Author Topic: Moxie BluBelle (Read 1355 times)

blupinto · « **on:** October 18, 2012, 09:08:00 PM »

Last week I announced that another Pinto has joined my small herd. When I saw her at the Ecology Auto Wrecking yard in Oceanside I just had to have her. Never mind the common-sense part of my psyche telling me, "NO! Don't do it! You'd have yo use your 2013 Carlisle Trip Fund to buy it! You don't know what you're buying!!! Don't be seduced by a horse emblem and faded woodgrain decals!" My heart simply said, " It's a Squire in Grabber Blue. She starts right up! You have some of the cosmetic hardware to replace her broken pieces. This is one of your dream cars. If you don't get her, someone might buy her and turn her into a monster drag car. Goodbye Grabber Blue Squire... or she'll be parted out and crushed. Goodbye Grabber Blue Squire." With an argument like that, who could resist?

As of today, after many hoops jumped through, she is street legal, license plates and all. However, she needs lots of work. One of the main things I have to address is the sway bar link on the left side. Another issue is a loose inner tie rod on her right side. Paint and decals in due time, plus the bottom of the doors are rusted badly. Not quite as bad as Ruby's driver door, but definitely noticeable. A couple more new tires will be gotten next month too. I made myself proud when I changed out the little bulbs for the turn signal indicators without breaking the notoriously fragile cluster backing and changing out the back-up light switch. Easy stuff, yeah, but not if you're doing it for the first time.

blupinto · « **Reply #1 on:** October 18, 2012, 09:35:34 PM »

Er... study what...? lol

blupinto · « **Reply #2 on:** October 18, 2012, 09:56:05 PM »

Ok here's a yoga position I invented Tuesday afternoon... Downward Bloodflow. lol The things you have to do to detach the speedometer cable. lol

dga57 · « **Reply #3 on:** October 19, 2012, 12:11:42 AM »

Quote from: blupinto on October 18, 2012, 09:56:05 PM

Ok here's a yoga position I invented Tuesday afternoon... Downward Bloodflow. lol The things you have to do to detach the speedometer cable. lol

That's the ONE yoga position I'm actually familiar with!!! LOL

Dwayne

blupinto · « **Reply #4 on:** October 20, 2012, 01:16:16 AM »

LOL Dwayne!

Pinto5.0 · « **Reply #5 on:** October 20, 2012, 05:43:13 PM »

Any time I need to work under the dash I pull my front seats. I think I'm gettin' too old to work upside down

dga57 · « **Reply #6 on:** October 20, 2012, 10:02:54 PM »

Quote from: Pinto5.0 on October 20, 2012, 05:43:13 PM

Any time I need to work under the dash I pull my front seats. I think I'm gettin' too old to work upside down

Too old? I've been known to do some of my best work upside-down!

Dwayne

blupinto · « **Reply #7 on:** October 21, 2012, 08:24:36 PM »

LOL Dwayne!

I DO remember saying to myself, "I'm getting too old for this sh*t!" but at the same time amazed that I still have some flexibility. Who knew!? I will admit here that I had to INCH in position! Still, it was worth it. For one thing, I proved to myself that I can do it, and for another, my car is now street legal! Now to get my personalized license plates...

Fred Morgan · « **Reply #8 on:** October 21, 2012, 08:43:13 PM »

Becky pull the radio then go in that way sitting in the seat upright. Fred

sedandelivery · « **Reply #9 on:** October 21, 2012, 10:44:01 PM »

Like Fred said, I had bulbs burned out in my cluster, I took the radio delete out and you can reach over and behind the cluster to get at the bulbs.

blupinto · « **Reply #10 on:** October 22, 2012, 06:25:52 PM »

Fred, I'm weirded out about the radio... there are an awful lot of wires that have no connections (it's an after-market Craig). Plus, I used the Chilton's Pinto book for directions. It had the audacity to suggest if I had nimble fingers I could remove the bulbs without taking the cluster out! lol I tried that, but I'm not so nimble-fingered. lol

D.R.Ball · « **Reply #11 on:** October 22, 2012, 10:24:31 PM »

bluepinto forget the Chilton's get the Ford Manuals for your year of car it will save allot of trouble down the road.....IE not knowing how to mount the transmission for my Turbo swap (Merkur XR4ti C-3) the info that I needed was in the engine book not the chassis book (transmission mounts are part of the engine) and I could not get the info any where else.Even the Chilton did not have the info. An added bonus if any one else has the same year Ford etc the info is in the books...

blupinto · « **Reply #12 on:** October 23, 2012, 09:47:04 PM »

Yeah, D.R. I'm finding out just how valuable those Ford Shop Manuals are... but I think I only have the Body volume for 1974... I wouldnt've had even that if not for the Carlisle show last year. I LOVE that swap meet!

I did get the whole 1975 series, though, so that should cover 1974 too, right? I have found that Chilton's doesn't have EVERYTHING, but on these issues so far I got lucky.

