Build Thread 1978 Mercury Cyclone. The pig is in the pen.
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Mike Mike Mike Mike Mike Mike
GUESS WHAT DAY IT IS
couldn't resist, just saw that stupid commercial!
GUESS WHAT DAY IT IS
couldn't resist, just saw that stupid commercial!
I’m in that same boat. I have subframe connectors, a wideband sensor, tail pipes, a cup holder center console, as well as my double din GPS/DVD player project waiting. The cold garage isn’t very inviting for any of it.
Well since everybody likes pictures,..who am I to begrudge them?
I'm gonna change the shifter. Hopefully the new one won't hang out all stupid looking an sht.
This is the current look.
This will now be what sticks up instead of that knob...
If I had my drothers, the shifter handle wouldn't have any writing on it. The current shifter is recessed into the tunnel, and I cut the handle down additionally...hopefully I won't need to do that here.
All I know is, after this thing is installed, my days of rowing that ratchet shifter back and forth like a madman from drive to reverse, to low, then to reverse are over. It'll be here Friday.
The new head unit that will give me the option of having Sirius/XM, a back up camera, Nav, and/or Android auto, a touchscreen, and a visual into Tunerstudio's tuning dash, will be here Friday too.
The poor lonely Little Japanese Kid will now get some playthings
I'll call them ping ping, and ding ding.
All in all,...1000.00 more dollars dumped into the pit that is a hobby car...but...what else am I gonna spend it on?...
A bike?
I'm gonna change the shifter. Hopefully the new one won't hang out all stupid looking an sht.
This is the current look.
This will now be what sticks up instead of that knob...
If I had my drothers, the shifter handle wouldn't have any writing on it. The current shifter is recessed into the tunnel, and I cut the handle down additionally...hopefully I won't need to do that here.
All I know is, after this thing is installed, my days of rowing that ratchet shifter back and forth like a madman from drive to reverse, to low, then to reverse are over. It'll be here Friday.
The new head unit that will give me the option of having Sirius/XM, a back up camera, Nav, and/or Android auto, a touchscreen, and a visual into Tunerstudio's tuning dash, will be here Friday too.
The poor lonely Little Japanese Kid will now get some playthings
I'll call them ping ping, and ding ding.
All in all,...1000.00 more dollars dumped into the pit that is a hobby car...but...what else am I gonna spend it on?...
A bike?
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Would you recommend that shifter for a car capable of shifting itself?
Well,...i finally did what I shoulda done a year ago...i sent a template of the valve cover gasket to cometic.
As easy as it sounds to just cut a gasket from a piece of cork, the fact of the matter is that it's a pain in the ass.
And...it lasts exactly 1 use. Then I'm cutting a new one, or blobbing a bead of the right stuff on instead...which effectively glued the thing on semi permanently, requiring that I force a screwdriver between the two to drive them apart.
Ill have them make two, out of some sort of rubber...that will be there as a standby.
As easy as it sounds to just cut a gasket from a piece of cork, the fact of the matter is that it's a pain in the ass.
And...it lasts exactly 1 use. Then I'm cutting a new one, or blobbing a bead of the right stuff on instead...which effectively glued the thing on semi permanently, requiring that I force a screwdriver between the two to drive them apart.
Ill have them make two, out of some sort of rubber...that will be there as a standby.
I'm lucky to have cometic 20 min from my house. Been many times over the year we drove up there and had gaskets made. I dont know how they are these days but they would make us stuff same day. I'm sure they're too busy now a days for that
Got off a little early today, set the goal that I was gonna get something done, and did it.
The new shifter is in.
The top of the console is gonna have to be modified.
Significantly.
I could not leave the shifter as low as the other one was mounted, the handle on a ratchet shifter basically moves very little, and requires a very small cut out to work. This thing moves a bunch. The range of travel is over twice that the ratchet shifter needed.
No longer will I be able to use a single gang decora switch plate cover as a trim plate.
The photo makes it look way higher than it actually is, because the console is removed. When that thing is back in place the shifter handle is only an inch higher than the other one.
