The Unofficial "Ask a Stupid Question" Thread

[Trunk Monkey]

From what I've been told, you should not run e85 unless you have stainless steel fuel lines or rubber/flexible lines that are approved for it. Otherwise you'll rust the fuel lines from the inside out and rot out the rubber lines.

I've been running E85 exclusively since 2018. No problems so far.

 

[Zep5.0]

I've been running in in my daily since 2016. Only thing I may blame on it is charcoal canister and lines needed replaced.

 

[Grog6]

copper/nickle lines, and modern fuel line will last fine.

 

[xlitefighter]

Do these plastic sleeves around the seat belts potentially affect safety?

My thought: the sleeves are quite tall and stiff. When you're in your seat with your seat belt fastened, the belt comes toward your hip from the side rather than from below. There's quite a bit of slack.
In a collision, that amount of slack could cause your body to fly forward a few additional inches.

View attachment 2274

Let me just say that if your collision is bad enough that plastic sleeve isn't going to make any difference. Just be sure your life insurance is paid up.

Speaking from experience... I am fortunate to be typing this after this one. However it was in a 2009 Pontiac G8 GT with air bags out the wazoo, many of which you can see deployed. Had I been in a MN12 I would not be responding.

 

[89 TBIRD]

It appears someone drove mine into a car wash as it is bent and missing it's guts. Probably going to go with this...

https://www.amazon.com/Contour-Crow...quis-Sable-Mystique-Continental/dp/B07R7X39WKView attachment 2343

I've used this one for nearly 20 years, works great and screws right into the existing mount.

Scosche Rma900sd Replacement Car Antenna with Mast and Cable Fits Most Vehicles Black - Walmart.com

Tomorrow Buy Scosche Rma900sd Replacement Car Antenna with Mast and Cable Fits Most Vehicles Black at Walmart.com

www.walmart.com

 

[AdamG]

Speaking from experience... I am fortunate to be typing this after this one. However it was in a 2009 Pontiac G8 GT with air bags out the wazoo, many of which you can see deployed. Had I been in a MN12 I would not be responding.

Wow, that's impressive that you walked away. Good thing it wasn't a right hand drive or no amount of airbags would have saved you. I used to be a tow truck driver so I saw my fair share of wrecks, even the fatal accidents I was on never had a car look that bad. The worst damage I ever saw was a Bonneville that was in the left emergency that fortunately had no one in it. A drunk driver hit it at around 70. It was pushed 2.5 lanes over (I-275e is 5 lanes wide at that point, mile marker 41.7). The right rear tire was where the front passenger head rest should have been. The drunk driver was in a mid 2000s sebring convertible, it actually looked fixable and the driver fortunately walked away without any major injuries, except for being arrested of course...but glad to see you were ok from that.

 

[xlitefighter]

Well, I wouldn't say walked away. I regained consciousness on the CareFlight to Baylor Scott & White in Waco. Fractured skull, subdural hematoma, Grade 3 concussion, 7 broken ribs, fractured femoral head and acetabulum.

But yeah, I'm lucky to be alive.

 

[1997ThunderbirdLXV6]

Let me just say that if your collision is bad enough that plastic sleeve isn't going to make any difference.

Sure. I was rather referring to your "everyday" collision as well as to the design in general.

In most modern cars, the lower seat belt anchor is mounted to the seat, so that it's as low and as close to your body as possible.

The sleeve around our belts goes mostly straight up, then the belt exits the sleeve sideways toward your hip. This adds slack to the belt.
Imagine the route the belt would take without the sleeve, i.e., directly from the lower anchor to your hip.

I realize that slack translates to a few inches of additional movement at most, but that could be significant in a collision.

I also realize that these cars were crash tested in their day, and I'm not trying to outsmart the engineers who designed this, but this feature seems to prioritize rear seat access (by folding the sleeve backwards) with at best no benefit to safety and at worst a slight detriment to safety.

With my Challenger seat belt guides, the rear seat access aspect is moot. The very rare occasion anyone sits there, they just step through under the belt. So with that aspect gone, I was questioning the point of those sleeves.

 

[xlitefighter]

Sure. I was rather referring to your "everyday" collision as well as to the design in general.

In most modern cars, the lower seat belt anchor is mounted to the seat, so that it's as low and as close to your body as possible.

The sleeve around our belts goes mostly straight up, then the belt exits the sleeve sideways toward your hip. This adds slack to the belt.
Imagine the route the belt would take without the sleeve, i.e., directly from the lower anchor to your hip.

