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Messages - EricCoolCats

1
Lounge / Re: Dirty Old Cars on History
Yeah, the car was pretty bad. But like a lot of those shows, some things look totally staged.

It cleaned up pretty well though, despite the typical worn consolette armrest and driver's seat. Paint was okay, didn't look like it had any rust. I saw some paint imperfections but nothing major. Overall a decent car. Best part was how the woman's daughter (~12ish) was excited for it to be her car.
2
Lounge / Dirty Old Cars on History
Anyone see this show? Found it on Hulu. In S1 E9, "Stinky Kitty", they clean up a 20th Anniversary Cougar that was sitting in a barn with the windows down and lots of barn cats.
3
Lounge / Re: Blank Boards
I noticed that too, don't know what is causing that. There were some legacy themes that carried over with the database and I had to install them or else we got crashes. I think some of the themes are not ready for prime time, to be honest. But yeah, that does seem to fix things. It also might be a browser cache or cookie thing as well.
4
Lounge / Re: Forum Tweaking
It might be a cache/cookie thing with your browser. I'm kinda having the same issue with one browser, but not in another, and I'm thinking a cache cleaning should fix the issue.

This board software is really finicky. We had to start from scratch to update it...normally things don't happen like that and we're hoping it's a one-time deal. The cookies seem very persistent throughout.
5
Lounge / Re: Forum Tweaking
As of right now, we're okay. I think the hosting renewal and the domain renewal are both in the fall (October-ish). Last year I set aside the previous donations and paid with that. Those funds are gone but we'll cross that bridge once we get closer to the renewal dates. Appreciate the thought.
6
Lounge / Re: Forum Tweaking
So it looks like our upgrade worked, as we installed the forum software from scratch today and moved stuff over. So far so good. If anyone sees something amiss just let either Alex or myself know. Thanks for your patience!
7
General Fox T-Bird/Cougar Discussion / Re: 1988 Build Sheet
Not sure if these things correlate but do you have the interior trim code from your driver's door tag? That code, and this code from the build sheet, might be the same. Or they might not LOL. A lot of the time, they do however, that's why I was asking. Sadly I'm not much help with build sheets but if the codes match up then we can ASSume that other things might as well (axle code, radio, etc.).
8
Engine Tech / Re: cranks no start **Diagosed**
Scott, I have done an oil pan swap in the convertible. What I did was to jack the body up as high as possible (on jack stands), remove the motor mount pins, and put a jack underneath the transmission and remove that crossmember, keeping it level with tension on the jack. Then as I cranked up on the cherry picker (engine), I would gradually lower the transmission jack. That kept the engine/trans combo together, just tilted up at an angle. The engine basically needs to touch the firewall, and the jack might need lowered all the way down at the trans, but this gives enough clearance from the K-member to unbolt the pan. I also removed the pump and let it drop into the pan, then you can take them both out the front. It's not fun but this method does work. I didn't even have to disconnect any wiring harnesses (although I did unbolt the MAP sensor and let it hang on top of the intake). If you're mostly stock, clearance between the engine and firewall shouldn't really be an issue.
10
Electrical Tech / Re: Considering Alternator Replacement, Weighing Options
The biggest determining factor for you will be the wiring. It will be worth your time to remove your old alternator and really, thoroughly inspect the wiring closely. The main connector at the alternator, especially, because any frayed connections there can cause a fire (and that's the reason why new alternators come with a new harness to splice in, to reduce that potential).

If your wiring looks good and you don't really antite running anything high power like auxiliary lighting or a big stereo system...I'd just run the NOS one (should be 60A). No fuss, no muss, plug and play, and be done with it. That will get the job done for sure.

In the past I have done an upgraded stock alternator before (70A), and that usually does require a little bit of work with the grinder on the bracket. The gains from this are minimal.

I also have a 130A upgrade on the convertible. It's been in place for almost 25 years, and aside from getting a couple of bad rebuilt alternators toward the beginning there, it's been rock solid. But also, that car has a big stereo plus the power top mechanism, upgraded lighting, etc. And I did do custom wiring for it. It was easy to do, no regrets, but the car is never going back to stock so I didn't care about that sort of thing.

Just my insight.
11
Lounge / Forum Tweaking
Yeah so we're trying to get our forum a little more modern, both front-side and back-end, and over the next few weeks we'll be experimenting with stuff. You might see some down time, or a white screen of death, or perhaps something will disappear. For all this, we apologize in advance. We are NOT shutting down the site, we have no intentions to ditch it, but we do need to get it compliant for future updates.

Our main issue right now is that even though the board software is at the latest version and is supposedly compatible with PHP 8.1, we have been unsuccessful to get it running at that version, so we remain at an older PHP version (7.3). For that, we are getting charged an extra $5/mo US, which is $60/year for...nothing, except maintaining an old PHP version. Hence the reason why we're trying to get the board updated, so that we can skip that fee and just have a single yearly hosting cost instead.

For now, we've installed some new themes which are kinda cool but have also messed up a few things. Our advice if you're having trouble: use the dropdown menu at the top for a different theme selection. It seems to work-ish for now. You can also try flushing out your browser's cache as well.

Again, we're sorry that things have to get done on a live site in this fashion. Message boards are tricky, not fun at all. But we gotta do what we gotta do.
12
Lounge / Winter Projects?
So what do you all have going on with your cars over the winter, any cool projects?
13
Electrical Tech / Re: 83 Digital Dash Fuel Sending Unit Options
Ahhhh okay, hopefully something Mustang-ish works as that's going to be a future-proof solution for us.

I've had my eyes on this super-cool aftermarket fuel level sender...
https://www.holley.com/products/gauges_and_gauge_accessories/gauge_accessories_and_harnesses/parts/19-250

...but here's the rub:

Quote
Easy to program the level of any tank and electronic gauge - does not work with OE style gauges that utilize an ohm only input

Understood why it needs an aftermarket gauge, because those run straight off 12v and don't really care about the ohms coming from the sending unit. Since we're dealing with a stepped-down 5v gauge and different ranges of resistance, it's unclear if this could even be adapted to our cars. But I absolutely love this concept though.
15
Electrical Tech / Re: 83 Digital Dash Fuel Sending Unit Options
Awesome, thanks for the verification.

So in your opinion, if someone had an buttstuffog gauge in an early car (1983-85) and wanted to use a Mustang sender, is that the most feasible route for a brand new sender, with modifications of course?