kishy's 1985 Country Squire

[kishy]

You mentioned you re balanced the tires but did anyone check the tires other than visually, for being out of round ? Newer balance machines have that feature. Had it done on the 96 CV.

Windshield repair if it passes inspection should work ok until you find a good deal on a replacement. In Ca. some wrecking yards (Pick a Part ) did windshield replacements for like $100 +.

There is no inspection, other than prior to a new owner getting stickers ("tabs" as you folks call them) for the first time in owning a vehicle.

Whether it is repaired sufficiently to avoid a ticket is a different story. If it were to spread into a proper crack, it will definitely become ticketable, but as a repaired chip it is more at the discretion of the officer. Windshield replacement is no less than $300 and can only be done with new, no local yards will pull glass or touch it, this was discussed fairly early-on in this thread as I've already replaced it once. The sub-$50 junkyard DIY authentic Carlite option is what I went with and what I'll do again if it comes to it.

Interesting you mention the vibration shaking the whole dash.. Just before my dad passed the Firebird to me, it did that. It was indeed the driveshaft which was causing it. The dash shook so bad you could see it oscillating..

I am definitely thinking it's "drivetrain" at this point, but the reality is that if it has trashed mounts (which I do believe to be the case), it could be a completely normal vibration (or something like a misfire) that is being transmitted to the frame and body which would not be if the mounts were good. So it's entirely possible that a driveshaft that doesn't cause noticeable vibration in another car could make this one shake. A lot of engine vibration is passed to the interior in this car, even for example sitting still at idle.

I think I'm going to swap a driveshaft and see what happens, and then if it's still shaky (even if subtly different) I'll toss a trans mount at it. If the crossmember has to come out to do it, that's not happening though. Haven't studied this part of these cars enough to figure that out yet.

The engine mounts are probably not getting done ever, I'm not pulling the front suspension apart just for that. On the other hand if I decide to do those lower control arm bushings (which are still believed to be OK), it's the same amount of disassembly and makes a lot of sense to do it at that time.

[gadget73]

jack the trans up, the mount comes out without pulling the crossmember.

[kishy]

Woohoo, first wrenching since pinched nerve incident...that's still an ongoing problem, as an aside, but I seem to be recovering slowly now.

2021-03-20 @ 81,545km:
Replaced transmission mount. Test drive found vibration persists identically.

Swapped driveshaft with 86 (admittedly, not known to be smooth at highway speed yet). Test drive found vibration persists identically. Wagon driveshaft appears to have its original weights still, there is no evidence of one previously being there that has broken off.

Tested shifting car into neutral at highway speed and coasting. Vibration persists identically and does not change with engine RPM or gear engagement. Vibration also persists on curves at speed but may subtly change with a sudden jerk of the wheel, which might implicate the lower control arm bushings. Vibration persists with car unloaded or when carrying enough weight to shift the ride height a little - e.g. lift the front and squat the rear.

Further testing suggested by my friend: put the car on stands and run it up to 100kmh, see if it does the same. Also, swap a known-good set of wheels and tires on. Wherever my decent HPP set wandered off to will be the target...those had decent tires on them last I saw them.
Possible culprits on the list now are: out-of-balance drums or rotors, the lower control arm bushings (still look OK but are old), tires having a defect that cannot be balanced out the traditional way. Engine mounts are considered very low likelihood but if I get to the point of doing the control arm bushings I will replace the mounts as well. Should probably do the oil pan gasket while I'm at it, a first for me, but probably a good idea.















General underbelly shots:

[87gtVIC]

Feels good to get back to some kinda normalcy right? Tough not being physically able to do what one was so used to doing. Curious what the last round of testing will result in for your vibrations.

[gadget73]

ever have the rear axle shafts out for an inspection? Yes its probably in this 19 page thread somewhere but I'm too lazy to look. Bad shafts and bearings make funny noises too.

[GM_Guy]

Don't discount rear arm bushings either. Just need one thats wallered out to cause troubles.

[kishy]

Feels good to get back to some kinda normalcy right? Tough not being physically able to do what one was so used to doing. Curious what the last round of testing will result in for your vibrations.

