1997 Mercury Grand Marquis LS

[Kodachrome Wolf]

Finally have the exhaust the way I want it: Duals and quiet.


Took the car to a local exhaust shop and in about 30 minutes they had got the system welded up nicely. The only thing you can't see is the hanger on the right side right behind the muffler.

The old Thrush muffler that was originally on the left side would drone around the 2000 RPM area and it was still noticeable even at 1200-1500 RPM. It sounded bad, inside and out. With essentially a factory setup, everything is quiet, just the way I like it.

[sly]

wow. The single plat looks like a copper plug now.

[Kodachrome Wolf]

Changed the spark plugs and installed new wires. All the plugs were torqued down appropriately to 180 LB/IN (15 FT/LB).

I wound up with an odd ball plug after RockAuto told me that the 8 APP764s I ordered didn't all exist, just one. I decided to keep that one and replace the others with the APP104, the successor to the APP764s. I did photograph the differences between the APP104 (left) and APP764 (right):


Both are Double Platinum plugs, however the APP104s are finewire style versus the older APP764. The most glaring difference is the full thread versus half thread setup. Most of this information is moot anyhow, since the APP764 and Motorcraft variants have been out of production and the APP104 is the direct replacement for it. I was aware of the APP764s being the half thread style ahead of time, which was also the reason I wanted to get them, considering that my engine only uses that little amount of threads anyhow. Both the of the plugs seat at about the same place once mounted, so there's no issue with using either.

Also, after doing the tune up, the car no longer pings at WOT! It probably didn't help that the driver's side front plug had a .080+ gap on it. The electrode had deteriorated severely. None of the other plugs were this bad and still had generally intact electrodes.


Another point to be made is that when I got plugs for this car a few years ago, I installed Platinum plugs versus Double Platinum ones. Hopefully the new ones will hold up better with the waste spark setup.

Also, made a 0-60 run at WOT. So much nicer to not have the pinging issue. Maybe I can try using regular gasoline again, too.

[Tiggie]

Looks much better!

[Chuck Norris]

I am very impressed with your car and the work you have done on it. I was just killing time this evening and decided to read your thread from beginning to current. Not disappointed.

[Kodachrome Wolf]

So way back in late 2012, I inflicted some damage on my car when I clipped the garage door frame. It put a small dent in the door and messed up the door moulding, knocking off the small dogleg piece and bending back the door trim.



Well between then and now I had gotten a trim piece and attached it to the door. However, I had little experience with automotive paint at the time, and attempted to spray the trim with Duplicolor without any primer, nor any clear coat when I finished. The result was the piece was too dark and not too long later, the paint started to chip off, showing the light blue color of the original piece. On top of the paint being shitty, the chrome insert had a crack form on it, which resulted in some of it de-laminating and turning gray. All in all, it was terrible.

Well, I finally got motivated to fix it. It's not paint shop perfect, but it's still a heck of a lot better than what was originally on, and I've actually put both pieces on to finalize this area. In the case of this job, I started with a Duplicolor Base White Primer, then used Duplicolor Primer Sealer, followed that with the Toreador Red, and finally used Krylon Acrylic clear coat. After it dried for 24 hours, I was impressed with the finish as it was, even though a gentle wet sanding will be sometime in the future.

Replacement on top, replacement for the replacement on bottom:


Attached:


I've got to do some minor adjustments since it looks like it may be sitting a touch low towards the B-Pillar, but it does look considerably better. There's some spots on the chrome where the paint got under the tape, but I've already cleaned a few places on it. Overall, I'm much more pleased with how it looks now than it did.

[Kodachrome Wolf]

Been a while since I updated anything about the car.

I've been gathering some parts to do this:





The whole setup is literally cobbled together from different Town Cars and a Continental. The wheel is from a 2000 TC, clock spring, wheel harness, redundant control module, wheel switches, and various connectors are from a '96 TC, air bag from a '95 Continental, and the wiring harness I made up for the redundant control module from a '95 TC. The air bag had to get a different connector shell put on after I realized the plug wasn't the same. I took the connector shell off a TC air bag and swapped it on so it would work. The wiring harness I made for the redundant control module was almost 90% recycled from a '95 Town Car I harvested a JBL system from. I found I only needed a specific set of wires that I could simply pin into my existing harness in the trunk when I come to install that system, so I was going to toss the rest. When I started on this today, I found that the JBL harness had enough wires of proper length (and some the correct colors) to do this project. I'm kind of glad I hadn't tossed it since I had needed 10 wires, all around 5 to 6 feet long.

