2024 What did you do to your fox today

[82GTforME]

So you look at the car out the window and know 2024 spring equinox is March 20.

This made me chuckle. Nice and optimistic. The equinox doesn't matter here sometimes. Thankfully mine are under cover at least. Two are in unheated garages and it almost hit -40°C last weekend.

[ITdude87]

The only thing that comes to mind is you don't want to remove the air pump if you still have the original catalytic converters. The rear cats require the extra air in order to complete their catalyzing process. Without the extra air, they can eventually become clogged. That would definitely cause a driveability issue...

Yep good call here.

82GTforME - I had an offroad/catless H pipe installed prior to removing the smog.

[gr79]

Damp misty 44F day no wind.
No more foot of heavy wet snow on uncovered car. Do have cowl and wipers covered.
Decided to see how it started after a week of bitter cold and dampness.
Old door lock opened first try no fiddling with key.
Battery has been on maintenance charge the whole time.
13.5v charger on, 12.8 charger off. Can't ask for better.
Car started fine and warmed up quick to steady normal rpm.
Felt super good to sit in it and jam the radio. All systems normal.
Except for the tach. Pegged again during the first few starts then was ok. Why ???
Once started, jerked downward a couple times to normal readings and stayed working.
Not going to drive it till the weather gets dryer and the lower ball joints are replaced.
Did not check to see if the windshield washer system was frozen.
Tires look aired up ok.

[ITdude87]

During the winter I pull my battery out and keep it inside the house/basement. My thought process is this would keep the poor old computer/capacitors free from unnecessary load when not being used for months and months on end. Plus the Motorcraft battery was a tricky size to find, so I'd like to keep it healthy as long as I can.

Is there a benefit to keeping it hooked up in the car instead?

[gr79]

Car is started or driven once a week. Not plugged in over 50F.
Here, either the car or the truck has a backup role to each other.
Either vehicle is kept on driveway 'alert' as much as possible like a F-15.
Even so, few times would have been late for work or stuck no ride.
An onboard 1.5a charger is used, hard wired to battery, plug extended to and thru the grill area.
Battery is old can drop to 12v in a few days. Truck has newer Motorcraft holds full charge a long time.
Unless the radio amp is left on. Is connected to 12v hot with toggle. Gonna fix that with a relay.
Back in the 80's, also had a block heater to plug in.
Engine starts quicker, defrost warm in a few minutes.
For sure have to respect the weight of items like car batteries, having been in whse material handling trade.
At work or home, is hand cart time for many items weighing even less. Multiple lift and turn moves. Safety first.
Save the hands back arms legs groin. One wrong move or slip can cause discomfort or medical bills.
Agreed electronics have to be respected too.
When car was down for years, battery was out. Kept wiring dead in case of damage when unattended.
Like a windshield leak onto steering column or something, animals.

[webestang]

85 still not running as I have not rebuilt the carb yet. Still in the process of looking for my first house. Hope to get her back running after I move.

[ITdude87]

Spent a few hours with the car last night.

Got all of the coolant drained and the old hoses removed to prep for the intakes being removed and the water pump replacement.

Pulled the upper (that wasn't so bad)

But...I found a gremlin.

I noticed the vacuum line from the upper to the fuel pressure regulator wasn't attached in the right spot...it was capped up instead. Why would somebody do this? I hadn't noticed any drive-ability or power issues up to this point to lead me to think something wasn't right.

Should I replace the regulator while I'm in there and have the room, just in case? It seemed to run just fine as-is but..who knows..

Next up is the water pump and the lower. The water pump gasket looked at from the underside is pretty crusty and ugly, and I can see a tiny leak at one of the bolts.

[wraithracing]

With no vacuum line connected. The regulator will operate at maximum fuel pressure due to not opening and returning fuel to the tank. You may see a rich condition at idle, part throttle and low speeds, but the rest of the time the engine will most likely run pretty much normal.

[ITdude87]

With no vacuum line connected. The regulator will operate at maximum fuel pressure due to not opening and returning fuel to the tank. You may see a rich condition at idle, part throttle and low speeds, but the rest of the time the engine will most likely run pretty much normal.

Good to know, and reassuring - thanks Trey.

I had no inclination that anything was wrong until I noticed it plugged last night instead of attached to the regulator. I wonder what the previous owner's motivation was for doing that.