D.R.Ball · « **Reply #13 on:** October 24, 2012, 09:26:53 PM »

bluepinto, yeah the 1975 should cover most if not all, the 1974 they really did not make any major changes til the 1979-1980 aero look Pinto. And that was just a face lift with some major changes to the engine (6500 carb) smog systems etc...I mean yes there are some changes year to year but the big jump was the 1970-1973 and than the 1974-1977 where pretty much grill and lighting changes, not too much mechanical.

blupinto · « **Reply #14 on:** November 04, 2012, 08:04:55 PM »

The other morning I went to go to work in Moxie Blu... and her instrument cluster illumination lights were off! Figuring it's just a light bulb issue, I went to work in her anyway. Fast forward to today... undid instrument cluster (oh what fun getting that &$#@ speedometer cable to let go!) and replaced the bulbs. Hooked it all back up, turned the car on, turned on the headlights... nothing on instrument cluster except the red warning lights and the turn signal indicators. Looked at fuse... removed old fuse, popped in a new fuse... still nothing. There is an after-market radio in the car... I'm wondering if that might have something to do with it. The radio's in there... but there's a lot of wires hanging out... $:-\$ It got too dark to work anymore and I don't have a decent shop light anymore. That'll be the next project.

D.R.Ball · « **Reply #15 on:** November 07, 2012, 11:17:40 PM »

Moxie I see your future and it has allot to do with that radio wiring. Most are speaker wires but it could have others I.E. power, power ant etc....Did your cigarette lighter work or the light for it ?

sedandelivery · « **Reply #16 on:** November 08, 2012, 02:20:02 PM »

The instrument lights. Because that is a printed circuit check all the lands and maybe the dimmer part of the headlight switch. I have repaired both on my 1980's in the past.

blupinto · « **Reply #17 on:** November 09, 2012, 12:22:23 AM »

I didn't check the cigarette lighter, per se, but when I pushed my cell phone charger in the socket, the charge indicator didn't come on. I did try the dimmer switch (pre-bulb replacement) and it had no effect on the instrument cluster...but it DID turn on the dome light...

What are the lands on the printed circuit? Because I had one heck of a time (and ultimately failed ) in removing the wiring harness from the instrument cluster. I didn't want to force it, as I can see the brittle hairline (spiderweb?) cracks in that wafery white plastic backing. I KNOW what can potentially happen if I force it! I did notice that after I removed a couple of the bulb sockets (one at a time so I can keep better track) the printed circuit sheet in the area where I removed the sockets was not adhered to the plastic. Is that what you meant?

Huuuuuuunhhhh. ... looks like I'm going upside-down again... lol

Thank you guys for the suggestions. My '74 Ford Shop Manual isn't too helpful when I'm clueless about wiring and electrical stuff. About all I can do with some success is change out fuses and (maybe) splice wires. Speaking of which... right after I brought my wagon home I started doing the Getting To Know You stuff with the car... checking in nooks and crannies like the glovebox and the spare tire well in the back, etc. and noticed in looking at the fuse cube that a wire or two are (well, were- at least one of them) poked in a couple of the fuse spaces. In other words, the fuse was in the space and between the clamps on each end, and a wire was in between the end of the fuse and the clamp. I'm assuming this gives whatever wire is there power. The one I pulled off had a quick-coupler on it but I don't remember which wire it was. The other wire- the one I left still in between the fuse and the contact clamp- is the copper strands of wire. Kinda weird. Is this unusual?

Srt · « **Reply #18 on:** November 09, 2012, 03:12:33 AM »

Quote from: blupinto on October 18, 2012, 09:56:05 PM

Ok here's a yoga position I invented Tuesday afternoon... Downward Bloodflow. lol The things you have to do to detach the speedometer cable. lol

i remember that when i had my old '71 to yank the cluster i removed the screws retaining the cluster to the dash . then i loosened / removed the 2 nuts retaining the sterring column to the dash and dropped it down a bit. then i tilted the top of the cluster out toward the steering wheel, then i reached in over the top of the cluster with my right hand and removed the speedo cable connector and the wiring harness connector then i simply pulled the cluster out over the top of steering wheel.

of course; the car wasn't very old at the time and i was a LOT younger !

sedandelivery · « **Reply #19 on:** November 09, 2012, 06:05:02 AM »

The lands are the little foil circuit componenets that go to all the parts of the cluster. They are only foil and can break easily. They also come loose from the plastic backing. Any break in the foil will kill the associated circuit.

navy72pinto · « **Reply #20 on:** March 19, 2013, 11:03:09 PM »

Hey blu, if you ever need help with wiring I'm really close by you and it's kind of my forte! I've done more work with stereos then I care to remember lol, plus I just finished taking my cluster apart yesterday loll unfortunately I wasn't able to save my clips, so I'm going to be making my very own mock up with aluminum : ) should prove interesting

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Author Topic: Moxie BluBelle (Read 1355 times)