Mike's 1986 Mustang convertible build thread

[Walking-Tall]

The postman brought me my $45 dollar to-my-door puzzle today
This was listed on Ebay as a, "Ford 84 Bronco II Ranger Carb 2.8"... does anybody else recognize what this is?...




I counted all the fingers and toes of my new baby. Yup, all there... though that 50cc accelerator pump isn't going to be needed for the 3.8, lol




I knew what I was looking at... and... it's, IMHO, one of the holy grail of two barrel carburetors, a Holley 4412-2 500cfm... perfect!




I'm a happier guy today, lol

Now... gimme a mechanical fuel pump eccentric in there. Then I'll need some steel tubing to make a gas tank pickup/vent, a mechanical fuel pump, some neoprene rubber line and clamps for connections, and somebody to hold me back from dancing and giggling and wanting to throw ~30 pounds of EEC-IV wiring and sensors and CFI business and the ECU into the fire pit

[grabbergreen84]

Did all 2.8 Broncos come with those, or did you just get lucky here?

$45 is a steal!

[Walking-Tall]

Did all 2.8 Broncos come with those, or did you just get lucky here?

$45 is a steal!

Heck no. The person selling had no idea, or may have actually removed it from a 2.8 Bronco II or Ranger, but Ford didn't put aftermarket Holley 500cfm two-barrels with manual chokes on them. I figured the center hung float bowl showing in their picture indicated at least a 350cfm, and for a few bucks I didn't care about it being disassembled, and if it needed some parts or fixing, no big deal, so I made a bid and nobody else bid, and yesterday it arrived and I said YES, lol

Yes, the pricing there any given time for used units (often missing choke stuff etc) begins at about $100+ shipping. I'm glad I gambled, but I went solely by the picture, and anything could have happened, like some whatever the heck came on an '84 2.8 V6... that would have been a real balloon-popper, lol, but yeah, I'm glad for a couple couple bucks

[Walking-Tall]

Too involved and messy for pictures, but the C5 transmission got a long-overdue (unfortunately, "the norm") change of fluid and filter and adjusted bands today. A large external cooler will go on another day, as well as cranking in the modulator screw for higher part-throttle shift points. Workin' good

[Walking-Tall]

Nothing really to update yet. I've taken some time to clean up and thoroughly establish the state and a few things needing changed with the 500 Holley. Parts (0.110" needle and seat, 30cc accelerator pump stuff, #8.5 power valve (intake vacuum in Drive is 18in-Hg, so a #8.5 power valve should at least be a good starting place), gaskets...) ordered and initial modifications mapped out...

It is finally warm enough today, so I dropped the top and went for my very first top-down drive. Fun!







A nice dark red convertible top boot did come with the car. I futzed with it for a few minutes, but I think it could use some relaxing or something in the sun all unfolded, because it wasn't cooperating to fitting everywhere it's supposed to... oh well, I'll try again another time.

[Walking-Tall]

Getting Holley ready...


Original 0.093" idle air bypass holes (for grumpy camshafts) in throttle plates closed. Set ideal transfer slots-throttle plates relationship at idle:




Float bowl all assembled. 30cc accelerator pump replaces original 50cc:

[Walking-Tall]

Repaired missing metering block/gasket locating pins with 6-32x1/4" brass socket set screws:




Drilled, tapped for, created and installed 8-32x3/16" brass socket set screws for adjustable PVCR's (power valve channel restrictions), in their original size for starters. Final size of these is to be determined after dialing in the main jets:

[Walking-Tall]

She's not particularly pretty, but the Holley LIST-4412-2 500cfm 2-barrel got some necessary modifications, fresh parts where needed, has all initial adjustments set, and is ready to rock'n'roll




Original calibration:
- Idle Air Bleeds - Ø0.066"
- High Speed Air Bleeds - Ø0.027"
- Idle Feed Restrictions - Ø0.036"
- Main Kill Bleeds - Ø0.028"
- Accelerator pump shooter - #31
- PVCR's (power valve channel restrictions) - Ø0.062" (now adjustable) (*0.0030in²)
- Main Jets - #73 (Ø0.079" - *0.0049in²)
- * Total fuel flow area for WOT for each throttle bore = 0.0079in²

