The tale of the 87' Colony Park

[pantera77]

I love a properly executed plan.

It looks really nice under the hood.

Thanks, that means a lot coming form a stickler for detail like you.

@ everyone else, thanks, I think it came out pretty good myself. This had a lot of project creep, as it started off as just a basic tune up. But, instead it got,

New plugs, wires, cap + rotor, and coil
New air and fuel filters
91 inner fender, and 92+ airbox assembly
1" intake spacer
Ford Racing Valve covers
Lighting EGR spacer
Deleted EGR entirely
Re-ran a lot of vacuum lines and wires
Made a new coil bracket
Painted the coil holder, upper intake, EGR spacer, IAC, rad holders, relay covers and bracket, and a lot of other misc items.
3G swap
And a bunch of other misc things.

Still to go,
Mass Air swap
Lowering springs
"New" Headers (need to weld in 02 bungs on them)
Full detail

I've been trying hard to get all this done by STAP. The weather was finally nice enough to drive it to work the other day. Still has the popping out the intake and hesitation off idle or slight throttle. Other wise, it ran great.

I started swapping in the electric fans off the 89 the other day, just need to finish wiring them up.

[pantera77]

[pantera77]

Also decided on ordering some lower springs from SpeedwayMotors for it. My only question is, do I get 225# or 250# for out back? Reading through Freshmeat's posts when he had his wagon said he'd recommend 250's, so I'm kind of leaning that way. Thoughts?

[pantera77]

Finally took some pics today. Drove it less than 250 miles so far this year lol. I haven't even detailed it yet, just washed it and gave it a quick wax a few weeks ago. I'm waiting until right before STAP to do a full detail. But it still looks good I think.

[P72Ford]

Very clean.

I like the coil mount. I have been slightly stumped as to how to mount mine; I may have to try something along those lines.

I believe my coupe has 225 lb/ in rear springs. I'd probably try 250s in the wagon.

[chitownvic]

I oyster my shorts every time I see this thing.. BTW my rear sway bar is the same color haha

[gadget73]

Looks good. Whats the round shiny thingamadeal in front of the air cleaner box?

[pantera77]

Thanks guys. Like I said I really need to give it it's full detail.

I did end up going with the 250# springs. I'll also be swapping out the crappy air shocks in the back to regular shocks. The ass is always so high because if I let anymore air out it rides like ass.

The round thingy is just the overflow for the rad. It used to be on the shroud, but I moved it over next to the air box since there was a good spot there when I swapped the fans.

[nfldfordltd]

Normally I don't care for wagons but that is one sick unit! Love the shape it's in and the light blue/wood panel combo! Tasteful mods too

[87gtVIC]

Your AC drier delete plate made me laugh.

[pantera77]

Your AC drier delete plate made me laugh.

I was wondering who would notice that.

I'm still not sure If I'll put the A/C back in yet, so I left the plate and evaporator tubes still. Even though they drive me crazy.


Did a little work on it today. The rear door panels were really badly warped at the bottom's so I swapped them out with the nearly mint ones from my 91. I also replaced the dead RR window motor with the newer style one from the 91 while I was in there. Now all 5 windows + the 2 vent windows work as they should.


Hard to get a pic of it, but they were really warped and pulling up from the door:


Panels from the 91 out and ready. Note how much of a richer blue they are:


Comparison shot of the window motors:

[87gtVIC]

Some guys on foureyedpride with t tops have the floppy door panel syndrome. They soak the panel and lay it on cement (making sure not to bend the metal edges up top) and put a piece of plywood on top of it and then stack a bunch of weight or their can on it to keep everything flat till it dries.

[pantera77]

I received a gift when I got home today!

"WTF is this?" I asked myself walking onto the deck.


Hmmm, I bet it's full of noodles.


Tightly wound, heavy, metal noodles.

[pantera77]

Updates.

Got my lowering springs installed. Went very smoothly actually. Discovered the PO drilled holes in the rear floor which made it very easy to remove the shocks (I replaced them). Removing that stupid metal floor on wagons is kind of a pain though. Front end also came apart very easily. Lower ball joints didn't want to come apart so I just dropped the knuckles as well. Didn't need a spring compressor at all. Just a long prybar and a jack was more than enough the get the old springs out. New springs were very easy to install seeing how short they were.

Pics.
Old rear springs vs. new rear springs:


Old shocks vs. new shocks. Eric should recognize these:


Lower bushings on the old shocks completely wiped out:


With just the rears in:


New front springs vs. old front springs:


Something appears to be missing:


How it sits now:




Also got my "new" headers on. Eric should recognize these as well

The old headers were factory mustang ones, with the o2 senors welded in the #4 and #8 tubes. The reason for this is the wagon has completely custom exhaust on it, including the down pipes, with no 02 bungs on it. I didn't really care for this, so on the "new" headers I drilled the holes as close to the flange as I could, and had my buddy weld in the bungs. I also had to get some fancy silly header bolts, as the old factory bolts were just to big to fit.

Pics.
Here's a good comparison, 90 TC "lincoln logs" on top, factory mustang headers in the middle, and my "new" ones on the bottom:


And what they look like installed:

[marquisman]

wagon is looking even more sexy! what spring rate did you end up going with?