My 1989 Grand Marquis GS sedan "Ebyt"

[knucklehead0202]

Good stuff mang, coming along nicely. We would all like to report such progress! Definitely would be nice to see the center caps on those PI wheels, that would set it off nicely. Otherwise, i'd say you're kicking ass. What's your exhaust setup?

[Hearsesrock427]

@86Vicky: I totally forgot the '90-'94 clusters had the chime. I'm assuming the module isn't attached to the cluster itself? I've pulled a bunch off junked panthers and couldn't seem to find it anywhere. Would definitely like to have the chime on subsequent digidash swapped cars.

@HRG: I don't mind leaving the buttons where they are on the '89. It's a safe, convenient place and there's no risk of harming the cluster by drilling into the outer piece. Would be curious to see how you could integrate the buttons into the silver trim filler piece on the '85 though.

@khead: Thank you sir! It's nice to finally be in the clear with this one, to have all the hard stuff done. Once you get that new motor in I'm sure you'll be able to relate. Exhaust is the BBK ceramic coated long tube headers, with 2.5 inch straight pipe with aftermarket tips (have the part # on Summit Racing saved somewhere can post it here later today).

[86VickyLX]

The chime is self contained in the door dinger module. At least that's how they did it in the Mark VII and earlier towncars. I can't imagine it being a different setup.
You would need one from the same vehicle as what you're working on. Or you may even get one to work from other cars, assuming they wire up the same. I honestly wouldn't be surprised if you could.

[87gtVIC]

The cluster work looks fantastic Ivan. Nice job on it.

[sly]

The cluster work looks fantastic Ivan. Nice job on it.

+1 Awesome looking dash.

[Mainemantom]

Dash is really cool. Good job.

[Hearsesrock427]

After pondering what it would take to get all the annoying paint and body issues fixed, PMing some helpful folks, and doing some math, it was decided that Ebyt's getting a body swap. Did some research on places, found a place just down the road that seems like they can get it done. Talked a to a fair amount of people in the car scene locally and they recommend him. I didn't get any sketchy vibes or anything when I was getting quotes. Basic idea is to have all of Ebyt's features (Digital dash, HVAC delete, etc.) on the new body. Pretty straightforward, everything in question bolts up/we already have on hand or on order.

Planned upgrades & maintenance include:
-BF Goodrich Gforce Sport Comp 2 tires, 255/50/R16 at all four corners.
-Rebalanced wheels and tires
-Fresh alignment
-Change/flush the four fluids (power steering, brake, coolant, transmission)
-Motorcraft PS pump + LPD 4450/4451 cooler for said pump
-Replace trunk seal, rear window seal, rear window itself
-Replace power window motors, delete vent windows by replacing glass
-Yank the evil water trapping carpeting and check body plugs, replace said plugs if necessary.
-Install rubber floor mats of some kind- leaning toward custom WeatherTechs but I do have some pieces from my ill fated jaunt into '03+ panther land....
-Finish removing extraneous trim & vinyl top remnants on donor body. (Got 80%+ of it off today, shop's doing what little is left.)
-Surface rust repair/spot repainting. (Even though this car's not seeing winter, I'm making damn sure the rust monster gets halted in its tracks.)
-Aluminum driveshaft with fresh U-joints

The above should be all done by the end of this month. She's going under the knife tomorrow. Between the lighter steering, non-jacked-up power steering pump, less weight, and better tires, Ebyt should be an even better version of herself. Lighter, quicker, sharper, meaner. It's how you make the best feeling, best sounding, best handling, shortest stopping car I have ever driven better. You do it across the board. Ebyt is ecstasy on wheels if I've ever felt it, and worth everything I've spent, learned, and sacrificed pursuant to chasing those good feelings. As an added bonus, the body swap means I now have a good chassis & drivetrain for use with Eva next year! Ebyt's getting done first though, she's waited long enough and she deserves that much. So buckle up, it's going to be a rip roaring good time.

But wait, there's more! If I can swing it financially, I'll get the 302 refreshed and upgraded.
-Lunati torque camshaft, replete with fresh valvetrain parts
-GT-40/GT-40P cylinder heads (whichever ones don't require you to run retarded spark plug wires!)
-Port matched HO upper & stock lower intake plenum if necessary
-Roller rockers of some kind
-EEC-IV tune on the computer to optimize all the above. Don't have a choice here- the camshaft uses the HO firing order. Plus, why would you swap computers when one can just get the Lopo ECM tuned?

I'm really hoping I can afford all that. Would icing on the cake for the build this year. Plus it'd stop the oil consumption (1 quart every 200 miles or so, depending on how hard I run her) and yield some more power.

Spring/summer 2019 plans:
-Custom welded in 6 point roll cage. Getting this to work with the bench seats is going to be hilarious, but worth it. I'm not running bucket seats in any of my cars.
-Additional chassis bracing/boxing of suspension parts
-Complete repaint in maroon with gold accent stripes, trim delete, miscellaneous holes in trunk & interior floorpans welded shut, upper C pillar seam metal replacement (fuck that factory bondo hack job) etc. My friend who's doing the smaller paint repair/corrections this year will do pretty much all of this. Only thing that might be over his head is the C pillar work but we'll see. He's gotten a lot of practice welding and he's painted his '95 3000 GT and it came out fantastic. He's pretty methodical and like me, wants to do shit right the first time.
-Custom piping on cloth seats to match exterior. Maroon, with gold piping along the seams and such. Gotta have a consistent style or theme!

