New Guys or Visitors?

I find it amazing how many new members to this site are looking for info or parts, and that’s the last you hear from them.
This is a good site, dedicated to a specific breed of Ford cars; i think it’s pretty friendly, and there is a wealth of knowledge.
Whatever happens to these guys, do they just scrap their projects, or is it lack of cash or lack of interest. Realizing it can be a real pain to find parts, these cars are rather unique and each year fewer of them survive for various reasons.
Is it because these cars are not plug & play friendly, a lack of ingenuity or lack of interest. I can’t blame everything on the economy, but I’d kind of like to know how some of these guys are getting on with their projects.
So far, barring shocks & tires my heap seems to be doing ok, nothing more than a ton of money couldn’t fix. For some reason my tires are rotting were the tread meets the sidewalls, no biggie, I’ll probably try BFG’s next time, I must admit I like the Michelins, but they seem to rot too quickly for me.
I’ve always got ideas, & since i deal with junk, it’s pretty cost friendly, sometimes it’s time consuming and frustrating, but its good therapy.
it was good to get rid of a lot of stuff and be able to see the floor in my garage again, the oil smell is gone and I have some space, however I’m certain it won’t be long before it fills up again.
Anyway, wishing all the best for a good summer…

I could give a little update on mine... Haven't touched it since last fall since we're actually having winter this year unlike last year. Going to be short on funds this year, but my plans include probably a lot of tinkering with stuff I already have parts for like fixing the speedometer, resuming my little cupholder panel project, HOPEFULLY getting the parking brake going, if my guy sends me those caliper brackets. I really want to fix my gas gauge, so i'll be buying a Mustang sender (per your advice, Fangar) and trying to find a way to attach it to my LTD sender frame. Other than that, I'd really like to get the ride, stance and handling sorted out. I need to get some caster/camber plates, I'd like to get my subframe connectors welded in (i don't have a welder or any skills with that, so i have to find someone to do it), and then after that, I want to try some '05 and up wheels on my car and then look at finally lowering it, so it doesn't look like a 4x4 anymore. I know a guy who has some Eibach springs who offered them to me for cheap. I just hope they don't mess up the ride. I want the thing to be pleasant to drive. It's a cruiser, after all.

yeah we have has sme cold weather here also, it's actually been pretty cold and we have had a lot of snow out here in the desert. i dont remember it being this cold for quite a while. i only drive the fairmont on the weekends now since the heater blew the gasket between the plenum and the dash, the heater works, however it has a reduced flow. i must have got the clearance between the plenum & vents too large, off center or maybe it was just rotten, i dont know. i did a lot of stuff this year to it, some good, some great ,& some was bloody awful. i was happy with the frt suspension until AUG informed me about the roll-bar mounts pulling out of the body, best be forwarned i suppose, at least he piped up before i damaged the car. i want to try something different this year, but have run out of ideas, i need shocks bad, i'm running around with 3 dead ones now. i suppose i'm gonna girlie it out in the house on the weekends, if it aint cold rany or snowing, then its windy as hell
i'm hoping everyone has a great summer and puts loads of miles on.

Well, throw some shocks in it, and then if it ain't broke don't fix it! I certainly wouldn't be working on mine non-stop if everything was working fine, haha!

yeah, i have some new mods to do this summer, so i'm in no hurry, although it does handle pretty crappy on the rough roads, i'm looking for a shit load of new salavge to give the old girl another revamp, thats why i dumped all the fox stuff , i was hoping for more cash,but oh well times are tight. i think i may loosen up the suspension it was riding like a little red wagon, the rear springs chewed thru the lower insulators, the fronts are creaking now.
i still have a 140 & a 160 speedo, couple of fox axles, tilt collums, etc to get rid of, my bud is going to show me how to sell stuff on e-bay. craigslist is ok sometimes, but i dont like bartering, you ask, i pay, i expect the same. i will paint it when its done this time, i'm thinking of flat black with red trim or white with blue trim. i having dificulty locating a/c parts at the moment, but i will carry on. things are getting somewhat better but i aint buying no more junks, well, maybe.....

by the way, you car doesnt look like a 4x4, it loooks like a sassy young wench aching for a spanking.

