The Unofficial "Ask a Stupid Question" Thread

Hey, I have a really stupid question ; Does the cobra pbr attach to the bracket with a rod with a c-clip?
I think when I ordered calipers a few years ago, and these 2004's are not like the 2002's I put on the tbird...
I seem to remember they attached to the bracket with 8mm bolts.
Did I order Cobra '04 calipers?

edit, yes, I bought calipers that will not work with my wheels. :(
 
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The only things that make noise are the lash adjusters/valves, tensioners/chain slap, and the injectors ticking.
I've never seen a ford 3.8 apart, but I'd use the 'screwdriver stethoscope' technique to localize it. If it's the tensioners, it's usually cheaper to look, than to wait for the noise to quit.
 
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What *glue* glues foam together best? I got the bug to recover my original headliner core with Alcantara but after years of storage the foam core cracked on one side between the pillar and moonroof hole.

Epoxy? Barge Cement? Duco? Super glue? I have all those adhesives on hand, never tried them on foam before, I lean towards barge since it’s a little flexible when cured, what ya think?

IMG_8005.jpeg
 
I've never tried to glue that type of material, but I would lean more toward epoxy or JB Weld. Do you need to support it all the way across the crack the width of the foam board or just reattach that little triangular piece?
 
KevinVarnes said:
I've never tried to glue that type of material, but I would lean more toward epoxy or JB Weld. Do you need to support it all the way across the crack the width of the foam board or just reattach that little triangular piece?
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It’s the entire width. The little triangle piece is just the inner surface piece I found hanging by a hair
 
In that case, my concern with any adhesive would be the very short thickness of the joint. Do you think some sort of backup material could be adhered to the top of the foam board to strengthen it across the crack or does it not really matter?
 
KevinVarnes said:
In that case, my concern with any adhesive would be the very short thickness of the joint. Do you think some sort of backup material could be adhered to the top of the foam board to strengthen it across the crack or does it not really matter?
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Duct tape? 😆 I had a similar thought but really I only need it to hold together just for the recovering of the fabric and handling it into the car. Once it’s installed it’ll hold together with nothing at all. In fact the current factory black headliner I have now is worse being cracked on both sides as I (stupidly)folded it in half to fit in the trunk when I pulled it from the junkyard, but miraculously the joints aren’t visible installed to this day.

My thoughts with the ideal adhesive would be something that freely flows into the pores of the surrounding foam but remains flexible enough to not become brittle in that localized area or expand/contract irregularly vs the foam over time causing a ripple in n the fabric. Epoxy or cement I fear won’t flow well and Super(CA) glue I think would but fear might dry too brittle.
 
Ah, I see what you are going for. Is that foam backing closed cell foam? I think it might be hard to get an adhesive to flow into the foam like that. Could you do something with a fiberglass resin repair? It could conform to the surface of the backer and it should be pretty strong.
 
XR7-4.6 said:
What *glue* glues foam together best? I got the bug to recover my original headliner core with Alcantara but after years of storage the foam core cracked on one side between the pillar and moonroof hole.

Epoxy? Barge Cement? Duco? Super glue? I have all those adhesives on hand, never tried them on foam before, I lean towards barge since it’s a little flexible when cured, what ya think?

View attachment 15961
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I fixed a crack in my sons headliner similar to that. I used the 3M headliner adhesive. I reinforced the spot with a small piece of the same backing material from a scrap headliner I had. There was one spot that was too close to the structure so i glued scrap headliner material to it to keep the crack from spreading.
 
I had exactly the same prob. I tried using the new headliner material to hold it all together, with less than great results.I'm thinking of adding stiffeners, like thin balsa wood, to the sides, to keep it from falling. If you try to put it in with crack unfixed, it sags over the boor. No headliner bugs me more than a saggy one.
 
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XR7-4.6 said:
Duct tape? 😆 I had a similar thought but really I only need it to hold together just for the recovering of the fabric and handling it into the car. Once it’s installed it’ll hold together with nothing at all. In fact the current factory black headliner I have now is worse being cracked on both sides as I (stupidly)folded it in half to fit in the trunk when I pulled it from the junkyard, but miraculously the joints aren’t visible installed to this day.

My thoughts with the ideal adhesive would be something that freely flows into the pores of the surrounding foam but remains flexible enough to not become brittle in that localized area or expand/contract irregularly vs the foam over time causing a ripple in n the fabric. Epoxy or cement I fear won’t flow well and Super(CA) glue I think would but fear might dry too brittle.
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Flexseal? I used the aerosol variety trying to seal where the rear qtr panel and trunk meet. The factory panel adhesive was not spread well and the flexseal didn't work very well. The stuff in a can might be better.
 