Yes...I have a distinct lack of strength in my right arm still, so I was pushing my left a lot more than I normally would for this work. Anything that keeps my right arm at a fairly tight angle (say 90 degrees or less) I lose almost all strength, starts to feel kind of like TV static, and I'll drop things. I'm hoping that will improve, otherwise I'm fundamentally sort of disabled in a mild way.

ever have the rear axle shafts out for an inspection? Yes its probably in this 19 page thread somewhere but I'm too lazy to look. Bad shafts and bearings make funny noises too.

Yes, the axle shafts came out and the passenger side was found to have a groove worn at that time. Repair bearings were installed on both sides. In retrospect, I don't know why I did it that way instead of a normal bearing on the driver side, but it's how I did it. This was ballpark 5000km ago or so...this car has not seen a lot of mileage under me yet.

It does occur to me that I butchered the install on the passenger side repair bearing deforming the outer seal a little bit, but I don't know that this would translate to any effect on the bearing itself.

Don't discount rear arm bushings either. Just need one thats wallered out to cause troubles.

I have largely considered the rear bushings irrelevant on the basis that pre-98 uses triangulated rear arms that are permanently binding, so even if a bushing is "bad" but is still actually present, the inherent binding action will keep things more or less bushed correctly.

Obviously in a case of extreme bushing failure that reasoning will go out the window.

Heading outside to try some things.

[kishy]

Test 1: rear axle supported by jack stands.
A vibration of approximately the right pattern/rhythm, but gentler/less severe came on at approximately the same speed I experience when driving the car.
Consider that the relatively firm attachment of the axle to the pavement would have had a dampening effect.

Test 2: frame supported by jack stands with axle hanging from suspension.
A vibration of approximately the right pattern/rhythm, but more severe came on at a lower speed than when I drive the car. It steadily gets worse as speed increases. The car shakes violently.

It would appear the source is somewhere in between the rear U-joint and the rear tires. Considering that this car might be extremely high mileage (I don't think it is, but the odometer never really did get figured out in a concrete manner), the diff might be all sorts of sloppy. However of all my cars it actually has some of the least detectable diff slop, so it's not a glaringly obvious problem if it's in the diff. Crappy pinion bearing is a possibility but it's also entirely possible those cheap repair bearings aren't rolling as nice as they should.

Gotta dig my tires out before it gets dark, will try to test more today still.

Edit: nope. The garage is a disaster so my squirrel-brain decided to start working on that and well...yeah.
Someday.

[DerekTheGreat]

Try Test 1 or 2 without the wheels, just tighten the lugs down on the drums and see what happens.

[Arquemann]

Try Test 1 or 2 without the wheels, just tighten the lugs down on the drums and see what happens.

Or even remove the drums to rule those out aswell.
Whatever mystery fault you have, you sure do have some interesting symptoms.

[87gtVIC]

Or even remove the drums to rule those out aswell.
Whatever mystery fault you have, you sure do have some interesting symptoms.

Dont hit the brakes.

[gadget73]

yeah I'd leave the drums on otherwise you won't be able to stop things from spinning unless the engine is shut off. Don't want to jam it in park with everything whirling away back there.

More vibration with the rear drooping is probably a shaft angle thing. I suppose it might be worth looking to see if the pinion angle looks really wrong, though unless its at very not-normal ride height that isn't exactly a common concern. There is also always some lash in the diff, and usually excess lash doesn't cause nasty vibrations. At most you might get some whine out of it, but sloppy pinion bearings or lack of pinion preload will do that too. I actually made a lot of that whine go away on the Conti when I did the pinion seal. I set preload to spec per the shop manual instructions. It was basically nothing, and making it tighter shut the diff up considerably.

[kishy]

No further work on the vibration yet.

Earlier in the month I took the car to OilGard to try to slow the rust. The local OilGard location was recently bought by a friend of a friend, so I wanted to give him the business and see if I like his work.



Underbody photos are from today. Everything is still quite wet with the oil product. He used a combination of the "no drip" and the runnier stuff in various spots. Did inside the rockers and doors and the usual spots these sorts of places hit. I'm pleased. I don't intend to ever winter drive this, but at this stage even exposure to oxygen with no salt will let the rust continue doing its thing, so an oil barrier is helpful.





