1997 Mercury Grand Marquis LS

[Kodachrome Wolf]

Your car is looking very good. What are the wheelcovers from ? If you have a straight on picture, I would like to see the wheelcover

I'll grab a pic tomorrow. They're early/mid 70s Mercury Monterey wheel covers to my knowledge. FWIW, my eventual goal is to clean up a set of turbines for this car and swap the steel wheels to the wagon. I got the wheel covers for the '87, but got bored and tossed them on this car.

[Mainemantom]

Your car is looking very good. What are the wheelcovers from ? If you have a straight on picture, I would like to see the wheelcover

[Kodachrome Wolf]

Finally got some time to work on this car and take care of some preventive maintenance. The front end got a terminal creak in it a few weeks ago that sounded like a clapped ball joint. I hit all my grease points which helped a bit, but I checked my service records and it's been ~80-90K since it got ball joints fitted. Sounds like short service life, but there's plenty of trash roads I've just thrown this car over as the years have gone on, so I'm to blame on that.

I opted to get loaded upper and lower control arms fitted, so not only was the ball joint concern taken care of, but also that addressed the 230K on the front bushings. They were quite worn, so this was a great time to get everything done at once.

Got the alignment done up and had the shop run the camber just a little positive (~0.2*) since the front end still has to settle down. The hope is once it's settled, it should land near spec with very little negative camber. I've already noticed over the last few days the nose has started to drop and there's more give when braking. Just got to keep driving it.


Today I was able to spend a little time cleaning it properly since the weather was nice and not excessively hot. Wash, polish, and wax on the exterior and the interior got a dusting and vacuuming.


I've got a set of seats to go in up front that Nick pulled that are even in nicer shape than mine. I've also got to start planning for a headliner job. I've noticed most '92+ cars have an issue where the headliner starts to fall away near the rear window, and I took to gluing it back into place several years ago when it started to do that on me, and it held up fine until recently. Unfortunately, the re-glued areas have gotten brittle and the fabric has had so much sun exposure it's starting to tear away. I guess 24 years ain't too bad since the rest looks great.

[Kodachrome Wolf]

Where has the time gone?


It's been 10 years since I got this car! I'd argue it has served me quite well over the last decade. I've driven it further than the original owner at this point (I am the second owner of this car). The mileage is around 227,700, so I've logged just a few hundred miles short of 116K since I got it in 2011. It's definitely not as pretty as it was years ago, but I'd argue its held up reasonably well with time. I've had to resolve to a pragmatic view that I cannot keep it exactly as it was when I first got it, but I can do my best to keep things orderly and presentable. I certainly have no plans to let it go at this point; I honestly want to see how far it will go, then build it back better if I can.

Don't really have any super current photos of it, but here it is a few weeks ago with all the other Panthers that come around:


Just in case anyone forgot, the Town Car is my roommate's car and the Crown Victoria is a friend's car. It was left here at my place to get major chassis service and a tune up before it went into daily driver service.

[87gtVIC]

New lights can change how a car looks for sure.

[Kodachrome Wolf]

New lights make such a huge difference. I’d say that’s good oil pressure as well. How many miles were on it when you bought it?

Don’t quote me exactly since I’d need to find the title to make sure, but I think the official mileage was 111,896. I usually just round and say it had 112K when I started.

[Tiggie]

New lights make such a huge difference. I’d say that’s good oil pressure as well. How many miles were on it when you bought it?

[Mainemantom]

That is the first time I have seen the Weather guard headlight film. Looks good. I see you have 71-72 Ford Galaxie/Ltd wheel covers on the MGM. Car looks good.

[Kodachrome Wolf]

Since the '87 has been out of commission since late October/early November, the '97 has gotten a few "fixes" done that have been on my list.

I installed WeatherTech LampGuards to a set of NOS Ford headlight and turn signal assemblies.


The LampGuards are the heavy film protectant deals that are supposed to be self healing against debris and also UV resistant. The hope is to maximize usable life out of these assemblies. I'm on the fence about the corner markers since they need to be replaced too since the reflectors are turning white. I've currently got the '92-'94 style installed, but have considered getting proper '95-'97 ones instead.

I also got curious regarding how the 4.6 is doing, so I fitted an electric oil pressure gauge. The sender went into the unused port below the switch for the light.


Cold pressure reads around 75-80 PSI at idle, while hot idle in gear is closer to 25-30 PSI, which seems to be properly in spec for this engine, even for the mileage.

And regarding mileage...


It's rolling smoothly along.


All things considered, it's doing alright.




As long as nothing happens before the end of May this year, I'll have owned this car for 10 years. Certainly have no complaints regarding long term ownership, that's for sure.

[Kodachrome Wolf]

So far the '97 has been doing relatively okay, save for some alternator stupidity.

Several years back, the 6G I had on the car started flaking out. I tossed on a junkyard 95 amp 3G, then got a 130 amp re-manned model a few months later. All was good unit a few weeks ago I was noting the dash lights dimming and blower motor slowing at idle, only to pick back up with the engine speed. All the fender grounds were good, and I wasn't having any voltage drop. Finally, while standing outside the car with it idling, I could see the lights pulsing, so I figured I had a larger issue with the charging system. I guess that reman unit wasn't having it anymore.

I ordered a Motorcraft 6G reman unit through work, and warranty returned the failing 3G, so I got my replacement on the cheap. The Motorcraft unit looked pretty good compared to some reman units I've seen. Now I did run into a hiccup on install, and that was while I was removing the failing alternator, one of the bracket bolts that attached to the intake crossover sheared off. I wound up drilling it all the way out as it was hopelessly stuck, filled the void with JB Weld, then drilled and tapped a new hole. That worked surprisingly well.



