Morning coffee

[RICH MUISE]

lol.I need to proofread more........."took the dog out for a 60 mile run".....My real dog, not the car, lol!
reworded: I took my dog and went for a 60 mile drive in the '57

[hiball3985]

lol.I need to proofread more........."took the dog out for a 60 mile run".....My real dog, not the car, lol!
reworded: I took my dog and went for a 60 mile drive in the '57

I was feeling sorry for the dog  . Hope you have good luck with the after market coil on plugs.

Feeling sorry for the people n the Texas coast, this looks like a bad one..

[RICH MUISE]

I ended up buying a set of Duralasts coils, at 240ish set. They were the only ones that had a lifetime warranty. I really was hoping to buy Motorcrafts but dealer pricing was close to 80 each, so 640 + tax. I just didn't have that. I spent alot of time on ebay, found some "genuine Motorcraft coils" for 340, which I almost bought, BUT....,looking closely at the pics, none of the coils had Motorcraft or Ford logos on them and the what appeared to be the box sku info said made in China, with no mention of "motorcraft" I just didn't feel confident that even though they said "genuine Motorcraft", that they actually were, which to me left the only options more than I could afford right now.
Yeah, I've been thinking about all our members down in the coastal Texas area.....looks like they're gonna get hammered. I remember a few years back when Houston had all the floods, and our member "Acrylicman" lost a bunch.........lots of home and business damage. Haven't heard from him since. I've been trying to find out which way the storm will be headed after it leaves the coast.
Now that my car is running so good, I'm fighting the urge to take a road trip up to Colorado..........it's not raining there, lol. I may wait and go next weekend for the big "Early Iron" show in Alamosa.

[hiball3985]

Rich, I have no experience with them and I understand the cost problem. Just from what I have read on other forums is the cheaper after market ones aren't too reliable, I don't recall time/mileage.  Most people are recommending only to use the Motorcraft and just replace a bad one rather then all. If your planning a long trip I would take a few of the old ones with you just in case.

[John Palmer]

Rich, I just went through the same issue on my 2007 F150 crew cab.  It's got 103,000 miles, the 5.4L engine, and still had the original plugs.  After a heavy rain storm, it started "missing intermittently" on #4 and #8 cyl., according to a scan.  I blew the plugs out with air and ordered two new Motorcraft coils.  They arrived in a generic box, and had a photocopied paper that said the Ford logo mark was in very small raised print under the lip.  It was very hard to find, but it was on the part.  It's amazing to me how much the prices vary on the internet for the exact same Motorcraft part#. 

Long story short, it ran fine for another six months then started missing again.  I read all of the internet stories about 5.4L "broken spark plugs", and what my possible options were.  I bought eight Motorcraft "new and improved" plugs, the special 5.4L spark plug socket, and the "broken plug" removal tool kit.  I read that if you get the engine HOT (operation temp), then quickly remove one coil pack, then use an impact wrench to back the plug out.  It worked for me, all eight came out without breaking even one plug.  I did one at a time, getting the engine back up to operating temp after each plug was changed.  It was scary using an impact to remove a steel spark plug, from an aluminum head.  The old plug gaps were "over" 1/8".  I'm surprised it even started, or ran.

I get lots of enjoyment working on old cars, and vintage trailers.  I HATE WORKING ON NEW VEHICLES.  They are not made to be worked on by any normal sized person.  Glad that I'm retired now and can choose what I work on today.   

[RICH MUISE]

I had heard about all the problems with broken plugs in aluminum heads, which is why I didn't want to get into the potential task/problem at the time when I switched over to cops. I just set aside the spark plug replacement for a later date..which came up this week. As it turned out for me, all the plugs had been replaced previously (with Bosche), all were normal burn, except for one which was showing a blackened residue probably indicating the problem coil. I checked one of the old ones for gap and it was still close to the .052-.056 recommended. My new plugs are the Motorcraft high end plugs. I numbered all the plugs and coils as I pulled them, I've got to find the old thread we had where Canadian Ranchero told me (with pics) how to check coils and what the resistance range should be.
Very interesting about the generic box/tiny logo for the Motorcraft coils you got. It sounds like what I was looking at on ebay, but of course I didn't know about the hidden logo
It would be interesting to talk to a Ford Parts man about that . Just doesn't make sense to me.

