Car Running Countdown

Our Mounties have a police-car driver training track around here, and I want my wife to take the Skid School and Snow School training. Reflexes you never thought you had! No accidents on the road since I got my license in 1966! I did Derby and Rallye racing, and we used to ram cars in our scrapyard, but that was for fun.

She's a great driver, so she'll do well. Besides, its another 15% off the insurance premium.

 

Excellent training for your wife with the type of weather y'all have up there it will come in handy,including saving 15% is a help on that bill for sure.

 

Sorry I couldn't be there to help ya out Norm.
I ended up looking for an emergency dentist today, think I need a root canal.
Got a prescription anyways. Oowww!

 

Thats going to be painful. hope you get better soon Andy

 

Hey Andy you've had a rough run lately, besides I wanted to see if I could put it back on, since I took it off.

And I did!

I figured out how to do that gear changer cable too. You drop the two screws that hold it to the speedo, connect it to the column and screw it back on. Another hour of connections under there, and on to engine compartment. All depends on the rain tonite and tomorrow.

 

Lookin' good there, bud!
Got a link to that driving class? Karin and I would enjoy that.

OT: Any of you other Canucks watch "Canada's Worst Driver"?

 

They've got a number at the Driver's Licensing Branch. Ford may still offer it too. But I've got a muckety-muck pal at the WPS who told me about it, so I'll get more details and let you know.

 

It's 8:30 AM here, sunny, 25C is the high for today and a nice breeze. I'm outside, and givin' her to goodies! Wish me luck.

 

Good luck!!!:2_thumbs_up_-_anima

 

good ruck!

 

Good luck.

 

Thanks guys. It worked, but not for speed, just quality. I had Andy's Ford EVTM for the 1978. And I remembered I had found a few pages online for the 1979. When I wove the big harnesses across the car, I was too pre-occupied with the Zoo of it all, rather than locating them to fit.

At mid-point across the dash, on the passenger side AC vent (center right) the big harness and the AC heater wiring go ABOVE the vent! Trust me, and TBird will confirm, this is not an easy fix. Luckily the duct was flexible and I made a 1/4" gap, stretch to 5/8". Funny thing, every thing lined up nice, accessible and just like the picture!

I am now and forever convinced that the most important tool a guy could have before doing a full restore, is a DIGITAL CAMERA. Starting from the first thing you take off, to the last.

The manuals aren't bad for a Ford-trained technician in a big, established shop, but they don't cut down to the subtle details.

I'll finish the dash and enough of the carpets and seats tomorrow and get on to the engine compartment.

No pics today. I took off the instrument cluster to position the big harness better, so it looks like two steps backwards, but it should go faster.

 

It's almost 8:00 AM, here. I'm having my cereal and out the door. See ya later. Gotta get her together.

 

Details take a lot of time. It sounds so easy reading the 'Installing ... ' procedure, but then you find that you skipped something, or left it for later. I couldn't do it without the manuals, but they don't cross-reference to the book or section that should already be installed.

The gear change indicator runs on a small filament that hooks onto the column shifter. That little hook took me hours to get in. I should have installed before the dash went on. On the donor, somebody used a sheetmetal screw and forced it into the solid shaft. On mine, I misplaced the screw, so I was under there trying different screws, until I looked at the manual and noticed that there were others on that shifter column that I could use from the donor. One of those 6-pointed driver types. I loosened the shifter shaft from the steering column (tranny linkage isn't connected) and managed to get it low enough to get my big paws in with a 1/4" socket and and then a ratchet, and tighten it down. Hours!!!!

Then the brace that reinforces the radio region of the dash, was one hole too low. And there was one more hole higher up and again, my big paws were in a space where no man has gone before (unless he's 7 years old with small hands!) Another couple hours. Then my wife was in a panic to get a passport, since her father is hospitalized, so we did the paperwork, looked online for flights, and she got passport guarantors and references and we went at 6:30 AM today to get in line. We were the only line! Nobody is travelling!

And it's raining again!

 

That little filament is actually wire rope with a plastic coating. Don't ask me how I know.