Reconstruction has begun.

[ew1usnr]

And yes there are a LOT of bugs out there on the road.

Hello, Steve.

Your trip sounds like it was a huge amount of fun. I congratulate you for skipping the airline ticket.

What kind of headlights are those?

Did driving 20 miles on a disintegrated wheel bearing grind up the wheel spindle?
How fast were you going when you hit the railroad track? I am amazed that the wheel bearing shattered.

I had to look up "TFI" to find what it was. "It is a small grey plastic module that houses solid-state electronic parts, all of which are suspended in a thick translucent, electrolytic (meaning it is conductive) film. The Thick Film Integrated Ignition (TFI-IV) name is proprietary to Ford. Others may know it referred to as a "spark module."

In other words, your electronic ignition quit. That "sparks" my interest.
After I bought my Falcon in 2012 I was surprised to find that the previous owner had replaced the ignition points with a PerTronix D-57-22 electronic ignition unit. I have left in place it has worked perfectly for the past 17,000 miles. But ....... my previous two Falcons and a Maverick had points and I never had problems with those either. The points seem like they might actually be more more reliable than electronic ignition because while points will slowly degrade, they will not just quit like an electronic module can.

Your TFI burnout issue heightens my concern that the PerTronix could quit, and makes me wonder if I should restore The Wonder Falcon back to points. I could either buy another Pertronix unit ($75) and keep in the trunk as a spare, or replace it with a set of points at the next 25,000 mile tuneup (in 8,000 miles).

In the light of your recent electronic ignition failure, would you recommend my staying with the Pertronix unit, or going back to points?

[doghows]

Hey Dennis, those headlights are a standard 7" round halogen H-4 light. It has the turn signal built in so I could turn my stock turn signals into marker lights that stay on all the time the switch tells them to.
As far as point vs pertronix I personally will never run point again. Like you stated they wear out and affect your engines performance and drivability. That being said I will never run a carberator again either! Both are a pain to keep running at peak performance and with a carb if you go from sea level to say 10000 foot elevation it runs like crap.
So back on topic, keep the pertronix and keep a spare set of points in your tool box, they are an easy swap if you get stuck. With my TFI failure it's the first one I've had go bad in 20 years of playing with these EFI motors. They are very reliable and I think it was kind of a fluke it went out but it did go out.
The spindle was fine, it has a little discoloration to it but nothing else. The bearing was still mostly in tact when I pulled it apart but fell into pieces when it came out. I hit the track at 55 mph and it jarred my teeth when I did. Inspected the whole front end and it look ok, didn't see anything bent or broken. I was just hearing a sqeak in front which I knew what it was when I heard it so I slowed to about 20 mph and nursed it to my brothers cabin.
I drove all the way home with new bearings in (900 miles) and no issues. So I'm very happy with the deliverys performance.

[ew1usnr]

As far as point vs pertronix I personally will never run point again. Keep the pertronix and keep a spare set of points in your tool box.

OK. I have been mentally flip-flopping back and forth on this for the past four years. The car has been running perfectly with the Pertronix, so I will just leave it alone and not fix what isn't broke.

As far as flying The Wonder Falcon at 10,000 feet ..... I can only dream of that at the moment. It is a long way from sea-level Tampa to anywhere with elevation, but Pikes Peak is calling to me.

[Luva65wagon]

There is an article this month in the Falcon newsletter about this subject. I've been long advocate of the Pertronix, almost from the time they came on the market. Yes I've had failures, but I feel - contrary to the article I just read - the pros outweigh the cons.

I've told the story elsewhere on this forum of my plight trying to make it back up from southern Oregon to Seattle when (unbeknownst to me at the time) I was having a fuel starvation issue due to a cruddy carburetor. The failure occurred as I was heading south after a regional meet in Northern Oregon and I nursed it (with the support of other Falcon club members heading home to California) to Grants Pass where I was heading. I would not have made it back home to Seattle running points. I had swapped back to points while in Grants Pass thinking maybe it was a Pertronix failure, but had not gone 20 miles back towards home before I pulled into the first rest area I came to and put back in the Pertronix. It still ran bad, but it ran so much better.

You'll get the "not needed" and the "it's gooder" reports everywhere you go, but I'm of the mind that most of the parts we are getting to maintain the old points/condenser system are not anywhere near the quality of what you used to get. I've had points and condenser failures too and it's nearing a $30 bill to get good quality parts there too.

