Txakura

mine pees on the crossmember and keeps the front cat from rusting it smells good when you come to a stop, no word yet on whether I can change my license plate to 'Get-O'...

the mirrors cause a lot of drag... no easy solution there (still laughing at the barn joke)

this is kind of a weird idea, but could you cut a notch in the heater box and then close it with plastic flat stock? seems to me it'd just be the top corner of the radio hitting, and a cable dremel would let you reach in there... really don't know how much room there is to play, but maybe some brave soul could carefully trim a peek a boo slot and see how much room there is metal tape might close it up too.. just an idea

post the pin out if you can, that might be useful for other folks

well wire away if it makes you feel better, but with that logic I'm not sure where you'd stop, lug nuts? steering column bolts? brake hardware? unless you're racing it seems like overkill

how is that oil drain more prone to failure than any other oil drain bolt?

you can buy a bolt jig that holds them and make your own, unlike nukes, subs and planes the stresses here are a lot less http://www.aircraftspruce.com/catalog/topages/drillingjig.php http://www.pegasusautoracing.com/group.asp?GroupID=SAFETYWIRE but why would you want to?

Above all it's a 20 year old car, and you can't assume anything was done to take care of it - just like any other car. The 4wd could be as lame as a switch, or something more involved. If the price is low enough, you can put up with some repairs... really it's the same basics as anything else, using oil? leaking oil? yada yada

Like Tom I've used 'miles of the stuff' as an aircraft mechanic, but seldom see the need to wire anything on a car. ( Except those throw out bearing retainer clips )

this is at idle it's running rich? I'm assuming that the choke is clean and functioning after the rebuild and the timing and idle are at the spec my Peterson's 'Big Book of Auto Repair Complete Specs on American Cars 1967-1983' says that there are two factory sealed plugs in the throttle plate to prevent tampering with the idle mixture screws. Is that the case? Are there any emissions on this? if you can get to the idle mixture screws it says backing them out is richer. there is a procedure, but I'll wait to hear back. if you can get to them, and get them out, shoot some carb cleaner through the idle passges I've got some specs for the Rochester M4MC, M4MCA, M4MEA and general stuff for the 4bbl (4MV). I got tables and tables, but no metering rod lengths. The only jet sizes shown are for 1969-70 carbs, (.076 and .078 (both primary diameters depending on engine)) probably not useful info... see if you can find any numbers on it, I might be able to run some stuff down, we have a lot of old tech still on the road here

I could buy that WAG. Very reasonable. It can't do much for the rear main seal but it can keep most oil from a seal failure out of the bellhousing. (-btw- I did change the rear main when the engine was out).

yes, my GM's had the covers... but even my 1982 351 F-250XLT had nothing like this, so I'm not sure if it's a carry over from the original 6 cylinder, which does not belong on the 8, or if it is something that needs to be there manual is not helping, going to check on line parts catalogs and see what it lists for the 8 cylinder dust/inspection cover (if anything) man I tell you, this one was not a lot of fun, it got so bad I had to go to two Ford dealerships with a digital camera and talk them into letting me take pics under the hood of some older trucks on their lot it's like getting handed a box of watch parts when you haven't seen a watch, then trying to build it

rtm, and it barely mentions it, it's an 'engine cover plate' that was supposed to go on before the flywheel is bolted to the crank... hmmm not sure what to do; a) ignore it modify it to act as a bell housing shim c) pull the whole damn thing out, remove the clutch, flywheel and do it all over again d) drink heavily and pretend I didn't work on it (guess that's just option 'a' restated)

Nice one, I miss having a v-8. I'd keep the rock guard/bug shield... but that's just me, hate that sand blasting we get here.

I got sucked into helping to put an (89) 351 into an (88) F250 that came with a 300 (6). After finishing most of the work down below I went hunting for the inspection cover for the flywheel. Lo' and behold the original 6 cylinder cover is actually a plate that has an opening for the crank, with a seal that presses against the rear main, and the transmission bolts pass through it. It isn't the half moon dust cover I'm used to (351 w/ c-6, 4.0L Cherokee AX15, '90 Loyale, 87 GL and so on) ok, so. Can I cut it in half and use it to cover the flywheel, or does it need to be in there to space the clutch another .060" from the flywheel? Just about everything is hooked up, I'd rather not pull the engine. perhaps someone has a 351 and TOD 4 with OD and they can tell me what their cover is, a half moon or full shield. Or maybe someone has seen this before.

Good lord, how long does it take to hack saw through a head?

oh lord GD don't tell me that... yet another way for me to screw things up

I used to park transit buses outside in the winter. One of my jobs was to assign buses to routes and when I put them to bed at night I'd plug the block heaters in. It only affected 8 buses, the rest were indoors overnight. Anyway, the drivers would get in a hurry when it got cold and take off with the 50 - 75 foot cords still plugged in. I'd find them laser straight and caught under the duals of the bus next to it. Well, once in a while it'd come out of the outdoor outlet and they'd be dragging a 50 - 75 foot cord behind them on their route. That made the best dispatch radio calls ever.

no. IIRC the wagon wheel wells are farther back, so the bench and backrest are both wider and not notched to fit around the wells like the RX/RS seat he wanted the split back, which I think I had in my 1985 DL, but that was the sedan not the '3 door coupe' - I just don't remember the wheel well location in that but the RS and RX are hard to find, (despite claims to the contrary) a 3 door coupe like the one that Subaruguru cut up for his 'ea82 brat' project might be slightly easier to find you might ask him what he did with his back seat

I got lost after 'Jacinta is running' then something something pdq zistor in a case with stuff makes magic thingys happen and it runs

The Loyale RS has the same, the GL/DL coupe should also be the same if I'm not mistaken. But they're all cooked by now. Rather than hunt down new ones I was going to have mine recovered, they are also sun fried and crispy from that big rear window. In AZ it might be a good idea to have that ginormous greenhouse window tinted. Put up some before and after pics, I'd like to see how yours turn out if you get them recovered. *** edit *** There's a place outside of Sierra Vista that re-did my motorcycle saddle, they did an awesome job - that isn't that far from you, but I'm sure there is someone in Tuscon that would give you a quote, it may not be as bad as you think.

LMAO just make sure that it is secure and can't in any conceivable way interfere with normal operation...

my bad was off in my own la-la land again, I'll go back to my Fischer Price mobile in the corner