67 Country Squire - Adventures in Poor Impulse Control

In reply to pres589 (djronnebaum) :

"I like the faded Bronco more than the fresh Mustang."

I was thinking the same!

I think the Britney Blue has it.

I have seen online where people have painted the woodgrain back on the car.  

woodgrain

I could see white trim and a white top looking really nice and "together" moreso than wrapping the trim in the really light stuff.  White + Blue + Med/Dark Wood sounds better than White + Blue + Light Wood + Med/Dark Wood.  I like that second Mustang you shared, that blue, or the blue on that Merc SL. 

In reply to jronald :

I like that bottom "grain" as well. Also the trim wrapped in the pale wood grain would be fantastic, if it will smooth down well.

noddaz said:

I have seen online where people have painted the woodgrain back on the car.  

woodgrain

That link is super cool. I know I don't have the patience to do a car panel up like that. 
Found a link with better wood grains: 
https://www.metrorestyling.com/Wood-Grain-Vinyl-Wrap-Film-s/1228.htm

The white trim / White top idea is definitely a thing. going to order the samples of all the vinyl colors to hold against it. Smooth-on sells a kit that I can use on a tiny piece of the molding to see if my repair ideas work there.

White roof, I'm sticking on the tropicool idea. Need to get some and see if a decent finish can be had (it does stay rubbery since 100% silicone). Anything to help the AC when it goes in. 

I hadn't seen that roll on technique... pretty cool. I have seen some airbrushed examples, but either is above my talents.

Not a whole lot of progress the last 2 weeks. Worries about work has caused a reign in on spending. Focusing more on things I've bought already. Good, since that means they may actually be done for once.

Currently, she's still got all of the front suspension pulled off. Have fully degreased, and will sandblast if I can ever grab a ventilator. Going to pull the headers off again as the coating flaked in spots. Will be using the opportunity to update to mini head header bolts for way better wrench / socket access. 

New bar and upper control arms have come in, which are "mild" improvements over the OE:
IMG_20200408_162647 by Jacob Ronald, on Flickr

IMG_20200422_160901 by Jacob Ronald, on Flickr

Have started figuring out kick plate mounting of a pair of 6.5s to go with the new head unit. Passenger side is easy, Drivers side has interference with the parking brake. Quick investigation, looks like I can space it over 1/4" and get the clearance I need. Worse case, Looks like I could tuck the speaker behind the OE vent grill. When I install the Aftermarket Air, those vents won't really be used, so no big loss in the temp airflow restriction.  Current plan has a pair of Rockford Fossgate 3 ways up front, and pair of 6x9 3 ways in the rear to follow in the future. 

IMG_20200422_161004 by Jacob Ronald, on Flickr

Which leaves the head unit - I ordered a Joying Android head unit (JY-UOS05N4GS-H 9" 4GB/64GB) back in March - it finally came in. Nice thing about the head unit is its 2 pieces, a touchscreen face plate, and a 1 din box. the Cable that connects the 2 has ~18" of run, so easy to tuck the head unit up in the dash. I'd like to say fitment was planned, but got really, really lucky with everything lining up using the AM radio holes in the front plate. 

IMG_20200422_200104 by Jacob Ronald, on Flickr

IMG_20200422_195823 by Jacob Ronald, on Flickr

Head unit supports similar features to android auto, and should perform well enough to run normal car audio duties + the Edelbrock EFI Dash. Going to print a bracket to screw the joying screen clips to center off of the raised lip from the original head unit mounting. Will end up sitting about an inch lower than in this photo:
00100trPORTRAIT_00100_BURST20200420175700727_COVER by Jacob Ronald, on Flickr

Hmmm. Head unit is very interesting! Carry on 

I used 5x7 speakers and plastic baffles in the kick vents of my 64 el camino  worked perfect. The spacing over of the ebrake pedal did not. 

Dusterbd13-michael said:

I used 5x7 speakers and plastic baffles in the kick vents of my 64 el camino  worked perfect. The spacing over of the ebrake pedal did not. 

I'm going to pull the vent, and see if I can make a center support for the 6.5. Not ideal, but better than the center channel for sure. I ended up with new to me kick panels that are in fantastic shape, so will use my old ones for mocking up a more open vent. 

In good news, made progress on the Head unit - initial bracket was slightly off and too tight. Going to rework it slightly. so its faster to print and fits better. First time printing with this filament, so happy with most of it, just needs a slight increase to extrusion for infill. Will share the Joying clip STL I made up, since it could be embedded in almost any behind dash plate for this purpose. The Joying clips on the back of the display just clear the knob ring, and gives about a 1mm separation between screen and dash. 

