Bought my first car this week!

[quaddriver]

wellll.....there are lots of places to hook the gauges to, and you do, but at different times...

high port, low port

you want, to start off, a port BELOW the throttle plates, which will read nice and high at idle. It will give you the most insight to vacuum diagnosable (I made that word up) items.

typically, for emissions and lower Nox, the vacuum advance ran on high port, or something above the throttle plates...lower advance at idle, increasing with rpm and hence when the vacuum moves UP the bores. There will be somewhere a thermal vacuum switch for when the coolant at the manifold (right after the heads) gets too hot, it switches over to a lower port which has a higher vacuum closed throttle which advances the timing and cools the cylinder heads and lowers nox - crude, but as effective as it needed to be.

Can you read the VECI label (vehicle emission control info label) either on the air cleaner, hood, or radiator valence. The most bang for the buck (lowest cost, least work, best results) you are going to get will be from replacing what HAS to be cracked leaking hoses, and verifying all the components work. Make sure any vacuum reservoirs are not holed, the choppers (they delay a vacuum signal change) all work.

and another thing you can do it warm the car up good and warm and make sure the choke has pulled off fully - butterfly utterly open, any lockout lever moved away.

socializing in college? they do that?

[Username1]

The factory manuals are actually very good, Chiltons (sp) SUCKS ROCKS
you can find factory stuff on ebay, they were made by Helm, but they do not
aid in redesigning anything, just factory spec....

Don't expect much more than 6mpg at factory spec. My 351C with FMX 3 speed auto,
A/C PS PB got 9mpg, and it uncomfortably sat 6 little asses, (4 full size lards)
and it was hard to get out of too..... You need a '79 and up LTD if you want
BIG with a little mpg.... The 302's with VV's got 26mpg, and the EFI's later did
about the same.....

.

[quaddriver]

btw - the factory manuals will be at spring carlisle and all ford nats at carlisle - 2 vendors that I know of.

there is at least one guy online who sells them as cd rom scans

edited to add:

http://www.faxonautoliterature.com/1...78-P23638.aspx

[Electronic M]

Originally Posted by quaddriver

btw - the factory manuals will be at spring carlisle and all ford nats at carlisle - 2 vendors that I know of.

there is at least one guy online who sells them as cd rom scans

edited to add:

http://www.faxonautoliterature.com/1...78-P23638.aspx

That CD is basically what I have/was griping about...

[Username1]

It's cool that you have a carburetor car, and that you will have the exposure
to that kind of technology, also that you are making a lot of the repairs
yourself, there are a lot of people growing up today that have no idea
what goes on when you turn the key and step on the gas.....

This is the kind of shop manual you need.....

http://www.ebay.com/itm/1978-Ford-Li...af4dd2&vxp=mtr

From the ad:

Features

* Factory Authorized Reproduction
* All Models
* approx 2000 pages
* Body, Chassis, Engine, Drivetrain & Electrical


This includes

* Most Complete Shop Manual Available
* Physical Paper Manual!
* Numerous Illustrations and Diagrams
* Technical Diagnostic Procedures
* Disassembly and Installation Procedures
* Written by the Manufacturer
* Used by the Mechanics at the Dealership

-----------

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[Electronic M]

Originally Posted by Username1

It's cool that you have a carburetor car, and that you will have the exposure
to that kind of technology, also that you are making a lot of the repairs
yourself, there are a lot of people growing up today that have no idea
what goes on when you turn the key and step on the gas.....

This is the kind of shop manual you need.....

http://www.ebay.com/itm/1978-Ford-Li...af4dd2&vxp=mtr

This includes
* Physical Paper Manual!

As much as the paper version of my CD would be nice to have, at that price I'd be better off every day at school printing my CD at under the 20 sheets a day for free print allowanc.....Wait that is a good idea!

[Electronic M]

Well the weather has been nice so I fixed the passenger power lock issue this weekend. On Friday me and a friend re-diagnosed the issue both switches only gave a response in one direction, and that response was a motor squeaking sound only from the passenger door. We got the passenger door card off and got a look at the motor in that door. It worked, but the rubber grommets that held it in it's mounts were turning to jelly, and predictably it had come loose from it's mountings. We figured out that the switch that was supposed to reverse voltage to it was not letting that happen, and thinking it was the passenger switch wasted a lot of time trying fix it. Then we ran out of time and buttoned it all back up.

The next day I messed around with the passenger switch more until I realized that it could not be the problem, and went after the driver side switch, I borrowed a similar switch from the window system and installing it yielded motor response from both switches in both directions (as it should). Being broke rather than spend 20$ for the correct replacement switch my solution was to drill a hole in the sealed plastic case and shoot contact cleaner in...It will now control the locks correctly, but if it is not re-centered quite right (the spring return is not as good after drilling the hole) the good passenger switch only will work one way. I wish the manual had an actual schematic of the circuit so that I could have figured it out back on Friday.

Today I fixed the passenger motor. Since it was out of it's mounts it would just try to turn futilely. The bad mount grommets were an odd shape that the hardware store did not stock so I got creative. My solution was to get some rubber stoppers (little rubber corks) the right size that they would be firmly wedged in the mount by the motor, and drill holes in them so the pegs of the motor would fit in the center....With how much effort went into squeezing it all together I think it is safe to say that it should hold together until those rubber stoppers start to rot. After that I lubed the motor (boy did that improve things) and cycled it about a dozen times, and put it all back together.

The driver side lock motor is still silent and unresponsive, but that is a job for another day. The way I see it the driver side power lock is the least important. I can let folks I travel with in and out easier now, and any future girl friend won't have to watch me bumble around with a key (that might need to be in the ignition at the time) as much.