I'll hook it back up the correct way when putting everything back together and see how it does.

[Lubner]

Installed 8.8 rear and suspension in my 79 Ghia coupe.

[gr79]

Woo nice work back there.

Another post reminded to check on a splitter for sure a wide belly pan front rad to k frame.
Salvage off a late model Mustang or best fit design. A sheet of abs would work but factory looks cooler.
2.3 has oil filter in back, so no blocking that.

[795.0pacecar]

Installed 13" cobra brakes in 4 lug so I could keep my wheels.

[85GTGuy]

Installed 8.8 rear and suspension in my 79 Ghia coupe.

Nice job. That looks clean!

[Lubner]

[ITdude87]

Another Saturday in the books. Got the lower intake and the water pump removed successfully last night.

I was gritting my teeth removing the water pump after so many stories of broken bolts. It was pretty straightforward, but there was one that did give me some grief and had me a little spooked. I used an electric impact driver and worked my way up from the lowest torque setting bumping upwards in power and gobs of penetrant. You can see from the photo it was in rough shape and that gasket definitely needed to be done. Same with the lower intake and the original cork.

So now...

- Get everything cleaned and tidied up, maybe some new loom for the wires
- Bring the lower intake to get dry-ice blasted and cleaned
- New Motorcraft water pump + Felpro gasket + upgraded/treated hardware
- New Motorcraft coolant hoses + clamps (upper, lower, bypass, heater tube, etc)
- Felpro lower+upper intake gaskets
- MAYBE switch to a 180* thermostat instead of the 195 in there currently
- Fresh Amsoil coolant
- Clean clean clean
- Take my time and figure out the rats nest of a wiring harness and vacuum lines getting everything put back together

That...Should effectively do it for the maintenance this winter. This has been a massive pain in the ass, but also a good learning experience so far.

[ZEN50]

Recently added the boost gauge on the Turbo Coupe, replaces the factory clock. Had a gauge mounted on the column but never really liked it there.
The bracket was purchased from here .......... https://23parts.com/

[ITdude87]

Looks great Zen, nice touch!

[gr79]

Was almost 60F today. Two weeks since last start.
Started car, ran it a bit, then flooded it. Recently used to starting it when 30F out.
Battery was only 12v. Pumped it up with good old Sears 10a charger for few minutes.
Tach acted normal no unusual 8k spike during cranking.

[ITdude87]

New oil, coolant, and some studs to help install the lower intake straight are arriving in the mail today.

This evening I'll be starting the re-assembly of everything. We'll see how far I get.

I think I have a lead on some Ford Motorsport headers in real nice shape I'll be picking up too. Looks like they would clean up pretty nice - apparently they are the more expensive 'coated' set from back in the day. Just need a little TLC and some new hardware+gaskets.

[ITdude87]

Got everything put back together and she’s purring like a kitten with good temps and bone dry. Thank god.

I’ll say this…

I don’t know how you guys do it working with intakes and/or water pumps. Not a pleasurable experience at all for me. That was a tedious, stressful, time consuming mess. However everything does look really nice and it feels really good to have the nitty gritty over and done with.

[ZEN50]

Did a GT40 intake make it on there? Nice headers ......

[ITdude87]

Nope - I chickened out, so I’m leaving it stock. If I get those headers, that’ll likely be the last mod I do to the motor. It’s an ice cream getter for me at the end of the day.

[ZEN50]

It's all good the way it is.............

[scenarioL113]

During the winter I pull my battery out and keep it inside the house/basement. My thought process is this would keep the poor old computer/capacitors free from unnecessary load when not being used for months and months on end. Plus the Motorcraft battery was a tricky size to find, so I'd like to keep it healthy as long as I can.

Is there a benefit to keeping it hooked up in the car instead?

No, there is NO benefit to keep it hooked up. In my personal experience the best thing you can do for storage is to REMOVE the battery. Batteries over time and ESPECIALLY if left connected long term can cause oxidation and blemishing of the paint in the battery area and even on the fender.

[KevinK]

No, there is NO benefit to keep it hooked up. In my personal experience the best thing you can do for storage is to REMOVE the battery. Batteries over time and ESPECIALLY if left connected long term can cause oxidation and blemishing of the paint in the battery area and even on the fender.

I also had the battery explode while using a Battery Tender Jr while in the car. It was very bad.