IMG_20200423_154958 by Jacob Ronald, on Flickr

IMG_20200423_155013 by Jacob Ronald, on Flickr

Finished the revisions today. Really happy with how it came out. Screen clips in, no play, and just contacts the fascia. Pops in and out as expected. Tempted to slightly sand down the spacer on the back so the spring clip engages 100%. Can pickup the whole panel and move it around by the screen. 

IMG_20200423_231129 by Jacob Ronald, on Flickr

IMG_20200423_231139 by Jacob Ronald, on Flickr

IMG_20200423_232703 by Jacob Ronald, on Flickr

Started disassembly of the vent, turns out the cable pull isn't attached to the HVAC panel, so they weren't opening at all. The filler was toast after 50+ years, so going to cut replacement gaskets. May help explain why the heater was even worse than expected. Going to see if I can make it open the other way, or just print a new vent cover I can manually rotate. Fingers crossed plan A works

The head unit supports android auto and all the typical android tablet bits (and USB OTG!). With the other wiring work needed, unlikely it gets installed in car next week, but who knows. 

jronald said:

Which leaves the head unit - I ordered a Joying Android head unit (JY-UOS05N4GS-H 9" 4GB/64GB) back in March - it finally came in. Nice thing about the head unit is its 2 pieces, a touchscreen face plate, and a 1 din box. the Cable that connects the 2 has ~18" of run, so easy to tuck the head unit up in the dash. I'd like to say fitment was planned, but got really, really lucky with everything lining up using the AM radio holes in the front plate. 

Wow that worked out really nicely.  That’s a really interesting head unit; I had not even thought to look at these, but have been more focused on simple solutions like the smaller “gauge pod” units you see in ATV and marine applications.

But the spacing of those mounts compared to the shaft spacing of the radio are hard to ignore.  I’m guessing my dash has the same spacing, so I’m definitely checking this out as an alternative.

Are you running an amp and crossover, or powering the speakers directly from the head unit?

Head unit supports similar features to android auto, and should perform well enough to run normal car audio duties + the Edelbrock EFI Dash.

This is a thing? Please tell me more...

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:4309463

Link to the 2 files I made - I made the design in tinkercad, which makes it a PITA to adjust anything since its hand alignment / add and subtract solids and holes. Going to use this as an excuse to learn SCAD, because it can be made adjustable to fit any old car dash (since not all AM/FM/8-track are spaced the same).  The screen has a ton of mounting locations - its meant to use 4 clips, but seems stable enough with 2. 

IMG_20200423_230102 by Jacob Ronald, on Flickr

The EFI Dash stuff:


They sell 2 versions of their EFI kit (w/ tablet, w/o tablet). You save ~$100 without a tablet, and the software should work with most android tablets and is in the google play store. The gauge readout has every sensor it ties into. I haven't gotten into it yet to see if I can pull that data into another dashboard / race capture. 

Going to start with just the head unit powering the front pair. Ordered a cheap 4 pack of RF 3 ways (https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00E81RAU0), so have a pair to install in the back eventually. Still figuring out front seat options (cover below) so don't want to commit to an under seat sub yet. Since I'll be redoing the wiring harness on the car / carpets / seats etc, I know I'll have a chance to address any issues in the next pass. 

I like that you're able to work out a mounting method that doesn't require cutting a big gnarly hole in the dash.

Jumped projects back to the cooling system / undercarriage cleanup since the weather cooperated finally. Foam core I was using kept reacting with any resin / sealer I tried, so original fan shroud attempts failed. Started over with plywood:

IMG_20200425_131244 by Jacob Ronald, on Flickr

IMG_20200425_140221 by Jacob Ronald, on Flickr

Going to get a couple layers of fiberglass over this, and use the excess ply space for the vacuum baging of the next steps. Definitely a learning experience getting the fabric to stretch. 

IMG_20200425_171341 by Jacob Ronald, on Flickr

Made some progress under the car - everything is cleaned up before starting install work. Though I do want to pull the headers back off and clean them back up. 

2 more weeks, almost 0 progress, outside of gathering bits. Made dumb plans for a month from now, which requires this thing to be out in Indiana in early June. 

I have a fallback plan, but when it looks like this, I can't say its wise:

Still needs shocks on it, bushings swapped, and brakes double checked after swapping master+booster. 

In wagon progress - took advice, and ordered the Ford OEM electric cooling fan w/ shroud baked in. This thing is legit and is almost perfect. Need to test it before relieving the shroud. $75 after shipping (and remembered to grab the pigtail) which means I can likely offload the SPAL + controller kit. 
IMG_20200507_121005 by Jacob Ronald, on Flickr

Was worried about fitting the EFI kit, and general top end health. Since new mating surfaces "should" be better than multiple prior attempts, and aluminum is shinier than cast iron:

Weather is finally getting better (outside of snow today), and since most of this is done outdoors, progress should improve.

