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Topic: For those who may have missed it..... (Read 2879 times) previous topic - next topic

For those who may have missed it.....

Two weeks ago this coming Thursday,I was installing sound deadener in the Sport. I started with the roof, then went to the trunk, and I had stopped for the evening. I was moving the Thunderbird from the drive way when I happened to notice that my clock and radio weren't working. I though to myself " a blown fuse". So, I pulled back into the driveway and got out. I looked up at the fuse panel,and I saw a large burnt hole with a white ashy center. The hole was about the size of a 50 cent piece. I tried to drop the fuse panel, but the wires were to short and tight to allow it to drop, so, I removed the dash and this is what I found upon more inspection............



I remembered that the '86 V-6 Thunderbird was at my favorite boneyard (only Bird for miles). I had gotten the dash from it a few weeks ago. Anyway, I drove the 16 miles, and cut out the fuse box leaving about 6 inches of wires on them. I got home,and compare every single wire from the Sport ('88 5.0 car) to the '86 fuse panel....identical to the last wire.... WOO-HOO !!! (looking for anything positive at this point). I then started swapping the fuse panel one wire at a time. Cut and graft.....cut and graft....cut and graft.... until it was all done.

After I finished swapping the panel, I figure now was a good time to install the rest of the sound deadener throughout the floor,firewall,and doors. While I had the carpet up,I found wires on the passenger side and driver side floor running along the door jambs that were melted. i replaced those and finished up. I took the replacement dash and dyed it gray, along with the console, glove box door and associated dash pieces. I installed the passenger side power seat equipment that had been in the garage since early this year as well. I applied sound deadener on the back of the dash and air ducting as well (had an extra roll....Thanks Zillamat !!!).

I then installed the dash, console, and everything else. I turned the key on and no dome light, no radio, no clock, no trunk light.I checked the fuse, burnt out. I installed another,and still nothing. I got to trouble shooting again, and found the dome light harness that goes down the passenger side a-pillar was melted. back to the salvage yard,pulled the dome light harness and installed it. Same issues, no power still to those above mentioned items.

I called Jerry (daminc) and we talked for a while and did some long distance, over the phone trouble shooting and I found that the visor harness was bad. It had a screw from the driver side visor going through it. Grounded out. I swapped that harness and everything worked as it should.

I went out to move the Sport last Thursday night, one week after the whole bunch of  started, and the dash lights and head lights didn't work,but everything else did. I swapped the light switch, no change. I pulled the switch again,and looked at the fuse harness with a flash light and there it was.... a wire had broke from it's connection. I reconnected it together and then everything was working perfectly again. What a relief.....for an hour.

I went to pick my son up from school and it was pretty warm,so,I figure "I'll use that a/c I paid all of the money to have working again". No cold air. I called the a/c guys at "Olde and New", and they took the Sport yesterday and changed a bad valve for the R134 conversion and now, really cold air, and all is good again. 46 hours of total labor. I can NOT imagine having to pay someone to do all of that. Holy .

And that's what some of you missed during the forum's hiatus.

'88 Sport--T-5,MGW shifter,Trick Flow R intake,Ed Curtis cam,Trick Flow heads,Scorpion rockers,75mm Accufab t-body,3G,mini starter,Taurus fan,BBK long tube headers,O/R H-Pipe, Flowamaster Super 44's, deep and deeper Cobra R wheels, Mass Air and 24's,8.8 with 3.73's,140 mph speedo,Mach 1 chin spoiler,SN-95 springs,CHE control arms,aluminum drive shaft and a lot more..

For those who may have missed it.....

Reply #1 –
dots?
--SteveN 👍
[thread=28690]1988 Cougar V6[/thread]
2012 F-150 3.7L
 

For those who may have missed it.....

Reply #2 –
Quote from: sarjxxx;340239
dots?


what does that mean?
'88 Sport--T-5,MGW shifter,Trick Flow R intake,Ed Curtis cam,Trick Flow heads,Scorpion rockers,75mm Accufab t-body,3G,mini starter,Taurus fan,BBK long tube headers,O/R H-Pipe, Flowamaster Super 44's, deep and deeper Cobra R wheels, Mass Air and 24's,8.8 with 3.73's,140 mph speedo,Mach 1 chin spoiler,SN-95 springs,CHE control arms,aluminum drive shaft and a lot more..

