how do i hook up the sentry lights and were should i hack off my consolette?
does anyone know how close in color slate blue is to the gray of the interior, going to do some testing but wondering if anyone knew from experiance
I took the seat out to hack off the consolette. You will see where the metal supports are in the seat. You might be able to do it while it is in the car, but it is probably easier with the seat out.
The color shouldn't matter to much. goto a dupont paint place and they can mix you some interior paint to make it match your interior.
The systems sentry is unable to be added into a car that did not origanilly come with it. The dash harness, and body harness are different to acomodate its functionality. Hell even the oil pan on the car is different! You could easily run a wire for the door ajar light and thats about it.
Oh on this console thing.... there is a piece of steel that is under the console bucket. The two holes in the bottom of the bucket screw into this. On early cars it was actually screwed in, on later cars it was spot welded to the floor. I made my own piece. Its roughly 1/2" tall. When you cut the carpet out you will see a square cutout of your rubber sound deadener directly under the console bucket. That is the placement for the metel piece.
There are two different types of front mounts as well.
Here is what it looks like when the car doesn't have a floor shifter
(http://i104.photobucket.com/albums/m167/CougarSE/MVC-055F.jpg)
There is a metal bracket that screws to the floor that is L shaped... this is hard to see in this picture but its in the center of the crossmember there are two studs sticking out, well down. These bolt into the bracket on the floor.
Here is what a floor shifter cars front crossmember looks like... Pay no attention to the fact it is broken. Its a junker console.
(http://i104.photobucket.com/albums/m167/CougarSE/MVC-060F.jpg)
There is no provision for the little L shaped bracket to bolt too.
Now for both of these consoles there is a large L shaped bracket that bolts to the front of the dash behind the systems sentry panel. There are two different styles depending if you have a floor shift console or a column shift console.
Now under the dash there are two brackets that are only there if you have a console... Otherwise you will need these. Sorry about the pic... it is absolutely horrid.
(http://i104.photobucket.com/albums/m167/CougarSE/MVC-056F.jpg)
These are the two screws I was talking about that screw into the little stamped bracket under the bucket.
(http://i104.photobucket.com/albums/m167/CougarSE/MVC-054F.jpg)
got it in that day/night but it isnt finished i need a new seat control pannel with duel seat controls
Most of them are made for the dual power seats it is just the metal cover panel that is different. Maybe you can use what you have but with one of those center consloe cover sheets they sell in the vendor section.
my 86 gs with no power options at all has holes for them in the bottom of the console. There is a little sticker that covers every thing.
I think ipsd and Haystack are correct, I'm yet to see a plastic cover without all the holes... AFIK just the overlay is different, at least thats how it is on the '87-'88s..
Yea the Systems Sentry would be way more trouble than its worth. Mine hasn't worked since I installed the Taurus Keyless remote system. Needed space for the relays and the SS module was in the way...
I know the one in my 84 T/C with the round mirror switch has the provisions for all of it. So the 83-84 would work and so should the 85-88. The only difference would be the mirror switch style and the side that to window switches are on.
There are three different types of console plates......
83-84
85-86
87-88
Please explain for the class, Claude. ;)
83-84.. don't know too much about it, but the obvious points are its heavier grain and round mirror switch. mirror / window switch flip flopped compared to 85 up.
85-86.. The grain is smoother on the plastic. easiest way to tell a 85 86 panel aside from the part number would be the aluminum indicator plate glued down to the plastic.
87-88.. 90% same as the earlier except instead of the aluminum indicator plate being glued down it is held down with little tabs that protrude through the backside of the plastic and are bent over.
Now sometime between 86 and 87-88 either the windows are wired different or the switch is different. My windows opperate backwards of what the console plate says. My switch panel is out of an 86 and my car of course an 88.
These are my own observations and I'm sure I've missed a few things. I do know that there is only one console switch plate, its the indicator panel that is different.
Mine do that too, but I think it's more because our switches are out of a non-console car (I assume your car had the consolette). For some reason Ford made the switches backward for the non-console cars. I prefer the switches the way they are, though (back for up, forward for down) - it just feels more intuitive. I might have Mike Pinto (Aerobird Motorsports) make me a custom decal with the "up" and "down" labels in the right places (at least for this car)
You know Carm.... While diggin in my garage I found two consolette switch panels. One I know for sure was out of an 88 while the other I'm not sure. Both had an E5 part number. So all consolette cars would have been the same. But I'm still up in the air about the console cars. I've had alot of combinations of switch plates and switches but nothing has ever made it work right.
Now you've piqued my curiosity - I've got an '87 TC switch and harness in the garage. I'm gonna pull the plate from my car and compare the switch and wiring side by side - my originally non-console car to the TC
(http://memimage.cardomain.net/member_images/6/web/2322000-2322999/2322669_82_full.jpg)
(http://memimage.cardomain.net/member_images/6/web/2322000-2322999/2322669_5_full.jpg)
These are before I got the car, is a 84 if it helps any
I'm surprised no one's mentioned the hole in between the seat controls for the Factory Alarm light. Huh? C'mon. 83Heritage and Cougarcaragar can attest to this.
I've got about a dozen console panels...maybe I'll dig them out and snap some pix.
The 1987-88 panels with the tabs also superceded the older panels. In other words, if you bought a replacement console panel new at the dealer for, say, an '85, you got an '87-88 panel which I believe has an E7 part number. And you also had to get the new plate with the tabs. So technically, you could find a newer part number in an older car and it would be correct as a replacement panel, so long as it has the tabs like that. I've seen it at the boneyard before, several times, on otherwise untouched cars. People just needed to replace that panel for whatever reason...like the usual break in front of the ash tray lid.
