Workin on the 91....

[trwp72]

Working on my car today.... here is a hint....



finnally putting in the police gauges I found about 6 months ago at the Junk yard... All I need now is the brass fitting to go in the block for the oil pressure sending unit....

Also putting in my last set of speedo gears... hopefully I will find that guy that does the brass ones soon.... Hopefully these will at least last until then!

Also figured out I will have to drop the steering column to replace the other gear shift tube bushing... probably next Monday.. my next day off.... While I have it dropped.. I will check out the rest of the shift mechanism to make sure everything is good...


Also got some new rubber bushings for the brake calipers... and pins.. to get rid of the caliper "rattle" when I hit bumps.... goes away if you lightly put some pressure on the brake pedal.... they are pretty well worn out.... Rattle is driving me nuts!!!


More pictures of all the work when I get it all done!

[gabegt90]

cool is that the stock location?

[trwp72]

Yes, it is.....

[Archangel]

Tom, for the oil pressure sender, do not use a brass fitting - I know of several occasions when the weight of the sender and the vibrations of the engine cause it to crack at the beginning of the thread, it just ain't worth the risk. IIRC the OEM part Ford put there is actually steel, look for one of those in the junkyards, or maybe check CVN's classifieds?

[Mr. Land Yacht]

very cool!

[trwp72]

Got the other shift tube bushing in today... that took alot more work than we thought it would... had to drop the column, and the brace going across the bottom of the dash to get to it.... (So we could drop it enough to get to it...) Then of course, we dropped the damn socket into the steering column somewhere, and couldn't find it.... we finnally bounced the column around some, and it fell out.... thank you lord!!! DID NOT want to take the whole thing out to try to get it out!!!!!

It now has no more play in the shifter.... However, it still doesn't seem to want to go into "reverse" right.... is there another bushing somewhere that may be causing this? You have to go to neutral, than move it halfway back to park to get it to engage in reverse.... Every once and a while it will go straight to reverse, but not always... it will go to neutral instead.... gets on your nerves!!! Tom....

[trwp72]

Sorry I reopened this, just had to tell everyone what I did to the 91 today...

Well, after getting tired of the shifter not going into gear right.. I finnally got it on a friends lift, and checked out the entire shifter set up... turned out that the aluminum "collar" that goes around the steering column that seems to break on these, was loose... in fact, the bolt was about to fall out, so we adjusted it, and put some threadlocker on the bolt, and tightened it down... And now the shift lever is TIGHT! It is like brand new.. and it feels weird not to have to "hunt" for reverse anymore... Also went to the junkyard today and found a like new shifter arm and knob for it.. my old knob, the chrome was peeling... and it would cut you like a paper cut... hurt like hell when it did that!!! I got the shifter arm out of a town car... They tend to be in better shape... it is like new... Can't wait to get it installed... then the shifter will be like brand new....

[P72Ford]

I have a set of the police gauges for an 88-89 car. I have the passenger's side dash piece with the cut out, and the snap in tri gauge plate (3 gauges). Had them in my '88, but never got around to hooking them up.


Never seen them for a 90-91 though. Those look neat.

[boXman]

you wanna send me those 89 guages, I know...so do it.

[P72Ford]

you wanna send me those 89 guages, I know...so do it.

The problem is; the light bulb receptacle (in the gauge) for the voltmeter is broken. It can be repaired though.

I think my brother is going to use them. Oil pressure, water temp, volts. Even have the factory electric sender and fitting.

I didn't know they were factory at first. Are these unusual pieces?

Also, the actual dash (behind the dash plate) must be modified to use these gauges. I got these out of a wrecked '89 that had them from the factory (had the factory dash; no need to modify). BTW, that car had the straightest body I've ever seen on a panther (had been restored very nicely).

[Nathan in MI]

I didn't know they were factory at first. Are these unusual pieces?

Quite. Mine doesn't have 'em...they were optional on police cars, and I think most departments didn't order 'em.

[trwp72]

I finnally got enough time between my two jobs to install the new shifter arm on the 91... It looks awsome.. and I had forgotten what it was like to shift the car with a knob on the arm... Only thing I may still do is to "shim" the arm some with a small flat washer on each side... (Where the pin goes thru the arm) As it still has just a small amount of play... I think it is because of the pin being worn a little... Or maybe the area on either side of the arm.. since that part is made out of aluminum... It has probably gotten some slack over the years....
I also noticed today that the turn signal arm doesn't seem as loose as it used to be... Is it mounted on the same part of the column as the shifter tube? It just seems like it doesn't flop around as much anymore... It is really nice to have a nice solid shifter arm again!