85lebaront2

I am beginning to think the electrical system has the ghost of Joe Lucas in it. I have a key on, low current leak to the brake light circuit, I thought it might be the speed control circuit as, unlike Ford, it has a dedicated set of contacts in the brake light switch. Pulling the fuse made no difference. I say low current because it is showing 8.08 volts at the stop and turn light feeds and the third brake light. This is with LEDs in all 5 locations. Changing one of the tail light bulbs back to an incandescent bulb kills the other 4 lights. It is definitely coming through the brake light circuit, unplugging the switch kills it. In any event here are some more pictures: Gary, the opening under the radio is where I need to come up with a panel for a power point, hazard flasher switch, panel dimmer and courtesy light switch and the rear window defroster switch.

I buy things like that from Clips and fasteners . com. If you have the Ford number you can google it, I found the inner fender retainers for my 2009 Flex that way, the bulk of them are called scrivets, 11 per side and I ordered a box of 25 and a box of 10 of another strange piece. They have a pretty good assortment of these items and sell in bulk packages.

The problem with the left turn indicator light was a bad factory splice where three wires and the dash feed were all spliced, the dash feed was broken inside the taped area. It is now fixed.

So the email I got Wed at 2:02 AM saying I'd get it that day was, as I suspected, quite wrong. But it is interesting to me that there was almost 24 hours lost between the shipment info being generated and the cover being picked up. Then there was about 36 hours where FedUp had it and it was moved around by truck to their facility in Olathe and then to their facility, about 8 miles away in Lenexa. Meanwhile the 2300 mAh AA batteries I ordered from Amazon last night will arrive in less than 24 hours. Similarly the Midland radios were ordered last Saturday morning and were delivered before we left for church on Sunday morning. I believe that COVID-19 has moved many of us from picking things up from brick & mortar stores to buying online, and we aren't likely to go all the way back. And Amazon is certainly setting the bar high for speed of delivery. So our expectations are/have been dramatically changed on what is acceptable, and vendors like LMC and shipping companies like FedUp are going to have to change their approaches. Or, to put it another way, someone will and whomever does is going to get the business. As for the A-pillar, I looked yesterday and there's no easy way to get the wire from the open area in the A-pillar into the header going across above the windshield. And even then you have to get out and into the Highliner. The instructions with the Highliner say to come up the B-pillar and follow the dome light wires, so that's my plan. I have some flat speaker wire designed to go under carpet, so am thinking about using that for the left and right rear channels, and power to the radio will come from the actual stock radio circuit. I'll also have to cut into the roof area to install the weatherproof BNC connector, so I have some work to do before thing can go together. Gary, I wouldn't think the standard cab A pillar is different from the crew cab as the A and C pillar on the crew cab are standard cab components. You have a pair of wires in the left side A pillar for the roof lights. Unplug the ends of that (I think it is a plug into the fuse box and a ground), tie a piece of string to them and pull it up, attach the wire(s) to the Highliner and pull the resulting bundle down the left A pillar. Be glad it's not a convertible, the A pillar on the Chrysler would do as a roll cage, it's pretty healthy and there is no straight through open area, it is blocked just about at the cowl line.

Thank you George, USMCR 1965-1971 and 1975-1982.

Well, I have run into a few issues on the wiring, some of which is probably due to using 1989 gauge clusters on the 1990 wiring. Chrysler made a major change in 1990, the analog clusters are primarily different in the shape and connections. The 1989 cluster has two 11 pin round plugs of which 16 are used, one of these is an air bag monitor which is not on a 1986 car. The 1990 cluster has two rectangular 14 pin connectors of which 19 are used. One of the additions in 1990 is a "check gauge" lamp that seems to be connected to the oil pressure light. This is not used on the digital cluster. Starting in 1990 Chrysler added a body computer to many of their vehicles and use the communication bus to talk between the various modules, the SBEC (engine computer) trip computer and digital gauge cluster. The 1989 digital cluster does not have the connections for this bus. What I am running into is two part, the adapter harness for the analog cluster, will when plugged in, cause the BCM to immediately start chiming as soon as the harness is plugged in, even without the cluster attached (the BCM does have a constant 12V power source as it controls the illuminated entry lighting). I am going to disconnect the "check gauge" wire and see if that eliminates the problem there (the analog 1990 cluster has two oil light wires, a gray from the switch and a dark green/yellow going to the BCM in addition to the gray wire also going to the BCM). The other interesting problem is the left turn signal indicator (tan wire) is not getting power in L turn. The system on the 1990 wiring is interesting to say the least. Chrysler went to a new switch system in 1990 on the Lebaron Coupe and convertible along with the Dodge Daytona, there is a large bank of relays as the switches are PC board style and will not handle the power draw of the headlights or multiple smaller lights, so there is a low beam, high beam and park lamp relays, also 4 turn signal relays, 2 for the rear and 2 for the front. The rear ones in the "off" position connect the brake light circuit to the tail lights, in the "on" position connect the tail lights to the flasher circuit, either one side or the other or both at once. The front ones only connect the front signal lights to the flasher system when on, the dash indicators are connected to the front signal circuit of the appropriate side. First step will be to see if my left front signal is working, if not, then a relay swap to see if that corrects it, if the light is working then it becomes an issue in the light green wire from the left front relay to pin 21 in the bulkhead connector and pin 5 in my male adapter connector.

