Silver Hawk Major Modifications

[Lynn]

I agree: Get a second opinion; maybe a third. Do some research on your own (sounds like you are already headed in that direction.

So much of the health care system is driven by $$$$$. The changes of the last 7 years haven't helped MOST of us. I realize there are isolated incidents of folks that are getting some long needed care, but for the middle class, it is awful.

Are you over 65? On medicare? None of my business, but may have an impact on treatment options. It MAY be that the procedure or other treatment you need isn't "profitable" enough for the institution to bother with.

Get some more opinions. There is a lot of technology available out there. Unfortunately, sometimes it is only available to the very wealthy and the very poor.

[Treblig]

Well, I talked to my acupuncturist today. He's actually a Master Acupuncturist, been doing it for 50 years. I've used him for many ailments and he's always removed my pain and fixed the origin of the problem, even a heal spur that I couldn't even walk on at all. He says that he can improve the blood flow to my heart and stop the angina. He's said that he's done this many times with other people. He's always come through for me and I trust him so I'm going for it.

It beats being hooked on the "HEADACHE" pills for the rest of my life. I talked to my cardiologist and she said that she hopes that it helps. Since my cardiologist offers nothing to fix the problem I don't have many choices??

Treblig

[Peanut]

Wishing you a full and speedy recovery!

[56Golden]

<snip>Since my cardiologist offers nothing to fix the problem I don't have many choices?? Treblig

Actually, you do! Fire that cardiologist and hire a different one ...that worked wonders for me!

Good luck!

[Treblig]

Actually, you do! Fire that cardiologist and hire a different one ...that worked wonders for me!

Good luck!

Thanks to everyone again. Good news!! The acupuncture has removed 90 percent of the headache!! He's treating me for my heart, shoulder damage (30 years ago) and the headache. My shoulder's feeling a lot better. I still have 3 more treatments and now have high confidence that my headache will be completely gone in a day or two. I've also started taking an herb tea that my acupuncturist makes to help my heart and my circulation.
I was required to set up a follow up appointment with my cardiologist two weeks after I left the hospital. That's next week, I'll listen to what she has to say then decide on whether or not to find another cardiologist. I'm feeling better and better everyday as the acupuncture tames the massive headache. I really felt great when I left the hospital until I started taking those nitrates (vaso-dialaters).

treblig

[Treblig]

Well...........I've managed to get my heart attack stuff under control. So I've been going out tinkering with the Silver Hawk. I'm slowly working my endurance back up to where it was before. Sitting around for 2/3 weeks makes your hands soft and your muscles weak!!! But I'm doing well!!

Took the Hawk out for a drive (first time since steering wheel replacement). Because of my brush with death I hadn't had a chance to drive the car and verify that my home made "signal cancelling" cam (see previous posts) actually worked??? I'm happy to report that it worked perfectly!!! The car drives real nice, the smaller steering wheel makes it more comfortable to drive, the AC works real nice, the AC idle solenoid works perfect. I plan to have my daughter drive the car around as much a possible this weekend so she can practice parking in parking lots full of other cars..... that will be her biggest challenge!! Even with power steering it still takes are large radius to make a turn. She needs to learn how to slow down in close quarters and turn the steering wheel as quickly as possible.

I plan to order the new head liner pretty soon although it won't keep her from driving the car. My "to do" list is very short!!!

treblig

[ndynis]

You should make a book out of the material in this thread!
Nick

[Treblig]

You should make a book out of the material in this thread!
Nick

Nick, I'll take that as a compliment!! Thanks......It has been a fairly long road with many twists and turns. I still need to build and replace the rear end but that a minor detail. I'll be sure and post pics of the rear end build and installation. I already have every single piece I need to build the Mustang rear end including the replacement rear brake cables. I also have the extra leaf spring that I'll install just under the top leaf when I have the rear end out of the car. I guess the head rest will also have to wait til next summer since I don't have an extra front seat for my daughter to use while I get the original seat modified.
It's time to let the car go......so my daughter can start enjoying it.

Treblig

[ndynis]

If you do make a book out of it put me down for the first one off the press!
Great job. Thanks for taking the time and effort to document this really great build!
Nick

[Treblig]

I finally got around to the fusible link issue. I used some good heavy wire (8 gauge I think) to run power from the starter solenoid to the car dash wiring and to the new fuse box as well as to the fan relays. I didn't want to overload the Silver Hawk factory dash wiring so I installed a 12 circuit fuse box under the hood to control the power going to the dome light, radio, clock, AC blower, new temp/volt gauges, etc. These new wires/accessories will be powered separately with respect to the factory wiring. Anyway, I had been torn between installing a fusible link or slow blow fuses. I finally decided on the fuses:




I built this small bracket to mount the fuse blocks. Without knowing how much amperage I'm actually drawing through the heavy power wire I installed 80 amp fuses temporarily. One fuse is for the alternator and the other is for power to the dash/new fuse box/fan relays and eventually, head light relays. I ordered and received my new toy (something I've been needing for a long time). It's a DC amp gauge. My regular multimeter maxes out at 10 amp DC so I couldn't use it to check anything higher than 10 amps.