For those who may have missed it.....

Reply #3 –
Quote from: vinnietbird;340242
what does that mean?


I don't know, but I could go for a box of dots candy right about now.

Vinnie, so how did that screw take so long to cause any problems? I mean did you recently do a visor swap? Or was it just grounded all this time and finally arced all by itself?
CoogarXR : 1985 Cougar XR-7

For those who may have missed it.....

Reply #4 –
It had to have happened when I re-attached the visors after doing the sound deadener on the roof. It all sucks,but,on the good side,I got the replacement,minty fresh dash installed, power passenger seat, and a lot of the Zillamat. The car is a LOT more quiet inside now.A HUGE difference for the better.Comfy inside,grumbly on the outside.
'88 Sport--T-5,MGW shifter,Trick Flow R intake,Ed Curtis cam,Trick Flow heads,Scorpion rockers,75mm Accufab t-body,3G,mini starter,Taurus fan,BBK long tube headers,O/R H-Pipe, Flowamaster Super 44's, deep and deeper Cobra R wheels, Mass Air and 24's,8.8 with 3.73's,140 mph speedo,Mach 1 chin spoiler,SN-95 springs,CHE control arms,aluminum drive shaft and a lot more..

For those who may have missed it.....

Reply #5 –
What I meant was, when I first viewed this thread, all that was there was the first paragraph, no pictures or the rest of the post.

jeez dude what a mess.  Electrical problems are the fn worst man. Especially  like that...
--SteveN 👍
[thread=28690]1988 Cougar V6[/thread]
2012 F-150 3.7L

For those who may have missed it.....

Reply #6 –
Lol... now that I look back at that pic...... That thing is really cooked. Your so lucky the car didn't catch on fire from that. On the upside, I now know all the wiring from the fuse box, all the way to the trunk.
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
***** Project "EVOLUTION" 1987 Cougar LS  & 1985 Cougar Convertible *****
[/COLOR]
5.0 HO 306 roller block, machined GT-40P heads, Wiseco dished forged pistons, Eagle forged floating I-beam connecting rods, Lunati pushrods, ARP bolts, Scorpion aluminum 1.6 rockers, Comp Cams Magnum 266HR, Explorer intake, 65mm TB, MAF Conversion, 19# injectors, Ford Racing stainless P-headers, 2-1/2" cat-less exhaust w/ Flowtech Afterburner lers , SC AOD with 2800 BDR torque converter, 3.73 T-Lok rear, CHE rear control arms, full 2-1/2" frame w/1" jacking rails & seat supports, Rear disk brakes, Turbine wheels, All original interior w/ floor shift upgrade .......
Pretty much every panel on my 87 is new, rebuilt, or re constructed. :D
Join us on Facebook
http://www.facebook.com/home.php?sk=group_137541156293768&ap=1

For those who may have missed it.....

Reply #7 –
I started typing,then posted,went back to photobucket for a pic,came back and typed some more,posted,went back for another pic,came back and finished.I was distracted.
'88 Sport--T-5,MGW shifter,Trick Flow R intake,Ed Curtis cam,Trick Flow heads,Scorpion rockers,75mm Accufab t-body,3G,mini starter,Taurus fan,BBK long tube headers,O/R H-Pipe, Flowamaster Super 44's, deep and deeper Cobra R wheels, Mass Air and 24's,8.8 with 3.73's,140 mph speedo,Mach 1 chin spoiler,SN-95 springs,CHE control arms,aluminum drive shaft and a lot more..

For those who may have missed it.....

Reply #8 –
Quote from: vinnietbird;340281
I started typing,then posted,went back to photobucket for a pic,cam back and typed some more,posted,went back for another pic,came back and finished.I was distracted.


I think they call that ADD or OCD .

 That really could have been much worse I'm glad it's all sorted out now
Fox-less at the moment

For those who may have missed it.....

Reply #9 –
Quote from: daminc;340280
Lol... now that I look back at that pic...... That thing is really cooked. Your so lucky the car didn't catch on fire from that. On the upside, I now know all the wiring from the fuse box, all the way to the trunk.