After I got it al installed I tried it out..Pull the trigger, pull the handle all the way back. Low gear.
Push it forward against the stop, second gear, push it again, it goes into 3rd..
But,.....there's a problem...you can also push the damn thing straight past 3rd, and right into neutral.
WTF?
I messed with it some more,...same thing.
I wondered if I had a reverse pattern shifter..
Then,..just to be sure, I decided to read the instructions.
Durrr.
So,...now that I've read the instructions, the proper technique for shifting the thing is to push it forward from low into second. ( you can't push it past that, it hits a stop.) But,...if you pull the trigger and hold it while pushing forward into 3rd, again it hits a stop. Release the trigger, and then you can push it into neutral..but reverse has a damn lock out lever..it requires you to flip up a lever to get the thing into reverse.
So I'm good.
Those side panels on the shifter handle are remove able. Maybe there are blank ones available...I freakin hope so.
Otherwise I'm sanding and painting them btches.
The new shifter is in.
The top of the console is gonna have to be modified.
Significantly.
I could not leave the shifter as low as the other one was mounted, the handle on a ratchet shifter basically moves very little, and requires a very small cut out to work. This thing moves a bunch. The range of travel is over twice that the ratchet shifter needed.
No longer will I be able to use a single gang decora switch plate cover as a trim plate.
The photo makes it look way higher than it actually is, because the console is removed. When that thing is back in place the shifter handle is only an inch higher than the other one.
After I got it al installed I tried it out..Pull the trigger, pull the handle all the way back. Low gear.
Push it forward against the stop, second gear, push it again, it goes into 3rd..
But,.....there's a problem...you can also push the damn thing straight past 3rd, and right into neutral.
WTF?
I messed with it some more,...same thing.
I wondered if I had a reverse pattern shifter..
Then,..just to be sure, I decided to read the instructions.
Durrr.
So,...now that I've read the instructions, the proper technique for shifting the thing is to push it forward from low into second. ( you can't push it past that, it hits a stop.) But,...if you pull the trigger and hold it while pushing forward into 3rd, again it hits a stop. Release the trigger, and then you can push it into neutral..but reverse has a damn lock out lever..it requires you to flip up a lever to get the thing into reverse.
So I'm good.
Those side panels on the shifter handle are remove able. Maybe there are blank ones available...I freakin hope so.
Otherwise I'm sanding and painting them btches.
I like the look of that shifter. It matches up with the spokes on your steering wheel well. As far as the console, are you going to try to put a boot on the shifter to fill the needed bigger hole?
Don't know yet..I gotta cut a big enough hole to get the handle to move freely in the metal mesh. Once I know how big a hole that I have to cover, I'll make that choice.
The head unit showed up today. It's sitting downstairs waiting on my next day off. I'm torn between getting the add on module to make it XM capable and adding the goofy little XM antenna, or not. Here's the rub....
If I add the antenna, I have to buy that. If I have to buy that, I have to postpone installing the head unit till I get that. ( cause I ain't got that) If I postpone installing the head unit , the interior remains in the same state of "incomplete" that it's been since I decided to change out the seats...If I leave the interior incomplete,..Ill have a head unit, and a pair of 6x9's waiting till I get aroundtoit.
With as much sht as I've got waiting in line till I getaroundtoit,.. I may never getaroundtoit.
The monster may never run again because of an XM antenna...
See the problem?
- Jul 7, 2005
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Amazon prime to the rescue
https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B01HRCTD0G/ref=mp_s_a_1_6?ie=UTF8&&qid=1547905321&&sr=8-6
https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B01HRCTD0G/ref=mp_s_a_1_6?ie=UTF8&&qid=1547905321&&sr=8-6
Put the interior together and order it anyway. We all (the 7 of us watching) know that you'll have to take it apart AGAIN for something soon, so you'll have a chance to install the antenna without making a special trip. So to speak. 
- Mar 2, 2015
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I vote to take the side pieces off the handle and do them in wood. I'm sure the tools to do it are laying around. You could even put a little tornado on them with a soldering iron. I think it would bring out the feel of the car.