Have also started planning 5 speed swaps. I'm pretty sure its going to be a TKO600, since it requires little tunnel fab, short shaft option fixes placement, and works with the quicktime bellhousing. Gearing is almost perfect:
 

Highway setup (235 75 15s ~28.9) - tall, but clears in the rear easy. 

Engine RPM :    2300
Axle Ratio :    4.11
Tire Height (in) :    29
1st Gear    2.87      16.82
2nd Gear    1.89    25.55
3rd Gear    1.28     37.72
4th Gear    1.00     48.28
5th Gear    .64      75.44
 

Autocross (275 40 18 - 26.7) - Nexens that clear pretty easily. Would like wider, but stacking summit coupons gets these under $150/corner, vs the $300+/corner: 

Engine RPM :    6000
Axle Ratio :    4.11
Tire Height (in) :    26.7
1st Gear    2.87        40.4
2nd Gear    1.89      61.35
3rd Gear    1.28       90.59
4th Gear    1.00       115.96
5th Gear    .64         181.19

Somehow I don't think it will pull 6000 in 5th

TurnerX19 said:

Somehow I don't think it will pull 6000 in 5th

Just an Idea to see what it would do off of the limiter. Will fall on its face starting at 5000. I wouldn't expect to see it do it in 4th either :P

In wagon progress - took advice, and ordered the Ford OEM electric cooling fan w/ shroud baked in. This thing is legit and is almost perfect. Need to test it before relieving the shroud. $75 after shipping (and remembered to grab the pigtail) which means I can likely offload the SPAL + controller kit. 

Awe yeah! That fan is the best! Are you planning on using the EFI computer to control when the low/high speed fans turn on? If so you probably don’t need more than a few relays to handle the switching instead of a full blown controller.

jerrysarcastic (Forum Supporter) said:

In wagon progress - took advice, and ordered the Ford OEM electric cooling fan w/ shroud baked in. This thing is legit and is almost perfect. Need to test it before relieving the shroud. $75 after shipping (and remembered to grab the pigtail) which means I can likely offload the SPAL + controller kit. 

Awe yeah! That fan is the best! Are you planning on using the EFI computer to control when the low/high speed fans turn on? If so you probably don’t need more than a few relays to handle the switching instead of a full blown controller.

Thanks again for the advice - Liking the off the shelf option incase something goes wrong down the line. Goal is to use the EFI controller - it supports dual fans with targets, so it should be doable. Ordered a 5 pack of 50amp relays, so I should have enough to get started, with spares to keep on hand. Found a $200 cell phone gift card, so splurged and ordered the headlights I've been looking at. Glass + LED with a low enough draw they shouldn't overload the OE headlight switch. 

Not sure how I'm going to tie the AC into it, but that will be something to figure out in the next few months.

Should have the front end back together on sat, finally have the last parts trickling in. In the meantime, working on stuff that doesn't matter.  This was try 2 of a speaker plate for the kick panel install. Using the fresh air vent space, which I need to close off in the cowl.   

Unfortunately doesn't quite fill the space. Printing the 3rd take on this. Ender 3 is 220/220x250, with firmware changes, can do upto 235x230, so using all the available space:

Thankfully I'm able to print this at ~85mm/sec, though the infil is pretty rough. Under 6 hours for the attempts. 

Some limited progress - Rack install was stalled due to it being designed for a swing-away column, not the standard column in 95% of galaxies from 65-67. 

Fix is sleeving the column to 1" and extending it 2" further out. Printing a 1"-1 3/8 bushing to sort out the play at the end of the column.

While waiting on bits from mcmaster, finished the radio installation:

Really, really happy with the setup - 1 din is tucked up in the dash, and uses a ribbon cable to the display that clips into the OE panel. Headunit is awesome - <2 seconds after turning the key to on and it comes on. Spotify, bluetooth pairing and radio functions work great. Not the most powerful setup (without an amp), but I can't comfortably be in the car at 25/30 setting. Sounds decent for budget speakers, but they were cheap RFs that want 45w RMS. 

updated kick panel plates are done, and seal fairly well. Need to clean up the wire routing when I go back in to redo the carpets. Not sure if I'm keeping a shade of blue, or just going black. 

All the features seem to work - quick start, screen dimming with headlights on, and radio reception is pretty good, considering the power antenna is stuck down. 

and minor, but got the headlights sorted - working on printing plugs for the excess 9006 connectors in the car. 

on low, they are 100% better than the old setup on high. 40w/bulb peak, so within the working range of the OEM headlight switch. Rather than worry though, ordered a dual function relay kit for it, with a pair of splitters (so I can have all 4 on at high and low). On high, the headlights are overkill. The look of the housings is growing on me. 

Link to the headlights? Are they a straight drop in?

In reply to Racingsnake :

I bet they are some sort of 5 1/2" ø mottorcycle lights... maybe they even have a hi / low beam.

Greg