85lebaront2

Unfortunately being a 1978 it has the infamous Motorcraft 4300D on it.

Not that I know of. Are you talking about removing the stripped panel screws?

The blue "can" on the back of the passenger side of the carburetter should have manifold vacuum applied to it. It is the choke pull-off and opens the choke (strangler) blade after a few seconds of running. It has a bleeder system (cover on back) so is harder to test than a plain one. The choke control is a bimetallic spring in the choke cover which gets it's heat from the exhaust crossover passage in the intake manifold. The tube in the back of the choke housing should get quite hot fairly soon after starting the engine, if it does not look for a broken tube (rusted through) or the inlet tube (goes next to it) being blocked or used as a vacuum source by mistake. It normally is connected to a nipple on the upper part of the carburetter.

On these trucks, the power from the battery goes through the alternator harness then inside the cab. I swore the first time I was sorting things on a bullnose that I wanted whatever those EEs were smoking when they designed the system. In the words of Cheech and Chong, "must have been some dynomite sheet mon."

Looks good sir, those things do have a lot of holes, although I suspect the through holes for the 16 hold down fasteners might not be a huge issue.

Looks good so far sir! You will truly become the "Bullnose Bible".

The in-dash box can stay; only the underhood box has to be changed to use the factory '94-96 evaporator. https://supermotors.net/getfile/978974/thumbnail/evaps.jpg https://supermotors.net/getfile/1089927/thumbnail/evapcovers.jpg And it's pretty easy to change, even when the truck is assembled & driveable. I've done the swap without losing any coolant or refrigerant. Sucks, but the factory parallel-flow condenser is vastly superior, and a worthwhile upgrade to any older system. Especially if you can find a complete JY system locally. https://supermotors.net/getfile/967466/thumbnail/29hood.jpg Is it the conglomeration of fittings in this pic where the "liquid line" pointer is? https://supermotors.net/getfile/931420/thumbnail/ac49.jpg I second Steve's opinion. The 1994-96/7 condensor will need a little effort to get it in and the 1994-96/6 A/C case is a bolt on and if you use the wiring hole in it you get rid of the underside A/C wiring. I will throw another option out for you, aftermarket compressor, Sanden makes a nice one along with a number of others. This will give you a higher volume R134a compressor. I have the Ford FS-10 on Darth but that was due to acquiring most of the HVAC system from a 1996 F150 the owner had rolled in broad daylight on a dry road (home grown sway bar system for his lift kit). I found a compressor hose set at Pick-n-Pull in Virginia Beach. The condensor is a new 1994-96/7 purchased from LKQ and fitted to the 1990 core support. I had already done an R134a conversion on Darth and our 1990 Lincoln Town Car so other than my konvertible everything we had was R134a.

That's all well and good IF i lived in an area where I can run to all sorts of sources for these type of fittings quickly. I have an ACE hardware about a mile away, one parts jobber who carries an amazing assortment of marine and farm equipment items and can make permanent crimped fittings for them, just not small stuff. I have a NAPA and AutoZone 15 miles away, no O'Reilly anywhere close (nearest one is 60 miles and an $18 round trip toll away) nearest Advance is 60 miles the opposite way. Tractor supply, who might have something is up where AutoZone and NAPA are. After spending 30 years in a laboratory where we frequently had to make parts needed to perform tests, I decided to make my connectors and use the nice full contact hose clamps I had saved off of three or four of these cars that were being scrapped. I also wanted to restrict the flow as little as possible as some Torqueflites are very sensitive to flow restrictions in the cooler lines.

The brass piece in the hose is a quick connect. mine had them also. I suspect on the compressor a later pre-serpentine FS-6 will work they were still V-belt through 1986.

Probably wouldn't hurt, they get a small bead of RTV on them where they go through the cover.

FYI, the two small holes on the back side opposite end from the oil cap are for the internal baffle. This "in theory" keeps the oil inside the valve cover. These engines are famous for puking oil into the breather and soaking the air filter with oil.

Never been there, did tour Norfolk assembly a number of times (Matt's 1986 was built there).

Steve, it was rubber to rubber except at the cooler and I used the quick connect pieces from the Durango it came off of there.

I had my brake controller (an old Kelsey-Hayes hydraulic one) mounted under the steering column on Darth before I changed everything to the 1996 interior. Circled in picture, toggle switch was to disable the brake circuit for towing an empty trailer.

You could probably use a regular double flare kit and just do the first stage of the double flare, my set needs a new "vice" as the internal teeth that are supposed to grip the line are worn and no longer hold. I didn't push it all the way as I think it leaves the back side flat which could create a place where the hose could be cut internally.

