Trunk Weatherstripping: Save a Few Bucks?

Here's a quick post about another "re-do" that cost me some time and a little money.

There are some threads online about replacement weatherstripping not allowing the trunk lid to close fully. I also had bought the "cheaper" weatherstrip a few years ago when my car was coming back from the paint shop. After I installed the weatherstrip, the trunk lid never sat properly and no amount of fiddling with the trunk lid helped. Some folks suggested giving it some time to settle. Nope.

Years later I decided to buy the better weatherstrip and do the job right. I'm actually surprised the larger mail order places even sell the cheap weatherstrip. If it doesn't allow the trunk lid to lay down properly, the weatherstrip is not fit for its intended purpose. Don't sell it.

Here are the two weatherstrip offerings from NPD. The better one on the left. El cheapo on the right (aged on the car a few years). The price has continued to drop since I bought mine in 2008. My suggestion is to avoid the headache and buy the better weatherstripping.

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Balancer Blues...

When I realized that the engine block in my car was sourced from a 1968 302 rather than a 1966 289, I decided to replace the lighter 6.5-pound balancer (painted blue in the foreground above) with a heavier duty 10.5-pound unit. I bought a Romac 0209, but unfortunately I didn't have any luck with it.

The Romac arrived with some junk in the clearcoat, which surprised me, but I was willing to deal with that since it wouldn't be noticed much, except by me. But the real problem was the lack of timing marks from 0 through 30... Oops!

Have a Drink!

I've been messing around with things a bit (as I try to figure out how my intake manifold installation went awry—more on that later), so I delved into the fuel lines that connect the mechanical fuel pump to the QFT carb. I wanted to replace the hard line, various brass fittings, and the -8 carb fuel kit.

Although the old parts worked well enough, they looked a bit cobbled together, and the faded carb fuel kit leaked once in a while probably from being 7 or 8 years old. I think the hard line on the front of the engine seems like a good idea if you have a mechanical fan, or if the fuel line snakes around and through many pulleys and belts. Mine doesn't so I found some Russell and Edelbrock fuel parts featuring matching black anodizing, all in -6 AN sizing.

From the older Carter fuel pump I needed a Russell 660823 Black ProClassic 90 Degree Adapter Fitting (-6 AN and 1/4" NPT) to replace the larger 3/8" NPT fitting or elbow that came with the Edelbrock 81234 ProClassic Fuel Line Kit. You might not need the smaller elbow depending on your fuel pump. Then I needed a Russell 660463 Black ProClassic Straight Adapter Fitting (-6 AN and 3/8" NPT) to attach the line to the new Russell 641093 Dual Inlet Carburetor Kit (-6 AN with 1/8" NPT gauge plug for Holley 4150-style carb). This 641093 is advertised as not having a gauge plug in some stores and having one in others, mine does. I decided to add a fuel pressure gauge Auto Meter 2172 Autogage Mechanical Fuel Pressure Gauge (1/8" NPT).

The lines are a sufficient length, even with a taller-than-stock RPM Air Gap intake manifold. I didn't include an inline fuel filter, also black and from Russell, but maybe I will add it one day.

I used Permatex Thread Sealant 56521 on the NPT threads and spent about $75 on a pair of Aluminum fitting wrenches, and an adjustable one. I might have just taped up a regular wrench to handle tightening the anodized aluminum fittings, but my 2001 Bullitt has a full replacement -AN fuel system so I can use them there too. I think the black ProClassic lines look pretty good, and I might even be able to remove the carb fuel bowls with this style of "soft" carb fuel kit installed.





I should mention that regarding the Edelbrock 81234 ProClassic Fuel Line Kit, there seems to be a design change with the fitting that attaches the coupler to the braided line near the fuel pump. The larger fitting failed on mine when I installed it the second time, so after speaking with Edelbrock's Tech Line I returned it to Amazon. The smaller fitting in the image was sent to me as a replacement and appears to be the newer design and works fine. (Amazon doesn't seem to carry this line anymore, but other places do.)

Brand New Repro Parts, Part III: Yet More Adventures in Head-Scratching

I've been chasing a passenger rear brake light that's out and just replaced the turn signal switch thinking that might be the issue.

Surprisingly, the new expensive OEM unit I bought was defective. Neither rear light worked after I installed the switch. So I removed it and installed a cheap repro unit I had on hand. So now the switch worked (but the light problem persisted - darn.) In the end it was a complete waste of time.