I'm about 80% done with this project. I just have to sort out why the Fan and Temperature switches only work when the lights are on. The radio wires haven't been hooked up yet, but I did get the necessary wires on the connector that is supposed to plug into the premium harness I have waiting to go in. That's a project for next weekend.

Otherwise, everything else works for now.


As stated above, the other future project is installing a JBL audio system. I have essentially a complete system, but subwoofer fitment might be my only challenge at this time.

[Kodachrome Wolf]

Changed the rear differential fluid with fresh Red Line 75w-140 gear oil. Everything seemed fairly clean inside, no shavings or bits that didn't belong. Closing it back up, I opted to use an actual gasket between the differential and the cover instead of using black RTV. Part number for that gasket is P27608TC; should work on cars equipped with the 8.8 rear axle.

I'm not sure if my car ever had the differential gear oil changed before. I never saw a mention of it in the maintenance receipts, so if not, it went almost 161K on the original oil. I have my doubts, but at least now I have the comfort of knowing it has been done.


I also have a fender that will be going on the car whenever I get around to having it painted. It's from a '94, so I had to order a cap for the hole where the antenna should go. The irony is that the fender was the straightest panel on the donor car, the rest of it had been crushed by a tree.

[88Vic]

Yep, hit the horn next time. That's why trucks have reverse beepers and why a lot of companies require drivers to hit their horn a couple times when they go into reverse. Make people around you aware of you, even if they can't see you or you can't see them.

[sxcpotatoes]

Solution for the future. Get on your horn in short bursts, longer bursts and just BLARE it while creeping slowly towards that exit until you get where you can fully see to the right (granted that puts you halfway into the street, but from what it sounds like, you can see alright to the left to make sure you're not gonna get creamed by somebody going in that lane).

[killgore]

IN FAIRNESS I cycle lots of places without a helmet on. I'm the ballsy kid that rides on the side of the highway. That being said, I have lights on and usually am pretty observant and aware of my surroundings.

Sucks that the guy screwed up your car. Good news is no one was hurt.

[Kodachrome Wolf]

Was he wearing a helmet?

Nope.

[79lincolnlover]

Was he wearing a helmet?

[Kodachrome Wolf]

Sorry about the car! Maybe I'm a dick but I see that as not your fault, it's a 50/50 situation. I'd ask for money to fix my car, he probably stole that bike anyhow.

I read an earlier post... A 6G alternator? I briefly heard of those while reading up for my 3G swap. What are the advantages?

Yeah, I'd call the accident 50/50, but if I play the devil's advocate, Georgia classifies bicycles as a "vehicle". Regulations on "vehicles" is that they cannot be driven or rode upon sidewalks, which is exactly where this guy was riding his bike. So technically, he shouldn't have been there to start with, but instead should have been using the road to bike on. But it's over now, no sense it going crazy over it.

Regarding the alternators, for a time I had a 6G alternator from a '98 CVPI (6Gs were available on all '98-'02 CVPIs). They put out 130 amps just like the 3G alternator, but its rotational mass is lower, so it's a bit better at charging at idle or lower RPM operation. Unfortunately the one I had was almost double my car's own mileage and bit the dust with probably around 300K on it. With regards to what I have now, I found an old 4G alternator laying in my garage that I took off my aunt's '01 MGM. It puts out 110 amps, but it sure is better than the 95 amp small case 3G when you have a lot of stuff running. When we were experiencing the heavy rains, I'd frequently notice that the load on it just dragged everything down until I took off from a stop. The wipers sped back up, the A/C blower picked up, and the dash board would brighten up. No troubles of that sort with the 130 amp 3G, 4G, or 6G.

Now a 6G on a Box? I'm not sure if there was ever an application for one that would mount in such a position. Maybe there was one for the Mustang at some point, but I'm not sure if it would mount the same as the 3G that everyone uses when they ditch that 2G firetrap.


Edit: There might be an 6G application that the Boxes could use, but someone would have to test it. The 2001-2004 3.8 Mustangs did use a 6G alternator that appears to mounts just like their 3G alternators from the 1994-2000 models. Just a thought if anyone was willing to give it a go. The 6Gs on those Mustangs were rated between 105-110 amps.

[DerekTheGreat]

Sorry about the car! Maybe I'm a dick but I see that as not your fault, it's a 50/50 situation. I'd ask for money to fix my car, he probably stole that bike anyhow.

I read an earlier post... A 6G alternator? I briefly heard of those while reading up for my 3G swap. What are the advantages?