I also installed a new belt tensioner and serpentine belt while I was there. I did the idler pulley fall/winter of last year. I also found out Continental is ending their Poly-V (AKA Gatorback) series in favor of a traditional serpentine belt design. I know the Gatorbacks have been a fan favorite for 4.6 owners to help prevent belt chirp at WOT, and I had never ran into an issue with the old one that replaced the factory belt maybe 7 or 8 years ago.

Also got straight 2s on the odometer during a trip to NC.




Only other things I can think of that have been done since March was installing a battery, new coil packs, and spark plug wires. I only did the wires and coils on age/mileage precaution, however there wasn't any noticeable issue prior.

[TecNickal]

Sad that the older design is more reliable. Nice work on the bar. Concerning about the driveshaft but at least you caught it...

[Kodachrome Wolf]

Finally got some needed work done to the car. Been driving the '87 a good bit and have been ignoring the important stuff I've been putting off.

The '97 picked up a real neat stumble at light throttle between 40-50 MPH. Under some good advice, I swapped the DPFE sensor. That seemed to take care of the issue from what I can tell, or at least it hasn't done it again since I got it back out. It also developed a clank going from drive to reverse that I thought were prematurely worn u-joints due to inadequate greasing jobs (I installed some back about four years ago). Found out that the pinion yoke wasn't bolted very tight to the rear axle. Three of the four bolts were loose, and then I remembered that the driveshaft was out when the 3.55s went in. Since it developed with a bit of time, I bet the bolts were snugged up, and someone forgot to actually torque them down at the end. While concerning, I certainly wasn't mad since nothing ejected from the car or was damaged. I still swapped the u-joints with some Spicer non-greaseable type ones since I never enjoyed trying to line up the driveshaft so I could grease them. The OE units went like 180K, so NBD.

I also put some Box back on. Since I'm running Box police sway bars on the '87, I had been running the wagon's front sway bar on the '97 since I had been using the Box style end links for a few years. A few months ago, I decided to swap that bar for an Aero P71 bar and finally went back to the spindle mounted sway bar links, which rapidly wore out and started clunking and being generally annoying to listen to. I decided I wasn't going to keep swapping those, so I dusted the wagon bar off and popped it back on.



ENS bar to frame poly bushings went on, along with NOS Ford Box end links with ENS poly bushings. I wasn't about to try the 20+ year old bushings in the boxes, but the OE Ford end links are pretty neat considering each end is threaded, and were actually easier to get everything lined up and bolted together. Plus, when I got them on eBay, most of them were less than $10 shipped.

While the spindle mounted end links may have a better mechanical advantage, everything still feels good and tight, and I'm happy with the fact these won't be clunking and making stupid noise in less than a year.

[sly]

If you really want to feel a mismatch sometime, find someone with 92-94 4.6 car that has a 2.73 rear. Narrow ratio trans, no low rpm torque, and stupid tall gear. Talk about lame acceleration but boy do those things have long legs. 100+, no problem, but leaving a stop light you could get passed by an old woman in a Jazzy scooter.

Can vouch for this. The 93 was that way originally. RPMs at 80 were still below or at 2K. Though, on long haul trips, 26-28mpg at 65-70mph was not uncommon (this was also before ethanol was in the gas). I still have the original gears in the trans so even with the 3.55 rear, I can't roast tires. If I had the wide ratio trans setup, I might be able to roast some tires, but with the 8-pack clutches and decent tires, I can barely chirp them and the brakes I have just hold and warm up my torque converter. The Mad Marquis with the wide ratio trans and 3.55 would roast the tires with little trouble.

[VicCrownVic]

If you really want to feel a mismatch sometime, find someone with 92-94 4.6 car that has a 2.73 rear. Narrow ratio trans, no low rpm torque, and stupid tall gear. Talk about lame acceleration but boy do those things have long legs. 100+, no problem, but leaving a stop light you could get passed by an old woman in a Jazzy scooter.

I wonder if that's what my mom's '93 MGM had. That car is long gone so I'll never know, but I hated borrowing that car. I was always glad to go back to my '89 MGM at the time, which had/has a 3.08 open rear and the trans that's in The Ice Car now. Very noticeable difference between her '93 and my '89. Even The Ice Car with 2.73 open rear is nowhere near as awful as I remember that '93. Although, mom did get great mileage in that car.

KW, your car looks great even if mom's '93 may have been part of what turned me off to aeros. It sound's like the setup you have is nowhere near the slug I remember her car being.

[Kodachrome Wolf]

I always wondered about the AOD/AOD-E pairings given their 2.40 1st gear ratio vs 2.84 1st gear in the 4R70W. The 3.27 seems to be the right amount of gear behind a LoPo and AOD, but I couldn't imaging launching that with 2.73s, and based on your statement, sounds like the 4.6 would be no better.

You're right about the 2.73 cars being long legged. The '97 could get to 50 in 1st, 90 in 2nd, 3rd would get up to the speed governor past 100. Assuming the governor didn't exist, I'm sure 3rd could get you north of 130, and 4th could do something crazy assuming wind resistance wasn't a factor . Off the line was just meh, since it took a moment for it to get to it's happy area in the RPM band. On the highway it had no problem pulling away from things. Now it just feels spirited all the time. With the larger TB, low end throttle response is pretty damn nice and I barely have to ask much of it to get me up to speed. Cruising still feels the same, except climbing hills there's no downshifting out of OD, it'll typically just maintain speed right up them without needing much additional throttle input.