On eBay I did find a NOS turn signal switch that I bought for $57 (vs. $80 for the OEM one...) I'll install it later when needed. It's been in the box for decades, so I feel funny using it unless I really need it now! (In the photos, the defective OEM unit is on top, and the NOS unit is next to the box.)

[Update: Ok, since I have the patience of a mouse, I already installed the NOS switch—and I feel good about it! Since the turn signal switch is such an integral part of the electrical system on these cars, there's no use running with a cheap one when I can use the best.)

Tach Attack

I had previously purchased some blue LEDs to replace the small instrument cluster light bulbs. They went in easily enough (didn't have to remove the steering wheel or unhook the wires behind the cluster, just the screws holding the assembly to the dash, and the speedo cable), but my aftermarket SunPro tach didn't look right using an incandescent 194 bulb.





I tried a blue 194 bulb, which helped a bit (a green one would look right using stock blue instrument bulbs believe it or not). In the photo you can see a blue LED replacement bulb I bought on eBay for the tach (in the middle). I bought 2 which was good because the first was DOA (if it doesn't work, remember polarity matters, and they install in one direction--so swap it around in the socket).

This photo shows the whole dash lit up with the LEDs including for the tach...






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Brand New Repro Parts, Part II: More Adventures in Head-Scratching

Here's an issue that has caused me to waste some time, so maybe this tip will help somebody else. I bought a new fuel tank sending unit for my new 22 gallon fuel tank. (This tank is from a 1970 Mustang and holds more fuel than the stock 16 gallon tank from 1966.) The sending unit was from NPD and is supposed to be a good quality one with a brass float and 3/8" line. I think all of the parts houses will have this same issue, so I don't think NPD could do much about it.



Anyway, the first two floats failed by filling with fuel, causing the gauge to always read "E". The first floast failed within one day, and the second within one month. I finally replaced only the brass float and not the whole repro sending unit. At left is the brass float I ordered from NPD, and it came in a Ford package, which was a nice surprise.



And here are the two floats together. The import is on the left and Ford is on the right. They seem reasonably close to being the same, but notice the soldering (or brazing?), which is more controlled on the Ford one.



And here's the failure point of the import on the left both times (the first time there was a leak on the side too): the solder on the end cap looks like a big porous blob stuck on there. The Ford float has solder that is accurately placed and very smooth for leak-free service.

As a matter of fact, the import sending unit design apparently has another issue that quickly happened to both units I bought: The white plastic sock that is stuck on the intake tube to keep debris from getting sucked into the fuel line actually fell off or melted off and is presumably lost in the fuel tank somewhere. (With a new tank and a fuel filter before the fuel pump I'm not really worried about that right now.) But the parts houses do sell a NOS sending unit filter or sock for about $22. I just bought one and will install it when I have a chance (see photo). [Edit: Just installed it a couple months ago!]



In hindsight, I'd use a NOS brass float ($7) and NOS sending unit filter ($22) that are available in Ford packages from places like NPD and Mustangs Unlimited. Then I'd buy a $25 repro sending unit and hope for the best. I would not use a repro sending unit again without upgrading the sending unit filter and float. Of course if you can score a NOS sending unit assembly for $50 that's the best bet, but these go for over $100 easy when they come up on eBay.

Bad Gas

In preparation for installing my new carb from Quick Fuel Technology (more on that later) I bought a new dual feed fuel line from them.

Now, the carb I bought from QFT seems awesome, sure looks amazing. I called back to get the line and they suggested this one. It was $60 and nickel plated and looked great when it arrived in the package. I would have been happy to spend more and figured whatever they had would have been about $100.

Unfortunately, there were some issues with this thing. In no particular order, the line was -6 instead of the -8, which was already on my car (not a huge problem); the threads on the extensions that go into the fuel bowls on the carb had some small nicks, which made hand-threading difficult (not a huge problem); and one of the flanges had some sort of dent in it which can't be good for a fuel-tight seal (getting worse). Oh, did I mention the load of metal shavings loose in the line from where the gauge hole was drilled and tapped? (Good grief.)












Fortunately, I looked this stuff over before instantly ruining my new carb on start-up. I sent the line back to them tonight and will re-use my old one.

Brand New Repro Parts: Adventures in Head-Scratching

After I figured out my brand-new repro fuel sender float had a pinhole in it (after I installed it of course), and then replaced that, I could check out the electrical issue with the front parking lamps, which double as turn signals. To make a long story short, I was given some good advice on the forums that sent me checking the wiring behind the parking lamps. I found that the blue and brown wires were reversed on both brand-new reproduction assemblies. Un-freakin-believable. Oh well, I guess the moral is don't assume a replacement part is not defective out of the box...