85 Crown Vic Tudor

[tjc78]

Turbines FTW! Looking good.

[Mr Bean]

I want a tudor so bad.

[Jason_GMQ91]

Damn! I have the exact same color Sand Beige from my Old 1987 Grand Marquis tudor and same dark brown interior as well.

[mcninetyone]

I have a dash pad for it, but you would have to dye it.

[pantera77]

After a coat of cleaner wax and some NXT 2.0. It's not perfect, but for a $800 car that was gonna be demo'd it cleans up nice. I need to adjust the drivers side door, sometime in this car's life it was opened a bit to far and the bottom hinge is pulled out a touch.

[L1011tristar17]

For only $800 that's a damn sight cleaner than what I drive! Sucks about the hinge though. The upper passenger side hinge on my car was bent from the door being thrown open so many times, so I had to grab a replacement from a JY. No more slamming the door multiple times to get it to shut correctly.

[marquisman]

It looks damn good to me. I think that car would wear your blacked out HPPs nice like. Gotta love the clean look!

[Mr Bean]

[87gtVIC]

nice shine.

[gadget73]

You say imperfect, but its still damn nice. Its even got the silver in the taillights yet.

[Mr.Blue]

Very nice!

[pantera77]

Updates, I've been driving the car regularly on nice days, put a couple hundred miles on it.

Original radiator was clogged solid, and the originally rad hoses were junk. Swapped over my 91 Marqs rad, and newer hoses, new t-stat, also swapped in my 90 TC fan shroud (older rad shroud mounts different). Flushed the cooling system twice and rinsed it about 10 times before all the poo stopped coming out. It was bad!

Adjusted the high idle, it was set around 3k, now it's much lower.

Thoughts on CFI. Runs like clockwork. Slow as balls. That's ok though. You could probably balance a dime on this thing at idle, it is literally that smooth and quiet. With the hood shut it's hard to tell it's running. Stock AOD is by far the worse shifting thing ever. It shifts fine, but redefines the term slush box. I guarantee you this is a 20+ second car. With that said, it does seem pretty peppy in the lower rpm range. I have no engine performance mods planned other then cleaning and regasketing nearly everything, tune up + vacuum lines, and replacing the timing chain. That will be a winter project most likely. It runs great as is.

Handling, worse handling panther I have ever driven by far. That I will change, but only slightly. KYB Gas-a-just on all four corners, new sedan cargo coils out back + new isolators, PI front sway bar with poly end links and new bushings. I still need to find a PI rear bar, bulkhead to cross member frame connectors, and fender braces. And that will be it. That's all. I want a nice smooth highway cruiser I can drive cross country, but won't roll over itself on an off ramp.

Parts!




Wimpy noddle next to slightly less wimpy noodle. The stock rear springs were so saggy that with a full tank of gas the rear end would squat.




Old, dead nearly 30 year old shocks. Check out those bushings.





Some pics of how fairly clean the car is, it also has brand new shoes out back:














Next up, replaced the smoked compressor clutch. I got lucky too, it had just started eating into the compressor body, any further and the snap ring would probably never go back on.

old vs new:



failed bearing:



ouch:



Now I can enjoy my nice R12 worry free (although the compressor itself is pretty noisy, I will use it till it blows)





My buddy and I pulled the door and shimmed the bottom hinge. The door still doesn't sit perfect, I think the door itself is tweaked, but it's a shit ton better then it was. I need to have some dents pulled on on it, and touch up the paint in a few spots. I can live with it though.





How the car sits with the cargo coils:

[tjc78]

Like the direction you are heading on this one. Enjoy it!

[gadget73]

I'd put a new timing set in there too before the motor lunches itself. Won't give any more power, but 8 cylinders running is much better than 8 minus however many have smashed valves when the chain jumps. Its that plastic cam gear nonsense they were using back then.

yeah the CFI is a gutless wonder. Runs better with dual exhaust but its never going to be perky. Looks cooler with a dual snorkel air cleaner too, but I doubt it actually helps much. Absolutely smooth though when its right. The lack of jerkiness is probably a fair indication that the chain isn't too far gone. It tends to hitch randomly on the highway when the chain slops out. They don't take well to vacuum leaks either. A bit more TV pressure might help the mushbox feel but I wouldn't count on much improvement. Worth checking the bushing too. It won't kill the trans like the cable models do, but it does reduce the pressure somewhat and make it even sloppier.

Sounds like it handles like my Lincoln did when I got it. Dead rear springs, all four shocks leaking oil, and both front endlinks were broken. It was like trying to get busy with a fat chick in a canoe.

[Mr Bean]

Wow that thing is clean.