BTW, The car is running great, I put 896 miles on it since yesterday's post, lol.

[petew]

While I can't speak to your specific application I can say that I have had good luck with Duralast coils on my older cars.   I have also used them on several cars that I have fixed for other people.
I personally don't think that Motorcraft electrical parts are any better.

[gasman826]

Just got home from the Labor Day Weekend vehicle auction at Auburn Indiana.  Lots of beautiful cars and quite a few projects.  I saw only one '57 Fairlane.  Must mean '57 Ford owners are NOT selling.

[gasman826]

Black Friday sale @ LEBARON BONNEY !!!!!!!!!!!

http://campaign.r20.constantcontact.com/render?m=1101626824819&ca=e5ee8e71-f896-4fad-b1d8-0c3864cd08df

[gasman826]

I was in the Personal Message feature this morning.  I responded to a question and POSTed it.  Then, I wondered what I had written.  So I looked in the SENT MESSAGE feature and there was nothing new...just one from 2012.  Is this feature not working or do I not know how to use it?

[Swank]

I think theres a clicky box under the message box you got to click that says something like 'save a copy', before you hit send.  It'll put it in your sent box then.

[gasman826]

Thanks, I see it now.  So I need to save it before I know I need it.

[RICH MUISE]

Time to revive this thread!
Had some visitors from New Zealand yesterday and this morning. Alan, Kiwiragtop on this forum, and two lovely ladies. His wife Julie who wasn't with him on his last trip to the U.S., and his daughter Amy. I'm really envious of this trip he's doing in particular. LA to Amarillo, then south thru Dallas to New Orleans then north thru Tennessee to New Jersey. From there to Niagara Falls on his way to the Back to the Fifties in Minnesota meeting up with Tom Drummond there.. After that, Colorado, Utah, and Las Vegas. Heck of a road trip. He said he'd teach the rental company not to rent him a car with unlimited mileage! Lots of road construction going on in Amarillo, so when they left this morning I hoped in the '57 and brought them the back way out of town. We stopped at a gas station at I40 and chatted some more. Alan told me I should just gas up the '57 and follow them! Sure wished I could have.
Alan bought a '62 unibody in Socal and is having it shipped to NZ.

[RICH MUISE]

I found a shop in Amarillo just 1/2 mile from the house that is exactly what I had been looking for to work out some problems with the 4.6. Being a 1995 motor, it's running on the old OBD1 system, and finding a shop that is qualified to work or understand them is not easy. The shop I found is owned by a retired Ford technician who has an ASE master certified and Ford senior certified credentials on his list. Anyway, I've always had some engine codes being thrown since day one, but the engine mostly ran great, particularly at speeds, so I always had the "fix" on the back burners. Lately my idling issues had gotten worse, so time came to get it fixed and running right.
I stopped by his shop today about 2 pm to see if working on a street rod was something he'd be interested in. First thing I noticed in his office were a bunch of hot rod magazines....good sign!
So, I told him what I had and we went out to look at it, and before long he was digging out his OBD1 equipment and going to town. Cool!, at best I expected to be making an appointment. He worked on it until 5:30, got it running much better, but still some issues. Next step is replacing the MAF unit with one he had on the shelves. He just gave it to me and told me to switch them out, but also make sure that my air intake plennum doesn't have any leaks(I suspect it probably does). He wants me to run it a bit with the new maf to see if it corrects some of the issues then call to make an appointment.
All in all, a great day as I think the car is finally gonna get tuned right and eliminate the codes it's throwing. I had held off going there previously because I figured he wasn't going to be cheap. He charged me 100 bucks for the 3 1/2 hours, nothing for the parts! I was smiling all the (long) way home.
While I was there, one of his customers came over and asked if it was my car. I told him it was, and he said he had some cell phone pics to show me. I figured he was gonna show me some pics of his car, but what he had was pics of my car on a local street a few weeks ago!!

[RICH MUISE]

Saw a few interesting signs this past weekend in Oklahoma.
in Medicine Park, a street named................ONE HELLUVA rd.
In Duncan, OK., they have a..........DUNCAN DONUTS