1986 7B Project

[RFranklin]

My 1986 7B I bought from SVOBud is under way. I have been posting pictures in my Albums Section. So far so good. I have removed all the interior pieces and placed them in storage. After spending a day assessing where to start I have focused with great success on the engine. The odd oil pressure Bud had mentioned was due to an ancient oil filter that was solidified choking the engine. Fresh oil and filter and everything went normal. I was also suprised to find the fuel filter was the original. I could tell by the fact the dealer coated it with rust and sound deadener. This was also changed. I ran a computer scan and found the MAF and EGR have failed. The new ones will arrive Friday. I still took it for a drive and the 7B is a rocket. Can't wait till I get the final parts. Stay tuned

[RFranklin]

Got the Boost gauge fixed. It was a kinked line in the dash. I also corrected the wiring harness and re-enabled the neutral safety switch. Little victories

[RFranklin]

Favorite Picture of the day !

Well here's a neat way to disable you Neutral Safety Switch. Just shove a dime into the connector and hack up the main harness ! It just shows you'll never know what you'll find when resurrecting a car. Oh well not too hard a repair a little Solder, Heat Shrink tubing, rewrap the harness, yank out the dime and replug. Gotta love it !

[svobud]

Whoa ... the rigged NSS!?!? I am so glad a person like you bought this SVO. I just didnt have the time or mindset for it.

[RFranklin]

Thanks pal, the fun never stops ! Last night was rear differential service and it looked perfect. The only item I found there was the lack of using a gasket to seal the diff. It was seeping because when it was serviced last they only used RTV. Not the best procedure. New gasket and sealed tight. Also serviced the transmission fluid. Nice and clean coming out. Next step will be a compression test and head inspection. If the compression test looks great I may go ahead and change the stem seals adjust the valves.

I was able to get a complete Timing cover set on eBay that looks brand new. I plan on completely redoing the engine front with a new waterpump, timing belt, tensioner, and seal kit. I hope my new spiffy Timing Belt tensioner tool arrives this week.

[thomp22]

Nice work. I remember those kind of moments when I was cleaning up my SVO. The little victories help you keep at it (beer helps too). Well done, keep the pics coming.

[RFranklin]

New VAM and EGR

Thanks Tim ! Man you have an awesome car! I look forward to the day I get there. Last night I installed a new VAM and EGR. The computer scans are giving me a clean bill of health sensor wise. I was a little suprised at how much oil was every where in the VAM and ducts ! I have seen something like this with a Honda Prelude and a faulty PCV valve caused it. My PCV checks out fine. What's interesting is there was oil from the air cleaner all through the system. I wonder if an oil bath filter was previously used only waaay too much oil was used ? I'll need to keep close tabs on this. Here are a couple of pics of the EGR and VAM.

[svobud]

Replace the PCV with a Motorcraft piece ONLY .. same with the plug wires. Couple areas where these cars get quirky.

[RFranklin]

I just ordered the Motocraft PCV

Thanks Bud, I just ordered a motocraft one. The wires are already Motorcraft. The spark plugs were "Split Fire" and were shot There now NGK Iridium. I've had very good results with these in past turbos I have worked on. If they get weird I'll switch to Autolite. I did a compression test today. The results were 159 across all four cylinders exactly. The ford manual I have read online shows that reading to be good. I ordered the new stem seals also. I'm also just about done replacing all the hoses with proper formed ones. The guys at the parts store here are really into this project. We plowed catalogs and measured for 2hours to replace every one. I also have a new waterpump and thermostat. I'm going to finish the head work and timing belt, housing etc and install them last . Should be done next week. The more I work and test this engine the better I feel it will not need a full overhaul in the near future.

I also noticed the transmission is even better sinced I swtiched to Synthetic Merc 5 class trans fluid by Amsol. Nice and smooth.

[Gyrhead]

Over-oiling into the intake tract is standard operating procedure for our cars. When the throttle plate snaps shut a vac pulls oil from the cam cover breather into the steel screw-in connector in the turbo inlet and it flows upstream into the ribbed hose and VAM. Pretty typical. Guys have added catch cans and rerouted the breather to solve this.

[RFranklin]

Over oiling into the intake tract

Thanks a million Gyrhead ! Thats interesting and makes sense that would be the cause. I really need to take a good look at a solution or buy stock in the companies that refurbish VAMs. . Thanks again!

[RFranklin]

And the Award for the most cooling plumbing ......

All I can say is wow! I have not seen this much cooling plumbing in a while ! They really have lines everywhere. After 8 hours solid under the hood I only have a couple more to change . I have noticed something odd about the cooling fan wiring. I believe/I know it's been modified. I have read all the great posts people have put up. I have also read the service manual front to back. It appears the connector that would normally plug into the engine block switch has been plugged Also the insulation has either been melted or crumbled away exposing bare copper. The dummy plug is an exact fit. I then noticed a lead was poorly spliced plug into a different switch in on the side of the radiator. The new splice appears to come from the same harness where I believe the "Knock Sensor Plug" is. The knock sensor is not plugged into anything (Assuming it is the plug for the Knock Sensor) Just for fun I tested the harness after I re-wired it and the fan works fine. I would like to see if I can get a lower temp switch. When driving the temp stays nice and low. However, when idling or slow traffic it rises a little more than I like. The problem is I can't find where it should be plugged in. I have attached some pictures if anyone has any idea. The fun just keeps coming !

[RFranklin]

Scrap what I said about the coolant switch plug. It's a spout shorting bar that was implemented in 86 cars and trucks. I added the picture and timing procedure info for anyone interested. The other plug I have no idea. Because of location I don't think it's a knock sensor plug.

[RFranklin]

That plug is the coolant sensor plug

I just figured it out. Somewhere in the past when a new radiator was put in. A previous owner spliced a harness to have the coolant sensor at the radiator.

I am going to remove all the crap and put it back where it belongs. Ug wish I realized that before I "fixed" the poor wiring job. The good news is that it's an easy fix.

In my travels I also discovered a fantastic turbo clamp design for the inlet and outlets. These are far superior to using a standard large hose clamps with stronger and more even clamping force. Pictures tomorrow when they come in.

[SVOeric]

sounds like you discovered the t-bolt clamps.

A lot of people switch to the radiator mounted cooling switch because the electronics were prone to failure in the stock system.

It's probably one of the weakest links in the SVO electronics.