Project 1990 country squire resto/modification - Page 5 - Ford Forums

88_94vics · 10-13-2009, 21:29

Thanks for all the pics of the job. I have the same motor and couldn't figure out why I couldn't get my upper intake off the other day. Seeing your photos now I know that there was a couple of bolts I didn't take out. Doing a good job, keep it up. I bet it's going to look and run really nice when you're done.

andyfanshawe · 10-14-2009, 13:08

Interesting evening tonight.
Cleaned out throttle body and the water passages

Made a gasket for it and installed all throttle body and air filter trunking/
Heres the old and new air filters-bet you can't tell the new one :dontknow:

Fuel filter next, and it doesn't look quite like the old one. The inlet and outlets on the new one have a shoulder where the fuel pipe connections lock onto-the old one didn't. So how did they hold on?

Thats it-the favourite tie wraps.
Here it is removed

Notice just straight pipes-bit dodgy.
Battery on it's new reinforcing base, and the battery clamp doesn't fit properly! Didn't notice that when I took it off. Looks like battery is not wide enough.

Turned the key, and it fired straight up! Well, coughed a bit but then ran smooth. Rad flush chucked in the cooling system and ran for 20 mins to circulate it. Drop it all out tomorrow, another hosepipe flush and the new radiator and thermostat and rad cap goes on. Antifreeze following.
Noticed an exhaust blow on the CAT on the drivers side where the old thermactor pipe used to connect to. Rotten remains. I will weld that up tomorrow.
Andy.

andyfanshawe · 10-15-2009, 14:36

One of the interesting things about buying a used car is you dont quite know what you'll find in it!
Under the drivers seat was this tape (tape? whats that then? :dontknow: ). the very best of Foster and Allen.

I have emailed the last owner to ask if he wants it back, and he did. So it went off in the post today. Now how many owners of cars take the trouble to do that?
Anyway, back to the car. The next task is to get the radiator in.
Coolant dropped out again that I put in last night and the hosepipe brought back into play for one last flush through.
Then its out with the new rad and transfer all clips and connectors/adaptors
New and old together

Moving trans cooler connection adaptors over

This is the lower radiator panel that is showing signs of light rust. So, a clean up first

followed by a coat of dinitrol 3125 with this

to get this

Then its in with the radiator

New thermostat fitted and new rad cap.
then the system filled with 50/50 ethyl glycol antifreeze/inhibitor

Heres the coolant colour after an engine run up until the thermostat opens and it all starts to circulate. The heater got warm so it must be circulating well round there. No wet carpets yet either. :yay:

Andy.

andyfanshawe · 10-18-2009, 14:34

Well, this weekend and a few days leading up to it have been mind blowing to say the least!
To put you all in the picture, the last owner of the car, but one, had found out all the previous owners and wrote a letter to every one. Some had responded and some hadn't. I found out that the car has had 10 owners in 19 years. most of the time being spent in the south of our country and in Wales. But 1 past owner was located in Clay Cross which is only a few miles from me now. They sold it in 1999, A good 10 years ago. According to a letter, this particular gentleman sold the car due to possible redundancy (which turned out to be true) but was sorry to see it go.
Anyway, I took the car for a longish test drive on saaturday morning . On the way back I could smell a slight odour of hot coolant. Probably due to a heater matrix (heater core) after 19 years and especially after the colour of the coolant that came out. So, I ordered one (£56). If it turns out that it isn't that after all, I' m going to change it anyway.
I pulled down the under dash panel on the passenger side and this fell down

It was an envelope that had been there a long time. Probably gone through the back of the glovebox.
Imagine my surprise when the name and address on it matched the owner in Clay Cross from 10 years ago! Not any of the others that were miles and miles away, but the most local one!
But there was someting else up there. A brown leather pouch that was wedged tight. I pulled it down and this was it

Inside was these

Loads of american cents and a dime! Now the car left the states in about 1997, so this has been there for over 12 years!
Wonder who it belonged to?
My Wife wanted to open the envelope but I said no, let me see if I can return it to its rightful owner. She asked if I was going to have a drive out to see if I could find them. i said of course i was, and I would also take the car with me to reintroduce it 10 years after they had sold it!
30 mins later and I arrive at the house that was on the envelope. A knock on the door and a lady answered who confirmed they used to own it! So they were still in the same house that they were in when they owned the car!
I took them both out to see the car they hadn't seen for those 10 long years. I had an amzing chat to them about the car and tried to fill them in about its whereabouts since they owned it.
I gave the envelope to the Lady who's name was on it and she was very surprised. She said she thought it was a birthday card, but definitely from her Mum who had unfortunately died a few years earlier. I was concerned that it would be upsetting for her, but she said it had made her day. To receive 1 more thing from her Mum.
The gentleman told me he had to have the rearmost seat belts changed because they had seized up due to lack of use! Also the interior light lenses were changed because they had cracked. Said they were very expensive,
He noticed the slight dent in the bonnet (hood) and told me it had been caused by a stone thrown up by a passing car in a caravan site that had bounced across it. A simple bit of info but invaluable in the sense that it is filling in a small piece of the big history jigsaw of the car.
I left them feeling extremely pleased thay I had reunited them with a piece of their past (and a happy one at that), and I had delivered an envelope that had waited probably 11 years to be delivered. I have pointed them in the directon of this forum so that they may keep up to date with the cars restoration, and hopefully chip in some comments every so often. just as I quoted I wanted the past owners to do in the very first paragraph of this thread..... Magic!
Andy.

