My 1987 Mercury Grand Marquis

[GM_Guy]

SEM makes various colors, high build in white, beige, black, gray, rose; https://www.autobodytoolmart.com/pro...-primer-sealer

https://www.amazon.com/SEM-High-Build-Primer-Surfacer-Beige/dp/B073T7KXGV?th=1

https://www.duplicolor.com/product/sandable-primer/

[gadget73]

I could swear I've seen tan primer before. Might work as an intermediate.

[87gtVIC]

Using some gray primer on scuffed up por 15 may help you with the coverage of the runny paint. Black is tough to cover up with any color other than black.

I think it will work out well for you. Color looks nice and close.

[slack]

The car sees rain but doesn't see salt. I stop driving the this car and the LTD once the first snowfall happens.

Thanks for all the tips on getting the molding off. I did a half-ass attempt at getting the wheel molding off just to see if there was any hope there. Well, one screw turned. The rest didn't want to budge. I'm hoping this weekend I'll have some time to actually take the wheel off and try to get in there with a good bit at the right angle.

double wrench the drain plug if you're worried about it. Big wrench to keep the non-removable part from moving, small wrench to pull the plug.

Thanks. I'll be sure to give that a try when the time comes.

Where’d you get the paint from? I have some rust spots that need to be addressed as well. I’ve used the same rattle can you used in the trunk but it doesn’t quite match the sun faded paint on my hood.

Just out of curiousity, how come you didn’t go with an aftermarket deep pan? I have one sitting on a shelf ready to go.

I got a few cans from Automotive Touchup. I've had okay luck with them in the past. I used them to paint the hood and header panel of my CV and the header panel of the LTD. The paint match isn't 100% but it's close enough for a beater/daily driver I suppose. It would probably match better without the paint fade from age and sun.

I did some test areas to see how it would match up. I sprayed over some POR15 spots to see if it would actually stick to it or not.

Door hinge area before with some POR15 slapped on the week before for testing over:


After: You can see how the new paint is a bit darker. This spot didn't come out great and I over sprayed on the rubber. (Did the same on the driver's side.. that's what I get for trying to rush things during a lunch break)


Driver's side door bottom. This whole bottom section from the door lock actuator nut down was black POR15. This side looked much better. Maybe because by then I had shaken the can some more?


Driver's side hinge:


I sprayed the first lip section here on the left :


This spot also had some POR15 on the whole section from the molding to the filler. still needs to be sanded down and redone and stuff but I wanted to see a spot on the outside of the car that wasn't too obvious:




Then some trunk spots: Again, you can see a little bit where the new paint is a bit darker


Though this spot blended in almost perfect (the horizontal "o"s in the middle)


All in all, I think it's good enough to go forward with these colors for my touch up spots. It won't be perfect but it will hopefully look a little bit better than it did. One thing I'm not crazy about is the paint seems super thin and runny so you have to be really careful not to be too heavy. I don't remember that from previous orders. Maybe it was and I just don't remember though.

[DerekTheGreat]

If the car will continue to see rain/salt, I vote to leave it. Keep in mind that the level of "rust protection" offered by a coating is only as good as said coating's adhesion to the substrate. Nothing currently available will match the level of protection offered by the factory. Translation- you will see rot reemerge within four years or less. Start spraying the underside, inside doors/panels and wheel lips with Fluid Film or Krown T40.

[Tiggie]

Rust always gets worse the longer you do nothing. Do something with it. Gotta get both moldings off. I've always been able to get the fender lip moldings off with a good Phillips bit in a ratchet. They are tight but they come out.

[gadget73]

double wrench the drain plug if you're worried about it. Big wrench to keep the non-removable part from moving, small wrench to pull the plug.

[87GrandMarq]

Where’d you get the paint from? I have some rust spots that need to be addressed as well. I’ve used the same rattle can you used in the trunk but it doesn’t quite match the sun faded paint on my hood.

Just out of curiousity, how come you didn’t go with an aftermarket deep pan? I have one sitting on a shelf ready to go.

[WagonMan]

I NEVER use penetrating oils where I am going to paint! WD-40 is very hard to remove completely! Use the proper tip screwdriver and the screws on the wheel trim should come off. WagonMan

[87gtVIC]

Wheel well trim may be quite hard to remove. A SHIT TON of pressure needs to be put on the bit to prevent you from stripping out the heads. The factory self tappers stick up through the metal and just collect crap on them for 35+ years now. It can be done of course if you take your time. Clean out the backside of the lip and spray some rust penetrant from the back side. Id recommend taking the wheel off and having a nice fitting screwdriver that has a square or hex shank on it so you can not only twist the screw driver while holding a SHIT TON of pressure onto the fastener but use a properly fitting wrench on the shank of the screwdriver to help twist.

The ditch light should not be a big deal.


