My 1987 Two Door Crown Victoria AKA THE BROWN BLOB

[mitymerc]

Facecrook

[87gtVIC]

Thain...Rivnut idea may be a GO.

Removed the sill plate and the surfaces where the screws go through are flat. Should work.

Screws I have are 10x24 machine screws with a nice flat surfaced phillips head. Gonna talk to the guys at our fab shop and see if they have that size rivnut and if I may borrow 8 of them with the install tool.

[87gtVIC]

I had a very productive day today working on the old gal.

First task was doing a test run with the rivet nuts for the sill plates.

Drilled the appropriate size hole so my 10x24 riv-nuts would take properly to the sheet metal.



All was well with the test run so I went all out and drilled the rest and covered all of the holes with rust encapsulator to protect them.

While I was waiting for the paint to dry I tackled the weak drivers side door lock actuator. Pulled out the old and installed the new only to find the unlock direction still wimpy. Out came the lube and then everything was working nice and smooth.

While I had the door panel off I figured it was about time I addressed the Grand Marquis under armrest courtesy lights I have been sitting on for a couple of years now.

Like many of you said I did find the courtesy light harness behind my vapor barrier and much to my enjoyment it did in fact have power at the appropriate times!

Out came the solder and the light socket and bam:



She don’t match but I enjoy the warm feeling it leaves with the interior. It’s a keeper. Plus, the lights are freaking cool!

Now that this task was over I moved onto completing the riv-nuts on the drivers side:



They are neato pieces:



I then moved onto the passengers side of the car repeating the process on both the sill plate and under armrest curtsey lights. Everything went smoothly so I started ripping apart the dashboard/pad for gauge install.



Wanted to upgrade to Autometer gauges all around.

Another new Autometer tach, voltmeter and vacuum gauge were in store for the police pod.



Got that all done and tested and then pulled the speedometer cluster.

Autometer electric water temp and oil pressure gauges to come.

Will be interesting as the autometer gauges are quite a bit larger in size despite all being 2 1/16” gauges.

How she rests as of now:

[gadget73]

Whats in the pod, oil pressure?

Didn't know anyone made a tach the same size as the volt gauges. Don't think I'd use one in my own setup because its so far below eye level but it works in the police gauges or the pillar pods.

[87gtVIC]

Wideband is in the a pillar pod.

Oil pressure and water temp in the speedometer.

Tachometer, volts and vacuum in the police pod.

I was super excited finding a 2" tachometer. I was getting tired of the steering column mounted sized ones.

[gadget73]

yeah I don't much love mine either. My triple gauges are down way below the radio, under where the ashtray originally lived so having a tach there would be useful only if I'm keen on driving off the road while watching it. It makes the water and oil similarly limited in usefulness, but the stock temp and oil idiot lights are in place for that reason.

Maybe a pillar mount tach is an option.

[His Royal Ghostliness]

yeah I don't much love mine either. My triple gauges are down way below the radio, under where the ashtray originally lived so having a tach there would be useful only if I'm keen on driving off the road while watching it. It makes the water and oil similarly limited in usefulness, but the stock temp and oil idiot lights are in place for that reason.

The trick is to learn your needle positions during normal operating conditions, then a quick glance will tell you if everything is good or you got something going on that shouldn't be. Racers will actually rotate their gauges so that all needles point straight up when reading normal, yeah it looks kinda retarded when the numbers are crooked but can't really read said numbers when bouncing around at high rate of speed on rough terrain anyways, so no big deal. That's also a good strategy for selecting which gauges to use - you go for the ones that have your normal running parameters in the middle of their range. Well in a Panther you kinda go for what actually looks like it can belong in there, and the range is whatever the range is for that model, but still, you get the idea. I actually drive by needle position at night, I dim my gauges so low I can't read the numbers, but I've spent enough time behind the wheel of this particular vehicle that I don't need to see the numbers, I know what they are just by the needle position.