And the window switch thing...yeah, that defies explanation as to why some worked one way and some worked the opposite way. Very, very strange indeed. Me personally, I wire all my cars so that pushing forward is window up. It's more intuitive to me. I've only owned even-numbered model year cars so I cannot speak for 1983 or 1985, but my '84 and my '86s all had "push forward, window up". My '88s have all been "push forward, window down" (I know the '87s are that way too). It's always been my belief that Ford engineers got high one day and just wanted to f*ck with us. ;)
My 88 T-bird with a consolette has push forward windows up, push rearward windows down. There must be a difference betwen console and consolette cars but I don't know why :screwy:
OK, I just took the plate out of my car and completely confused myself. First off, I was wrong - my windows are "push up, pull down", just like Eric's '84 and '86. My car is an '88, which would lead one to think the car should be like Eric's 88's, but it ain't.
The original 88 "consolette" switch in my car and the '87 "console" switch from the parts TC are identical. Same wiring, same part number (both are "E3" part numbers). This leads me to believe that were I to install the TC switch into my car it would remain "pull down, push up".
Now, to muddle things further, my console switch plate has an E5 part number, but it also has the tabs, AND is glued down. AND, to make things more confusing, it would originally have been a "push down, pull up" car - I repainted it long ago, but the "down" lettering is still there (I masked it). *edit* I bought the plate from a junkyard (not from eBay as originally posted - I got the plate from the same '86 5.0 T-Bird that had the FMS spoiler and grille that I posted about years ago. It was the fog light switch panel I had gotten from the '85 TC on eBay)
Aww hell, I'm gonna go take some pics...
I can get better pictures of mine if you guys need
Yours is an '84, so it's different than the 85-88 models. Tell me, though - do your windows have the push-up, pull-down operation or the pull-up, push-down operation?
The pics from my car (sorry for the small pics, I had to shrink 'em so I could upload 'em through dialup):
#1 is the E5 P/N
#2 shows the tabs on the back of the panel
#3 shows the "DOWN" labelling where it should read "UP" (at least for my installation)
i know there are holes under the little peice of metel but the metal needs them and it use to say pull down windows up push up window down. now its opposite but the controls are the same
I'll have to look. It doesn't say and I don't know, car needs to get a new battary. I'll keep you posted if you like.
You must be refering to this.
Looks just like mine but no light
Also, one thing to keep in mind as well. The shifter surrounds (and shifter-delete "trays") are different between the 83-84's and the rest. The earlier ones are "square" at the junction with the dash and the later ones are angled slightly.
My '83 is push "down" and pull "up" on the windows.
OK, here's what I've got:
(http://www.coolcats.net/ximages/consolepanels1.jpg)
From left to right:
E7SB-63044E50-AWA, Rev. W; E7SB-63044E50-AWA, Rev. W; E5SB-63044E50-AWB
Note the holes on the middle panel, and the lack of holes on the right.
Carm: I do vaguely recall seeing an '85 panel with the tabs before. Might have even owned one, who knows. That, I believe, was for some production '85 and '86 cars but not for over-the-parts-counter purchase. Once the '87 model year hit, that's all you could get both in the cars and at the parts counter. I think the '87 part was just a restamped '85 tabbed panel. There are lots of 'revision' stampings all over the ones I have, all E7 part numbers.
EDIT: Now that I think about it some more...the tabbed '85 might have been replacement parts only, while the non-tabbed went into production cars. My guess is that sometime during 1986 the panel was reworked on the fly to accept the tabbed plate, but it still carried a 1985 part number. When Ford changed the cars in 1987 they carried the tabbed design over but applied the E7 part number to keep things current. This makes a little more sense.
I found that out the hard way when I first installed my console. The tray I removed from the donor car (83 Cougar) would not go in. I thought I had installed the console crooked, but remembered Eric mentioning on Coolcats that the radio/HVAC stack is angled slightly toward the driver in 85-88 models. I simply ground the 83 tray down. I also briefly had the 83 window/mirror plate installed (complete with a non-functioning power seat switch), until I found the '86 to get those parts from.
That is strange my 84 T/C has the forward down and back for up. Just today on the way to lunch Amamda was like how do you roll down the windows I told her and she was that makes sense! Don't know if it was switched before I got the car but I am the 3 owner and my best friend was the 2nd. I do think both of the centers I have the alarm light cutout. By the way if anyone is doing the console swap from a 83-84 and they are putting it in a 85-up t-bird cougar I and it is a 5spd. I would ask you to let me know so maybe we can work out a deal for the shift cover. I have 2 of the 85-up parts and only one broken 83-84 shift cover. I would pay shipping for both and let you have your pick to the 2 I have. I also would want the switch panel piece that I have one 85-up with the square mirror switch so your plastics would match grain and such. I've been looking but can never seem to find one for the 83-84 5spd.
OK, so....Carm...you and I have panels with the same part number...but yours is tabbed and mine is not. The plot thickens...
Also, while we're on the subject, the trays at the front of the console on 1985-88 column-shift cars...some got the all-open, flat tray and others have the divider in the middle. I never did figure out which cars/model years got what. Gave up on that loooooooong time ago. Maybe we can also put our brains together on those also...I have several and can get some part numbers and photos.
Well... I have an open tray that I got out of an 86... that had a rubber instert that was divided. mwhahahaha.
I have an extra in my trunk just like the one on the left fully dressed with all the wires and everything. If anyone needs it let me know
Mine has the open, flat tray (out of an '86). The '83 tray I originaly had in there was divided
A lady I know has a 83 cougar with the full open unit. It didi match the grain of my 84 so it must have been stock or they made 2 different ones for all the models