Just and FYI on transmission cooler lines. Chrysler used molded hoses on the FWD cars, some 5/16" and some 3/8". My konvertible has the turbo II engine with an intercooler on the left end of a smaller than normal radiator. Since the turbo II engines were never originally built with an automatic and the intercooler prevents access to the cold end, I had to use and external cooler which I removed along with the quick connects from a Durango with a 4.7L V8. I figured since it was the only cooler used on the transmission it should be adequate for the little A413. I first tried just using a length of hose, but short of using two long pieces and having to secure them away so they wouldn't rub on things. I looked at the original molded pieces from the 1986 TBI cooler plumbing, but they really didn't like being twisted 90° to reach through to the cooler. What I ended up doing was cutting both of them just above where they turned up to go to the radiator. On the lower one, I just turned the cut off piece around to point it forward, the upper one I cut the last 90° section off, cut the lower portion like the lower hose and did the same reverse of the resulting L shaped section. To splice them, I didn't have a long straight section to make the connections in so I took my bubble flare kit and using the 8 mm tools made a nice "barb" section to assemble everything.

Gee, that stuff looks vaguely familiar. I thought it had gone into a black hole, or maybe a rusty Chevrolet.

Taurus 3.8L 3G and snag as much of the wiring harness as you can, it runs from the alternator across the top of the radiator then back to the underhood fuse box near the windshield on the driver's side. The plugs for the stator and "tickler" wire run in with the output wire. He also needs to find a correct length and size bolt for the alternator, mine for the original setup is long gone.

The problem comes, as with many aftermarket items, demand drives availability. 1980-1986 = 7 years, 1987-1997 = 11 years, so Safelite among others decided "windshield is the same size, let's just carry the later one". Guy I worked with had an 86 he was fixing up to sell, he took it to have a windshield replaced, they put a 1987-97 windshield in, he took it back and made them get the correct one and replace it. I ran into the same thing on my 1971 Colony Park, it would go through a tailpipe in about 2 years, since it was a 429 it took a 2 1/4" tailpipe, Goerlichs, one of the major suppliers, decided oh, Ford wagon, 1969-1972, we sell more 1 7/8" tailpipes than 2 or 2 1/4", so we will just only supply that in the future. A 429 is strangled with a single 2 1/4" tailpipe, I can't imagine how it would run with a 1 7/8" pipe. Or trying to convince Sears that a group 24F battery was not big enough to use since it called for a group 27F with 429 and A/C. All they carried was a 24F, and I told them to be ready to provide road service to get it started. When you opened the doors, I think there were enough interior lights for a Christmas tree, 30 min or so loading the car for a trip, try to start a cold 429, right, not happening.

It looks like it might be a Government Motors alternator, they were popular for a 1 wire setup. Ford 1G used a remote regulator, 2G AKA flaming Ford used an integral regulator and two molded plugs, 3G uses a 6mm stud and a 1 and 3 wire pair of plugs. GM built a close to the same size that could be used as a 1 wire alternator.

Merry Christmas to all.

Good point Jonathan. Here are some pictures of the 81's engine bay that I'm planning to go look at tomorrow. Looks like it's mostly all intact, minus some smog equipment. Seller says that it needs some carb work, which I am assuming means that the thing isn't running properly/well. Anything specific to check for on these things? Not sure if these pics will post properly... Check for the screws attaching the float bowl to throttle body being loose. That will make it run like a pig, also vacuum leaks and EGR stuck open.

Why don't you go opposite what most hot rodders do, put a built 300 in it, the Chevy/GMC 6s are usually 7 port heads, E II EE II EE II E as opposed to the Ford big 6 (240/300) 12 port head E I E I E I E I E I E I (if I remembered that pattern correctly on the Ford). In addition the dual intake and exhaust ports on GM are siamesed ports.

Gary. I suggested dual progressive Holley/Webers like a Pinto or earlier Chrysler 2.2L used. The Pinto carbs have mechanical secondary throttles, the Chrysler ones are vacuum secondary design. Pinto carb, pluses, has replaceable idle jets for tuning the idle transition, main jets, air jets and emulsion tubes are replaceable for tuning, engine size 2.3L (140 ci). Minuses, mechanical secondary throttle, water heated choke. Chrysler carb, pluses, electric choke, vacuum secondary, main jets, air and emulsion tubes replaceable for tuning. Minuses, idle jets internal, non-replaceable prone to getting blocked, engine size 2.2L (134 ci). Aftermarket Weber carbs, fully adjustable jetting, can be had in larger sizes for V6 applications (2.8L or 171 ci), many are hand choke but electric chokes are also available. These will frequently have a larger secondary barrel. On the 3 one barrels, I would suggest trying to find a matched set of the Ford/Holley 1940 carbs, they have real accelerator pumps, piston type power enrichment systems but hot air or manual chokes only. They also have a dual pontoon float and a pretty much concentric float bowl design. Progressively used, center carb with auto choke, end carbs with manual chokes tied open. Synchronized, all three same style choke and jetted the same. My personal choice for multiple carbs on an in-line 6, either 3 SU HD8s or 3 45 DCOE Webers.

Yes to the tracking and yes to the 3.55 ratio. Darth came with an open 3.55 gear Sterling 10.25" rear, when I redid the rear because of a spun left rear wheel bearing I took the guts from a 3.55 SRW traction lock and put it in an originally 4.10 DRW open housing (4.10 set had water damage to the ring and pinion). I wanted the limited slip 3.55 gear and needed it to have the ABS tone ring for the 1992 up speedometer so I used the innards from the parts truck SRW 3.55 limited slip Sterling and put them in the junkyard 4.10 DRW open Sterling.