1982 Ford LTD-S 351W Police Car

[Brown_Muscle]

Yeah its just an electric choke- It's hooked up to battery voltage with the key on. Its more a matter of not coming on with the hot weather (75+) so i adjust it, and it works fine. then if the temperatures drop to say 50, it'll be on too long. So i adjust it to that, then if it heats up (talking ambient temperature) it wont come on enough again. So i have to change it a few times a year, or just deal with it

[87gtVIC]

never seen a carb with return fuel, it would be in the fuel pump or regulator setup. 85 should have been factory carb. Don't know if that had a 3 line fuel pump or not. If it does, its got a return setup. The idea with those is moving more volume of fuel keeps it cooler since it doesn't just sit there and heat soak. It also gives the fuel someplace to go when you shut the engine off and the fuel gets hot and expands. Instead of just blowing past the needle in the carb and flooding it goes back to the tank. That helps with the "floor it to start when hot" problem.

might also be interesting to know if the choke is trying to close even when the engine is hot but key-off. I'd think there should be enough heat in the engine bay to keep it open but maybe not.

a related thought

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-t6geNGbEXM

I obviously know nothing about carbs. Must be the fuel pump that was provided with the blueprint 306 engine that does not have a return port....

[mitymerc]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-t6geNGbEXM

UTG good stuff!

[gadget73]

yeah, he's cool. He's the kind of guy I could hang out with.

[jaywish]

There is much to be said good & bad about a manual choke. If you are going to be carbed why not.

[mitymerc]

yeah, he's cool. He's the kind of guy I could hang out with.

Well, he was a Jersey boy....

[gadget73]

electric chokes should work though, lots of cars came with them and it worked fine. No good reason it should have to be twiddled when the temp swings from 50 to 75. Something just strikes me as not right about that, but don't rightly know what. Just seems like a choke heater problem. if its got power and it ohms from ground to the terminal it should be functional but maybe its not installed right or its got some funky mechanical failure that causes it to not work even if the electrical part does.

[sly]

I've fought with carbs getting the electric choke aligned... but once I got it set, it was fine all year. Might be the bimetal spring is not right. Or if you're getting 14.4 V instead of 13, it might open faster than it was designed for?

[Brown_Muscle]

Years ago I had fog lights hooked up to the pushbar- found a set at Tractor supply for $35... LED, waterproof down to 3 feet of water. waterproof automotive connectors. I made a custom aluminum bracket with stainless hardware so the lights wouldn't be touched if i pushed a car, and ran all new fused 14 gauge wire. They are VERY bright, as bright or brighter than the headlights, but more concentrated, and they only use 10W each.



Oh- and in more important news I am in the process of building a ~400HP roller 351W and built AOD for the car. The block is in the machine shop currently, and I'm excited to get it back to begin assembling it. The engine build thread can be found here: http://www.grandmarq.net/vb/showthre...622-351W-Build

[sly]

[87gtVIC]

I am excited for you to have park....I guess the extra horse power will be cool too.

[Brown_Muscle]

Brought the LTD up to Connecticut and had my buddy Nick replace the body mounts (with me helping). Ended up breaking 7 bolts. Thankfully Nick is very creative, and we didnt have to cut into the body once. It was still a pain, there were MANY little unexpected details that had to be dealt with-including flipping the bushing around in certain spots due to bushing thickness variations from the factory, cutting certain washers or bushings down to make them fit, and other things.

It feels far more stable on the highway, and handling is improved. However it's a lot rougher around town with potholes, not just that but i HEAR every bump loudly now. I think i may end up getting some stock springs and cutting them down slightly to give me a lower/firmer ride, but not as firm as the 925# speedway springs offer. The potholes around here are awful. It doesn't help my seat foam is trashed either.

I'll be picking up the short block from the machine shop this thursday

[gadget73]

stock I think there were 4 or 5 different bushings depending on where exactly it sat. Not sure what the specific differences were but probably related to what you found. The holes on the frame aren't quite uniform either. Surprised you had that many bolts break. My car had way more rust and I think I lost 4. Both rad support bolts, and two in the back. One of them didn't actually break, but the nut broke free of the body. Ended up having to cut a hole in the trunk and cut the head off the bolt so the whole thing could be extracted.

[Brown_Muscle]

Yeah, and they were marked "orange, green, brown" etc, for the different sizes! We only had 1 nut break, but Nick was able to weld it from under the car to keep it from moving, thankfully

Got the engine back from the machine shop, pretty excited to start assembling it. Just ordered a ring filer, squaring tool, and ring compressor. Block looks beautiful, and pistons more so. Going to paint it this weekend!

[87gtVIC]

Exciting. What color are you painting the block?