Then again.... there's no other wood in the car. It would cause you to redo a bunch of stuff to add a wood element that compliments the leather touches. The Monster interior would never get done....so...never mind.
Then again.... there's no other wood in the car. It would cause you to redo a bunch of stuff to add a wood element that compliments the leather touches. The Monster interior would never get done....so...never mind.
dr. Dan W.
Active Member
Q. What would it take to make inserts that mimic the look of the spokes, and (if you can resist) have no writing on them? Maybe black with a metallic center section between the screw heads?
A. For you, just about nothing.
Sitting here with the wife watching the " other big assed TV", in the "other living room".
When this house was built, the original owner designed a really large screened in porch at the back of the house, and a living room/den at the front. But, for whatever reason, she bailed on that plan, and made the screened porch into the " The living room, " and repurposed the front living room as a den.
Permenantly dooming the front living room into a " non-living room".
The problem for me is, the front living room is more comfortable, but the TV was in the back one. I was fine with moving it into the front one, but Kate............Kate was having none of that. She wanted things left the way they were.
One Sunday afternoon, we were on our way to see a movie, and I said " Ya know that this is gonna cost 40 freakin dollars, and a whole 65" TV only costs 400.00 now days."....
She says " Really?"....And immediately changes direction. "Where are you going,....the Rave is over that way?" I asked.
She answers with one word....."Costco".
I just laugh.
When you walk in in to this house, you look straight through it.
Straight through the front living room, into the rear living room, straight out the wall of doors, and onto the rear deck.
Evidently the dogs prefer the front living room too.
Obviously, we bought a 65" TV...I came home, and installed it immediately. Hooked it up to our wifi, activated the Hulu app, and started watching TV.
Then, on the next week, I hang the now homeless 55" TV that used to be in the rear living room, and move it to the front living room.
My living room.
The 55" gets added to the Hulu account, and now both TVs are working...live tv, a bagillion other options,...local channels, plus Starz for 49.00 a month. 39.00 if we ( she) didn't have to watch Outlander.
It's Sunday though....I'm itching to go downstairs, but in truth, it's the only day I get to spend with her.
It's also cold today, which works in my favor...( she won't wanna do stupid sht in the cold).
We'll have to wait and see how that goes...in the meantime, I guess I'll have to be content to sit next to her watching TV,.......in my living room.
When this house was built, the original owner designed a really large screened in porch at the back of the house, and a living room/den at the front. But, for whatever reason, she bailed on that plan, and made the screened porch into the " The living room, " and repurposed the front living room as a den.
Permenantly dooming the front living room into a " non-living room".
The problem for me is, the front living room is more comfortable, but the TV was in the back one. I was fine with moving it into the front one, but Kate............Kate was having none of that. She wanted things left the way they were.
One Sunday afternoon, we were on our way to see a movie, and I said " Ya know that this is gonna cost 40 freakin dollars, and a whole 65" TV only costs 400.00 now days."....
She says " Really?"....And immediately changes direction. "Where are you going,....the Rave is over that way?" I asked.
She answers with one word....."Costco".
I just laugh.
When you walk in in to this house, you look straight through it.
Straight through the front living room, into the rear living room, straight out the wall of doors, and onto the rear deck.
Evidently the dogs prefer the front living room too.
Obviously, we bought a 65" TV...I came home, and installed it immediately. Hooked it up to our wifi, activated the Hulu app, and started watching TV.
Then, on the next week, I hang the now homeless 55" TV that used to be in the rear living room, and move it to the front living room.
My living room.
The 55" gets added to the Hulu account, and now both TVs are working...live tv, a bagillion other options,...local channels, plus Starz for 49.00 a month. 39.00 if we ( she) didn't have to watch Outlander.
It's Sunday though....I'm itching to go downstairs, but in truth, it's the only day I get to spend with her.
It's also cold today, which works in my favor...( she won't wanna do stupid sht in the cold).
We'll have to wait and see how that goes...in the meantime, I guess I'll have to be content to sit next to her watching TV,.......in my living room.
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