KW's 1979 Ford LTD Landau

[Arquemann]

If I ever had another box or old Ford product- 3G swap. That ultra-low output at idle thing where the headlights dim, wipers go miserably slow, defrost barely works, blinker doesn't blink ect., ect. has to go.

Hmm, I got a new alternator in mine, old regulator, can't really complain about it. Blinkers are slow, but they're always slow. Never had any issues with the blower, wipers or such. Headlights barely dim at all, just about noticeable when the high beams are on with the blinker.
Though my car doesn't have an ECM anymore, so the power draw is probably 5% less than from factory.

[DerekTheGreat]

I thought the same thing before the swap, but everything on my Lincoln was exacerbated by the audio system I put in it. Subwoofer output was terrible & sloppy, which is what got me off my ass to do the swap. Subwoofer output tightened up immensely with the swap and the addition of a big capacitor, in addition to all the other benefits. Electrically, it acts like a modern car. If you ever did the swap, you'll notice the improvement in every area mentioned.

[Arquemann]

I thought the same thing before the swap, but everything on my Lincoln was exacerbated by the audio system I put in it. Subwoofer output was terrible & sloppy, which is what got me off my ass to do the swap. Subwoofer output tightened up immensely with the swap and the addition of a big capacitor, in addition to all the other benefits. Electrically, it acts like a modern car. If you ever did the swap, you'll notice the improvement in every area mentioned.

Well, I'm not in a hurry to upgrade but this somewhat confirms my suspicions about improving the stereo system... I probably sound like an idiot, but I really prefer the look of the 1G over the 3G. Maybe it doesn't look as out of place next to an SEFI intake, but in my engine bay basically the only thing that says 80's is the serpentine belt.

[gadget73]

The 2G in the Towncar was way worse than the two 1G cars I own, though those are 70 and 100 amp, not the 50 or whatever most Panthers got. The 3G is better, no question, but the change becomes more of a "nice to have" than a "do this if you don't want to catch your car on fire" sort of thing. The headlights and the blinkers and all that don't go full stupid like they did on the Towncar.

[Kodachrome Wolf]

Well the day before everything got kinda topsy-turvy around here, I got the power-whirler dressed up with a new belt, set the wires back to about the way they were prior, and installed new wire loom where the old stuff just kinda disintegrating into nothing. Only thing I did differently from other 3G conversions was used a Duratec Taurus charge harness instead of a Vulcan Taurus one. A little easier to harvest, still uses the same mega fuse, and length was still manageable enough to neatly tidy it up on the passenger fender that one might not even notice it at a glance.



Works good. Also took the time to swap the far too large group 65 battery for a group 24 that fits much better. I also installed my junkyard battery hold down bracket to replace the bungee cord that held the prior battery in place.

VV carb got on its high horse though while I was letting it idle. Started smelling gas and the engine was clearly loading up pretty bad. Feathered the throttle, smoothed it out, stepped out and found a puddle forming and I shut the car off. Looks like it puked up through the vent and out the top of the carb as fuel was pooled on the intake and some had flowed out of the charcoal canister. Maybe the cold enrichment solenoid was doing a little too much while off the fast idle cam? Not sure, haven't really looked yet, but also not particularly worried since I have other options laying around.


Both cars also survived Helene okay at my place.



They got a lot of spray from leaves and other small things, but otherwise unharmed. I'll probably try and get both of them washed sometime this week after I finish a little yard work.

[Tynnerstroem]

I've been following the headlines and hurricane season looks rough this year. Looks like you're spared the worst of it.

How are these old Panthers to drive compared to the more "modern", boxy ones? Do they ride and drive the same as say, my 1988 Grand Marquis, except that they require you to work the choke on cold mornings (cold being relative of course for a state like Georgia)?

[Kodachrome Wolf]

I've been following the headlines and hurricane season looks rough this year. Looks like you're spared the worst of it.

How are these old Panthers to drive compared to the more "modern", boxy ones? Do they ride and drive the same as say, my 1988 Grand Marquis, except that they require you to work the choke on cold mornings (cold being relative of course for a state like Georgia)?

If I went up to the top of my block, you'd think otherwise... It's really bad just a stone's throw up the road. Trees completely uprooted and fallen on yards and houses. The variation in damage that occurred based on where you were at any given time was wild. I didn't take a lot of photos around my place since I was away from my neighborhood a fair bit as I stayed at my mom's to make sure she was okay while the power was out.