It didn't cost very much and has multiple uses AC/DC voltage/amperage, resistance, etc. Now I can turn all my accessories "on" (at the same time) and check to see if I am using large enough fuses in the new fuse blocks. I needed this amp meter for another reason....my daughter drove the Silver Hawk to school the other day and on her way home the AC stopped working. When she got home I checked it out and found that the new blower switch (3 speed) had failed. One of the coiled windings had burned up. Since then I've ordered the highest amp rating switch I could find (25 amp). But I don't want to install the new switch until I check the amperage draw on the double blowers. I happened to have another 2 speed switch the day she came home with the AC not working so I installed the 2 speed switch temporarily so she could use the car the next day. So now that I have the amp meter I can turn the AC "on" and see if the new 25 amp 3 speed switch will be able to handle the dual blower motors???

PS - I decided to go with slow blow fuses as opposed to a fusible link in case my daughter ever has a short in any of the wiring on the road. She will call me (of course) and it would be much easier to get her going if I don't have to cut and splice wires to replace a fusible link. I've put together a medium sized tool bag (to carry in the trunk) and filled it with various tools and spare fuses, wiring, electrical connectors, etc so that she'll always have spare tools/fuses for the road.

treblig

[Treblig]

Well....That was extremely interesting!! I calibrated the DC amp meter and clamped it to the power wire (the one that feeds 12V to the dash and all other components). Since I had initially installed a 10 gauge (power wire) wire my chart says that it should be able to handle 100A. I made a mistake (in previous post) that I had used 8 guage wire but it's actually 10 gauge. I figured that the car wouldn't draw more than 80 Amps (total) so I had installed an 80 amp slow blow fuse (in lieu of a fusible link). As it turns out, after turning "on" the high beams, radio, AC and blower, Dome light, defroster blower, two radiator fans and trans cooler fan (all at once), the 10 gauge wire was only pulling 54 amps (with the engine running). I was pretty happy!! Then I checked the double AC blowers by themselves and got a max 12 amp draw with the blowers on "Hi". This tells me that my new 3 speed blower switch should easily survive since it's a 25 amp switch.
I swapped out the AC blower switch and everything tested good!! In the interim I had ordered an L.C. filter for the radio because my daughter had told me that the radio had a lot of static when she used the FM stations. The L. C. filter should be here today or Monday. I also ordered 2 new HD relays because the 2 relays that give power to the new fuse box seem to be sticking (they sometimes fail to engage). When they don't engage the radio and AC (along with a few other accessories) won't work. I noticed that I can tap on the relays when they are energized that they will click and engage. So that tells me that there's an internal problem with the relays. I ordered some nice 80 amp relays which should be here Monday. Now that the AC is back online and the radio static problem is solved my daughter should be driving the Silver Hawk to school again early next week.
Still working on a few other issues but everything else can be fixed in the evenings and weekends so that my daughter can drive the car as much as possible.

PS - The Custom Audio sound "Retro" radio will only play songs that are formatted in MP3 and WMA format. The radio came with a jack for input from a cell phone (where my daughter keeps her music). My daughter's "I" phone uses "I Tunes" music which is formatted in "AAC" format which is not compatible. So my nephew (a computer nerd) will reformat the music so my daughter can listen to her music as she drives. If it's not one thing it's another????????

Treblig

[Treblig]

Not as smart as I thought I was.

I hooked up the in line filter and the radio still had lots of static when the engine is running. After some research I decided to disconnect the alternator to see if it made any difference and "viola"!! The radio cleared up immediately. So now I'm looking for one of those "old school" alternator capacitors.

Treblig

[Treblig]

Well,,,,I'M SPENDING MONEY BUT I KEEP SPINNING MY WHEELS!!%#^%#$@

Got the alternator capacitor and hooked it up....NO DICE!! So I got mad and got a long HD 6 gauge wire and ran it directly from the alternator output to the battery (pos) in the trunk (ran a heavy cable on the outside of the car for the experiment). The static disappeared. I've been doing lots of reading on the radio "static" problem and one website talked about the alternator inducing EMI into the wiring. I had my alternator (charge) wire connected straight to the starter solenoid (mounted on the pass inner fender). The power wire that feeds 12V to the dash and all accessories is also connected to the same solenoid terminal. So as the alternator charges the battery EMI/EMF is going from the alternator straight through to the 12V power wire into the radio. The reading I've been doing said to run the alternator wire directly to the battery then the battery (because of it's mass) will absorb/stabilize all the defending EMF/EMI.
I guess they were correct. Now I'll need to run a heavy wire (6 or 8 gauge) from the battery to the alternator. I guess I could simply zip tie it to the heavy battery cable that's already running from back to front along the passenger inner frame??

treblig

[Treblig]

Everyone already knows that I'm all about safety when it comes to my daughter. I bought this 85-88 Deville third stop light to make sure everyone knows when my daughter is stopping.:




Unfortunately it was a little too tall and the angle was off a few degrees so I made some measurements and got my high speed cut off wheel and trimmed it down:



It came out perfect:



Now all I need to do is make a simple bracket and mount it to the package tray. Since the stop light wires are in the trunk it should be pretty easy to hook it up. I plan to order a 500-800 lumens super bright LED (S1156 bulb replacement) so that the car gets attention when my daughter hits the brakes. The LED shouldn't draw that many amp so I should be OK.
I haven't decided if I want to repaint it or not because it looks pretty nice in the car the way it is????

Treblig

[Peanut]

I wouldn't own a car without a CHMSL. Good choice.