So back in July 2015 I saw a posting for a Brown on Brown 89 Colony Park on craigslist in Charlotte. The interior looked great in the pictures. It was listed for $1500 on there which seemed pretty fair. A couple of my friends rode up with me in my former 87 Colony Park (street cred right when buying a wagon right?)
Went and looked at it. It was an LS. Had factory Engine block heater. Premium Sound. Automatic Temp Control. Way oversize tires and A few silly bumper stickers, a stack of maintenance records/work. The motor under hood and under neath was covered in leaks and seeps and crap everywhere. Stop leak in the back cargo area. Barrs, gallons of coolant and a mud filled radiator. It went through all 4 gears at least. Had a temp gauge. So I bought it.
It was originally a Minnesota car up until 2012! But heavily undercoated. And frankly, I don't even think it saw a winter. There's not even a spec of rot under it since all the undercoating is coming off. Just normal A pillar/door hinge area rot.
After I got it home I figured I would do a full gasket set short of a rear main on it since whomever had done work previously did shoddy work but maybe in a few months. And so I started doing multiple flushings of the cooling system filled with mud. I did the upper control arm bushings since they were falling apart. GOt an alignment and uh oh - all the cooling system flushes loosened the stop leak - out comes mud from timing cover gasket
So all new upper, lower, valve cover, timing cover, oil pan and crank seal. I got it back up and running, cables and all and I was driving it and noticed...ummm...where's 4th gear? it was slipping and barely engaged in light throttle. Uh oh. So...I get back home. Friend drives it. And he agrees with assessment. And he notes why is your TV cable binding So...off to the trans shop. So cable was removed, cleaned and lubed and unstuck. It was rebuilt. And returned to me. Wow it has gears now but this thing has the EPA TV cable adjustment - how quickly can I go to 3rd gear.
After awhile, same said friend says here let me put it to a more "sporty" setting. WOW. It now shifts EXACTLY where I want and when based on throttle input. it's awesome - clean, crisp shifts. A shade firm going into 4th but whatever.
So i've driven it a lot and learned uh oh lots oil is being used I did valve seals since they were rock hard. Bad luck...the rings are shotttttttt. So I go from full dipstick to barely a reading in 250 miles And valve seals didn't fix it. So I'm like I guess I'll just add oil and figure out next plan.
In mean time, I install speakers to replace the crap ones in all the doors (JBL on dash and door from 88 TC and 03 TC Alpines in the rear). Replace the door lock actuators that puked. Install a mint dashpad that doesn't even have a crack. Also install a TripMinder since the pad was out. PLug and play I put turbines from the 87 onto the 89. Had a reverse light bulb to replace. Removed the awful knee knocker bumper hitch garbage. Also replaced the negative battery cable with a NOS one. Replaced the cracked mirror on driver side with junkyard one. Replaced the door seals with nice ones from junkyard. I also tinted the glass to 30% front two doors, and 20% from the B pillar all the way back.
More recently I installed factory dual exhaust in August. The OE stuff was getting worse and worse, getting very loud and the car was slowing down...but sounding fast with the exhaust leak. I found a wagon that had been parked for years - southern car. Took the H pipe and tail pipes and installed new mufflers and gaskets. Its definitely more powerful and happier to run. Even got the hangars and bolts so it looks factory!
So what's left for the beast? Not much internally - I want to refoam the front seats since large folks wore out the foam and its not very supportive (have some good foam to use from a Grandma car). Would love to remove carpet, pressure wash and reinstall and clean all the fabrics. The interior is really why I bought it - interesting color and GREAT condition.
What's left otherwise?
-Install the roof rack wing.
-Figure out why the key won't operate the window to the up position and why the dash switch for the window only works when interior is cool temperature. If warm at all it won't work.
-The open 3.08 rear has a bad axle shaft, bearing and seal on passenger side (imagine that on a Ford 8.8....). Thinking to put in a 3.55 Trac-Loc...How much does it kill your MPG? I can squeak 21 out of the wagon keeping it at or under 70 with no AC on the highway.
-The front brakes are going to get swapped for police calipers, new pads and hoses. New shoes in rear and adjustment. Parking brake works on this car
-Bought a 96 Explorer 5.0 to put it's motor in to replace this old, tired, overheated poorly cared for motor. That'll be a lot of work!
-Respray the Chocolate Brown Metallic color outside.
-Find a new piece of trim to go under passenger tail light.
-Find some new Colony Park Specific wood trim and find a way to relay it.
-Install the NOS steering box I grabbed off eBay for cheap (NOS Ford - $100). My current one leaks a 1 pint in 3K miles.
-Buy a shorter belt and rip out that secondary air injection crap while motor is out. Cats were still good when I saw them last...
-Install the Policy Front and rear Sway Bars and Rear Police trailing arms.
Ill grab some better pictures over weekend.
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