SHOtimer
#2910
Just finished the BDA swap project on my '95 ATX. The car had 242k on it, and the BDA had been broken for approx 2 years. The dash had never been pulled.
I spent lots of time researching this and was very hesitant to begin, but with the weather heating up and the BDA stuck on hot, I didn't have many options.
I read up on my factory Ford Helms book, read many posts on this forum and consulted these two threads in the 'How To' section:
http://www.shoforum.com/showthread.php?t=44695
http://www.shoforum.com/showthread.php?t=81287
One of the threads has you completely remove the wiring harness from the dash and pulled from the vehicle, the second has you keep the wiring harness in the dash, but pulls it through the hold in the firewall (pulling all the engine bay connectors through). Each of those threads makes it possible to remove the dash from the car completely - which I didn't think was necessary.
I did however use all the pictures in both threads and the basic guide to help me along - which was very helpful.
I removed the front seats, console, radio, EATC, steering wheel/column, gauge cluster, and glove box. With all that removed I could un bolt the dash and pull it away from the fire wall.
The wiring harness comes in from the engine bay to the left of the steering column and then flows through the dash to the passenger side of the car.
Once the dash was unbolted I swung it out as if it was hinged on the drivers side, and pulled it away from the passenger side of the firewall. I then used some of the metal bracing inside the dash and tied it off to one of the overhead handles, so that it was hanging and not resting on itself.
My dash was perfect before the project and I didn't want a crack!
I then pulled the HVAC box (which I thought was a bigger pain than pulling the dash itself). I replaced the heater core, BDA, and blower motor.
The heater core wasn't leaking but with 242k on it, I didn't want to go back in again to do this. I elected to leave the evaporator alone because it would have been MUCH more work to get the HVAC box apart in order to replace it. I was really glad I had a new blower motor because the brushes on the original one were worn down quite a bit and I had noticed it wasn't blowing as hard anymore....their were plenty of brush/copper particles all over the place from the blower motor wearing out.
Everything went back together well (the HVAC box is a royal pain to reinstall....).
While I had it apart I also replaced the orifice tube, accumulator, and condenser....so I have a brand new AC system.
So, now I have hot air when I want it, cold air when I want it and no air when i want it. :woo-hoo:
I had purchased a couple extra blend doors (the door itself) as I was afraid the door would be broken, but it was fine. I disassembled the old BDA and found one little mini gear inside was stripped. Stupid.
Anyway, all that to say.... looking back now if I was to do it all over again, I would do a couple things different. I don't think the it was necessary to remove the gauge cluster, just unhook the speedometer cable. (It was much easier to do this by first unhooking the cable from the transmission, so I was then given some extra room to move it around on the gauge side)...it isn't necessary to remove the EATC. I hope I don't ever have to do it again, but am glad to have everything functioning again.
It wasn't as overwhelming as I was thinking it would be, I kept all my nuts and bolts in baggies and labeled...and just stayed organized. Once you have it all apart it is rather daunting to think you'll have to put that all back together!
This was the last part of my SHO that I hadn't taken apart and attacked yet. I think I have come close to working on/replacing just about every part in this car since I bought it 9 1/2 years ago!
Hopefully it will last another 200k, as I don't think I'll still be piloting this SHO at 400k, but who knows!
Doug
I spent lots of time researching this and was very hesitant to begin, but with the weather heating up and the BDA stuck on hot, I didn't have many options.
I read up on my factory Ford Helms book, read many posts on this forum and consulted these two threads in the 'How To' section:
http://www.shoforum.com/showthread.php?t=44695
http://www.shoforum.com/showthread.php?t=81287
One of the threads has you completely remove the wiring harness from the dash and pulled from the vehicle, the second has you keep the wiring harness in the dash, but pulls it through the hold in the firewall (pulling all the engine bay connectors through). Each of those threads makes it possible to remove the dash from the car completely - which I didn't think was necessary.
I did however use all the pictures in both threads and the basic guide to help me along - which was very helpful.
I removed the front seats, console, radio, EATC, steering wheel/column, gauge cluster, and glove box. With all that removed I could un bolt the dash and pull it away from the fire wall.
The wiring harness comes in from the engine bay to the left of the steering column and then flows through the dash to the passenger side of the car.
Once the dash was unbolted I swung it out as if it was hinged on the drivers side, and pulled it away from the passenger side of the firewall. I then used some of the metal bracing inside the dash and tied it off to one of the overhead handles, so that it was hanging and not resting on itself.
My dash was perfect before the project and I didn't want a crack!
I then pulled the HVAC box (which I thought was a bigger pain than pulling the dash itself). I replaced the heater core, BDA, and blower motor.
The heater core wasn't leaking but with 242k on it, I didn't want to go back in again to do this. I elected to leave the evaporator alone because it would have been MUCH more work to get the HVAC box apart in order to replace it. I was really glad I had a new blower motor because the brushes on the original one were worn down quite a bit and I had noticed it wasn't blowing as hard anymore....their were plenty of brush/copper particles all over the place from the blower motor wearing out.
Everything went back together well (the HVAC box is a royal pain to reinstall....).
While I had it apart I also replaced the orifice tube, accumulator, and condenser....so I have a brand new AC system.
So, now I have hot air when I want it, cold air when I want it and no air when i want it. :woo-hoo:
I had purchased a couple extra blend doors (the door itself) as I was afraid the door would be broken, but it was fine. I disassembled the old BDA and found one little mini gear inside was stripped. Stupid.
Anyway, all that to say.... looking back now if I was to do it all over again, I would do a couple things different. I don't think the it was necessary to remove the gauge cluster, just unhook the speedometer cable. (It was much easier to do this by first unhooking the cable from the transmission, so I was then given some extra room to move it around on the gauge side)...it isn't necessary to remove the EATC. I hope I don't ever have to do it again, but am glad to have everything functioning again.
It wasn't as overwhelming as I was thinking it would be, I kept all my nuts and bolts in baggies and labeled...and just stayed organized. Once you have it all apart it is rather daunting to think you'll have to put that all back together!
This was the last part of my SHO that I hadn't taken apart and attacked yet. I think I have come close to working on/replacing just about every part in this car since I bought it 9 1/2 years ago!
Hopefully it will last another 200k, as I don't think I'll still be piloting this SHO at 400k, but who knows!
Doug
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