All that aside, the baby tach is pretty darn cool! Would do great in a pillar pod, but only cause it will make it easy to see there - I actually strongly dislike pillar pods, they look way out of place on most older vehicles. If the vehicle is a truck and you're using all-electric gauges then you have the option of placing the gauges on a shelf-it unit - super-easy to see and read by the driver, out of sight for anyone else. But in a Panther there really ain't a good spot for them things, the Brown Blob has them set up about as best as one can pull off IMHO. Sans that pillar pod ofc

[DerekTheGreat]

Lights are cool, kinda bummed 4 door townies didn't get lights on the rear doors like Cadillacs did.

[87gtVIC]

Lights are cool, kinda bummed 4 door townies didn't get lights on the rear doors like Cadillacs did.

I wish there was some type of lighting for the rear passengers. I would never allow anyone to ride in the rear of my car....I just like the fancy pants option of lights somewhere being back there for them if they were to be back there.

I added the Town Car underseat lighting...you know the foot lights that shine out the bottom of the front seats...and that was a neat cool factor years back but am itching for something up in the c pillar area.


Haven't touched the speedometer yet. Just been mentally preparing myself/planning how all will be done.

Will have to make new brackets to secure the autometer gauges onto the speedometer. WIll have to adjust the wiring on the back side of the speedometer some more too.

This is basically what it looks like currently with my sunpro electric water temp gauge and oil pressure gauge:



I say basically because that picture above was still a work in progress. All wires are soldered to the printed circuit so the enire cluster is just plug and play.

[gadget73]

Lincolns had rear map lights controlled with a switch on each rear door. What else do you need?

[DerekTheGreat]

I wish there was some type of lighting for the rear passengers. I would never allow anyone to ride in the rear of my car....I just like the fancy pants option of lights somewhere being back there for them if they were to be back there.

I added the Town Car underseat lighting...you know the foot lights that shine out the bottom of the front seats...and that was a neat cool factor years back but am itching for something up in the c pillar area.

Haven't touched the speedometer yet. Just been mentally preparing myself/planning how all will be done.

Will have to make new brackets to secure the autometer gauges onto the speedometer. WIll have to adjust the wiring on the back side of the speedometer some more too.

I say basically because that picture above was still a work in progress. All wires are soldered to the printed circuit so the enire cluster is just plug and play.

I like your style, Dude.

Why not let people ride in the back? Townies did get the reading lights back there with their own switch but so did Cadillac Broughams, only it was an option for those. I always thought the seat flood lights are silly, then again I suppose they help with finding stuff that has fallen on the floor should that happen. I just think the door lights like Cadillac had would be a nice touch. Ford eventually got the hint as '90 and up had them. Why they took many more years to illuminate the door controls and other switches is a mystery..

As for the speedo, weren't Digidash townies equipped with an electronic speed sensor as well as a cable? Or aren't they all? Perhaps you could use that signal for a digital speedometer? I think GM GMT400 trucks 92 and up have independent DRAC modules which could be retrofitted to suit your needs.

Lincolns had rear map lights controlled with a switch on each rear door. What else do you need?

Door lights. Lincolns are supposed to be fancy pants & swanky.

[Bobcat]

David, get rid of those damn seats!!!!

I get it, if you were conceived on them, that's one thing! But cmon!

[jaywish]

I see you used a special too for the rivet nuts. Can they be installed with a regular pop rivet tool?

[gadget73]

No, but you can make an install tool with a piece of steel that has a 3/16" hole (or whatever size matches the machine screw size you are using) drilled in it, a hardened screw and a nut of the same thread as the rivet nut . Put the rivnut into the hole, put the piece of metal against it to hold it down, screw the screw in, tighten the nut. It will pull the rivnut to set it. The nuts will only give you a few sets per so grab a bag of them. If you don't use a hard screw, it'll strip out before it sets the first one.

[jaywish]

Thanks