Yeah, my car's ride is just really bouncy. The front springs are aftermarket Mustang GT ones that are VERY tall and practically impossible to get in and out. Stymee and I fought with them this past summer, and it was just a b!tch. We kind of figure the bouncyness is caused in no small part by these springs. I tried new struts in the front, and it didn't make a lick of difference. The tubular K-member and strut tower brace tamed things quite a bit, so I'm excited to see if the subframe connectors have a similar effect. Anyway, if i'm going to do battle with the front springs again, i'd prefer it would be to lower the car.

It's your car, but I am not a fan of flat black on a whole car. That look just says to me "i was too lazy to paint my car" or it screams "MODIFIED!!". It's a fine look for a stripped out race car, but for a cruiser it just doesn't work in my opinion. I like my car to blend in until you take a second look and "what the... ?"

yeah you may be right, there are a few guys here who have done it, i kinda like it because out here in the desert when the wind blows the dust around, it makes them look menacing. i think it is called black velvet, another guy told me it was john deere tractor paint!!!!

how are you getting on with the intake leak? have you solved it yet?

i like some shades of red, they are cool, but it would be hard to find the right shade for this body style, too new it looks wrong, too red and it looks like a soho hooker. i may just go white, most of our cars were white, i may just leave it for a while, but i would like to try my hand at painting, havent done any since the mid 80's, i went into a "perfection" craze and basically ruined every job in some way because i'm crap at it... i have friends that offer, but it more fun saying "no" & pissing them off. maybe it would be a good idea.......nah.

finished building a new shifter for the car, it's all used pieces, but it's gonna work. i'm kinda anal about shift lock as you know, and this one works.

Ford had a deep red that looked great on these cars. I like that color a lot, or the darker browns are nice too. My FAVORITE F/Z factory color though is Jade Green I LOVE the way that looks.

I'm avoiding trying to fix my rolling idle issue. It's just so frustrating. Last year I replaced a bunch of the vacuum lines under the hood and took another shot at seeing if there was a leak at the intake. I read somewhere that the camshaft position sensor goes out on these too. If you replace the TFI module, which i did, you should also replace that sensor, which i didn't do. I might try that, or I know a guy from my wrenching days who was a driveability guru. I may just take it to him.

Shoot, if you're looking for something to paint, you can paint my Marquis front clip when I get one. Haha! The whole car could use some freshening up too while you're at it, haha.

I know what you mean about perfection though. It sounds silly, but I went through that with my plastic models, and would put all this effort into them and then I was just never satisfied. Good to hear you got your shifter dialed in though!

yeah, i'm a great painter, i can use the best spray gun, dryers etc, and make it look like a third grader did it.
i may still have a brand new genuine ford new pick up coil laying around, i dont think i got rid of it, do you want it??
yeah it's amazing how some poeple can cobble a bunch of crap together and be fully content (like me).
you know, this idle problem has got to be simple, it's weird tho, no check engine light. BUT these old motors can be a pain, as the parameters for a check egine light isnt as harsh as the newer cars. when you finally find it, then what???
are you sure it aint got a big cam???? haha.
my map sensor dumped after the initial start-up and the old girl had a blocked cat on the left side, i spent loads of time chasing a faulty wiring loom (because i made the loom) to find out the map sensor was bad, no check engine light so i just started swapping sensors and found it. i call it being "happily/pissed"

I am getting sick of throwing parts at it. Cheap or not. Maybe that's the first thing I'll do in the spring when I throw the battery back in, take it to my friend. I sure would be a lot happier with it if it ran well. Right now all I've got is a car I've spent 7 years fighting with that looks nice, but runs and rides like #$%^. Frustrating? Oh yeah.

At least I know I don't have a blocked cat! Those are long gone, haha.

I know all about the chasing the problem now after working on my girls car. '07 Taurus....damn ....I found a broken valve spring after about 15 check engine codes and checking this and replacing that and cleaning everything..... Nice thing is my tool box is much fuller with tools and a nice scan tool !

Ooooo! Scan tool!

Congratulations on finding the problem!

ZephyrEFI wrote:

Ooooo! Scan tool!

Congratulations on finding the problem!

Yep, so you need some scan tool time ?

Haha no, it would just be cool to have one.