Yesterday, I had the Check Oil light come on. I knew there was oil loss, I believe almost exclusively through leaks (oil pan gasket, rear main seal, light seepage from replaced valve cover gaskets). Checked the stick today and found just a tiny hint on the end of it, which I guess makes sense, since it's about a quart to bring it back to correct from that point.

I was going to replace the valve cover gaskets (previously done with frameless rubber, next time will be PermaDry), but decided to hold off on that as I may put a nicer set of valve covers on this. Just need to sort out the appropriate grommets and hardware.

Changed the oil. Short change interval at 3553km but if I have to add a quart at 74% of a normal interval, I'd rather just change it all.
Flashback for a minute, when I first got the car. One of the drain plugs came out essentially stripped and I immediately replaced it. The other one was kinda iffy but in usable shape, so it went back in at that time.
I think I've changed the oil one or two times since that, each time being increasingly concerned about that drain plug. The threads just kept stretching more and more.
Today I decided it wasn't going back in. Grabbed one from the store. Irritatingly, the catalog looks up a 1/2"-20 plug, no pilot end, with a 7/8" head...so that's where the 7/8" heads come from on some of these.
I played with Dorman's site a bit and found if I asked for a 2003 Dodge Dakota V6, I got a 1/2-20", pilot end, with 9/16" head. This is preferred and is what I went with.
I did gently run a tap into both drain holes and got some nasty thread chunks to come out, so this car is one to be quite gentle with the drain plugs. Ran a die over the previously new plug and got some embedded thread chunks to GTFO.
On the bright side, both plugs threaded in very nicely and felt pretty confidently seated when snugged down.

Installed a sandblasted and painted battery hold-down. The one that was on the car will get the same treatment and then go on another car. These are the Group 65 hold-downs that I think came about for model year 89ish.

Did grease front suspension. Did not grease u-joints. Failed to get grease gun to mate with the zerks due to tight space between yoke and driveshaft. Will retry with a needle adapter some other time I guess.

[87gtVIC]

I was lucky enough to find on of those hold downs years back to fit my group 65 battery. Was previously using a universal type hold down with a custom extra all thread to hold the unit in place. At the yards I go to it seems the battery brackets are normally just cut off so finding an intact one came be daunting. Same goes for the fender braces from wagons. Passengers side one is almost always cut to aid in battery removal.

[kishy]

Unfortunately the hold-downs are a rare find locally. I'm not sure if it's because they cut them to get them off, but they're rarely with the car. Every one of this style that I find, I grab, because I'm still not at 1:1 for them vs my cars.

Anyone got a part number kicking around for the rubber boot that goes around the fuel filler neck in the wheel well? I could swear when I've Googled "filler neck site:grandmarq.net" in the past I've found it, but that trick isn't working for me now.

I am aware that part is unobtainium, but would like to see if any have magically appeared on eBay.

Edit:

Some interesting possible options from the Mustang world, which at a glance might be able to either work, or be made to work:

https://www.steelerubber.com/fuel-filler-to-trunk-floor-seal-70-4334-39

https://lmr.com/item/LRS-9008A/1979-93-Mustang-Filler-Pipe-To-Trunk-Floor-Rubber-Seal

Edit again:

That Steele Rubber part was looking an awful lot like the right piece so I poked around some more. F4ZZ-9008 (more commonly F4ZZ-9008-A) looks like the one.

I found this, which refers to a 96 Vic, https://www.fordpartsalberta.ca/v-19...rical--senders
#5 looks to be the part in question which is the F4ZZ-9008-A item, which is what the Steele Rubber part is a new reproduction of. Of course there are old stock ones and other options out there too.

Being that I don't know the aero years particularly well I also checked the tank filler neck seal and it appears a 96 uses the same one as a box (e.g. Dorman 577502 and similar), which should mean that the "upper" seal fits the filler neck size. At least probably. The filler neck-to-tank seal is a different Ford part number for a Box vs an Aero, despite the replacement brands using the same for both. Anyone have an Aero filler neck hanging around to take an OD measurement of?