My parking brake cable rusted out on my 88 Cougar. I found a new replacement cable, but wondering how you get the new cable installed without completely drilling out the pulley that is mounted on the post under the car.
The barrel shaped terminator at the end of the cable won't fit thru the narrow slot to go around the pulley.
What have others done with this, do you have to drill out the large rivets to allow opening the whole thing to get the cable in, if so what do you replace the rivets with?
I could cut off the terminating cable barrel, but seems a shame to mess up the new cable, and what to replace the cut-off barrel with if it is cut-off?
I was never good at puzzles, what am I missing....?
Wow! Looks real swell, and that new car smell can't be beat. Knowing you, I bet you already have every accessory item associated with the car already on order so it can be neatly displayed in the trunk at the next car show!
The car cover is not a bad idea, unless the new baby is pushing out the Cat's from the garage?
As long as it no longer matters what the nut looks like, I've found real tight vice grips do a great job on biting into the metal and allowing the thing to loosen.
Regarding the brake lines, its probably best to buy a long coil (Summit has them, along with new flare nuts) and a flare tool ( I like Rigid brand the best), and a bender. Then practice a little with both tools before putting the run into the car.
I first tried removing the original line and bend the new line to try to match it before putting it into the car, but it didn't work too well- the 3D nature had more dimensions than my mind. So I found it better just putting it into the car while doing the bends.
The stainless steel tube is nice, but I found it really hard to flare, so I've gone with Summit SUM-220136, standard steel line.
I'd be real surprised if you could find prebent tube for your car at a dealer.
Easiest way is to get the vehicle speed sensor off the transmission and hack it to spin it with a drill. Hook it up to the cluster per the diagrams. Alternately, you could use a pulse generator, available off eBay, or you could make one yourself with a 555 timer IC.
Looks like a nice job! Sorry for the late reply, been working all hours.
Sorry I don't know much about that cluster. The only way to figure it out would be to spend some time with one on my bench. And with my luck lately, there is always a chance damage could happen as I'm probing around.
So I'd be happy to look at one, but only if its a junker that is operational to do tests, but won't be missed if something goes wrong.
In my opinion the HEGO sensors are probably good. Its normal to see them vary like you did, and also depends on how fast your meter reacts. Bottom line they are getting to the computer.
Sounds like a strange one. Only other thing on the HEGO's I would check is if the signal is actually at the computer (peirce the wire just at the computer connector)
What about the Mass Air Flow sensor, you didn't mention it in the write up..
Regarding the thermactor system, on mine, the thermactor solenoids were sticking. I did a simple test of just applying vacuum and then applying voltage to the solenoid. Some soaking with rubbing alcohol got some gunk out and got it working reliably again. These solenoids are the two that are in the passenger side near the firewall/fender, of which one controls the EGR vacuum. I can't see that being the running rich problem though.
