My 79 Marquis

[Tiggie]

I used one the 90 degree ones in place of the s-shape in my 90, I'd assume you can go backwards with that as well.

[VicCrownVic]

+1, rods can be swapped. Been nearly a decade so I don't recall specifics, but simple enough. Some tiny ball bearings in there that the rod rides on if I remember right.

[Grand1]

What's the right rivet size for door handles? Would 1/4 by 1/2 work?

[Grand1]

Still haven't touched the rivets, started opening everything else up, never fails to get sidetracked. Have at least a shit load of man hours in this ( I am slow)

1. Headliner is out, the ceremonial dust foam a runneth. Was gonna do so myself but found a guy that will do that, my sunvisors, and two triangle pieces next to my back window for $400. Didn't want creases or to mess with adhesive.... this is gonna be a light color to match the camel interior
Will definitely look better then what I could do.

2. Got another wild hair up my ass and went after the cluster to replace with LEDs. Bandaid fingers.... speedo cable didnt want to budge ( also lest I forget the headlamp switch ritual)Have heard sometimes they don't work and you have to flip them 180..wondering how to test that before installing . Wonder what color, thinking of a amber/yellow light to match everything on the ride. Dont want to blind myself and know red is the best for night vision

3. Both front windows fully functional. Thanks for the brackets again WagonMan. Also Vic hooked me up with a window as I went aggressive with the drill bit. In my defense those regulator brackets were plastic. Shit started melting when drilling the rivets, hard to tell where I was.

4. Both front door lock acuators work now,..swapped out the rods on some NOS ones. Took a page out of Slys old posts and out a rubber piece on the rods to divert water.

5. New NOS taillight lens are in, NOS trunk emblem is on.

6. To do list;

Everything but the drag links in front suspension.

Fix my idle

Valve cover gaskets

Muffler and tailpipe

Put nos grill, lamps and bezels in.

Sure there is more.

[Brown_Muscle]

I believe they are 1/4" rivets, you need a big ass rivet gun to put them in. Be careful doing it the amount of force you have to use can make the rivet gun(cannon? lol) bounce onto your new paint (ask me how i know...)

[Grand1]

I got this one:

https://www.harborfreight.com/air-hy...ter-58644.html

Haven't used it yet.

[Brown_Muscle]

Oh fancy, that should make it easy

[Grand1]

Has anyone painted thier dash? Would hit it with degrease, mild grit, decrease, adhesion promoter, paint?

[Brown_Muscle]

I’ve used SEM. They have a cleaner and adhesion promoter, basically a whole process. It turned out well on mine, and has lasted about a decade so far.

[Mainemantom]

I would clean the dash with "spray nine" or awsome. After dash is clean, rinsed and dry, use sem adhesion promoter. Wait a day before applying the color coats. Make sure the temperature is 60 degrees or more at the painting area.

[Grand1]

Dash is done, looks primo.

Gutted the front end , uppers were a pain, 21mm bolts on the top of the control arm....didnt know that.. Do lower control arms from later boxes fit 79's? They take the same bushings, but rockauto does not include lower or upper control arms under the 79. Same thing goes for sway bars, nothing is listed for a 79.

My lower control arm only has one hole (for end links)vs the three holes on later models. If they swap over, does that mean I could put a sway bar for later boxes on?

[Grand1]

I got the old.control arms from 94 areo and they look identical. Wonder why no sway bar or upper or lower control arms are listed for a 79. Also RA has differnt spring selection for the 79....all constant rate.

Been reading other threads (something up with the search function on my end) just want to make sure before dropping $$$ on parts that may not interchange.

[Mainemantom]

There are so many parts that are one year only on the 79 LTD/MGM. First year of the "new" model. I hated my 79 LTD wagon for just that reason.

[Tiggie]

The frame didn't change up front 79/91, so I would assume a lower control arm would bolt on from an 80/91 car. What else has to change would be a try it and see experiment, but I suspect it would be pretty compatible. I know the springs are the same.

79 also had the overlap from the LTD II and I think some of the confusion in the aftermarket has to do with that.

[Brown_Muscle]

You can also use Aero front springs- they’re slightly stiffer than police springs but should give you ride height. I cut a coil off mine to lower it, but they’re a great, plentiful substitute