My 1987 Two Door Crown Victoria AKA THE BROWN BLOB

[slack]

What color is your interior again. If tan and you are interested I will give your the blue flames tan floor mats I was rocking for about 6 years. They are as new as they can come as I always ran clear covers on top of them so as to not get them dirty. lol

Yep it's tan. Thanks dude! I think I'm going to pass though, I'm not sure how flames would look in my car lol. I'll probably just suck it up and buy some plain mats and call it done.

[87gtVIC]

No problem.

[87gtVIC]

During my last 4hr trip to Montauk the rattle noise from the rear area began to really irritate me. It was a noise I had for some time but never looked into it. It irritated me so much on this trip that I stopped at an overlook and poked around the trunk of the car as the sound seemed to be coming from there. I pulled out the spare and then the jack. I noticed the jack was making wear marks onto the metal that connects the rear shelf with the trunk so I wrapped some rags I had around the jack and tightened down the spare tire over it and went on my way.

No dice. Sound remained the same over bumps. FUCK.

Get back home and rip out the contents of the trunk again. Get pipe insulation and totally cover the jack with it in addition to the tire iron. Wash the car then put it away till today.

Take the car out fully expecting that annoying rattle, vibrating noise from the rear of the car to be gone. WRONG. Still around. So I complete my trip out to Montauk again, with the radio much higher so I don't blow a gasket over hearing the sound going over uneven pavement.

Get home and jack up the car and start smacking the tire. With the smack of the tire I get the rattle. So I inspect further. Smack the trailer hitch. Rattle. Hold the rear bumper and smack the trailer hitch, less rattle. Cool. Go around and tighten up the bumper bolts to the frame as well as ll of the 10mm bolts that hold the inner to the outer of the bumper. That quieted up some of the rattles.

Now I go over to the drivers side tire and smack that. Rattle, vibrate again. Hit the rear sway bar and it is loose!

Grab the 15mm and the 18mm and much to my surprise all four bolts were loose and took no effort to spin with a wrench. Shit. So I tighten them up and smack the frame and now there is silence. God I sure hope that was the noise. Will find out next trip.

[sly]

with all that loose, dang. at least you found it all before something fell off.

[87gtVIC]

The nuts were not close to falling off but who knows what would have happened if I had not looked into it. Certainly happy to have things tight again. Will have to monitors those nuts and see if they get loose again.

[murphmobile2]

May not be a bad idea to go over the whole underbody... Stuff like that just doesn't come loose.

[gadget73]

are those supposed to be self-locking nuts? If they are, they're probably just rounded out by now. They normally have an oval or triangle look to the end. Run them on a couple times though and they're just regular nuts.

[87gtVIC]

The sway bar has been off a bunch of times. Once when my father originally purchased it from a junkyard years back, when my dad installed the 3.08's, when I put poly bushings in the rear and when I changed to 3.73. While I was under the car I randomly checked other bits for looseness. I am gonna keep an eye on it.

[87gtVIC]

We have a winner. Nice and silent over rough terrain...aka new york roads.

[Brown_Muscle]

glad to hear you got it fixed Dave. Will you be bringing the Blob to SF this year?

[87gtVIC]

Yep sure will unless monsoon weather is expected. Car is running really well and is super fun with 3.73's. Looking forward to the event.

[Toploader]

Dave, I know know that it will not be possible to plan for and build a platform for a CV/MGM show here on LI or elsewhere. If guys are not car show "persons" then I just have to accept the fact that most are not interested. I am thankful that there are Ford/Merc shows happening in NY and NJ throughout the summer and fall. It would have been nice to establish our own boutique show here in the metro NY/LI areaStill hopeful some guys would want to meetup for a Sat or Sun breakfast

I am not much of a car show person.

[pantera77]

Yep sure will unless monsoon weather is expected. Car is running really well and is super fun with 3.73's. Looking forward to the event.

You gonna race it this year? See if those 3.73's helped out?

I may bring my Tudor, we could have a shootout!

[87gtVIC]

I am always weary about racing it. I will be running snow tires on all four corners as well. idk at this point in time.

[87gtVIC]

Goodies arrived. Now I gotta get that hydraulic union.