Captain Obvious

Does that female contact say "AMP" on it? That would be a raging clue.

That's my read. I'm not sure I understand the concept either, but it seems to work. In ancient times, wheel bearing grease had strands of fabric or fiberglass included in the mix. Made it stringy with the intention of those strands would get caught up in the balls and pull grease into the bearings as they spun. As grease was expelled from the bearings, it would be pulled back in with the tangle of strands. However, newer wheel bearing greases that I've bought (newer being in the last ten years?) do not seem to have those strands included. Seems to be a smooth paste. Couple theories, ideas, possibilities? Maybe the grease melts into a liquid during use (when hot) and flows in and out of the bearing balls with ease? Maybe the grease just stays put where you originally smeared it? I don't really think either of those last two really happen, but just tossing out ideas.

Not great pics because it's in the dark garage, but hopefully these will help. If not, let me know and I can take some out in the sun next time. Sorry for the dark. This is the front leading edge. Rear trailing edge trying to show the channel that the weatherstrip fits into. My corner is torn off:

I finally had the opportunity to snap a couple pics of my later version window trim (sash?) mounting points. Certainly too late to help much now, but here's what I got. This last shot is a wide headed Phillips screw behind the door panel up at the door lock corner of the panel.

I thought I was really smart when I did my wheel bearings and I came up with this elaborate plan to fill the entire housing cavity with grease. Even involved injecting grease with a large syringe: Well after I completely packed the entire cavity with grease and put the whole assembly together, it was really hard to spin the stub axle. Way way too stiff. I had to take it apart again and pull some (most?) of the grease back out. So short story? I would not do that. I would pack the balls of the bearings and put a little extra in there and call it a day. I would not fill up the whole thing. Sounds like a good idea, but it's not.

Man how I hate rebuilds. Glad you got it cranking reliably.

That was one of my most enjoyable and memorable days of my life, my friend!

Yes I did. I changed on the previous page of this thread, but it's too late for me to go back and edit that old post. Don't know why I didn't fix it back then, but I don't have rights anymore to change it now. And as for the flat top comment, it's simply to point out that I've been known to buck the mainstream consensus on some controversial topics and hence may have questionable judgement. I've heard some even say that I "might not be all there."

OK, well then those washers clearly do not go onto the pinion gear to adjust end play. Without having a 240 rack here for analysis, I'm not a lot of help. Hope you figure it out!

I've never been inside a 240 rack but I would assume those washers are not for the bronze preload shoe, but are in fact used to adjust the pinion gear end play. On the 280 rack, the spring DOES push directly against the bronze show, and since there is no relative motion between the two in-use, I think that's OK. So without having any of the parts in my hands, I would guess that those washers would go onto the small end of the pinion gear shaft before the pinion gear goes into the housing. I'm thinking that with those washers not installed, you're likely to have a lot of end play "in-and-out" of the housing. And unfortunately you would most easily check and measure that end play with no other parts installed into the housing. If you take the bronze preload shoe out (which is easy) and grab the splined end of the pinion gear shaft, can you feel any play when you push it into and pull it away from the housing? There should be no movement of that splined shaft. I'm not sure you would be able to really check for that end play with the rack installed, but taking the rack back out is a lot more work than just pulling the preload shoe.

The best paint option I've found is different than what the general consensus uses. Bottom line? Rust-Oleum 261413 Metallic Carbon Mist. Top coat with Krylon Colormax 53530 Flat Clear. Bunch of detail here: https://www.classiczcars.com/forums/topic/67836-rear-tail-light-panels/#comment-645395 I know I'm swimming upstream against the other recommendations for the BFM0360 Ford Dark Shadow Gray, but if you're willing to entertain other options, I recommend the Metallic Carbon Mist. I also like the flat top carbs.

Maybe it's just me, but there's no way I would put a water based liquid in there. Yes, with antifreeze, it won't freeze, but there's just no way. I'd use something petroleum based. Is there a reason you didn't use oil?

There are at least three different varieties of the seat tracks over the years. The final version (what you have) was used in 77-78. The easiest way to notice the difference at quick glance (for me anyway) is the angled front tabs. Here's a pic where you can see the angled tabs. This is what you need for your 77: As for the ZX seat tracks, I have no idea if they are the same. Can you post a couple pics of the ZX rails?

That switch should be closed any time there is a key in the lock regardless of what position the lock is in. Should not matter whether the lock is in the OFF, ACC, On, etc. And a little late with the pics, but...