Changes:
- 30cc accelerator pump & arm & pink pump cam replaced 50cc pump & arm & brown cam
- 8.5 power valve replaced 5.0 power valve
- Transfer Slot Bleed Holes In Main Body - Ø0.025" (closed)
- Throttle Plate Airflow Holes - Ø0.093" (closed)

[Walking-Tall]

Dug out my vintage chrome air cleaner

[Walking-Tall]

Yes, images you have seen of the driver's side of my car are digital photo-manipulations, because there is no driver's door molding. It was MIA right from the get-go when I got the car. I've looked around a little bit and this stuff is rather expensive...

So, I'm wondering what you guys'/girls' opinions are about eliminating the other thick moldings between the wheels on both sides and installing thin ones? Photo-manipulated pics of both scenarios below:

[ccurtin]

If you're looking for side molding similar to the SVO I've read that this is the closest:

http://www.repaintsupply.com/cow-33-...ing-p2536.html

[grabbergreen84]

If I was going to get rid of the moldings between the wheels, I would paint the remaining ones, body color. No moldings, with the bumper moldings painted black, only works on '79-'84 coupes IMO.
You pretty much need the molding between the front bumper cover and front wheel opening, because of the fender extensions.

[Walking-Tall]

If you're looking for side molding similar to the SVO I've read that this is the closest:

http://www.repaintsupply.com/cow-33-...ing-p2536.html

Thanks for the link. Those aren't bad

[Walking-Tall]

Picked up 60" and 30" lengths of steel brake line with fittings for fuel line (for under passenger side to mechanical fuel pump, for pump to carburetor, and some for fabricating a fuel pickup in the tank), and wire terminals and shrink tubing for ignition wires.

[Walking-Tall]

The next hiccup (I feel like trademarking/copyrighting/coining/whatever that phrase), in the never-ending saga of hiccups that is EEC-IV:



These sensors are supposed to have, through their range of movement to sensing and relaying the EGR valve's diaphragm's position, as a variable resistor, 5500Ω to 100Ω. Mine has exactly 4.85Ω of resistance no matter where it's stem is, lol. This has been causing the car to run like a can of smashed a$$holes. At first I presumed some bad gas (but 4 different loads (2 premium 91-octane) of ten bucks thrown in? I don't think so), and have retarded the ignition timing 2° twice to 6° BTDC, to no avail. It's also got a somewhat rough idle and off-idle, and pinging/detonation with from anywhere between 20-50% throttle application upon normal acceleration, but only at the lightest of loading, at the top of each gear just prior to shifting. Welcome to EEC land, where I'm suggesting, the ecm's response is to open the EGR when it should be nearly or always closed, and vice versa. That's bass-ackwards, and no, I'm not wasting one more dime on trying to get it to cooperate.

Thankfully, I have the cure for the hiccups. None of any kind of the above kind of inverted-universe BS will go on with carburetion and Duraspark. Soon.

[82GTforME]

She's not particularly pretty, but the 500 Holley 2-barrel got some necessary modifications, fresh parts where needed, has all initial adjustments set, and is ready to rock'n'roll

Attachment 100274

This carb sounds interesting. On our 2.8 we used the factory 2150 2 bbl but a future upgrade has us putting the Offy 4bbl intake and Holly 390 on it. I wonder what one of these 500's would do for performance on it as a bolt on?

[Walking-Tall]

This carb sounds interesting. On our 2.8 we used the factory 2150 2 bbl but a future upgrade has us putting the Offy 4bbl intake and Holly 390 on it. I wonder what one of these 500's would do for performance on it as a bolt on?

