My 1989 Crown Victoria.

[Toploader]

I had no idea, I'll ask for Sambuca then, and here I thought I would get the same stuff my dad ordered 50 yrs ago:-(

Too bad they don't make Anesone (it was 90 Proof) anymore. Anisette is like sugar water. Sambuca or Pastis (a French Liqueur) is about as close as you can get!

[miamibob]

The two are VERY different, in strength at least, as opposed to taste. Anesette is more "sugary" tasting vs. Anesone. Dad was probably getting Anesette, anyway, so it may not matter. Pastis is popular in France, especially in Provence (I can still remember sipping it from the rear of my home in Avignon overlooking the acres of lavender fields). You can get it here but I have mine sent by relatives with other goddies in a "care package"!

[slack]

Haha. Yes it's been crazy cold here in LI. As for you guys going on about Italian stuff, I can't really comment. I'm a Scandinavian blockhead and know nothing of that stuff. We ferment fish in lye as a food, I can't even poke fun at ya.

[slack]

Police Speedometer!

So, I was able to score a police 140 speedometer from Bowman85merc! Thanks again dude!


If you've never seen before, (I know I haven't in person) here's the cluster from the front:


..and from the back:


Here's the inside of the police housing. Notice that it has all the spots for the lights of a regular cluster but doesn't use them. The traces even go to the the low oil/check engine lights as wells as the low fuel light but they're blocked off. (I've made a work around I'll post tomorrow for this)


Here's the speedo by itself: (note that it's missing the trip odometer, check engine and low fuel lights... I'll address these in a later post. )


Speedo from the back: It's super simple on these.


Close up of the odometer gear. With the regular ones, it goes to a tree that splits off to both the regular odometer and the trip odometer. Here it's just a direct drive right to the odometer. Notice that it actually has the 10th of a mile for the odometer. The regular clusters have them but they're hidden by plastic for some unknown reason.


Mod #1, I popped that police speedo on my existing housing. I've heard complaints about the piss poor illumination of the police clusters so I figured I'd keep my housing back so I would get the extra two lower illumination lights that the police housing lacks. (They're there, the circuit board doesn't go to the holes though).


Here's the back of the original housing of my '89 with the older police speedo installed... unmodified at the time. (btw it works unmodified for future enquiring minds.)


Here's all of it together:


That's the info to give you stock police 140mph speedo in a newer car... I've since modified to give low fuel and "check engine" instead of just "engine" light as well to the cluster. I'll post that tomorrow as I don't have the pics on me at the time.

[Toploader]

Hey Slack it was you guys that tought us Jew/Wops all that we know about smoked fish!,,,,,and what about Herring in wine sauce??

Haha. Yes it's been crazy cold here in LI. As for you guys going on about Italian stuff, I can't really comment. I'm a Scandinavian blockhead and know nothing of that stuff. We ferment fish in lye as a food, I can't even poke fun at ya.

[87gtVIC]

I love the 140 speedometers.

[Toploader]

I love women more, much more

I love the 140 speedometers.

[miamibob]

I love women more, much more

Don't mind him, Dave - it's probably a Viagra overdose. Remember, if you swallow sex pills too slow you get a stiff neck!! LOL

[Toploader]

Now now Bob, truth be told I thank God that the miracle(s) of modern pharmacopeia are not sought by this writer, but at "our" age the highway from the brain to the " creator" of all mankind has taken side trips to the intended destination

Don't mind him, Dave - it's probably a Viagra overdose. Remember, if you swallow sex pills too slow you get a stiff neck!! LOL

[miamibob]

Not on the blue pills (or any doing any other "un-natural acts) to "get the job done"!! Back is REAL bad, this week after working outside so no "action" in the near term! The sprit is willing but the back is weak!!!

[Toploader]

"Golly Sgt Carter.....that is exactly what Marie from 18th Avenue told me last night":-(

Not on the blue pills (or any doing any other "un-natural acts) to "get the job done"!! Back is REAL bad, this week after working outside so no "action" in the near term! The sprit is willing but the back is weak!!!

[slack]

Homebrew Alarm System Update

Here's an update on the homebrew alarm my friend and I are working on. So, the board is etched and all the connectors are soldered on now. Also, all the components have been added and tested.

There's a screw down terminal where power goes in. (12v dc in to a regulator that steps it down to 5v dc). There are then two other screw down terminals for the alarm trigger switches. In this case, it's a push-pull switch for the emblem and a relay that will click on when the interior lights go on. The two 5v relays on the board go to another relay circuit that will power a 12v horn and then the other one down the road will activate the headlight relay.

Here's the board with none of the components on except the voltage regulator: (This ended up getting switched upside down as my friend accidentally etched a mirror of the actual schematic instead. )


Here's with the components on:


Here's a pic where the horn/headlight relays relays (not a typo, relays to switch on relays... relay-inception ) are getting triggered:


More to come!

[slack]

140 Speedo Modification

Here are the modifications I did to the 140 police speedo Bowman85merc. I wanted to retain the use of the low fuel light and the "check engine" light. I use the back of my speedometer cluster and placed the police speedo inside of that (see previous post). I then ran the low fuel light to another bulb by the gas gauge that was painted red. (Low fuel idiot light circuit doesn't like LED lights... must use the bulb as a resistor). For the check engine light, I wired it up to actually illuminate the red "engine" light. My engine light does nothing as the oil pressure and water temperature are wired to gauges so I wired the check engine light to the that bulb.

Time for pics!

First, the low fuel idiot light.

Here's the basic idea I used to extend the low fuel bulb. I soldered two wires to the inside of the low fuel bulb connector, these will run to another connector that houses the red painted 194 bulb.


Another shot of it installed in the original location:


Yet another shot, this one shows the new connector with the bulb. I soldered to the side terminals of this connector.


Here's a mock up of where the new red bulb will sit:


Testing it on with the lights on:


And here's how it looks in the dark: (not too shabby, you can even see it with the dash lights on!)


I used a copious amount of hot glue and super glue to hold the bulb in place. So far, it's been fine.


Now for the check engine light mod:

Here's the basics of the mod. Basically, solder the wires from the side terminals of the screw connector for the bulb and route them to the engine light:


Only issue with this is, when one light goes on... they both go on. Now that they're wired in series, if the engine light and the check engine light goes on you could potentially give you engine light 24v... which would be no good. To remedy this issue, I use a good amount of packaging tape over the connector area where the engine light screws in. (I also used this opportunity to do the same to the edges of the printed board as well as it was a little frayed). With the tape, they'll still both go on when the check engine light goes on but you won't ever get more than 12v. The original red engine light is effectively disabled at this point and replaced by just the check engine light functionality.


All done! Little bit of hot glue to hold the new jumper wires in place:


(Little more in next post...)

[slack]

140 Speedo Modification Pt2

Just a few more pics of this....


In case anyone is wondering, here's what the dash looks like with the speedometer removed. There's four bolts that hold the housing in, then one electrical connector (push tabs on both sides) and the speedo cable. The cable is removed by pushing the white tab down (it's only on one side) and then sliding the cable backwards away from the speedometer housing. I was lucky enough to be able to pull my speedometer housing forward enough to remove the cable from the top instead of trying to somehow snake my hand from below. I also used this opportunity to graphite lube the holy hell out of the cable and the speedometer itself.



And final installation pictures! Woo!


Just took the car to and from visiting my family out in York, PA with no issues!

[87gtVIC]

Nice. Totally clean looking on the outside.