A reading from the Book Of McMaster: High-Load Oil-Embedded Sleeve Bearings Increased iron content makes these bearings stronger and more resistant to shock loads than standard oil-embedded bearings; however they operate at lower speeds. Startup friction causes them to release a thin layer of oil on the bearing’s surface. Color is silver because of the iron. These bearings are also magnetic due to the high iron content. So I bet they are still oil impregnated bronze, but the high load variety with enough iron to be magnetic.

I made a pilot bushing remover tool many moons ago (many). Probably made it for my Z at the time. Man, have I gotten a lot better at making things since then. I probably still have it and if I can find it, I'll post a pic.

I've toyed with this idea in the past and if I come up with a simple and elegant solution, I'll let you know. And I'm sure you'll do the same. I've messed around with one of these little timer modules, and while it's overkill, it would work. Under ten bucks off ebay. One shot or continuous output. Programmable on time or off time. On pulse, or off pulse. Moore's Law. Throw transistors at it. Example ebay availability: https://www.ebay.com/itm/334738777145?hash=item4deffc6439:g:WuoAAOSwc4FdeKyz&amdata=enc%3AAQAIAAAA4G9hgNdMy2ONBPE71Z3gGq3qzRvQaK%2BWxXTNH9UcLyqdQOnalj%2FTC7kXod2gRdFTsLiWo6%2Bw1CPybhOzekN701%2F%2BflwUhMM%2FPFwIW2dw8osWQx9N5Y%2Bzkpow7cdoPTmHLYpoPfIk%2FRFNVEEBRJsPYuXmY4ugTqfGWpl7Ec4CWDHRZSS741ZOWEezeh8wGXqgvZyp08MiOeeLydivakdTYNtrBhLn%2F0TIsZKVjDUwYSL53goggea6rIRywsYDHcrtu5vM73hwhkBkbaBkKp%2FbkO65VxtF9cypNMy2%2BfSyOCw%2B|tkp%3ABFBMrtrs_Oli

I'm a little confused... Isn't the Hi/Lo beam switch SUPPOSED to toggle between the two positions? I'm thinking if that's what it's doing, that's what you want. What am I missing?

I've had problems with the stock pump priming sometimes. Usually will prime, but sometimes won't. And if you think about the way it works, it's not surprising. I'm thinking that the insides of the pump and the impeller bits are not a gas tight fit. It pumps the fuel because of the relative incompressability of the liquid and the fact that even though there would be some losses between the parts, the majority of the fuel will be moved from one spot to another. Not necessarily the same thing will happen with a gas.

Your response got here just before mine, but the summary of my post is that the car parts manual lists three different sash part numbers*. 80200-N3400 up to 7506 80200-N4500 from 7507 to 7607 And it supersedes 80200-N3400 80200-N4400 from 7608 to the end of the run. And it supersedes 80200-N4500 Based on that, and your pics, it's not a straightforward swap. * For the 260-280 cars. The 240 used a different part number.

I'm no engine builder expert, but I've always installed the bushing to even with the bottom of the chamfer like you and Patcon. And I greased them a little as well. With the same stuff I put on the throw out bearing collar. High moly I believe? About installing... Block of wood and a mallet to get it started. Continuing like that until flush with the flywheel surface, and then tapped "gently" with an appropriately sized dowel (wood or plastic) and aforementioned mallet to get it down the the bottom of the chamfer.

I will take a look at the trim mounting scheme and take a couple pics of the later design. I don't know if the 77-78 design will fit other years, but maybe we can figure it out. I do know that the 77-78 doors are very different in a lot of ways, but I'm not sure if the window trim is one of them.

Excellent. And in theory, that peel-n-seal stuff is removable enough that if you ever do have to pull the tail lights out again for anything, it will let go easy (as designed) and you won't have to put a lot of stress on the plastic light housings. Glad you got the fume issue under control!

So there was an intermittent connection in the "T" connection at the back of the alternator? You fixed that and you're charging system is all good now? Excellent!!

Thinking about it some more, I think this could work if you did it well. Some threaded aluminum rod screwed into the holes and loctited (red) in place. Then file flush and put in your new mounting holes. If you could cut the threads yourself on a lathe, you could make the threaded rod a tight class of thread fit which would make matters better. The new holes will be split about 50/50 between the old bolt hole and virgin material. I think red threadlock would work, at least for a proof of concept. and once you get the throttle body installed, it's not like anything will be able to move anymore. I'd give that a try over using a plastic 3D-printed adapter.