My 1987 Mercury Colony Park

[Kodachrome Wolf]

Finally got the car out today to find the replacement governor got the car up to about 4200 RPM shifts. Better than sub-4000 RPM shifts, but still not where I want it. TV pressure is set on the firmer side of life if anyone is curious. OD engagement comes in around 52-55 MPH with light throttle. It won't come in under 45 MPH, and if you want it engaged from 45-50 MPH, you have to fully release the accelerator and it'll firmly engage.

I've got the extra slack removed from the throttle cable, so I'm not really sure what's up there. Throttle cable can only be pulled back so far to WOT, and the throttle looks like it's as open as it can get. Might check the TPS voltage to verify it's WOT, but meh, maybe I'll just have to slap a Hi-Rev kit in there instead to get the last few hundred RPM out of the engine.


Reason I waited to get it out was I had ordered a replacement VSS and speedometer gear. The gray gear was reading about 3-5 MPH slower than actual speed post tire swap, and I didn't like that at all. Slapped in the green gear and now it's back to about a +/- 1 MPH error, which is great in my book. Now why swap the VSS? Well I think it was leaking and...



...it's kinda a V-shape.

There was a lot of resistance trying to turn the gear when it was fitted. It should turn smoothly with little resistance. The gear also did not easily slide off of the end. I found a lot of wear marking on one side of the sensor housing. I also found the shaft could not be physically turned by hand with the gear removed.


The old gear was also more oval than circular at this point.


This seemingly solved the wild jumpiness to the speedometer at low speed from 0 to about 15-20 MPH where the needle just swung up and down in that range. Now it reads appropriately at those speeds.

[87gtVIC]

Good deal. Nice find.

[gadget73]

wonder what happened to cause that.

[friskyfrankie]

Have seen internals wear, even in engines and wear sensors in weird ways!

[gadget73]

don't think that V shape to the VSS is wear, something bent it. The rest is probably wear related to it being bent.

[friskyfrankie]

Would be helpful to know exactly what happened so that it can be corrected and not have it happen to the new sensor.

[Kodachrome Wolf]

Would be helpful to know exactly what happened so that it can be corrected and not have it happen to the new sensor.

Wish I knew. I've got a suspicion it has been bent for a while since the speedometer always hopped a bit at low speed. The bend was likely external, so unless something pushes up on the replacement, I doubt it'll do that again.


I did grab a fender liner out of a '91 or '92 Town Car today. That thing is so close to working, it's not even funny.



But... not all is good.


However, on the point, there's plenty of room for the air compressor pocket in the void space. I think what I might try to do so I can put the compressor back in and retain the '92+ style air cleaner is graft the Town Car compressor pocket onto the '90-'91 Box fender liner. I think if I cut at the forward edge where the inner hump ends and the flat portion begins, that'll be a good transition point.

[gadget73]

you want 90-91 box inner fenders if possible.

[VicCrownVic]

Nice, looking forward to seeing how retaining the compressor and having the '92+ ('90+ TC) airbox works out. The '90 TC fan shroud/coolant overflow and later style airbox sure do help to declutter the area around the driver side of the engine. Hopefully Marge will have a functioning compressor again someday, at which point I'll need to do the same work you're attempting here.

[Kodachrome Wolf]

you want 90-91 box inner fenders if possible.

That's what I have presently. I've been using a 2006+ CVPI air cleaner and tube for a few years now, and a 1990 Town Car unit prior to the HO conversion. The issue is fitting the air compressor for the air shocks with the later air cleaner in place. The air compressor usually resides in the forward section where the air cleaner mounts in my case.

The later stuff moved the air compressor below the air cleaner into a pocket. The earlier liners lack that bit and just results in open free space.

[Kodachrome Wolf]

Worked a bit on the fender liner compressor pocket job. I wound up just cutting the pocket off of the other fender liner in its entirety since there was going to be some conflicts on the car if it was grafted in the same position as on a '92+. I've noted that the pocket needs to stay mounted generally towards the fender side of the Box liner. It just squeezes between the frame rail and my corner light, but I need to trim some more material away from the leading section that lands under the core support as it contacts it and prevents the liner from sliding up the last 1/2" to the bolt holes.

Definitely some unhinged activities going on here, but yeah, I think this actually work somehow.




I'm sure the photos will make a little more sense when it's mocked up on the car versus upside down on the driveway. I know I'll also need to extend the compressor wires a bit, but that's nothing terrible. I think the air line will actually reach fine, but if not, I've got more air line on hand.

[Tiggie]

Looking forward to the results of a clean installation. Really makes a difference when you pop the hood.

[Kodachrome Wolf]

Went up to Columbia yesterday. Nick and I got the compressor and pocket fitted into place. Arguably, a non-corner light car will have more space, or if one comes up with a smarter way to hang the compressor if you're trying to run the later air cleaner.

Unfortunately, no photos right now.

I've got to firstly swap out my corner light. It's actually just held together with electrical tape apparently, and has been for sometime. The slightly improper fit and the fender slightly bent inward a hair too much is contacting the compressor pocket a bit. Not a super big deal on both ends, since I also plan to take a heat gun to form the plastic inwards a bit to improve the space.

We confirmed power gets to the compressor, and the compressor is working. However, after following the troubleshooting tree in the EVTM, it appears the relay underhood won't latch and engage the compressor. All the other values checked out good and nothing has pointed towards a faulty control board. Essentially the control board is supposed to close the ground to the relay so it'll engage, but even using a jumper to ground resulted in no action. Circuit had continuity from end to end. The relay's socket also had the issue with the pins just sliding in and out of the base, so it's time to update that to the Bosch style five-pin relay. If a replacement relay and subsequent retest of the system results in functionality, it'll just be the task of installing the shocks, refitting the air lines, and inspecting for leaks.

[gadget73]

The stock relay sockets kind of suck. I've also been changing things over to common Bosch type when an original fails on me. Tired of spending too much money on relay sockets just to be able to spend too much on those goofy Ford-only relays.

[Kodachrome Wolf]

The stock relay sockets kind of suck. I've also been changing things over to common Bosch type when an original fails on me. Tired of spending too much money on relay sockets just to be able to spend too much on those goofy Ford-only relays.

That's what got done today. Consciously made a stupid action on my part and hooked up all five wires exactly as they were on the old style relay, but there's a wire that should be left out when converting over to the Bosch style, and that's the lead on 87a, which is a ground wire. 12v straight to ground blows the 30 amp fuse, whoodathunkit. I don't know why a main ground lead goes into the old style relay, because when I cut it open, I noticed that leg just has a rubber isolator the latch rests against when not energized. Guess that's why it doesn't short to ground in that setup, but you can't really do that when converting.

Anyway, fixed that, and jumped the connector at the module to test relay operation and now the relay energizes and the compressor runs. Plugging the connector back into the module doesn't get any reaction out of the compressor, and I believe that just to be because the car is at an "appropriate" height to the sensor. When checking the voltage from the height sensor and no load other than standard equipment inside, it's reading 0.80v. System won't turn on until it sees 4.4v minimum each way to either raise or lower the shocks. Might slightly adjust the height sensor after doing some weight measurements and seeing where the voltage goes and how much it takes for it to activate and trim the height out. Since this car has cargo springs over the original springs that were specifically designed to go with air shock cars, it makes sense that needs some adjustment.

Guess next thing to do is get the shocks in and get the air lines put back together.