The Unofficial "Ask a Stupid Question" Thread

theterminator93 said:
I just use the rain-x washer fluid. Seems to do the trick. :)
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But then you need windshield wipers to use it!

XR7-4.6 said:
Anyone happen to know the stock diameter of the exhaust hangers off the transmission mount? 3/8” or 1/2”?
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I think I have at least one stock downpipe set at home that I can measure when I get home later tonight.
 
KevinVarnes said:
I think I have at least one stock downpipe set at home that I can measure when I get home later tonight.
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Thanks! I wanted to just underneath and measure the holes in the mounts to see but this lingering sinus headache I’ve had the last few days has been repelling me from laying on the garage floor for even a moment!
 
My Cougar had an aftermarket alarm when I got it. I thought I removed completely, but just now found this what I'm assuming is a relay and fuse. I'm going to get rid of it but curious what it was for.

Anyone know what wires it's tapping into? It's on the pink/yellow and pink/green wires.... :unsure:

20250608_123416.jpg
 
Kenz said:
My Cougar had an aftermarket alarm when I got it. I thought I removed completely, but just now found this what I'm assuming is a relay and fuse. I'm going to get rid of it but curious what it was for.

Anyone know what wires it's tapping into? It's on the pink/yellow and pink/green wires.... :unsure:

View attachment 12435
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Those are the lock/unlock wires
 
Thanks for the help! That should be the last of the aftermarket alarm/remote keyless system.

The relay had a date of 1995 on it. Original owner must have got it installed right after the car was bought. Being it was originally from tri-state area it probably was a good idea. I assume it was a high-end system at the time. It even had a glass breakage sensor and a mercury level sensor in the trunk to detect if it was opened.
 
Rather than hijacking the other guy's WTB thread:

Would the Bullitt intake fit an Explorer engine that has been swapped in to a late-model Bird? Or have any issue with an AED supercharger? There's a variety of power upgrade paths and I'd like to know if any of them will interfere with one another.
 
Bullitt intake will fit right onto an Explorer engine. Explorer has PI heads which the Bullitt was designed for. You may have to craft your own coolant pipe that runs under the intake since I believe they are different and the PI might interfere with the Bullitt, but that is fairly minor.

I'm less familiar with the AED. Did they make NPI and PI versions? The port mismatch is the only (minor) thing I can think of that would be an issue there.
 
The AED supercharger replaces the intake manifold entirely, to use a supercharger with the Bullitt it would have to be the centrifugal type(vortech, procharger, Paxton).
 
Yes, a Bullitt with a centrifugal supercharger could be a pretty potent combination. Keep in mind hood clearance it going to be an issue with just about anything except maybe the SVO supercharger setup. I know AED had a specific system for the Thunderbird/Cougar that had a step down on the top to clear our hoods.
 
Here is a strange one...
What would cause the alternator to get hot when the car is off?

Yesterday the alternator went to shit in my Cougar. It started having voltage spikes anytime above 4000RPM or so. Parked the car for the night and the next morning the battery was completely dead. Put it on a 20 amp charge and the battery came back after a few hours, but the alternator was burning up; too hot to touch.

Guessing it has some sort of short in it. It has given a few random voltage spikes last few months so I'm not surprised.

I'd like to just replace the voltage regulator and see if that's the issue, but at this point I don't trust the rest of it... :unsure:
 
Before I make the purchase, I want to be sure that these are the Cadillac Brembo calipers I need to get:

84544154
84544155

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I have a stupid question:
How do we get our headlights / fog lights to be as bright as the new cars these days where you can actually see the beam light up the friken neighborhood? I have seen the kits, but do they really work and our lights are as bright as today's cars? I could get rid of the fog lights if I could get some decent headlights on my Cougar.

Would it require something like this?

9005 5000K HID Xenon Bulb x 1 pair bundle with 2 x 55W Performance AC Digital Ballast (Prue White)​

 
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Limitations in the housing design limit the options that don't involve blinding oncoming traffic, which is a nonnegotiable requirement IMO for any upgrades. Don't just buy LED bulbs and drop them into the factory housing - your light on the road will go up, sure, but the beam pattern will be ruined and the amount of light that scatters to blind oncoming traffic will shoot through the roof too.

The 96+ housings are clear which allow for small projectors that use HIDs and/or LEDs to be used safely. With the 95 and older housings the refracting lenses make any kind of cutoff from the beam difficult to predict; I've never seen it done. One option for Cougar guys is to use GM headlights...
 
If you go the Grand Marquis headlight route you can use HIR 9011/9012 bulbs in them which are substantially brighter than the stock 9007s and the 9005/9006 bulbs the grand marquis housings use. The other thing is making an efficient electrical path, the stock wiring is subpar, you can improve bulb output simply by running the bulbs straight off the battery using relays for high and low beams with a custom harness.

Brighter isn’t necessarily better and whiter(and especially blue) isn’t actually necessarily more visible.
 
Excellent info terminator and XR7. I already tried the LED lens and it was crap beyond compare, went back to the Sylvania 9006 "little brighter". I am glad you pointed out the issue with the 94 headlight bulb housing as I was no aware of the type of housing we had and if it would work with the newer types of bulbs.

The idea of using Grand Marquis housings is a great idea cause they are all over the place here. Heck, a neighbor down the street leaves his out every night. Sad for him when he's driving home at night and he has no headlights.... :P (just kidding).

Thanks again guys, you gave me some things to think about. I have to wonder too if it is my eyes these days that are just the problem.

BTW: As for way too bright of headlights at night, (I think I mentioned this before) my wife says to just leave my high beams on all the time. And yes, it really pisses me off that there is no regulations on bulb brightness, at least from what I can tell on most new cars.
 
XR7-4.6 said:
If you go the Grand Marquis headlight route you can use HIR 9011/9012 bulbs in them which are substantially brighter than the stock 9007s and the 9005/9006 bulbs the grand marquis housings use. The other thing is making an efficient electrical path, the stock wiring is subpar, you can improve bulb output simply by running the bulbs straight off the battery using relays for high and low beams with a custom harness.

Brighter isn’t necessarily better and whiter(and especially blue) isn’t actually necessarily more visible.
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Can you elborate on the Grand Marquis headlight suggestion? Are you saying to use the Grand Marquis headlight housing with the HIR 9011/12 headlight bulbs? What year of Grand Marquis are you referring too?

Thanks!

91-95 Cougar headlight housing:
1750045713611.png

98-02 Grand Marqius headlihght housing:
1750045789298.png

I see what Terminator is saying about the clear lens compared to the fragmented lens.
 
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White Lincoln said:
Can you elborate on the Grand Marquis headlight suggestion? Are you saying to use the Grand Marquis headlight housing with the HIR 9011/12 headlight bulbs? What year of Grand Marquis are you referring too?

Thanks!

91-95 Cougar headlight housing:
View attachment 12605

98-02 Grand Marqius headlihght housing:
View attachment 12606

I see what Terminator is saying about the clear lens compared to the fragmented lens.
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95-97. The 98+ grand marquis housings don’t fit cougars and they went back to the 9007 bulb

These are what 95-97 grand marquis housings look like in a cougar

IMG_6834.jpeg
 
XR7-4.6 said:
. The other thing is making an efficient electrical path, the stock wiring is subpar, you can improve bulb output simply by running the bulbs straight off the battery using relays for high and low beams with a custom harness.
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Ahhh. Now I understand the relays in the other thread.

But does that  really make an appreciable difference? I'll have to look at the wiring diagrams to see the entire path...
 
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