It's a tough debate. A lot comes down to cost to miles driven. Our cars don't usually see a lot of miles, so if you think of a set of points lasting 10 years when a car sees 500 miles a year, if you're luck, a $80 Pertronix kit may seem a waste of money if you are of the mind that it offers nothing more than zero maintenance. I think it probably offers that and some level of performance improvement and with that some potential fuel savings. But I have no empirical evidence - only anecdotal. The good news is that of the 3 units in the past 20 years (or whatever it is) I've had, all of them were sent back to Pertronix and replaced at no charge. No complaint there.

I will say one other thing. On the black F100 I sold to Steve, I could not get the Pertronix to run, at all. It perplexed even the tech's at Pertronix. I ended up converting it to Duraspark II setup with a GM ignitor. Which is also what I run on the Ranchero, the wagon, and my 66 F100. Pretty easy swap. I debated using Pertronix on these, but because I needed new distributors I opted for DSII units, which happened to be cheaper and new, rather than more costly and rebuilt. The GM ignitor is only about $15 and is available everywhere.

[doghows]

Well the delivery has had her rest. The are still about four more events I'm going to try and go to before the real nasty wet winter sets in.
She is all clean, bugs removed, and any other small repairs made. I guess my seven year restoration was worth it. I just went back through this post and amazed myself at what I have accomplished. Never would have thought I could do as much as I did.
The club was a great help to me for advise and tech days and moral support. So now things have slowed up a bit at work I aim to get out and help some other falconers.
Let all get our birds going this winter and see if we can make 2017 a great club year.
Thank you everyone for all you help and support!!

[dhbfaster]

Seven years... thanks Steve. I feel much better now.

[doghows]

Hang in there Don, your is looking amazing just keep at it you'll get there.
I need to come out and see yours and maybe help if your not done.
Looking forward to cruising with ya!!

[dhbfaster]

Unfortunately I'm on an assignment out of town for quite a while Steve...so progress is slow with just trips home now and then...but progress is progress.

[doghows]

Shell get there buddy, just stay persistent and keep looking at that light at the end of the tunnel. It does get brighter.

[doghows]

Well the winter project list is written down so I'll see how many I can get done before car show season again.
1. Swap out rear axle to the 8.8
2. Pull the upper intake, air tube, and valve covers for polishing.
3. ReInstall said parts
4. Completely redo wiring in engine bay. (This might be stretching it)
5. Swap out fuel pump to a better less noisy unit
6. Replace front rack and pinion with one that doesn't suck.
7. Sell kidney to pay for everything.

We'll see how it goes!

[Luva65wagon]

Well that's one weekend's worth of work, what will you do the next week?

[doghows]

Ya no doubt, I'm like you I have a list about a mile long and only a day or two each week to play.
Work has got nuts for me, picked up a contract with a fence company and have 3000 feet of fence posts to do, Fort Warden is remodeling and I've got a five year deal with them for work, and the coast guard has started refurbishing the ships again and, and ,and.
You know that old saying I have time but no money, or no money and lots of time. I guess you can just do what you can!

[Luva65wagon]

You know that old saying I have time but no money, or no money and lots of time.

Drinking too much can cause this.

[doghows]

Ok started the 8.8 swap today. Got the old eight out and put them side by side. Here they are for comparison.
The eight was 56&1/2" WMS to WMS
The 8.8 is exactly 57" WMS to WMS
The cool part is I was running a 1/4" spacer to make the eight exactly 57". I am very happy so far. I need to change the driveshaft end to fit the 8.8 and I needed larger spring plates and ubolts. I had those laying around. The brake line is the same spot and fitting so I think this will be downhill from here.
I started with a Ford Explorer rear axle, then drilled the weld plugs out of the long side axle. Pressed out the tube and cut 3" off. Then press the tube back in and reweld the plugs. Now both sides use the same axle shaft so I ordered a short side replacement from rock auto. $84 cost on that.

[doghows]

The axle didn't really cost me anything because I parted out an explorer the I needed the engine and trans for my bronco project. But the are out there for $200-300 bucks. Short side axle $85. Misc stuff $200 so all in all to get a 3:73 posi, disc brake, 31 spline axle not bad!!