My '05 MGM

[packman]

Ran a little experiment earlier today. Had my Mom drive this car around the block to see what it sounds like on the outside. It really isn't too bad from outside of the car. It just seems to be louder on the inside. Could be how I have the exhaust hung off the body. Perhaps the sound/vibration/pulses are traveling through the body and making it drone on the inside. After she returned 20 minutes later (she drove more than a couple blocks); I put the car in the driveway and uncapped it. I wanted to see if there is a difference in volume. Turns out the mufflers are indeed doing their job; just not as well as I would like. Took it down to get some gas; then took it 1 exit on the GSP; and had enough. Capped up; the car will keep me awake on a hot summer day in traffic. Uncapped, it will keep everybody else awake. The quest for tailpipes continues nonetheless.

[packman]

Sorry for the size. I picked medium; and this is what I got.

[sly]

Yeah, if you don't have isolation mounts (the rubber mounts) to isolate the vibration from the body, it'll be a lot louder inside.

[packman]

Had PTO last week and spent it tiling a couple walls in my parent's bathroom. Although the floors need to be done; and the long wall still needs tiling work; and the untiled portion of the walls need paint; the bathroom already looks 100% better than it did when we first moved in 40 years ago. As such, I took a little time to look at my Grand Marquis. I was going to install the electric cutouts yesterday, since the roads will probably not see much salt moving forward. I discovered that I can only install the passenger side electric cutout; as the driver side cutout is rotated weird on the Pypes Y-pipe. Disappointed, but glad that I will only have 1 cutout to manually open and close. I wanted to tackle this next weekend; along with replacing the brake pads on all 4 corners; and putting the Saleen Mustang wheels back on there; but the weather is looking sketch. So I will have to take some time next week after work to do this.

[packman]

Getting the pieces together for the big brake swap on this car. Just found the adapter fittings for the brake hoses that I will be assembling for this (thank you BrownMuscle). Just need to get hubs, rotors, and pads and I should have everything needed for this swap.

[packman]

Thanks also to VicCrownVic for looking this up as well

[packman]

Should be receiving my wheel hubs and rear calipers next week. I will change out the rear calipers and all hoses; and have this car towed to my mechanic to have them bleed out the old fluid and replace with Prestone brake fluid (has a higher wet boiling point). Hoping this will temporarily fix the dragging brake(s) issue that I have been experiencing for a while now.

When I get the rest of the big brake swap parts, I will replace everything attached the wheel hub/bearing.

[jaywish]

What car r u replacing the rear calipers on?

I ask because if it is a disk brake conversion you need to remove or defeat the pressure retention valve which kept a bit of pressure on the rear shoes. You could then need to add an adjustable valve, maybe.

[packman]

My '05 MGM. Already has 'em.

The Crown Vic on the other hand is still rocking drums in the rear.

[packman]

Just got done pulling the cowl off of this car to replace the wiper motor. Started yesterday evening and was hoping to be done by now. But as many of you know, a job that should only take a couple hours, takes much more than that. It took me a while to get the wiper arms off. The proximity of the hood to the wiper arm pivots and stubborn wiper arm clips made that a tedious task. After that, it went faster.............until I found one bolt that was covered with soil and other debris. After I vacuumed that out; I discovered that the bolt was massively rusted; and somebody had already tried to extract it (without success). It was getting dark last night; so I figured I would try to finagle the wiper motor out from under the lower cowl. After 30 minutes of that, I gave up, soaked the bottom section of the bolt (and U-nut) with Liquid Wrench, and went inside. Had some things to do this morning and obligations this afternoon; but during the day, I thought about ways to get that bolt out. When I finally got to it (6PM), I tried grabbing it with my rounded bolt extractor. That just made the crusty section crumble into a cone-shape. Scratched my head for a few minutes and went to get my drill. Took one of the tiny HF drill bits that I didn't break and drilled into it a little before the bit shattered. Went inside and found my Dad waiting at the cellar door. Wondered what was taking me so long. I explained the dilemma and he suggested I use his cobalt bits and the right-angle drill. That combo worked and I managed to drill what was left of the hex head off. Pulled the lower cowl off and cleaned it real good. I was going to call it quits as it was almost dark; but I went back out and ran what was left of the bolt out of U-nut that was holding it in place. I am going to Home Depot tomorrow and will get a 1-1/2" long 1/4"-20 bolt to replace the one I drilled out; and I have a replacement SAE U-nut. After that I went into the basement to clean the lower cowl. Then I was going to go back up and eat dinner. But, I decided to install the new wiper motor on the lower cowl. While I was at it, I took the old wiper motor apart and found that the bottom of the circuit board was rusted up pretty good. Maybe that was causing it to turn on by itself. We'll see when I reinstall it tomorrow. Hopefully the reinstall goes much quicker. If you read all of this griping; thank you. Here a few pics...............

[Mainemantom]

That is one nasty wiper motor assembly.

[packman]

That's what my Dad said. I hope that's the cause my woes..............

[sly]

Yeah... that's pretty rough. Can't say I've seen one that bad. Even the ones I've replaced didn't look that rough.

[jaywish]

Plus one for Cobalt bits. The best for drilling out hardened hardware as well as general drilling in stainless and cast iron.

[packman]

Buttoned it all up yesterday afternoon. The motor stays put and is quiet when it is wiping the windshield. I will need to take the upper cowl back off, as I broke the fitting that feeds the washer fluid nozzle. I also discovered that whilst attempting to remove the wiper motor out from below the cowl (unsuccessfully), I hit the fuel injector plug with my elbow and broke catch. So next weekend, I will replace that connector and maybe install the cutout while I am at it.