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The Mighty Merc – M5OD Maintenance
While the 4R70W isn’t a bad transmission, and probably one of the few automatics that doesn’t piss me off, I still rather have a manual. After searching for a small block ZF-5 that wasn’t overly priced or broken, I came across a M5OD out of a 4.2 V6 truck from a ’97 F150. The 4.2 trucks use the Small Bock Ford bell pattern (have to drill out the top two bolts to 7/16”), and they have the shifter tower further…
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2004 Mazda 3 – I Haz the dumb
You ever buy something, and then immediately question the wisdom of your actions? I know I have, but this last round was a dozy. After looking at 7 other cars that were dismissed for various reasons, I came across this gem:
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Small Rolling Tool Tray Update
After using the small rolling tool tray, it became apparent that I chose poorly for the casters. The original plastic ones were much too soft and would often pick up ‘junk’ laying on the ground. This would cause the thing to not roll very well which irked me greatly. So off with the old wheel and on with some cast metal ones: And now its back in service, and often being piled full of stuff: It is still definitely one…
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The Mighty Merc – NP205 Mount
After shaving the stock mount off the NP205, I needed to come up with another mount to help support things. I didn’t really care for the mounts that were available commercially, so a little thinking netted me this:
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The Mighty Merc – Moving the VSS and Tone Ring Math
In 1999 (and newer) Explorers and Mountaineers use a tone ring in the rear differential to give a signal for the VSS. This signal is used for the automatic transmission inputs as well as the ABS and speedometer. While my autotragic and ABS is going away, I still wanted to have a working speedometer and cruise control.