90 Gt Vert, The Bananna Spider

[Ryuk]

The Ford manuals are also available on CD for half the price of a printed copy. These are a lot more useful than any Haynes or Chilton's.

http://rover.ebay.com/rover/1/711-5...0001&campid=5335821607&icep_item=282314064282

 

[imp]

Haynes or Chilton are ok. I was speaking of the Ford service manuals though.

It will have 6 to 8 different manuals covering the various aspects of the car.

@Davedacarpainter
Over the years, Ford Shop Manuals have actually become more easily used. My 1972 Car Shop Manual has 5 volumes. My 2004 Explorer has only 2, one is the Shop Manual, the other is Wiring Diagrams. As usual, the real nitty-gritty and knotty stuff about settings, calibrations, Throttle Body nonsense, and such, is reserved for the Vacuum
&Troubleshooting Manual, most expensive (and, actually, useful) of all. It details the step by step procedures as actually used by Ford Techs. Invaluable for gnarly problems (like my own).

The Ford Shop Manual, or "Repair Manual", is invaluable to the person doing his own repairs, experienced mechanically, or not. For me, and others I know, Haynes and Chilton are OK if a guy doesn't already know there is a BEARING on the end of a rear axle. Detailed info? Forget it. imp

 

[Davedacarpainter]

The batch I got for my '83 includes everything, including the small dealer new car prep manual.

I'm not really knocking the Haynes manuals, but, right, not detailed enough.

 

[Dontknowchit]

Thanks to my good friend Jon, I got the tranny and clutch out. Low and behold, something is going right. The fluwheel is beautiful, throwout bearing, pivot stut and bell housing look great, starter is a recent replacement and there is a ram performance clutch in there! Now I don't actually like the stiff performance clutch pedal feel so i'll be trying to sell it to purchase a OEM style as this car will cruse more than it will race, but all pleasant suprises. Not so pleasant suprise was that just by feel 1st and 2nd gears are all chewed up. This trans rebuild just got a little more expensive.

 

[imp]

Thanks to my good friend Jon, I got the tranny and clutch out. Low and behold, something is going right. The fluwheel is beautiful, throwout bearing, pivot stut and bell housing look great, starter is a recent replacement and there is a ram performance clutch in there! Now I don't actually like the stiff performance clutch pedal feel so i'll be trying to sell it to purchase a OEM style as this car will cruse more than it will race, but all pleasant suprises. Not so pleasant suprise was that just by feel 1st and 2nd gears are all chewed up. This trans rebuild just got a little more expensive.

@Dontknowchit
What are all the black chewings all around the trans? imp

 

[Dontknowchit]

It is coated in an oily, grimy grease and oil impreginated dirt. We decided to call it girt. The rear main seal is weaping and looks like it has been for a while. Funny thing tho, the oil pan gasket looks newish, supple and bluish green.

 

[Dontknowchit]

Ok update and 2 new questions, hope you guys can help me out.
First of all I rebuilt my drivers window motor, I used some speaker wire and modified forks to test the motor off the battery, to my pleasure it worked but it sounded aweful, I opened it up to find it full of gravel, or plastic aqua bearings, but looked like gravel, I mean just aweful. I cleaned it out, used the "nut trick" to replace the plastic bearings, or gravel. I repacked it with fresh grease and it now hums right along, sounds great. Very satsifying moment!

I then figured I had so much success I'd look at the wiring again. Armed with my harbor freight voltage tester I discovered I have power feeding my switch via a blue wire. Weird since the wiring diagram shows pink. This blue wire must feed the power to the switch but there are 3 wires pulled out.....so my 2 questions
Book should be on the way in the mail but anyone have a picture of the wires going into the back of their convertable drivers switch. None of the other switches do anything so I believe this feeds all the rest of the circuit. Secondly, what should the blue wire be for? This wiring setup makes it difficult to troubleshoot the issue. I think this is the main issue....I hope.

 

[General karthief]

I really want to say something about sticking your nuts in a window motor then packing it with blue grease but I will leave it alone.
Got a pick of these suspected wires?

 

[Dontknowchit]

These seem like big harnesses to be unplugged under the dash and the car still run and drive.....good greif charlie brown! I am going to have to wait for my book, this is beyond frustrating.

 

[90sickfox]

The yellow one looks like the cruise control module harness.

 

[Dontknowchit]

The yellow one looks like the cruise control module harness.

Thanks, so that should plug in up near the stearing column?

 

[90sickfox]

Yes...should be a box up there somewhere. Usually it would be mounted to the column brace that comes from an attachment point above the dome light switch button on the drivers door frame.

If your car doesn't have cruise control the connector would still be there from the factory.

 

[Dontknowchit]

I wired up a junkyard Ford Contour electric fan with an adjustable thermostatic controller tonight after work. I still have to cut the side tabs off to mount it and tidy up the wiring with zip ties. I did not have a large enough fuse tho so I will have to cut and splice in a larger fuse tomorrow but tested with a torch and a icepack, it works this thing really blows! I wired it as a puller, that's the most efficent way, right?

 

[90sickfox]

Yes that's the best way. I have them too and love them.

I would suggest using the controller to switch two relays to power the fans. I use two 40 amp relays. Burning up a fan controller is no fun...I've been there done that and got the trophy

 

[Dontknowchit]

So is a relay more prtective than a fuse for the controller?

 

[CarMichael Angelo]

Since nobody else has asked,..and the op hasn't volunteered....

Why is a maroon vert w/ a white engine bay nicknamed a "Banana Spider"?

 

[90sickfox]

So is a relay more prtective than a fuse for the controller?

No the power feed to the controller needs a fuse but the controller can switch relays that carry the actual load of the fans.

I used to run a controller just like the one you have. I used the fan off of a v8 96? Jeep Cherokee 5.2. The fan controller would burn out and start acting stupid.

Once I replaced the controller ( same type ) and installed a 40amp relay it never gave me another problem.

The way I run fans now is similar to the factory set up. I use an electric fan switch to ground the relays turning the fans on. GM switches are the easiest to find in various temps. The aftermarket thermostat housings with the threaded plug are the best for this.

 

[Dontknowchit]

90kickfox, thank you so much, you prompted me to research more and I totally will be adding a relay, but what should I wire the pole "86" ignition + to......i have wiring issues so i trust very little in that regard. Can i just ring terminal it to the ignition selinoid on the fender?

 

[Davedacarpainter]

Since nobody else has asked,..and the op hasn't volunteered....

Why is a maroon vert w/ a white engine bay nicknamed a "Banana Spider"?

Because of the spider, duh

 

[Dontknowchit]

Since nobody else has asked,..and the op hasn't volunteered....

Why is a maroon vert w/ a white engine bay nicknamed a "Banana Spider"?

This was the owner of this ride when I went to buy it, I had to evict him.......he was huge, and also, I found a bottle of 99 banannas liquor empty in the door behind the door panels. Cutting up with my friend Jon on the way home to TN from SC the name just stuck.