I realize that slack translates to a few inches of additional movement at most, but that could be significant in a collision.

I also realize that these cars were crash tested in their day, and I'm not trying to outsmart the engineers who designed this, but this feature seems to prioritize rear seat access (by folding the sleeve backwards) with at best no benefit to safety and at worst a slight detriment to safety.

With my Challenger seat belt guides, the rear seat access aspect is moot. The very rare occasion anyone sits there, they just step through under the belt. So with that aspect gone, I was questioning the point of those sleeves.

Gotcha... I have been in sedans/trucks since I had my first MN12 in the late 90s. Been a long time since I had to manage one one door, albeit a damn long one! Haven't thought in those terms for a while.

 

[Derphound01]

Do these plastic sleeves around the seat belts potentially affect safety?

Sure. I was rather referring to your "everyday" collision as well as to the design in general.

In most modern cars, the lower seat belt anchor is mounted to the seat, so that it's as low and as close to your body as possible.

The sleeve around our belts goes mostly straight up, then the belt exits the sleeve sideways toward your hip. This adds slack to the belt.
Imagine the route the belt would take without the sleeve, i.e., directly from the lower anchor to your hip.

The short answer is No.

The long answer is they actually improve safety by preventing the belt from rubbing against the seat or seat frame and fraying apart. If you remember Dale Earnhardt's fatal crash, the cause of his death was an improperly installed seatbelt that was run across the edge of the seat frame, causing it to fray and tear. When he hit the wall at 180mph, the belt sheared and he hit the steering wheel chin first. The result was a fatal basilar skull fracture. The plastic casings on our belts prevent a similar scenario, albeit I don't think any of us will have that risk at 180mph.

Photos behind the spoiler notice.

Spoiler

 

[1997ThunderbirdLXV6]

The short answer is No.

The long answer is they actually improve safety by preventing the belt from rubbing against the seat or seat frame and fraying apart.

Well, I can see your point.

I'd say ideally there was a sleeve design that was flexible and did both: protect the belt and allow the belt to go straight from lower anchor to hip.

 

[Grog6]

At the forces involved that plastic is just a suggestion to the belt. With any force on the belt, it is going to assume the least obstructive path, and probably disintegrate. When I bent the hood on the Tbird, it popped that piece open; I had to snap it back together.

 

[1997ThunderbirdLXV6]

At the forces involved that plastic is just a suggestion to the belt. With any force on the belt, it is going to assume the least obstructive path

Agreed.

My point was just that there's more slack in the belt to begin with.

 

[Stanley]

In terms of off-the-shelf front shocks remaining to us, I know it's all different shades of crap, but what's the best of that? I'm doing a full front suspension rebuild and figure I'll change the shocks while I'm at it.

 

[89 TBIRD]

Agreed.

My point was just that there's more slack in the belt to begin with.

I don't know about the later cars, but my '89 has a feature that tenses up the slack in an impact. Even after 34 years I can still feel my belts tighten up if I turn a curve too fast.

 

[Kidd-7]

I don't know about the later cars, but my '89 has a feature that tenses up the slack in an impact. Even after 34 years I can still feel my belts tighten up if I turn a curve too fast.

It's not you're belts tightening up.

 

[XR7-4.6]

Yeah what you're feeling is your body moving through the curve while the inertia lock keeps the belt from moving. It's not tightening, there's no such mechanism or electronic for it

 

[89 TBIRD]

I. FEEL. THE. BELTS. TIGHTEN. It happens on bumps too. And I remember reading something about it back in the day.

 

[89 TBIRD]

From the '89 owners manual:
"The belt system allows freedom of movement, locking tight only on hard braking or impacts of approximately 5 mph or more. The system cannot be made to lock by jerking on the belt."

 

[1997ThunderbirdLXV6]

Actually it is true! Ford was really ahead of its time there, though it was a very rare option.

Nowadays various luxury brands offer seat belts which can electrically tighten, e.g., during a fast curve or even to alert drivers of obstacles ahead.

Back in the day, I think the feature was referred to as "tactile control chest obstruction actuator", or TCCOA for short. I understand there's a forum which caters exclusively to owners of MN12s with this rare option.

 

[xlitefighter]

Actually it is true! Ford was really ahead of its time there, though it was a very rare option.

Nowadays various luxury brands offer seat belts which can electrically tighten, e.g., during a fast curve or even to alert drivers of obstacles ahead.

