normally it is just an ohm's test for the pick-up depending on which distributor you have. the kit would be worth more if it was operational. you are right, they are slow on shipping returns, but that 3-4 weeks was rediculous and insulting.

Yes, 3-4 weeks....not once but twice for the same part.....totally shot my summer of driving the car. Here up North we do not have 6-8 months of warm months...its the opposite.
The thing that bothers me the most not that the part crapped out and I had to pay to fix it, it was the fact that they treated me like I didnt know what I was doing. I also asked them how to test the distributor and they said you cant......which I did ask why cant I OHM test it? Answer was nope you have to send it to MSD to have it tested and fixed......................................................Thats when I finally decided to be done with MSD. I see them just wanting more money out me for their junk.
A fixed distributor or not...as long as its MSD its still junk price to me. Looks like polished shit to me.

Actually, I did fix my wipers this year. That was just an example. I fixed them using the original motor too, just so you know that can work too.

As for my fuel gauge, I'm using the LTD tank, so I have a CFI LTD sender on there. I think i just ruined the sender switch when I was modifying it for the larger SEFI fuel pump. Either that or I have an open somewhere in the wiring. I did quite a bit of splicing in that area. Just gotta get around to diagnosing it. Hadn't thought of a compatibility issue between gauge and sender though.... I'll definitely have to look at that if I don't have an open or a bad sender.

Crane HI-6. In the car five years with Crane electronic distributor, still working (knock on wood).