My '90 LTD Crown Vic

[87gtVIC]

Feeding tach wires isn't that bad when you run them from the outside of the firewall - and I'm fat with short arms. I usually put a slit in the big rubber plugs so I can tuck the wire in to where it isn't chafing on the sheetmetal.


Dave: How do you "attaché" a wire? I had the weird notion that "attaché" was always a noun, and that an attaché was a person or a carrying case.

I finish up the job by putting some RTV on the wire/grommet hole to seal things up.

Yes!

[1990LTD]

I got everything ready and the guy with the garage is going to give me a call shortly when I can go over. He's cutting the gas tank off of something at the moment.

rad, hoses, tstat, oil, filter, pressure sender, sender to block adapter, and a nice length of wire i pulled from my 88 mercury, was originally for the trunk popper. ran the length of the car under the trim and it's nice and fat. some heat shrink connectors, black rtv and a bottle of coolant.

i still have the trunk popper assembly and wiring harness...the physical assembly looks much different than the one in my car and mounting points are not the same. i mentioned it already, but it's from a grand marquis, so the trunks are different - any way i could adapt it to fit my car? i miss having a trunk popper, i kept the yellow button and everything.

[1990LTD]

and it's just a momentary switch, so would you just give the popper 12v and put the switch in there somewhere?

[rick99601]

and it's just a momentary switch, so would you just give the popper 12v and put the switch in there somewhere?

momentary switch aka a button. hah

[1990LTD]

unexpected new water pump day. hooray. 60 bucks i didn't count on spending. pump was leaking and there's a bit of play in it so it's fubar, and i guess that would be the faint front-engine noise i've been hearing.


new pump will be in tomorrow morning. too bad, i was going to replace it when i replaced the timing set and cam all at once. thankfully all of the water pump studs were good and we can reuse them. timing cover looks great as well. not wanting to tear into the motor again is more incentive to build something a little better than a HO. read: non-stock parts. also, i can finally finish desmogging the car with all of those brackets off.


so, by the time it's out of the garage tomorrow, it'll have:

working oil pressure gauge
new radiator (pressure tested it today, it's good) and upper/lower hoses
new water pump/gasket
new thermostat/gasket/bypass hose
...and a shitload of new hose clamps


what the fuck else is gonna leak now?

[1990LTD]

heat out of the vents = HOT. car seems to warm up quicker too...i think the old tstat was opening too early.

[86VickyLX]

what the fuck else is gonna leak now?

Timing cover, core plugs, head gaskets, heater core.

All of these things, god forbid...

[1990LTD]

the timing cover looked great when we had it down that far for the water pump but looks can be deceiving


i have a heater core sitting on my shelf ready to go, should the need arise.


head gasket? yeah it would be GT40 time if that were the case. these E6s aren't coming off unless they're gonna be doorstops.

[1990LTD]

thanks for all of your help btw 86vickylx, it was and is very much appreciated.

[1990LTD]

also...going to keep this thing on the road for another little while I think. I should replace the rear brakes, it'll be a while before they're shot but I like to get them early when possible. Going to put discs on instead of replacing all of the drum hardware, and hopefully stick some better gears and a track lock between the rear wheels.

[johnunit]

the timing cover looked great when we had it down that far for the water pump but looks can be deceiving


i have a heater core sitting on my shelf ready to go, should the need arise.


head gasket? yeah it would be GT40 time if that were the case. these E6s aren't coming off unless they're gonna be doorstops.

preach it brotha!

[1990LTD]

It's got enough get up and go for me for the time being, with the HO upper stuff and full length exhaust. When I tear into it far enough to make a difference, it will be a big difference. When the weather is nicer I'll get some meats for the HPP wheels and slap them on the box.


It occurs to me that I don't really care what I drive every day as long as I've got this at home to toy with. Fuck knows what I will get to drive around.

[86VickyLX]

Sounds good. Remember you're gonna have to pull the axles out of the rear to put the disc brake backing plates on! So pick up some rear fluid!

[1990LTD]

it needs a rear axle seal...i don't know what i should do with it. it would be cheapest for me to just do the seals and replace the drums shoes hardware etc. i'm debating what i want to do.

given that it's leaked some fluid from the seal that needs replacing, the bearings are probably gone, and the axles are probably gone too. it would seem like a shame to open it up and replace axles and just put the 3.08 open back in so i'd be in more money. i know it needs rear brakes and a seal that's about as much as i've decided.

anybody know if i could just drop the rear from the aero and put it under the 90 and do the brakes? fewer kms on it and it's a 3.27 with disc hardware already there. i just don't know what's holding the rear axle on there or if the whole assembly is compatible (driveshaft, mounting points etc) but i'm fairly confident i could do it myself or with a helper perhaps. this would also be fairly cheap since the aero is just sitting there.

[1990LTD]

I have a wonderful leaky cork valve cover gasket. It could have been an exhaust manifold gasket but the oil is very obviously seeping from a part of the valve cover now. Oh well. Ordered some new gaskets and other goodies


- felpro permadry gaskets
- pcv trifecta (they're already pretty new but it wouldnt hurt to replace while i have the intake off)
- bosch oxygen sensors
- ignition tuneup parts


bought a set of cal custom valve covers...I don't know yet if they'll fit under my intake plenum but we'll see. If I need to buy a spacer I will.




if they won't fit I'll sell them to one of you guys with a carburetor.