Stupid question about gas mileage...

If I drove 200 miles on slightly less than 3/4 of a tank (needle almost at 1/4), would that be 16 miles per gallon or 14? I am not sure if we calculate with an 18 gallon tank or only 16 gallons. 2 gallons for emergency when it says "empty".
 
White Lincoln said:
Stupid question about gas mileage...

If I drove 200 miles on slightly less than 3/4 of a tank (needle almost at 1/4), would that be 16 miles per gallon or 14? I am not sure if we calculate with an 18 gallon tank or only 16 gallons. 2 gallons for emergency when it says "empty".
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It's how much you filled up with by miles driven.

So if you drove 200mi and filled up with 14gal, then you got 14.28MPG

200/14 = 14.28

That's your MPG for the tank, not for the drive alone.
 
CDsDontBurn said:
So if you drove 200mi and filled up with 14gal, then you got 14.28MPG
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Not to state the obvious, but for clarity: you fill up twice: fill up > reset trip odometer > drive > fill up > calculate as described above.

The size of the tank isn't part of the calculation because the fuel gauge isn't accurate enough.

If you want to be really exacting about it, do both fill-ups at the same pump.
 
Is this an evap line? What are the symptoms if the hose is no longer snug?

1767914926545.png
 
New stupid question, where would I look to figure out where a very slight water leak is coming from on the passenger side? I didn't really notice (since it doesn't rain much in Los Angeles) but this last week or so there were a couple days of hard rain, that's when I noticed a slight leak and little puddle. Then next time it rained I looked again, it was a light rain (more than sprinkling) and there was no leak.

20260101_031011.jpg

You can see it's hitting upper right of the front passenger floor mat (goddamn, I need to replace them, hahaaha).

Is this a wiper seal problem or something else? I didn't notice anything on the driver side.
 
Vicinity said:
Is this an evap line? What are the symptoms if the hose is no longer snug?

View attachment 16039
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The line circled is the AC line, if you’re referring to the “hose” in front of it it’s just a foam insulator, it’s normal. The EVAP line is underneath it and smaller
 
Rodeo Joe said:
The vent inlet under the cowl probably needs to be resealed.

Joe
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Wonderful. Is that straightforward to do? I mean, is there any info or how-to around here or maybe on another site, possibly a site with a name written in the Black Speech of Mordor that should not be spoken?
 
rampagingsloth said:
Los Angeles
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We should meet up one day! I'm out in RivCo!

rampagingsloth said:
Wonderful. Is that straightforward to do? I mean, is there any info or how-to around here or maybe on another site, possibly a site with a name written in the Black Speech of Mordor that should not be spoken?
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Pretty straight forward. You'll need some black RTV to seal up the oval intake port in the wiper cowel (sp?) area. Unless there's another way to do it better / easier / faster, you'll have to remove the wiper arms and cowel (sp?) to get access to the oval intake ports under the cowel to apply the RTV.

If it needs to be repaired, you'll notice that there is a crack around the oval intake port.

I'd take pictures of mine (because both of mine need this done) but it'll have to wait as I'm not home.

Grog6 said:
I could sell you some cobra hubs. Are you driving back to CA?
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Negative, I'm flying back home. I'd also need new wheels and I'm not planning on getting new wheels for my Gold Bird.
 
rampagingsloth said:
Wonderful. Is that straightforward to do? I mean, is there any info or how-to around here or maybe on another site, possibly a site with a name written in the Black Speech of Mordor that should not be spoken?
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Best picture I could find. Circled in yellow of course. It is pretty straight forward once you get the wipers and cowl off.
1767923945532.png
 
@Vicinity , the insulation on that line is breaking down after 30 years, the vacuum lines have too.
If you've never fucked with them, it's a good bet you need to. Go to AZ, get 3 feet of 1/4, 5/16, and 3/8" emission rated line. Get a piece to fit the air line to the valvecover from the inlet tube.
That way, you got 30 more years before you have to again. :)
 
Thanks, I've got most of them with the link below, but deferred the ones near the tank and charcoal canister

Ford 4.6L 5.4L V8 Vacuum Line / Emissions Hose Replacement

Detailed instructions on how to replace underhood vacuum hoses on Ford 4.6L V8 engines. Applies to many Fords like Mustang, Crown Vic, F150, Thunderbird, etc.
www.blueovaltech.com
 
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