Hey,I'm glad you learned from my ordeal.LOL. I''ve kept that fuse box.I need to put it in a shadow box and hang it up somewhere.I know a lot more than I did before I got started on the repairs. Yep,learning the hard way. Nothing quite like it........thank goodness.
'88 Sport--T-5,MGW shifter,Trick Flow R intake,Ed Curtis cam,Trick Flow heads,Scorpion rockers,75mm Accufab t-body,3G,mini starter,Taurus fan,BBK long tube headers,O/R H-Pipe, Flowamaster Super 44's, deep and deeper Cobra R wheels, Mass Air and 24's,8.8 with 3.73's,140 mph speedo,Mach 1 chin spoiler,SN-95 springs,CHE control arms,aluminum drive shaft and a lot more..

For those who may have missed it.....

Reply #10 –
Quote from: hypostang;340283
I think they call that ADD or OCD .

 That really could have been much worse I'm glad it's all sorted out now


You're right,it could've been a big fire. For everything I swapped and the work i did,I really did get lucky considering what could've been.....fire,Burned interior,cooked Sport,Vinnie crying......the list goes on.
'88 Sport--T-5,MGW shifter,Trick Flow R intake,Ed Curtis cam,Trick Flow heads,Scorpion rockers,75mm Accufab t-body,3G,mini starter,Taurus fan,BBK long tube headers,O/R H-Pipe, Flowamaster Super 44's, deep and deeper Cobra R wheels, Mass Air and 24's,8.8 with 3.73's,140 mph speedo,Mach 1 chin spoiler,SN-95 springs,CHE control arms,aluminum drive shaft and a lot more..

For those who may have missed it.....

Reply #11 –
That must've been a nightmare, at least it's fixed now. Screws through wires cause a lot of hard to find problems for people.
Matt
1984 Thunderbird - 89 302 HO, GT40 heads w/ Trick Flow springs, E303 cam, Edelbrock Performer 289 intake and 600 cfm 4bbl, Mustang headers, Jegs o/r H pipe, Dynomax lers, Mustang AOD and shifter, Mustang 8.8 w/ 3.73s, 3G alternator, Mustang front and rear sway bars, KYB SN-95 front struts and shocks, and 11" front brakes.

1988 Mustang GT - GT40 heads, Explorer intake, 70mm throttle body, 70mm MAF, Crane 1.7 rrs, E303 cam, Kirban Kwik shifter w/ Pro 5.0 deluxe handle, aluminum clutch quadrant and firewall adjuster, o/r h pipe, Dynomax lers, 3G alternator, aluminum radiator, and 3.27 gears.
 
1986 Cougar 5.0, 1989 Mark VII LSC 5 speed, 1980 Mercury Zephyr 4 door (sold)

For those who may have missed it.....

Reply #12 –
Honestly,it was a nightmare.I slept like  every night wondering and buttstuffyzing.I felt more than relieved when I found the screw through the visor harness wire. Like I said,though....I did a lot of work I wasn't planning on til next spring (finishing the Zillamat,passenger power seat,replacement dash). It's all done now,so,I can sit back and find new projects I want to do.
'88 Sport--T-5,MGW shifter,Trick Flow R intake,Ed Curtis cam,Trick Flow heads,Scorpion rockers,75mm Accufab t-body,3G,mini starter,Taurus fan,BBK long tube headers,O/R H-Pipe, Flowamaster Super 44's, deep and deeper Cobra R wheels, Mass Air and 24's,8.8 with 3.73's,140 mph speedo,Mach 1 chin spoiler,SN-95 springs,CHE control arms,aluminum drive shaft and a lot more..

For those who may have missed it.....

Reply #13 –
Quote from: vinnietbird;340291
It's all done now,so,I can sit back and find new projects I want to do.


Want to come to Tennessee and help me take all the extra emblems off my car ??:mullet:  lol
Fox-less at the moment

For those who may have missed it.....

Reply #14 –
 Vinnie, that looks like it was a hell of an ordeal.  Electrical problems are hell on earth sometimes.  Glad you got her going again.
'88 'bird, 10.9:1 306 w/TFS top end, forged rods/pistons, T-5 swap & bunch of other stuff, 1-family owned, had it since ‘98, 5.0tbrd88 on Instagram and YouTube