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Dave, some of the YFAs have a small round plug in the air filter flange, it is for the final mixture tweak during bench flow testing. With it removed a small skinny Phillips head screw driver can access the screw on the metering rod hanger, counterclockwise for lean, clockwise for rich. If you can find something to cover the hole then you can drive it, adjust it and drive it some more. I would start with 1/2 turn CCW and go in 1/2 turn increments until it feels sluggish or spark knocks at light throttle, then go back 1/4 turn and recheck.

Gary, that sounds damn good! You are definitely peeling the onion now!

I'm sure the headers don't help either.

Maybe so, it worked well on Pacers to fix their hot start problems.

Jim, the reason I asked that is from personal experience. I don't remember which engine it was, I'm thinking either my Falcon 260 or Cobra 289 in my GT350 that cracked the cup plug that Ford inserts open end in over the pressure relief valve spring. Since it is a blind cap, there is a probably 1/8" passage from the back side of the relief valve and the pump inlet. The cracked cap was allowing the pump to draw air in causing a very erratic oil pressure on the factory 5V thermal gauges it wasn't obvious, but on a mechanical gauge you could see the pointer vibrate which is the reason the better gauges have a damper on them so they don't vibrate at idle when the actual pulses from the pump manifest themselves. Item for your store of arcane and occasionally useful information, on the later Bricknose and Aeronose trucks, it is possible to have a working oil pressure gauge. On the circuit board for the cluster, there is cut strip between the sender input and the signal pin on the gauge (they have 3 pins, Ignition Power, Signal and Ground) there is a resistor across this "gap" that when the signal lead is grounded by the oil pressure switch puts the "gauge" at roughly 1/2 scale. If this "gap" is bridged with a piece of wire and one of the old "dome" style senders used, it becomes a working gauge and is very responsive to changes in pressure.

Gary, are you just using the dash oil pressure gauge? If so do you have a mechanical one you can connect? If for some reason the oil pressure is fluctuating due to any of a number of factors it could be causing the switch to be opening and closing. You didn't have the pulses when you jumped the switch to check and set the pressure, so something is now causing this.

Motorcraft ASF42C4/SP450A is what I use in Darth which is the same plug the carbureted/DS-II engine takes. On the fuel pump, remember, the switch for the hot fuel handling package controlled a relay, not the pump directly due to the current draw of the pump. Are you using the Ford switch or the Chrysler one I suggested?

Gary has a DSII tester I gave him a number of years ago (actually traded him for a MAC scope) so he can test and rule the box good or bad and it may also test the coil and resistance wires. On the fuel pumps, the EEC controls the fuel pump relay, it will pulse during the initial key on, then once the EEC gets the trigger pulse from the hall effect sensor in the distributor, it will turn the relay back on. Spark plugs, I am using Motorcraft plugs in Darth after previous issues with Autolite plugs (remember, they are now owned by Fram). When I had my shop, I stocked the OEM recommended plugs for each of the US brands, at that time Ford was changing from Autolite to Motorcraft, for GM I had AC, and Chrysler I had Champion. One item I have run into, Bosch platinum plugs and Ford engines do not play together well to the point of the same type of miss Gary has in BB right now.

A cap and rotor or plugs or wires won't show on the tach, it only reads primary pulses. Ray Cecil, a french distributor is almost a mission impossible on a 460 due to the size of that cap and the thermostat housing, if you get it in, I think you have almost no adjustment range due to interference.

Gary, you are using the rear tank only right now correct? I still wonder about the ability of those regulators to drop a pump capable 50 + psi down to 5-6 psi. The other item, how much gas is in that rear tank? It looks like it could be drawing air in, then gas, then air. One item you might try, rig a bypass high pressure to return with throttling valve and with the engine off, key on, adjust it so the regulator isn't trying to throttle that pressure down to 1/10, it may be that it is chattering on the seat, in fact from looking at the gauge, I will bet if you put your hand on the line you can probably feel it pulsing.

Mine will lift the front or rear far enough to get the 215/85R-16 tyres on with only the normal fight to get everything lined up.

With a dually you have to use the cone, it goes base down and lines the tire up as you tighten it. I cheated, I put two bolts and nuts through my support and the wheel goes dish down so the tire is against the tank. once it is wrestled on it will stay while I raise the carrier back up. I too throw the flat or blowout (last failure I had) in the bed. I don't have a bottle jack, but my OEM 1986 screw jack works quite well I lubed the thing thoroughly when I first got Darth and still will take it out and exercise (or should it be exorcise) it and lube it periodically. On the winch, Chrysler uses them on their minivans, when I first met Mary she had a 1997 Caravan and the winch was jammed and broken, spare was under there, just couldn't get it down.

Question is, do they test the return for opening? Before you go to all the issue of dropping and reinstalling the tank to switch, how much slack do you have in the lines, enough to say put a new FDM in a 5 gal pail so you can observe things.I don't know who Amazon's source is as far as having dealt with them, I ordered my front FDM directly from SPI and still had a bad one (FWIW, most are made in China). What does NAPA want for one or any other local parts store?

I like the modification on the end of the tire carrier, I may need to do that on Darth as my V5 receiver hitch is in the way of the lug wrench handle socket.

