My 1987 Two Door Crown Victoria AKA THE BROWN BLOB

[Jason_GMQ91]

awesome! I would like that in my trunk someday!

[1990LTD]

Looks cool, and it looks like a pretty clean install. Can't imagine how badly I'd have mangled that.


Most anti-climactic ending ever, though after all of that build-up I thought the damn thing was gonna close the trunk for you!

[85crownHPP]

Awesome! does that carpet piece look like it will fit well? Is the color a close enough match?
My colors are off a bit, but you don't really notice.

[87gtVIC]

awesome! I would like that in my trunk someday!

Thanks Jason. I suspect that it may be even simpler in a Grand Marquis just because it is similar to the Town Car

Looks cool, and it looks like a pretty clean install. Can't imagine how badly I'd have mangled that.


Most anti-climactic ending ever, though after all of that build-up I thought the damn thing was gonna close the trunk for you!

You cant really mess it up. Everything pretty much just bolts right in. Then you just need some patience to try and adjust everything to your liking.

And it did close the trunk for me....from about three inches up.

Awesome! does that carpet piece look like it will fit well? Is the color a close enough match?
My colors are off a bit, but you don't really notice.

Colors a tad off but it is no biggie at all. It looks as if it will fit too! I will get to that at some point. Next thing I want to do is strip the interior of its seats and carpets...put down sound deadening and then put down the carpet underpadding and reassemble. Then I may get to the muncher cover, though to be honest I am digging the robotic look it has while seeing it in the trunk.

[Brandon]

Great job man! Glad to hear it worked out great for ya.

[1990LTD]

I am digging the robotic look it has while seeing it in the trunk.

Leave the whole thing exposed and slap a NOS sticker on it or something

[Jason_GMQ91]

Thanks Jason. I suspect that it may be even simpler in a Grand Marquis just because it is similar to the Town Car.

yeah its looks similar...Im going try that maybe in the spring.

[87gtVIC]

New Door Panel Pull Handles

This morning I installed my new interior door panel pull handles. I purchased them from JC Whitney for under $20 which is a sick deal. My door panel pull handles were already replaced before I got the car, and it just so happened to be replaced with JC Whitney pieces some 10+ years ago. Those pieces were showing their age so I decided to change them out with new ones.

It was super easy to do, just 4 nut and bolts per door panel handle.

Here you can see the color difference between the new ones and the old dirty ones:



Here is the old handle installed on the drivers side door panel:







And a shot with the new handle installed:



Here is the old handle on the passengers side door panel:



And the new handle installed:



And a picture of the entire old set:




If anyone is interested in purchasing some follow this link: New Door Panel Pull Handles

They come in all colors which is nice!

[1990LTD]

Your car is gonna be looking pretty sharp.

[87gtVIC]

Your car is gonna be looking pretty sharp.

Thanks!

[87gtVIC]

Under Hood Fuse/Relay Box Install

This was inspired by Pete, check out the thread: http://www.grandmarq.net/vb/showthread.php?t=3031

It is a nice way to tidy up the all of the wires leading to the starter solenoid. All of those wire leading to the starter solenoid are fusible links. They act as slow blowing fuses to protect the circuits. I replaced all of the fusible links with fuses. To figure out which fuses should be used with which wires I first needed to figure out what circuits I was dealing with. To do this I needed a diagram with all of the circuits powered by the starter solenoid.



Thanks for the scan hemihotrod402.

With the diagram in my possession I was then able to figure out what wires should be protected by what fuses. I used the fusible link rule to help me in this manner. The fusible link rule states that if you are using a 14 gauge wire then a 18 gauge fuse link is to be used. Simply put “use a fuse link four gauges smaller.” Knowing this allowed me to determine the wire gauge of all the circuits and from that I was able to figure out how much max amperage a particular wire gauge can handle, and I chose the correct fuse from there.

Just some pictures of the box untouched, which was from an aero panther, delivered to me from Pete:







This is how everything looked in the beginning of the project:





(I relocated the horn relay to the new fuse box)

Here is a picture of my fuse box with a diagram next to it telling me what is what and what fuse they get:





Here are some pictures test fitting the fuse box and mounting it:







The bracket itself mounted:



The underside of where it is mounted:



Here everything is labled and ready to be connected to the fuse box:



This is a wire that was not found on any wiring diagrams I had so I named it unknown. It was on the same ring terminal as the rear defrost but had its on fusible link. It was green with a purple line.





Here is a shot with some things wired in:



And these are just some pictures of my work area:







My shity soldering gun:



And my heat gun:



Oh and here is a picture of my police air box and tube for those interested:



And a picture of how the stock box air filter fits into the police air box:



After slacking off for a day, I re-entered the project to complete all of the wiring. I relocated the amp power cable to the starter solenoid from the battery and I also made a cable to connect the under hood fuse/relay box to the starter solenoid. The only fusible links left on the starter solenoid are those associated with the fire hazard alternator. Once I buy a 3g alt my starter solenoid will be free of the fugly fusible links.....oh and the under hood is still dirty as all hell.

Battery and everything pretty much installed:





I still want to get some loom and cover that little rats nest up:



Some entire under hood shots:











And some shots after the car was running and everything working, suprisignly everything worked as it should lol:







I also wanted to move the headlight relays into the new under hood fuse/relay box but I had no headlight connectors on hand so that will have to wait till another day.

I am happy with how everything turned out. My dad even thought it was cool, and that is a plus considering he usually nods his head at the stuff I do to my car. :headbang:

[Nathan in MI]

Looks nice, man. How much clearance is there between the fusebox cover and the fender brace? Looks like it'd be hard to get the cover off with that in place.

[87gtVIC]

Thank you!

Funny you ask because it is very tight but I can remove the cover with the brace installed (like in the last few pictures) it actually just makes it out.

If you look hard in this picture you can see there is just enough room for it to sneak out.

[85crownHPP]

Same with mine...

Nice work!
Looks like you got yours more level and straighter than mine on the fender, lol.
Was there not enough slack to move the charge wires to the fusebox stud?

[87gtVIC]

Same with mine...

Nice work!
Looks like you got yours more level and straighter than mine on the fender, lol.
Was there not enough slack to move the charge wires to the fusebox stud?

Thanks!

Yeah I tried to out do you lol. I was lucky to have some cheapo semi flexible metal with holes drilled in them already to use as brackets for the actual fuse box mounting bracket. I was able to get one stud (the same one you were able to get) clear through the plastic inner fender without using a bracket for it. The other two really made the thing level as I really forced them down to get them to prop the box straighter...it is still crooked though.

I did not even try to see if there was enough slack to move the charge cables to the fusebox stud.


Pete.. Did you have the unknown green with a purple stripe wire on your starter solenoid like I did?