Wagon Queen Family Truckster.

[FlatBlackCaddy]

Classy

[Raza]

The Car (which is now its official name) gets a surprising amount of attention on the road. I really thought it would be met with a mix of revulsion and mockery, but twice now people have come up to me at the gas station (the fuel gauge doesn't work, so I top it off every day) and asked about it. Little kids point, and lots of people do double takes. That doesn't mean they're not mocking it I suppose, but still, its been a pleasant surprise so far.

After I get the brakes done on Monday, I'm enlisting the help of a friend to do a youtube video.

Maybe you should get yourself a working fuel gauge and save some time.

[SVT32V]

Its the last year of the Ford full size wagons. Also happens to be the only year that had the MAF-based multiport EFI for the 302. And the only one with an airbag.

Is this a roller engine, roller rockers and lifters? I wonder if it has the double roller cam gear.

If the later explorer heads and intake would fit on it, that would bump up hp significantly, GT40 intakes should also be pretty cheap out there.

[Soup DeVille]

Is this a roller engine, roller rockers and lifters? I wonder if it has the double roller cam gear.

If the later explorer heads and intake would fit on it, that would bump up hp significantly, GT40 intakes should also be pretty cheap out there.

I'm getting conflicting answers on that so far. The power's fine for now.

[280Z Turbo]

I'm getting conflicting answers on that so far. The power's fine for now.

False. You lack horsepower.

[Secret Chimp]

Wicky peedia says the 302 was a roller from '85 on up. The 318 became a roller in the mid 80s too, so I'd expect it's a fairly reliable industry trend of the time.

[MrH]

So, for the shocks, do you think it'd be worth it to go for the $100/corner Bilsteins instead of the $40 adjust-a-slushies?

Need shocks you say?  I'll shoot you a PM here in a bit.

[Soup DeVille]

Need shocks you say?  I'll shoot you a PM here in a bit.

Yes.

[280Z Turbo]

I'm guessing it uses friction dampers, if anything at all.

[Secret Chimp]

The Monroe shocks I put on the Dodge felt okay for maybe a few thousand miles. Now they feel half as bad as the dead ones were. If you're keeping this thing for a kind-of while I'd just put better stuff on there first.

[Eye of the Tiger]

You really need to go for the Bilstein shocks on this. A roly poly wagon is not the place to cut corners with suspension.

[Soup DeVille]

You really need to go for the Bilstein shocks on this. A roly poly wagon is not the place to cut corners with suspension.

The other side of that question is ; how much of a difference can one component make?

[Eye of the Tiger]

The other side of that question is ; how much of a difference can one component make?

A shit ton. No question, the Bilsteins will rein in the sloppy handling that I can imagine.

[Soup DeVille]

A shit ton. No question, the Bilsteins will rein in the sloppy handling that I can imagine.

I have no doubt it will be better; thing is, I'll still have 70 series skinny tires, a pencil thin sway bar, an twenty year old rubber bushings holding on a solid axle.

[Eye of the Tiger]

I have no doubt it will be better; thing is, I'll still have 70 series skinny tires, a pencil thin sway bar, an twenty year old rubber bushings holding on a solid axle.

Obviously you should replace any bad bushings as part of regular maintenance. You should also probably run about 40psi in your tires.

[Soup DeVille]

Obviously you should replace any bad bushings as part of regular maintenance. You should also probably run about 40psi in your tires.

There are a lot of little things that need taking care of, and yes, if I do the shocks I'll be inspecting the bushings.

And I had no idea you were supposed to put air in those big round things...

[SVT32V]

Maybe something more mid-grade like tokiko shocks would be better than dropping so much on bilsteins.

[Soup DeVille]

MrH is graciously hooking me up with the deal of the century on the Bilsteins, otherwise I'd probably be agreeing with you.

[Eye of the Tiger]

MrH is graciously hooking me up with the deal of the century on the Bilsteins, otherwise I'd probably be agreeing with you.

Sweetness

[Soup DeVille]

Update on week 1:

The good:


The car is remarkably solid. This isn't the first $2000 range twenty year old car I've bought, but its by far the one in the best condition. Some of the minor problems I'd noted but decided to deal with. I'd figured the heater core needed to be flushed, but found that somebody installed a manual shutoff valve for it; something I've only ever seen on cars that spent their whole lives in the southwest (its a Pennsylvania car according to the old title, owned by a Chinese delivery, which doesn't jive with the low miles either). The wobbly shutting doors were all minor adjustments on the locking posts (except the "magic tailgate"). The kids love it. Dylan, my second son (6 yrs) insists on sitting in the "way back," the twins seem to like being able to see out better than they can in the minivan, and my oldest is fascinated by the power retractable antenna. Hey, so its no integrated DVD surround sound wifi hotspot system, but it works.