These are used on lots and lots of roundy-round race cars. This one hasn't had any, "race prep" for increased airflow, with choke plate/shroud/mechanism removal, I got it inexpensively, and I've always wanted to use one. A factory 2.8 2150 is likely on the small side, but there's no knocking a 2100/2150, because there's no simpler, dead-nuts reliable carburetor out there, IMHO. Size-wise, Autolite/Motorcraft 2100/2150 ranged from real early 0.96" (the venturi diameter number is cast on them on the driver's side of the carburetor, behind/beside the accelerator pump housing) all the way up to some early '60's Ford/Mercury FE 390 engines having 1.33" venturi diameter two-barrels on them. Airflow ratings for them can be found online with some searching.

A 390cfm 4-barrel should work good on a 2.8 and have nice crisp response. One of these 4412's would definitely give a 2.8 unhindered airflow (aka not be the bottleneck in the intake tract, and no doubt commonly thought "too big". There are benefits to unhindered airflow that most shy away from, due to myth and/or lack of knowledge or inability to tune out bad low speed bad manners.). On my 3.8, high rpm WOT intake vacuum shouldn't exceed 1.5in-Hg, and on a 2.8 would be close to that too, which is good stuff, performance-wise.

[Walking-Tall]

Created a new harness with plugs for the Duraspark II distributor and for between it and an HEI 4-pin ignition module. Tested distributor and magnetic pickup through the new harness, and she's ready.

[grabbergreen84]

The HEI module affords space and stealth, but why not a gennie Ford Duraspark box? HEI easier to source?

Not a big deal, there are far worse GM parts you could put on there...

[Walking-Tall]

The HEI module affords space and stealth, but why not a gennie Ford Duraspark box? HEI easier to source?

Not a big deal, there are far worse GM parts you could put on there...

Space, stealth, and sourcing, yes, and it really lowers the dollars per purchase. Also, my curiosity to try it after learning about it got the better of me

[Walking-Tall]

Welp, there is indeed a fuel pump eccentric still cast on these '86 3.8 camshafts behind the distributor gear, but this one is just that, cast, entirely ROUGH cast. That does not work well at all for a mechanical fuel pump's arm to be riding on, and if run as is, would end in oil-pump-jamming shrapnel catastrophe. As soon as I saw it, it made sense. It stands to reason the bean counters would not pay for a casting revision, but certainly halted the unnecessary (for them in 1986 with this thing's CFI) machining/grinding of the fuel pump eccentric's perimeter face. The timing chain and gears in there are tight like new though. I think I'm done with this car as is (most things, minus some specific parts I've gathered, I gathered to keep with me anyways, and they work on other vehicles), besides band-aiding and baler-twining it's present CFI (which I now refer to as Cobbled Fuel Injection) situation until something in the way of a 302/351W for it surfaces, and/or a different pre-'85 (or pre-'75...) vehicle surfaces for sale/trade reasonable. Debating options... maybe I'll consider an electric fuel pump in order to continue...

[Walking-Tall]

Ordered a low-pressure in-tank electric fuel pump & strainer. To be here mid next week...

[Walking-Tall]

It made a great Sylvester-approved sun-shade the other day, lol

[grabbergreen84]

Mere sun-shade, or shaded hunting stand?

He looks like he might be simply relaxing in the shade, yet also scanning the horizon for rodents or perhaps birds to maybe ambush. That's the perfect cover for bird hunting... And the more shaded area between the front tires yields even more concealment, so it's good for land-based varmints as well.

One day a couple of years ago, my neighbor's cat was chilling out like that under an Expedition in our driveway, and then when a chipmunk showed up and tried to go near the garage, the cat sprung and grabbed that chipmunk. He then ran for home with the flopping chipmunk in his mouth, to show off his capture. I saw the take-down out of the corner of my eye.
Incidentally, the next day, I was out in the street working on my daily, and I saw that he had caught a bird! He was abusing the corpse in his owner's front yard, but every time I tried to get close enough to snap a picture, he would pick it up and run into the bushes!

Car looks good!

[Walking-Tall]

Yep, he had just eaten here and got the attention the gentle old homeless fella deserves, but maybe both, lol

Thanks!