So this thread is a bit overdue but about a month ago I picked up my $2018 Challenge entry - a 1985 Ford LTD Country Squire!
It originally came from California, and spent the past year or so sitting on the side of a quiet road in Austin, TX once the electrical gremlins became too much for the prior owner to handle. She said it wouldn't hold a charge and when we started it up for a test drive it was belching black smoke out the exhaust and dumping soot everywhere, like so much soot. This was from idling for about 30 seconds:
But, other than not wanting to start and actively attempting to murder the earth once it did start, everything seemed to be in great shape, so a deal was struck and we returned the next day with $900 and a bucket of fluids and tools, hopeful that we could get it running well enough to drive the 120 miles or so back to Waco.
A new tank of gas solved the smoke problem (it was literally running on fumes evidently) but it quickly became evident that something was draining our battery, even when driving, and the car kept stalling out (it's TBI so unfortunately you need some juice to run). Turns out the new alternator the PO put in was not charging, so despite the temptation to try and throw a new alternator (and potentially several more parts) at it in downtown Austin, better judgment prevailed and we towed it home. It pays to have friends with trucks:
Also Ford really went wild with the wood grain, even the roof rack got some!
Back home in the safety of the driveway, it was time to decrustify. The whole thing actually cleans up pretty well, other than some rough patches in the interior and a little dent in the side it's in great shape.
Some diagnosis revealed that all the alternator wiring was good, and the voltage regulator seemed to be good so I guess the reman alternator the PO got was just a dud. Since the old 1G alternator that came on the wagon originally is basically a garbage fire, I decided to swap up to a 3G alternator out of a 94 Taurus I found at the junkyard. 30 bucks and some grinding of the original mounting point and we gained reliability and an extra 45 amps or so over the old setup. This solved the main issue and now the car was running right but Texas has safety inspections so we had to address the other electrical problem: the windshield wipers came on when you turn the headlights on. We spent a good afternoon fiddling with the multifunctional switch on the steering column, the body wiring, the lightbulbs, and several other bits before realizing it would make sense to try putting a new ground on the whole lighting system. Lo and behold that solved all the problems so I am now street legal and fully tagged and the old squire is running great on my commute.
The plan is to try and put some get up and go into the tired old 302 now, and try to make the whole thing handle slightly more like a road-going vehicle rather than an ocean vessel. I snagged an Edelbrock Performer upper/lower intake manifold with the associated fuel injectors and rails so I need to make another trip to the junkyard to get the wiring and brains out of a multiport EFI 302. That, removing the 80's smog gear, and throwing a cam at it should help wake up the engine enough to get us to Gainesville on time. The research I've done makes me believe (foolishly?) that I should be able to throw on newer P71 suspension parts with relative ease to help with the whole rolly-polly turning situation. At the very least some new dampers and sway bars will make a world of difference.