If I remember correctly the shims actually go on the end of the shaft just as they do on the FS10 compressors. They need to fit inside the clutch plate bore and over the threaded end of the shaft.

Sure has, we don't use too many vacuum tubes anymore.

Shouldn't burn up from 12V, but running it dry can burn the actual pump up. I usually stick one in something thin like ATF that isn't as flammable as gas. There is a second pump on the frame that is the high pressure pump for the EFI system.

Ok, Jim, you commented on the wiring hang from the instrument panel area, that was just a temporary prove out item. I have two different, physically interchangeable instrument panels, one is analog, the other digital, both work, but the plugs are completely different and the digital has 4 additional wires for constant 12V, electronic dimming, one more ground and a driver's door switch lead. The analog has one extra that ties to the body computer to provide an audible check gauges warning. What I did was to take some 12 way connectors I found on Amazon and use a male/female pair on the dash wiring and each instrument panel pigtail (22 on the digital and 16 on the analog) but because of the differences I needed 23 pins on the dash side to allow for the different configuration. Here are the dash side plugs: Here are the two instrument panels with their pigtails: Here are the back sides so you can see the different connections: Here is the digital with it's pigtail: And the analog with it's pigtail:

I always thought it was 28 spline for cars, and 31 for the trucks...at least with the 8.8's it is this way. No 100%, I had a car with a nice factory narrowed 9" with 31 spline axles. I found that for a fact when I ordered a Detroit locker from my local dealer. I also am pretty sure the big block pony cars and intermediates got 31 spline axles along with the Galaxies an Mercury full size cars.

If it's any help my 1977 did.

I will too, it was calibrated every January by NNS as a personal tool and never needed adjustment.

Ok, you got me interested in doing some checking. I have a set of Mitutoyo dial calipers, no 537 - 110 and a nice Mitutoyo 0 - 1" micrometer no 193 - 211. I took a scrap piece of lead wire from some small electrolytic capacitors I installed on a power supply for a Polaroid TV. I measured it with the calipers and the micrometer, here are the results: First here are the two instruments: Then, calipers zeroed: And micrometer zeroed: The piece of capacitor lead: Sorry it wouldn't focus better. Caliper measurement: 0.022+" Micrometer measurement: 0.024"

Ok, a bit more progress, got the underhood portion of the vacuum/pressure gauge connected and installed it, the trip computer and HVAC control head. I had to redo the wiring on the warning light portion of the gauge unit. Here is a picture with the engine running. Instrument cluster will be next, I found the electronic dimming wire from the digital plugs wasn't connected.

Gary, on my dial calipers, the dial scale can be rotated to reset 0 just like zeroing a dial indicator, I will have to look later as to brand and may get a picture of them for you. They may be Mitutoyo as I also have a very nice mechanical digital 0- 1" micrometer of theirs. I have micrometers from 0 to 6" span the 1 - 2" and larger were acquired from a shop that closed. All of them used to get an annual calibration while I was still working at NNS.

Gary, when you close the calipers all the way do they read 0? if not that should be an easy fix. If they do, then you need to send them back to whichever Chinese factory they came from.

If his carburetor has the external pull of diaphragm, either in the air horn or attached to the back of the main body, it needs to be adjusted to properly open the choke initially. Most of these external pull-offs have a two stage operation, first stage is the minimum opening the engine can handle dead cold, then a small spring in the pull-off will exert pressure to open the choke further as it begins to heat up so as not to become over rich. Once this stage is passed, further choke opening is dependent on heat only. The other factor in cold running is the fast idle speed setting, it is always set with engine warm and on a 2150 is identified by an arrow on the fast idle cam. the screw is placed at the arrow and the fast idle is set with the screw. The reason it is set warm, cold is not an absolute, cold engine at 60° is different from cold engine at 80° or 30°. Forward on a Ford choke is leaner, they rotate the inside counterclockwise to close as do Holleys. It should be marked on the cover, but may not be. FWIW, Carter AFBs rotate clockwise to close as the rod runs almost horizontally from the choke housing to the choke shaft and the choke shaft rotates counterclockwise to close where the choke housing inside rotates clockwise to pull the rod forward.

