Buyer's Remorse (AKA "Hideous") - Giraffe's 1990 Grand Marquis LS

[Giraffe]

I made one more junkyard run today to the yard I mentioned yesterday. This one had a lot of panthers, but were a bit stingy about letting me go back to pull my own parts. They ended up letting me pull my parts, I just had to keep track of the cars' stock numbers from which I pulled them.

There wasn't any real rhyme or reason to how the cars were arranged, and some were a bit difficult to get to. This yard didn't manage to top the one from yesterday. Great selection, though.

A couple of '88+ GMs, a '90 CV, an '83 GM, a whole bunch of other stuff including aeros and whales, a 2005 GM ultimate edition (all four wheels still installed and in excellent shape), a couple of '90 Town Cars side by side (no fan shrouds, though), one of which was equipped with ABS.

[Giraffe]

Some more. An '85 LTD, a Colony Park, some random stuff, and some closer pictures of the '83.



I picked up a rear passenger window motor to replace the current one which was formerly a front driver motor. The driver motors see a lot more use and probably wear out the brushes. The old one would just randomly stop working. The gear plugs were still mostly intact, but I replaced them anyway. Here's what they look like before they disintegrate.



Also picked up a fairly nice trunk mat. Sprayed some adhesive on some of the other trunk liner parts that had become separated from the backing.



I also finally got my hands on a windshield washer fluid reservoir from one of the '90 Town Cars that was there. Spliced everything into the factory harness and everything works like new. Very happy. Going to have to figure out what to do about the front mounting point.

[87gtVIC]

I have an aero cv or grand Marquis washer fluid reservoir in my car. I used the same rear mounting point but made up a crude bracket for the front hole to ultimately mount to that boot on the core suppor.

[Mainemantom]

Sure would like to have the antennas with bases, from the white with blue stripe 94 CV. How much do you think they would want ? PM me please.

You might consider putting your fluids in some kind of container with an absorbent pad on the bottom. That way your trunk liner wont get ruined if something spills. I have had that happen. What a mess.

[gadget73]

I used a piece of hard plastic tube as a spacer and ran a bolt through it so it sat in the right spot. I think it was part of a Prestone backflush kit that wasn't a useful size but almost anything will work.

[Giraffe]

I'm thinking about getting a short length of tubing and using the bolt hole for the ground.

Some more progress today. My wife helped me diagnose my power steering leak ("turn left, turn right, turn left, turn right..."). Turns out there was a very small hole in the pressure line. I ordered new hoses on Rock Auto. A bit of warning: if you're buying new power steering hoses, just purchase the return hose and reuse your original hard line. The hard line on the replacement hose was bent incorrectly and wasn't going to work. The hose on the new line was very long (cut to fit), so I just grabbed a length of that and cleaned up my stock return hard line.

The new pressure hose went in easy enough. I don't see any other leaks. I did another quick pressure wash and everything looks great.

[Giraffe]

Sure would like to have the antennas with bases, from the white with blue stripe 94 CV. How much do you think they would want ? PM me please.

You might consider putting your fluids in some kind of container with an absorbent pad on the bottom. That way your trunk liner wont get ruined if something spills. I have had that happen. What a mess.

Those containers are actually all empty. I'm waiting to get rid of them the next time I change the oil.

[Giraffe]

So the Grand Marquis is now officially equipped with a Crown Vic cluster. I must say I like the look much better. What's more, the fuel gauge seems to work. It appears upon closer inspection that the original cluster printed circuit is damaged in the area that deals with the fuel level and warning circuit. I'll top it off tomorrow to be absolutely sure. Also took the opportunity to (finally) reinstall the steering column cover. I probably won't be taking that area apart again any time soon.

Out with the old...in with the new.

[Giraffe]

I haven't touched the car in a while. I braved the heat today to get my new springs, isolators and shocks installed. All the aforementioned components were the originals. They were replaced with Moog springs (sedan cargo coils in the rear), KYB Excel-G shocks (police) and brand new Moog isolators. This job was a pain and I'm absolutely beat. I really need to get myself another air compressor.

Even with the tiny bit of stuff in the trunk you see here, the car sagged quite a bit with the original worn out springs.



Old and new.



I ended up having to rent a spring compressor as my usual crowbar method was woefully inadequate for these super tall stock replacement springs. Things went smoothly afterward.

All the ball joint boots are torn, so I took the opportunity to grease 'em up real good. This is what the suspension on a 99% rust-free, southern car looks like.



Much better. That mess by the front tire is dirt/grease, not rust. The driver's side control arm and spring had a lot on them, likely from the old oil pan leak.

[sly]

[DerekTheGreat]

Looks good. Why I love the load leveling suspension option.. At the recent meet-up I had dudes get in the trunk just to watch it do it's thing.

[TecNickal]

Looks good. Why I love the load leveling suspension option.. At the recent meet-up I had dudes get in the trunk just to watch it do it's thing.

1 dude and 1 dudette! Haha

[Giraffe]

Looks good. Why I love the load leveling suspension option.. At the recent meet-up I had dudes get in the trunk just to watch it do it's thing.

Almost two decades ago I started my first job as a grocery sacker boy. All the old people owned cars like these back then. A lot of Town Cars. You would always hear the load leveling kick in once you started piling grocery bags in the trunk.

[87gtVIC]

Looks good. Funny needing a spring compressor for the rear springs.

[Giraffe]

Looks good. Funny needing a spring compressor for the rear springs.

Compressor was for the front springs. The rears were a piece of cake as usual.