[87gtVIC]

May want to check on getting the stock LOPO computer tuned.

[Hearsesrock427]

Post #2 in this thread got me thinking:
http://www.grandmarq.net/vb/showthre...nge-on-the-A9L

"mrltd" mentioned Lopo tuning. Course that doesn't automatically mean it's a thing. But if we can reap benefits of HO firing order without needing to buy a new ECM, that's well worth it. There are a lot more Lopo ECMs than HO ECMs!

[gadget73]

As long as the ECM is supported. The hardware between the non-HO speed-density ECM and an HO speed-density one should be the same. The trick is going to be finding someone that understand speed density tuning.

[87gtVIC]

Post #2 in this thread got me thinking:
http://www.grandmarq.net/vb/showthre...nge-on-the-A9L

"mrltd" mentioned Lopo tuning. Course that doesn't automatically mean it's a thing. But if we can reap benefits of HO firing order without needing to buy a new ECM, that's well worth it. There are a lot more Lopo ECMs than HO ECMs!

I see. Just because I haven't heard of it does not mean it doesn't exist, though all tuning I have ever heard about revolved around HO computers. Something worth looking into if thats what you want to do for sure though.

[MrMarquis]

That's a helluva itinerary. Sounds like Ebyt will be quite Cherry when finished, har har har.

[Hearsesrock427]

Local place that's doing that first round of work is behind by 2-3 weeks. Paint correction should happen before they begin on her, barring some scheduling disaster with my paint guy who of course decides to go out of town for 2 weeks. 10/10 timing right there. It is what it is though, builds get delayed all the time through no fault of our own.

Thanks for the notes on SD EEC-IV tuning- least now we know it's highly likely to be a thing. Don't want to divert funds away from Ebyt's build to research this..... but maybe over the winter I can look into this more. From what I recall you need TwEECer, BinEditor, Wideband oxygen sensor (brand, part #?), some halfway decent windows based PC, and some way to burn new chips? Let me know if this should be fleshed out further in Box Panther Performance.

[gadget73]

A Moates Quarterhorse will also work, and I think they have a larger number of supported ECM's. No chip burner for that, and it will work with multiple software so use what you like.

[Hearsesrock427]

Update time! After discussing the surface rust with both the restoration place and my buddy Matt I decided to hit all the spots with that black rust converter stuff that comes in a can. I'll hit it with another coat of the stuff once she's back in action. Local restoration place started on the shopping list this Monday! Cherry's body is now on Ebyt's frame. Was really interesting seeing two basically naked box frames basically right next to each other, haha. Process went smoothly for the most part, aside from two body mounts on Cherry that had to be cut. And swapping steering shafts- apparently '89+ is different from '88-. Oh well, not like Ford's gonna keep everything the same on these cars.

There have been changes to the shopping list. I have to be careful from going too far down the rabbit hole this year because I gotta store Cherry's chassis & drivetrain indoors until next Spring when Eva's body gets mounted on top of that. Plus the aforementioned bumps in the road, which added to the bottom line a bit. So a lot of the nice-to-have miscellaneous things like the aluminum driveshaft, door maintenance, power window repairs, door glass swap, and 302 refresh are pushed back to next spring/summer. But the major functional stuff like power steering pump & cooler, tires, fluid changes/flushes, and alignment is absolutely getting done now. After that it's HVAC gutting, welding the firewall holes shut, installing the digital dash from Ebyt (the whole setup came out cleanly and was very straightforward- thanks again for doing it right the first time HRG!) and installing the rear windshield from Ebyt. If I can swing it, I'll have the shop finish removing the trim and vinyl top. If not I'll turn to you fellers for guidance on how to drop the headliner and remove the drip rail thingy that weatherstrip piece mounts to.

Back on the topic of next spring & summer.... there's a local place I found that can do the aluminum driveshaft + U-joints. They tend to have quick turnarounds, so Ebyt's going there first thing next spring! After that Ebyt's going back to the local restoration place for the roll cage & chassis bracing next year. I'll have them do the carpeting removal, body plug checks, headlight relay upgrade, and all the other nice to have miscellaneous things like the during that time. Course I can't say when exactly that'll happen- a lot of it depends on when I can get on the calendar to get Ebyt back under the knife. And I have to get Eva towed over there so Cherry's drivetrain & frame can accept Eva's body. I will likely have a better job by December, so I don't foresee money being the issue here as much as scheduling. I want to drive Ebyt damn near everywhere when it's nice out, but there's big plans for the build which requires her to go under the knife for a few weeks at least. On one hand, I'd like to get that stuff done early so I have more time to enjoy the upgrades. But the restoration place gets booked fast; quality work is in sky-high demand. So it may just have to wait until September.

There is one more thing I have to push back- paint & body work. In the process of spraying the rust converter and checking Cherry's body out, I found some rot in the pass side rear quarter panel area. This is kind of a blessing in disguise- instead of having my friend Matt do the aforementioned paint work at a snail's pace during driving season, I'll just push it back a bit further and have the local restoration place do it over winter of 2021. We're going all the way. This means sandblasting, rotisserie, etc. Restoration place said a job like that typically runs 10 to 12 grand, assuming there aren't any big surprises. Obviously needing to patch the pass side rear quarter will add some to the bottom line and push it closer to 13 to 14 grand, but if that's what it takes, that's what it takes.