kishy's 1985 Country Squire

[kishy]

Oil change day. 74,263km. 446km on this oil, which is a mix of leftover mixed conventional 10W30 and 5W30 plus about a litre of Dex/Merc (re: the potentially false tale that ATF cleans up engines). It came out black as night, so there's that. This is the second oil change in owning this car; the first change was also a very short interval and happened after the timing set and intake gaskets right before it hit the road.

New oil is a Shell-manufactured synthetic blend diesel/HD 10W30 in a store brand pail. It's probably Rotella T5 but there's no way to really know that. New filter is a FL1A. This combo will run for a standard 4800km OCI. I put copper washers on the drain plugs as the plastic ones were leaking, as they always do.

The Citgo C1A filters ($1 filters I bought because I knew I'd be doing a couple short OCIs) seem to have a very functional anti-drainback valve. Maybe more functional that our beloved FL1A. The car had been left on ramps after the trans drain plug stuff above, and not run since, and yet when I pulled the filter it was completely full of oil and there was a significant suction/draining sound when I threaded the filter off (air entering). If I had a good way to evaluate how well they actually filter I'd be tempted to buy a bunch more if they're still on RockAuto.



Didn't do chassis lube since that was all done 446km ago.

[gadget73]

wonder who makes the cheapie. There are only so many companies manufacturing stuff. Champ Labs makes a ton them with all manner of brand names.

[Stocker]

Glad to see I'm not the only one who writes down the date/mileage/etc. on the top of the oil filter box...

[Tiggie]

Glad to see I'm not the only one who writes down the date/mileage/etc. on the top of the oil filter box...

Same

[gadget73]

I bought a big roll of oil change stickers for short money. I'll be able to sticker my own cars until I die without buying more.

[DerekTheGreat]

ATF does work at desludging. Why transmissions are always so clean and if further testing needs to be done, schmear it all over something greasy at a yard and see what happens.

[mitymerc]

Also can work as penetrating oil in a pinch.

[kishy]

As with the 83, this was at the 2019 Metro Detroit meet today. Following the meet, some photos were taken.

Following are also in the 83 thread, with a couple of just this car alone which I didn't include there.

This car did shred its belt today after parting from the meet. We peeled off the shredded part and it made it home using the rubber band scrap that was left. Of course, I hadn't put spare belts in either car. The failed belt was on it when I got it and did look like it was kind of old.

Also, the charging system light is now on pretty much solid, at all times the key is on. Still a stock 1G externally regulated system. It's almost certainly a short to ground in the light bulb circuit because there is no actual reason I can find for the light to be on, however, the fact the alternator works at all does seem to suggest it can't be shorted as the alternator won't excite without that circuit...it's a mystery.

[87gtVIC]

Nice photos. Cool areas.

[gadget73]

does the light go out if you unplug the regulator? If it doesn't, its a short to ground. If not its something in the reg causing it to turn on. If the resistor across the back of the bulb is missing that might also cause it to come on.

[kishy]

Oh boy.
This car is doing daily driver duty now. People love it! I've never experienced so many people turning to look, yelling out how sweet they think it is, throwing me thumbs up while driving and more...it's really something. There must be some recognition of the fact it was brought back from the dead. It certainly looks it.

AMP light issue above: this has been fixed. It seems the regulator connector was not properly mated with the pin for the bulb...I am not sure how this caused the bulb to be lit, as there was no path to ground, but it did. The light now works when the alt isn't charging and stays off when it is.

Have been hearing a tapping sound when suspension travel happens (particularly when there is a sudden change in suspension direction). Suspected lower shock bolt holes ripped out on passenger side. Was correct. This had already happened once to this arm when I was assembling the front end...drilled it bigger, tapped it, put in bigger bolt. Now that ripped out too. Decided to use nuts this time. They aren't good nuts and will probably fail too, but hopefully not soon. Did a very poor popcorn welding job attaching the nuts, but figured I have the welder so might as well do something with it.

I have not been enjoying the ride height. The one full coil removal was too much and made the car look awkward...too high in the rear, too low in the front. I like mild rake, not "cat in heat". I have one extra set of front springs, take-offs from my 91, and cut about 60% of one coil off of each. This landed me approximately the ride height I want. Of course, I'll need more springs if I want to experiment further. But I think I'm happy with it here. The oddly tilted-forward feeling driving it is gone.

Added cheap Amazon LED headlights as the high beams only. I don't consider these appropriate for on-road use, but high beams aren't really for on-road use (not with other vehicles nearby at least).































Ride height comparison:

As found: https://imgur.com/r6IGHvk
Same springs as above, after front end rebuild, no hood installed: https://imgur.com/9zGWAVi
Same springs as above, 1.0 coil cut: https://imgur.com/dCibVZL
91 springs which were found to behave same as springs above, now with 0.6 coil cut: https://imgur.com/fNKoxIT

It has some settling to do, but I don't think it's going to sink too low.

[87gtVIC]

Id give you a thumbs up.

[gadget73]

I have speed nuts for the shocks on mine. The problem with those, they break at the U part and then the bastard thing just spins without an easy way to get hold of it. Probably next time I put shocks on it I'll drill the arm out and weld nuts in there. Not looking forward to dropping the spring out to do that though.

[mitymerc]

It truly is as amazing how much attention these things garner. I wonder if it is the same with 2 & 4 doors.

[jaywish]

Wagons ftw