Vettn71
Member
I have to get everyone caught up on this, as I didn’t take many pictures when I first got this car. I bought this off an eBay advertisement, but not through eBay, as the listing had expired. My family went on a Christmas cruise and my son and I drove it back to Texas from Florida. I probably should have passed on it, but my son kept telling me what a deal it was. The car had been sitting for some years and had 45,xxx showing on the odometer. The car was not as advertised, as it was rust-free, but a lot rougher than he made it out to be. As an example, the top was rough and was obviously the original. The dash on the passenger’s side had actually melted from sitting in the sun. However, throwing caution to the wind I negotiated the price down based on the apparent faults and off we went to Texas. Before we got two miles the speedometer started smoking and failed. Soon after, the taillights quit and I had to jerry-rig wiring to get lights back there. Oh yeah, we got pulled over and fined $250 for not having a “travel tagâ€. The taillight problem turned out to be the headlight switch. We also had to stop and get tires, as I didn’t want to drive to Texas on maypops. Ka-ching, ka-ching!
Initially things were well, but after a month or so I noticed the dreaded converter “shudderâ€. Changing the transmission fluid did nothing to help, so I changed out the trans to a 4R70W in my garage on jackstands. It was fugly, to say the least. The windshield looked like it has been caught in a sandstorm, so I changed it out. I did some little things, like change out the dash with a new one from the local salvage yard and put on a steering wheel that didn’t look like a roasted pig. New shocks and struts were installed, as the others had seen better days. Ka-ching! For Christmas I got a new top installed. Woot, woot!
Well, it’s been puking power steering fluid all over my driveway, so I decided I’d fix things in my usual way, replace everything. Bought a new rack, Moog a-arms, power steering pump and hoses from Rock Auto. The a-arms were great! They came with new bushings and ball joints installed for about $15 a side more than just the parts. The steering rack came with tie rod ends. I’m sure they won’t last, but they’re easy to change. The first photo is of the car on jackstands with the new cross-drilled and slotted rotors and ceramic brake pads on it. I’m not going to autocross the car, so the cross-drilling doesn’t bother me. If I were to autocross, I’d just get the slotted rotors.
Pulling the rack was pretty easy. Photo 2 shows the old rack. It was surprisingly floppy. It just felt worn, but then the fluid was black, so I’m sure the seals were half gone and just floating around in the fluid. Even though I wasn’t having issues right now, I knew they weren’t long to come. I hate the way Ford uses these super-secret-handshake, decoder ring tools! I had to rent a power steering pulley puller/installer, which I guess is typical, but then the power steering pump is held on by E12 Torx sockets. I’ve never heard of a Torx socket, but now a have a set of four. I’ll probably never use them again. Thanks, Ford.
This is the new rack installed
No big surprise, but everything was caked with old power steering fluid, making the job very nasty-greasy. Photo 3 shows the new pump and hoses. Luckily I had bought a new low-pressure hose hard line that attaches to the steering rack. Nothing wrong with the old piece, but when I went to the local O’Reily’s they could find the seal I needed. I bought a package of two seals, but I couldn’t see how they would fit like the old seal, which was located on the bottom of the fitting. When I looked at the new hard line, the seal was at the top of the fitting. I just installed the new fitting with the seal already installed. The new high-pressure hose fit perfectly. Putting the new rack on was not so simple. I measured from the center of one tie rod end to the center of the other on the old rack, then set the new tie rod ends to the same distance. That should get me close. It was just a pain to get the new rack in place, connect the rag joint and set the bushing inserts. I installed poly inserts to stiffen the steering a bit.
Initially things were well, but after a month or so I noticed the dreaded converter “shudderâ€. Changing the transmission fluid did nothing to help, so I changed out the trans to a 4R70W in my garage on jackstands. It was fugly, to say the least. The windshield looked like it has been caught in a sandstorm, so I changed it out. I did some little things, like change out the dash with a new one from the local salvage yard and put on a steering wheel that didn’t look like a roasted pig. New shocks and struts were installed, as the others had seen better days. Ka-ching! For Christmas I got a new top installed. Woot, woot!
Well, it’s been puking power steering fluid all over my driveway, so I decided I’d fix things in my usual way, replace everything. Bought a new rack, Moog a-arms, power steering pump and hoses from Rock Auto. The a-arms were great! They came with new bushings and ball joints installed for about $15 a side more than just the parts. The steering rack came with tie rod ends. I’m sure they won’t last, but they’re easy to change. The first photo is of the car on jackstands with the new cross-drilled and slotted rotors and ceramic brake pads on it. I’m not going to autocross the car, so the cross-drilling doesn’t bother me. If I were to autocross, I’d just get the slotted rotors.
Pulling the rack was pretty easy. Photo 2 shows the old rack. It was surprisingly floppy. It just felt worn, but then the fluid was black, so I’m sure the seals were half gone and just floating around in the fluid. Even though I wasn’t having issues right now, I knew they weren’t long to come. I hate the way Ford uses these super-secret-handshake, decoder ring tools! I had to rent a power steering pulley puller/installer, which I guess is typical, but then the power steering pump is held on by E12 Torx sockets. I’ve never heard of a Torx socket, but now a have a set of four. I’ll probably never use them again. Thanks, Ford.
This is the new rack installed
No big surprise, but everything was caked with old power steering fluid, making the job very nasty-greasy. Photo 3 shows the new pump and hoses. Luckily I had bought a new low-pressure hose hard line that attaches to the steering rack. Nothing wrong with the old piece, but when I went to the local O’Reily’s they could find the seal I needed. I bought a package of two seals, but I couldn’t see how they would fit like the old seal, which was located on the bottom of the fitting. When I looked at the new hard line, the seal was at the top of the fitting. I just installed the new fitting with the seal already installed. The new high-pressure hose fit perfectly. Putting the new rack on was not so simple. I measured from the center of one tie rod end to the center of the other on the old rack, then set the new tie rod ends to the same distance. That should get me close. It was just a pain to get the new rack in place, connect the rag joint and set the bushing inserts. I installed poly inserts to stiffen the steering a bit.