Stuff like that was essentially everywhere following Helene, but not always in the street. That would be "moderate" damage. The county I live in and the county I work for experienced nearly 100% power loss. There's unfortunately still small pockets without power as of today.



Honestly, the '79 drives similarly to the '87, save for the fact I do have to give it a single pump before cranking to set the fast idle cam on the carburetor. Haven't dealt with it in "decently" cold days, like when it does get down to -6°C to 2°C, but it can get below freezing overnights in the winter here. I'll be curious how well it'll cold start since I've opted to play around with a 2700VV carb right now.

However, I won't be driving it again for a while.


It's uncommon for me to lose my edge, but today, I was genuinely scared. I was on the interstate and slowed for an interchange, and the pedal started sinking and brake application was decreasing, followed by some smoke. I gave the pedal a single pump and realized I was losing the front brakes rapidly. I kept to the right lane at 50 MPH and on approach to my off ramp, downshifted to slow the car and used up more of the brake to hold at the end of the ramp. I immediately ducked off into the residential side streets towards my place where there's no traffic and crept down them in low gear around 15 MPH until I got to my place. Either a hard line ruptured immediately below the proportioning valve, or the proportioning valve has failed and puked based on where I can see the leakage.

Anyway, that was incredibly uncool and don't want to experience that ever again. I'll probably diag it out on Sunday.

[Mainemantom]

Not a good wild ride. Glad you and the car are ok.

[gadget73]

Brake line failure is highly sketchy. Had it happen a few times. Be glad dual circuit master cylinders became a thing in 1968. Prior to that, any leak would give you zero brakes.


As for driving, I wouldn't expect any difference. Almost none of the steering and suspension bits changed from 1979-1991. The engine didn't really change other than the fuel system. The transmission is really the only variable, 3 speed vs 4 speed.

[87gtVIC]

Was using the parking/emergency brake a thought in your head? Of course that would be a task applying with foot and releasing with left hand assuming one can even use the thing at speed if so equipped with the auto release feature..

Just a thought I had. Glad you made it out of that situation in one piece.

[Kodachrome Wolf]

Was using the parking/emergency brake a thought in your head? Of course that would be a task applying with foot and releasing with left hand assuming one can even use the thing at speed if so equipped with the auto release feature..

Just a thought I had. Glad you made it out of that situation in one piece.

Only the passenger side grabs presently. I still haven’t replaced the seized cable on the driver side, so the spreader bar is presently out and only works on hydraulic. I did attempt to use it, but it’s very clunky to apply and release manually in this condition.

[Kodachrome Wolf]

Decided to look for the brake fluid leak today. Confirm it's leaking out the back of the proportioning valve. I'm not sure what should be affixed to the back, but whatever it was, ain't.

Now I've arrived to the next issue, which is a suitable replacement. The D9AC-2B382-DA part number presently doesn't return to anything available listed online. Most of the aftermarket Ford proportioning valves that mount like the one here lack the angled front brake line feed (hidden by the steering shaft), and instead that feed comes off the back.





It'd be tight, but I think a little bending of the lines and the front brake that port feeds could be threaded into that. However, this thing is just in a lousy spot to get at.


There are some kits that place the proportioning valve under the master cylinder on a bracket:




I've got no issue with running some new brake lines and mating the old lines up to new ones with unions. I just know mounting the valve up higher would make it easier to deal with if this ever happened again, but I'm not sure if it's worth the hassle, but is worth considering. Presently, I plan on soaking this thing in Deep Creep and grabbing a set of proper line wrenches so I can have a good go at attempting to get the lines undone.

[Tiggie]

No idea if this is the correct one or not. But it looks the part and for some reason, it seems the engineering part number never matches the actual part number.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/387537882208?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=ksrelr5jtsq&sssrc=4429486&ssuid=soV3li9vT6C&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY

[Kodachrome Wolf]

No idea if this is the correct one or not. But it looks the part and for some reason, it seems the engineering part number never matches the actual part number.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/38753788220...mis&media=COPY

Sure looks like the right deal, you bloody wizard.

I tried running a search just using "D9AZ Proportioning Valve," but didn't get that back. Clearly I need to be more vague. I just kinda wish it wasn't $125+shipping. Plus, I've got no clue what the deal is on the leaking end, which that one will have. I've seen some diagrams indicate a bleeder present there, however I've not touched that at all, but that's not to say something failed internally after years of disuse.

[WagonMan]

The auction says "make offer", WagonMan