My 1987 Two Door Crown Victoria AKA THE BROWN BLOB

[87gtVIC]

Yep. That time again.

Decided to do it the right way…Planned to try and extract it with head in place but I just had bad feeling about the whole thing.

Closer look:



Fucker busted in the same place as the one that let go last October on me. Same hole to, just on the opposite head.

Haha. Gotchya!





Head back on:



And where I left things at the end of the day:



Header studs to h pipe were being a bitch. One stud threads stripped both in the collector side as well as the nuts side. Will address that tomorrow and get the rest of things buttoned up. Plan to wire up the instrument cluster as well. Wanna get some miles on this bish. Kill the tires and slap the summer meats on.

[87gtVIC]

Yeah Buddy.

Mission Complete.

Appears to be a successful one to boot.

All gauges are in and operational:













Autometer Arctic White all around. Autometer NV wide band O2.









And some from the outside:















So happy!



Oh and a quick vid with some exhaust tones:

[DrHax]

Dayum, I love how the front of your Vic looks.

[His Royal Ghostliness]

Looks great! Remind us again, what are the green and red LEDs in the gauge cluster for? Also, consider replacing those Phillips screws on the 3-gauge thing with some torx ones, will look way more stock then, even if the factory did use Phillips screws... I did that with my steering wheel as per MrMarquis' suggestion, it was a very good call IMHO.

[packman]

Sounds great! Looks like somebody is getting to be a pro at this. And your Dad looks pretty mean in that one pic. Wouldn't want to mess with that dude!

[87gtVIC]

Dayum, I love how the front of your Vic looks.

Thanks mang. Much work put into it to get it looking that way.

Looks great! Remind us again, what are the green and red LEDs in the gauge cluster for? Also, consider replacing those Phillips screws on the 3-gauge thing with some torx ones, will look way more stock then, even if the factory did use Phillips screws... I did that with my steering wheel as per MrMarquis' suggestion, it was a very good call IMHO.

Red and Yellow! Red light flashes and works in conjunction with the alarm. Yellow light is low fuel light...since I had to eliminate that idiot light with either the 140 cluster or the gauge install....I dont remember.

Im thinking some allen headed bolts...

Im just not gonna fuck with things. I am just happy things are working.

Sounds great! Looks like somebody is getting to be a pro at this. And your Dad looks pretty mean in that one pic. Wouldn't want to mess with that dude!

Thanks. I definitely have no issue taking the heads off the car. Easy peasy.

Dont mess with DAD.

[87gtVIC]

Some future projects I want to accomplish consist of

1. Front Big Brake Dust Shields
2. Painting the radiator core support
3. Maybe painting the hood hinges
4. Painting the trunk rain gutter wells
5. and of course 5 speed swap

We will see if I get to any of those.

I have the products for painting all the things I want to paint...I even have new hood bumper for the job! I also have new rear window lower trim clips as I am sure the ones on the car will obliterate once I remove them. I want to get the paint up under that piece of trim.

The dust shields should be a fun junkyard job.

Hood hinges bother me as they are grimy.

5 speed is a lot of work and cash.

OH and how could I forget...I should really address those ac lines.

[87gtVIC]

Took her out for another maiden voyage (boy Ive had too many of these since the initial engine rebuild ) and she rips.

Couple romps and slamming on the brakes to knock the rust off of them and she was good to go.

Beautiful day out as well, got a couple people (one old dude and some big guy) complement the car. Old dude wanted to know the year and said it was clean. Big guy said "BEAUTIFUL...BEAUTIFUL."

Was a good day and put an even bigger smile on my face.

[sly]

[gadget73]

Lesson learned, no more DERP bolts.

[His Royal Ghostliness]

Red and Yellow! Red light flashes and works in conjunction with the alarm. Yellow light is low fuel light...since I had to eliminate that idiot light with either the 140 cluster or the gauge install....I dont remember.

Im thinking some allen headed bolts...

Your LED colors are spot-on match for the colors the OEMs choose to use for these features on newer vehicles, and I got the feeling that is exactly what you were aiming for

I suggested torx because #1 that is what Ford uses typically and #2 button-head torx-drive sheetmetal screws seem to be easier to find than the same in allen-drive. Mine are actually security-type torx screws, with the little pin in the middle that requires a hollow socket - not because I needed that feature, but because that is what I came across at Lowes, lol.

[87gtVIC]

Lesson learned, no more DERP bolts.

If I make it 2500 miles without another incident like this I will say it was the bolts. If the engine decides otherwise and snaps another head bolt I really have an issue.

[85crownHPP]

glad that bolt came out!!!!

She sounds so sexy

[87gtVIC]

glad that bolt came out!!!!

She sounds so sexy

Me too. I knew it would though based off of doing the one on the other head last year. Still worries ya.

Thanks. Those were all just baby revs to 2k or so. She screams up top. Deafening inside tunnels. Mega smiles from it.

[His Royal Ghostliness]

Deafening inside tunnels.

You got stick-on insulation on inside of door skins? Makes a huge difference in both ambient noise from the outside and sound system performance inside.