1997 Mercury Grand Marquis LS

[SVT98t]

And I had to change to thinner 19mm lugs to attach the spacers to the hub because I could not fit the 21mm socket that I had into the hole on the spacer.
You can still use the standard lug to attach the wheel to the spacer.

-ryan s.

[SVT98t]

It was my 93.
And with the 1/4" spacers, the wheels hit the away bar at full turn.
Also, try and source smaller length lug studs. I had to trim about 3/8" off the end of my studs so the spacer would sit flush against the hub.
The parts I trimmed did not have any threads. It was the bare shank on the tip before the treads started.

-ryan s.

[sly]

That was the tank. That setup works for 79-02

[Kodachrome Wolf]

I originally had 1/4 spacers up front, but they kept hitting.
I have 17" 04 Mustang GT wheels.
I run 1.25" hubcentric up front, and 1.5" hubcentric in the rear.

-ryan s.

Which one of your cars was that on?

I've been trying to get as much info so I don't wind up making any costly mistakes, and getting the right spacers will sure help. I'm not aiming to have the wheels flush with the fenders, but at least able to clear properly on the front and fill out the rear a bit.

[SVT98t]

I originally had 1/4 spacers up front, but they kept hitting.
I have 17" 04 Mustang GT wheels.
I run 1.25" hubcentric up front, and 1.5" hubcentric in the rear.

-ryan s.

[Kodachrome Wolf]

Dropped $100 on the car for the start of a new project.

I picked up another set of wheels that can fit a bit more tire on them. The picture below is a before (left) and after shot (right):

I essentially stole away with really good Cobra 17" wheels that came on the '96-'97 models, which is why these have the metallic charcoal accenting. I still have some cleaning to do as they were PlastiDipped, and thinly at that (meaning it doesn't want to peel off at all, except in small little pieces), which has caused some of it to be rather stubborn at coming off, particularly in the recessed areas with the accenting. My friend used a pressure washer on the better part of the wheels and destroyed the rest of that coating. Outside of some scratches (expected with age) and one place where it look like someone didn't know how to apply a weight, these are in very good condition and I could get double what I paid for them, but I won't because I intend on fitting them sometime during the summer.

For proper fitment, I'm going to run a 1/4" spacer up front and 1.25" hub-centric adapter in the rear to fill out the wheel wells a bit better. For tires, I'm now looking at Kuhmo Ecsta ASX All-Season in a 255/50R-17 size.

This should be fun.




Oh, and if anyone is wondering, the steelies and dog dishes will be saved and stored away. I do not intend of getting rid of those.

[miamibob]

Like it both in theory and certainly in practice!!!

[Kodachrome Wolf]

Took the dash apart today to fix the cluster issue with crossing feeds across each other. The left turn signal feed had come off from the plastic a good bit into the cluster, but the whole thing was pretty worn from all my tinkering with it, so whatever. I got the "new" speedometer chassis in the dash and plugged everything up, all is good there.

Also, I have essentially finished my work with this project. I finally cut and fitted the filler strip that I made from a late '80s Park Avenue:




Is it perfect? No, but it is a hell of a lot better than that ugly gap I've been looking at for a year. Measurements for that strip was a little over 13 inches across and a little over an inch high. I just did rough checks with a tape measure so that it wouldn't be too wide or too tall, essentially just big enough to cover the necessary area.

[Kodachrome Wolf]

Just some minor updates:
-The car just rolled past 149,500 miles today. 150,000 here I come!
-Readjusted the hood latch. I was really having to slam it down to get the hood to stay shut. I've got it where a firm push gets it to shut now.
-Reran and soldered horn wires.
-Replaced the old Sparton horns with some mid-80s Delco Remy horns for reliability. I'll be saving the Spartons for something else, but I do need to clean up the coils.
-Re-installed the plastic shroud that covers the under hood area closest to the header panel.

[Kodachrome Wolf]

I'm going to get the dash lights fixed Monday. The seat belt light is not just powering the turn light on the dash, but also triggering the signal on the exterior of the car. I noticed the amber glow from the front while in the garage before I left today.

I'm thinking of just going down to the junkyard to get the matching cluster body so it is plug n' play, I just wish there was a fresher selection of cars. I've already seen everything down there twice. I know the local yard isn't moving inventory like normal because the scrap price is almost nil and a lot of cars that have already been pulled from their rows have just been placed in the large clearing they keep until they're worth a bit more.

[VicCrownVic]

I've ran in to the issue of those contacts peeling up and shifting when I made the adapter for my cluster swap. Mine peeled because the heat from soldering wires in caused the original adhesive to let go. I also tried superglue which seemed to work ok but I ended up getting it all over the contact so I had to scrape it off to get back down to copper.

[Kodachrome Wolf]

It would appear the contacts on the instrument cluster's circuits shifted enough to touch my left turn signal indicator with the seat belt warning light. The little contacts were already lifting away for how often the cluster had been disconnected, and last time I had it out, I was having a bitch of time getting the contact on for the high beam indicator. I'll try super gluing the contacts back down to the plastic circuit backing, and if that doesn't work, I'll go see if there are any '92 MGMs that I can source a donor cluster backing from. I already know I can't use the '90-'91 or '93-'94 back since the grounds are different.

Excuse the lousy video, I wasn't paying a lot of attention while holding the camera, but you can see what's up.

Also, a good upgrade for these clusters is green LEDs for the turn signal indicators. Those incandescent 194s just don't cut it.

[Kodachrome Wolf]

The black looks classy! Congrats on POTM, I'm going to really enjoy seeing your snazzy cruiser on the banner for the next month.

I'm waiting for the thaw up here so I can repaint my hood and left C-pillar. I'm a little jealous of the minty paint on the rest of your car, and weather where you can actually paint stuff!

Thanks!

The weather is bipolar down here right now, swinging from near 80 degrees down to 40 degrees for daytime highs. Next week should be more "stable", with things in the mid-60s.

I'm just not a fan of hubcaps, at least not the larger ones. I think the smaller ones like on a whale would look good polished up with the trim rings. If those hubcaps are collecting debris and damaging the paint, I'd just take them off. Even without hubcaps, the trim rings and a set of chrome acorn lug nuts would look great too.

The dog dishes aren't the direct cause for damage to the finish except where they latch on, which is covered by them anyhow. When the rims were red, they were actually the car's color, Toreador Red Metallic. I had to sand, prime, paint, and clear the wheels and then apply a hard clear enamel to try to slow any damages, but over two-ish years, debris being thrown against the wheel and the application of the trim rings took the paint right off since its not really designed to hold up against hard scratching.

I considered the small center caps, but for the 15 inch wheels I find the dog dish more appropriate.

[88Vic]

I'm just not a fan of hubcaps, at least not the larger ones. I think the smaller ones like on a whale would look good polished up with the trim rings. If those hubcaps are collecting debris and damaging the paint, I'd just take them off. Even without hubcaps, the trim rings and a set of chrome acorn lug nuts would look great too.

[rezwrrd]

The black looks classy! Congrats on POTM, I'm going to really enjoy seeing your snazzy cruiser on the banner for the next month.

I'm waiting for the thaw up here so I can repaint my hood and left C-pillar. I'm a little jealous of the minty paint on the rest of your car, and weather where you can actually paint stuff!