They have been great to deal with. Due to Labor day being Monday the 7th and BayPort not open on weekends (they go by the shipyard's schedule) if they are not in a position to get it to Suffolk before around 5:30 PM (CU closes at 6:00 PM) then it will end up being Tuesday.

Looks good sir! If I had known you or anyone else wanted the plastic sill plates, I would have kept the ones from Big Ugly, the 1990 F250 parts truck. I was looking at the AC compressor wire and it dawned on me, you still are using the 1985 front harness layout. Darth's is part of the engine harness now.

The joystick in both the Murano and the GLK allow you to move the cursor on the map, zoom in or out, and select things, with your arm laying comfortably on the center console and your right hand easily tilting, rotating, and pushing the joystick. On my Sync, in a bouncy pickup no less, you have to use your finger to drag the screen to go to a new position, and once you find it you have two minutes before it reverts back to where you are. As for zooming, you have to touch the + or - button on the screen, which requires you to take your eyes off the road to find and then steady your hand on the bezel of the screen in order to touch it. And selecting something also requires touching the screen. In my humble opinion, the Sync system on my 2015 F150 is FAR inferior to either the 2011 Murano or the 2014 GLK. I hope the one in your Flex is better than mine. Ok, update on the Flex. There is a problem with the center seat, probably the middle one. They are replacing it with a new one from Ford and are waiting for it to arrive. Current ETA is tomorrow, so depending on that and how long to install it I may be getting it Friday, if not since I have to get the check for them from my credit union and they are amenable to meeting half way (3+ hours each way from here to Tarboro or vice versa) we will meet at the BayPort CU branch in Suffolk VA to take care of the transfer and hand over of my 1994 Taurus LX as a trade in.

I know that on a smooth road, even a twisty 2 lane one, Darth rides great, smooth enough my late wife had him over 80 on a 2 lane back road the first time she drove him back from our big scout camp. That 168" wheelbase just floats over irregular areas. Now I know how some of the great marques of the 30s rode so well on 4 leaf springs, it was the long wheelbase.

Plug your ears for 1 word: https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=muffler+bearings+youTube&docid=608048282696683336&mid=2D61415BA0BB3838F05E2D61415BA0BB3838F05E&view=detail&FORM=VIRE There's something fishy about that video.

Gary just be sure the exhaust shop only uses the top line muffler bearings, you wouldn't want them failing on you.

Jim, by the time BB is finished he may need a padded cell

Yes, two of them and both the "cinnamon" color with sunroof (not my choice on either, my feeling if I want a roof leak I'll take my konvertible). From the pictures the center of the dash looks the same except the color. On the SYNC system, I have a radio in Darth that will do the same hands free calling. Joystick, hmm, can you play Pacman on it? that's the only use I ever found for a joystick unless you consider the one connected to the toploader or T10 in the Shelby, or to the A525 in the Horizon to be a joystick. One of the reasons I don't want to go too new, if they are not going to use a conventional shifter, then give me back my "typewriter drive" like we had in the 1959 DeSoto and 1962 Plymouth. I am damn sure a set of pushbutton switches could do the same thing a knob does and with a much easier to determine which position you are in particularly since most all modern automatics are computer controlled. The 6F50 in the flex is shared with GM as a 6T50 (Ford uses F for FWD and GM uses T for transverse) Chrysler does their own thing, but uses T or L to differentiate between FWD and RWD like GM.

Gary, we already have a 2011 Flex Limited, non-ecoboost. We like it for all the reasons stated, it is closest thing to a traditional station wagon you can buy. Seats folded, loads of cargo room, seats up, 7 passengers. we have the middle seat refrigerator/freezer, middle seat HVAC controls, also the kiddie entertainment system, dual screen DVD players that can also be run from the front. Both of us love the SYNC system for hands free calling (which can also be done verbally). It has the HID projector headlights which remind me of the ones a friend gave me for my GT350, he brought them back from Canada as a Christmas present, they were so strong I could read the registry number on a boat parked at the end of our 2 block long dead end street as soon as I turned in and hit the high beams. The Flex headlights do not "dim", they have a shutter that covers the upper left side of the beam for "low" beam.

I've haven't seen any that work like that (auto lock after ignition OFF) although seems likely to exists but mine is configurable via dipswitches so that it can lock after you turn on the ignition or unlock after you turn it off - this has gotten me a number of times when starting the truck with the door open and then stepping out and shutting the door to monitor something on the engine. So I can definitely imagine the pain of having it autolock after ignition off without the ability to disable that feature. Curious on the bolded part. Wouldn't the door be unlocked via the normal hardware by opening it? What about using the 'key in ignition' factory circuit in your 86 to prevent them from locking? Our 2011 Flex, you can't lock the doors with the engine running and driver's seat unoccupied, however, if I use my remote start (operates by pressing the lock button on the integrated key head 3 times) I can start it by relocking it using the remote. It is a real nice system made by Fortin, very nice, clear instructions and integrates with the vehicle quite well.

Well, not a Bullnose, technically a truck though. I am in the process of replacing my 1994 Taurus LX with a 2009 Flex Limited. For Gary, it has the 3.5L Ecoboost V6 which I believe is the same engine as Blue has. 6 speed transaxle and AWD (standard on ecoboost) with a class III receiver already on it so it should handle (a) my 2K capacity Aluma and (b) my brake equipt tow dolly for taking the konvertible to the muffler shop.