What Next? 1973 Ford Contry Sedan

I can see how the cowl intake could be the route by which it gets in, but where does the exhaust fume originate? The underhood area doesn't reek of exhaust. I sealed the box when I did the heater core 2 years ago,but I couldn't get at the bottom of the box to seal it. Sometimes more,sometimes fewer fumes come through. And the AC setting doesn't emit fumes,but the AC isn't charged and its belt is off for now. I charged it when the belt was on,but it wouldn't stay charged;whoever did the R134a conversion didn't do a thorough job.

 

If there's no exhaust underhood, then it has to be something in the heater core job you're doing that's outgassing, and it smells like engine exhaust.

 

Well,as I mentioned,we are under a blizzard here,so I cannot do any of the things I'd like to do,although I did shovel out around the old girl. I am supposed to get the two 6.5 x 15 rims on the rear tires tomorrow,and the wobble will be gone. However,did I mention that the tire people said when they aligned it,that the steering box has that slop to it. I read the steering box procedure in the Ford manual,and it is rather precise and finicky--you can't just loosen the locknut and turn the screw unless you were Henry himself. So,that means more $. The thing is,that with these type cars,the steering wheel doesn't feel like it is attached to anything anyway,so for the driver going down the road,it is hard to know the amount of looseness in the box.
As for the hood/ cowl seal,it looks good.

 

OK. So the gearbox adjustment, it's like a clock face: you adjust 'by the hour," that is, if you start the adjustment at 12:00, and you want to tighten, you go to 1:00. Test, and if it's too tight, you go back half that distance. Test again, and if it's still too tight, go back half of the half distance, too loose, forward half of that half distance forward. If I'm as clear as mud, PM me. The wandering looseness might be a bad rag joint in the steering coupling.

 

So,a shortcut. I recall doing this on a '56 Ford back when I had no idea what I was doing (fools rush in...). But I'd really like to get it tightened up. I can't picture if I have a rag joint on there--I know I replaced one a '66 Corvette Sting Ray. Again,I am bench wrenching until the weather improves. But I want to try the "clockface" method.
The puzzling thing about the fumes from the heater is that it is intermittent.
The tire people ordered the wrong rims,so they had to remount and rebalance,and have me wait for what they say are Chevy truck rims. The Horror!

 

Ewww. Anyway, yeah, each hour on a clockface is 30* rotation, and as long as you don't go too far one way or the other, it should lightly snug up without jamming. And in doing this, having the front jacked up takes the effort out so that you can tell if the gearbox binds when you turn the wheel.

 

Now it seems that this car has odd wheels! Not the Ford bolt pattern,close to 5 lug by 5 inch pattern. Did they supply different wheels & hubs etc. with Trac-Lok and Air suspension? I was down in the junkyard today and nothing fit. They had Ford 15 x 6 1/2" wheels,but no good. And the center hole is huge on mine (almost a press fit on the front rotors).
I fiddled withe the carb settings,went 1/8"turn rich & a faster idle resulted. Better performance,but a huge flat spot in the low end. KD screw closer,got a good forced downshift. Accelerator pump hotter,there are only two holes,not the four on the original pump lever.

 

Is the flat spot on initial tip-in? And did adjusting the accelerator pump help with tip-in?

 

The actual flat spot,when warm,is right where it would shift up as you get moving. Cold engine,you don't want to push it,it will spit back and sag. Warms up,it is usually OK,with idle mixture a tad richer. I tried the more aggressive hole @ accelerator pump (there are only two,whereas on the old carb there were 4 holes on the lever). That didn't work,evidently too much for the engine. I went back to the 1st hole,and so better. there are 4 holes to try at the other end of the rod,I'll look at that. I actually changed back the accelerator pump setting in mid-drive (on my way to the salvage yard I hadn't been to since 1984),and the difference was immediately apparent. However,sometimes the engine will spit back even though it is warmed up,but usually it will accelerate nicely w/WOT. Overall,the idle is smoother 'cause it is faster,but not really as smooth as I thought it could be. 1 1/4 turns from seated on both screws is evidently too lean,so I came out more.
So I went to this yard,he knew all about the 5"/5 hole station wagon wheels,neither car nor truck,and he will pull them from a Squire he's got. I asked him could he get me the DFRS,yeah,but what will that cost? I need seat backs,seats,seat belts,nuts,bolts,brackets,carpet,etc. I should have gone to him two years ago!

 

You should make him a deal he can't refuse, buy the Squire and take it home, if you have a spot you can store it.

 

The salvage yard is 36 miles away. You should see this place--one narrow dirt lane,with wrecks piled high on both sides--I had to back out 1/4 mile. I doubt the Squire could be fetched out of there if it were for sale. Anyway,parking in this town is tough,and I already have two to park. My landlord tolerates this for some reason,so I have two out of the five spaces in the yard. When I was back in the woods in the old days,I had five parts cars at one time,usually at least two.
I had the clutch replaced in the 2004 GT,so now both cars are functional. Kinda takes the pressure off,so I can use the big car only when I need to carry people or things.
Hmmmm--now that I think of it,I should make a list of what a full-house Country Squire would have--Interval wipers,power tailgate lock & spare relay,seat belts...I am drooling over the thought of having 8-passenger seating anyway.
Today I'll use the '04 GT for work,as I only have to transport one small person. Maybe a couple of 1/4 mile test runs? See if I could get 0-60 in 5 sec...

 

What is the name of this place and what town is it in. Does it have
lots of old stuff and will they let you in to look around ?
Interval wipers are plug and play, Change the switch and plug the module in line.

 

In 1983/1984,I pulled all parts myself. They are a lot more crowded now,I don't know what the rule is. If I knew where you were,we could see if this is practical.

 

So,anyway,today I dug a little deeper underhood. Somehow the points gap shrank to like .009. Why does this always seem to happen? So I reset it. I know,I know,Pertronix. Then I determined that the vacuum advance had totally failed. I have the snorkel blend door control disabled (no hot air) 'cause it doesn't work anymore anyway and set the choke a tad richer (it is still cold here). New vacuum advance will appear tomorrow noon (I need the car in the PM to haul personnel). So...wouldn't no vacuum advance cause the spitting back/flat spot? When I get the things back together,I'll check again that we are really on 12B timing. Meanwhile,I need a new dwell meter/RPM,so I won't have that part of the picture yet.

 

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