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Number: 2620
From: "negusm" <negusm@y...>
Date: Mon May 12, 2003  11:24 pm
Subject: Re: [ASC McLaren ] ashtray not staying close on 89

Body:
This was in last month's mustang monthly...

http://www.mustangmonthly.com/howto/41419/

"If there is one irritant inside an '87-'93 model Fox Mustang, it's
that blasted ashtray door that fails about a year into the blissful
ownership of your Mustang."

-Mike



--- In ascmclaren@yahoogroups.com, "InfoSysSec" <infosyssec@i...>
wrote:
> I don't really know if it was an 'over usage' flaw or just a poor
engineering design to begin with for the ashtray and the armrest
console box button
>
> When you look at the spring arrangement, you will see that the
tension spring is not the most noble piece of engineering on earth.
It also is installed in a situation where it is metal in contact
with plastic. Well the simple law of wear and tear tells you that
when metal is continuously rubbing against plastic that wear is
going to occur. Unfortunately for the ashtray the wear results in
the spring effectively cutting a hole in a downward direction until
it finally cuts through the plastic hole and gains its freedom ( at
which point the ashtray no longer benefits from the tension provided
by the spring ). I guess that in some cases the force of the
tension spring was also able to snap the plastic that retained it
when hit hard enough or when the plastic might be particularly
vulnerable in cold weather.
>
> The same probably applies to the open/close button on the arm
rest. When you open up the arm rest and take a look at the flimsy
piece of plastic that Ford used to make the open/close button, you
will easily figure out why it was doomed to failure at some point in
its lifetime. You basically have a piece of plastic that looks
like a button with a bow attached to it. The bow gives it the
flex to be pushed in and to return the button back to its starting
position. But the bow portion of the button is fairly thin. So I
can imagine that in a COLD climate this thin piece of plastic will
break much quicker than say the same piece in a warm climate. But
just imagine a thin piece of plastic being flexed and you can easily
imagine that its life expectancy is pretty limited. Some sort of
metal spring with a button arrangement would probably have lasted a
lifetime - but for purposes of economy ( errrrmm cheapness ) Ford
went with a piece of molded plastic.
>
> Marq
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: suzstoo
> To: ascmclaren@yahoogroups.com
> Sent: Monday, May 12, 2003 9:13 PM
> Subject: Re: [ASC McLaren ] ashtray not staying close on 89
>
>
> hey thanks for the info. are they easily broken? I have a 93
se
> mustang and mine is fine. but no one has ever smoked in the
car.
> maybe that's the secret :)
> susie