Back in the day, I think the feature was referred to as "tactile control chest obstruction actuator", or TCCOA for short. I understand there's a forum which caters exclusively to owners of MN12s with this rare option.

"tactile control chest obstruction actuator"

I thought that was a bra snap...

 

[xlitefighter]

Anyone close to the Wylie-Farmersville-Lake Lavon area in North Texas? I would really rather not drive a couple hours only to discover that this supposedly "perfect" white opalescent spoiler ISN'T...
I have trust issues LOL

And just so there are zero hard feelings I also posted this "over there" on the TCCoA bookface page. I just walked into the aftermath of what certainly sounds like a shitshow in the past so
I am not about to take sides. I have been well treated there and here.

I will avoid the obvious Rodney King-like rhetorical question at this point. But, it really IS a shame...

 

[XR7-4.6]

Actually it is true! Ford was really ahead of its time there, though it was a very rare option.

Nowadays various luxury brands offer seat belts which can electrically tighten, e.g., during a fast curve or even to alert drivers of obstacles ahead.

Back in the day, I think the feature was referred to as "tactile control chest obstruction actuator", or TCCOA for short. I understand there's a forum which caters exclusively to owners of MN12s with this rare option.

So THAT's why I got booted out lol

And just so there are zero hard feelings I also posted this "over there" on the TCCoA bookface page. I just walked into the aftermath of what certainly sounds like a shitshow in the past so
I am not about to take sides. I have been well treated there and here.

There was no shitshow between us and the facebook group, it's a separate entity from the corporate owned TCCoA forums, with the page founded and operated by people like us.

I mean I don't care for Zuckerberg(and all forms of centralized social media) and wish more users there would come to hang on the forums too, but that's about as far as any rivarly goes. I'm an admin here and there lol

 

[xlitefighter]

So THAT's why I got booted out lol




There was no shitshow between us and the facebook group, it's a separate entity from the corporate owned TCCoA forums, with the page founded and operated by people like us.

I mean I don't care for Zuckerberg(and all forms of centralized social media) and wish more users there would come to hang on the forums too, but that's about as far as any rivarly goes. I'm an admin here and there lol

Yeah I worded that in a rather muddled way. I didn't mean to imply the issues were with the bookface page. My bad...

 

[Derphound01]

In terms of off-the-shelf front shocks remaining to us, I know it's all different shades of crap, but what's the best of that? I'm doing a full front suspension rebuild and figure I'll change the shocks while I'm at it.

Seconded.

 

[rampagingsloth]

Seconded.

Related stupid question, what about shock rebuilds, are they worth it? I have Tokico shocks on my car but I bought them years ago, at some point they will leak, I'm sure. I remember that the rears are easier to replace, some Mustang shock option, yes? But the fronts, those I think would be worth rebuilding unless the price is ridiculous and assuming they'd actually be rebuilt to Tokico specs.

 

[XR7-4.6]

Problem with that is I don't know if you'd even be able to get parts like seals if they're Tokico specific, not only hasn't Tokico make them for our cars in a long time, Tokico as a shock maker is basically defunct.

FWIW my blues are OLD, like 2007 old, but they still perform like new with no leaks. Same with the ones on my friend's SC which are even older. They were pretty well built and durable so choose to just not worry about.

 

[Stanley]

I like the idea of getting the Supercoupe fold-down rear seats, but I don't know if they ever came in Willow Green fabric and in any case the odds of any particular set I find having just what I need are slim. Does anyone know if there's enough material on the non-SC rear seats/if it's possible to switch that material over to the Supercoupe seats, or is this a pipe dream?

 

[theterminator93]

I'm under the impression that only the 89/90 XR7s had fabric fold down seats and the SCs were all leather.

If you did want to move your fabric over it might be possible with sewing skills; you'd have to create fabric for the back and sides of each seat using by tearing apart the old seat covers to use as a template. There would probably be enough material on the donor seat to let you cover the fronts of the fold down seats themselves but probably not enough to cover the sides/top.

I managed to find gray XR7 cloth fold downs many years ago; it wasn't quite a match to the 97 gray but it was good enough while I saved to reupholster everything to match.

 

[XR7-4.6]

The patterns are quite a bit different which would complicate things. SC seat patterns are shaped to sort of hide the seams where the LX seats have a sort of tombstone shape to the inserts, plus SC seats have integral headrests that protrude out on top where the LX seats are flat, so you'd either not have enough material to cover those or you'd need to shave down the foam core.

SCs never had green interiors so you'll never find a factory folddown in it, be it leather or fabric