'69 FI Squareback: The Continuing (Mis)Adventures

[KTPhil]

[jadney]

[raygreenwood]

[D/A/N]

To be truthful, over the last 2 weeks we haven't dug further into our connectivity problems. Also, we've accepted that 17-18mpg in town and 24.5 on the highway is okay so you can intuit our current mindset. I guess we've been beaten into a type of submission and are accepting things as they are for the moment.

However, I did note that 4 things are grounded at the dash brace by the glovebox. Two are solitary and one of them has two wires going into the same connector. That's clearly "aftermarket" and was either done by the PO or by Team Tram b/c we haven't touched them. I think the dual connector is our radio and our charging ports but we just haven't traced the wires to their origins as we were on another trip today.

Our other trip was dealing with post-winter issues and some rust!!! Maybe paint ain't what it used to be but TT treated this battery tray area about 2.5 or 3 years ago and it looks like they used water and battery acid . This is after after 2 passes with the wire wheel. Also, how are those + battery connections looking??

Then there's the rust under the sills where there seems to be about 1/3 of a coat of paint. I with we had the other 2/3!!!!

Finally, there's the undercoating, 60% of which has flaked off. That's left us with rust in some spots and black paint in others. I assume that the black paint on the pans is factory? I recall it looking like that when we received the car back in 2012. Should we grind that paint off and re-do with something more rust resistant?

I get that NYS uses salt on the roads but WTF! The Permatex rubberized undercoating on our Type 1 has required 2 or 3 touch ups in 6 years and the stuff on this car didn't even last half that time.

[raygreenwood]

Just treat the bare rusted apots with phosphoric acid. Ray

[D/A/N]

[Tram]

[Tram]

[raygreenwood]

[blues90]

I don't understand why the battery tray area has so much rust. If it's acid then either the battery leaks or is over charging or over filled and comes out the two cap vents .

My 73 had a bit of rust in 85 when I got it but it was due to a voltage regulator that was rusted because the fresh air fan box drain was plugged which then caused the contacts to stick and over charge , plus the three + red covers lying back there told me the PO was cooking batteries.

I never did anything but wipe the bit of loose rust off and it has not changed since then. It just has a bit of surface rust in a small area .

AS far as grounds go , on my 73 I don't recall a brace near the glove box like that yet there is a removable tubular brace that bolts to the lower dash lip and to the fire wall area. There may be a ground tab there yet I don't remember seeing one. There is a ground tree welded to the upper fire wall just to the right of the fuse box that has 4 or 5 brown ground leads attached with 1/4 brass female connectors . I cleaned if off a few times over the years just to be certain the brass and the welded steel tree are clean , when I do the fuel gauge seems to work better yet my fuel gauge has it's own ground on the black bakelite plug #31 which is a copper tab with a brown ground lead that goes to that tree.

On later cars at least Fords they had many small gauge ground wires welded together in a splice to a much larger gauge ground wire to a brass loop that was stamped like a star washer and then a heavy self tapping screw . Some times they were loose and affected entire circuits usually had three one on the left and right and center of the dash .

All the relays on my 73 have their own ground wire on the relay tab with a washer and the screw. I always add star washers where I can and if I find a weak ground they bite in and don't let go .

I find it works better to run a heavy gauge say 14 for main heavy current grounds if there are a few small gauge grounds stacked together. I connect the new ground to the tree or near it and then use star washers and drill another small hole for the other end of the new heavy 14 ground and use star washers on both. You can even take 4 small grounds and crimp them into a larger butt connector and then crimp the 14 gauge on the other end or replace the 1/4 " female spades with eyelets and use a screw and nut with star washers to connect small grounds to a heavy one and either zip tie it so it stays away from any potential hots or from rattling . When I find a ground issue rather than having to go back and find it again I just do what I described and never deal with it again . It's not easy getting under these dashes.

[D/A/N]

[raygreenwood]

[D/A/N]

[raygreenwood]

[Clatter]

That Eastwood "Rust Encapsulator" product makes me laugh.

Can't you hear the advertising taglines:

-cue announcer's voice-

"Save and preserve your precious rust underneath our Rust Encapsulator!"

"Rust will not only be enclosed with more rust, where it can continue to bloom and grow, but can also, through the magic of capillary action, get extra water trapped, and held longer, to help speed the spread of rust!"

"Your friends will marvel at how well our product will help your holey, flakey areas grow and thrive!"
_________________
Bus Motor Build

What’s That Noise?!?

[raygreenwood]

[D/A/N]

I've been having difficulty finding Jasco Phosphoric Acid. The only one I've seen for sale near me is this one but it doesn't list the concentration as far as I can tell. Anyone have any experience with it?

http://www.kleanstrip.com/uploads/documents/Phosphoric_Prep_Etch_J6599.pdf

In other news, our muffler has developed a few holes and a rather annoying rattling sound. Not sure if the holes are producing the sound or if there's also something funny inside the muffler and/or one of the heat shields has come loose.

Either way, we'll be replacing the muffler as well as the upper heat exchangers...a bit more costly that way but a good workaround in case ours are rusted to the old muffler and the threads get fucked up when trying to remove. Gotta keep the car drivable!

Anyway, we've obviously had the muffler on and off many times with all of our motor swaps, but we've never dealt with the upper exchangers and the copper gaskets, etc. What's the best way of installing them? Heat the copper rings or no? Loosely install the exchangers and then tighten them once the muffler is in place? Something else? Also, just to be sure, is there any issue with driving a holey rattling muffler other than the noise? Might not be able to swap until Sunday after some significant driving in the days before.

[KTPhil]

First, wire brush those fine threads and make sure the sealing surfaces are flat and smooth. Lightly coat the threads with anti-seize to prevent rust. As with any exhaust replacement, fit all parts loosely and go round and round tightening after all fit is checked and tight. This includes all the coupler sleeves and such. Use the small copper nuts on the head connections. If necessary, use muffler sealant at the slip-on front heat exchanger connections to prevent leaks.

[blues90]

[D/A/N]

Ok, good tips. As for the copper crush gaskets......what's the preferred way of installing those? They fit right into the heat exchangers, but only if held upside down. They balance on top of the muffler. Seems like there's some room to screw up and not get a tight or good enough seal. My instinct is to use a little Permatex copper to hold the copper gasket into the heat exchanger while placing it onto and then gently tightening the 46mm nut. Sound good?

blues90.....this muffler is a little short of 4 years old. I got new heat exchangers because I figured the likelihood of ours being rusted is fairly high and I can't afford to pull the muffler, discover that the exchanger nuts are screwed up, find a new set of heat exchangers, wait for them to arrive, etc., etc. In other words, buying them was a bit of insurance so that I'll have a 100% chance of having heat exchangers that will go on correctly.

I can't imagine why people would say that the exchangers don't add much to the heat.....the two of them together weigh as much as the whole muffler and 95% of that weight is the fins which probably bank up a crazy amount of heat. I've melted several things on the floor in front of the rear heat vents in the Squareback but nothing in my Type 1 even with all heat stuff in top shape.

That Vintage Speed muffler seems like a good piece, but I wouldn't want to do without the heat exchangers. The only bad thing I've heard about those mufflers is that they have a tendency to crack at the welds.

There's no point in grinding off all of the factory paint on the muffler and re-spraying it with VHT or something, is there? Anytime I've done that, it seems to bake or rust off in a few months.