It is called Detroit engineering, pioneered by Government Motors. Why spend $0.10 when you can do it for $0.05 or less. Plastic is cheap and somewhat self lubricating and is also quiet (no gear whine). The retainer was designed so it could be done with an automated assembly jig and the rest of the assembly is held in place when the housing is snapped together. Two shafts, 4 gears and a 12V DC motor in a piece not much bigger than a box of kitchen matches. Gary, I dare say Blue has a dashboard full of those little beasts on the HVAC system. You also have to remember, the K-cars were never intended to last this long, even the Imperial that the EATC system came from is still a K-car derived platform which is why it fits perfectly, even the control head is the same dimensions as the manual, even heater only control.

While I had the dash still not fitted fully, and waiting for epoxy and the ABS slurry to set up, I decided it might be a good time to run the line from the vacuum/pressure lines on the engine through the firewall and to where the vacuum/boost gauge and warning lights go in the upper center of the dash. That is now almost complete, I have to get the underhood portion connected to the fitting in the right side penetration. While I was working on this I decided that looking at the fresh air/recirculate actuator might be in order as I had noticed seemed to be a little "jumpy" as far as moving the door to the right position. There is no feedback or internal stop, it runs until it stalls and the processor must sense the current increase and shut it off. The system has a common lead to the three actuators, fresh/recirc, mode and blend. Only the blend has a full feedback sense so after being used for a while the processor "learns" it's position. The mode has a feedback circuit that appears to be two segments connected to the two sides of the motor so the "mid" position which is floor allows the processor to stop it there, face and defrost are the two extremes. What I was seeing was the driven gear for the fresh/recirc was slipping on the hex of the output crankshaft. The gear was cracked when I acquired the system and I had repaired it then (non of the actuators are available) so I had repaired it with some J B Weld. The issue is the gear train is all plastic, 4 stages and the second and 4th are on the same shaft, the 2nd being free and retained with a pressed on circular "non-removable" circular clip. It will loosen with age (system is from a 1992 Imperial) and when it does, the slight taper of the hex will try to push it off further. I super glued the 4th stage gear to the output then after it set, reassembled and crimped the center of the retainer before pushing it down tightly. I lubed the shafts and ran it in both directions with my DC power supply before reinstalling it. I got the AC and defroster ducts, wiring harness and side window demister ducts to finally play well together so the dash is installed and I am putting the lower portions in to check fit and figure out where my panel dimmer, hazard switch and rear window defroster switch will go and see what kind of panel I will need to come up with for them. There is a section under the radio that had a pull out drink holder on the 1989 car, due to the shifter location it isn't usable for that so it will become the switch panel.

Gary, I'll have to remember the 3M strip calk for T2K-CAR, Chrysler changed from tar paper type vapor barriers to plastic in 1986 and since none of that stuff is still available and the K27 body was a 4 year only run, there is very little aftermarket support. I plan on cutting up some heavy contractor's trash bags to make the vapor barriers. Good information!

Doesn't the 79 Ranchero have rear coil springs? If it does then all the attaching points are completely different.

You can install the older rod style as a complete assembly, latch, rods and handle. I have done newer doors an my 1986 and my best friend just did the doors on his 1995 F350.

Yes, but on the 318 it was in the manifold outlet with the shaft parallel to the crank so wasn't easy to get to to bang on. By the time you pulled the right side manifold it was just as easy to replace it as try to free it up and hope it stayed that way.

Newer aftermarket systems (dealer installed falls in that category) use a Sanden or similar multi-cylinder axial style. The first round of Ford units were an FS6 which used an axial 6 cyl unit (3 double ended pistons), the later ones are a FS10 which has 5 double ended pistons. If you can find it, the AC casing under the dash may have a label on it saying who built it. The York and Tecumseh compressors will tolerate R134, but the system needs to be flushed and will need the correct oil for a conversion. As for cooling, my 1986 F350 crew cab was decent with the original system, unless it hot soaked at a stop, then it would take a bit to get cold. Yours being a recirculate only system (unless it's one of the real good ones that can pull air from the cowl vent area) should be more than adequate working correctly.