andyfanshawe · 10-18-2009, 15:21

Okay, weld up CAT time. Up in the air we go to weld up the hole in the side of the CAT where the AIR/thermactor pipe used to be.

Here you can see where the pipe used to be. The clamp is still there and the remains of the pipe also.

Here it is again with the old rotten pipe removed and a small plate welded on the end.

Successful, but hang on, something doesn't look right.
The frame at the side of the cat has been welded and painted

The other side hasn't been welded but is corroding in the corner.
The box section is full of rust debris and plates have been welded over the top. Not at all good.
So. out with the hammer and around the frame we go. Luckily no where else is rotted. Probably due to the fact that water/salt gets thrown up there and sits inside the frame.
This will have to be done properly. Car put up in the air and secured in one place. Exhausts removed, fuel pipes removed and ALL the corroded sections removed and properly welded up back to factory specs. If the frame has to come off the car to do it-so be it. Shouldn't take too long once I get started.
In the meantime, back under the dash we go. Preparing to replace the heater core.
Bit of corrosion here on the flap control vacuum solenoid arm. Must be some type of water/coolant down there to cause this.

It is now clean and greased and free to move. The solenoid couldn't move it at all, but it can now!
It looks as if the all the dash is coming out to change the core. I don't have to, but I can check all types of things while I am there.
Andy.

MBad3 · 10-19-2009, 14:25

^^^^^ Thats not suprising that the crush boxes are rusting out. Usually the right side will rot out first due to the moister from the a/c leaking down on it. Usually they never get fixed like thats so I guess thats a plus. Great car though!

andyfanshawe · 10-20-2009, 10:02

Right, next exciting installment:
Time to start removing rust off the frame and rustproofing before its too late :whistle:
Heres a starter photo of the frame in the back left corner

Scaly rust but nothing major. But hang on, whats that hanging off the rear bumper? Remnants of rusty brackets? Ah, now this is something that americans won't understand...the remains of a rear fog light. This light is a bright red light that is a legal requirement and is there to make the car highly visible in poor conditions

Those have been there for a long time. It'll be good fun trying to shift them.
More photos later of the cleaned up first bit of the frame.
Moved onto the front lights that are hit and miss. Sometimes bulbs are out, sometimes they are not. When a vehicle comes into the UK, the lights have to been changed to our standards. Which usually means hacked up wiring and bodge jobs.

The middle bulb should be on, but isn't due to those horrible blue scothlock connectors.
So, its all wiring out and start again. The bottom yellow corner light unit is not used for some reason, so an amber LED light has been fitted to the fender for pedestrians to see the yellow flashing light from the side. I am going to remove them and wire in LED bulbs in the afore mentioned lower corner light unit.
Oh, also have a look at the trunk floor in the photo above-where the rubber grommets are. Look rusty? You'd be quite right. Put my hammer through them. More welding then. Lovely.
Andy.

andyfanshawe · 10-23-2009, 14:32

Okay, next simple job. Sort these lights out that keep going on and off!
This is the amber LED unit that has been put on the side of the fender and a hole drilled through for the wiring.

I'm going to remove the light, weld the hole up and get the lower corner of the front light unit working.

This is the rear view

There isn't a bulb holder for this one, so I need one. No american scrapyards round here, so I made up an aluminium disc and bonded it to the unit, and used a renault megane light unit.

leave it overnight to set and its repairing the wiring time.
After that, on the job list is
1) Front drivers seat electric mechanism isn't working properly.
2) Tailgate central locking has stopped working again!
3) Find reason why airbag light is flashing.
....and many more.....!
Andy.

**rtg143** · 10-23-2009, 14:54

Very interesting. You must be an inventor.

andyfanshawe · 10-25-2009, 01:13

More lights today. The plan is to wire each group of lights as a unit and terminate the wiring in a multiplug. So when the light unit needs to come out just unplug and remove. No leaving any bulbs and bulb holders dangling on the front bumper.
Lets sort out the corner white light first. The bulb holder is heat damaged and so is the hole it goes into. So, put the holder in a tight fitting grommet and grind the hole out so the damage disappears and the grommet fits! Easy!

Then make up a harness to fit them all

Other side

Now tell me if this is bad workmanship or not! Always good to see someone take pride in their work! Sort this lot out next.

Andy.