kishy's 1985 Country Squire

[GM_Guy]

Keep an eye on princess auto sales, I bought the powefist mityvac knock off (with accessories) for 29 bucks. Works just fine for one man brake bleeding.

This one, and its on sale now for 39 bucks.

https://www.princessauto.com/en/detail/vacuum-pump-and-brake-bleeder-kit/A-p8050832e

Alex.

[DerekTheGreat]

...Whats the personalized report, is that the one that tries to peg it to a 1 of x number of cars one? I've been meaning to get a Marti if only to have a solid number of how many diesel Continentals were made. I don't really care how many were precisely like mine.

If you check my car's thread I think you'll be able to see what that is. I didn't ask for that information, they reported it along with other stuff. It will tell you how many were ordered with your powertrain though. I'm not sure if it doesn't tell you anything you didn't know or couldn't find out for yourself. Just nice to have all on one sheet. It's a big deal with the older Mustang crowd, "I've got the Marti report!"

[kishy]

could probably swap the jar if its just a jar. Pickle or jelly jars are a good size.

No idea why BMW, but its possible they had the only thing available, or were the only ones willing to work with Ford on the project.

Whats the personalized report, is that the one that tries to peg it to a 1 of x number of cars one? I've been meaning to get a Marti if only to have a solid number of how many diesel Continentals were made. I don't really care how many were precisely like mine.

I could make one that's bigger, but a critically important feature is being able to magnetically attach it to the frame rail, because there is nothing in the rear wheel wells to hang anything from otherwise. If the bottle is below the bleeder, the air won't go the right way.

Bingo, personalized report is a breakdown of stats.

Keep an eye on princess auto sales, I bought the powefist mityvac knock off (with accessories) for 29 bucks. Works just fine for one man brake bleeding.

This one, and its on sale now for 39 bucks.

https://www.princessauto.com/en/detail/vacuum-pump-and-brake-bleeder-kit/A-p8050832e

Alex.

Absolutely not...I've got it, and it is useless for that purpose because the fittings it comes with do not fit the bleeders on any vehicle I own. They suck a lot of air around the bleeder which defeats the purpose entirely.

It's a great vacuum tester and that's why I have two, but it doesn't go anywhere near my brake systems after being the gigantic pain it was.

If you check my car's thread I think you'll be able to see what that is. I didn't ask for that information, they reported it along with other stuff. It will tell you how many were ordered with your powertrain though. I'm not sure if it doesn't tell you anything you didn't know or couldn't find out for yourself. Just nice to have all on one sheet. It's a big deal with the older Mustang crowd, "I've got the Marti report!"

If the Elite report was what you bought, it included the stats page. However, the Elite report is seemingly no longer offered, it's all just "a la carte" now it appears. The Deluxe report I think includes one specific stat, while the personalized stats break down more attributes to narrow the car down to a true "1 of x"...or that's the theory behind it anyway.

---

Progress on the car is stalled until I can get the grommet for the fuel tank evap valve. I know I have one, but I can't find it, and the fact it wasn't with the filler neck seal (which I did find) tells me I'm unlikely to find it this century. Part is currently available but I doubt I can source it by this weekend.

[kishy]

Progress on the car is stalled until I can get the grommet for the fuel tank evap valve. I know I have one, but I can't find it, and the fact it wasn't with the filler neck seal (which I did find) tells me I'm unlikely to find it this century. Part is currently available but I doubt I can source it by this weekend.

On the bright side: one local Ford dealer had two F6TZ-9B076-AA, which appears to be the correct part. They were awaiting being returned to Ford as they had been previously ordered but then never paid for by the party which ordered them.

$13 each is more than the internet would have cost me for them, but it's not the end of the world. One for this project and one for the shelf for next time, in a package, so it won't be misplaced/misidentified.

[gadget73]

I was expecting you to say you found it when you put the spare on the shelf right next to it.