I figure one of three things is wrong with the driver side lock motor: open motor, open supply/control wiring, or the motor is stuck REALLY firmly. Time will tell.

[Username1]

Door lock motors, are actually real motors and they get really crappy inside and
need to be carefully dis-assembled and cleaned, greased, and as long as the inside
is not too rusted, and the magnets go back together it can be used again.....

The window motor circuit is much less complicated than a tv. You can most likely
work it out on paper.... It's just a series of switches..... Switch contacts get pitted
by users pushing the window up and when it hits the top, they continue to hold
the button and it over heats and pits the contacts as well.... Ford's switches aren't
bad, you should be able to clean them up and get them working....

Anyway, good to hear you are making progress..... I remember working on my
mustang, first project get all the stuff to work the way is should.... I liked the
clock project the best.... Little set of breaker points to a coil that would wind
the main spring 1/2 turn every 5 minutes of so... Neat little thing...

.

[Electronic M]

If the other motor is bad rebuilding it is plan A. I'm the type of person that likes to dive to the deepest level of failure that can potentially be fixed and start there.

Yeah, I was close to trying tracing it out before I found the fault...It would have been annoying though since most of the lock wires are pink with a faint gray stripe (either solid or in various dash/dot patterns), wrapped in harnesses that obscure what goes where, and that generally leave a lot of room for me to mix them up.

[john f]

The power window circuit is usually the same way, everything controlled through the drivers door. So since the drivers door is the one that gets used the most, it's common for the wires in the door jamb to break. Just my 2 cents from my mechanic years.

[Electronic M]

I spent another hour on it today.

I decided to turn it around in the drive way (so if i dropped any screws they would not vanish in the grass), but was faced with it not wanting to start. I guess I ran the battery down last time I worked on it....
A good 5-10 minutes on my (likely period correct) TripLite charger/inverter restored enough charge to turn it over, and it was back to business.


In case anyone is curious what the procedure for getting the door card off is like here is a link to a video someone else made that is a pretty good representation. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ohVD8FgjhzE
The biggest learning curve was that the arm rest cushions on mine are not held in with velcro, but rather slide lock in place, and have to be slid back to remove them.






I was getting decent voltage at the motor plug so I coaxed the motor out (it wanted to stay in REALLY badly).


I dragged the door arm rest and motor in to work on them. The arm rest had some bad cracks on a thin section of it that I've super glued up....Setting that piece of plastic on my bed made me realize just how long the doors are on my car and at the same time how small my bed is.



I think the problem with the motor is evident in this photo....


I think I'll try soldering to the terminal rivet in the bottom of the motor and see what that gets me. I don't see an easy way into it presently.

[Username1]

Well who knows you might get off easy and not have to take apart the entire unit....
Lots of current runs through that little thingie, so be sure you use a large wire
when soldering it onto that lug/rivet.... Try and use multi-strand wire so you
have a bit of flexibility and you might as well do both sides, and remote
tie it to the plug wires, keeping the plug in the circuit in case you need it
later on.... If it works just seal off the plus holes so they don't corrode....

On old car doors like that, it is best to do all the work you can on one removal...
The crappy card board they made them with will get soft with each removal
and re installation... So fix it right, replace the speaker, clean everything,
spray some rust repair paint in the bottom, vacuum out the bottom of the
door where the drain holes are..... And be sure you carefully repair that
plastic water barrier that protects the cardboard.....

And if the window isn't running up and down right, or is a little too loose,
this is a good time to snug up the glass guides, and lube the runners....
Be careful what you lube everything with, or even if you should...
Our Honda Accord I have to use Armorall for lube it works best, as
the parts are rubber.... Some Ford guides are some cloth based stuff
and for the most part don't need lube.... If it seems to vibrate, or
semi-bind as it moves, my favorite dry lube is Chapstick.... Great for
key locks too by the way... House of car....

Anyway, check out everything possible while yer in there.....

Good luck and have fun !

Hey my finders had all those "Ford Dings" on them every time I had to
work on my car as well..... I think they planned it, 7" away from each
nut was a sharp piece of metal, or some other screw from the other side
positioned just so that when yer wrench slipped, there was some
sharp thing to say "Thanks for buying a ford, oh by the way, you need
a band-aid."

.

[Electronic M]

I've realized the motor is ceased, and there is no continuity to be found on those terminals....So it looks like I'm going to have to open it up. I sawed off the lower metal crimp (too thick a gauge to pry open), but it is still not coming open...Guess I'll saw a pinch farther up, and see what happens.
I probably should get some proper penetrating oil to try and unstick it (WD-40 don't cut it).

Yeah, I always end up with cuts on my hands when I get too focused on what I'm doing be it working on a car or a TV.
Yeah that car is it's own living room complete with couches....If I go to any far multi day swap meets in it I'll likely skip the motel.

[Username1]

Better off putting half in a vise, and twisting the other half.....
If you cut away a portion of the case, and the spacing is wrong
when you put it back, then you need another one.....
As long as it's not keyed as to position, vise it and twist it..

.

[Electronic M]

If you mean the motor shaft and body I've tried that, and the shaft is REALLY stuck.

If you mean to open the case I don't think that will work.....The motor case is one solid piece of metal from the shaft exit down to the plastic outlet at the bottom. It crimps on to the plastic electric connector like an old can type electrolytic only the metal is too thick to bend (So I cut the crimp to try and open it).

I'm starting to think this thing was not made to be rebuilt, and given how ceased it is and the amount of corrosion on top and in the terminals at the bottom logically speaking it is probably full of corrosion and may be beyond repair even IF I can get in without ruining it.