The most pleasant surprise was finding out that the car actually does have a limited slip diff- at least according to the tag. I couldn't get it to lock up, which means it needs to be rebuilt, but that's a lot cheaper and easier than changing the entire thing.

The Bad:

Nothing at this price point comes without a few problems. I knew the rear brakes were basically shot when I bought it, but hadn't counted on the rear line and master cylinder needing to be replaced too. The trim for this thing is harder to find than unicorn gonads (thankfully, I'm only missing one big piece). The so-called "magic tailgate" is a complicated arrangement of rods and levers that all seem to have a hair's width worth of adjustment on them and they all need to work in unison. Ford made this same design for like 25 years, so you'd think there was some sort of parts supply available for them. Nope. Looks like I'm going to press one of the hinge pins out and turn a custom one on the lathe here at work. Maybe I can hit the local junkyards and get lucky, but from what I hear, these all had the same sorts of problems.

The gas gauge doesn't work, which means I've been filling it up every 50 miles or so and then trying to calculate the mileage. So far, its getting about 15 MPG, but that also includes a lot of idling time. Neither does the cruise control, but I haven't looked into that yet either.

The ugly:

Rust never sleeps, and I'm determined to at least minimize its spread this winter. Its not bad, but it is enough to be noticed. The rear bumper was either hit or got hung up on something, crumpling the little piece of sheet metal under the right tail light and raising the right side of the bumper enough that it can be noticed that its crooked, as well as interfere with the opening of the tailgate. This might actually involve twisting something back into shape. The problemm at this point is finding time on a day with good weather to do it.

but all in all, I'm pretty happy.

[Rupert]

MrH is graciously hooking me up with the deal of the century on the Bilsteins, otherwise I'd probably be agreeing with you.

Whoa whoa whoa! What now?

[Soup DeVille]

Whoa whoa whoa! What now?

Nevermind.

These are not the droids you are looking for.

[Rupert]

Because I am totally for real this time only a few weeks away from 944 suspension things.

That bullshit may work on the Imperial Storm Troopers out front, but you aren't going to fool me that easily!

[Madman]

My parents old 1973 Ford LTD and 1977 Ford LTD II (a re-bodied Torino, for those of you too young to remember) wagons both had that "magic" tailgate.  It was probably the coolest thing on either of those two otherwise miserable cars.  I'm surprised nobody else (that I am aware of) has ever copied that idea.  Maybe Ford has a patent on it?

[SVT32V]

The most pleasant surprise was finding out that the car actually does have a limited slip diff- at least according to the tag. I couldn't get it to lock up, which means it needs to be rebuilt, but that's a lot cheaper and easier than changing the entire thing.

Cool on the Bilsteins if I didn't already have them on the cobra I would be trying persuade MR.H to hook me up. Although I am not sure I have the fondness of the man like apparently you seem to have acquired.

With the trac-lok, that is not many miles and it probably wasn't abused with that engine, prehaps a simple differential fluid change with a new bottle of friction modifier would get it working again. The clutch packs might just be glazed. Worth a try before a rebuild and cheaper.

[Soup DeVille]

Slightly disturbing today; the odometer stopped working. Is this evidence of tampering? Has it been working intermittently forever?

Oh we'll. I've made my bed, I can't eat it too. Or something like that.

[MrH]

Maybe it's got one of those Flux capacitors installed. The rust will mend itself.

[Soup DeVille]

Maybe it's got one of those Flux capacitors installed. The rust will mend itself.

I can only hope.

The condition of the car still says "under 100,000" by any yardstick, so I'm not overly worried. Could it be 80,000? 90,000? Maybe, but only if the previous owner took reasonably above average care of it; especially if it is indeed a northeast car for all of its career.

[280Z Turbo]

I still don't quite understand this purchase. Can you post a video or some pictures to help me understand why this car is cool?

[Soup DeVille]

Working on the video part.

Long story short, I have a limited budget for an unlimited number of vehicles. This is the practical purchase to haul around my four offspring. But I'd be lying if I didn't say I'm enjoying it so far.