[kishy]

So close I can almost taste it...

Sigh.

Yesterday, assembled fuel pump and fuel gauge sender into the fuel tank. Then, realized I could not find the grommet for the evap/vent valve, and could not proceed, as above. Today on a whim, called a dealer, and they had a couple which I bought, as above. Finished putting the tank together and wrestled it up into position. This was the expected gigantic pain in the ass it tends to be, worsened by the fact that the Chinesium tank might be slightly misshapen/missized...it's hard to be sure, but it really seemed like it. I had to buy a longer bolt for one side but was able to force it together with the original on the other side.

Eliminated a compression fitting I didn't trust. Cut and flared the 5/16" steel fuel return line instead.

Put fuel in tank. Primed pump 20 times. System pressurized with no leakage. This is a good sign.

Filled the coolant. Found no leaks. This is a good sign, although once it's hot that story could change.

Put about 6L of ATF in the trans. It will need more, but I can't add more until the engine has ran the pump to start filling the torque converter.

Drained the crankcase. Found a lot of antifreeze from my intake and timing cover re-seal jobs. Found the oil filter I had put on has a giant dent in it and I do not recall how that happened...

Started adding oil. All of the oil I put in, exited through a misaligned valve cover gasket. That put the figurative brakes on progress tonight, otherwise, I was about 10 minutes away from starting it up. Now I need more gaskets.

Side note: as someone who really likes cranberry juice, pouring ATF is a very tempting exercise.

[gadget73]

[GM_Guy]

Absolutely not...I've got it, and it is useless for that purpose because the fittings it comes with do not fit the bleeders on any vehicle I own. They suck a lot of air around the bleeder which defeats the purpose entirely.

Funny how those things go, I've had no problems using it for bleeding.

[gadget73]

I have one and it fails in the same way. I use it for other things though, so not a waste.

[kishy]

The day we've all been waiting for:

I was able to reuse the valve cover gasket. It had completely slipped inside the cover between two bolts, but thankfully was not damaged when it got tightened down. Cleaned it all up, put it back together and used a dental pick to pull the gasket out more when I saw it was wanting to do the same thing again.

Filled it with mostly oil and a little ATF (re: the supposed ability of ATF to help clean up sludge). Engine fired happily and runs at least acceptably. Filled the trans until it was happy, flushed the steering gear. The reman pump is loud, I'm hoping as the air works out of it that will quiet down more. I was able to overcome the issues using a brass TV bushing on CFI/carb (do not use it unmodified, they have a tendency to pop off where the nylon one does not) by filing off some material to thin the bushing down a bit. This allows the clip to more fully engage with the ball stud.

Tossed some wheels on, dropped it onto the floor, and backed it out of the garage. Took a test drive and tinkered with the TV (I had it way too high, could barely get it into third at normal road speeds), found I have all 4 gears both while upshifting and downshifting, with responsive gear engagement. I don't think there's any slipping. Kickdown is working correctly.

[87gtVIC]

Oh yeah! It lives.

[Tiggie]

Another one back from the dead. Good work. Like the 302 on the license plate.

[VicCrownVic]

Nice, can't wait to see it!

On a side note, I've got my membership card to get into Canada now... Although my next free weekend I'll be picking up an engine (and trans I don't need, package deal that was too good to pass up from a co-worker) for my Yukon. So I guess I'll probably just have to wait until you bring it this way.

[Kodachrome Wolf]

Congrats! Nice to see another wagon back out.

[IPreferDIY]

That's an interesting accomplishment, though at this point I can't keep refraining from commenting on the frame rust. If that was me, I would have at least bathed it in WD-40 before putting on new parts. That would pretty much negate any kind of rust converting/painting, but it looks like you're not going that route. I'm guessing it'll be garage kept and not driven in bad weather, and maybe I missed something about your plans, but it pains me to not see everything oiled up or converted/painted. Any plans for that sort of thing?