The door trim is simple. Two acorn nuts one at the front of the door and one at the rear. You can then try sliding the trim front or back but I have been able to just lightly pry up one side and it kinda just pops off of the plastic clips that will remain with the door skin. The plastic clips are quite stout and will not break. They rotate onto metal tits that are on the door.

You decide if it is worth it.

[slack]

Catching up to date...

This thread is a bit behind on things done.

Back in July I created a post asking about adding a transmission drain plug: http://www.grandmarq.net/vb/showthre...ion-drain-plug

I ended up doing that about a week later. My outside of the transmission pan was so unbelievably dirty. I think it took longer to clean it off than it did to get it out. For the drain plug, I picked up the kind where the one bolt screws into the other. I help keep it from leaking, I secured the outer bolt with red loctite and then the inner one with blue loctite. It's been about two months now and seems to be holding up just fine. I have a sinking feeling though that it might start to leak the first time I pop the bolt out to drain it though.


I also addressed the issue with the car randomly turning off mentioned earlier in this thread with a new ignition switch (didn't realize it was going on that long): http://www.grandmarq.net/vb/showthre...s-off-randomly

Besides that, I ended up running Eastwood internal frame coating through as much of the frame and nooks and crannies as I could. I then POR15'd as much of the frame as I could with a brush. Currently looks pretty good down there. Hopefully it holds up. I have a bunch of fluid film I plan on spraying down there as well once it gets a bit further into Fall.

I do have some body rust I'd like to address before it gets too cold. I have the matching (hopefully) paint to cover it, just curious on thoughts of removing the trim or just tape it and replace the fender/door at a later date with the ones from my CV.

Here's the fender spot. Should I attempt to unscrew that fender trim or do you think it'll just strip out or never go back on right?


Here's the corner light. That one I plan on taking out. I don't think it'll be too much of a PITA to get in/out.


Door rot is a bit more interesting:


I don't think I can get that aluminum trim off. There's actually not much metal at the bottom of the door behind it. It also looks like the previous owner bondo'd that bottom lip. I'm guessing for this one, I'll just have to tape the trim and sand and paint what I can see. It'll definitely continue to get worse but I'm not sure what else to do there.

[sly]

If you did not disconnect the battery when changing the IAC, try that first. The ECM may need to relearn idle.

[slack]

Sounds like the IAC valve may be not quite doing its job. Unplug it at warm idle. If the idle drops, it's working. If it stays the same, it's not.

Thanks. This was the issue. I popped on the one from my CV's engine and it did like you said. When I unplugged it, the idle dropped and got bad unlike the one that was on there that had no change in idle. The IAC I pulled off the had an E7 date code so I'm guessing it was original. The car idles and rides so much smoother now. I actually drove it up to the Poconos this past weekend and back home. No issues at all (besides baking alive in the heat with no AC )

One issue I still have is that the car sometimes randomly dies when I start it up and go to reverse out of a parking spot. After restarting, it runs fine. I'm thinking maybe the neutral safety switch going bad?

[friskyfrankie]

If we're talking about the '87, the IAC is on the driver's side towards the back of the intake.

[slack]

Brakes, oil change, tie rod.

Sounds like the IAC valve may be not quite doing its job. Unplug it at warm idle. If the idle drops, it's working. If it stays the same, it's not.

Check around for vacuum leaks also.

Thanks! I let the car warm up and then pulled the electrical connector on the IAC. No change at all. I even started the car with it unplugged and it didn't make a difference. Looks like that's probably the issue. I'll have to get my multimeter and check to make sure I'm getting voltage at the plug. I didn't get a chance to try that yet. Thankfully, I have another IAC from my CV's engine. (Just need to track down where it is )


A few days ago, I got around to swapping out the front brake pads. Rotors still looked okay so I kept them for now. I would like to at least swap in some fresh timken bearings at some point.

Driver's side new vs old:


Passenger's side new vs old. A little less worn as the driver's side. Calipers both retracted fine. The rubber hose is pretty done though and now tacked onto the ever expanding "to-do" list.



Today I replaced the driver's side outer tie rod and and oil change. I can't believe the tie rod actually came out with (more or less) little effort. The castle nut unscrewed and didn't spin on me. The only part that took a bit was getting it to unscrew from the sleeve. A good amount of PB blaster and heat got it out though.

Here it is with the boot off. It's crazy loose.


Here's a few second video to give an idea (hopefully this works): https://i.imgur.com/d3eM1jc.mp4

New tie rod installed:


The other tie rods should be swapped out too. They don't seem to have play like this one did when I pull on them but they look like they're about the same age.

I noticed some rust forming around the cross member bolt locations on the frame. The same spot my CV rotted out from. I grinded everything down with a wire wheel. Thankfully, nothing's gone through and it was all surface/some pitting. I hit it with now two coats of Eastwood's rust converter. I plan on throwing some rust encapsulator on there too as well as POR15ing the whole frame.