My 1983 Continental Mark VI!

[mercurygm88]

I could be totally wrong here but I’m guessing that center bolt seen at the 20 second mark is the top nut for the assembly and the bottom nut is somewhere in that hole below the bulb wiring?

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=jX9e-Ze6WrE

This is all I could find in the service manual. And yes it looks like the lens/bulb housing is meant to be one piece. My luck I’ll find out I spent a bunch of money for something I can’t even use.

[mercurygm88]

I could be totally wrong here but I’m guessing that center bolt seen at the 20 second mark is the top nut for the assembly and the bottom nut is somewhere in that hole below the bulb wiring?

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=jX9e-Ze6WrE

This is all I could find in the service manual. And yes it looks like the lens/bulb housing is meant to be one piece. My luck I’ll find out I spent a bunch of money for something I can’t even use.

Update: I was able to remove one of the housings, easier to remove than install. The bottom nut is a bitch and you can barely turn a ratchet in there.

The aftermarket lenses/housings that I have are simply marked “Made in Mexico, Tucan” I’ve never heard of this Tucan company.

The bad news is that on my lights the lens and housing appears to be molded as one piece. Without heavy modification and cutting that I don’t trust myself to do I’m not seeing a way of making the new lenses work.

Looks like it’s time to try to fight a refund out of the seller or try to resell these and recoup what I can.

Stupid me should have looked into this in the first place but I just assumed the lens was a separate piece.

[sly]

The aftermarket ones are probably sonic welded together rather than glued like the OE stuff. And yeah... getting that apart cleanly would probably require a temperature controlled hot knife/razor/wire to melt them apart at a low enough temp to not burn anything. Probably about 200C or so. Then sanding the edge smooth to mount the new lens to. Yeah... lots of work there. I mean you could use an abrasive saw (cut-off wheel) and cut the lens off slightly proud of the reflector side and then sand down to a flat surface for mounting and clean it out. That might work too. Not sure what you would want to glue that with though. I don't know of anything that wouldn't look crap in there that would actually last a good long time. I'd probably end up using plastic welder epoxy (cures beige) or JB Weld Marine Weld (it cures white).

[gadget73]

huh, construction is different than what I remembered. I was thinking the chrome piece had the reflector attached to it, and the clear lens fitted into the chrome piece with butyl. maybe thats the Mark V then?

[mercurygm88]

huh, construction is different than what I remembered. I was thinking the chrome piece had the reflector attached to it, and the clear lens fitted into the chrome piece with butyl. maybe thats the Mark V then?

I was kind of hoping for something like that, or the lens fitting into the chrome piece separate from the bulb housing, but it isn't so.

[mercurygm88]

I was bored so here’s a video!

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=-tTfE7zOVM0

That horrible knocking/clattering that sounds like an old diesel is coming from the smog pump. I’m not sure what it’s up to but I can’t imagine it’s good. I imagine I’ll wait until it blows up or does whatever failed smog pumps do before I worry about it. It only does it for a minute or two on a cold start.

A replacement smog pump is well over $200 even with my work discount, which is ridiculous but I require working cruise control and if I remember right the smog pump is pretty much required for that.

[Mainemantom]

For 107.95 you can send your smog pump in to be re-manufactured through Rock Auto.
How does a smog pump relate to the cruise control ?

[mercurygm88]

That’s much better than the price of the Cardone remans through work. My only issue with using a shorter belt is that I know the smog pump supplied most if not all of the vacuum for the cruise control on my 88 Grand Marquis. When I was having trouble getting a functional vacuum T for the HVAC on that car I actually temporarily hooked the HVAC vacuum like that went to the T under the hood to the vacuum side of the smog pump so that the system would stop defaulting to defrost. I’m figuring the Mark VI has the same set up.

[sly]

There's a bypass valve on the smog pump that supplies supplemental vacuum to the cruise control servo to keep it solid on those long up-hill climbs.

[87gtVIC]

No smog pump here on my vic. Cruise works fine.

[mercurygm88]

Every time I look at everything involved in the smog pump system I decide that I have no desire to go through the trouble of removing everything and plugging the backs of the heads and the cats. My desire to tinker on things only goes so far, and my desire to actually work on projects only involves certain things.

It’s much easier to just have it there in a possible inoperable state. My smog pump is like my EGR I don’t know if it’s working but I know the car is running fine.

[Arquemann]

I don't know how different the smog system is on a EEC-III system, but I can't possibly figure out any way that the smog pump would do anything else than pump air to the heads and cats.
Mine is smog deleted and I haven't found any difference in the car's behaviour (I removed the smog pump due to awful bearing noise). Cruise control takes a while to kick in, but it's been like that always for me.

What comes to doing the smog delete: it's pretty easy. And I'd assume the Thermactor and EGR are two completely separate entities in your car aswell.
In the simplest form disabling the Thermactor is just unplugging the TAD/TAB solenoids on the pass. fender.

I've personally removed all of the smog pump stuff, pump came out in 20 minutes, threw on a shorter belt and off I go. The solenoids, vacuum lines and air tubing took about half an hour to remove.
Cap off the vacuum nipple at the vacuum distribution block, mount the MAP sensor and plug the two check valves going to the heads and cats. I used plastic furniture plugs from a hardware store, 2,49€ for 4. Even the one next to the passenger header has held up fine.
I'll install the plug bolts into the backs of the heads next spring, since I'll get more access with the CFI, vacuum mess and intake removed.

[sly]

With the lopo, getting up the hill on a grade would cause you to need to open the throttle enough that if the grade lasted long enough (2-5 miles), the vacuum would degrade enough for the servo to let go since it's vacuum assisted. When you leveled out and throttle closed back up, it would engage again if the cruise had not been canceled. When I put the redneck ram air on the 88, it would create just enough pressure that cruise would loose pressure after about 5 miles if the speed was over 65. That's why I added the vacuum pump to that car. Had zero issues after that.

[Arquemann]

With the lopo, getting up the hill on a grade would cause you to need to open the throttle enough that if the grade lasted long enough (2-5 miles), the vacuum would degrade enough for the servo to let go since it's vacuum assisted. When you leveled out and throttle closed back up, it would engage again if the cruise had not been canceled. When I put the redneck ram air on the 88, it would create just enough pressure that cruise would loose pressure after about 5 miles if the speed was over 65. That's why I added the vacuum pump to that car. Had zero issues after that.

Ah, everything is bigger in America, including hills lol
But how does the smog pump create vacuum? As far as I've seen it's just a low-ish pressure air pump. Or does the TAD/TAB solenoids magically make vacuum?

[mercurygm88]

Ah, everything is bigger in America, including hills lol
But how does the smog pump create vacuum? As far as I've seen it's just a low-ish pressure air pump. Or does the TAD/TAB solenoids magically make vacuum?

I imagine it's the intake side of the pump that is pulling the vacuum.